Cage of Desire: (Cage of Design Series, Book 1): An Alpha Stepbrother Billionaire Romance Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter One: Mia

  Chapter Two: Eric

  Chapter Three: Mia

  Chapter Four: Eric

  Chapter Five: Mia

  Chapter Six: Eric

  Chapter Seven: Mia

  Chapter Eight: Eric

  Chapter Nine: Mia

  Chapter Ten: Eric

  Chapter Eleven: Mia

  Chapter Twelve: Eric

  Chapter Thirteen: Mia

  Chapter Fourteen: Eric

  Chapter Fifteen: Mia

  Chapter Sixteen: Eric

  Chapter Seventeen: Mia

  Chapter Eighteen: Eric

  Chapter Nineteen: Mia

  Chapter Twenty: Eric

  Chapter Twenty-One: Mia

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Eric

  Chapter Twenty-Three: Mia

  Chapter Twenty-Four: Eric

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Mia

  Chapter Twenty-Six: Eric

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: Mia

  Cage of Desire

  — Book 1 —

  Written by: Christina Clark

  Copyright © 2015

  Disclaimer.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. All Rights Reserved

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Chapter One: Mia

  New York was like a different world, everyone here was so loud and fast; there was color and noise everywhere and the city seemed alive beneath my feet. I was in love with the city’s concrete beauty and its unashamed ugliness laid out for everyone to see. I could understand why everyone thought they could make it here. I felt like I’m a part of something bigger; something magical. I couldn’t stop turning my face towards the sky and staring at the buildings rising majestically out of the ground, and that’s when some guy ran into me and spilled iced tea all over my shirt. I screamed as the cold liquid hit me, and indignantly faced my attacker who yelled, “Stupid bitch made me spill my tea!” before hurrying away.

  Shit...Shit...Shit! I was close to tears as I pulled my shirt away from my skin, hoping I wouldn’t freeze to death in the ridiculously cold September weather. Onlookers sneered and continued on their way as I looked around while desperately trying to hide my very pronounced breasts through my sudden see through shirt. Of course, this was happening to me on such an important day. I spotted a small sandwich shop across the street and ran over to it. A tall African-American woman stood behind the counter and smiled sympathetically as I explained what happened. She shook her head and said, “Don’t worry, love, you can use our restroom to wash that stain out. Try and use the hand drier to dry it out too,” pointing towards a small unmarked door in the corner of the shop. I thanked her profusely and made my way into the crammed restroom, locking the door behind me and peeling off my shirt. Fuck New York.

  After I had washed and dried my shirt enough to make it vaguely presentable, I frowned at my bra-clad reflection and put the shirt back on, tucking it untidily back into my skirt. I hurried out of the shop after showing my gratitude to the woman again, almost late for my first day at college. My mother had recently taken up a post as the new dean at New York’s Savannah College of Liberal Arts, having deferred the job for a year while I was finishing high school in Virginia. She didn’t want to leave me and said that if she waited a year, I could attend Savannah and be with her in the big city. I was excited to be in New York where I dreamt of studying creative writing, but being with Mom was a major downside. She was fiercely smothering, and wouldn’t let me do anything that normal girls do at college. So I had agreed to attend the college and move to the city, but only if I could get my own apartment.

  To my utter delight, she agreed, and I was so shocked by her concession that I had jumped up and hugged her on the spot. She said she’d take care of finding me an apartment, and paying for it. I just had to work hard on my studies. I couldn’t believe my luck, and felt terribly guilty about being so awful to my mom all the time. She was so sweet about the move, and I lived in my little daydream about New York for days until I moved into the apartment and recognized Mom for the conniving fiend she was. She had deliberately found me a small, ugly apartment with leaky pipes and hideous views. She wanted me to be so uncomfortable that I would have no choice but to go crawling to her large comfy apartment overlooking Central Park. But I saw through her game, and was determined to make the best out of my shitty little apartment. I may have no hot water, but I still had my freedom.

  I walked into the beautiful campus and suddenly felt very aware of the faint stain on my chest, and the way my skirt clung to my large hips and thighs. I wished I had worn a sweater and a pair of jeans instead. I saw students all around me greeting each other, walking either in pairs or in large groups, and I realized that I didn’t have a single friend in New York City. Taking a deep breath, I walked into the classroom and sat down towards the back of the class, not wanting to attract too much attention to myself. I watched as students entered, girls with multiple piercings and vibrant colored hair; boys with leather jackets and shaved heads. I felt like a total outsider, an imposter. I could almost hear them thinking, “Who’s the chubby girl in the office skirt? What a loser.” Was I imagining it, or was a boy sitting right at the back of the classroom actually staring at me? Just openly staring, I could feel his gaze on the back of my head, and I turned just slightly to get a surreptitious glance at him.

  He was heart-stoppingly handsome, with tanned skin and a sharp jawline. He wore a pair of glasses perched at the end of his nose, and his light hair was swept back to one side. He caught me looking, and instead of looking away, he swept his gaze over my body before locking his eyes onto mine and curling his lips into a slight sneer. I turned around so fast that I almost cricked my neck, my face was burning. I tried to concentrate as the professor walked into the classroom and introduced herself, talking about the main goals of the course, but my mind kept drifting to the boy and his cheekbones. Did he think I was a total loser? Was he mocking me? I was tortured by the thought of his sneer, wondering what it meant. I shook my head slightly and concentrated on the class. I had to focus on college if I wanted to stay far away from my mom’s apartment.

  Chapter Two: Eric

  The class had started, and the professor was damn good or so I was told later, because I couldn’t get past the girl sitting three rows ahead of me. She stood out from the moment she walked in, wearing a white shirt that stretched over her noticeably large breasts, and a skirt that hugged the curve of her thighs. She was frowning nervously while she looked for a place to sit, and I stared at her. Her skirt rode up as she sat down, and I caught a glimpse of the cream colored skin above her stockings, and something in me tightened. She looked deliciously soft, and I couldn’t stop staring. She turned to look at me, and I knew then she was mine for the taking. Slowly, deliberately, I let my eyes travel from her curvy legs to her rounded bottom and her chest, up her neck, gliding across her rose colored
pouty mouth and her high cheekbones. My gaze finally rested on her large round eyes as I looked straight at her, letting her know I wanted a taste of it all.

  She widened her eyes and her pale skin turned deep pink, as she turned away quickly, clearly embarrassed. I grinned; the girl needed all the attention she could get. She clearly wasn’t used to it. I knew I had to scoop her up while she was still so vulnerable. I leaned back in my chair, proud of myself for having found a new hobby just ten minutes into junior year. This is why I had been so determined to land a freshman course. I tried to pay attention, but my eyes kept traveling to her dark chocolate curls, and that perfect ass as it spilled over the edges of her chair. You can’t get many girls like her at Savannah; they all looked the same, even though they tried so hard to be different. But it doesn’t matter how many times you get your ears pierced if you’re all going to have the same long legs and narrow waists. It’s gorgeous but it gets boring after the seventeenth girl you fuck looks the same as the previous sixteen.

  I had seen them throw me looks of pure hatred as I strutted across campus this morning, their friends patting their arms comfortingly while trying to pretend I hadn’t fucked them too. But this one, she had a strange air of naïveté around her. I could bet she wasn’t a native New Yorker. She didn’t walk with the same confidence that New York girls exuded; and she didn’t have their edgy dressing sense either. She looked like she was here for a job interview instead of her first day at a liberal arts school. I smirked to myself; I could show the ways of the dirty city, turn her wild. I’d love to see what’s hiding under the layers of insecurities; she sure had a lot of potential.

  I toyed with the idea of talking to her after class ended, but decided against it. It’ll mess up the whole game if I end the mystery too soon. But maybe there’s another way of figuring out who she is without actually talking to her. As soon as class was dismissed, I hurried past her seat just in time to see her stuffing a notebook in her bag, and I caught the name written neatly on the front cover- Mia Carter. I also got a good look down her shirt as she bent to pick up her bag, and I gotta say, that view was impressive. Smiling to myself, and ignoring more looks of rage thrown at me by my previous conquests, I left the classroom, already pulling out my phone to look up Mia Carter on Facebook. I needed to know everything about her.

  Chapter Three: Mia

  That was the most nerve-wracking experience of my life. It was actually worse than the time Daddy convinced me that skydiving was a good idea and I had stood at the plane watching my dad and brothers jump out one after the other, until I was left all alone with the instructor. I remember staring out at the patchwork of fields beneath me, feeling dizzy; the instructor had to push me out of the plane, and I had vomited for three days straight after that. But this was definitely worse than that. Not only had the boy made such a show of looking me up and down, but he had also walked right up to my seat as class had let out and stared straight down my shirt. My face was burning, not with anger, as I suddenly realized it but rather with excitement. I wanted him to look at me; I liked it. I shook my head. God, what’s wrong with me? I tried to think of other things as I walked across campus but I couldn’t stop thinking about his tanned skin and perfect bone structure. He could have stepped straight out of a clothing catalogue.

  I sat down on a bench across from the building, and pulled out my phone. I had seven texts from Mom who wanted to know how my first class went, and told me to meet her in the dean’s office for lunch. I ignored the lunch invite, and texted her back. Hey Mom, class was great. I’ll talk to you soon. I added a heart emoji so that she won’t realize I was blowing her off, and I tossed my phone back into my bag. I considered taking a walk maybe, trying to get to know the place better when a girl approached me, smiling brightly. “Hi, I saw you in the Urban Studies course,” she said, gesturing towards the classroom they had recently vacated, “mind if I join you?” I was taken aback, but welcomed the company, “Please,” I said sincerely, and she sat down next to me.

  She had long black hair, a gorgeous olive complexion, and long slanting eyes. She turned her face to me and I saw a small nose ring glinting in the sunlight. “I’m Aria,” she said, “I noticed you had that lost freshie look, so I thought I’d come over and introduce myself.” I smiled gratefully at her. “I’m Mia, and I take it you’re not a freshman?” She shook her head, “Sophomore, but don’t worry, I was the same when I first started here.” I seriously doubted that, she looked so confident and at ease with herself, and I told her that. She laughed and shook her beautiful head, “Nah, you just get really good at pretending once you’ve been in New York for a while. Especially at a place like this, where there are so many strong personalities that you don’t wanna fade into the background.” I looked down critically at myself, wearing that ridiculous corporate outfit. I looked like a total nerd next to Aria’s leather tights and grey crop top. She must have known what I was thinking and said, “Look, it’s your first day here. You’ll learn what to expect from this place soon.” I still felt like a complete loser.

  She stood up suddenly, and announced, “We’re going to hang out with some of my friends and my girlfriend, come on. They’re always looking for fresh blood.” I must have looked terribly nervous because she laughed then and said, “Relax, they’ll love you.” I stood up and followed her, watching her long legs strut confidently, and I felt short and frumpy next to her effortless grace.

  Chapter Four: Eric

  I spotted her following Aria to a group of similar social rejects- the artsy types with their vegan lunches and Marxist ideas. Well, actually I had no idea whether those guys were actually vegan or Marxist, but I assumed as much. And now Mia was following them to join in? I can’t have her if she’s a Marxist, those are the only girls I can’t impress with my car or my wallet. I was still trying to cyberstalk her, but she had too many damn settings. I opened Instagram and boom, her first name was on the search list. I went through her pictures slowly, while still keeping the real Mia in my peripheral vision. The first few pictures were all tourist-like shots of NYC, Lady Liberty and the Chrysler; and then goldmine. Apparently, Miss Mia was just coming from a great beach vacation in Miami swimsuit photos galore.

  I had just clicked on a particularly delicious shot of her in a pin up style pink bikini when my phone started ringing, replacing the sexy picture of the curvaceous brunette with one of a slender blonde with narrowed eyes, and the screen read Naomi calling. I sighed and answered, “Hello, Queen Bee, how’s my favorite whore?” and a throaty voice crooned “Hey baby, miss me yet?” I had to admit, my life had been kind pf lonely without the psychotic bitch, “Yeah, it’s not as fun being the only crazy one. Savannah College misses you too- girls may actually have some self-esteem without you here to emotionally traumatize them forever.” She laughed, “It’s okay, I’m busy making Paris a hellhole for these French sluts. Hardly any hot boys here; nobody likes you anyway. So tell me, babe, still working out?” she added the last part in a sensual whisper, she knew that drove me wild. But Mia had started moving again, and I had to work out a plan, so I said to Naomi, “Sorry love, but there are still hot girls here, and I’ve got my eye on one right now, so later babe.” I hung up before she could protest in that throaty sexy voice of hers.

  I liked that the phone call ended and my screen went back to Instagram, so I could admire Mia’s gorgeous boobs one more time before I closed the app and followed the real deal surreptitiously. I hung back slightly, pretending to be texting so she’d think I hadn’t paid attention to where I was walking. I would have walked straight up to her but I really didn’t know what Aria would say to me, or to her about me. She was still pretty mad at me for sleeping with her ex-girlfriend- Maisy, who was bisexual and she’s the one who initiated it. So, how was it my fault? Damn, she was hot though. I continued my false texting as I passed them by, and noticed they were heading towards the Medieval Poetry class, but Aria just seemed to be dropping her off. They parted just outside the class and Aria w
alked away with the rest of her group. Class hadn’t started yet, and Mia just hung around outside. So, I considered going up to her and introducing myself; but then I had a better idea.

  I walked right past her, texting, turned back to look at her and smirked, and as soon as she had registered the smirk, I turned my attention back to my phone again. In the brief moment when we had made eye contact, she stared at me, parted her rosy lips slightly and looked utterly confused. And that’s when I knew for sure that my move had been a success. That’ll get her thinking; it always does. I grinned to myself all the way upstairs to my next class. This was my second favorite part of chasing after a new girl, first favorite being the sex of course. I fell into my seat and leaned back, stretching my arms out behind me. A girl shot me a disgusted look, and I smiled widely at her. She rolled her eyes at me and looked away, sharing a meaningful look with her friend. I knew I was a total bastard, and I loved it.

  Chapter Five: Mia

  Okay, what the fuck was that? He did it again; the same boy from Urban Studies looked me over again and did the same self-satisfied smirk thing he did before. I didn’t know if he was admiring me or mocking me, and I was starting to suspect it was the latter. I had to find out what his problem was, and I resolved to ask Aria about him as soon as I saw her again. But then I remembered she had told me that she had a film class all day, and I only had Medieval Poetry left before I could go home. God, what did he want? I couldn’t let another class go by without paying attention, all because of that fucking guy with his perfect jawline and his objectifying gaze. I had to keep up my good grades if I wanted to keep my apartment. As soon as I thought of Mom, I pulled out my phone again, and sure enough, two more texts from her, reproaching me for having missed lunch. I sent back a quick apology, and saw an Instagram notification.