“This is almost over, Princess. But I’m glad you asked me to come home—you can ask for me whenever you need to. I know this has been a lot to deal with; I get where you’re coming from,” he told me.
I took another deep breath, then pulled away from him asking if we could finish our shower and go relax. A few minutes later, when we were done showering, he turned the water off and wrapped me in a towel, then picked me up and carried me to the bed. It’s so sweet the way he takes care of me.
“You know, King…I didn’t ask you to come back for a booty call,” I joked.
“I know. But I know what you need right now. What we both need.”
And boy did he ever. He took his time making love to me—kissing every part of my body and touching and squeezing me in all the right places. He took his time and allowed me to feel every movement and every emotion that came over me. He slowly kissed me and looked me in the eyes as he moved himself inside me.
“I’m gonna love you until I die,” he growled at me. It was the last thing I heard before all of the pressure building inside of me finally released, and he did the same. We held each other after and he continued to kiss me. I couldn’t help it; I giggled.
“Until you die, huh?”
He smiled, feeling confident in his dorkiness. “Maybe even in death.”
We only stayed in bed for a few minutes; King was starved. We ordered room service and lounged in the living room while we waited for it to arrive—he relaxed on the sofa and I rested on top of him. He asked how my night was; I know he really wants to know if Miko did anything that would be considered hitting on me. I did my best to not lie, but I also didn’t mention Miko and I dancing, nor did I mention anything about us talking.
King surely doesn’t need more reasons to be pissed at Miko. Luckily he let it go and didn’t push me to tell him anything more. I kept an eye on him to see if I could detect anything disapproving or disbelieving in his expression. I fear that the security guard who was with us gave him details—I didn’t see the guard around us, but that doesn’t mean anything.
I’m just hoping the guard wrote it off as me dancing with a friend…or didn’t feel the need to mention it at all. They’re not with us to spy and report back, just to protect me, and the Las Vegas crew doesn’t know King well enough to do him any favors. Oh gosh…I’m thinking like a cheat now.
I asked him how his training was going and if he’s gotten any requests from Giorgio’s team to join the drama. He said he didn’t, just standard pre-fight pictures that they always take, and he was hoping that the next couple of days would be calm on that front.
For the rest of the night, we relaxed and regrouped. It was exactly what I needed to recharge and feel grounded again. But I knew we had a few more days to go, so my angst wasn’t completely dissolved.
I woke up the next morning to an empty bed; I miss waking up to King’s deep breathing and playing the game of ‘can I get out of bed without waking him’ which I usually lose. I smiled just thinking about it.
What was I thinking, dancing with Miko like that? I mean, dancing with friends is perfectly fine, but I know I let my emptions play with my head. I lay in bed for a few minutes thinking about last night. I’m glad it ended the way it did; it was enough to make me feel solid again and to shut off any weird feelings that were creeping up with Miko.
I grabbed my phone and saw King’s “good morning” message to me, and I saw another from Viv, who sent a group message telling us:
Forget a night out; it’s gonna be day drinking at the pool for my birthday celebration! Be there at 11…and make no other plans today!
Did Viv—the girl who sleeps until three in the afternoon on a regular basis—really wake up before me? I thought about it and realized I must’ve gotten ten hours of sleep last night. It was only eleven in the morning; no one else has responded yet, so I’m guessing her birthday celebration is getting off to a late start. I sighed as I threw the sheets off me, and then slid on a bikini, being the ever-dutiful friend that I am.
I yawned about ten times on my way to the pool. I just couldn’t wake up quickly this morning. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one; for the first hour or so, only Tori, Viv, and I were hanging by the pool and planning the rest of the day with Dylan and Magnus. The sun was shining and it was warmer than it should be at this time of year, but it was still only in the mid-seventies. Because of that, the pool was very quiet.
We reserved three cabanas that were next to each other and off to the side. After putting in an order to stock the cabanas with finger foods and fruit, the service manager helped us pick out a cake from the on-sight bakery—we asked that it be delivered in the afternoon. We also reserved a fire pit, for when the sun went down, and a few bottles of champagne for when the cake arrives.
Although we’ve had pretty good weather this trip—considering it’s the winter in the desert—it hasn’t really been pool weather much. Even now it’s pretty chilly, but it’s supposed to heat up over the next few hours. So we laid on the lounge chair soaking up the sun, with no intention of getting in the water at this point.
This was enough—there was music playing and the waitress kept us resupplied with boozy strawberry daiquiris. Relaxing by a pool under a hot sun is a simple luxury that I enjoyed greatly.
Eventually the rest of the crew joined us, and some of us moved to the cabanas to get out of the sun. Just as the day was starting to warm up, and soon after he arrived, Miko asked if we could talk.
Until that moment, I hadn’t thought much about him today, being completely recharged by King last night. But I may as well face him—what’s the alternative? Avoiding him for the rest of the week?
Miko and I walked to the bar next to the pool and ordered drinks. We sat on a couple of stools to the side, so we had a bit of privacy from the others who had started their day-drinking activities, and I waited until our drinks were delivered and the bartender had walked away before talking seriously.
“Miko, I don’t know what you want to talk about, but if it has anything to do with last night...”
“No, Ava, it’s more serious than that. Look, I would never want to hurt you, but I have to make sure you know what’s going on,” he said looking quite uncomfortable.
“What? What are you talking about?” I asked with that awful feeling of dread you get when you know bad news is on its way.
“Just look,” he said passing me his iPad, which was opened to an article about King, Layla, and Giorgio, and their ‘love triangle’. The article included a conversation that supposedly took place between King and Giorgio. It read:
Giorgio: She’s mine! She’ll choose me.
King: No she won’t; she’s got good taste.
Giorgio: You tried to take her from me and failed, just leave her alone!
King: I can’t do that. I love her. And I’ll do whatever it takes to have her again!
I rolled my eyes and put his iPad down on the bar. Whew, what a relief.
“It’s all bullshit, Miko,” I explained. “As ridiculous as this sounds, Giorgio wants to accumulate chatter so he’ll be asked to do more fights. King placed himself at the opposing side.”
“Why?”
“It’s complicated, but they have a deal worked out. Anyway, this is all just hype for the fight, and I know all about it.”
“Oh, OK. Good, I guess. I mean, isn’t it pretty weird that your boyfriend would go along with this…story?”
“Not really. I mean, the story’s partially true; King banged Layla while she was still dating Giorgio—the night before their first fight, actually. So you can imagine why Giorgio won.”
“What? King slept with her?”
“Yeah. Why do you sound so shocked?”
“Damn, she’s hot,” he said, still gawking at the picture.
I took a sip of my drink and looked away with annoyance. “She’s not all that. Anyway, he’s not participating in any of it.”
“It sure looks like he is.”
“
Let’s just drop it ok? Thank you for showing that to me, but I really don’t need to see it.”
He wouldn’t let it go so easily. We talked about all of the things he’s seen—and he’s clearly done his research—for a few more minutes. Miko’s obviously uncomfortable with this whole scenario. I wasn’t sure if he was truly concerned for my well-being, or if he was trying to prove to me that King is doing something behind my back. Either way, I was bored with the conversation and we soon went back to our friends to continue our day in the sun.
The temperature increased enough to go into the water, so some of us went in the pool, playing a game of volleyball or sitting on floatables. I was relieved that Miko stayed out of the pool—and away from me. He kept Magnus company, who can’t swim yet because he just had laser eye surgery.
King came to join us for a little while, taking me by surprise. I had no idea that he was going to take a break from training today, but I was so glad that he did.
And he was sneaky about it—I didn’t see him coming. King swam up to the floatable large swan I was straddling and surprised me by popping out of the water and spraying me with cool droplets.
My first glimpse of him was mesmerizing; the water was glistening off his skin, and his tattooed muscles rippled in post-workout perfection. I tried to get him to go back to our room, but he wanted to spend some time with our friends.
He just wanted to not think about the fight for a while…take some time to hang out with friends in a pool. So I made sure he had fun.
We made King play volleyball with us for a while and he hung out with the guys. Even though he was preoccupied with his friends, he kept swimming over to my swan to kiss me or play around with me, too. Miko was definitely acting aloof—Miko and Magnus kind-of kept to themselves, deep in conversation. King didn’t seem to notice; it’s not like he and Miko are good friends anyway.
I was worried about having to give Miko a stronger hint to leave me alone, but King took care of it for me. About a half hour after he joined us, while I was so relaxed that I was almost asleep on my comfortable swan, King swam over to talk to me. I saw him look at Miko a few times.
“Want another drink?” King asked; I nodded yes. How kind of him; he knows we have a waitress, but he’s getting me a drink himself anyway.
“OK, I’ll back in a second,” he said before kissing me and swimming to the edge of the pool toward the bar.
As he got out of the pool I couldn’t move my eyes away from him. My boyfriend is incredibly hot, but this week he’s gotten just a tad hotter. All the extra training he’s doing is making his muscles bigger and more defined than normal. I smiled to myself as I thought about how incredibly lucky I am to have fallen in love with such a gorgeous guy.
I lazily watched him place the order, smile at me while he was waiting for the drink to be made, then walk back toward the pool. But he took a detour on his way back, and ended up next to Miko. He squatted next to Miko, who didn’t seem to notice at first.
It was only when King was near him that I saw Miko staring at me. And even though I caught him, he continued to stare and even cracked a smile.
I watched the scene play out from a distance. King said something that startled Miko, there was a bit of back and forth, and Miko sat up straight in his chair, causing King to stand and tower over him. I wasn’t sure if I should intervene; they don’t look like they’re too angry—King’s almost smiling and Miko looks confused.
Miko motioned in my direction and King’s almost smile turned into a scowl. They exchanged a few more words, then Miko nodded once, and King looked satisfied. He paused, bent down to pick up my drink, then turned and walked back into the pool and wadded through the water toward my swan.
Miko resumed his conversation with Magnus, and didn’t look very happy—Magnus just shook his head and laughed. After I took my drink from King, Miko and Magnus walked to the bar to talk in private.
“So what was that about?” I asked King.
“Nothing,” King said, showing no signs of wanting to expand further. This is the business side of King. He can put on a poker face like I’ve never seen before.
“Babe, we promised to be completely honest with each other, but that seems to only apply to me. Tell me,” I said.
He put his warm, large hand on my leg and dunked his head under the water, then poked his head back out but stayed in the water up to his neck. This was his attempt to steal a few extra seconds to put his words together so he can communicate the story exactly how he wants me to receive it. I know him so well.
“It was just two guys making sure everyone understands how things are,” he said. Could he be any more vague?
“And how are things?”
“Ava…”
“Tell me. Now, please,”
“He still wants you, but you’re mine. And it may not be good for our friendship if he continues to stare at you,” King said, staring me straight in my eyes to drive the point home.
“Were you mean to him?”
“No. But he actually pretended that he wasn’t staring at you, like I don’t have eyes. So I told him that if he keeps it up, he and I were going to have to resolve it the old fashioned way.”
“And would you like to piss on me, too? You know, to mark your territory?”
“Princess, you don’t understand…”
“No, I do. You just bullied my ex-boyfriend. Who, by the way, I’m still friends with. You could have been a little less…aggressive.”
“Oh now I know you don’t understand. That was me being incredibly passive. Because you two are friends, and he’s a friend of Dylan’s and the rest of the guys, I gave him a warning, and I’m showing immense restraint. I love you, Princess. And I protect what I love.”
I scoffed.
“Protect me? This isn’t about protecting me; it’s about your ego and you not wanting him to think he has a chance to play with your toy. That’s what this is.”
“OK, there’s an element of that. But we have too much going on this week to deal with a situation with Miko. I had to put a stop to it.”
“I still think it’s a male ego-driven competition, but don’t worry, you’ve won.”
“And what a prize I have,” he said smiling.
He leaned down to kiss my thigh. I smiled and shook my head in defeat.
“Babe, I’ve gotta say: your barbaric tendencies are kind-of hot. But it’s uncool for you to threaten Miko, OK?”
He took a deep breath and kissed my thigh again. He looked at me for a beat, then at Miko, and then back at me.
“OK. I’m sorry. I’ll try to be nice. Just know that I have my limits of what I can take, and he’s pushing me.”
King stood out of the water to kiss my lips and I held his head, making sure the kiss lasted longer than a peck. It was disappointing that the chlorine washed off his natural sent and cologne. But his heat was the same, and that alone turned me on.
Because I didn’t let him go, King put an arm around me and pulled me into the pool with him and we continued to kiss through my giggles and his smile. He ended it when he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to deflate enough to leave the pool.
“I just find it hard to believe that the guy I took you from is trying to take you from me. He’s trying to get you back, but he’s still a boy…he doesn’t know how to connect with you.”
“No, he doesn’t. You did…and you still do,” I kissed King deeply.
“No one can get in between us unless we want them to. But I’ll still kick anyone’s ass who tries,” he joked, smiling at me.
Chapter 9
King stayed with us for another ten minutes or so, but then I didn’t see him for the rest of the day. He was meeting his trainer at the gym for a light sparing session, then he was going back to our room and going to sleep. But I was hanging out with all of my best friends, so I was very well occupied. It was Viv’s birthday, and we were all celebrating it to the hilt.
After many drinks and a few hours in the sun, a few of us
girls were in a cabana snacking on some fruit and gossiping. I felt a hand on my shoulder and instinctually moved away—I knew it wasn’t King and didn’t like being touched by strangers. But when I swung my head around, I was confused to see a concerned Miko standing near me.
“We have to talk,” he said.
“Now, Miko? Can’t this wait?” I whined. I really wasn’t in the mood for an alcohol-infused discussion about why we should try to get back together, or whatever it is that he wants to talk about.
But I quickly understood that wasn’t his focus. He lifted up his phone and told me he had to show me something. I knew it was something more to do with King, another attempt by Miko to make me think that King is cheating. But I let Miko take my hand and lead me out of my seat.
We left my friends and walked to the side of the bar, just steps away from the cabana but far enough away that we could talk. Miko told me I needed to look at what he found, then logged into his iCloud account and opened a folder of articles and pictures. The first one open on the screen was a picture of King and Layla at a restaurant together and smiling at each other lovingly. The caption read “The King and Queen of Vegas, Reunited?”
I scrolled down to the next file, which was an article about a date they went on last night and how they “rekindled their love”. There were pictures of them in a restaurant, on the street, at a bar…it looked like a full date.
I tried to remember where I was versus where he was for the last couple of nights—and I realized that I really had no idea what he was doing pretty much the entire time we’ve been here. When he’s not hanging out with me, he tells me he’s training and doing press and I never questioned it. I never felt like I needed to.
What I remembered most about last night was that his responses to my texts were short and I found it strange. I had to admit to myself that this little date they’re chronicling might have actually taken place—even if just to drum up press.
Guys Like You: Book 5 of The Young and Privileged of Washington, DC Page 12