A/N: Hello everybody, thanks for the kind comments!
Remember how I said I was thinking about a chapter length of 3-4k? Apparently, that was total BS :D This is the longest chapter so far, hope you enjoy it.
Fair warning: I think there are a few more F-bombs and other choice words in this one.
Just one thing before I'll let you read the new chapter: a lot of people asked for the translation of the Russian bit in the last chapter. It was "you're mine", I added that later to the A/N. There's some more Russian in this chapter (once again, blame Google if there are mistakes) and this time I put the translations in [these brackets] to have them handy when Oliver's talking. Not sure if this makes it better or worse. Some input on the matter would be nice.
Happy reading :)
⁂ ⁂ ⁂ June 2013 ⁂ ⁂ ⁂
Late on a Friday night, Felicity was sitting in her small office in QC's IT department. She'd finished her day's workload hours ago but had started to write a line of code to fix a bug. Ten minutes turned into an hour and then two, and before she knew it, everybody else had gone home, leaving all the offices around hers plunged into darkness.
At around ten, she got up and went to the small kitchen that was nestled into the corner of the IT floor, not even bothering to turn the lights on. She let her mind wander for a second. Away from the ones and zeroes, and towards her private life.
It had been a weird month.
Not that her life resembled anything even remotely close to normal this past half a year or so. But still, ever since Oliver's birthday last month, things had been especially tense. Well, that was in the few moments they'd actually spent together.
Oliver had avoided her like the plague. In those few occasions that they'd been in the same room, he'd fixed her with a cold stare or avoided eye contact entirely.
She could tell that even people around them had picked up on his odd antics, judging by the disapproving and confused glares Moira and Thea shot him whenever he snapped at Felicity for no apparent reason.
His behavior left her even more unsure of everything that'd happened in Verdant's storage room. While it had definitely been a surprise when it'd happened, she simply couldn't ignore the undeniable chemistry she'd felt when he'd kissed her. Couldn't forget the taste of him, the feeling of his lips against her neck, or his fingers that had brought her oh so close to tumbling right over the edge.
A shiver ran through her body and she gripped the counter to steady herself, hating the effect he had on her even this long after it'd happened.
In all honesty, she simply didn't know what to make of all of it, the spark between them, his distant and downright rude behavior. She didn't know how to handle it.
At the time, she'd resorted to snark because that was what she was occasionally good at, at least when she managed to cut herself off before she could start an epic ramble. The comment about his manhood had been a low blow (pun intended), even she couldn't refute that fact. But it had been her way of protecting herself, of downplaying their encounter and the feelings it'd stirred in her.
To be honest, his words had stung. Sure, it had definitely not been an ideal situation, especially after months of hating each other. But when he'd said it was a mistake, she'd felt like he'd punched her right in the stomach.
"Felicity Queen?" A distorted voice asked from behind her and made her jump two feet in the air.
She whirled around, grabbing the next best thing to use as a weapon, which happened to be... a pan.
Could've been worse, she thought wryly, trying to channel her inner Rapunzel.
She looked up to finding herself face to hidden face with Starling City's resident vigilante.
Holy shit.
"Don't come any closer," she said. And wow, could her voice sound any more terrified?
The Hood lifted a hand slowly, stretching it out towards her. "I'm not going to hurt you, Felicity," he said in what she assumed was supposed to be a reassuring tone.
"Excuse me, if I don't take your word for it," she countered, moving a cautious step back until her butt bumped into the counter.
Then she narrowed her eyes in suspicion, fear flying momentarily out of the window. "How do you know my name?" Her face fell. "Oh God, are you here to tell me I failed this city like all those other rich people in Starling? Because I totally didn't."
She tilted her head to the side. "I mean, I don't think I did. I'm actually trying to help people whenever I can and be nice to everybody." She considered her defense for a second, maybe honesty would gain her some mercy. "Well, with the exception of my husband because he's a total dick to me, especially lately. Hey, maybe you could visit him."
She trailed off and waited for a response that didn't come immediately. For a second, she felt like patting herself on the back because apparently she'd managed to render the intimidating green guy in front of her speechless. That couldn't happen too often, could it?
"I did my homework on you, Felicity. I'm here because you have something that I need," The Hood finally said and Felicity couldn't help but feel that despite the voice modulator there was something familiar about his voice or maybe just his speech pattern.
"You know, just because my last name is Queen doesn't mean that I have a shitload of money that you can extort from me and give to the poor. In fact, I'm pretty sure If you knew how much I actually earned here, you'd want to give me someone else's money."
The Hood opened and closed his mouth once, before saying, "I don't want your money. I want your help."
She finally lowered the pan. "My help? You do realize that I have no archery skills whatsoever. By the way, bow and arrow, really? Fanboying much over Katniss?"
"Who?"
She gaped at him. "Have you been living under a rock for the last 5 years?"
Even in the semi darkness, she could see how he clenched his jaw, and could feel the growing frustration rolling off of him in waves.
"Right," she amended. "Not helping. What do you need?"
"Whatever you can salvage from this," he said and produced a laptop out of thin air.
She moved towards him but stopped dead in her tracks when he raised the hand that was holding the bow. Without saying anything he left the kitchen and went straight to her office. She followed him cautiously, deciding it was safer to take the pan with her. Just in case.
When she entered her office, the laptop was already sitting on her desk while The Hood was standing in the far corner, slightly turned away from her.
She rounded her desk and plopped down into her chair, making sure to place the pan within arm's reach, before she took a closer look at the laptop.
"Uh, what the hell happened to this poor baby?" she questioned, furrowing her eyebrows.
"I spilled a latte on it," he deadpanned.
Felicity tilted her head to the side. "Really? 'Cause I happen to know what that looks like because my dimwit of a husband once killed one of my babies that way. But this," she pointed her pen at the damaged hardware. "looks nothing like it."
She heard an exasperated huff coming from the corner and decided to start working while he wasn't intent on killing her.
For the next few minutes, she worked on retrieving any information she could find on the fried laptop's hard drive.
"There's actually not much on here except for some heavily encrypted files. This could take a while," she looked up from her screen and motioned to the chair in front of her desk. "You might wanna sit down."
She leaned back in her chair, looking at him more closely, while her decryption software was working its magic. In the dim light of her office she could still make out the dark green color of his clothes.
"How can you even move in that?" she asked, before her brain could stop her. "I mean, I wore leather pants once and wow, never again. Even though that might have been because it was one of those cheap slutty biker chick customs on Halloween." She stopped when The Hood let out a strangled noise.
"Anyways, I never understood how guys could wear them with their... additional anatomical parts. Doesn't it hurt or like chafe... down there?" She motioned vaguely in the direction of his crotch.
Even in the semi darkness she could see his jaw set tightly. "Riiight, you know what, I'm gonna stop talking about your... man parts... and looking at them."
"I would prefer that," came his tight-lipped reply.
Felicity tapped her pencil against the desk, while they were silent for a few minutes. She really wasn't good with silence.
"Why do you use a bow?" She questioned suddenly. "Aren't there more efficient weapons out there?"
There was no answer.
"And you can carry what? Like twenty arrows, maybe? And what then? If you were using a gun you could at least carry a few extra magazines, right? Not that I know anything about guns," she amended.
"Plus, it looks utterly ridiculous to me," she finished and looked up from her pen. "Please don't kill me."
He chuckled. The ridiculously intimidating and lethal Hood actually chuckled.
"I won't kill you."
She considered his response for a moment and then grew serious. "Are you going to kill whoever this laptop belonged to or is that person already dead?"
"He's not dead."
"Yet, you mean. Look I just... If I give you whatever I find on this laptop, you'll go put in arrow in someone, right?" She scrambled for the right words. "I'm... not particularly eager to find out what it's like to be an accessory to murder. I don't know if you care about this because according to the police reports you've killed a lot of people, but I do care. I don't think I could live with myself knowing that I helped you kill someone."
"Turn off the lamp," The Hood said and stepped out of the corner, stopping right in front of her desk, once she'd turned it off.
Despite the distorted voice, his tone seemed softer than before. "I have killed a lot of men, but I can assure you that they deserved it." He held up a hand to stop her objection. "I don't kill for fun, Felicity. I do what is necessary to save this city."
"If telling yourself that lets you sleep at night," she muttered under her breath and then louder, "And what gives you the right to decide who deserves to live and who deserves to die?"
Deep down, she knew that she probably shouldn't agitate the man but Felicity couldn't help herself. There were too many questions when it came to this vigilante, too many unknown variables. He was a complete mystery. She hated mysteries. They needed to be solved.
"You're a remarkable woman, Felicity," he said after a beat, amazement lacing his voice.
She furrowed her brows but couldn't hide the blush that crept up her cheeks. "You sound surprised. I thought you did your homework on me?" she teased, biting her bottom lip.
"Apparently I wasn't thorough enough," he replied.
She grinned at him before returning her gaze to the computer screen. "Look, this will take a few hours to decrypt. I can set it up so that it sends the files to my personal laptop when it's done. Or you can give me an email address and I can send it directly to you," she suggested innocently.
She saw the ever so light curl of his lips. "So you can trace my location? I don't think so. How about..." he was interrupted by her cell phone ring tone which just happened to be the chorus of Rihanna's S&M.
She scrambled to reach her purse. "Shit," she cursed while Rihanna told them that chains and whips excited her.
Without having to look at the caller ID she knew it'd be her best friend.
"I'll be quick," she said towards The Hood, not daring to look at him, a mortified blush blooming on her cheeks.
"Hey Jen," she answered her phone. "What's up?"
"I wanna get drunk with you, like right now. Where are you?" Her best friend's voice sounded loudly over the phone.
"Still at the office. I'm actually kinda busy."
"Ooooh, please tell me you're having hot office sex with your highly fuckable husband?" she demanded to know.
Felicity rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed huff. "No, Jen, I'm most definitely not having hot office sex with my "highly fuckable husband"," she replied using air quotes.
She saw The Hood shuffle from one foot to the other in front of her desk. Oops, right, there was someone else in the room who probably didn't want to know about her lack of a healthy sex life with her husband.. Awwwwkward.
Once again, she couldn't do anything about the blush creeping up her cheeks. Luckily, it was almost completely dark in her office, safe for the fluorescent light coming from her computer screen.
"Look, I really am busy right now. But I know James is in town again and from my latest experience with him at Oliver's party I can verify that he hasn't lost any of his good time qualities. How about you call him for tonight and we'll all meet for hangover breakfast tomorrow morning?"
"You're no fun, but I'll take breakfast if you get me some scoop on your hunky husband's bed room skills."
Felicity groaned. "Goodbye, Jen, I'll text you the details about breakfast," she said and quickly ended the call.
She pursed her lips. "Sorry about that. You were saying?"
He shook his head lightly and put a phone on her desk. "Give me a call when the search is done. Don't waste your time on trying to find anything on it." He was already at the door but turned towards her again. "You should go home. Thank you for your help, Felicity."
Felicity stared at the open door. If it weren't for the bullet ridden laptop in front of her, she would've assumed that this had been a dream. A really weird dream.
But it wasn't a dream. Starling City's vigilante had come to her office to get her help and he'd even looked into her background before contacting her. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about the fact that he'd been able to dig up personal information about her life so easily. She definitely needed to look into that.
Another thing she couldn't quite pinpoint was whether to be proud that out of all the IT specialists in Starling he'd chosen her to confide in, or if she should be terrified by it.
⁂ ⁂ ⁂
The next morning, Felicity was swiping over her tablet, reading the news while waiting in a corner booth of her favorite diner for her friends. She was just about to resume her game of Candy Crush when an article caught her eye. 'Vigilante involved in another murder' the title read. Apparently, The Hood had been at the scene of crime when a man, called James Holder, had been killed... last night.
Holy shit. He'd probably come to her after that had happened. She scrunched up her forehead. Something didn't fit though.
The article placed the time of the incident at quarter past 8. The Hood had visited her at around 10. So he hadn't come directly to her. Interesting.
"Please tell me that you're not one of those chicks that have a crush on the vigilante," A voice sounded from behind her that almost made her drop her tablet.
People seriously had to stop sneaking up on her.
Jen plopped down in the seat opposite of her. "Oh my God, you do have a crush on him," she exclaimed surprised.
"No, I don't. Why would you even say that? And where's James?"
"He had a better offer," she said and winked at Felicity. "And I'm saying that because you just blushed like you always do when there's something you don't want to tell me?!" Her friend pointed out.
Felicity brought up her hands to cover her traitorous cheeks. "You're probably still drunk," she mumbled.
Jen just laughed. "That's probably true." She thanked the waitress who brought her coffee before continuing, "Anyways, speaking about hot mysterious guys. How's you're hubby? Any chance we'll see you two in public in the foreseeable future?"
Felicity groaned, not just because of the question but also because she actually did have to make a public appearance with Oliver soon. Very soon. "Can you turn off the reporter mode for just one hour?"
"Oh please, I have front row seats to the most talked about marriage in Starling City and you won't give me any exclusive scoops. That's not exactly best friend behavior," she accused teasingly. "You never did tell me why you rushed into this whole thing. I mean, you knew each other for like 4 months before you tied the knot and you're adamant that you don't have Queen's bun in the oven. So what's up with that?"
"That's between me and him. Just drop it, Jen," she pleaded with her friend.
She regarded her blonde friend for a few seconds before nodding. "Fine, but one of these days I will find out."
She was probably right. Felicity had never met a person that was as persistent as her best friend. She'd definitely found the right profession when she started out in journalism. Once she latched onto an interesting topic, she was like a dog with a bone.
For now, Felicity was glad that she hadn't found out about the real nature of her marriage yet. She wasn't quite sure what repercussions their friendship would suffer from that knowledge.
Once again, she felt like cursing her mother. She was the only damn reason why she was in a situation where she was forced to lie to her best friend and the general public.
⁂
⁂ ⁂
⁂ ⁂ ⁂
- January 2013 -
So, that had been an... interesting first date.
Had she known how it would end, she'd never have agreed to accompany her mother to this 'business dinner'. But her mother had been her disapproving, lying and deceiving self, so in the end, Felicity had caved.
That had been her first mistake.
Her second mistake had been not realizing where they were going until she was standing on the opulent front step of the Queen Mansion and her mother was ringing the door bell. At that point, there had been no going back.
Her third mistake had been being nice to Oliver, at least in front of their mothers. Maybe they would've seen that this whole idea was absolutely ridiculous if they'd known that they actually despised each other.
Her final mistake had been not saying anything. She should've protested, should've told them how incredibly insane their idea was. But she hadn't. She'd stood there next to her future husband, completely and utterly shell-shocked. Too shocked to find any words to object the proposal.
Not the proposal. That would apparently follow in a very public setting in a few weeks time.
"You're quiet," her mother observed from the seat next to her in the town car that was bringing her home.
No shit, Captain Obvious, Felicity thought grimly.
"What do you want me to say?," she asked out loud instead.
"How do you feel about this?"
Felicity turned to her mother and shot her an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me? Now you ask me how I feel? After you just auctioned me off to the highest fucking bidder?"
"Watch your language, Felicity," Donna scolded her. "Don't be dramatic, there was no auctioning going on, this is a business deal."
"No, mother, this is my life," Felicity retorted without missing a beat. "I don't want to marry Oliver and since we're not living in the freaking middle ages, I won't marry him."
"Yes, you will. There's nothing to discuss here, the decision has been made and you'll do what is asked of you."
"What makes you think that after trying to force your decisions on me my entire life that now is the time you'll finally succeed?"
"Because without this marriage we'll lose the company," Donna admitted angrily.
Felicity stared at her mother. "What?"
Her mother sighed. "We're in acute financial trouble. Without Queen Consolidated's investment in us we will be bankrupt within the year."
"How's that possible?"
"It just is."
"That is not an acceptable answer. If you really expect me to do this, you owe me at least a decent explanation," Felicity demanded determinedly.
"I...," Donna started. "A few investments overseas didn't pan out as we expected and I was just informed today that there is a severe flaw in our new banking software. We'll most likely be facing a multi-billion dollar class action lawsuit for the security hole in it."
Felicity interrupted her, "You mean the security flaw I told you about six months ago? When you told me that I wasn't supposed to stick my nose where it didn't belong even though I was able to hack into our company's network and download the new software without even breaking a sweat?"
"Don't give me that attitude, young lady. Mistakes have been made and now we have to face the consequences."
"No, mother. I have to face the consequences. Because you are unable to sort out the mess that you made," she accused.
"I tried. I've gone to virtually every company in the western hemisphere, proposing mergers, even offering the company for sale. But no one wants to come near us, no bank will give us credits. This is the only chance," her mother responded and there was something akin to desperation in her voice.
Felicity absorbed the information for a minute, her mind racing. "What's in it for the Queens? If we're such a bad investment, why would they take the risk? Or rather, why don't they just invest in us without the marriage stuff?"
"We hold valuable patents and some of our products in the development stage are promising, but they're far from finished and we simply don't have the resources to complete the development." Donna sighed again. "Moira and I have been friends for a long time and one night she mentioned that she was looking for someone to settle down with Oliver."
"And you thought you'd just offer me as payment so they'd swoop in and clean up your mess?"
"If you don't marry him we'll lose the company. We're talking about our family's legacy here. And now it's your responsibility to save it."
Felicity turned away, staring out the window.
She couldn't believe her mother would treat her like this. That she would put this burden, this mountain of responsibilities on her shoulders.
Then again, she was talking about her mother. She should've known that she'd do anything to save face.
"How much did you lose?" she asked her mother whose questioning look made her elaborate. "You said you made bad investments. How much money did you lose?"
"Felicity," her mother warned.
"How much?"
"Billions."
"You have like twenty business advisers, how could you possibly make a deal that would cost us billions?" Felicity asked incredulously.
"It happened. What more do you want?" Her mothers voice turned angry again.
"I want to not be forced to marry Oliver Queen."
"Why not? It could be much worse. He's rich, in his prime, good-looking. What more could you ask for?"
"Love?!"
Donna let out that condescending laugh that she'd perfected years ago and that always catapulted Felicity back into her childhood when she'd told her mother about her hopes and dreams and she managed to crush them with a well-timed "don't be silly, Felicity, you'll never do that".
"Honey, you always were a dreamer." Yup, there was the condescension. "It's time to wake up and face the real world."
"Except, the Oliver Queens of this world normally wouldn't even considering someone like me. Have you looked at him? He's so far out of my like that we're not even playing the same sport."
"Which is why I expected you to jump at this. You'll never find anyone better," Donna pointed out. "Maybe he'll conquer your heart."
"The only thing he'll do with my heart is break it," Felicity murmured.
Her mother huffed in annoyance. "You're an adult now with obligations, it's about time you started acting like it."
Felicity bit down on the snide remark that was on the tip of her tongue. No reason to make this even worse.
"You want me to act like an adult? Fine. If, and boy, that's a big if, I do this, I have some conditions of my own," Felicity ground out between clenched teeth.
Her mother regarded her with a patronizing smile. "Such as?"
"I want you out."
"Out of what?" Donna asked, a frown forming on her forehead.
"Out of everything. The company and, more importantly, my life. I don't want to have anything to do with you, if, and once again that's a very big if, I agree to this. And Oliver and I would have the last word on anything that ends up in our pre-nup. Plus, I want to sit down with Moira and talk about the business side of this because clearly I can't trust your judgment on that." Her mother opened her mouth to protest. "No! This is not negotiable."
The car pulled over and a glance outside told Felicity they'd reached her home. Without another word, she got out of the car, relieved to see that her mother didn't follow her.
She slammed the front door shut with a resounding 'bang' and slid down against it. What the hell had just happened?
Her mother was notorious for shitty ideas but this one topped them all. Marrying off her only daughter to complete a business deal? Yeah, that definitely had to score her the 'worst mother of the year' award.
Felicity stared at the palms of her hand, for the first time registering the slight tremble. Was she seriously thinking about going through with this?
She'd set those conditions for her mother, but could she actually marry a man that she despised, just to save her family's company from bankruptcy?
She loved the company and what it stood for: cutting edge IT innovations. Her grandfather had been among the computer engineers who had developed the ARPANET, the early predecessor of the internet. He'd been a visionary. Right before he'd died 10 years ago, he'd told her that one day she would be the one to lead the company.
He was the reason why she loved computers and everything around them. What motivated her to solve the mysteries that lay hidden behind all those ones and zeroes.
Could she honestly just stand by and watch the company that he had built on nothing more than visionary thinking, crash and burn because she was too proud and too stoic to marry a guy who held the key to saving her grandfather's legacy?
-End of flashback -
⁂ ⁂ ⁂
⁂ ⁂
⁂
"You're thinking about him, aren't you?"
Felicity blinked a few times. "Huh?"
"Oliver. You had that distant look where you seem to be a million miles away," Jen explained.
"Uh, no, I was just..."
"Daydreaming about your hunky hubby?" She teased.
"Can you just drop it?" Felicity snapped back.
But her friend took it in stride. "You seem a little frustrated. Is Oliver not keeping you satisfied?"
Felicity glared at the brunette woman.
"Come on, Smoaky. Is he a sex god or not?"
She couldn't help but blush. How the hell was she supposed to know?
"You know, one girl once said that he fucked her so thoroughly that she couldn't sit down for a week," Jen taunted.
"Yeah, and pigs can fly," Felicity said under her breath and then louder, "Isn't the weather beautiful today?"
Jen barked out a laugh. "Subtle, Smoaky. When did you turn into such a prude? No wonder there are already rumors about him cheating on you floating around. Men like Oliver Queen like their women direct and spicy. That innocent 'deer caught in the headlight' behavior that you're so good at will wear off soon enough and then what's keeping him from fucking the last ten percent of women in Starling City he hasn't screwed yet?"
Felicity stared at her friend in shock, eyes wide and one hand suspended in mid air, having completely forgotten what she'd wanted to do.
"What?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Jen's eyes went wide in realization. "Oh my God, that is not... I didn't... Felicity, I'm sorry!" She reached over to grab her friend's hands but Felicity pulled away from her.
"Please, you have to believe me. I did not mean that! That was the bitchy mean drunk coming through because apparently she still has way too much fuel from last night. I am sorry I said that."
"Out loud."
"What?"
"You're sorry that you said it out loud. Be honest, Jen, you've been itching to get the exclusive on the reason behind our marriage since the day I told you about our engagement," Felicity said, voice dangerously low.
"Felicity..."
"No. You're a smart woman and this is simple math, right? One Oliver Queen plus one Felicity Smoak does not equal undying and everlasting love. It's like trying to add two different variables. It just doesn't work. So tell me, Jen, what's your working theory, huh? What's Oliver's reason to marry me? Am I blackmailing him? Did I slip him some sort of love potion while he wasn't looking? Did I simply hit him over the head and make him forget all about his one and true love Laurel Lance?"
She was getting more furious by the second, her voice gaining volume. "Because in what twisted version of this world would someone like Oliver Queen possibly have any interest in some nerdy, awkward IT gremlin like me, right? Because that is seriously unthinkable, isn't it?"
She cocked her head to the side, when she spoke, her voice was now closer to a whisper again. "And that crack about cheating was a fucking low blow and you know it." She stood up quickly, feeling the tears well behind her eyes. "You're paying for coffee. Don't call me in the next few days."
She hastily gathered her things and practically ran to the door, unable to keep the tears at bay any longer.
⁂ ⁂ ⁂
The drive back to the mansion was a tearful one. More than once she had to pull over and take a few minutes to calm her erratic breaths before she felt like she could drive again.
Obviously, this wasn't just about her friend's hurtful and ill-timed remarks. No, it was about herself and how she felt about everything that was going on. About how her insecurities and the nagging feeling of inadequacy that dated back to any given day of her childhood, always managed to get the better of her.
She wasn't stupid. She knew how her marriage to Oliver looked to the outside world and, like she'd said earlier, it just didn't add up. There was no logical explanation for their relationship.
By now, she would like to think that she was used to the dirty looks she got every day at work. Would like to believe that she didn't care and wasn't affected by them. Of course, that was far from the truth. It took all of the will power she could muster to not curl up into a ball and cry her eyes out every night.
When she finally arrived at the mansion, she hurried through the empty corridors, glad that she didn't encounter anyone. That would certainly be the icing on the cake if any of the staff saw her like this.
Just when she reached her bedroom door, Oliver's door swung open and she saw herself face to face with her husband.
"Oliver," she breathed out, mentally debating how awful she looked right now. "Hey."
He regarded her with a cold stare, eyes sweeping over her. For a millisecond she thought that she saw a worried frown on his features when he took in her tear stained face, but after after blink, the supposed worry was replaced by indifference.
"Sorry about this," she whispered, motioning vaguely to her face. "Just had a crappy morning." Wait, why the hell was she explaining herself to him?
He let out a snort. "What? Did your boyfriend break up with you?" His voice was dripping with hatred.
Completely caught off guard, she took a step back, blinking rapidly. "I... what?"
"Your boyfriend," he repeated, taking a step forward, towering over her smaller body. "The one you fucked on my birthday."
"I... did what?"
"The blonde guy you brought back here and fucked into the wee hours of the next morning," he clarified through clenched teeth, putting his hands at both sides of her head, trapping her against the wall the same way he'd done back at Verdant. "The guy you cheated on me with in my house."
Her face fell when she realized what he was talking about.
"That's why you were even more of an asshole these last few weeks?" Was the first thing that came to her mind. "Because you think I cheated on you?"
"I don't think. I know," he ground out. "I saw him leave, heard you talk about your night together."
She scrambled through her brain to try and remember what she had said to James that night or rather morning.
Meanwhile, Oliver let out a humorless chuckle. "It's funny, isn't it? Everybody expected manwhore Oliver Queen to be the one to cheat on you and then it turns out that you're the whore who cheated on me."
A resounding slap echoed trough the hallway and it took Felicity two full seconds to realize that she'd just slapped Oliver.
Her eyes grew wide in pure terror, while his were glazed with utter surprise. She hated violence and now she'd resorted to just that to reply to his insensible insult.
But her shock was soon replaced by the unfiltered rage surging through her body. The hand that until now had been suspended mid-air post-slap found a better purpose in pressing against his chest. Hard. But once again, he didn't budge at all. Damn him and his shitload of muscles.
"Back off, Oliver," she hissed. "And leave me the fuck alone."
"So you can go out and fuck other guys?"
"I didn't fuck anyone, Oliver!" she practically screamed at him, not sure why she felt the need to get this point across to him. She didn't owe him anything, least of all an explanation for something that didn't even happen. Something that would never happen.
"I saw you," he repeated, but this time there was a hint of doubt mixed into his voice.
"What you saw were two friends after having a great night catching up on each other's lives. We spend most of the night talking and trying to hack each other's systems. And no, that is not some weird nerd code for anything sexual."
"But..."
"There's no but, Oliver," she cut in firmly, anger rising in her chest once again. "This may be your thing but I don't do cheating. I hate cheating. I know how it feels to be on the receiving end of it and it's one of the worst fucking feelings in the world. So, no, I didn't cheat on you. I won't cheat on you."
"Then why the hell did you push for the damn dating other people agreement?" He roared at her.
She let out a humorless chuckle. "God, you just don't get it, do you? Dating and sleeping with someone are two completely different things. I wanted that agreement because I don't want to be stuck with you for the rest of my life."
For a split second she saw a flicker of hurt cross over his face which was quickly replaced by a smug grin.
What the hell?
"So basically, you're telling me," he said slowly and stepped closer to her. "that you never had any intention of sleeping with another guy that night and you're just the biggest fucking tease in the world? Maybe," he drawled out smugly. "You're just getting off on getting a rile out of me."
She swallowed hard. Could you believe him? His assumption was so ridiculous...ly close to the truth, it was maddening.
Did she get off on getting a rile out of him? No! Maybe a little?
She thought there was something so fucking erotic about his anger that she seriously considered talking to a shrink about it.
The way his whole body tensed, the way his jaw set, and the way he could make her name sound like a prayer and a curse at the same time. Even the way he tried to intimidate her by straightening his shoulders and backing her into any available obstacle. The way his eyes grew several shades darker, more dangerous, whenever she held her ground against him.
Okay, yeah, she was totally turned on by Angry Oliver. But Jealous Oliver was even hotter. The unfiltered possessiveness she'd seen in his eyes and the way he'd clung to her body when they'd had their storage room encounter. The way his teeth and lips tried (and successfully so) mark her as his.
So, had she purposely taunted him about going home with another man on his birthday to provoke a reaction? Maybe.
An involuntary shudder rocked her body at the simple thought of that night.
By the smug grin on Oliver's face, he'd felt it, too. At once, he moved both his hands from where they were trapping her against the wall, sliding down her back until they rested on her ass. He gave her a hard squeeze, pulling her into his body and oh...
She swallowed the moan that threatened to escape her and curled her lips into a smug grin of her own.
"Looks like I'm not the only one getting off on these situation," she whispered, bringing one hand down to grab his belt, pulling him closer, if that was even possible, to feel his erection pressing into her stomach.
She could see his Adam's apple move up and down as he swallowed hard, his eyes taking on that darker shade that she found only slightly attractive, as he focused his gaze on her lips.
His head moved closer but turned slightly so that the short hairs of his beard scratched over her cheek while his hot breath fanned over the shell of her ear. And oh dear God, just the thought of that delicious scratch on... other parts of her body, almost made her brain implode.
"Я хочу тебя," he murmured into her ear, his lips touching her earlobe as he spoke. ["I want you."]
"Сейчас." He nipped at her earlobe lightly before sucking it into his mouth, his tongue sweeping over the spot where his teeth had just been. ["Now!"]
"к стене, на полу, в моей постели," he said around the earlobe that was still caught between his lips. ["Against the wall, on the floor, in my bed."]
And holy mother-effing shit. A language was not supposed to sound that erotic. Felicity was pretty sure that it was Russian, even though she had no idea how Oliver even knew how to speak that language.
Of course, she had no clue what he was saying but the harsh sounds leaving his mouth send desire racing straight to her core.
His hands kept kneading her ass roughly, while she couldn't help the involuntary movement her hips made to create a friction between them.
"жесткий и быстрый, медленный и глубоко." ["Hard and fast, slow and deep."]
If he kept talking like this, she couldn't possible be held responsible for her actions. She was ready to drag him into her room and let him have his way with her, when a throat was cleared somewhere in the hallway.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but you wanted be picked up at 11 for your meeting in the city, Mr. Queen," came the voice of an apparently very uncomfortable Diggle.
Oliver let go of her earlobe and she could feel the cool air of his exasperated sigh sweeping over her ear. "I'll be there in a sec," he said without moving away from her.
Felicity could hear the trusted bodyguard retreating, accompanied by a string of curse words about damn rich people who should get a room.
Oliver still hovered at the side of her head, lips barely half an inch from her skin. To her growing frustration, Felicity realized that she wanted nothing more than to feel them on her neck again.
His hands moved away from her ass and it took all her will power to not groan in protest. His nimble fingers skimmed over her ribcage, thumbs just below her bra. If he would only move them a little more. Just a little...
Suddenly, his mouth moved down to a particular sensitive spot on her neck. How the hell he found that so fast was completely beyond her right now. His lips attacked the soft skin just above her pulse point with such a ferocity that she was sure he'd leave a very visible mark. It was all lips and teeth and tongue. Her hands moved from their position on his belt to run her fingernails through the soft hairs at the nape of his neck.
All too soon, his lips stopped the assault on her neck, his stubble scratching lightly over her sensitive skin.
"If you can't take the heat, don't start a fire," he whispered into her neck and she could feel the grin forming on his lips against her skin.
Without looking at her, he turned around and left her in the empty hallway.
That bastard.
She slumped back into the wall, bringing her fingers to the raw skin of her neck. Someone would definitely need to wear a scarf the next few days.
After a few seconds, she willed herself to move. Pushing away from the wall, she entered her room. She tossed the phone on her bed and headed straight for the bathroom. A glance in the mirror told her that she looked like death warmed over. Mascara streaks running down her pale cheeks, eyes red and blotchy. And a very big hickey forming on her neck.
Quickly, she stepped out of her clothes and under the spray of the shower. Not many things helped her relax after something stressful happened than a hot shower.
As the water was cascading down her body, her mind involuntarily went back to Oliver. Being with him was like riding a roller coaster.
She hated roller coasters. The irregular ups and downs, the sudden shifts, the loopings, and the speed were justnot her thing. That sentiment extended to her life as well.
And yet somehow she couldn't think of a more accurate way of describing her relationship with Oliver. All those sudden mood swings, impulsive actions and relentless fights felt like a particularly intense roller coaster ride that left her a little queasy.
She didn't want a relationship with drama. Didn't need the thrill and excitement. She wanted a simple life, nothing more and nothing less. Instead, she felt like she was the protagonist in a soap opera.
The effect that he had on her was infuriating. No one else had ever provoked such extreme reactions from her. Such intense emotions. She felt like she was caught in a constant state somewhere between hate and lust.
A good half an hour later, she plopped down on her bed only to sit right back up when she turned on her tablet. The decryption program was done. Quickly she sifted through the information.
Well, this was interesting.
She dug through her purse and pulled out the phone The Hood had given her. He answered on the second ring.
"Hello, Felicity." Again with that stupid distorted voice.
"Hello... Hood. Mr. Hood?" she questioned.
He ignored her question. "What did you find?"
Rude, she thought. "There was information about James Holder on there. Blue prints of his properties, his calendar, phone numbers and other stuff. But as you know, James Holder was killed last night."
Her reply was acknowledged by a grumble and then, "Anything else?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact. There were blue prints of the Exchange Building and several buildings surrounding it on the laptop. And also a digital copy of the invitation list for the Unidac Industries auction that is held there, profiles on almost everybody that's attending, and a copy of the evening's program." She halted for a moment.
"The auction is tonight. I'm actually attending with the rest of the Queen slash Steele clan, because Walter is planning on buying Unidac. Do you think something will happen at the auction?" She asked and couldn't quite keep the worry out of her voice.
On the other end of the line, she heard him exhale harshly.
"Don't worry, I'll be there."
⁂ ⁂ ⁂
A/N: So, this did not turn out the way I expected at all. I actually decided to rewrite most of the hallway confrontation scene. Originally, it was a whole lot fluffier, but in the end (after reading it like ten times) I decided that they weren't quite ready to be on peaceful-ish terms yet.
I actually got my hands full at work at the moment, working on stupid marketing texts and translations, so I'm not sure I'll find much time to write. So there may not be a new chapter next Friday. We'll see how it goes.
Also, title translation (I'll be putting these at the end of every chapter so they won't spoil anything): "Optimum est pati quod emendare non possis." (It is best to endure what you cannot change. -Seneca)
Anyways, let me know if you liked the chapter!