Read Story: SEASON 2 EPISODE 115

Knowing Natalie and me, neither one of us was likely going to commit to anything tonight, if at all, after what I planned to disclose to her. “Probably not.”

“Good,” Rose said smugly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“It means,” Charity said, “that when the party guests leave or pass out, Rose and I are cooking up something a little special.”

“Oh really?” I asked.

“Yes, really.” Rose’s warm breath near my ear caused a tingle to run down my spine.

“Any spoilers?” I asked, turning my head so that our lips almost brushed each other. The dancer didn’t pull away like most people would have. She simply stared into my eyes and blew gently, teasing me.

“Nope!” Charity said. “Just drink plenty of fluids!”

What a way to celebrate coming home.

“Can’t wait!”

The song ended a few minutes later, with everyone leaving the dance floor. Natalie immediately spotted me flanked by Rose and Charity, and she approached, all smiles as she wiped at her forehead.

“Hey! Did you see us out there?” She asked, her gaze lingering briefly on Rose, who still had her head propped against my shoulder. Charity stood on the other side, her tits brushing my arm as she chewed on her cup.

“I did!” I said. “I didn’t know you could move like that!”

Natalie ducked her head, tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear, and blushed. “Thanks. I enjoy dancing in my living room. It’s a great workout.”

“I can think of a few other workouts,” Rose muttered.

“Hm?” Natalie said.

“Nothing!” Rose straightened and held out a hand, introducing herself.

They spent the next few minutes talking to each other while I chatted with Charity, Emily, Natashya, and Richie. Emily and I insisted that Richie take one of my apartments so that he didn’t always need to stay at the dorms. Ian showed up and cheered on the idea, saying that Richie would never be clean enough for him, and it would give them enough breathing room so that they could remain friends.

Once I'd secured a yes from my brother, I begged off from everyone else and collected Natalie. As we made our way toward the garden, I glanced over my shoulder to see Rose and Charity watching our departure, both of them with shit-eating grins on their faces.

I couldn’t help but wonder what they were planning.

“Where are you taking me?” Natalie asked as we stepped into the garden.

“I wanted to talk with you before it got too late,” I said.

“Talk?” Natalie asked, eyeing me.

“Yeah. I feel like we’ve been dancing around things a little too much,” I said as we wandered through the garden toward one of the entrances to the house.

Natalie could tell something was up. “What do you mean?”

“Our talk earlier today. We talked about how we changed and how we weren’t sure where to go from here, but that we didn’t want to lose each other.”

“I remember,” Natalie said, her tone suggesting that she still didn’t know where I was going with this.

We reached the door and I opened it for her. She stared at me, hesitant to walk through.

“Then, you showed up here, and we danced, and now I can’t stop thinking about you,” I said.

She stared back as if waiting for more.

“And I’m not interested in playing some kind of will-they-won’t-they game,” I said. “Not anymore.”

“What are you suggesting?” Natalie asked, finally walking through the door. I followed her inside.”

“I’m suggesting I lay everything on the table—and let you decide what you want.”

“What do you mean by everything?”

“Expectations,” I said. “Boundaries. What I want.”

Her pace flagged a little, and when she didn’t catch up, I halted and turned so that we stood in the hallway near the foyer facing each other.

“My life isn’t conventional anymore,” I continued.

“That’s putting it mildly,” she said. She looked wary… uncertain.

“I don’t mean the money, Nat. I mean that I’m sleeping with most of the women in this house.”

That’s it. Rip the Band-Aid off.

“Oh…”

I sighed and decided to tackle the most sensitive subject first… one Natalie had brushed with early on in my journey of being wealthy. “You saw Bobbi earlier out on the roof?”

“Yeah,” she said, still a little lost.

“She lives with me now. I sometimes sleep with her.”

She stared at me.

“I sleep with Erin. I’ve slept with Natashya. Shea—you may not have met her yet.”

“I did,” she said. “She’s sweet.”

“Yeah, she is. There have been others, too.”

I could almost see the steam pouring out of her ears as she processed all this information. Again, it was better just to put everything on the table. I didn’t want another Danni—she’d had expectations that I suspected, but never confronted. By the time I did, she had already been hurt. I didn’t want that to happen to anyone else.

“Why are you telling me this, Marcus?”

“Here… let’s sit down,” I said, and led her the rest of the way into the foyer. It was currently empty, save for one of my security personnel standing near the large window, looking somewhat bored.

Once we were settled on the couch, I continued. “Because I want you. I’ve wanted you for a long time, Nat. If you’d been available, I would have asked you out the first week after I started at Marduke. When you broke up with your boyfriend, I was half-tempted to end things with Jess so that I could shoot my shot with you.”

“And a huge part of me still wants that, but I’m not that guy anymore. There are others in my life.”

“I don’t know what that means for us… but if you feel anything, I want to explore it. Only if you have the whole truth, we’re both a hundred percent honest with each other, though.”

Natalie chewed on the inside of her cheek, staring up at me with those big, dark eyes. Erin’s eyes flashed in my mind for half a second. They weren’t the same, but there was something in the way they both looked at me.

“Feel free to say no,” I said. “We can just be friends. I won’t hold it against you. But if you still want to give this a chance… I’ll show you the rest.”

She didn’t answer for what felt like minutes, though it was probably only seconds.

Finally: “I won’t pretend I didn’t know any of this. When you showed up at that house with all those girls, I had a feeling. I didn’t realize it was that many, though.”

My stomach slid south, like sand through an hourglass. “Is that a problem?”

She hesitated. “I… don’t know yet.”

“But you’re still interested?”

“I’m… not… not interested.”

One of Natalie’s hands rested on the couch cushion where she sat, and I reached out to place my palm on top of it, giving it a light squeeze.

“I just want to make sure this is all spelled out for you. Monogamy isn’t in the cards here. Erin is part of my life, and she’s not going anywhere. Same with Helen and Bobbi.”

“Bobbi?” Natalie said, her face contorting in confusion. “You’re telling me that you’re in some kind of relationship with Bobbi?”

I hesitated, trying to think of the best way to put this.

Deciding that there was no good way to sugar coat it, I decided to be blunt.

“Bobbi’s mine,” I said. “She belongs to me.”

More confusion. “I don’t get it.”

“I mean, I own her. She only has one job, and that’s to do what I tell her. In exchange, I take care of her.”

Confusion started to give way to another expression… one that I did not like.

“You mean—”

“No… not like that,” I said. She gave herself to me. It was a whole process, but… she’s mine, now. Helen is, too.”

“The lawyer,” Natalie mused.

I nodded.

Natalie chewed the inside of her cheek, glancing around the room like the furniture might offer answers. I gave her a lot of time to process, but eventually, I started growing antsy.

“You okay?” I finally asked.

She looked me in the eyes and simply said. “Show me.”

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To Be Continued...