Page 3 of Merciless Obsession

“I hate roses,” I informed him blandly.

“Okay, then let me try a different approach. Let me make you mine.”

“Excuse me? You know that’s not our arrangement.”

He chuckled and swiped his bottom lip with his thumb. “Arrangements can change, right?” His head cocked to the side.

Chewing the inside of my cheek, I continued to stare blankly at him.

I met James when I was twenty-one. My blog was doing well, I had sponsors who believed in my cause to expose the corruption in the city, but I wanted to do more which meant I needed more money. I made sure to keep my identity a secret when it came to my blog because I knew the things I talkedabout could come back and bite me in the ass later. If I wanted to take down the organization who murdered my sister, then I needed to stay hidden. James, however, was an exception. He originally hired me for some freelance work for him before I started offering my hacking services on a larger scale. One of the first things I noticed when I met him was how attractive he was. It didn’t matter to me that he was twelve years older. Sex was never about an emotional connection or anything. It was always just a way to get off, if I even did, and release some stress. James always tried to buy me material things I couldn’t care less about. He knew about my sister somewhat but not what I was doing behind closed doors. One day I told him to stop with all the gifts and instead invest in my business, more so my cause. I didn’t tell him everything but enough to where he agreed.

We continued to see each other and I made it known I didn’t want anything serious. We both were just wanting a good time. We never did anything outside the bedroom and never committed anything deeper than this. He didn’t even know my real name, only Ashley, the alias I went by.

One corner of his mouth lifted. “Why don’t you let me take you out then?”

My brows furrowed. “What?”

“Have you ever been out of Silver Stone before?”

I turned and reached for my phone that was silently lighting up on the bedside table.

“You’ve spent your whole life running away from commitment, right? That’s why you started that app I invested in, right?”

My hands stilled, fingers inches from my screen. His condescending tone made my muscles tense and a knot formed in my stomach.

“You don’t know anything about me.” I unlocked my phone and scanned the screen. Deadline reminders popped upinstantly. I had two hacking jobs I needed completed by the end of tomorrow night. One was a piece of cake; a woman had hired me to dig through her husband’s computer because she thought he was cheating. The second one would require a little more brain power, involving hacking into financial records and business plans between business partners. It wasn’t impossible but I had to make sure I did it right. Of course, I never made myself visible to anyone but I set up an untraceable portal where I could get job requests. The money was always turned into a digital currency that couldn’t be tracked back to me either.

“I know enough about you to know that you’ve wasted the majority of your twenties being alone. You’re too young to have that chip on your shoulders and—” I huffed out a laugh. No one except my best friend and James knew about my app and I wanted to keep it that way. James didn’t even know the main details, just that it was a hookup app. He always asked and I avoided the question. It was started under my alias, Ashley Smith, and a shell company on top of that.

“One date. It’s been five years and we’ve only ever met in this room. You don’t even let me come to your house. You can’t tell me you haven’t felt anything for me after all these years.”

I sighed. James wasn’t the only man I had sex with over the last five years. Occasionally, I would log onto my hookup app and meet with someone who was looking for a no strings attached arrangement. My only attempt at a relationship had been three years ago and it was draining.

“James, it’s not gonna work.”

“How do you know if we don’t try?”

“Because I do.” I scrolled through my phone. “We both agreed.”

“What if this isn’t what I want anymore. What if I’m ready for something deeper.”

I shook my head and tapped my screen a couple times. A source of mine had messaged me. Just as I was about to open the email from her, a text message came through. Confusion filled me seeing it was from an unsaved number. The only person I talked to frequently was my best friend, and unless she got a new number, hers was saved.

Unknown

Tsk. Tsk. You’re being a bad girl, busy bee. Someone’s gonna get punished.

I zoned James out and stared intently at the phone.

Me

Who is this?

My tongue wet my dry lips.

In due time.

Picture attached.