The Blue Dress
Chapter Seventeen: Black King or Pawn?

Tapping her foot, she growled as she rode down in the elevator, thinking about what just happened between them in the copy room. She was hot and in more than just one way.

On the one hand, what happened thrilled her and set her soul on fire that only he was able to spark as he had all the other times before. And when he left her burning on the copy machine with her skirt hiked up and her legs open, it fed the vexation she felt when he had made his comment about her and her activities with Garfield. What he said to her before their blistering kiss sat under her skin in a bad way. It crawled and crept and slunked in the dark corners of her mind and grew larger and larger the more she thought about it.

She bit her tongue when the doors to the lobby rang, signaling her exit. Shaking violently, she walked out to the lobby and took three steps. But the sound of her black heels clicking on the marble floor echoed like bombs, fueling her anger. She gritted her teeth and turned around sharply, staring at the ceiling as if she could somehow see him sitting in his office from where she was.

She didn't know if it was anger or unsatisfied lust or the combination of the two mixed in with too many glasses of champagne but she found herself on his floor, storming into his office.

She found him standing at his desk, leaning over his work on his knuckles, taking slow and deep breaths. A small voice in her head wondered why he was perched like that, also noticing that he was shaking but when his eyes met hers, the voice was drowned out by a much angrier and louder voice.

"Miss Roth?"

"You have no say in what I do in my life and who I do it with," she said, sternly, clenching and unclenching her fists with nervous energy. "And you do not get to judge me on my choices."

He blinked at her confusingly. "Yes, you've made that very clear already, Miss Roth. What are-

"He asks me out," she blurted, unable to control herself. "And takes me out of dates and pays for the meal-

"Oh good," he sighed with a bored look, standing upright and walking to the other side of his desk. "Glad to hear your pawn is treating you well."

She hissed, taking a step towards him. "He is not my pawn."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," he rolled his eyes at her, riling her up more. "Now unless you're-

"You have a reputation, you know?" She interrupted again. "Jason Todd: the mysterious, bad boy of the office. Certain to seduce women out of their clothes and into his bed."

She saw the little muscle in his jaw throb as he bit down. His brow jerked up, leaning back on his desk and crossing his arms over his chest. "Is that what they're saying about me?"

"Oh yes…"she whispered, throwing her purse in a nearby armchair. "You even slept with my receptionist."

"Your receptionist?"

"Yes. Tara, remember? Or have you fucked so many women that you've forgotten her name?"

He chuckled, his damnable smirk crawling on his face again as he reached his hand up to scratch his jaw. "Wow…"

He stood up again and turned his back to her pouring out another drink into his glass. Not wanting to be ignored, Raven stormed over and took the bottle from his hands, slamming it back down on his desk.

"I am talking to you," she glared into his unphased expression.

"That much is clear, Miss Roth," he said, humor dancing in his voice like it was all some cruel joke.

She almost slapped his drink out of his hand again. "Is it true, Mr. Todd?"

"Tara wishes she had fucked me," he said before taking a sip of his drink. "Although to be honest, it's really none of your business, is it? 'What I do in my time outside this game is my business.' Remember?"

Hearing her words repeated back to her, she felt something inside her sting as if she had been literally slapped there.

She rolled her tongue and closed her eyes, counting to five in her head. "Why should I believe you?"

"Do…Don't," he shrugged, putting his glass down and digging his hands in his pocket. He stepped closer to her, his scent of cologne and scotch swirling around her and tickling her senses. "Doesn't really matter now, does it? Especially since you have that pathetic little pawn chasing-

His words were cut short by the sound of a harsh slap hitting his cheek. She was shaking uncontrollably now with absolute fury and she didn't know how to stop it. Rage was the driver now and she was just a passenger in her own body, helpless as she watched the impending car crash ahead.

"HE IS NOT PATHETIC!" she shouted. "And he is not a pawn! He is a person! He is nice and good and decent and-

"Boring and dull and unfunny and a sad excuse of a lover!" he shouted back, his face nearing hers with his teeth bared.

"He is not-

"You wanna know how I know," he seethed, taking another step towards her and making her back away from him. "Because after your little date with him, you came right back here to this office and ended up begging for meto take you."

"He makes me laugh," she changed topic, pushing it through teeth, feeling tears of rage prick behind her eyes. "And he takes me out to candlelight dinners and buys me roses and takes me out dancing, even though I hate dancing, he still takes me out."

He scoffed irritatedly at her, looking away and pushing at his hair.

She didn't know what it was about that action but she felt heat from her fiery rage burned hotter to her, controlling her every thought her every movement.

"I can walk in the light with him," she held her chin high. "Which is something is can't do with you."

"No?"

"No…" She crossed her arms. "I can't."

He took another step, making her back away. "Because of my reputation amongst hens at the water cooler?"

"Because of what you stand for."

"And what, exactly, is that?" His jaw clicked.

She flinched at the sound. "Something dark and twisty."

"Last time I checked," he clicked his tongue. "You were the one who said that we couldn't do this. That we had to focus on the case."

"Fuck the case," She seethed, squeezing her eyes shut, feeling her anger slowly bleed into something a bit more painful. "You never asked me out, you just felt me up and then, ran away or swept it under the rug and pretended like it didn't happen."

"I distinctly remember you doing the same thing," he took another step and she stepped away. "Mustn't call a pot black, kettle."

Her lips pressed. "He is everything that I should want."

"So what the fuck do want from me, Raven?" He hissed, throwing his hands up in defeat.

What did she want from him? She knew she wanted to cave under his touch, feel everything that he had to offer and drown in it over and over and over again. She wanted to experience those promises of ultimate bliss that shimmered through his eyes and bled in his kisses. But why was she here and so angry no less? What could she possibly want? What did she want? Maybe she wanted…

"To feel like a person!" She answered, frustratedly. "To feel like something more than just someone's dirty little secret!"

"That's what you have your little pawn for-

"He is not a pawn!" She repeated, stamping her foot.

"Oh come off it, Raven," He replied, taking another step towards her. She stepped back away from him. "You and I both know what he is. He is candlelight and rose petals with some romantic poppy song playing in the background with all the lights off in the missionary. Always the missionary. And that's not you."

"No?" She lip twitched.

"No," he whispered, walking closer to her. She didn't back up this time. "You're a completely different animal."

She gnashed her teeth in defiance, setting her jaw and squaring her shoulders. "And what is that?"

He grinned, his eyes glinting with that familiar look of lust. "You're handcuffs… And chains…"

His words ran through her body, giving her goosebumps all over. But she did not let him know of the effect he was having on her. She lifted her chin to him as he continued.

"And sex in forbidden places. You are on the floor, on the wall, in the shower, on a counter, on that fucking desk," he hissed, pointing at the object that she had imagined being taken by him on multiple times. "You are every position imaginable with every single light on because to hide a single inch of your naked body in the dark is crime in itself."

She saw that he was shaking as if he was trying to hold himself back from touching her. His eyes were dark and cloudy, searching her eyes for something she did not know. His lips were split, still bruised from their kiss from earlier and his left cheek was red from when she slapped him. Messy but undeniably sexy at the same time.

She was snapped out her her trance when he captured her chin and held it up, lifting his own.

"You are just as dark and twisty as me," he finished.

She jerked her chin out of his grasp and hissed at him. "At least, he offers romance. You, on the other hand…"

He arched his brow and crossed his arms, waiting for her to continue. Challenging her and prompting her to say the things she did not mean to say."

"You… You sneak around behind closed doors and shadows and grope me. You feel me up and kiss me but at the one sound of another living being, you cover my mouth and pretend like nothing had ever happened. All you offer is a good fuck. Plain and simple. A dirty little secret."

She saw the vein near his right twitch as he bit down on his jaw. She watched as he swallowed hard.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night. Just remember whose fingers you opened your legs for after your date," he gave her a look of indifference. "Now if that'll be all, Miss Roth, I have some work to do. Have fun with yourpawn."

He turned his back to her and headed for his desk. But his look of indifference breathed one last breath into the fire of her vexation and so she opened her mouth before she could even think to stop herself.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe you're the pawn?" He stopped in his tracks but did not turn to face her. She took a step closer to his form, her hands clenched in fists at her sides. "Think about it, I date him. I walk outside with him, I hold his hand, I go dancing even though I hate dancing but I do it because he likes it. I could file paperwork with HR with him. But you…I come up here for one thing."

She saw his body stiffen, shaking in its ridgeness and she knew she should stop but she couldn't.

"So who's really the pawn here? Are you absolutely sure it's him and not you?"

He said nothing. His ever sharp and relentless tongue silenced by her harsh words. Feeling a sense of satisfaction and victory, she lifted her chin.

"Good night, Mr. Todd," she said, curtly, turning on her heel and grabbing her purse from the chair before walking out of his office.

The carpet bled into marble again as she walked, her prim black heels still sounding like bombs and rattling her soul. Every step she took further away from him, she felt her confidence slip away from her, replaced by something that gripped her spine and chilled her. The doors dinged for the elevator when she pressed the button and she entered, quickly, pressing the closed door button repeatedly and stepping back.

The doors closed and the reality of what just happened settled into her, making her hair stand on end and her nerves twitch and her stomach twist with a sickening feeling.

"Oh god…" She gasped, her mouth falling open as she released the breath she hadn't released she was holding. "Oh god…"

She leaned against the wood panel and dropped her purse, her body shaking as she went further and further down the elevator shaft. Fear and dread washed over her like a tsunami, crashing and destroying everything in its wake, carrying the one thought that rang out louder than the others.

"What have I done?"