Page 37 of All That Glitters

“Oh really?” She slams her palms against my chest. “I’m just your ward and you’re my guardian?”

I harden myself to the look in her eyes. “Yeah, that’s right,” I throw back.

“Do you kiss all your wards now? Is that how it’s going to be?”

“Stop being selfish.”

She slaps me again. “I’ll stop being selfish when you stop treating me this way, when you stop being an asshole. Oh, you can’t. You just admitted it! So what are we going to do now?”

My jaw clenches painfully. “Back the fuck up, Empire.”

It’s everything I can do to keep from losing it, the shit from the last week pressing down on me, making it harder and harder to maintain control, to be the adult in this situation instead of lose it entirely, say fuck it to everything and everyone and get in the car.

No destination. Just a blinding need to escape rather than deal with my problems in a rational way.

Especially when she’s crying, looking like a heartbroken teen angel, and I’m clearly failing her.

“If you want to play the ward and guardian card, then I’m game,” she’s saying. “But you know what you did. You know what you did earlier today, and you know what you did at the opening.”

Her breath comes in shallow gasps. She tries to slap me across the face again, and I catch her hand before she makes contact. My cheek already stings from the last slap, and there’s no way in hell I’m going to let her get away with it again.

I push her back until she hits the wall and crowd her there, making sure there’s no escape as I push into her, containing her, feeling the way she shakes. I feel every inch of her body. Why do I want her so badly? Why do I want to possess her when she gets under my skin in the worst possible way?

She is spoiled. She is a brat, and she’s young enough to be my daughter.

Is it because I know it’s a bad idea and we’re not good together? Is it because she’s the child of my old friends, forbidden? Any woman in that category will automatically be more appealing to a man like me.

“Listen to me very carefully,” I say in a measured tone, glaring at her. “You belong to me, at least for four more years. What I say goes. I will look out for you. I will protect you.” I will touch you. “But if you make it hard for me, then there will be consequences.”

She’s shaking. Good. I want her trembling and silent. I want her teeth biting down on her lower lip while she struggles to compose herself. My cock twitches, and her eyes widen. She feels me too.

“By the time you turn twenty-two, I’ll have made you a star, with your permission or without it,” I reply. “Until then, you do what I say and nothing else.”

“You have a lot of nerve talking to me—” she starts.

I cut her off, my hand over her mouth when she tries to keep arguing with me. I didn’t think it possible for her eyes to get any wider, but the whites overshadow everything now, her makeup smeared. “Do not breathe another word, or I will lose my cool.” Anger rides me hard. “You’ve already said too much as it is. Do you understand what a big fucking deal it is that a director of Parker’s status wants to take a chance on you as his lead? It’s huge. And no other actress without a single goddamn credit to her name will have the kind of contract I negotiated for you. A little fucking gratitude.”

Her brows furrow, her eyes gob smacked and her mouth working against my palm like she has more to say. Any words are muffled, thank God.

“It’s not much to ask for, considering the lengths I’ve gone to for you.” It’s all for her.

Nothing I do is ever fucking good enough for her. Did she have any idea how hard it had been for me to negotiate her contract? The lengths I’d gone to when I wanted to break down too? But there was no backsliding, not in my life and not in this job.

I finally let her go, scoffing and shaking my head, utterly exhausted.

She waits for only a beat before launching into me again. “What do you want me to do, Marcus? Huh?” Empire holds her arms out to her side. “Do you want me to get down on my knees and thank you? Is that what you’re angling for? Because I am grateful.”

“Getting on your knees would be a fantastic start.” I can’t look at her. “Saying thank you would be even better.”

“I’ve said thank you. A million times,” she insists.

“Not in my hearing. I tried to go over the contract with you, and you barely lifted your head.” It cut deeper than I can admit.

“Then you must not be paying attention.” Every word out of her mouth stokes the fire inside of me.

“I paid enough attention to get you out of the premiere before we even made it inside! How can you say I left you there, that I didn’t protect you?”

“Parker put his hands on me,” she says through gritted teeth.

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