I think most of the team had deleted his number.
“Why would I want to participate when I can do more productive things?” He sounded off behind me, like he couldn’t just let the matter be.
Would it be bad if I told him to stop following me and take the stairs up to the top of the building? It was 110 floors. And I knew the scenery would be appealing enough. The building had been designed specifically for the Stonewoods with its shape and silhouette giving the illusion of a wave rising to the sky. On the interior, a cascading waterfall surrounded the elevator, bringing the exterior architectural theme inside. With plush leather lounge chairs in the lobby, marble floors, and crystal chandeliers, it didn’t feel like we were ever walking into work. It’d probably take him the whole night to climb to the top floor, then I wouldn’t have to see him.
“Oh. I don’t know. Maybe because you have a team here that’s been working for you all year that you haven’t seen and they’re all very excited about the costume party,” I said.
“Are you?” he asked, and I saw one corner of his full lips lift. There was no way he could know I wasn’t actually excited. I put in enough effort to appear so. He waved his key fob in front of the elevator doors.
“Even though Halloween is weeks away and a children’s holiday, I dressed up, didn’t I?” I placed my hands on my hips.
As the elevator doors slid open, he walked in and replied, “You did dress for the party. Ass hanging out and all.”
Cade Armanelli.
He was truly a villain, heartless and cruel.
His words, although just a repeat of my ex’s, felt like a sucker punch to the gut coming from him. I told myself it was because of the embarrassment, because my boss had heard it. Still, I gaped and shook my head at him, my blonde pigtails waving back and forth. “Yeah, that’ll do it. I’ll wait for the next elevator or take the stairs.”
His hand shot out and gripped my elbow to yank me in before the doors closed behind us. I stumbled forward on my white heeled boots, almost falling into him. He caught me just an inch from his body.
This close, I had to really crane my neck to look up at him, his height something he’d always had over me. Those eyes of his could have been the same color as honey if he was sweet. Instead, they burned dark into me just like whiskey would have burned going down my throat.
As if he could read my mind, he dragged a finger across my collarbone, up my neck, and then to my chin. “You’re too sensitive, Harley Quinn.”
“I’m not,” I whispered, held captive by how softly he touched me, by how much it affected me. I’d always been drawn to Cade. Even though I hated him, I could never ignore the gravitational pull he had over me.
“You let a man you didn’t even care about almost bring you to tears down there. You let him see the fire in you when he didn’t deserve it.” His finger traced along my jawline as if he were contemplating something.
“The fire?” I squinted at him, trying my best to understand him but knowing my body was taking over. And maybe the same was happening to him, because this man was supposed to be the one who kept his distance, who didn’t indulge in idle conversation, and who didn’t have time for small events like this one. “Are you okay?”
His jaw ticked. “I’m annoyed that I had to come out tonight for this, and I’m even more frustrated by seeing a member of my team acting foolish. Why waste your anger on him?”
“Your team? You’re barely here. You have teams all around the United States. Focus on them. And honestly, should I be madder at him or you for repeating his words?”
“Me?” He let go of my arm and took the mask from his suit jacket, then slid it on slowly. I don’t know why my breath caught as I watched him. This wasn’t a horror film. I wasn’t in danger.
Or maybe I was.
Cade could do more damage to me than anything in Scream ever could.
He leaned in near my ear and whispered, “I definitely deserve your anger. And I’d enjoy you throwing it at me, baby doll.”
I gasped at his admission and cocked my head to try to get a read on him. Yet, all I saw was that mask as he stepped back and rocked on his heels.
“You don’t make any sense.” I folded my arms across my chest, not sure I wanted to be anywhere near him, not sure why I was getting turned on by him staring down at me in that mask. He was a mobster underneath the whole businessman façade, and I needed to get out of this elevator and away from him.
He wasn’t a neat little box like Gerald. He was a ticking bomb, and I would end up collateral damage if I stayed anywhere near him.
“Does your boss really have to make any sense?” he asked.
“Well, you did just try to tear me down like my ex—”
He cut me off, his voice low and muffled behind the mask. “I said your ass was hanging out. I didn’t say if it was a good or bad thing.”
The elevator neared the top of the building, voicing the number of each floor we passed. Only ten to go, and I’d get away from him.
I shook my head. We both knew what my ex had screamed at me. “Even if you don’t repeat that I should be working out, we both know what he said right before. So if you want to insinuate it too, fine.” I shrugged, so over the night. I really didn’t care if he saw the tears swimming in my eyes. He wanted me at my breaking point, and now he had me there. I leaned in. “But you know what, I’m done being polite. So fuck you, Cade Armanelli. You can go to hell right along with my ex.”
He lifted his mask just to smile at me, as if he’d won, as if he’d pushed his insanity on me. That sinister smile—it was scarier than any Halloween mask could ever be. “You think I’m just like your ex?”
What could I say? Most men were probably like Gerald. They wanted a woman I could never be. Sweet, put together, in shape, without baggage.
Cade held my gaze, and a silent battle waged between us. Did he expect me to admit all my feelings out loud to him? Because I definitely wouldn’t.
I shook my head and glanced away. “You’re all the same,” I grumbled, more to myself than to him.
Our conversation was about to cease—five levels to go. Cade pulled out his phone, obviously he was done talking. Great. I’d go to the party and get the hell out of there fast. This night was proving to be the worst, anyway.
Except the elevator screeched to a stop.
The lights flickered, then went out.
2
Izzy
My body jerked, and my heart lurched along with it. Never had the elevators stopped suddenly like this. This was a state-of-the-art building with technology that didn’t falter.
Just as I swore, one large hand shoved me into the door of the elevator by my neck. I felt his grip on me, tight, in control, and strong enough to crush my windpipe if he wanted to. I don’t know if his other arm was around my waist to stop me from falling or if he just wanted full control of me.
I squinted into the dark, trying to see his face. “What the hell, Cade?”
“Now that we have a minute, go on, turn around and let me feel how big your ass really is, Ms. Hardy.”
I’m embarrassed to admit I got wet right then, his voice filled with gravel and edge against my skin, commanding me in a way I wasn’t used to. “What?” I whispered. His tone had already sent sparks through me—so much so I couldn’t focus.
“I’ll show you I’m nothing like that fuckboy who didn’t appreciate what he had in front of him.”
In the dark of that elevator, I almost gave in. Cade had avoided me for a whole year. My hate for him had grown and grown but it was rooted in desire. Hate mixed with passion, tangled up with lust. Every woman was attracted to his mystery, his callousness, his dominance in a room.
Yet, I knew better than to be drawn to it when he’d already inverted my life once. “Nothing like him yet so similar. You took from me just like he did. He took my love for granted, you took my passion for my job.”
He chuckled near my ear. I felt the heat of his breath, the scrape of his five-o’clock shadow brushing against my skin. “I’ll do whatever is needed to keep my team in line.”
“I’m not on your team. Your team is you and no one else. You haven’t seen any of us in a year.”
“I always see you, baby doll.” He grazed his teeth over a sensitive part of my neck, and it was like an electric shock zapped through me. My whole body quivered. “Turn around for me.”
I lifted my chin, and his thumb instantly rubbed the column of my neck where he held me. Cade wanted me to fall to my knees and crumble; I swear I saw the hunger in his eyes for me to give in to my embarrassment.
Instead, I turned. I wanted him to feel what I did, the desire, the want, the tension. There was no way I was the only one feeling this. He must too.