Alpha ceo, p.10
Alpha CEO, page 10
“I thought you didn’t want to talk about us?”
“Ugh! You’re the most stubborn man I have ever met! Do you know that?”
“I’ve been called worse, sweetheart.”
“Stop staring out the window and fucking look at me, Julian!”
Reluctantly, he did.
“You could have left town and still had a relationship with them.”
“In one way or another, it still would have included you in it.”
“Who cares?! We were friends once, and after some time, we could have been friends again.”
His expression quickly turned heated. “I’ve tasted you, kid. From your mouth, to your pussy, to every inch of your body. I stole your first kiss, your first orgasm, your first fuck—there’s no coming back from that, Autumn.”
“You also stole my heart. Let’s not forget that.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “I stole that too.”
“Not only did you steal it, but you also broke it, and don’t you ever forget that.”
“You have all the answers to your questions built-in, kid.”
“Again, that has nothing to do with my family.”
“Knowing you were always mine, do you honestly think I would have been able to see you move on from me? Come on, Autumn. You know me better than that.”
“If I was able to see you sleep with half of Texas, I’m sure you would have lived, Julian.”
“Up until four days ago, my life has been completely private. All it took was seeing you with good ol’ fucking Charlie, and I didn’t hesitate to tell the world who you belong to.” He cocked his head to the side. “How’s that for living?”
“You make it sound like moving on from you was easy.”
“It would have been worse had I stayed for your parents and your brother.”
“I didn’t say you had to stay, but you still could have kept in touch with them.”
“And the second someone would have told me about a new man in your life, I would have flown back and done something incredibly stupid, landing him in the ICU and me in jail. Is that what you would have wanted?”
“Of course not.”
“I couldn’t bear to tell your family goodbye. I couldn’t explain to them why I was leaving—see the devastation on their faces when I told them. It would have been too hard—too painful. It would've felt like a betrayal.” He paused for a moment. “You wanted the truth, kid, and I’m giving you the fucking truth. These are just a few things you need to consider before you start attacking me about what I should and shouldn’t have done.”
“But lying about our current relationship seems reasonable to you?”
“I didn’t lie.” He shook his head. “I want you back in my bed.”
“The same bed you’ve probably shared with thousands of women? No thanks, I’ll pass.”
“No woman has ever been in my bed.”
I rolled my eyes. “Is this where you tell me you haven’t had sex since me?”
“No. I’m a man, Autumn, I fuck.”
Hearing him say those words didn’t surprise me, but the next ones he openly shared were staggering, nearly stopping my heart, leaving me awestruck and blindsided when he confessed…
“I’ve never made love to anyone but you.”
—Julian—
“Has anyone ever told you that you come on a little strong?”
I was prepared for the animosity she’d have toward me, but it still hurt like a son of a bitch that she kept blowing off my sincerity.
Instead of losing my temper yet again, I changed the subject. “How about you tell me how your family is doing?”
She shrugged, not giving me an inch. “Call them and ask them yourself.”
“Or you could save them from telling me to go to Hell, and just answer my question.”
“Fine.” She caved. “My parents are doing great. My dad is still working at his firm, and my mom is impatiently waiting on grandkids from Christian and Kinley.”
“Not from you?”
She shook her head. “Not from me.”
“What field did your brother end up in?”
“Believe it or not, he’s a gynecologist.”
Despite feeling out of control, which was never a good thing, I chuckled. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
“Really?”
“No. Your brother has always loved pussy.”
“Ew.” She flinched. “Gross. Don’t ever say that to me again.”
“How are he and Kinley?”
“Good, I guess. I don’t see them very often.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t live in Texas.”
I arched an eyebrow, surprised at her response. “Where are you living?”
“None of your business, Mr. Locke.”
“So we’re back to that now?”
“We never left.”
“You’re worse than whiplash, kid. How about you save me the trouble of pulling your records from HR and tell me yourself?”
“That’s illegal.”
“It would only be illegal if I wasn’t your boss.”
“How many times do I have to tell you I’m not your employee? I’m not beneath you—I’m your equal.”
“But you used to love being beneath me.”
“I think that’s always been our problem. The love I felt for you.”
“Autumn… I’ve always lov—”
She abruptly stood, cutting me off on purpose. “We landed.” She hurried toward the exit, and as soon as she walked past me, I stood and grabbed her arm to urge her to look at me again.
“Mr. Locke.”
“I’ve had enough of your Mr. Locke bullshit, kid. I’m done playing your little games.”
“Wow,” she rasped. “I played your games for years, and you can barely stand it for six days. How’s it feel?”
“Whether you want to face it or not I do lov—”
“No!” She yanked her arm out of my grasp. “I don’t want to hear it.”
“It doesn’t matter if I say it to you now or later, it’s going to be said, and the sooner you realize that, the faster we can move forward with it.”
“What exactly are we moving forward with?”
“Us.”
“There is no us.”
“There will always be an us, and you know it.”
“Listen.” She stepped back, making her way to the exit. “If you want me to forgive you, how about you start with reaching out to my family and we go from there, alright?”
“Will it get you back in my bed?”
“No. But maybe we can be friends.”
“We’ve never just been friends, Autumn.”
Before I could stop her, she turned and stepped off my jet.
Bottom line, when push came to shove, she chose to confront our past in Texas rather than dealing with me and my confessions.
Chapter SIXTEEN
—Julian—
I followed Autumn into the group home I hadn’t seen since my eighteenth birthday. The day I became a legal adult I was out of there and never looked back.
She must have sensed my hesitation. “You okay?”
Eyeing the production crew in front of my face, I warned, “You’ll be lucky if I don’t break that camera by the end of the day.”
“Julian,” she coaxed. “We need footage for your social media.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“I never agreed to that.”
“I know. I did it for you.”
“It’s going to cost you, kid.”
“I imagined it would.” She smiled at the camera. “Can we talk about it later?”
“You mean after I’m done taking you over my knee?”
She glared at me. “I’m not a child, Mr. Locke.”
“No, but you’re in definite need of some discipline.”
“Julian,” the director of the facility greeted, bringing our attention over to her. “It’s so good to finally see you after all these years.”
I nodded, extending my hand, but she smiled, pulling me into her embrace instead.
“I can’t tell you how proud we are of you. These kids idolize you. You have no idea how big of a role model you’ve been to them.”
I was never any good at receiving compliments, so I nodded again, pulling away with Autumn hugging her next.
“Good to see you, Miss Jones.”
“Please call me Anne.” She stepped back, holding Autumn’s hands. “Look at you! Oh my God! The last time I saw you, you were what? Ten? Eleven?”
“Twelve.”
“Right! Well, you look amazing.” She glanced back and forth between us. “I read The New York Times article. I can’t say I was too shocked over the news of you two falling in love with each other. You’ve always had such a special friendship, and those always turn into the best relationships. I bet your parents are ecstatic. Do I hear wedding bells in your future?”
Autumn nervously giggled. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“I would.”
Both their stares snapped toward my direction.
“Julian…” Autumn zeroed in on me, not appreciating my answer.
“What, baby?” I reached around her waist, caging her in with my arms as I held her against my chest to run my nose along the nape of her neck. I inhaled her comforting scent, leaving a trail of longing in my wake. She tensed in my arms, but I didn’t give a shit. If she was insistent on taking a trip down memory lane, then I was using it to my advantage as much as I could.
Whispering into her ear, “Smile for the camera, kid.”
“Oh, my goodness!” Anne exclaimed. “You two are absolutely perfect! The gorgeous babies you will have!”
“Who knows, Anne.” I winked at her while kissing Autumn’s neck. “There may already be one in there.”
She squealed, and Autumn glanced at the camera. “You can’t use that.”
“Baby, now’s not the time to be shy.” For only her to hear, I murmured in her ear, “You want the world to know me, and I’m just showing the best part of me.”
Without taking in what I’d addressed, she elbowed my ribs, making me groan and let her go.
“Let’s go see the kids.” She grabbed Anne’s arm, rushing to get away, but before she could take a step, I grabbed her hand.
Determined to remind her who was still in control.
—Autumn—
For the next few hours I watched in fascination how Julian was interacting with the kids. I had no clue he liked children—we’d never been around any before. This whole time I thought I was going to have to threaten him to play with the kids, but he genuinely seemed happy and not showing off for the cameras who were filming his every move.
Anne wasn’t exaggerating—the kids were ecstatic over having him there with them. They adored him, and the feeling was very much mutual. Half the time I couldn’t believe what was in front of my eyes. Julian was laughing, joking, bonding with each of them. From playing basketball to soccer, to throwing around a football. At one point, he was carrying around two toddlers in his arms, showering them with affection.
“I’m not surprised,” Anne observed, sitting beside me at one of the picnic tables while we watched Julian throw a kid on his shoulders, in order for him to dunk the basketball into the hoop. “Julian has always had a big heart, especially when it came to children.”
“Really?” I peered at her.
“Oh yes. He’s always known how to calm the little ones down even as a teenager. I think it was because he lived their lives himself. He knew what they needed to hear to feel safe in a new environment. This place can be rough on a child who just lost their parent or parents. Did you know he donates millions of dollars every year?”
I jerked back. “What?”
“Yeah, he not only donates to the group home, but he also helps the kids get into colleges, paying for their books and sometimes their tuition and dorms.”
“I had no idea.”
“This surprises you?”
“Yeah, it does.”
I fed into the gossip from the press. They labeled him as a cold, heartless bastard, and I figured he was like that in every aspect of his life. Especially after being with him the last few days and witnessing it for myself. Never in a million years did I imagine he’d cared about this place, let alone these children living there.
“He’s a good man. You’re lucky to have him.”
My heart fluttered, hearing her say those words to me.
Was I lucky?
The time flew by, and I’d be lying if I’d said I didn’t love every second of seeing him with his guard down. His suit jacket was in my lap, his tie was hanging from his neck with the first few buttons undone. He was relaxed, comfortable, and in his element.
My heart wasn’t just beating fast, it was hammering against my chest when Julian took off his collared shirt. Sweat glistening off every inch of his muscular, defined chest as he made his way toward us.
I could see it in his eyes—he was coming for me.
“Julian, don’t you dar—”
I didn’t have a chance to finish my sentence, as he flung his sweaty body on me, wrapping me in his manly scent.
“Julian!”
“What? You used to love it when I made you wet.”
“You’re all sweaty, and you’re ruining my dress!”
“Can’t have that now, can we?”
“What’s that supp—”
Clutching onto my waist, he sat on the bench, sitting me on his lap. My back to his front, his lips nuzzled my neck.
“Feels damn good to finally hold you in my arms, Autumn.”
I smiled. I had to, all eyes were on us. Including the camera.
Julian wasn’t deterred, muttering into my ear, “Do you have any idea how much I missed you?”
He was acutely aware of what I was experiencing with his whole body engulfing mine. Completely in tune with my emotions.
We were an illusion.
An act.
A charade.
Nothing about our relationship was real. We were living a lie in front of all these people, and the millions who’d eventually watch this intimate footage the videographer was capturing. Only suffocating me further into the reckless thoughts of what my family and brother would think when they saw us like this.
“Julian, please...”
“You know I love it when you beg.”
“You can’t do this.”
“I already am.”
“You need to let me go.”
“No, I have waited too long for you.”
The space began closing in on me, holding me hostage against my will. Sweat formed at my temples, my hands began to shake, and my heart started beating profusely through my chest.
I couldn’t breathe.
All I wanted was to breathe. Just for one second, one moment, one hour in time.
Tick…
“You’ll always be my number one girl.”
Tick…
“I lov—”
Boom.
I forcefully escaped, ignoring the disappointed expression taking hold of his face.
What did he expect?
“Kid—”
I didn’t allow him to finish, quickly walking away. I thought facing our past would be too much to bear, never thinking our future would be harder to endure.
Future? Where did that come from?
He was messing with my head. I took a walk while he showered, and once he was fully dressed in his suit, appearing like the Alpha CEO, it was much easier to be around him. His guard was back up, and I couldn’t help but remember that for most of my life, I’d prayed for him to bring it down, and now I wished for the opposite to happen.
We said our goodbyes, and I didn’t speak to him the entire drive back to the hotel. Except we didn’t go to the suite. When the driver pulled into my favorite restaurant, I was well aware Julian had told him to.
“I’m not going in there with you.”
“Autumn, one way or another, you’re going to have dinner with me. The choice is yours on how you’d like to enter that facility.”
Flinging my door open, I stepped out. Pretty much stomping my feet the entire way in. With one foot in front of the other, I walked inside with Julian behind me at the same exact time my life came tumbling down on me. Right there in front of our faces was our past beating me senseless.
My stare locked with the person I’d least expected, but he was focused on the man behind me.
Both men ready for a battle.
Over me.
Chapter SEVENTEEN
—Autumn—
“Christian,” I breathed out, overwhelmed by the turn of events.
His eyes flew from Julian to me. “What the fuck is this?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Actually, it’s exactly what you’re thinking.”
I glared at Julian. “Stop it.”
“Stop what, kid? He knows the truth. There’s no need to hide it from him anymore.”
“Is this why you texted me to meet you here? For this, Autumn?”
“I didn’t text you to meet me here. What are you talking about?”
“It wasn’t her,” Julian declared in a steady, calm tone. “It was me from her phone.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I bit. “Why would you do that?” I couldn’t believe he’d undermined me again, going behind my back to confront the one person I didn’t want to deal with right now. Like dealing with us wasn’t already enough for me to handle.
“Because there was no better time than the present. You said you wanted me to reach out, make things right, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m done hiding our relationship from him.”
“We’re not in a relationship!”
My brother chimed in, “So who’s lying, Autumn? You or him?”
“Christian, just let me think for a second.”
“You haven’t answered your phone or replied to one fucking text I sent you in the last three days, and you’re telling me to let you have another minute?”
“Jesus! Can you relax? I’m as shocked as you are right now. I wasn’t expecting this! He blindsided me too.”
