Inner Beast: An Enemies to Lovers Romance Read online

  I can see Marcus body vibrating in laughing. He turns and looks at me. “Ridiculous cavemen? Is that what you really think?”

  “Well from everything I’ve ever seen in sports films, yes I figured, cavemen. You grunt, run around bashing into other men, and running a ball for a goal. Seems like cavemen activity. You're only a few chest pounding moves away from full cave man status. Or Tarzan considering your love for towels.”

  Marcus bursts into one of the deepest belly laughs I’ve ever heard. Like I have said one of the most ridiculous things ever. I watch him wipe the tear from the outer corner of his eye.

  “What did I say that was so funny?” I say defensively.

  “A mixture of things,” He says. “But it's ok, it was rather adorable.”

  Marcus sits down on the floor grabbing one of the books that explains how to put the chair together. “There are a lot of steps to this.” He says. “This is going to take longer than a day to do.” He looks up to me with his brows scrunched.

  “Well, I probably would have had four chairs done by now if you hadn’t distracted me.” Marcus looks over at my assembled chairs as I have just finished the second one.

  “Yah.” He says. “Your probably right.”

  Marcus stands and walks out of the room.

  “Where are you going.” I yell after him.

  “Im un-distracting you.” he says. “I’ll be right back.”

  Fifteen minutes go by and I have just finishing the third chair when the door bell goes off. I hear male chatter, followed by the door slamming closed. Marcus walks back into the room with large brown paper bags. He says, “I figured I would get us food since its going to take me awhile to help you, could be at this all night.”

  I smirk, because honestly I forgot to eat before I came here and my stomach has been making all these horrendous sounds that have echoed off the walls.

  “Thank you.” I say. Marcus smiles and heads into the kitchen. I hear the clatter of dishes while I continue putting chairs together. Moments later Marcus re-enters the dining room placing a plate of Italian food beside me and a glass of red wine.

  “This smells amazing.” I say. “Thanks again.” I finish screwing the last bolt into this chair and set it with the other three. Marcus looks over at the chairs admiringly.

  “I like these.” He says walking over to them and running his hand along the grains of rustic wood. I chose charcoal stained pine pieces, rustic yet elegant. Perfect for the family feel and sturdy for the weight of a football player and the company they must keep. “Your good at this.” He says looking back at me. “Putting furniture together, I mean.” He finishes.

  “I should be,” I say smiling. “After all this is my job. In the beginning I didn’t have any staff so I did it all. The financials, the building, the designing, everything.”

  “Sounds like you're good at everything.” He says.

  “Nope, I was rather bad at the financials., but I’ve always been good at the design aspect and the building. I find putting furniture together comforting and soothing. There is structure to it, steps, and once you do it right you end up with something beautiful, something you can feel proud of that you put together. It’s also how I feel about every room that I design. When it's finished I can look around and feel proud that I did this. Seeing other people look at a room afterwards and seeing their face light up, that’s one of the most magical feelings. Probably sounds ridiculous, I'm sure running your ball to the goal post and the crowd yelling your name gives you the same sort of feeling.”

  “You really don't watch football do you.” He says.

  “No, it is that obvious?” I ask cringing.

  Marcus smirks and sits back down on the floor taking a big bite of his food before answering. “You don't get the terminology correct when you speak about it but it's refreshing. It’s nice to be around someone who isn’t rubbing your face in the stats of the game. It’s nice to be able to sit down with someone else and not talk about upcoming games, strategy and how I suspect the team will do this season. Stuff like that. But I do understand what you mean about feeling proud of your accomplishments.”

  I turn to another box and start working on opening it up. Marcus is not like I thought he would be. He isn’t self-centred, egotistical and full of himself. I pull all the pieces out laying them on the floor and sit back down in my station that I’ve made for myself on the floor. I look back over to Marcus who is busy examining the instruction book then picking up the pieces in front of him turning them about with scrunched brows. He looks lost.

  “How about we put ours together at this same time and I can talk you through it.” I say.

  “Do I look as confused as I feel about this?” He says looking at me shocked. “Your just so quick at this and you make it look easy.” He finishes.

  “I’ve also put enough table chairs together for half of this city to sit on.” I say jokingly.

  “Jeez.” He says looking down at all the pieces and rubbing the back of his neck. “Yah you better help me with this or else it will probably fall apart if someone sits on it.”

  I giggle and nod towards him. For the rest of the evening I talk him through putting the chairs together. Then we put the table together, the server and some of the little accent tables. He helps me with the level when we place the nails in the wall for some of the wall art and he does the heavy lifting when we start arranging the furniture in the room. He doesn’t get angry with me once when change my mind and and have him move the same side table four times before deciding to have it placed back in the first place we tried. When the room is finished we both stand back and look at it.

  “Wow.” He says. “It looks incredible.”

  “Yes. It does.” I say feeling proud as I had describe earlier. I pushed through and finished this room in one night. I lift my wrist and look at my watch. Three thirty in the removing it says. I groan knowing I still have to drive home, shower and then get up early tomorrow for my morning meeting with my staff. Marcus looks over at me noticing that something must be off.

  “Something wrong?” He asks. “If you need me to move another table I will but I think it looks incredible like this.”

  “No, it's not that.” I say. “I was just looking at the time.” I start walking over to where I left my purse. “I should get going I have a busy day tomorrow.” I say.

  “Marcus looks at the time and says “If you want you could stay here, I have a guest room… hmm but there is no furniture in there yet. I guess that’s the next room we need to work on if we're going to continue with these late nights of…” he looks at me and doesn’t say another word and I know why. There isn’t really a label to what we have been doing tonight. Furniture building, decorating, hanging out, flirting, enjoying each others company. There are words for it, just nothing either of us want to say out loud.

  “It’s ok. I’ll have Tony reach out to you in the next couple of days to discuss the next steps and the payment options.” I say starting to walk toward the front entrance. “I’ll have a few employees come by tomorrow, or later today, however you want to look at it, to pick up the boxes and plastic left over from the dining room.”

  “Ali..” He says. I stop walking and turn around.

  “You don't have to leave.” He says. “You can sleep in my bed, I can sleep on the floor.”

  “Marcus, you and I both know that is not a good idea.”

  Marcus stands before me, hands in the pockets of his sweats as he looks down to the floor. “Yah, you're probably right.” He says. “But, you think you could give me your number so I can check in with you. Make sure you make it home. I don't know if i'll be able to sleep knowing your driving home from my house this late into the night after I kept you awake with working on my house.

  “Marcus..” I say.

  “Come on Ali, nothing is going to happen from me checking in to make sure you're still alive. If you want me to wake Tony up at four in the morning to then call you
and check on you I will.”

  “Fine. I say reaching into my bag for my purse and handing it over to him. Give me your number and I will text you when I get home.”

  “Thank-you.” He says as he types his number into my phone. “Drive safe, please.” He says stepping closer towards me as he slips my phone back into my purse.

  “I will.” I say looking up towards his face. He looks exhausted. He reaches up and moves a hair away from my face before taking a step back.

  “Bye Ali.” He says. I turn around and open the door. “Bye Marcus.” I say as I walk through the door and close it behind me.

  The fresh crisp air hits my skin. It's the first night where it's actually felt chilly outside. My skin erupts with goosebumps and I shiver under the breeze. The stars are out and twinkle. I look up into the sky and admire them. Where I live in the city I don't see the stars. I walk over to my coop and leave Marcus behind. Cranking the music and singing to keep myself awake to get home. When I get home I walk into my condo, kick off my shoes and crawl into my bed again without changing. It seems to be my new habit. I fall asleep instantly at peace and happy with everything that’s happened. Happy with the result of the dining room and oddly enough the company in that dining room. I don’t realize I’ve done anything wrong until one hour later when I hear banging on my front door.

  Chapter 10

  Marcus.

  I paced around the main floor of my house continuously until almost four am, then I went upstairs and sat on the edge of my bed staring at my phone. At four fifteen I called Tony, I called him repeatedly until he answered. He was so groggy when he answered the phone “hhe..lll..ooo” he said. Obvious that I woke him but I could care less as I boomed back into the phone.

  “WHATS ALI’S NUMBER!!”

  I can hear Tony repositioned and clearing his throat.

  “Excuse me.” He says. “Who is this?”

  “TONY, number, now.”

  “Marcus? Why are you calling so early in the morning?”

  “FOR FUCK SAKES TONY!!, I need Alexis’s number right now it’s important.”

  “I’m not supposed to give it to you, she gave strict instructions.”

  “Tony, she could be in a ditch dead somewhere right now. She left my house over an hour ago, she was supposed to message me when she got home. She hasn’t gotten in touch with me. I think she will understand, please all I need to know is she’s ok.”

  I hear rustling on the phone. Followed my Tony breathing into the phone again, you can hear the apprehension in his voice. “Ok, you have a pen?” He asks.

  “Yes.” I say. Tony raps off the number and I hang up without thanking him. I punch in the number and wait, ring ring ring. Nothing. I hang up and try again. Ring ring ring. Nothing, I leave a voicemail this time. I dial again, and again, after the tenth time with no answer I leap from the bed, run down the stairs throwing on my shoes and grab my keys. I have never driven so fast the entire way checking all the ditches, checking the alleys when I get to the city. Nothing when I get to her complex I scan the outdoor parking lot, still nothing. My anxiety is peaked. I worry the worst. When I enter the lobby and see the elderly old man again heading the desk he lifts his hat to me. I gave him a bunch of free swag and signed a bunch of things for his kids the last time I was here so we’re acquainted.

  “Is she here ?” I ask him in a panic.

  “Yessir, she came in awhile back looking quite exhausted.” He says.

  “Thanks” I say running by to the elevator. A swirl of emotions rushes through me. She’s home so I feel relief, happiness, then the rage settles in. She’s home and she never checked in, she didn’t answer her phone. She completely disregarded me and the agreement we had. The elevator dings and I rush off onto her door. When I get to her door I don’t hold back banging onto that door so hard I can see if vibrating. I will probably wake up the whole floor, her neighbours will be pissed but they can blame her and her blatant disregard for anyone other than herself. I continue to hang on the door, over and over. A little old lady down the hall opens her door and peaks through. I smile and wave to her. Realizing that someone may call the cops if I keep this up much longer, and the press would have a hat day with this. I take my phone out of my pocket and dial her number again, just as it starts to ring again the door opens. There she stands, hair going in every which direction, her makeup rubbed across the side of her face. Eyes squinting half open. She’s still wearing the same clothes as when she left the house. My anger dissipates instantly, my shoulders slump. I actually feel terrible that I’ve woken her now.

  “What, what are you doing here?” She says rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

  She straightens up shooting her head towards me, realization dawning on her face.

  “Shit.” She whispers looking up the roof then back to me. “I forgot to message you.”

  “Yah, you did.” I tread carefully.

  “Well now that I know you’ve made it home safe I’ll leave.” I say backing up from the door.

  Ali reaches out grabbing my arm, I turn around looking at her.

  “Wait.” She says.

  “Ali.” I grumble.

  “Don’t.” She says as she pulls on my arm, pulls me into her place. Pulling me in close, so close that I can feel the heat from her body against mine. I don’t understand what is happening at this moment all I know is her hand is touching my skin, her voice is raspy and she’s pulling me into her place. The tension has been building between us and although we vowed to keep things professional If she makes the first move I will devour her. Ravish her, and ruin her for all other men.

  Ali walks into her place pulling my behind her. I’m still wearing my shoes as I follow her through the open kitchen/living area into the hallways, down the hallway. My heart rate picks up, my palms are sweaty. This is Ali, I’ve known her since college. She was my sisters roommate and best friend. When we get to her room she lets go of my arm walking ahead of me. She turns around when she gets to the bed and starts stripping her clothes off. I raise my arms placing my hands on the doorframe. Trying to keep myself from entering this room, from making a mistake. Ali has always treated me like the mistake that never happened and now I feel like I’m taking advantage of her. She’s not thinking straight. Her dress falls from her body landing at a heap around her ankles. She’s left standing in front of me wearing only her delicate lacy bra and underwear. My grip around the frame tightens and I can feel the wood splintering under my hands. My cock aches, my heart pounds.

  I can’t. She deserves better I think. Ali reaches her hand up behind her back and I take this moment to reach forward for her door handle and close the door between us.

  “Ali, we can’t do this.” I say through the door. “I want to, please know, I really want to. But she shouldn’t.”

  I don’t hear anything back through the door so I take this as my cue to leave. I bang my head a couple of times off the door lightly. “I’m sorry Ali. Goodnight”

  I back up from the door and walk to the front entrance hoping the entire time that she will open the door and agree with me. That she will think I did the honourable thing because right now my dick hates me. My heart feels uncertain. My mind is confused. When I get to the door I pause but after several moments without a sound or any movement within the house I open the door and leave.

  My body leaves but my heart, it feels like maybe I left it there. I don’t know what she is doing to me but she’s has crept under my skin and I wonder if I’ve lost her before I even had the chance to have her.

  Chapter 11

  Alexis 26 years old

  I wake up at seven in the morning wearing my bra and underwear laying on top of my blankets. I’m confused as I had the strangest dream and I’m pretty certain I fell asleep when I got home in my dress.

  I dreamt that Carter showed up, that he came for me, and for some reason I gave myself to him. I don’t remember anything else after that therefore it was anticlimactic. I pi
ctured him just like he was at seventeen and it’s odd to think of my body nine years later while his stayed exactly the same, but that’s dream land I guess.

  I busy myself showering quickly, fixing my face, doing my hair. I notice the time on the wall shows seven forty five and I realize if I don’t leave now I’m going to be late for my eight am staff meeting. I grab my phone without looking at it. Throw it in my bag and grab a charger because I didn’t plug it in last night. I rush out the door and down to the lobby. Marsha stands at the desk and waves me to me as I walk through. I smile and wave back.

  Once out on the sidewalk I hail a cab to cut time, it would add extra time for me to commute and look for a parking space. Today I just want to be a passenger. Try to destress and reduce the amount of things I actually have to do.

  When I arrive at my little shop it’s exactly eight am and I pray that one of my wonderful workers brought me a coffee as I didn’t have time to make one or stop for one today.

  I walk into the building and head straight to the back where we have a conference room set up. Everyone is already sitting around the table making me feel tardy. I rush over to my seat.

  “Sorry guys, I thought I got here right on time. How long have you been waiting?”

  I look around the room and notice everyone is staring at me. I scrunch my brows in confusion.

  “What?” I ask.

  I look down at my outfit making sure that nothing is inside out or dirty. I don’t notice anything wrong when Tony speaks up.

  “We didn’t know if you would be here this morning.” He says.

  I look at them in utter confusion. “Why would I miss a meeting that I asked for?” I say to him.

  “Well after everything that happened last night I figured you would be otherwise occupied.” He says.

  “What are you talking about?” I ask. Still not feeling anymore reassured.

  “You know everything with Marcus last night.” He says as if that sums up everything.