Desire Me If You Can Novel - Chapter 21

The barrage of words left DeAndre mentally stunned.

Ah, this isn’t the time for this. Regaining his senses belatedly, he suddenly felt wronged and screamed desperately.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute! I always use protection, too! So why not me?”

His unyielding persistence finally forced the women to reveal the angry truth. Valentina, with a fiercer expression than DeAndre had ever seen, shouted just as loudly.

“Can’t you understand what we’ve been saying this whole time?”

She sighed deeply, waving her hand irritably at the person she couldn’t reason with.

“Try to understand. It’s someone I want to have sex with, and it’s great that I don’t have to worry about pregnancy even without birth control! Don’t you know how convenient that is? How optimal that state is?”

Her opponent opened his mouth as if to offer some excuse, but Valentina didn’t wait. Instead, she pressed him even harder.

“But with you? I can’t expect anything like that. So I don’t want to have sex with you! Absolutely! Never, ever! Forever!”

In the silence that fell coldly, the word ‘never’ echoed and dissipated. DeAndre was left standing blankly, his mind reeling.

“So now, just realize it! Please, just give up completely!”

Seeing his pitiful form being relentlessly pressed by Valentina, the watching men rushed forward and hastily dragged him back to their spot.

“Hey, DeAndre! Snap out of it! Someone get him some water!”

When Wilkins called his name and slapped his cheeks, he slowly seemed to regain consciousness. At the same time, the words he had just heard revived in his ears, and his eyes instantly burned with tears.

<I don’t want to have sex with you! Absolutely! Never, ever! Forever!>

This is impossible. He would have preferred to be beaten to death. To kill a person with words like that—how could she be so cruel?

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Wilkins patted the back of the trembling DeAndre, whose face was completely contorted, as if consoling him.

“Forget it. Calm down. I have a great idea.”

“An idea?”

“What, what kind of idea?”

Other men asked in response from behind the blinking DeAndre. Wilkins quickly glanced around the area, lowering his voice. After checking the women chattering on the other side, he wore a small smirk.

“Let’s completely humiliate that bastard in front of the women. If we make him look utterly pathetic, the women will lose interest too. And we’ll be there to laugh at him.”

“Is there a way to do that?”

“As expected of the team leader, I trust you!”

“Miller to the sewer!”

The men cheered, swinging their fists in the air. They bumped shoulders, their morale boosted as if they were soldiers preparing for battle. Yet, even amidst the fervor, DeAndre still glared at the gathered women with eyes full of resentment, unable to do anything.

“Hey, Grayson Miller.”

Grayson, who was flirting with yet another female employee, turned back at the voice, finding Ezra standing there. Ezra, who silently signaled him to follow with a jerk of his chin, turned around and walked away briskly. But he felt strangely empty behind him. Realizing there were no footsteps following him, Ezra turned back and was appalled. Grayson Miller was still standing in the same spot, flirting with the woman. An angry Ezra huffed and quickly strode back toward Grayson.

“Miller, what are you doing here? Didn’t you hear me tell you to follow?”

At the quick questioning, Grayson only now turned his head and looked down at him. His expression clearly showed annoyance.

“Hmm…? Did I say that?”

“What did you say?”

Grayson’s reaction was utterly brazen. When the stunned Ezra asked in a voice that inadvertently rose, he still wore a shameless smile.

“You just walked away, so I figured you were just shouting my name for fun. Right, Bess?”

The last part was completely different from the tone he had used with Ezra. It was soft and gentle, as if delivering a light joke. Grayson’s attitude—naturally tilting his head and asking with a twinkling eye-smile—was smooth and relaxed.

Bess, as if enchanted by his smile, stared at him with a momentarily blank expression, then shyly smiled and nodded.

“Mmm-hmm, I didn’t hear you at all. I thought Ezra was being silly.”

“Hahaha, hahahaha! Bess, you’re cute and funny, too.”

“I am a little, aren’t I? Hahahaha.”

Bending over with laughter, they both roared as if they had not a care in the world. Of course, Ezra wasn’t laughing at all. His tightly clenched fists trembled, and he hissed through his gritted teeth.

“Miller, stop that and come along. Everyone is waiting.”

At the angry tone, Grayson finally stopped laughing and looked at Ezra. Still wearing a smile.

“If you have something to say, why don’t you come here and say it?”

That was far from the answer Ezra had been waiting for. The aghast Ezra let out a short sigh—Hah—before tilting his head back and looking up at the ceiling. After taking a deep breath, he spoke in a lower voice than before.

“This isn’t something we can talk about here. Just come, and you’ll see. The team leader said if you refuse, you’ll be stuck in the office for all future dispatches and everything.”

When he relayed Wilkins’ words as a last resort, Grayson’s attitude changed slightly. Even so, he merely pondered for a moment with a smiling face. Looking as if he were making a difficult decision, he thankfully didn’t drag it out and nodded.

“Then I suppose I have no choice. Sorry, Bess. I’ll be quick.”

Surprisingly, he suddenly bent down slightly and even kissed Bess on the lips. It was a light, fleeting kiss, like a simple prank, but considering it was done where others were watching, it was blatant enough. Ezra watched the shameless act with wide, raging eyes for three minutes. Once Grayson finally let go of Bess, waved, and turned around, Ezra, who had been waiting until then, walked quickly without saying a word. But it was impossible to calm his seething insides, and eventually, he opened his mouth after taking only a few steps.

“How long have you and Bess been… like that? I had no idea.”

Grayson wiped his lips, which were slick with saliva, with his thumb and answered the sarcastic question.

“Hmm? Thirty minutes?”

“You filthy bastard.”

“Me?”

At Ezra’s sharp retort, Grayson tilted his head and then turned back. And he shouted loudly toward Bess, who was still standing there.

“Bess, this bastard is calling you filthy!”

“What did you say?”

“Huh?”

Not only Bess but Ezra himself shrieked in shock.

“Wh-wh-wh-what are you talking about! When did I? When did I call Bess filthy? No, Bess! It’s a misunderstanding. I absolutely did not say that to you, I’m innocent, seriously!”

To Ezra, who was shouting urgently and waving his hands, Grayson stroked his chin and tilted his head to the opposite side this time.

“That’s strange. If I’m filthy, wouldn’t Bess, who just kissed me, be filthy too? What’s the difference?”

“There is a difference! There is a difference, you son of a bitch! Are you trying to trap me?”

Ezra screamed, beside himself with fury, but Grayson still looked unconvinced. That face only angered Ezra more, creating an impulse to land a punch on Grayson. But he was forced to stop when another guy called out to him.

“Ezra, what are you doing? Why is it taking so long? Everyone is waiting!”

The man, who couldn’t bear it any longer and came to check the situation, grabbed Ezra’s arm, glancing at Grayson.

“Don’t do this here, hurry up and come. What if we have an emergency dispatch? We don’t have time!”

Damn it. Ezra ground his teeth, but there was no way out. Eventually, he walked with violent, striding steps toward the direction where the team members and the team leader were waiting. The man who came to meet him followed with a flustered look, and finally, Grayson put both hands in his trousers and followed slowly, whistling indifferently.