“Then I’ll eat with you.” She moved away to grab the chicken from the oven. Coming back to the counter she saw him cutting the cucumber wrong. “Don’t do it like that.” Ursula leaned over showing him how to get the watery seeds out of the centre. In doing so, the long sleeved blouse she’d been wearing came up from the stretch, exposing her bruised wrist. She didn’t have time to cover it up before he caught her wrist, holding it up to inspect.
“It’s nothing,” she said, trying to extract her hand from him.
“Nothing? This looks like somebody squeezed your wrist, Ursula.” He refused to let her go. She turned to face him staring into his questioning gaze.
“It’s nothing.” She repeated the words and hated herself for it. “It was an accident.”
“Are you going to tell me you walked into a wall or perhaps accidentally walked into a bear and the bear got so angry he squeezed your wrist and slammed it down?” His anger echoed off the walls.
“You don’t need to be sarcastic. Bears are nowhere near here.” She tried to brush it off by talking about something else. He wasn’t having any of it.
“Cut the crap, Ursula. I never took you for a fool, so don’t start acting like one.” He cupped her cheek again. “You’re a strong woman. Don’t let this jerk abuse you.”
“He’s not.”
“Don’t—”
“No. Listen. He’s going through a tough time, and he’s not got a job, and everything is getting him down, and—stop me because I’m making excuses for him, aren’t I?” she asked. Turning away from him, she took the seat at the counter. She dropped her head in her hands as her predicament came at her from all angles. He put his hands on her shoulders. She shouldn’t be gaining so much comfort from his touch. Their relationship was strictly professional.
A professional relationship doesn’t make a woman wet between the legs.
Shut up.
She never used to have long conversations with herself.
“If I don’t end this, will it only get worse?” she asked aloud. She knew the answer. One of her courses delved into human psychology. She knew enough to know that if she didn’t take action, Paul’s actions could escalate further. What had started out as verbal abuse had turned into something physical. She wasn’t stupid. Her choices were right in front of her.
“You clearly don’t need me to be the older person with reasoning.”
She lifted up to look at him. “He used to be really sweet.”
“Do you love him?” he asked.
Ursula thought about it. No, she didn’t love him. There were times she liked being around him just to have someone else in her life. She didn’t talk to her parents. They didn’t like her decision to leave with Paul. They’d never liked him. She wondered if they saw the guy he really was while she’d been filled with her high-school crush.
“No. I don’t love him.”
Stephen moved away from her. She missed his touch the moment he left. Biting her lip, she stared down at her hands to keep herself from begging him to touch her. A begging female was never pretty. She gazed back up when she heard some rustling. Stephen was leaning on the counter writing on a piece of paper.
“Here are all my numbers. I know you have the house number, but you can reach me at all of these. Call me if it gets bad or you need help with anything.”
She took the piece of paper from him. On closer inspection she saw it was a card. Turning it over she saw his name under the word “Possession”.
“What’s Possession?” she asked.
He cursed, took the card from her, and scribbled out the word. “Nothing. Just some business cards that came out wrong.”
Ursula stared at the card. “Are you sure this is okay? I don’t want to take any of your time or anything.”
Stephen reached for her hand. “You don’t have any family in the area. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you.”
“Why?” she asked. The moment she said the word she wished she could take it back. She didn’t want to know if it was some gentlemanly obligation.
“I have no idea. I know I want you to be safe.”
With his last words hanging between them, he let go and began chopping the salad. She put the card into her jeans pocket. Minutes later they were sitting eating their meal, but something was different.
Ursula didn’t linger afterwards. She finished her chores and left before he had the chance to do anything else. Usually she stayed until he got back from wherever he went. This time, she walked the short distance home. Paul was in his chair again with another p**n o on the television. She didn’t even attempt to make conversation.
She went straight through to her bathroom, took a long bath, then dressed once she was finished. Sitting on her bed, she took the card out of her pocket. For some reason she didn’t think this was a wrongly printed business card. Ursula grabbed her out-of-date laptop and settled on the bed.
Staring at the card she typed in Possession, Stephen Knox, and a question mark. Her internet connection was bad, so it took a few minutes to load up. The sound of moaning from the other room made her roll her eyes. She couldn’t believe how much of that jerk she’d put up with.
The search came back with nothing. Frowning, she typed in her boss’s name, and lots of information popped up. Feeling annoyed at her interest, she shut down her laptop before putting the card away. She knew unless it was an emergency she’d never use it. Ursula kept it just in case the time came she would need to. Paul was an ass**le, but he was stronger than she. She would be useless against him if he started on her.
She closed her eyes thinking about Stephen’s c**k pressed against her stomach and the feel of him kissing her neck.
****
Stephen could have cursed himself for giving her a card with the name of the club on it. He was so f**king stupid at times. Watching her leave had been hard. He couldn’t stay in the house knowing what it felt like to have her so close to him, and yet she wasn’t his. Grabbing his keys he went to his car.
Drinking would be out of the equation with him taking his car. He drove the distance to where his club was. Stephen typed in the twelve digit number, and the gates opened immediately for him. Parking the car he got out and went ‘round the back. He didn’t need to enter through the front. Lucas was waiting for him when he walked into his office.
“Have you got some kind of monitor on me to know when I’m on the move?” he asked, taking his seat behind the desk.