The Arrogant Architect (15 page)

We’ve only been home for a day and already King is ready to
get out. “Are you sure you’re up for this?” I ask him as he takes his pills in
front of me, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah, of course, baby.”

“If anything gets to be too much, you’ll tell me, right?”

“With you by my side, how could that happen?”

“I mean it,” I tell him and he stands to hug me, swaying a
little, the vertigo hitting him.

Leaving his house, I lock up and we get into his car.
Bringing the loud fucking engine to life as he buckles up next to me, he is so
sexy, dressed casually today. He stares out the window as I drive off, seeming
to be in a daze, and I ask him, “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me, King.”

“I’m not, I’m thinking, that’s all.”

“What about?” 

“How I’m going to apologize to your dad for what I did. I
wasn’t thinking at the time what the repercussions of my actions were. I was
out of my mind thinking that it would somehow help you both move on.”

“My dad is the most understanding person I’ve ever known.
Just talk to him.”

I enfold my hand around his, ignoring my phone as it rings
in my pocket.

“You gonna get that?”

“Nah, I’m with the only person that matters.”

King reaches over and brushes his thumb over my lips, then
drags his hand down my body and cups my sex. “Can I finger you?”

I can’t help but smirk. “Do you have to ask?” Nudging his
way into my shorts, he spreads open my pussy, tickling my clit, and then
forcing two fingers into me. “Uhhhhh,” I moan. He’s so good with his hands.
Gripping the steering wheel tighter, I focus on the road as he slowly moves in
and out of me.

“You have the tightest pussy,” he says, lathering my neck
with kisses.

“I wish you were inside it right now.”

“Mmmmm, I bet you do.” He kisses me more, fingering me
slowly. I clench around his hand, hating that we are in the car right
now. 

“Pull over.”

“Why?”

“So you can come, I can see it in your eyes and feel in on
my fingertips. Give over to what your body wants, baby.” Glancing in the
mirrors as I turn down a side street, the car comes to a stop, but King does
not. His hand rubs the side of my thigh as he strokes me, and I spread my legs,
leaning further back. “That’s it, baby, let go. Give in to the pleasure.”

He unbuckles his seatbelt and takes a handful of my breasts
with his other hand. Reaching over, his cock is hard, and I hold on to it
through his shorts as I push against the seat. My body on a roller coaster of
bliss and his hand is the track guiding me. He rocks his hips, looking at me so
fucking sexily as I get lost in his eyes.

“Are you going to come for me?”

“Mmmhhhh,” I moan, struggling to breathe. My body convulses
and without warning, he pulls the most amazing orgasm out of me. I can’t
control my body as I scream, being fingered and coming from it like never
before.

Swallowing as I search for reality, King looks at me through
hooded lids so satisfied as he slowly pulls his fingers out of me and licks
them clean. “God, you taste like a fucking dream.”

I chuckle at his description, still holding on to his dick
as he sits back, buckling his seatbelt over my hand. Blinking a few times
perplexed, I ask him, “What about you?”

“That was for me. Thank you, baby.”

Looking over my reflection in the mirror before I drive
away, I am red and flushed. King says, “You look fine.”

“I look like I just came.”

“Yeah…you kinda do.” He raises his eyebrows at me, and I
slap him across his arm. He grabs my hand and holds it tightly. “We’ve gotta
long drive, you’ll look normal by the time we get there.”

Finally, pulling up to my dad’s, King hasn’t said much the
entire drive and I’ve let him be. “Ready?” I ask.

“Yes, beautiful.” And he gets out of the car walking around
and helping me out.

“Dad?” I call out as we walk inside his cozy home. Every
time I come here, it’s the same. It smells like it did when I was a kid, taking
me back to my childhood. “I’m in here,” he says, and King and I follow his
voice to his little office.

“Hey, Dad,” I respond as we walk in.

“Hi.” He stands up from his cluttered desk that is covered
in a hundred different antiques and all their parts and gives me a hug.

He and King shake hands a little awkwardly. That connection
they once had now a bit tarnished. “Whatcha working on?” I ask him.

“Another clock, for Galinda.” King peeks over his shoulder
at the item in front of him and says, “I remember that clock from when I was a
kid.”

“Yeah?” he asks.

“Uh huh, there’s a little red bird that chirps out of the
top and it used to scare the crap out of me.”

My dad lifts it up and makes the clock chime. King flinches
and says, “Yup, that’s him, still gives me the willies.”

“How are you feeling?” my dad asks him.

“Good, surprisingly. A little vertigo every once in a while,
but other than that, not too bad.”

My phone rings again – it’s Ross. I’ve been ignoring him
since I bailed the day King went missing, and King says, “You might want to
answer it.”

“I really don’t want to.”

“Go.” King urges me on, and I know it’s not only to handle
my phone call, but also so he and my dad can have some alone time. “I’ll be
right back,” I tell them and answer the phone walking to the front porch.

“Hello?”

“Finally. Where the hell are you, Ever?” Ross yells and it
puts me right in defense mode.

“I had an emergency, don’t you remember?”

“Well, your shift started here this morning and I have no
one to cover for you.”

“I’m sorry, Ross, but my boyfriend almost died. I’m going to
need to take a few days.”

He huffs into the phone. “Emilio is already off this week
for a family reunion, can you take some time next week?”

“No,” I tell him outraged.

“No?” He repeats it back to me, like he didn’t hear me
correctly.

“No, I’m sorry, I can’t. Didn’t you hear what I said?”

“I heard you and I warned you that this was your last straw.
Don’t bother coming back in here at all, Ever,” he barks and hangs up.

I look down at my phone as the call disconnects. Did he
really fire me? Sitting on the porch so King and my dad can have time to hash
things out, I’m a little shell-shocked. After all that I did for him and that
restaurant. I put a solid four years into that place, and he’s going to just
fire me over needing a few days off?

A text chimes through my phone from Mistee and she says,
What
in the world did you do to Ross?

Nothing, I told him I needed a few days to be with
King and he fired me.

Shut up. I’m sure he wasn’t serious.

Reading her words, even if he wasn’t, I don’t want to work
for someone like him any longer.
It was bound to happen. I’ve got more
important things to worry about.

Okay, sweetie, I’ll miss you here. Take care of yourself
and let me know if you need anything…at all.

Mistee has been so awesome. Through everything with King,
she’s been texting me worried and wanting to help with anything I needed.

“Everything okay?” King asks me, coming out front and
sitting next to me on the porch.

I chuckle and rest my head on his arm as I say, “If you
consider getting fired being okay. Then yeah, I’m fan-fucking-tastic.”

“He fired you?”

“Yup.”

“I’m so sorry, I know how much that place meant to you.”

“It’s okay, babe. I guess…it wasn’t meant to be. He was
never nice to me.”

“Why did you stay then?”

“I wanted to prove to him that I could be his head chef. I
don’t know…maybe I should’ve gone and worked for Lorenzo.”

“And you still can. But don’t have regrets, babe. I’ll hire
you; I need a private chef.”

“Shut up.” I hit him and he kisses the top of my hair
holding me snugly.

“How did things with my dad go?”

“Pretty good.”

“Yeah?” I ask a little shocked.

“Yeah, he said it was hard to read the letters and a shock
of course that I did that, but now that he’s had some time to think about it,
he’s happy to know what all she had to say. Life’s short, baby. I think we all
forget that more often than not. Hell, I almost died the other day and your dad
made a good point. What if the lady sending the letters to you guys died and
then you’d never have known what your mom left for you?”

“Who did you get them from?” I ask, still not knowing.

“A coworker of hers. I found an email exchange between them
when I was looking for pictures, and she’s pretty old.”

“Dinner’s served,” my dad says and peeks his head out the
screen door. As King and I go inside, I guess I never thought of it like that.
Had the person sending the letters suddenly passed, then what? It’s not like my
parents are wealthy and my mom hired some attorneys to take care of it for her.
I’d assumed it was a friend, but I didn’t know who, or want to know for that
fact.

Looking in the spot where I left my letters, they are gone.
I’m sure my dad has them. We haven’t talked about it, and quite frankly…I don’t
think he needs to. As my parent, he’ll do what he thinks is right.

King

Sweating from my head to my toes, I’m nervous about tonight.
These events are a lot on me, the scrutiny of all eyes looking in my direction.
My mind wondering if they know my secret, and now after the accident, I can’t
help but wonder if some of these people question me and don’t believe what’s
been told. My biggest fear is that they will think I’m a mockery to the
Architectural Society.

“How’s the Architect of the Year doing?” Ever asks me,
coming down the stairs, dressed so fucking gorgeously in a long red dress. Her
necklace gleams in the low light of the room.

“I’m fuckin’ amazing now,” I nod and stand as she struts to
me. “You look beautiful,” I tell her and kiss her cheek, her soft skin under my
lips making my cock twitch.

“Thank you,” she says and pulls back, looking into my eyes,
studying me the way she does, but now, now that she knows everything, she can
read me so fuckin’ well.

“You’re not okay,” she says and I exhale, knowing I can’t
lie to her.

Wiping my sweaty hands on my pants, I sit back on the couch
and she does the same. “You nervous?” she asks me.

“Uh huh.” my throat is parched and my forehead is clammy.
She touches my cheek with the back of her hand and then walks to the kitchen
and grabs me a bottle of water. “Here, take a sip.”

“Thanks.”

“You know you have nothing to worry about, right?” She leans
over and looks into my eyes. I hear her words, but have a hard time believing
them. The noise inside my head is particularly loud tonight. “That’s easy for
you to say, beautiful.”

“It’s the truth…that’s why. You are the most amazing man.
You are sexy and talented, and about to get the most prestigious award in your
line of work, and I’ll be sitting front row, with the biggest smile on my face
as you accept it. Still trying to understand, out of all the women in the
world, why did you choose me?”

“I could ask you that same thing.” She smiles and I tell
her, “I chose you, because you’re my soul mate.”

“And you’re mine, so who gives a fuck what anyone else
thinks tonight? It’s just you and me, okay?”

“Okay,” I tell her and she kisses me, putting so much love
into it that my anxiety settles.

“While you’re on stage, imagine me naked,” she says.

“I might not be able to keep my cock down now that you’ve
got me thinking about it.”

She takes my hand in hers; the feeling is the best. With our
goofy banter back to how it was, she’s right – who cares what anyone else
thinks? As long as she and I are good, that’s the only thing that matters to
me.

Walking out of my house, we get situated in the car and my
phone rings. Answering it on the Bluetooth over the car I say, “Hello?”

“Mr. Lennox, it’s Sara.”

“Hi Sara, you’re on speaker,” I warn her and she knows why.
She’s been helping me with a surprise for Ever, and I’m hoping that she has the
news I’ve been waiting for.

“Everything is all taken care of, the courthouse released
the lien today.”

“That’s great, I’ll see you shortly,” I tell her and hang
up. 

“What was that all about?” Ever asks me.

“A new deal that I bid on.”

“And you got it?”

“Yeah, baby…I got it.”

Holding her hand in mine, I focus on getting through
tonight, finding comfort in her, in us. She calms me in a way no other person
has my entire life, and I’ve become dependent upon it so much. More than I knew
was humanly possible. For a person with bipolar disorder, it can be managed,
and I learned to deal with it the best that I could for years. But meeting Ever
gave me something new, a spark of hope that I never had before. I have this
feeling with her by my side that I can get through the days easier and enjoy
life more.

Pulling up to the hotel that’s hosting the event, the valet
opens our doors and we walk inside. My eyes are on Ever, her laugh keeps me
grounded, and the security of her hand is my guidance.

“There he is,” James Reynolds, a famous New York City
Architect, shouts walking up to Ever and I.

“Hey, James,” I shake his hand and introduce him to Ever.

“How have you been, man? I heard about your incident.” My
angst spikes a little and Ever gives my hand a tug.

“I’ve been great.” I put on the well-placed mask that I’ve
lived behind for years and jokingly say, “What better way to stimulate the mind
with new design ideas than a day and a half in the Atlantic?” I wink and he
laughs at my comment. And I’m the crazy one.

“I didn’t think of it like that. I might have to try that
out.” He raises his glass to me and I look at Ever as she so softly sips on a
glass of champagne. “So, what’s next for you?”

I’m not sure. I’ve got to finish up the Rawlings Building
and then I was thinking of working on something with Ever, if she’s willing.”

“Me?” she questions me and places her hand over her chest,
surprised.

“Of course.”

“Well, I’d…I’d love to.”

“Good.” I kiss her cheek.

As he’s getting called away James says, “It was so nice to
meet you, Ever. King, I’ll call you after my dip in the Atlantic.”

Shaking his hand, Ever whispers into my ear, “That was so
fucking bizarre.” He walks off dancing, and I couldn’t agree more.

Glancing over at Ever as she is gazing up at me I ask her,
“What?”

“Nothing, just thinking.”

“About?”

She whispers in my ear, “You fucking me.” And I drag her
away from the party.