Insufferable Proximity 2 (29 page)

Gavin managed to hide his smile, and instead produced false tears. He expressed his fear to the guards, and they were more than happy to make sure that he was safe. After all, he
had
saved the life of their fellow guard. To them, he was a criminal still, but a hero nonetheless.

Now Gavin had what he needed to aid in his plan. The guards slacked on his security, and even gave him special privileges. He could move about without their watchful eye trained on him. Due to the threats from the other prisoners, Gavin was also allowed to take showers and have yard time by himself. It all played into his plan, and under the circumstances, he couldn’t be happier.

***

It was lights out. The prison was dark, except for the occasional flash from the flashlights of the guards. Gavin Grant sat in his cell, his hands under the covers. He had learned how to make a weapon out of a toothbrush, and he was excited to work on it; he’d already begun melting and forming the plastic. Now he needed to file it down to a sharp point. He kept his hands under the covers so the guards wouldn’t see him. The guards would never suspect him of trying to escape; he was already a model prisoner, and they had bigger threats to keep their eyes on.

He was only able to work for small periods each night. He didn’t care how long it took; he had plenty of time. Not to mention the fact that Julian and Heaven were not going anywhere. They would be there when he was ready for them. They would have no chance this time. By the time they found out he’d escaped, he would already be inside their house waiting for them.

Doomsday

It was doomsday, and Julian rose from the bed accordingly. He was in a foul mood and not looking forward to the day’s events. Heaven may not notice Clive’s advances, but he did—he noticed every move Clive made. He watched Heaven fix her suit before the full-length mirror, and walked up to stand behind her.

“Rule number two, no more sexy suits while you’re working with Baker.”

“I don’t even wear sexy suits,” she shot back.

“Any suit that is tailored to fit that body is going to appear sexy.” He slid his hand down her curves to emphasize his point.

“Would you prefer that I go back to the oversized suits?” she asked sarcastically.

“Yes, actually I would,” he answered in a serious tone.

“I was kidding.”

“I’m not.”

“Why the sudden change of heart? I thought you hated those suits.” She was well aware of the irony of the situation. She remembered all the times that she had the same argument with Julian about the oversized suits.

“I did, when they prevented me from seeing you. Now that I know exactly what’s under those suits—I
will
protect my prize from prying eyes. I love those big suits; they prevent everyone from seeing what lies beneath. It’s almost like a full-body, cloth-woven, chastity belt.”

“I’m not wearing them; I’m done with those baggy suits.” She hated the thought of going back to the oversized, ill-fitting suits. They represented a way of life that she no longer wanted. She was tired of hiding, tired of denying herself, and just tired of keeping up with her own ridiculous demands. Things were different now, and she refused to regress. She had falsely believed that those suits had empowered her, but she was wrong. She knew now that she had been hiding behind them; in her mission to be empowered, she had actually grown weak.

For the first time in her life, she was proud of her assets and not ashamed of her body. She no longer thought of them as objects that men paid high prices to fondle. Now when she got dressed, the illicit garb she’d witnessed growing up in the brothel no longer entered her mind or guided her choices.

“Well, you’re not wearing the sexy ones either.”

She raised her chin in defiance. “I will if I want to.”

“Why do you want to wear them? Are you trying to show off for Clive?”

“I can’t believe you just asked me that,” she looked at him as if he were crazy for even suggesting it.

“Do you have any idea what I would do to you if you were trying to dress sexy for Clive?” he said in a deadly tone, but she didn’t answer. “Do you?”

“I think so,” she finally admitted.

“Then why do you insist on wearing them?”

“Almost every woman at the firm wears suits that fit like this. Some of those secretaries wear skirts hiked up to their vaginas.”

“I don’t care about any of them. I only care about you and what you wear."

“I’ll look like an ugly, gaudy, bag lady in comparison.” Although she had never cared about things like that before, she was now consumed with the thought. She didn’t want to walk around looking tacky while the rest of the women flaunted their assets. She couldn’t forget that some of those women had gone out of their way to try to impress Julian.

“You couldn’t look ugly if you tried. Even if you wore a bag, you’d outshine them all.”

“I like the way that you look at me when I dress like this,” she said candidly.

“I look at you like that no matter what you wear. You could be covered in dirt while wrapped in aluminum foil, and my cock would still get hard. You could wear hundreds of yards of fabric that covered every inch of your body, and I would become fixated on tearing it off.”

“We need to compromise. I’m not wearing those suits again, but I won’t wear anything too formfitting either. However, if I do this, you have to bow to your knees and convince me how gorgeous I look in my ill-fitting suit.
Every
single morning before we go to work.”

“Only if I can peel that suit off after I do it.”

She raised her chin. “That will depend on how convincing you are.”

“It’s a deal. I’m giving you a credit card, and I want you to order a whole new wardrobe. Nothing tight and nothing provocative, I want every inch of your body covered. Buy a lot of turtlenecks.”

“Turtlenecks?” she raised her brows in disbelief.

“Yes.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not wearing turtlenecks.” She wasn’t thrilled about wearing those horrible suits again, but perversely satisfied by his reaction. She preferred that he was jealous instead of trying to share her. However, turtlenecks were out of the question.

“Until you’re done helping Baker—you’re wearing them. Don’t make a potentially lethal situation any worse.” He kissed her shoulder, “Now go and change.”

“Now? We’ll be late for work.”

“If you keep questioning me, I’ll rip that suit off,” he threatened her with a wolfish smile that she couldn’t resist.

“I refuse to be late for work. I’ll wear this one today, and tomorrow I’ll wear the suit of your choice,” Heaven tried to reason with him. She even added a soft kiss to his lips for extra measure.

“Have it your way, Princess,” he said before he ripped the front of her shirt open and yanked it from her body. He grabbed the front of her skirt. With one strong yank, he broke the zipper and then ripped the fabric down to the hem. “Now go change.”

“I should go to work just like this.” She put her fists on her hips as she raised her chin. “I bet Mr. Baker would be mighty shocked at that meeting.”

“I would beat your ass raw.” He felt his head swell at just the thought.

“You could try. Either way, your dear Mr. Baker would have quite a show.”

“That’s not funny,” he roared.

“No?”

She glared at him before turning around and going into her closet. Refusing to wear her old suit, she decided to compromise. She put on one of her new suits. It was all-black, made of thick material, and it wasn’t the least bit sexy. It was well-fitted but plain.

“Are you happy now?” she snapped with as much attitude as she could muster.

“Watch that mouth,” he warned her before smacking her behind, “or we’ll
really
be late for work.

“We already are,” she snapped as she looked at her watch.

“Where’s the turtleneck?” he barked at her.

“I don’t own any turtlenecks.”

“You’d better keep this buttoned up tightly. If I see so much as a nip slip, I will tear that whole fucking building down.”

“I
never
have nip slips,” she gasped, disgruntled.             

“And you’d better not start now.”

“It’s not that low.”

“It’s low enough for Baker’s wandering eyes.” He shook his head in repulsion. Just the thought of Baker looking at the tops of her breasts was too much for Julian. “Come on, let’s go. I want to get this shit over with.” He grabbed her hand and headed out of the room.

It was going to be a long day.

***

Clive had some questions that he wanted Heaven to ask Susan Lawrence. As promised, Ayden attended the meeting.

Ayden sat at the end of the table. Clive sat across from Heaven, giving her a list of questions.

Heaven noticed that his questions were limited at best. She made a few recommendations, and Clive nodded eagerly. When the meeting was over, the three of them headed out of the office and into the hallway. Clive slowed his step to walk next to Heaven.

“I’m very fortunate to have someone with your intelligence helping me, Ms. Deville. You really are brilliant; I’ve never met another lawyer as smart as you. In fact, I don’t think that I’ve ever met anyone as smart as you,” Clive gushed over her.

Heaven held back her frown, wondering why he chose to divulge that information. She didn’t appreciate that type of attention under normal circumstances, but especially not in front of her boss. She felt terribly uncomfortable for a moment, until she saw Julian.

Ayden saw Julian storming towards them and worried there would be trouble. Like a bulldozer, Julian stopped in the middle of the hallway, forcing all three of them to come to a stop.

“Hey.” Heaven walked up to Julian. She stood on her toes and kissed his lips. It immediately calmed him down, but not enough to help.

He’d heard what Clive said to her, and he wasn’t impressed. His eyes and his anger were locked on Clive.

“Why don’t you come with me, Sevigne? We can get that ready for tomorrow,” Ayden said, seeing the look in his son’s eyes.

“All right.” She nodded then turned back to Julian with a wink, “I’ll be done soon.”

Julian waited until they were out of hearing range before he spoke to Clive.

“She
is
brilliant isn’t she?” Julian said.

“That she is,” Clive said with a grin that infuriated Julian.

“Watch your step.”

“Oh, that’s right, the two of you have some little thing between you,” Clive said dismissively.

“Little? It’s big enough to start a full-fledged war,” Julian warned him, but Clive only grinned.

“She does seem to be worth a little war,” Clive said, and Julian took a step closer to him.

“Careful,” Julian said, holding back his rage. He was ready to grab Clive by his neck and smash his head against the counter.

“Or what?” Clive raised his brows.

“Or I’ll break your fucking neck” Julian said with a grin, welcoming the battle. He was competitive by nature and relished the thought of destroying Clive. Clive picked the wrong man to go to war with, but he would find that out soon enough. “I want you to stay away from her.”

“That will be hard, considering we’re working together.”

“I’ll be with you soon,” Heaven told Ayden before she swung back around. She’d seen the look in Julian’s eyes and had a bad feeling.

Heaven turned the corner just in time to see Julian face to face with Clive Baker. Julian’s muscular body towered over Clive. If Julian chose to fight, there would be no one strong enough or brave enough to stop him. She could tell by the look in Julian’s eyes that he was ready for a battle. She could tell that he was daring Clive to make a move.

“Hello, Ms. Deville, did you forget something? Anything that I can do for you?” Clive asked as he turned to Heaven with a bright smile. It was a smile that clashed with the intense scene that he was a part of.

“Julian?” Heaven ignored Clive while trying to get Julian’s attention. Julian continued to glare at Clive for a moment.

“I should go take care of this,” Clive said, before quickly walking away.

Julian continued to glare at Clive as he retreated. With a deep frown, Julian possessively snaked his arm around Heaven and walked away.

“What was that about?” she asked once they were far enough away.

“Nothing,” his voice low with restrained anger.

He led her into her office and immediately locked it behind him. He walked over to her desk, grabbed a stack of papers and threw them. He grabbed her penholder and threw it against the wall. He grabbed her glass and slammed it down on the desk. Heaven gasped as she watched the glass break in his hand. She ran over to him and grabbed his hand; it was a superficial cut, but she grabbed a napkin and wiped the blood off.

“Working with Baker is a bad idea,” Julian growled.

“What else am I supposed to do?” She could tell that he didn’t like that response.