Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (21 page)

“What is it, then, if not an accusation?”
Jayson said, snapping her back to reality.
 
“Didn’t you tell the police I raped you?”

“Listen, I want to talk to you about
that.
 
Can I—“ she swallowed
again, feeling her stomach lurch.
 
Thank God she hadn’t eaten much that day.
 
“Can I come inside?”

For a moment, Jayson looked bizarrely
eager, and the expression on his face only made him more repulsive to her.

They went inside and she tried not to
think about everything that had gone on between them in this horrible
apartment.
 
It had since been
cleaned and apparently fumigated of that awful pizza smell.
 
The entire place was bright, and
everything was tidy and orderly.

In all likelihood, a professional had
cleaned the place.
 
A paranoid part
of her mind wondered if perhaps it hadn’t been a regular cleaning person, but
actually someone trained to get the DNA and signs of the rape out of all the
offending pieces of furniture?

“Want a glass of water, coffee, tea?” he
asked, as he led her inside.

“No thanks,” she said, although her mouth
was totally dry.
 
However, she
didn’t trust him to give her a drink without trying to slip her a roofie.

He led her toward the couch, but Jayson
sat down in the recliner nearby, thankfully.
 
He crossed his legs and folded his arms
as if she had come begging for forgiveness, and he was a judge about to decide
her fate.
 
“So, what do you want to
say to me, Caelyn?”

“I think things have gotten out of
control,” she began, sitting down on the couch and trying to forget what had
happened on it not so long ago.

He snorted.
 
“That’s the understatement of the
year.
 
I find out you took off to
Florida without a word, and then I go to bring you home and you have some thug
assault me out of the blue.
 
Next
thing I know, as I’m leaving the hospital after getting my head x-rayed, I find
out you’ve accused me of rape.
 
I
damn well say things have gotten out of control, all right.”

She could hear the restrained rage in his
voice, and it shook her.

Being alone with him in this apartment
didn’t just feel dangerous—it
was
dangerous.
 
She knew from experience that Jayson was
capable of pretty much anything, and right now she was skating on very thin
ice.
 

“That’s why I’m here,” she said
softly.
 
She met his cold, dead eyes
and tried to pretend that she wasn’t completely revolted.
 
Caelyn tried on a fake, submissive smile.
 
“I’m here because I realize that, Jayson.”

For the first time, Jayson’s body
language changed from cold and detached to more engaged.
 
He sat forward in his seat, his big
frame moving quicker than she would have expected.

It took all of her courage not to scream
and run for the door.
 
But she was
here for more than just herself—she was here for Elijah, and determined
to be strong for him.

Jayson leaned his elbows on his knees as
he looked at her.
 
“I don’t get it,
Caelyn.
 
You’re sending me some
pretty mixed signals.
 
I
mean—you fucking accused me of raping you.”

Because you did rape
me
,
she wanted to shout in his face.
 

Instead, Caelyn took a slow, deep breath,
and exhaled.
 
“What happened the
other night between us…” she had a flash of him holding her down, and his
voice, low and threatening.
 
“It was
very confusing.”

He blinked a few times.
 
“Were you a virgin?”
 
His nostrils flared.

“I don’t want to talk about that right
now.”

“You’re right,” he said, waving the
question off, “it’s beside the point.
 
But you can’t come in here and just expect me to be cool now, after what
you’ve done to me.
 
You know there’s
no way you can win in court.
 
I
mean, my family…” he shook his head.
 
“They would do anything to protect me, Caelyn.
 
Anything.”

“Maybe there’s a solution,” she offered.

His eyebrows lifted.
 
“A truce?”

“Maybe.”

“I’m listening.”
 
He smiled, a flash of the old Jayson,
the façade that he’d used to seduce her in the beginning.
 
Now she saw through it for what it
was—a cheap trick used to fool the naïve and sheltered girls he came into
contact with—a complete fraud.

“I want to drop the charges against you,”
she said.

“Really.”
 
His expression didn’t change but the
intensity in his eyes deepened.
 
“Now why would you do that?”

“Because, I think we need to stop all of
this.”

“I agree.
 
I’m just trying to figure out why the
sudden change of heart.”
 
He sat
back in his chair again, rubbing a finger below his lip, watching her.
 
“Are you playing games with me,
Caelyn?
 
I mean, what the hell am I
supposed to think?”

“Just take it for what it’s worth,” she
said.

“So you’ll drop the charges?” he
said.
 
“And that’s that?”

“All I ask is that you drop the charges
against Elijah.”

Suddenly, Jayson’s expression
darkened.
 
It was like the mask had
momentarily been pulled off at the unexpected mention of the man who had hurt
him.
 
For a brief second or two, he
looked positively insane—no different than a deranged serial killer you
might see on the news.
 

But then he seemed to get control of
himself again, and the mask went back on.
 
His face relaxed a little, and he appeared to think about what she’d
said.
 
He began rubbing under his
lip again, repetitively, as he considered her offer.

She wanted to slap him, punch him.
 
More than anything though, she wanted to
make him stop rubbing his chin like that.
 
It was worse than nails on a chalkboard.

A shiver of hate and fear ran down her
spine.

The silence in the room was
deafening.
 
But finally, he
spoke.
 
“The guy is a menace,
Caelyn.
 
I’m not sure how much you
know about him, but I’ve been told that he’s a really nasty character.
 
Like, as low as they come.
 
Completely uneducated, been in and out
of institutions his entire life.”

He’s a million times
better than you could ever hope to be
, she wanted to say.
 
But she bit her tongue.
 
Literally, she closed her jaw and forced
herself not to speak.
 
And then she
gathered her composure.
 

“I’m not going to defend what he did to
you,” she said.
 
“But I really want
to make all of this go away.”

“I’m not sure why I should drop my
charges against him,” Jayson said.
 
“After all, we both know that I didn’t…I didn’t do what you say I did,
and you have no proof of anything.
 
You won’t be able to convict me, Caelyn.
 
As for Elijah, we have witnesses that he
attacked me out of nowhere, and the guy’s got a record as long as a roll of
toilet paper.”

“I’m not asking you to do it as a
trade-off,” she lied.
 
“I’m asking
you to do it because…well…because I’m asking you.
 
I’m saying, let’s put all of it behind
us.”

Now he seemed interested again.
 
There was a look on his face that she didn’t
like, but she couldn’t figure it out at first.
 
And then she realized that the look on
his face was excitement.
 
He was
enjoying all of this.

“I’d be willing to put it all behind us,”
he said, “if you mean that literally.”
 
He got out of the recliner and started pacing in front of her.
 
“What I mean is, there was a reason I
came to the restaurant in Florida to find you, Caelyn.
 
I’ve never done that for a girl before.
 
I did that for you.”

What am I, supposed
to feel special because the man who raped me tracked me down to a place in
another state where I’d run to escape him?
Are
you really that crazy, Jayson?

Of course, she knew the answer.
 
And as sick as he made her, this was the
direction she needed things to move if she was going to have a chance to help
Elijah stay out of jail.

“I really appreciate that,” she
said.
 
It was awful to say the
words.
 
Her entire body was
revolting now, shaking, and she was growing even more nauseous.
 
But she forced herself to continue.
 
“I get that this whole thing must have
really made your head spin.”

He laughed harshly.
 
“You can say that again.”
 
He stopped pacing and looked at
her.
 
“So, you’ll let it go and try
and start fresh?”

“You mean…”

“I mean us,” he said.
 
“I mean, I’m kind of taking this all to
mean that you realize there’s still something here with me and you.”

It only took a few seconds, but in that
short timeframe, her mind calculated out all of the possibilities.
 
She could tell him to go screw and hope
that he dropped the charges against Elijah anyway.
 
She could threaten him, tell him she
would go to the newspapers, do everything in her power to ruin his reputation
if he didn’t drop them.

But in the end, she knew that opposing
Jayson like that would only fuel him to fight back harder.
 
He truly believed that he was immune,
protected by his wealthy family and his impeccable reputation.

Threatening him right now would never
work and she saw that clearly.

“I do realize that,” she replied, locking
eyes with him.

He towered over her, and for a moment,
she was certain he was going to simply rape her again.
 
In his twisted mind, he probably thought
she’d just given him permission to do whatever he wanted.
 

She felt frozen in place.
 
Terrified, sick, wanting nothing more
than to run and forget all of this had happened, she sat and watched him.

Jayson looked down at her, and a strange
smile crept across his face.
 
“I’m
glad you said that,” he told her.
 
“Really glad.
 
I want to get
past this, Caelyn.”

He reached out and softly touched her
shoulder, and Caelyn had to repress a shudder.
 
“I do too.”

“Okay, then,” Jayson said, his voice
becoming more restrained, almost as if they were ending a formal business
meeting.
 
“We’re agreed.
 
I’ll drop my charges against your…friend….”

“Thank you,” she said.

“And you,” he continued, “will drop your
charges against me.”

She nodded.
 
“That’s right.”

He crossed his arms.
 
“Well then, I guess it’s settled.”

She stood up.
 
“Great.
 
Shall we go?”

A puzzled look crossed his features.
 
“Go?”

“To the police station.
 
No time like the present, right?”

“You’re in quite the rush.”

“I just think we’ll both feel better when
it’s done, and I want to show you that I’m serious.”

“I believe you.”

“And I want to know that you’re serious,
too.”

He looked at her intently.
 
“I’m starting to feel like maybe this
isn’t a request, so much as an order, Caelyn.”

She smiled, practically batting her
eyelashes at him.
 
“Not at all,
Jayson.
 
But I want to turn a new
page between the two of us.
 
Shouldn’t we turn it together—now?”

After a moment, his expression softened a
little.
 
“Why not?” he said.
 
“Should we drive over there together?”

“Absolutely.”
 
Her smile widened, even as the idea of
being that close to him made her want to be sick.

“Okay, give me a second to freshen up,”
he told her, and then he left for the bathroom.