Strip

_Aurora’s POV_

Did he just ask me to strip?

For a second,

I honestly thought I hadn't heard him. My brain was trying to make it make sense. It tried to twist this moment into something normal.

Because surely Damien Blackwood, my father’s best friend, billionaire, walking thunderstorm of a man, did not just ask me to take my clothes off.

But it looked like that was exactly what he had just done.

Anger burned deep inside me, but I tried to control it.

His expression didn’t even twitch.

He wasn’t joking. He wasn’t teasing.

He looked serious enough for me to know he was testing whether I would do it or not.

And when I didn’t move quickly enough, when I didn’t immediately obey like some little puppet, he turned his back to me.

“Come back when you are ready to take instructions,” he said, his voice void of any emotion. He had just dismissed me like he hadn’t just detonated my entire world.

He was turning me away? But father said I had to get this job. He can't just.

“I’m sorry I think there’s a misunderstanding…” I started, but his voice rang out, cutting me off.

“I don’t have time for someone who can’t obey.”

Obey.

The word burned,

My mouth parted in shock, humiliation hitting me like a block. Before I could react, Damien gathered his things with ease and walked right past me.

He walked past like I hadn’t been standing there. Like I didn’t matter.

“Where are you going?” I spun around, heat rushing up my neck as I chased after him.

We weren't done speaking. He didn't even listen to me. Was he not giving me the job?

Damien didn’t acknowledge me, he didn’t even slow down.

He just kept walking, his legs thrown in long strides as he created distance between us, while I stumbled after him like some desperate lunatic, begging to be seen.

He can’t just leave, I needed to be sure I got this job before the end of today.

If I don’t, my entire life would be ruined.

Begging father for a better chance doesn’t look like it would work, either.

“Would you just listen to me?” I cried as I followed after him, speed walking to try and catch up.

But Damien made no attempt to stop, he didn’t even act as he heard me.

All I saw was his behind as he got farther and farther away.

Let me just say, Damien Blackwood had no reason to look this good while he was ignoring me.

His suit clung to him in the worst, most disrespectful way. His shoulders were broad, his back solid. It was obvious he worked out and had a sculpted body. His posture was annoyingly perfect, everything about him was.

His hair, which was greying from its roots was gelled back neatly.

And yes.

He had a very nice ass.

But none of that changed the fact that his attitude made him completely insufferable.

“Are you even listening to me?” I snapped, my heels clicking angrily against the floor as I stormed after him like a spoiled child.

People were watching, eyes following us with hunger written in them.

Aurora Kingston chasing after a man who couldn’t care less?

That was a headline waiting to happen.

I hate this.

I hated how out of control I felt. I hated how he wasn’t bending to me. I hated just how unfamiliar this situation was.

No one ever ignored me. No one walked away from me. And most importantly, no one ever made me chase them.

EVER.

And somehow, he did it so effortlessly that it made my blood boil.

If I wasn’t so desperate for this job, I would have slapped him and stormed out the moment he had asked me to strip.

Damien pushed through the glass doors and stepped into the parking lot. I followed without hesitation, my annoyance now a volcano waiting to erupt.

He stopped beside a car, one I assumed was his and I took this as an opportunity to speak.

“Are you even—“

He opened his car door and I slammed it shut with my palm.

The sound filled the empty parking lot.

We both stared at the door, my chest heaving as I clung unto what I assumed was my last thread.

Then slowly, he lifted his head and looked at me.

For the first time since this entire humiliating nightmare started, his eyes locked onto mine.

His eyes darkened, gaze turning colder with each passing second.

And Gold help me, my breath caught.

“What exactly,” he started coldly, “do you think you are doing?”

I swallowed hard, chin lifting stubbornly as I forced myself to hold his gaze.

“You don’t just walk away mid-conversation. I need this job.” I forced out, my jaw tightening.

“I wasn’t aware we were having one.” He said plainly.

I let out a deep breath, eyes closing as I tried to remind myself that I needed this man.

“You can’t just dismiss me like I’m—“ I tried again, but my words were cut off mid-sentence again, as if it didn’t even matter.

“I can,” he sounded almost bored, like he would rather be elsewhere than here. “And I did.”

The worst part?

He wasn’t angry. Wasn’t showing any emotions. His voice was empty, like I was noise to him.

“Do you have any idea who I am?” I hissed in anger, unable to control my anger anymore.

Obviously, he does, he was my father’s best friend.

“Yes,” he replied. “You are a spoiled brat who has never once accepted a ‘no’ in her life. You throw tantrums and the world bends. You get away with everything because you are rich and pretty and spoiled.” He paused for a moment, giving me a once iver as he let all he said sink in.

“And you think just because your father lets that happen, everyone will.”

The words slapped harder than I expected and a lump formed in my throat.

“You don’t get to talk to me that way,” I forced out, my voice sounding weak.

“I do,” he said calmly, “because somebody needs to. And your father certainly can’t.”

He stepped closer, his presence swallowing the space between us. I inhaled sharply as I shifted my gaze elsewhere. I needed to look at anything, anything but him.

“You have been coddled your entire life,” he continued and my fingers dug into my palms. “Protected. Enabled. Given everything on a silver platter, and you have earned absolutely nothing your entire life. And now you are standing here, throwing a tantrum because for the first time in your life, someone refused to play along.”

I snapped my gaze back to him, feeling my eyes burn with anger. Who the fuck does he think he is to talk to me that way?

“Don’t act like you know everything about me.” I forced out, feeling my nails dig deeper into my palm.

His gaze fell on me like I was a child he was scolding. The condescending look on his face burned its way into my memory.

And the funny thing? He was right, everything he had just said was right.

“I don’t. But you’ve shown me all I need to know.”

My chest tightened.

He didn’t even need to yell. Every word he just said hit a spot.

“You want to work for me?” he asked, but before I could answer he continued speaking. “Then understand something very clearly. I don’t deal with entitlement, I don’t tolerate disrespect. And I. Do. Not. Indukge brat behavior.”

He leaned in slightly, hot breath fanning my face.

“and I don’t repeat myself.”

Something inside me trembled, something unfamiliar.

Something I shouldn't even be feeling in a situation like this.

No.

Absolutely not.

“I am not a brat.” I snapped, even though that reaction literally proved his point.

A corner of his mouth twitched.

“You are. And I am going to fix that.”

Fix…

Like I was something broken.

“I’m going to tame you, Aurora.”

My pulse hammered.

I hated him. I hated that I couldn’t breathe. Hated that something inside me liked the way my name rolled off his lips.

He turned away and opened his car again.

He didn’t just get to walk away after saying something like that to me.

So I did the dumbest thing possible, I stepped right in front of his car.

Dead center. He couldn’t move without running me over.

His hand paused on the steering wheel, and I saw his jaw tighten.

Then he started the engine.

My heart thundered in my ears but I didn’t move.

I can’t let him leave here just like that.

And there was no way he would try to run me over, right?

I got proved wrong a second later.

Damien shifted the car into gear, and it rolled forward. Just when I thought nothing would happen, he pressed down on the accelerator.

My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach as I jumped put of the way, falling to the floor.

My arm scraped against the rough floors, and I let out a soft cry in pain.

He braked beside me and my head snapped towards him.

I glared hard at him in hatred as he rolled his window down. His cold gaze meets my heated one.

“Lesson one, princess.” He started. “The world doesn’t stop when you decide to throw a tantrum.”

“Be at the office by 7AM.” He said then he drove away.

Leaving me standing in the middle of the parking lot shaking.