Systematic Siege: Provocative Tendencies #2 (SSPT #2) Read online

  He squeezes harder. “I’ll give you this video and you’ll do with it what you need to do. But no one can find out that you got it from me.”

  “Let me go!”

  Stephen leans closer, his expressing twisting into something scary. “Do you hear me, Kaylee? No one ever finds out.”

  “Okay! Okay! Let me go, you fucking psycho!”

  He does, his face transforming with a friendly smile. “Good. Now go get your laptop so I can transfer this video.”

  Shaking, I scramble off the bed.

  “Oh, and Kaylee? One more thing. Don’t ever, ever call me a psycho again, babe. People tend to get hurt when they call me that.”

  32

  I googled him.

  For the first time in the last seven years, I ran a search on Andrew Drevlow.

  I should have left the office. After finishing my work for the day early, I should’ve just gotten up, left this building, and gone straight home. Maybe then I could have talked myself out of it, convinced myself to ignore the temptation.

  It’s so cold in here. Has to be. I can’t stop shaking.

  Can’t get the articles and their titles out of my mind, either.

  “Andrew Logan Drevlow, heir to Drevlow Systems Incorporated, in a coma after a fiery crash.”

  “Three weeks later, and Ronald Drevlow’s son remains on life support—doctors say chances of survival are minimal.”

  “One of New Jersey’s most prominent heirs awakens from coma.”

  “Andrew Drevlow—will he ever walk again?”

  It had been splashed all over the news for months straight and I never knew.

  I became that good at isolating myself.

  So Andrew Drevlow almost died six years ago. I don’t know the details of the crash, didn’t bother reading the articles. I only read the headlines. That was more than enough.

  I’m having a violent physical reaction to what I read and it’s confusing me. I don’t care that he almost died.

  I. Don’t. Care.

  My stomach heaves, as if to say, “The hell you don’t.”

  That crash, however it happened, had nothing to do with me. And as far as I’m concerned, it was probably karma well-earned.

  The thought feels so wrong. I’m disgusted with myself for thinking it.

  Which makes no freaking sense. This is Andrew Drevlow! Why should I feel bad?

  Sickened, confused, I grab all my things and leave my office. The elevator ride down is its own special type of hell. I keep expecting to see Andrew and my heart races every time the thought crosses my mind.

  My new position came with a reserved parking spot at the lowest level of the building. It seemed convenient at first, but now I’m apprehensive. Surely, Andrew’s spot is also down here.

  How am I going to avoid bumping into him?

  You’re not going to avoid it, you dumbass. You work for him!

  I’m so preoccupied, that at first, I don’t hear my name being called.

  “Lexi!”

  It’s Paul.

  Fuck, I don’t want to see him. He’s here because of me. I didn’t ask him to follow me to this company, but I didn’t do enough to deter him, either.

  With no other option but to face him, I turn.

  He jogs up to me. “Are you okay?”

  I’m not going to bother answering that question. “Paul, I’m sorry, but I really have to go.”

  “What’s going on between you and Mr. Drevlow?”

  A million thoughts swirl around in my head—a million different denials. His question catches me so off guard that it paralyzes me.

  Why on Earth would he ask me that?

  Paul seems to read my shocked facial expression. “You should’ve seen him when I mentioned your name. It killed him, Lexi.”

  I shake my head. Denial. Denial. Denial.

  Paul’s brow furrows, his dark blue eyes worried. “Is he the one, Lexi? Is he the reason I could never truly have you?”

  He knows about Stephen. What he did to me. It’s the reason he’s on this quest for vengeance with me.

  But I never, ever told him about Andrew.

  “I—I can’t talk about this right now. I have to go.” Like the coward I am, I run away from him, heading straight to my car.

  I’m a mess. Out of control. I was supposed to feel nothing when I saw Andrew again. Instead, I’m feeling too many different things.

  It’s almost like I’m two steps away from a mental breakdown.

  That demon that once possessed me, made me believe I couldn’t take my next breath if I didn’t have him, is on my heels. It chases me. Torments me.

  Reminds me that the addiction never truly went away. It’s insidious. A virulent presence deep in my bone marrow.

  I’m helpless. Once again drowning in a sickness that has destroyed me one too many times.

  It’s my fault that I remained on the path leading to Stephen. That I let him convince me he truly hadn’t known about the video. Every decision I made at the age of eighteen and onward led me to the pain I endured under Stephen.

  Yet, I can’t deny that Andrew’s actions set me on the path in the first place. His father tricked my father, and then Andrew tricked me.

  I despise myself for the way I feel, for the fact that I feel anything other than hatred for him.

  My brain disengages from my body. Disassociation. I can’t deal with all of this. Taking out my keys, I hit the button and unlock my car.

  Footsteps reach my ears.

  Years of trauma and hypervigilance take over, tensing all my muscles, preparing me for a fight.

  “Lexi.”

  Andrew.

  I debate opening the door, jumping into my car, and speeding like a devil out of here.

  But I’ll have to face him tomorrow, won’t I?

  Limbs numb, I face him. Concern flares, and it shouldn’t. What does it matter that he seems different, that the look in his eyes is abnormal?

  Warped, frightening. So intense that heat explodes through my veins, turning a freezing body molten in a second.

  He backs me into my car. I shouldn’t let him.

  I do.

  Can’t stop it.

  I still want this man.

  And he knows it.

  “You shouldn’t look at me like that, Lexi. Not if you want me to keep my hands to myself.” He flattens his hands on the window by my head.

  I don’t look away. This darkness in him is too fascinating to ignore.

  He ducks his head, lips grazing mine. “Tell me to move away. Tell me not to kiss you.”

  I don’t.

  I see a flash of a smirk, so similar to the cocky one I remember, before his mouth comes down on my own.

  Andrew and Lexi’s story will continue is SSPT #3, the third episode in the

  Systematic Siege: Provocative Tendencies

  Serial

  Other books by N. Isabelle Blanco

  Allure Series

  Destructively Alluring

  Allure Magnified

  Compulsions Series

  Addictive Lunacy

  Compulsive Fascinations

  Need Series (with K.I. Lynn)

  Need

  Project Sapphire Series

  The Exchange Part 1

  Retaliations Series

  A Debt Repaid

  Szolites Series

  Blood Flows Deep in the Empire

  Blood Stained Tranquility

  About the Author

  N. Isabelle Blanco was born in Queens, NY (USA). At the age of three, due to an odd fascination with studying her mother’s handwriting, she began to read and write. By the time she’d reached kindergarten, she had an extensive vocabulary and her obsession with words began to bleed into every aspect of her life.

  N. Isabelle Blanco spends her days working as an author, web programmer, marketer, and graphic designer. That is when she isn’t handling her “spawn”, as she calls her son, and brainstorming with him about his future career as a comic boo
k illustrator.

  Teasers for all of N. Isabelle Blanco’s

  upcoming works are now up at

  www.houseofmalfunction.com & www.nisabelleblanco.com