His Games, Her Rules

DOMINIQUE

“Now I get why Leo was attracted to her at first glance. She’s a fox. A hot one at that.” Oliver says, grinning.

“And now she hates me because I didn’t call her. Can you believe that?” Leo shakes his head as he picks up the basketball and bounces it on the floor.

“Maybe you gave her the wrong impression.” I point out.

“What impression? That I wanted a relationship? She can’t be that daft. She was good looking and we were both horny. How could she expect a call from me? God, women are fucking confusing.” Leo groans as he tosses the ball at me and I catch it.

I bounce the ball on the court and pass it to Oliver.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Oliver says. “But knowing you, you may have whispered into her ear that you loved her the minute you slid into her. The things sex can do to you.” Oliver adds, chuckling.

“Fuck you, Ollie.”

Oliver chuckles and shoots a goal, right through the hoop.

“Stop being an asshole to my brother, Ollie,” I say, grinning.

“You act like you don’t have any emotion or whatnot. One day you’re gonna feel something other than pleasure, and I’m not talking about your usual emotion, I’m talking about the one that’s gonna mess with your head, and maybe then you’ll understand what it feels like loving someone.”

“Well, you’re gonna have to wait a long time.”

“Yeah, I did say that too. And then I met Nadia and everything else didn’t matter.”

“Until she broke your heart.” Oliver points out.

“And then I learned my lessons. There’s nothing wrong with falling in love, the toughest part is falling in love with the right person. The person who wouldn’t hurt you but love you unconditionally.” Leo says as he picks up the basketball. “Well, all that is past tense. Right now, all I care about is getting laid with beautiful women and making money.” He adds as he grins and then he throws the ball but it misses the hoop.

“Well, that’s the spirit,” Oliver says, picking up the ball and throwing it at me and I catch it.

“So you’re throwing a charity gala? For what exactly?” Leo asks.

“Asthmatic children. And not just any asthmatic child, the ones with no financial support. I traveled to Texas last week and I wasn’t happy with the rate of asthma attacks on children with no financial means. And this isn’t just Texas, I’m talking about the entire country. The Gray Foundation is supposed to be helping children with no finances and support, so I decided to organize a gala to help raise money and awareness.”

Oliver smiles at me as he says, “Boy, what happened to you five years ago really did change you, didn’t it? I mean, it’s not like we’re glad you came face to face with death, I’m just surprised at the man you’ve become. Five years ago you wouldn’t give a fuck about starting your own foundation or creating awareness for less privileged children. This is nice.”

What happened to me five years ago is something I don’t like talking about but I still have the scars to remind me of that day. I thought I was going to die. I was in a coma for a year and the doctors didn’t think I would survive it. I made sure there were no details of it on the internet and doctors were flown from outside the country to my penthouse in San Francisco.

Something like that is supposed to change a man. Growing up, I was selfish and a little carefree. Between my brother and I, I was the reserved one. From the start, I hated it when my personal life was discussed online, that’s more like Leo’s style. He likes public attention. I always kept to myself and I was cold toward people. I lived my life like I owned it. I could do whatever I wanted and nobody dared to question me.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

My father was not a rich man, and we weren’t poor either. Growing up, my father was a banker and the pay wasn’t much. My father worked hard to put food on the table while my mother spent her days complaining about how she didn’t deserve the life she was living. She wanted more. She wanted to go on trips like her friends. She wanted to sit on a yacht sipping margaritas and fly first class or even a private jet. She wanted a life my father couldn’t provide and when she couldn’t get it, she walked out on us. I was only 18 and Camilla was 12.

A few months after my mom left, my father was charged with fraud and company embezzlement. We weren’t expecting any of the charges and we didn’t know what to do. My father was the most honest man I’d known in my life and there was no way he would have embezzled company money worth millions of dollars and we wouldn’t know. There wasn’t enough proof that he really did it but there was nothing we could do. Dad spent two years in prison and as God would have it, it was later revealed the bank manager and another accountant were behind the embezzlement and they needed a fall guy. Dad was the perfect man for it. They knew they could do what they wanted and get away with it because they were rich.

I despised my mom for leaving, especially when we needed her the most. When Dad was in prison, I had to fend for my siblings. Camilla looked up to me and I did everything within my power to make life bearable for them since our father was in jail, while desperately wishing my mother would come back. But she didn’t. She saw the news on TV that her husband had been arrested and she didn’t bother to reach out to her children. The children she left behind to chase after luxury.

The world didn’t treat us nice. The years that followed were like a blur. And then I got rich, started The Gray Empire, a legal corporate entity, and founded a pharmaceutical company, PharmaCare, and other companies that answered to the conglomerate that I formed. Everything started going smoothly. My mother reached out and I told her to never call me again. I was popular, my face was in every business magazine, and the people around me acted like I owed them something when I owed them nothing. Before I got to the point where I am right now, I knew the world was not a friendly place, and every man was for themselves.

But then I woke up from a one-year coma and I realized I wasn’t the owner of my life. It doesn’t take much to kill a man and I was happy I was alive. I decided to give hope to the less privileged children with no means of financial support and lifelong illnesses and I was happy I was able to make an impact in society. The Gray Foundation was founded four years ago and I was happy I made that decision.

I haven’t seen my mom since she left. She had tried to reach out a few times over the years, but I didn’t care to reach back. I blocked her numbers and pushed every memory I had of her to the back of my head. I learned a lot of life lessons growing up and one of them was people don’t stay too long in your life. They’re always going to leave. I always keep people at arm’s length, ready and willing to drop them when need be. In the end, you’re always on your own and I learned that the hard way.

“I’m tired. We should call it a day.” I say.

“Yeah, me too. I’m supposed to pick up this Brazilian model later in the evening. We’re going on a date and then we’re gonna bang later.” Oliver says.

“So, what? She wants you to buy her dinner just so you can fuck?” I ask. Leo chuckles.

“Well, she’s one of those girls. You know? The ones who don’t want to feel like they don’t mean anything to you.”

“But she doesn’t mean shit to you. You just want to have sex.” I point out.

“Yeah, I know that. Sadly she doesn’t know that.” Oliver says.

Leo grabs the small duffel bag we came in with as we step out of the court to the parking lot.

“I’m a little curious and I’ve been meaning to ask, why exactly did you buy stock from St. Jose? Is it to get Robyn to fuck you?” Leo asks as we walk down the empty hallway.

“Why do you guys think I spent millions of dollars to purchase stock so that I could get Robyn in bed?”

“It was sudden, probably. I never thought you’d have an eye on St. Jose.” Oliver says.

“And also because Robyn isn’t like every other girl you’ve been with. And you see that too.” Leo says.

God, I hate it when they’re right.

“I’ve always wanted to buy shares from St. Jose but Aaliyah Summers couldn’t get the board to agree to it because they were doing fine. There were other three investors looking to put money in St. Jose too and it’s left for the board to decide who is more capable, proficient. As fate would have it, Aaliyah thought I was the best-fitting candidate and the others agreed. So now you understand why I bought shares from St. Jose. It’s a good investment.”

“And what does your little love interest think?” Oliver asks.

“She thought I bought shares just to annoy her.”

“Right. Because she hit your car and ran away. Interesting.” Oliver says, smirking.

“What are you smirking for?” I ask Oliver.

“Nothing. I think we are going to have to agree that Robyn is a hard nut. And you’re gonna crack and crack before she will let you in.” Oliver says.

“And you think I don’t know that.”

“In a way, she’s your perfect match. It’s not every day we see a woman who challenges you,” Leo says, grinning. “The women in your life are either interested in you because of your wealth, power, and fame, or they want to be the one who gets to tame your wild heart. But, Robyn, damn, pretty little vixen, doesn’t give a fuck about you and that just annoys you.”

“She’s attracted to me, I’m sure of that. But she hates me and that just makes everything difficult.”

“Maybe you just gotta up your game. She’s going to fuck you eventually, but first, she wants to stress the fuck out of you. I don’t know, I’m enjoying this little game you guys are playing.” Oliver says.

“She’s a one-man type of girl, Dom. You could tell by just looking at her. She’s that type of girl who would only fuck you when she gets to know you. Maybe if you want to win this little game of yours and get her to trust you enough to let you in, you just gotta play it the way she wants it. Get to know her.” Leo says. I turn to look at him and he gives me a small smile.

“Fuck me. Sex has never been this complicated.” I mutter, running my fingers through my hair.

“You’ve never met Robyn,” Oliver says, a shit-eating grin on his face.

Fuck, they are right. Robyn is nothing like the women I’ve encountered. She’s different and that terrifies me somehow. I want her, I want to have a taste of her and let my fingertips trail down her beautiful skin.

But there’s a problem, I fear her touch is going to be addictive. I’m afraid the day I’ll have a taste of her, I won’t be able to get enough.