The Possession


    I’m not surprised that he’s throwing us a party, in fact, the only part of this that is a surprise is location, here in the office. Stepping over a gold balloon tangled in streamers, I join Roberta, Jon and Kat in the conference room, where they’ve holed up to avoid the family and friends filling the remainder of the offices and space. We normally hold meetings and sign paperwork in this particr conference room, but today, it’s a respite from celebration. I don’t take it personally—my father’s parties–which typically boast things like live music, me swallower (that wasst Christmas), and open bars—are grating on sober, non-celebratory nerves.


    “Wasn’t dinner the other night celebration enough?” Roberta teases me as I enter the room, smoothing my hand down my tie.


    I scratch the back of my head, temporarily hazy as I recall the spontaneous proposal before our business dinnerst night. I’d nned on doing it after dinner, but I just… I couldn’t wait. After all, the ring was purchased on our sixth month anniversary—I’d waited six months, and couldn’t wait through one more dinner. “That was the spur of the moment. I hadn’t intended on doing it on the sidewalk, before a business dinner.”


    Roberta hits me with a soft, tender smile. “I’m only kidding.” Another smile. “Congrattions again, Sutton. You and Avery are a great couple. And you know I’m happy to celebrate again.”


    “My father never misses an opportunity to throw a party.”


    Jon sips his drink as Kat flips her pink hair over her shoulder, greeting me with a toothy grin. “Congrattions, cousin.” She presses to her toes and loops her arms around my neck, pulling me into her tiny frame for a tight hug. “You’re lucky you got to her first.”


    I pull out of her embrace, takingvender and patchouli with me. Kat and Cade are my only cousins, but she’s closest to me in age, being twenty-eight years old to my thirty-five. She started working at Mercer Properties while she was attending college, working toward her undergraduate degree. She’s made a name for herself in selling professional spaces versus homes; high end homes are my and my father’s specialty. She’s been mypetition a few times in the past, and not for property. Where women are concerned, we’ve notoriously had the same type.


    I sip my whiskey. “Think of it this way, with Avery and I engaged, you have lesspetition on the market.”


    Jon, the second highest grossing agent at Mercer and first biggest douchebag, looks between me and my younger cousin, waving between us with the pointer finger lifted off his drink ss. “You two have the same taste in women, huh?” He sips, and before the vile words leave his mouth, I’m already expecting them. I know Jon well, unfortunately. “You two ever double team anyone together?”


    Kat rolls her eyes, plucking the olive from her martini. She chews it, ring. “Double team a woman with my cousin? You’re disgusting, Jon.”<fnfb15> Th?s chapter is updated by f?i?n?d?n?o?v?e?l?</fnfb15>


    Heughs, taking another sip of his drink as he directs his focus on me. “That’s a no, then,” he says, adding, “Sutton, you’re way too uptight for any fun anyway.” He crushes his ss into Kat’s, forcing her to celebrate his words. “More fun for us, right Kitty Kat?”


    Like the breath of fresh air that she always is, Avery appears in the doorway, a ss of champagne between her delicate fingers. Her smile is effervescent, and the way she always looks at me first even when the room is full makes my chest squeeze. She winks, then her gaze slides to Kat. “Juliette is here. I told her I’d bring you to her instead of making her traipse through the festivities.”


    My father did go all out on this party despite the fact that neither Avery nor myself are big celebration type of people. But because Avery is having a good time, I don’t mind that he did it. Though my father and I haven’t been close since I was a child, I do want him and Avery to have a rtionship of some sort. I can recognize that my father is arguably a good man, though he’s someone else to me, I keep that to myself.


    Kat sets her empty cocktail ss down on the table, and pats my shoulder as she passes by. “Thanks Avery,” she says, “And congrattions again, guys. Seriously. I can’t wait for you to be an official Mercer.”


    With that, she leaves, and Avery follows, looking back at me over her shoulder as she filters into the mass of friends and family. Her golden hair is down tonight, in waves, and she’s wearing the bright red lipstick that makes my heart race. I love seeing traces of it on my throat before I shower in the morning.


    “Well you took the veryst church girl piece of ass off the market, Sutton. Good for you. Fuck the rest of us,” Jon says, holding his ss which has somehow refilled itself. On the conference room table, I spot an open bottle of ck Label, the unscrewed lid sitting in a puddle of spilled booze. So he’s drunk, or at the very least, buzzed. Still, neither of those things make what he just said okay. Not in the slightest.


    Taking a step toward him, Robertaes between me and Jon. She tips her head to the side, knowing eyes trying to tame mine. “It’s okay,” I reassure her softly, which gives her enough peace to step aside.


    I press my finger into his chest. “That’s your one and only free pass, Whitmore. The next time you make ament about my fiancée, there will be a consequence.”


    Jon’s lips quirk, and his bloodshot eyes move between mine. He’s on the cusp of making a joke, but I don’t let him.


    “Sutton,” Roberta calls my name from the doorway, but I stay in his face. Calmly, without raising my voice, of course.


    “One more word,” I warn.


    The slosh of booze hitting ice is thest thing I hear as I exit the conference room, and join my uncle Ford, my cousin Cade, and Kat with her friend Juliette.


    Uncle Ford and my father couldn’t be more different. Ford is four years younger than my father, but dates women Avery’s age. My father, on the other hand, dates no one but sleeps with everyone. Geo Mercer doesn’t have a lick of ink on his body, where Ford Mercer has very little space on him without it. They do have one simrity though—they’re both very sessful self-made businessmen. Ford owns a chain of high end bars on the West Coast. Unlike me working for my father, Ford’s son Cade ended up a professor, not partaking in either family business. I envy him for that a little, but I do love what I do.


    Cade greets me with a hug, while still arguing with his sister about something that has them both heated. “And—hey, Sutt, congrattions man, she’s great—I told youst time you did it, Kat, you can’t juste sit in on my lectures. You’re not enrolled.”


    After shaking hands with my uncle and receiving yet another congrattions, I stand with my family and listen to them discuss my uncle’stest bar opening in Palo Alto, ready to sink into their familiar voices and enjoy the evening.


    “Sutton.” Her voice grates my nerves, urging me to take another sip of my whiskey as I face Chanel, the front desk receptionist at Mercer. Or as Avery likes to call her, my biggest fan. Chanel’s tant interest in me has never ruffled Avery’s feathers, and her ss and maturity are sexy as hell to me.


    Chanel drapes her hand on my forearm, and I blink down at it until she removes it. Awkwardly, she pretends to pluck lint from my suit jacket, using her whiniest voice when she says, “You really want to be off the market? There’s so much real estate out there you haven’t explored yet.”


    Stepping away from my family, I move my drink to the other hand, and let my arm fall from her reach. “It was never appropriate for you to throw yourself all over me, for a battery of reasons. But now I’m engaged. Avery Bet is my fiancée. If you approach me again in a way that does not respect Avery, you will be terminated from Mercer Properties.” I pause, searching her eyes for a moment before adding, “And pleading with my father won’t get your job back.” Neither will sucking him off, which I’m not sure that she’s done but have a feeling she has. Still, I don’t say that part.


    With that, I walk away and wander until I’ve found my office, overlooking the bay skyline. I’ll catch up with Cadeter, and I see Ford and Kat often. I sink into my chair and stare out the door, to the cluster of people celebrating in the open space between offices. They’re celebrating the fact that their boss surprised them with a random midday booze sesh, not my engagement, I know that. Avery’s eyes catch mine from the crowd. She and I are celebrating one another, and themitment we’ve made.


    Heat res in my belly and my groin grows tight. I shoot her a wink, and stay in that seat for the rest of the afternoon, admiring what’s mine.