“You don’t get to call him that!” Samuel’s words cut through the air like a whip being cracked; sharp, painful, and leaving a stinging mark on its intended target.
Korey’s jaw clenched as he glared at Samuel, but then he turned to me. “Oliver, I’m sure this is all very confusing, but I can explain…”
“That’s great, because I’d love for you to explain to me how my entire savings is gone or how I got to be over six hundred thousand dollars in debt. Can you explain to me what you used the money for or why you thought you had the right to touch something that didn’t belong to you?” His eyes widened, clearly not expecting me to stand up to him that way.
“Does this have something to do with him?” he sneered, pointing at Samuel. “Is he the one feeding you all these lies?”
“They’re not lies, Korey. I already spoke with the bank and the credit card companies and they confirmed everything,” I said, surprised at how calm my voice sounded when inside, I was shaking like a damn earthquake.
“Fine. I admit it. I skimmed some money from you.” Samuel barked out a humorless laugh and Korey shot him a look, searing with hate. He turned back to me again. “Look, I’ll repay what I took. You can take some from each of my checks until it’s all back again. Okay?”
Samuel and I both shot him incredulous looks. Did he really think he was going to be able to pay back the money and I’d forget about everything else? Did he really think the money was the only thing that mattered? The answer to that question was swift and painful and my earlier bravado was replaced with overwhelming sadness. I’d thought Korey was my friend, that he cared about me, but I was never anything more than a dollar sign to him.
“You’re fired, Korey,” I murmured. The look Samuel gave me was full of sad understanding. He knew how painful this was for me.
“What the hell do you mean, I’m fired? You can’t fire me. I created you! You were a nobody when I met you and without me, you’ll go back to being a nobody,” he roared, face mottled with rage.
“Yeah, okay. That’s enough out of you.” Korey twisted and turned, trying to get Samuel off him as he grabbed him by the arm and hauled him toward the door.
“Get your hands off me!” Korey screamed.
“Out you go!” Samuel said as he opened the door and tossed Korey outside.
“This isn’t over!” Korey started to yell, but his words were cut off as Samuel slammed the door in his face, twisting the lock in place.
He turned around with a satisfied grin, but as soon as he saw that I was shaking, he came running over and wrapped me up in his arms. “What can I do, baby? What do you need?”
I felt cold all over and my teeth were starting to chatter. “I just need you. I need you to hold me.”
Samuel bent and with one arm behind my back and the other under my legs, lifted me in a cradled position. He carried me down the hallway and laid me on the bed, quickly undressing me until I was just in my underwear. He did the same with his own clothes and then he helped us both under the covers. He curled around me and I could feel the heat from his body seeping through me, all the way to the bone. We lay there quietly, waiting for the shaking to subside.
“What happens now?” I asked wearily.
“We’ll find you another agent. One that understands that you’re in charge. You set the rules and you choose your own schedule,” he said firmly. I smiled softly, liking that idea.
“What do you think will happen to Korey?” Whether or not our friendship had ever meant anything to him, it had been real to me and it was hard to just switch that off and make myself stop caring about him.
Samuel sighed. “I suppose he’ll crawl under a rock for a while, lick his wounds and figure out where to go from there. I know you truly cared about him, so I won’t do anything just yet, but if he tries anything funny or I hear that he’s slandering your name, I’ll go after him and he will not like the outcome.”
I pulled his chin down for a kiss. “I love you,” I whispered. He might have said he loved me back, but I was already falling asleep.
It was several hours before I woke again. Samuel was sitting beside me in the bed, his back resting against the headboard and his tablet in his hands. I took a moment to admire him. The sheets were pooled around his waist, leaving miles of smooth tanned skin on display, except for the perfect amount of fur that covered his pecs. His jaw was strong, his bottom lip fuller than the top and the silver flecks in his hair still did crazy things to my heart. He was every fantasy I’d ever had brought to life, and the pair of black-rimmed reading glasses he was wearing were just icing on the cake.
“Hey, sweetheart. How are you?” he asked, setting his tablet aside. He scooted down in the bed and I curled into his side, breathing in the smell of his skin.
“My head’s pounding and I feel like I’ve gone a few rounds with a heavyweight champ. Other than that, I’m great,” I joked lamely. Samuel gave me a sympathetic smile and began rubbing my head. I groaned as his fingernails scratched over my scalp, easing the sharp pain in my head until it had settled into a dull throb.
“I need to email all the photographers and designers I work with on a regular basis and let them know to contact me directly instead of going through Korey. I’m not looking forward to it. I’m sure they’ll have a lot of questions, but I’ll feel better once I get that part out of the way,” I said with a sigh.
Samuel pressed his lips to mine in a tender kiss. “Why don’t you work on that while I make us something to eat and then we can take a long hot bath together.”
“Mmmm. That sounds perfect,” I murmured against his lips. He kissed me again and then started to pull away, but I grabbed his wrist to stop him. “Thank you. For everything.”
A warm smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “You don’t have to thank me. I love you and I would do anything for you.” He pressed another kiss to my mouth and I melted into the sheets, then he stood and sauntered out of the bedroom.
A half hour later, I was still on the phone. I’d sent an email to the people I worked with most often and right away, a few of them had called to check on me. It was nice to see that so many of them cared and that what had happened wouldn’t have a negative impact on our working relationships. If anything, most of them seemed a little relieved that they wouldn’t have to deal with Korey anymore, which made me wonder how much had been happening behind the scenes that I wasn’t aware of. Of course, I was all too aware of Ben’s disdain for the man, a fact that he didn’t bother hiding when he’d called a few minutes before.
“I never did like him,” he exclaimed vehemently. “The guy’s never been anything but a pompous asshole who thought he was better than everyone else.”
