Secret Affairs

TWELVE

DANIEL

Day in and day out I had to sit in front of this smug asshole and relay the company’s financials. The worst part was that he just recovered from getting shot in front of the building and I couldn’t even hate him.

 He f****d her. Nathaniel Peters f****d Ro. He didn’t have to say anything because it was painfully obvious.

God damn it why couldn’t I just forget about her.

“Here is the cost benefit analysis on the investments you wanted me to look into. Overall, they seem like a good idea, but we may want to hold off until we’re able to ensure there won’t be any unwanted attention from the wrong people,” I interrupted wherever the hell he was going with this conversation. I just needed to get this over with so I could get the hell out of here.

I needed a stiff drink.

Or maybe a good f**k.

I couldn’t even get my d**k up for the beautiful women throwing themselves at me. I tried. God I f*****g tried and they all left disappointed and annoyed.

Because at the end of the day all I wanted was one. And she wanted nothing to do with me.

I refocused my thoughts on the matter at hand. Nathaniel Peters was sitting in front of me discussing the company’s operations. “Is there an update on the financial situation?” He asked me.

The financial situation. That’s what we were calling it. As if it didn’t lead to the death of the f*****g CEO. Now we had to pretend like we weren’t on the verge of getting shot for their incompetent handling of this situation. “Ever since the incident, there hasn’t been any suspicious activity in the accounts. The last withdrawal was the day before. I’ve been taking care of the reports myself, no one but you and I have access to them.”

Peters nodded in acknowledgement and began sorting through some files in his desk. He did this very often. Acted like he had more important matters to tend to when I was speaking to him. The last time I saw him playing solitaire on his computer through the reflection on the window. I sat there watching him play a game that should have taken him less than five minutes.

“That means they’re done taking the money or waiting for Benjamin’s death to blow over,” he told me when he finally stopped rifling through papers and looked up.

“Did you know who it was?” There had to be someone Benjamin confided in, and if he went to the Peters for help, then Nathaniel had to know.

Nathaniel shook his head, grasping his hands together and placing them over his desk. “Benjamin wouldn’t say. I had a feeling Janet was involved somehow, but he refused to think it a possibility.”

Fucking Janet. I always attempted to give the reports directly to Benjamin and she always insisted on doing it herself. “It’s okay Danny, it’s my job,” she would chuckle. I hated when she called me Danny, not even my own family called me that.

If she was involved she had the balls to continue working here.

“So, what now?” I asked him. I leaned back into my chair, this was a b***h and a half having to deal with. I was contemplating whether the paycheck was worth the headache. There were other job offers back on the West coast, but that meant leaving New York. Leaving Rowan Sommers.

I wasn’t sure if I was ready to give up just yet.

Nathaniel spoke up reminding me where I was. “I have someone looking into it. I just hope Rowan doesn’t get in the way.”

Rowan.

Of course, she would get in the way. She managed to squirm her way into anything. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was already planning something. And when she found out who was involved there would be hell to pay. Not if, but when, because she would find out eventually. Nathaniel Peters underestimated her.

“You can never be too sure with her,” I replied nonchalantly.

“She’s a handful,” he said with a smirk.

He sounded so casual about her. Were we supposed to just have normal conversation about the woman we both f****d.

If that was the case we were both adults, and may as well get it all out there in the open.

“That’s why you told me to stay away from her? You like her.”

“I don’t have to lie to you. It seems you’ve already figured something out. I expected it to be mere lust, but once I got a taste... well you know the rest. Where does that leave us?” I hadn’t expected him to be so brazen with his response but his honesty was a welcome reprieve from the lies and omission that happen so often around here.

I felt a small smile creep across my face. “Rowan makes her own choices.” God forbid anyone try to tell her what to do. She didn’t allow herself to be bossed around unless she wanted it to happen. And she did want it to happen every once in a while.

“We see where that’s gotten us. As much as I like to joke to rile her up, I don’t share. And you don’t seem to be the type to either.”

Before I could answer there was a knock at the door and Janet peaked inside. “Mr. Peters, the conference room is ready for you.”

Nathaniel stood up and walked towards the door. “Let’s get this over with.”

I wasn’t sure whether he was referring to the meeting or this preschool fight over Rowan. But I was game. I’d been game for the last three years. If I could wait that long, what’s a few more.

ROWAN

I stared at the spot that used to have a blood stain. My father’s blood. Someone must have cleaned the entire sidewalk. As soon as I had gotten home I googled how to remove blood stains from clothes that brought me to removing blood stains from concrete.

Apparently you have to let sodium peroxide sit for ten minutes, it’s a whole process. Whoever did it, did a great job. You would never know that someone bled out in this very spot.

I hesitantly walked into the building. The place I used to feel the most comfortable in now felt devoid of any emotion. I used to thrive at work, and now I wanted nothing to do with it. This was for the best. I needed to find myself.

Nate had called me this morning, he said we needed to discuss ownership of the company with the board members. I was only here because I had to be as the majority owner. If Davis was right, then that meant that one of the board members was the reason that the company was out millions of dollars. More importantly, why my father was dead and some poor soul had to wash blood off a sidewalk.

Taking the elevator up to the top floor where the meeting was being held had me antsy. I hadn’t spoken to anyone from the company in weeks, that included Daniel and Nate. I’d been avoiding them, which was made easy by no longer working here. Now I was walking into a room with both of them there.

“Hello Janet,” I greeted her as I approached her desk.

Janet’s eyes immediately darted up as if she wasn’t expecting me. She stumbled for words for a second before regaining her composure. “Good afternoon Miss Sommers, everyone is waiting in the conference room.”

I nodded my head and started to slowly walk towards the conference room as she followed. “I’m not late am I?”

“No, everyone is just eager to get this over with,” she chuckled mirthlessly. It sounded like she was eager to get something over with.

I walked into the conference room and took a seat at the back of the table. Nate and Daniel were standing up front whispering to one another. As soon as Nate spotted me he gave me his signature cocky grin before turning back to everyone else. “Good afternoon everyone, I hope this hasn’t put a kink in any of your plans. But we’re here to discuss the future of the company.”

“Nothing changes. Business goes on as usual,” Lori, one of the few female board members replied. That callous b***h.

Someone coughed trying to get her attention towards the back, and that was when she noticed me sitting there. She sunk back down into her chair and refused to make eye contact with me.

Most of the board members were in attendance, but I did notice that my Uncle Simon wasn’t here. He was more of an honorary uncle because of his closeness with my father. Now that I thought about it, he wasn’t at the burial either. This was probably hitting him hard since they were practically inseparable.

Nate began to pass around some papers, with what I was assuming would be the figures on the shares. “Not quite. As some of you may know, Rowan Sommers stepped down as Co-CEO, Daniel James will remain CFO, and I will be working as sole CEO. With the untimely death of Benjamin Sommers, that does change the structure of the company.”

“Please do explain how this changes anything?”

“Mr. James if you please.” Nate sat down and Daniel stood up looking f*****g gorgeous. My tiny brain wasn’t sure who it wanted to focus on, and had me bouncing between staring at Nate’s golden eyes, or Daniel’s.

Daniel cleared his throat before speaking. “Rowan Sommers now holds the controlling share. Benjamin held thirty-eight percent, while Rowan held nineteen. Since he left his shares to Rowan, she now holds fifty-seven percent stake in the company. It’s basic mathematics.”

Everyone at the table fell silent. The dead stares some of them were giving me didn’t go unnoticed. I had no clue which one of these conniving mother fuckers it was that sent out the order. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Davis was right. I was sitting next to the person that was blackmailing my father.

I had to play along. Make them believe I hadn’t a clue about what was going on with the company's financials. If they were smart, they would end whatever they were doing and count their winnings. But greed is a b***h and they wouldn’t have their fill.

While Nate and Daniel continued discussing the changes that the restructuring would entail, I sat there watching everyone’s reactions. The slight hitches in their tones, the nervous ticks.

My first instinct was to flip the table and set the world on fire.

I’d get them. Or rather, Davis Buchanan would get them for me. It was only a matter of time before they slipped up. And I’d be waiting.

As soon as the meeting was over, Nate called me into his office. Everyone shuffled out and I made my way to the other side of the floor.

Once I was in the office I turned around to face Nate as he closed his door. “What do you want Peters?”

He walked past me and stood in front of his desk offering me one of the leather chairs. I took a seat and waited for him to sit in the chair next to me. “If I tell you what I want, I’d have to send Janet away for the afternoon. And I don’t think Daniel will enjoy hearing your mewling,” he smiled through his teeth.

“You told him!?” I practically yelled.

Nate leaned back into the chair crossing one leg over the other looking like he owned the world. “I didn’t have to,” he responded with a shrug.

I knew it was a bad idea, as it was happening, when I was leaving, when I was an ocean away. I knew. But I would still do it again, which only made me hate myself more.

Standing up from the chair I was ready to give him a piece of my mind. I didn’t even get the chance to open my mouth because in a blink of an eye, Nate was standing in front of me, looking down at me with my arm in his grasp.

I looked down at his hand on me, and that only reminded me of how he held me down while he f****d me. A rush of lust went through me all the way to my core that had me clenching my thighs together to ease the tension.

There was no way I could think like this. Nate was off limits for more than one reason. I knew it and he knew it, but I felt that was why we wanted this. And he did want this, I could see it in his eyes. He looked like a caged animal waiting to be set free.

Nate leaned down his lips grazing the shell of my ear sending tingles down my spine. “I’d watch my mouth if I were you,” he whispered to me.

“Or what?” my breath caught in my throat. Every word was a struggle to get out and he knew what he was doing to me.

He pulled me in closer, his other palm resting on my hip and I swear I nearly collapsed. “Or I’ll have to remind you who’s in charge,” he responded in a low tone.

I pulled back enough to where I could look him in the eyes, but even that was a challenge for me. “From what we discussed in that meeting, it’s me.”

“Only in the boardroom.”

I looked away from him, because the intensity of his gaze was melting me to the core. I was afraid of getting burned. My track record with men was anything but ideal. “Don’t look at me like that.”

He moved in closer, pressing me into the desk to where I was practically sitting on it. “Like what?”

“Like you’re remembering everything we did.”

Nate brought his hand towards my face and twirled a loose curl around his finger. His hand snaked its way towards the nape of my neck and he forced me to look up at him. “It’s hard to forget having you on your knees for me.”

My body trembled in excitement, because if I was being honest I was remembering everything he did. Everything I did for him. I hated myself for enjoying it.

In an attempt to create some distance, I pushed on his chest but he hardly budged. “You may have f****d me on my knees in bed, but I will never bow down to you outside of it.”

“What? You don’t like to be reminded of how good you were for me? You looked so pretty taking my c**k Rowan. Don’t you want to do it again?” He whispered onto my lips.

Nate held my chin up and kissed me so softly I could barely feel it. Before I could think this through, he kissed me full on the lips, my lips parting willingly allowing him to play.

He pushed me further onto the desk, one hand holding the back of my neck while the other explored over my body. My legs were curled behind him, trying to bring him closer to me. A muffled sound, somewhere in between a moan and a sigh escaped my throat. He had me melting into a puddle of want. I wanted him to continue telling me how good I was for him.

I allowed myself to get swept up in the lustful haze, that I forgot where we were until I heard the intercom from his phone go off.

“Mr. Peters, Mr. James would like to speak to you,” Janet spoke through the phone.

I pushed Nate away catching him off guard. “f**k. What am I doing?” Pushing my hair back I stood up not knowing what to do. My hand covered my mouth trying to get rid of the feeling of his lips on mine, or his tongue playing with mine. But it felt so f*****g good, that I wanted to keep doing it. I wanted to feel more.

I wasn’t sure if I craved Nate or if I wanted intimacy.

I knew one thing for sure, this was another mistake. I wouldn’t get what I needed on top of Nathaniel Peters’ desk.

Was I not learning anything?