Tatiana found a chair and spent her time playing a game on her cell phone.
They found the English channels, but there wasn’t much on. Ben rarely watched TV and wasn’t seeing anything interesting now. They settled on a bizarre game show where the contestants had to endure outrageous physical challenges. Evelyn suggested routes through the courses to avoid the dangers, but no one seemed to find them.
When the news came on, Ben yawned as he was ready to call it a night, but the gauze pad hadn’t arrived yet. Evelyn moved to the phone to call down for an update.
“Ben! They’re talking about you,” Liliya exclaimed.
He looked to the screen, and there beside the news anchor was a picture of his grim face.
“The notoriously reclusive international celebrity Benjamin Shepherd is in Hong Kong today and visited the headquarters of real estate developer Huen Kang Development Group. It is speculated that he is looking for a company to build the Hong Kong campus for his Shepherd Foundation, a charity school to help underprivileged young people learn new skills and trades to help them escape the cycle of poverty. While we commend the purpose of his venture, we are disturbed by the man’s behavior.”
Ben frowned and sighed. This was why he didn’t want to be in the public eye.
The anchor continued. “During a meeting with the developer, Mr. Shepherd was visited by an unidentified red-haired woman claiming his signature was required. He interrupted his meeting to speak with the woman, and they moved into the storage room next to the meeting room. What happened next was captured by a security camera. Please be warned, the footage is very explicit.”
“No!” Ben shouted as he suddenly shifted forward to the edge of the cushions.
What appeared next on the screen was shot from ceiling level at the back of the room in the shadows. The picture wasn’t terribly sharp due to the low light level and the distance, but it was clear enough to show Trish pulling his pants down and taking him into her mouth. The shots of his cock were being roughly censored, which initially hid Trish’s face, but once he had her bent over the counter, her expressions were clear enough. The action was hot, heavy, and fast as they thought they were having a private quickie in a public place.
Knowing how this ended, Ben watched the wall Trish was bracing herself against and saw how the repeated and increasingly violent slamming of the cabinets against the wall broke the weak mortar between the blocks. When they escaped from the collapsing wall, the footage switched to a hallway camera. While Trish’s face was not visible, her limp body movements were those of someone unaware of their intimate exposure.
Thankfully the footage ended when they ducked into the washroom.
“Why Mr. Shepherd thought he was justified in enjoying himself this way during a business visit and causing such property damage is unknown to us, but we hope he shows more civil and moral behavior during the remainder of his visit.”
Ben put his face in his hands and cursed softly. Liliya turned the TV off.
“Were you trying to fuck her through the wall?” Tatiana snapped angrily.
Ben looked at her in surprise and saw her face was flushed and she was breathing hard. “No! We just… got carried away. Trish does that to me,” he finished awkwardly.
Tatiana leaped to her feet and stormed towards the door. Liliya raised a hand to stop Ben from following.
As the angry assassin yanked his door open, a small man in the hallway squeaked in fright.
“Who are you?” Tatiana barked.
“Doctor!” the man returned fearfully.
Tatiana sneered and gestured inside. “He is there. Give him horse tranquilizer too, to prevent him from fucking through more walls.” She stepped out, leaving the man blinking in confusion at her departing back.
Evelyn was immediately at the door to guide the doctor inside with quiet apologies for the other woman’s harsh words. She led the man to Ben and showed him the wound they needed to cover. This seemed to calm him down.
The Sergeant shared a look with Ben. Tatiana’s stability was weakening.
-=-
The brunette in question rode the elevator down to the ground floor and headed for the bar. With Ben in his room, Liliya and the Sergeant watching over him, she could take some down time.
When she reached the bar, she nodded to the bartender, who approached with a smile.
“Vodka.”
The man’s smile froze as he picked up the tension in her voice. Her expression wasn’t friendly either, so he poured her a drink and waited as she tossed it back. He poured her another and then a third until she nodded to let him know he could leave.
He did so without looking back.
Her hands were trembling, and she felt a scream of rage and frustration bubbling just under the surface.
It was the redhead’s fault. Trish.
Tatiana closed her eyes but opened them immediately as all she could see in her mind was Ben fucking the red-haired slut… as he should be fucking her. He was so brutal with the woman. He took his pleasure from Trish, and she could do nothing to stop him, not that she’d tried.
Tatiana tossed back the third vodka, then pulled her cell from her pocket. It didn’t take her long to find the news clip online. She found multiple sources and found one without the annoying censoring. She stared at the screen, transfixed by what she saw so long ago and had only felt through his clothes.
He was big, and he was driving it into Trish so hard! Tatiana sucked in a choked breath as she’d forgotten to breathe.
It wasn’t fair. He didn’t look at her like he looked at the other women surrounding him. Even that useless Sergeant got smiles from Ben. She got frustration, anger, and worse, disappointment.
That last one hurt most of all.
She snarled and stormed out of the bar. She needed to release this pain on someone else.
-=-
Louis was sitting at a table in the bar and raised a hand to stop the bartender from chasing after the assassin. “She’s with us, Ben Shepherd’s group. Bill her drinks to my room, fifteen-oh-five.”
The bartender smiled with relief and nodded to Louis as he walked back to the bar to adjust the bill.
Louis cast his glance back to the exit and pondered what might be upsetting the woman so badly. She’d been prickly from the start of their trip, but she’d been on edge ever since Ben’s little liaison with Trish. Something must have happened upstairs.
He hoped it didn’t continue to be a problem as they’d just started their trip.
Dan returned from his room, where he’d been making a call to his wife. He took a seat and caught the expression on Louis’ face. “Something happen while I was gone?”
Louis gave his partner a little shrug. “The dark-haired beauty Ben brought with him just came in for a drink. She was upset and looked angrier when she left. I’m not sure what that means.”
Dan frowned. “I hope Ben can keep that one in line. She’s kinda scary.”
Louis snorted as he took the last sip of his drink. Dan watched him closely. “It’s my last for the night,” he sighed, annoyed by the judgment in his eyes but secretly grateful too.
“What did you really think about Ben’s little stunt today at the headquarters?” Dan asked.
Louis thought about it for a moment. He knew Dan needed an honest answer, so he controlled his urge to joke about it.
“Ben is paying the bills. It’s his dream we’re going to be building. He’s got a lot going on in his life and needing to have twenty-four-seven security can’t be fun either. He works for the US Military, and you saw the permanently stationed troops in his neighborhood. I heard from Dominic he’s some kind of engineering genius with dozens of patents for shit we’ve never heard of. If he has a few eccentricities like grabbing a quickie not with some stranger but with one of the women in his life in a supply closet, I think we have to give him the latitude to do it without judgment,” Louis said.
Dan grinned at his partner and nodded. “Good. I feel the same way. I felt kind of bad for Ed there. He was closest to the wall and heard more than we did. Did you see how he was blushing?”
Louis chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry about Ed. He and Ben have a surplus of good fortune romantically. If anyone can understand being surrounded by hot women, it’s Ed.”
Dan nodded as he couldn’t argue the point. Ed did have several gorgeous women in love with him. If Dan hadn’t been married to the love of his life and Ed wasn’t such a nice guy, he might have been jealous.
Louis snorted. “Did you see Mark’s expression when Ben returned from the bathroom? He’s got a serious case of hero-worship.”
Dan nodded and yawned. “Here’s hoping tomorrow goes smoother.”
Louis grinned at his partner as they got up from the table and walked over to the bar to settle their bill.
“Where’s the fun in that?”