Addicted to Mr. Parks (The Park #2) (19 page)

“My motto is, ‘Don’t conceal, but confront.’ Try walking through the problem instead of curving around it. At the root of every addiction is pain, hurt, and anger. Let it out, Evey.”

And I did. I began to sob. Began to weep from the pain that I felt, and from the words that Nia had spoken so truly about. Finally someone understood and was beginning to put my behaviour into perspective for me. Nia didn’t judge my tears and she didn’t make me feel weak for shedding them, and that felt good.

“Excuse me.” I pushed to my feet, tears fogging my view.

“Take your time,” Nia called softly.

I hurried up the stairs and barged my way into Parks’s office. He was on his laptop, but as soon as he saw my tears, his face paled and his mouth dropped.

“Princess,” he breathed in trepidation. I ran towards him and crawled into his lap. He held me close, tight, and warm, and I cried into his chest. “Baby, what’s wrong? Has she upset you?” His voice sounded soothing, but his intention of kicking Nia out if she’d hurt me was clear.

I shook my head in the crook of his neck. “She just gets me,” I whimpered. He sagged monumentally and pulled me into him within an inch of my life. I couldn’t breathe properly, but it was welcoming. “I just want the pain to go away. I want my past to stop haunting me, and I want a normal life…with you.”

“And you will, Princess. I promise I will get you better. And I promise to make you happy for as long as you will let me. But you have to talk to me too. I need to know what’s going on inside your head to help me aid you.”

“I know.” My sobs were pitiful, and in the midst of being curled up on my paradise, I felt guilty for leaving Nia the way I did. But I didn’t want to move. I wanted to stay in his lap and never leave. I didn’t have the strength to carry on with our session. I felt exhausted, pulled, and prodded and just wanted to close my eyes and wake up when the nightmare was dead and buried.

***

The ringing of an alarm woke me up the next morning. I rubbed at my eyes until I could open them, then sat up in bed.

Bed? I couldn’t remember going to bed.

The orange and yellows of sunrise crept into the room from the windows, and so did Parks from the doorway. My gaze automatically hit his physique as he padded into the bedroom. Grey jogging bottoms and a black tank clung to his body perfectly. Sweat patches formed a triangle from the neck down, and he was holding a white towel around his shoulders.

“Morning, Princess.”

“Morning, you.” I grinned, my gaze travelling over his temple of a body. “I don’t remember coming to bed.” I yawned, glancing back out the windows.

“You cried yourself to exhaustion on my lap. I put you to bed.”

“Nia?” I gasped.

“She’ll call you.”

Oh God, I felt terrible. I flopped back down into bed, only to be pulled out of the comfort of the duvet by my ankle and into the lap of the stunning man I couldn’t take my eyes off.

“You are the bravest woman I have ever met, Evelyn. You impress me every day.” I nuzzled my head into his kiss as he pressed his lips to my temple. “How was Nia? What did she say?”

Climbing off his lap, I decided to take a quick shower before getting changed for work. “Good. Really good, actually. It felt good to talk to her. But I wish you didn’t suggest her in the first place.”

Of course, now I knew Nia’s way of working, I was happy Parks booked her to see me, but I was still raw over the way he didn’t listen to my demand of no doctors.

“What else would you suggest?” he asked, pushing down his jogging bottoms. His intention clearly was to join me in the shower. “Stress balls?” he added playfully.

“Stress balls?” The kinky thought of balls instantly entered my dirty mind, and my gaze suddenly dropped to his groin. “What about these stress balls?” I went to grope his sac, but he caught me by the wrist.

“I suggest you only fondle those balls when you’re happy, or things could get pretty ugly. I intend to have children one day.”

Children? I wasn’t sure why, but that utterly threw me. “You want children one day?”

“Of course.” He frowned. “Don’t you?” He was watching me carefully, I think hoping for a positive answer. I couldn’t give him one.

“No. I never want children.”

Letting go of my wrist, he headed into the bathroom before me. It was a way of trying to hide that what I’d said struck a chord with him. “Is there a reason why?”

My scoff was louder than I intended it to come out. “Serious? I’m a mess. I would never burden a child with that.”

Jumping into the shower together was one of the delights of living with Parks. But I couldn’t help feel the tension the vast shower space was immersed with. We even showered in silence and washed our own bodies.

Parks climbed out before me, so I let him get a head start in getting dressed before I got out and started drying my hair.

I finished my makeup, got dressed, and parked my backside on the bed, then called out to Parks, who was still in his wardrobe. “You okay?” I felt inclined to ask. I couldn’t figure out his mood.

“Good.” He smiled, stalking towards me, all dashing and handsome and smelling flawlessly divine, making me hum in appreciation. “Don’t give me those eyes when I have to get to work,” he scolded.

“What eyes?” I fluttered my lashes purposely.

He cupped my face with his big hands, and a growl vibrated though my bones. “Those sexy eyes. They make me want to pin you beneath me and fuck you senseless.”

I gulped, squeezing my thighs together. “And do you want to fuck me? Senseless?”

He stepped back, closing his eyes on a headshake. “You know I do, and I will tonight.” He lifted his wrist and quickly glanced at his watch. “But I’m going to be late, and you know how I feel about being late.”

Yes, I did. Mr. Control Freak.

His smartphone rang, pulling his gaze away from mine. His answer was clipped and impatient. “Yes. I know. I’m on my way.”

“Who was that?”

He dipped down to kiss me. “My PA. Come on.” Placing a pushy hand on the small of my back, he started leading me down the stairs and into the lobby.

“I thought Joanna was your PA?” How many bloody PAs did he need?

“She is. But David manages the media side of things. Public image and so forth.”

Most of the time I forgot how significant Parks actually was. In the business world. Celebrity word. Everything world. It made me feel
insignificant
whenever I thought about it. So I didn’t tend to.

“Is he miserable like Joanna?”

Parks chuckled and held up his ID card to the scanner on the lift. “Is Joanna miserable?”

I scoffed out a laugh. “She hates me with you, put it that way.”

His eyes grew curious and narrowed. “What has she said to you?” He held out his hand for me to enter the lift before him.

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

The lift hit the bottom floor quicker than I’d have liked, and Parks hurried me along the lobby and out to Cleaver’s car. There was also another important-looking car with blacked-out windows waiting.

“Oh.” I halted. “We’re not riding together?”

“No, Princess, I have to catch up on a few things on the way to work, and you’re a distraction.” Parks turned on his heel as a short, slim-built man approached. Greying hair came down his forehead into a widow’s peak, and a grey beard suited his features and wide-spaced brown eyes. He was also wearing an expensive tailored suit. “David, I would like you to meet Evelyn.”

Oh, the PA.

“Nice to meet you.” David shook my hand quickly, displaying a huge smile which only seemed to be on show for Parks’s sake. His eyes weren’t genuine as he studied me, and I could see right through them. Only when he started talking did I notice he had an abnormally long chin.

“Likewise, Dave.” My short smile was also fake as I scanned his body like he was doing mine.

“David,” he corrected me on a stiff nod.

My shrug was purposeful. “Dave, David. All the same to me.”

“But not to me,” he went on, acting in a playful manner, but I could see his gritted teeth under that fake smile.

“How about Twat, then?” I offered, gaining a mortified reaction from Parks.

“Evelyn!” he scolded me like I was a child. Seemed he didn’t see David for what he was. “David, excuse me.” Parks pulled at my elbow and marched me to Cleaver’s waiting car.

“What are you doing?” he hissed. “He was being polite.”

“Polite,” I scoffed, yanking my arm from his hold. “He doesn’t like me. So therefore, I instantly don’t like him.”

He ran a hand through his hair, clearly exasperated. “Evelyn, how the hell do you know that? You’ve only just met.”

“Listen, Parks.” I prodded him in his rock-hard chest with my finger. “I’ve met a lot of people who don’t like me, and I’ve sussed the body language out. He doesn’t like me.”

“Evelyn, you seriously drive me crazy.”

“I told you I was a handful.” I smirked.

“Well—” he bent down, and his lips quickly skated across my temple and into my ear, “—that’s why I have two hands. Now get to work.”

Parks opened up the door of the car for me to enter and gave my arse a harsh slap when I climbed in. “Bastard,” I gasped. “What was that for?”

Holding on to the car door, he called in, “You called me Parks.” Then he slammed the door shut.

Five thirty came around in no time, and I packed up my briefcase and climbed into the lift, needing to get to Parks’s office. Whilst riding the lift up with eight more people, my smartphone began to ring in my bag. I shoved my briefcase onto the floor and fished in my bag, where I saw a text on my phone. It was from Tabby, and she was reminding me of our planned night out. Shit. I’d completely forgotten. Not wanting to let her down a second time, I told her I couldn’t wait and asked that she text me her address so I could meet her there.

I picked up my briefcase and scrambled out into the lobby when it came to the top floor, trying to carry my briefcase and put my smartphone back into my bag at the same time.

“So you got your way, then?”

Flicking my hair out of my face after gathering myself, I came into contact with Joanna. Her beady eyes were in slits, her lips pouting, and her plump arms crossed.

“What?” My reply was mindless as I looked through the glass and saw Parks was still with somebody.

“I knew you would get your claws into Mr. Parks and his money somehow.”

“Oh Joanna, I really couldn’t care what you think. Go ahead and tell everyone I’m after his money if you like, because to be quite honest, I’d much prefer his dick.”

Leaving Joanna gaping, I let myself through the glass doors. Parks was just shaking hands with a client and showing him out.

“Princess.” Parks sagged when we were alone and brought me into his arms. “Ready to go home?”

“I’m going out tonight.”

He furrowed his brows, his body tensing around mine. “With whom?”

“Steph.” Shit. I almost scrunched up my face after that lie. A lie I told because I knew there was no chance in hell he would allow me to go out with a new friend. He’d tell me they weren’t trustworthy. Steph was completely trustworthy. I knew he wouldn’t stop me seeing her, and a fight was not something I intended on embarking on right then.

“Where?” Jesus Christ. He wanted to know every aspect of every minor detail.

I gave a shrug of my shoulder, playing with his tie gratuitously. “Just a restaurant. Nothing major.”

He rolled his shoulders back as if he was trying to ease tension. I dropped my hands from his tie and stepped back to put some distance between us. “You don’t want me to go out?”

Watching his jaw tense, I knew the answer wasn’t going to be positive. “Quite frankly, no.” Well, at least he didn’t beat it around the bloody bush. But domineering or not, he was not going to keep me inside.

“I’m going out, Parks. You have no say in the matter.”

He picked up my briefcase and rounded me to open the glass door for me to exit. “We’ll see.” His voice was low, his tone threatening.

“We
will
see,” I hissed, sashaying past him and banging my first on the button to call the lift.

For a man of his calibre, he sure did act like a fucking child.

The ride home was ridiculously silent. Just for something to do, I started skimming through my photographs on my smartphone, finding it inwardly amusing that Parks was discreetly tilting his head to see what I was doing.

When we got home, I showered alone, then got dressed into a beautiful mustard-coloured Balmain dress. It was skin-tight, which meant it accentuated my curves tight and snug. My shoes were black, my hair was up in a ponytail, and I was clipping my way towards Parks’s office where he’d stayed since we’d got home. Leaning against the doorjamb, I called to Parks, who was sitting at his desk. “I’m going now.”

His frown was firm as he tapped at the keyboard, and his tie had been loosened around his neck. After a beat, his green eyes glanced up over the edge of the laptop screen, and he halted his hands mid-type. “Beautiful. Bit much for a restaurant, though. Don’t you think?” He was being extremely inquisitive and cold.