Ch 1

Watching my ex-girlfriend Eleanor shuffle uneasily under my dark gaze was amusing. I wanted to share a smug smile, or even stand up in front of her and enjoy the way I towered over her, but I kept myself back due to her husband's presence. Unlike my ex, Devon was looking at me with hopeful eyes, unaware of my ex's discomfort, waiting for my decision.

"It seems okay, Devon. The room is beautiful, and it'll make sense for me to give that rather than getting a studio in the city, but what if you change your mind?" I asked, acting like I didn't know he had been asking more money from me than the room justified.

"We can sign a lease agreement, no problem!" Devon jumped while Eleanor shuffled in the background, holding herself back, not saying anything. Why should she, when she was the one that spent their life savings on her shopping addiction, forcing them to get a roommate.

"Excellent," I said, just tell your lawyer to send me a draft and I'll let my lawyer go over it. When Devon looked hesitant at the mention of a lawyer, I continued. "Or if you prefer, I can ask my lawyer to prepare one and yours can go over," I added. "As soon as you sign, I'll transfer a year's rent in advance." Devon's eyes brightened.

I knew his type. He believed himself smart enough to understand a legal document, therefore wouldn't waste money to retain a lawyer. And since I was his wife's 'friend', there wouldn't be a problem in the first place. "Of course," he said. "Do you need any help carrying your stuff?"

It took a great effort not to give a pointed look at his thin arms and gesture him with my thick, muscular one, but from the way Eleanor gazed at me angrily, she understood my temptation and held herself back. While walking toward my car, I sent a message to my lawyer friend to send the contract we had prepared, the contract that was filled with loopholes and deadly traps, all designed carefully for my benefit.

After all, to make my dear ex payback for all the years of yearning, not to mention almost ruining my life, I needed leverage.

As I returned, carrying my boxes, I could see Eleanor and her husband arguing in hushed whispers. I stayed in the corner, listening to their argument. "At least let's get a lawyer," she begged in a tone she had probably assumed that I couldn't hear.

"We are not in a position to waste any money," Devon answered. "Even charging him double of what we could get somewhere else, after paying Big Mike, we barely have enough to make this month's mortgage payment. We can't afford a lawyer. And he's your childhood friend, it's not like he's going to do anything to harm you."

From their discussion, it was clear that Eleanor was yet to reveal our true past. She stilled for a moment, conflict clear in her face. For a moment, I was afraid that she would reveal what had happened between us years ago, which would undoubtedly cause Devon to break the deal and chase me away from his home with great haste. "You're right," Eleanor murmured in the end, making me sigh in relief, though not much of a surprise. Eleanor was not famous for her strong personality.

Still, I was happy. All my hard work setting things up didn't go to waste. I made a note to send a gift to Big Mike. He might be a loan shark, but he really worked wonders when it came to helping a friend…

"Of course I'm right," Devon said smugly. "I didn't go to Princeton for nothing, you know," he added smugly, ignoring the fact that he only got a useless degree in Art History, which had rather limited earning potential in the market.

With that, I moved downstairs, then climbed the stairs once again, this time with stiff and thundering steps, enough to make them aware of my presence. "Hey, bro," said Devon even as he held a printout of the contract. "I have read the contract, and I have a couple of concerns," he said, pointing at the contract.

"Let me look," I said, and a perfunctory glance showed that he managed to miss the dangerous parts of the contract —which was buried deep in legalese— and instead circled a couple of meaningless red herrings my lawyer put there just to make him feel clever. "I don't know," I said, looking confused, which made Devon smile. He was three inches shorter than me, and missing about fifty pounds of muscle as well, so my stupid act gave him the reason to feel superior. I let him feel so.

"These are my concerns, and they are very important," he said.

I frowned for a moment, then smiled wide, the way I liked to do whenever I met with business partners who thought that they were smarter than me, perfectly curated to reinforce their view. There was nothing I liked more than an overconfident opponent. "Why don't you go to my lawyer's office, he's smart enough to know what to do. He'll make the changes, and he's authorized to make the payment as well, so you can go to the bank together and get the money," I explained.

"Excellent," Devon said, then turned to Eleanor. "Honey, why don't you help our new guest get settled while I go and handle business," he said, and then turned and left, leaving me alone with my ex-girlfriend.

With my very sexy ex, whose hotness peeked through the conservative clothes she had been wearing today. How couldn't it, with her beautiful face framed by her red hair, her brilliant emerald eyes, and a face beautiful enough to be a model… Her body was concealed behind her loose clothes, but even without seeing, I could visualize her thin waist, her perky breasts, and her tight bottom, followed by her perfect legs.

Overall, she was the perfect specimen of femininity.

She shuffled in her place, clearly unhappy with my hungry gaze, but I didn't even bother to hide it. After all, I never hid my attraction to her, even after she stabbed my heart and betraying me, ruining my chances of getting a decent life as she deserted me. Until I rose from the ashes doing stuff not exactly legal, of course.

"Nathan," she murmured, stumbling on her words, no doubt not expecting me to be that obvious. But she lacked the courage to confront me directly, just like the day she left me behind in the holding cell without a word. She said nothing else, but turned and left, leaving me to watch her ass swaying away.

I chuckled. If she thought that just turning away would save her from my attention, she was mistaken. I was here to make her mine, and I wouldn't stop without succeeding.

///////////////

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Eleanor did her best to avoid my attention, while I stayed in my room, setting up my personal belongings. I stayed in there, no matter how much I wanted to go upstairs and teach Eleanor the error of her ways when she abandoned me four years ago.

When I received the message from my lawyer, telling me that her idiotic husband had signed the contract, I smirked darkly and left the room. Four years ago, I trusted her to be true to her word and stay with me, even risking everything to take blame for her idiotic mistake, only to stabbed in the back.

This time, things were different. If she didn't want to be loved, then she would be owned. And I finally had the power to do so, thanks to the idiotic contract her husband had signed, unwittingly putting their house equity as collateral for the money I had given them. The fact that they were responsible for paying the double if they tried to kick me out was just the topping on the cake.

Now, I was going to see whether Eleanor was as willing to escape if doing so would lock her in an impossible debt.

I chose to wear loose basketball shorts and nothing else as I left my room, putting my muscular body on display. The moment I left, I saw Eleanor in the kitchen, preparing dinner. She was still wearing her boring loose clothes, but that failed to hide her attractive frame. Her perfectly measure body, tight, flat stomach, nicely curved buttocks, and full breasts were still discernible under her clothes.

Or I simply had an active imagination.

Still, I knew I was right. Eleanor was twenty-four, but she made sure to pay attention to her figure through daily strenuous exercise, making her beautiful enough to be a model if it wasn't for her aversion to risk. She was wasted on a pathetic man-child like Devon.

As I undressed her with my dark eyes, my cock twitched wildly, imagining finally fucking her until she forgot all other names but mine. It was the dream that pushed me for the last four years, and it was so close to reality.

It was a dream of revenge, and reunion at the same time.

"Hi, beautiful," I said as I stepped into the kitchen. She flinched at my words, only to be replaced by a blush when she noticed my naked torso, and my shorts with an obvious bulge.

"N-Nathan," she stammered. "Is everything okay? Are you having trouble with the dryer?"

"No," I answered with a smug smile. "Why?"

"Your … clothes," she murmured, pointing at my naked torso as she blushed.

"I don't like shirts, after putting all that effort working out," I answered. "It's okay, right? After all, you're an old friend, married even, and nothing else."

I didn't put any infliction to my tone, but throwing her words from four years ago made her flinch. "R-right…" she stammered.

"Do you need any help?" I asked, but barged in, ignoring the desperate shaking of her head. I grabbed a chef's knife. "I'm starting with the peppers and onions," I said, then chuckled. "I remember how much you hate onions."

"Right…" she murmured, trying to look anywhere but my face. Several minutes passed in silence, before she asked. "How are your studies?"

"As well as you can except in a community college you can enter with a criminal record," I said, and she flinched. I continued. "But I'm not taking any classes this semester," I explained.

"Why?" she asked.

"I'm doing some online part-time work, it's making me a lot of money," I answered. "Isn't it great? We're going to spend so much time together."

Eleanor didn't seem as stoked with the idea, but she also didn't feel brave enough to point at the overwhelming elephant in the room, so I enjoyed our forced closeness. Whenever I turned my back, I sneaked a glance at her through her reflection on the window, and caught her eyes examining my back muscles every single time.

When I passed the container that held all the peppers, I made sure our fingers touched. She flinched. "Careful," I said, my smirking making her blush even more.

"I'm not used to working together with someone in the kitchen, why don't you and watch TV," Eleanor said in a rare display of courage, pushing through her usual passivity. She must be really rattled to say something like that.

"As you wish, roomie," I answered and moved to the living room. However, her fascination with my muscles gave me a better idea. I opened the TV, but rather than sitting on the couch, I started doing a complicated push-up routine: one-armed, cross, even clap push-ups, making sure I caught her attention.

Once again, I watched her from the reflection, this time from the small window of the TV unit, and her gaze started to get stuck more and more on my sweaty frame, her expression getting more and more confused, accompanied by a blush. "Nathan, wouldn't you like to do that in your room?" she asked at one point.

"Not enough room," I simply answered and continued my exercise routine. It was at that point Devon had arrived.

"Hi Nathan, how are you?" he asked.

"Not bad, killing time," I answered between my labored breaths, not even bothering to look at him.

"Well, you can always borrow a book from my library if you enjoy Russian Literature," not even bothering to hide the mocking edge in his tone, so sure that I too daft to catch it. I didn't even get angry. Why would I, when I already took my revenge, a revenge that would show itself soon if Eleanor's aroused expression, mixed with confusion, was any indicator?

"Honey, there's still an hour until dinner. Do you mind helping me with something upstairs," she said, and before Devon could even understand her point, she grabbed his arm and dragged him upstairs. Normally, such a thing would leave me burning with jealousy, but with the little surprise I left with the assistance of my lawyer, I only felt amusement.

Five minutes later, I silently climbed upstairs and neared their bedroom, only to catch a part of their discussion. "Still nothing?" Eleanor asked, desperate.

"No. I'm just not feeling it today," Devon answered, proving that the little pill my lawyer slipped to him to kill his libido for a foreseeable future worked excellently. It was something extremely illegal, of course, but not exactly hard to find for me, or for my lawyer who made a career working with mafia. Now, all it needed was to see how he would handle his little guy not working.

As they continued the fight, and I carefully sneaked toward their door and leaned to get a peek through the keyhole. Eleanor was wearing a boring teddy, a white, completely opaque, and ridiculously little cleavage, but with her red mane free on her shoulders, and her face burning with a mixture of desire and frustration, she was the sexiest woman alive despite her hideous clothes.

Devon was sitting in the bed, covers pulled to his chest protectively, like he was trying to hide from the shame of his inadequate manhood. They continued arguing, getting more and more heated as Devon lashed out. And for once, frustrated by her arousal, Eleanor didn't just pull back passively. Realizing the fight was reaching its epicenter, I pulled back.

"But-" Eleanor tried to say after a particularly scorching remark, but Devon cut her off.

"Maybe you should try to wear something interesting for once, it's getting boring," Devon lashed out with insecurity, proving that he was going to handle that the worst way possible, by lashing out and blaming his partner. His very sexy, but also very vulnerable, partner. Eleanor gasped in shock, and Devon continued. "I'm going to take a nap."

"Be that way," Eleanor gasped, and I carefully hid in the corner of the stairs. A minute later, Eleanor left the room, wearing only a short bathrobe that put her delicious legs to display, her hips dancing sexily with each step that brought her far away, until she reached the end of the corridor and stepped into the bathroom, locking the door behind herself two times.

It was time to put the first phase of my plan into action.