HURT FOR ME

Chapter Eight - Gossip

"Gossip is the devil's telephone. Best to just hang up."

‒ Moira Rose

Olivia Bennett

"What should that say?" Aaron questions. I glance at him and back to my phone with the article pulled up, thinking about my response. I knew what he wanted to hear and I'd never give that up to him so easily, I'm sure he was familiar with getting his way but not with me.

"Well," I began. "I didn't go home with my inspiring parents, I went home with my fake husband." I didn't tell him what he was expecting but at least it was still the truth. This whole article was a bunch of nonsense and quite frankly, I'm shocked it was even cleared to be published by the media.

Who wants to buy a bunch of bullshit when they could get the answers from the real thing? It's not like I was a high-class celebrity who was too above them to give them any of my time. I wasn't like my parents, I wasn't like Aaron Adair, I was Olivia. Olivia...Adair.

I let out a defeated breath, realizing the reason no one has tried to speak to me. My husband happens to be the CEO of the biggest corporation in Seattle and the highest-paid criminal too. Just from reading about him in the few articles that weren't about me last week, I learned his company was nothing but a cover-up.

There were rumors that he was smuggling drugs from other countries and having his employees distribute them around Washington for more money flow, although no one could ever prove that as his work was so clean-cut, I remained pretty confident those stories were true.

"Are all of those rumors true?" I asked. I really needed to go back to being introverted, this new version of me who isn't afraid of asking personal questions wasn't going to be a good thing.

He looked at me for a moment like he was deciding whether he could trust me with whatever he was going to tell me. I raised an eyebrow and narrowed my eyes, waiting for a response.

"What rumors?" I lifted up onto my elbows and threw my head back in aggravation. If I've seen the reports, he's certainly seen them too. He knows exactly what I'm talking about.

"That your business is just a cover-up." I clarified.

He stood from the bed and pulled my leg, dragging me to the edge of the bed. His body was now between my legs and pressing against mine. "What do you think?"

I opened my mouth to speak but realized I didn't have the words. I wasn't sure what I thought about the stories and rumors but I knew Aaron's body being this close to mine was making the room feel a heap of degrees warmer.

"I do what I have to," His words were sharp and precise, they almost sounded practiced like he'd answered this question a million times. "For my family and for you now too." His tone was strong but his words were sweet. Even if he only cared to protect me or do what he had to for me because of the contract, it made me feel soft on the inside.

It's been so long since I've felt anything for someone, I wasn't sure if this was elevating my need for Aaron or if I genuinely wanted him. Would it even be worth exploring the possibility of my feelings for him considering this was 'mere business' to him?

"What are you thinking?" I pushed against his chest and waited for him to remove himself from between my thighs. I wasn't ready to dive into my feelings yet, I just needed to ignore them for now.

He took a few steps back and I lifted myself off of the bed, "I think your devotion to your family is tippable," I flicked my long hair over my shoulder before continuing, "And I also think it's time for you to take me shopping." A triumphant smile was on my face now.

"Of course, Princess." My heart nearly liquefied in my chest like a bowl of ice cream left out on a hot summer day. Keeping myself from exploring my feelings for this man was going to be the most challenging thing I've ever had to do, including learning to walk again.

❁

His car smelled of whiskey and strong cologne. I was telling the truth when I told him I liked it, I'd never been inside such a nice car. The dark leather interior covered nearly every inch and the best part was the heated seat feature. I pressed the button with a small person and a few lines on it and it lit up orange causing the seat to instantly begin heating up.

Aaron eyed me from the other side of the car as I clicked random buttons and turned different dials, I wasn't sure what any of them did but I was certainly going to figure it out. Each button presented nothing new to me as I continued clicking.

Suddenly, my seat began to recline. After a few seconds, the back of my seat was on the floorboard of the back. I tried lifting myself to return the seat to its original position but I quickly figured out I couldn't move. The belt that crossed my chest was tight and had no intention of loosening up anytime soon.

"Aaron..." A quiet giggle escaped from me as I realized I was stuck. His eyes flickered to me for a moment and returned to the road.

"Well," a soft smile covered his face. "Did you finally figure out what all of the buttons do, Olivia?"

I pulled against the seat belt in an attempt to loosen it, "Help me."

His soft smile was now evil. He shook his head and patted a hand on my knee. Why did I have to be curious about what the stupid buttons do?

"Help me or I'll just take it off." His grip tightened on my knee as his eyes snapped to me. For a second, I thought I saw a worried expression but his evil smile was back again too quickly for me to know.

"Say please."

I rolled my eyes and complied, "Please?"

"Please what, Olivia?" His words were nothing more than a tease.

"Please help me and press the button."

His hand fell from my knee to the button without a beat, returning my seat to its normal place. I smoothed over my hair as it had gotten a bit messy from falling over the seat.

"Roll your eyes at me again and I'll make sure you regret doing it at all right here in this car."