20

The next night, Gage went out with the guys as he normally did. After about an hour, he looked around, unsure of his surroundings. The club life was not where he belonged. It never was who he had been in the past. He wondered at what point a bachelor’s lifestyle had become his new norm. Since Isis showed up in his life, he knew she was all he wanted. She consumed his every thought and need. Gage’s fast-paced lifestyle was taking a toll, and this was not the life he chose for himself.

He loved playing the opulent character under the Justice team banner. But it ultimately left him feeling empty. His selfish desires for control were ruining his life.

The sudden realization hit him like a brick. He had to have her. One thing Gage couldn’t deny to himself. He wanted Isis more than he ever wanted anyone. Submitting to him professionally had turned into wanting her to submit to him sexually. Maybe even emotionally, but that he wouldn’t admit, even to himself.

He wanted her more each moment he spent with her.

He would have her. Mind, body, and soul.

The sexy outfits never bothered him. It was the way it made him feel about her.

Gage had never been so sexually driven to a woman, even his ex-wife. He loved the beauty of a woman, but Isis was something special. A goddess. Her denial of him turned him on even more. Wanting her with every breath he took, and her fighting against it, gave him life again. She never was the girl who threw herself at him like the others. The thought of the challenge she gave was intriguing, making him desperate for more.

Gage looked around, seeing for the first time this wasn’t who he wanted to be. He dismissed himself from the bar and went back to his hotel room, determined to start over and work to get his life back. The life he lost, along with his failed marriage.

***

A hot shower did nothing to ease his tension. After sitting for hours flipping through cable channels, Gage was still thinking about Isis. He decided he needed to clear his mind the only way he knew how. He knew of an all-night gym down the street and working out was always his best way to get out unwanted stress. He could be away from everyone at IWX, at least for a while, and get some well-needed clarity.

It was almost midnight when he arrived at the gym. He started working hard on the punching bags, releasing frustration hit-by-hit. Trying to get his goddess out of his mind, he pounded away. Nothing worked. She was consuming him to the very core of his existence.

Isis had the same idea. She couldn’t get the last few days out of her head as hard as she tried. Seeing him kiss those women at the video shoot broke her heart. Looking into his eyes, while his lips ran over the woman’s, almost destroyed her, even though she knew it was a game played to test her. She could only picture it as Gage touching her at that moment, wanting nothing more than it to be true.

She couldn’t understand why she was falling to his manipulations. After everything he had done to her, how could she be falling more in love with him every passing day?

His words that she was his rang through her mind over and over. She wanted to be his. Hell, she knew she already was. One minute he was sweet and giving. Next, he was making her life miserable. The whole experience made her head spin.

While Isis enjoyed this game, she didn’t understand why. Maybe Holly had been right. Maybe this was who she longed to be. A submissive that needed to be dominated. Isis thought about how she was letting this man take over her heart and her body. She knew it wouldn’t be long before she could no longer resist him and submit to Gage’s every word at his demand.

Maybe that’s what she needed. On her own, she was always afraid. With him by her side, even on the bad days, she felt empowered to want to do more. Isis was afraid she would never be good enough for a man like Gage. A wealthy, handsome, powerful celebrity who had the world at his fingertips. She was a simple rookie who was just blessed to be in a family of the right people. She never felt good enough for anyone. Her entire life taught her she had always been on the outside looking in. A life she wanted, being always just out of reach. Until she met Gage. He was offering her dreams if she would just submit to his will.

In the gym, Isis found an open room where she could be alone. Windows looking into the gym covered one wall and mirrors on the other. She hadn’t seen Gage was just across the gym, taking out his own frustrations.

The trainer for the night gave her permission to use the empty room to dance. It was a room she figured was for yoga or dance classes and was the perfect place to let her emotions flow freely. An eerie quiet filled the empty gym. Except for someone she heard hitting the punching bags when she arrived, she was basically alone.

Isis adjusted her black dance leotard and connected her iPod to the radio in the room. Music filled the gym, echoing from all corners.

Dancing was her outlet and the one place she always felt safe. She mixed ballet and modern dance in ways short of miraculous. As she looked through the playlist, she found a song that she played many times before. This time it meant more to her than it ever had.

As music filled the air, she could feel the words invade her heart. As she swayed across the space, all emotions of the past few weeks crashed down upon her. Her favorite indie song enveloped her like a cocoon as she allowed the lyrics to speak the words she was too afraid to admit to herself.

You don’t love me.

Why do I try?

Something inside tells me the words you hide.

I can feel your heartbeat when you hold me tight.

The silence is killing me.

I don’t want to fight.

So far, but so close to the love that you hide.

What will it take to make you love me?

… Love Me.

Gage, hearing the music, stopped in his tracks. Looking in the mirror in front of him, he just stared at his reflection. It was almost nauseating to see the man before him. Disgusted with who he had become over the past year; he couldn’t even look himself in the eyes. It was almost unbearable to look in the mirror at all, knowing what harm he had caused to himself and everyone around him.

He hated drinking, going to clubs, and women who just wanted him for money and fame. Just like his ex-wife who used him for nothing more than social clout. Women who fawned over him now were nothing more than cheap thrills. Yet here he was, allowing all of it to consume him. Being the type of empty, soulless man, he always loathed.

Gage saw a motion over his shoulder in the room behind him. Letting his eyes adjust to the reflection through the mirror, he saw a woman in the next room dancing. Interested to see what was going on, he turned to see Isis’s body moving to the music in beautiful perpetual motion. He slowly made his way closer to the room, never taking his eyes away from her.

He didn’t dare disturb her from the graceful beauty before him.