Caged Read online

  Chapter Four

  Adeline

  I fight not to turn around when I go trouncing off after he just owned me with one kiss. Seriously, what could he possibly see in me? He is so wrong about other guys checking me out, but I wasn’t going to point that out to him right now. That’s a conversation to have when he realizes he is blind and insane. Until then, I will take the kisses he has to offer. Especially if they are like that last one I got. I jump onto an elliptical and still fight the urge to turn around to watch him walk to his half of the gym. There are two way mirrors where he can flip a switch and you can see into the other room, or if he wants privacy he can flip the switch and he can still see out, but no one can see him. I run for about two miles and decide I want to find something else to do. With two wrists that are down and out I don’t have many options. I find a weight bench that is facing the right direction so I can do leg presses and watch Preston. He has the flip switched so anyone can see that he is in there. I walk up to the machine and look at the weights that are currently on it. Well, it’s not like I can lift those weights off, so scratch that ide-. “Do you want me to change the weights for you?” “Oh you don’t have to do that. I can just find something else to do.” “No worries, I saw your wrists I figured you would need a little help.” “Thanks I would really apprec…” “I got it.” I snap my head to the side and see Preston standing there. No shirt. Holy moly. “Dude, I already offered her help. It’s not a problem.” Did this guy have a death wish? Could he not see the look on Preston’s face, let alone the beast that is all Preston? “Back off my woman, man. I said I would help her.” “Preston!” That was coach. Uh oh. “Preston, can you just change the weights for me and go back to training. Coach is going to kill you.” With that the guy looks to Preston. “I didn’t realize she was yours man.” “Yea, well now you do.” With that Preston moved the weights around angrily, gave me a pointed “I told you so” look, and headed back to his training room. Well then. I finish my reps on the leg press and head over to an open treadmill. These are up close to Preston’s room so I get to run while I’m watching him in his element. I know he saw me get on because he gave me one of his cocky smirks that told me he knew I was watching him. Well, seems he is over the latest drama. I find myself running another three miles before I run out of ideas of what to do. Preston had told me I could sit in on some of his training so I think I may just do that. I walk over, open the door, and find a seat on a mat in the corner. I was extra quiet so I don’t think they even realize I am there. I’m shocked after the little hangover I had this morning how amped up I am. I think that Preston gives me an adrenaline rush. Is that even possible? I know that Adrionna is never going to believe that this is my life right now. I’m watching Preston spar with another man and it is clear that they are learning new techniques and Preston is holding back a little bit. I really don’t like fighting, but there really is some kind of an art form to what they’re doing. I sneak a little closer to get a better look when I feel someone come up beside me. “He’s doing well today. I hear he had a good breakfast.” I laugh lightly and look up to the guy next to me. He looks just like Grant, but I know it isn’t him “Uh, well it was my first time cooking with boring egg whites, so I did what I could.” “You can cook me breakfast anytime, babe.” “I’m sorry obviously you aren’t Grant, but I’m guessing they neglected to tell me there are two of you.” He chuckles lightly and I look up into his eyes. For a second I thought I was looking up into Preston’s eyes. Seriously, another relative? “I’m Gavin.” “Adeline.” “Know that babe.” Oh wow. Three of them total. Their mom must be a saint. I wonder how old Preston is. “You have my brother twisted up like no other. I had to come check it out for myself. Now I see what it is.” I laugh and apparently attracted some attention because next I hear, “You keep hittin on my girl and you can come in here so I can keep hittin on you.” To this everyone in the room turned to look at me. Lovely. I glare at Preston as Coach makes his way over to me. “Addy, howsabout you come stand with me and I can teach you some of the things that Preston is doing.” “Sure, I’d like that. Gavin, nice to meet you.” “You too, Adeline.” He says this with a shake of his head as I walk away with Coach. Preston keeps sparring as if nothing has gone on around us, but everyone is still staring at me. Awkward. “Addy, do you see how his partner keeps trying to get him to the mat?” “Yea.” “Well, he is a better grappler than Preston. He wants him in his weak spot so he can overtake the match.” “Grapple gentlemen.” To that they both go to the floor. “Preston’s first challenger is a great grappler. He will do everything he can to get Preston to the ground.” I nod. Fascinated by the technique involved. Not feeling at all like I was going to be sick. It was all strategic. There was no violence involved at this point. I’m sure it’s a little different when he actually has an opponent he wants to beat in there with him, but this? I can totally handle this. “The move Preston is about to make is newer to his practice sessions. It’s called an Anaconda choke. See how he has him from the front headlock position? He will push his strong arm past the neck and under the armpit before locking it with his other bicep. This will block the blood flow from the opponent’s neck.” To that a small gasp escapes my mouth. “Don’t worry kiddo. No one will get hurt. He will tap out before he actually loses consciousness.” I could see the color leaving the man’s face as he tapped his hand on the mat. Preston quickly released and they stood back up. He came over to the corner of the ring closest to us. “Baby, you ok? You look white as a ghost.” To that I turn around and run out of the room. I think I’m going to be sick so I run right into the women’s locker room. Right to the toilet I throw up my breakfast. I am such a wuss. That’s when I hear, “Did you see the way he was with her? He wouldn’t even take me to lunch two days ago and he comes walking hand in hand with her today? She won’t last long that’s for sure. She won’t know the first thing to do to keep him.” “I know, but seriously when that guy was trying to help her and he came over all protective? What was that about? She doesn’t even look that special.” “I know I mean the natural look works for some girls, but she had to put like zero time into her appearance this morning.” Seriously? Did these girls not have lives? I would not be a victim to another person. I step out of the bathroom and go to wash my hands. Before they can see it’s me I speak, “Just so you know, I didn’t have time to put more makeup on because Preston was rushing me after we ate a nice homemade breakfast together.” That should do it. I don’t even look in their direction I just walk out and run into a brick wall. “Baby, are you ok?” “Yea, just lost my breakfast. When I saw that guys face start to go white I just, I don’t know got freaked a little. I’m ok go back to training.” “Ok I don’t have too much longer before we can go get some lunch. When we come back before my second session we will have your first lesson. Coach is going to help out.” Great. I nod and go to walk around him. “Are you sure you’re ok?” “Yes, Preston I am fine. Can we go back to it, please?” Just then the bleach bitch twins come out of the bathroom. Lovely. They both look at me and then hurry and look the other way. Preston definitely saw them because I heard him mutter “shit” under his breath. “Yea, shit. Now, please can we go?” “Yea, I’ll give you that play for now. But, later, we’re going to talk, yeah?” “Sure.” In the next millennium. He walks us in and flips the switch once we’re on the other side. Well, at least the bleach bitch twins can’t see us. It doesn’t take too much longer before Preston is grabbing my hand and we are heading off to lunch. I didn’t even ask I just assumed we were walking across to Ed’s. I was right. We walked right over and Alyssa seats us. She gives me a “What the hell” look and I give her an “I have no idea” look back and we give each other a smirk. Preston pulls me from my thoughts with “Ok, so what did she say?” Jumping right into it, huh? “Do we have to talk about this?” “Yes.” “I figured. It’s really not anything worth repeating. I handled it. I’m fine.” “Fine or not I wanna know how many steps back that bitch pushed us. I can se
e your wall is already higher than it was this morning.” Wonderful. “It’s not. I’m really ok. This whole thing has just been moving at the speed of sound and I’m realizing we have a lot to learn about each other.” “I agree. 100%. The issue being that we should be learning that stuff from each other. Not outsiders.” “Ok, I’ll give you a recap of the conversation I heard just after puking my brains out. Basically, I’m not a natural pretty and I didn’t put much effort into my appearance this morning, I won’t have the ability to keep you interested for long, and I’m not that special.” “Are you kidding me? All of that happened while you were in the bathroom for like three minutes?” “Yes, including the part where I came out and told her that the reason I didn’t have time to put too much effort into my appearance this morning was because we were having a homemade breakfast together.” His eyebrow lifted as he said “You said that?” “Well, yeah?” “My baby is feisty.” “I had just thrown up my really good breakfast which didn’t taste as good coming back up by the way. I was in no mood to deal with the bleach bitch twins, and I definitely didn’t want to hear about your old sex exploits even if they happened the night before I met you.” “Jesus, did she say that?” “Well, she said she couldn’t even get you to take her to lunch two days ago, I assume that was after a night together.” “Shit, I don’t know how to have this conversation. I’ve never had to justify myself to anyone.” “You don’t have to justify yourself to me. She is pretty, and definitely willing. I’m sure it was an easy decision.” “Yea, easy. Listen to me, Amber was a onetime thing. Any woman that I had before you, was a onetime thing. I’ve never seen a woman two days in a row. Most of the time they didn’t even make it to the next morning. That sounds harsh, but that’s the reality of my life before you.” “Which brings me to my question of the day. Why me? I don’t honestly get it?” “That is one of the reasons, you don’t even realize how beautiful you are. You also don’t see how sweet and innocent you look when your eyes peer through your long eyelashes up at me. So trusting, and perfect.” “I am not perfect. Look at the hot mess you had to walk in on yesterday.” “Yea, but that wasn’t you that was your dickhead boss.” “Ok, well everything you said was nice, but it still doesn’t change me not understanding it. You are a man with apparently a lot of experience, and I’m well…me. I have like zero experience with any of this. How old are you?” “I’m almost twenty-seven.” “Wow, your mom is a saint. God bless her.” He chuckles loudly. “What do you mean you have like zero experience with any of this?” Crap. I did say that didn’t I? I’m pretty sure my eyes bugged out of my head. “Baby.” “The boyfriend who hit me was the only boyfriend I’ve ever had. Obviously that didn’t go well.” “You haven’t dated since then?” “No. I wasn’t lying when I said I don’t date. Ever.” “I see that now. I thought you were exaggerating.” “Nope.” “Well, we can learn together.” Yea, except he at least has sexual experience. I don’t have any experience at all. “Yea, except you have had plenty of women.” “So, can I ask you a personal question?” “Sure, it doesn’t mean I’ll answer.” He smirks at me before asking “how inexperienced are we talkin?” “Well, let’s just say the first boyfriend in a month got about as far as you have in a day. Wait that makes me sound slutty. Let’s just say I am extremely inexperienced.” “Are you a virgin?” “Yes.” “How old are you?” “I’m twenty-five, and yes it’s possible when the first man you ever loved unconditionally beat you senseless for eighteen years, and the first guy you let yourself see after that hit you after one month, a person tends to shut down and shut out any male contact.” “That’s definitely understandable.” Uh oh. Is he shutting down? Of course he is. What guy would want to deal with a twenty-five-year-old virgin? I need to get out of here. "Now, hold on a second. You just dropped a bomb here, babe. Don’t bolt. Give me some time to process this information.” “Sure, I just need to use the restroom.” Great, leaving Ed’s without getting to eat. Again. What is with us? We can’t do this; we can’t even make it through a single morning together. I run to the bathroom and I figure once I’m done there I will sneak out, catch a cab to my car and head home. I come out of the bathroom and run straight into a wall of muscle. I’m feeling a little déjà vu from this morning. “What are you doing?” “Me? Stopping you from running to your car. Now come sit and eat lunch with me. We have plans for this afternoon, remember?” I roll my eyes at him. He totally knew my play and that makes me feel a little predictable. I come back to the table and wait for our food to arrive, but I do this in total silence. I can tell that he is looking at me, but I refuse to look away from the window. “Babe.” “Hm.” “Babe, look at me.” “What?” “Adeline.” My eyes automatically snap to him because of the authority he used in his voice. I curse myself for being so weak. “What Preston?” “Listen, you caught me a little off guard, but this is completely ok. Actually for me it’s more than ok. Knowing that no other man has had you makes me happy. I hate the thought of someone else’s hands on you.” My eyes melt a little at his response. He may be lying, but it was a really nice thing to say. I nod my head afraid to speak, and give him a little smile.

  Preston

  Christ a virgin. She is perfect. How do I taint something like that? As much as I want her, can I be the guy to take such a precious thing from her? I haven’t been with a virgin since my first time. I know that if I have her that way there is no way I will ever let her go. Ever. Am I ready for that kind of commitment? If you asked me two days ago I would’ve said hell no. But, today? I think I just might be ready. Now, just to convince her that we are good together. That, may take a little more work.

  Chapter Five

  Adeline

  He looks determined as we make it through my lesson. It doesn’t take long since there is so little we can do with my arms being the way they are. He does teach me the basics and to say I am excited is an understatement. I don’t have any more bleach bitch twin run-ins so my day is going pretty smoothly. They set me up in Coach’s office so I can make the calls that I need to make as I wait for Preston to finish his last training session for the day. Apparently I am to stay here until he is ready to roll out. I hit up most of my writers and let them in on what went down yesterday. Immediately everyone, but two jumped on board. Even the two that I thought would immediately say no said they would think about it. I’m sure they are unsure about how it would look to stay with a publishing company when there is a known criminal running it. With that, I call my assistant Ryleigh and leave a message for her to call me back as soon as possible. Just before I go to stand my phone rings. Automatically assuming it’s Ryleigh I answer “Hey girl, I have great news.” “Call your boyfriend and his family off Adeline. You will pay for the position you have put me in you stupid little whore.” “James, I don’t understand why you are being like this. I have never given you mixed signals. I have always told you no. Leave Preston out of this.” I don’t know if he just finished his workout, but he has horrible timing as I watch Preston open the door to Coach’s office and walk in. He looks like he just got out of the shower. “I’m telling you right now, if you think you can just leave me and take your writers with you, you will have a lawsuit as big as your ass.” “James, I don’t listen to idle threats. You have no hold on my writers. They are mine. You can’t do anything about that. The lawsuit you plan to file will do nothing but waste your time and money. So if you feel the need to do that then so be it. But I swear to God leave Preston and his family out of it.” That is when I should have noticed the feel of the room change. I look up to see tension rolling off of Preston as he comes toward me and takes my phone. I’m not sure what James was saying to me, but from the looks of it, it was not good. “You listen here motherfucker. Come near her again and you’re done. This call is being recorded and you are so screwed. We will see you in court.” With that he hit the end call button and tossed my phone on the desk. He comes right to me and pulls me in for a hug. “You did great, baby. Why didn’t you come get me?” “I thought it was Ryleigh. If I ha
d known, it was him I wouldn’t have answered. I had just called her to tell her that I got almost all of my writers on board with switching to just me full time.” “Babe, this is great news.” “Yea, but he ruined it.” “Does he have any grounds for a lawsuit?” “Not with my writers. They are all under contract, but their contracts are null and void if I leave the company. I made sure to put that in there because I knew I wanted to branch out on my own one day.” “My baby is a smart cookie.” “Not that smart. I let him get to me. I shouldn’t have given him the satisfaction of getting me riled up.” “You did great. I was pissed I shouldn’t have grabbed the phone. The things he said to you when I was on the phone though were not ok. The threats he made were personal. This ends now.” “Was that call really recorded?” “Yeah, yesterday after he showed up at your house I had Grant tap the phone line. I was going to tell you today at lunch, but we got off topic.” I roll my eyes at that as he pulls me closer. “I want to protect you. I want you to feel safe. He will not get near you.” I nod my head, and because of the conviction in his voice I almost believe him. My phone starts ringing and I pray that it really is Ryleigh. I look at the caller ID and see that it is “Hey girl.” “Hey, please tell me you have good news. I left work early. James showed up and was throwing a huge temper tantrum. I can’t stay there.” “Girl, no need. Pack your things. I don’t have an office space locked down yet, but we’re doing this. With the writers I locked down today I can afford you too so that is always a plus!” I hear Preston give a light chuckle. I get off the phone with a shrieking Ryleigh and turn to Preston. “I want to show you something.” Uh oh. “I don’t want you to think I am overstepping, but I can help even if it is temporary.” I nod, unsure of where this is going. “Come with me.” Like I had a choice. He had my hand and he pulls me out the door. We walk outside and go to a connected building. He puts the key in and opens the door. “It’s empty, I own it. Use it, do whatever you need to do with it. Meet clients wherever, but at least you and Ryleigh will have an office.” “Ok, well we can pay rent.” “That’s not necessary.” I look at him trying to convey something that says I need to do this. “If you need to feel like you’re doing something then pay what you can and I will hold it in an account for remodeling the place.” “It’s too much, Preston.” “The place is sitting here empty. Someone might as well use it.” “You’re serious.” “Deadly. Plus, this will give me the ability to keep an eye on you.” He winks at me as he finishes showing me the perfect office space for Ryleigh and I. “I don’t know what to say.” “Just say you’ll use it and start doin what you gotta do to get in here.” “Thank you Preston, and I will pay you rent.” He nods and starts heading for the door. I stop him and pull him back toward me as I throw my arms around his neck and lean up to kiss him. Not that I can actually get to his mouth without him bending toward me. Thankfully he does and I get the kiss I was wanting. “Well, if that’s how you’re payin rent consider your first month paid in full.” I give him a smile as he says, “Ready for me to take you to your car?” I nod, “Okay, let’s head out.” With that we’re off to grab my car and apparently spending the evening together.