by Nicole Fox
Calm down, I reminded myself. It was just a simple conversation that would be over soon. All I had to do was negotiate to save King, while not ruining my life either. Surely there was a win-win situation for us all.
Romano stared me down, eyes seeming to stare through me. It was almost as if he could read my mind, though I knew that was ridiculous. It was more likely that he was seeing whether I would crack under the pressure.
“And what kind of offer would that be?” he said slowly, his mouth really stretching out the words.
I ignored all the distractions, both in my head and out of it, as I prepared myself to finally say what I had come there for. It was now or never. I opened my mouth, but found that no words could escape my dry throat. I tried a second time and, thankfully, found success.
“I want to– “
The moment my mouth opened to speak, another sound emerged, this time emanating from Romano’s pocket. The high-pitched ringing seemed to echo in the air as Romano reached to answer the call.
“Romano,” he answered.
Watching the facial expressions that passed over his face was like watching a poker player. He could have been getting news that someone died, or that he’d won a million dollars, and I would never have been able to tell the difference.
“Okay. I’m with Christy now.”
My ears perked up at my name, but it was impossible to understand what was going on through only half of the conversation. Was it King who was calling? He was the only person I could think of that would contact Romano and ask where I was. The only other person was Rossi, but that was just ridiculous.
“Okay. We’ll be right there.” I didn’t miss the way that Romano had said ‘we,’ and I looked at him inquisitively as he shut off his phone.
Romano looked up at me and returned my raised eyebrow, seeming just as surprised as I was.
“That was King,” he said. “He’s at Diamond Castle, and he wants us both to go to him.”
I floundered for a moment as I wondered what to think. Why was King there, and what was he doing? More importantly, why were both Romano and I needed?
“Let’s go,” Romano said, snapping his fingers to break up my thoughts as he passed by me and strode quickly to the lift. I had no choice but to follow, nothing but a bundle of fear and nerves. I could only hope that King had better luck with his night than I had.
# # #
When Romano and I both arrived at Diamond Castle, I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I suspected that Romano did not either. King’s phone call had quite literally come in the nick of time, and I wasn’t sure what would have happened if Romano’s phone hadn’t rung when it did.
The entire club was illuminated when we entered, and we both made our familiar way to Rossi’s office, freezing in our tracks when we took in the scene before us. King stood angrily over a cowering Rossi, his hands tightly gripping the collar of Rossi’s shirt and lifting him slightly off the ground.
The scene wasn’t so unfamiliar to me, considering the state we’d left Rossi when we’d last seen him, but I could tell it was an entirely different situation now. King was on a mission, determined to make Rossi pay.
“What’s going on?” I asked, eager to get to the bottom of the situation.
“That’s a good question,” King growled. “Will you tell them, or shall I?” He shook Rossi a little, as if reminding him to speak, but the pathetic creature seemed incapable of speech at that moment. Rossi mumbled incoherently and tried to duck his head down, only to be stopped by King’s tight grip.
“No?” King asked mockingly. “I’ll be happy to tell them, then. Jarren, here, has been keeping a double set of books for years. Isn’t that right?”
My mouth dropped open in shock at this new development. Surely Rossi couldn’t have been so stupid as to attempt to double-cross Romano, right?
“Is this true, Jarren?” Romano asked, in a deceptively calm voice. It was no wonder that Rossi was scared out of his mind; an angry Romano was something I never wanted to deal with.
“Take a look for yourself,” King kicked the box at his feet, and it slid over in our direction.
“Rossi’s been trying to hide club profits from you for a long time. So long, that he’d started bragging about it to a group of unreliable drug addicts that he’d hired. That was a big mistake, Jarren.”
“I would have to agree,” Romano said, flipping through the set of papers in his hands.
I couldn’t believe that King had uncovered what he did. This was such a lucky break for the both of us.
“Does this mean we’re even? Has our deal been met?” King asked Romano.
Andres nodded, eyes still on Rossi. I felt a twinge of pity in my chest as I stared at his now sobbing form on the floor. I would hate to be in his shoes, but my sympathy could only stretch so far when I thought about what Rossi had done to King.
“Let’s go,” King called to me. I didn’t need to be told twice, as I followed him out of the office and we both hurried out of the building.
We stopped outside, just clear of the door, and looked at each other with a mixture of emotions on both of our faces.
“Is it really over?” I asked King in disbelief. It couldn’t be done just like that. It just couldn’t be.
“Yeah, I think it is,” he said with a frown, seeming to run through the events in his head, exactly as I was.
It felt so odd to have such a weight lifted off our shoulders, and it would take a while to sink in. Our eyes met and, slowly, a smile began to stretch over my face, one of relief, happiness, and amazement.
Without another thought, I lunged forward and threw myself into King’s arms, relishing in the feel of him. There was a moment when I hadn’t been sure if everything was going to work out, or if I was ever going to see him again.
I couldn’t express in words how overjoyed I was in that moment, but I didn’t need to. King understood perfectly, his arms squeezing me back just as tightly.
It had been a long road, but we’d finally done it. We were finally free.
“So, what are we going to do now?” I asked, pulling back.
I didn’t know where King’s head was at. I didn’t know if he felt about me the same way as I did about him. For all I knew, he was still at the ‘just sex’ stage, and I had been overthinking our entire relationship, or lack thereof.
“Anything. Everything,” King replied, cupping my face in his hands.
Maybe I misunderstood. Maybe he meant something entirely different.
“And us?” I asked in a quiet voice. This was the moment. This was the time when King would either break my heart, or tell me that he felt the same.
My doubt must have been so evident in my face, but King just smiled, happier and lighter than I’d ever seen him before. He looked younger, but I knew that it was just the weight of a lifetime that had been lifted off his shoulders.
“Us?” he asked with a grin.
“Yes. Us.”
Instead of answering, King pressed his lips lightly to mine. My heart soared at his kiss, and I could feel my entire body loosen. He didn’t need to say a single word for me to understand that we were on the same page. It was all in the tenderness of his lips and the affection in his eyes. Yes, everything was going to be okay.
Epilogue
King
The club lights were dimmed and the place was silent, Christy and I the only ones left inside. Vixens had been crowded that night, more so than usual, and Christy was cheerfully shuffling around in our office. Ever since we’d opened our chain of clubs together, Christy had been happier than I’d ever seen her. She was finally living the dream.
Vixens was exactly the kind of club that Christy had always imagined, and I was so glad to be a part of it. It was a classy establishment, like she’d promised, where the dancers had fun, could contribute ideas, and were treated fairly, like they deserved to be. It wasn’t a trashy place like Diamond Castle. It was the kind of place where guys and girls could frequent and have a g
ood time, without the sleazy feeling that some strip clubs held. We ran the business together, sharing the load evenly and working hard to make all our clubs as friendly and inviting as we knew they could be.
Christy had made sure to employ all the girls from Diamond Castle, once it had closed down, partly because we were responsible for their loss of work, but also because they were all great dancers.
Jade had found me a week after the opening and asked to speak with me. I was worried at first, until I saw her big smile.
“You took care of my girl. Thank you.”
The rest of Christy’s girls shared similar sentiments, and I knew that Christy was touched by how much they cared for her.
In the six months since we’d dealt with Romano, Rossi, and the cops, our entire lives had been turned upside down. True to his word, Romano had given Diamond Castle to us. Christy hadn’t wanted it at first, choosing to stick with the warehouse she’d wanted. It was a few months after, when we began expanding and starting our chain, that we’d finally accepted it.
The biggest surprise was that Romano was completely out of our lives. Christy and I had both been worried that our business with him would somehow loom over our shoulders for years to come, but, on the contrary, it was like it had never happened. Nobody had seen or heard from Rossi for six months now, but Christy and I didn’t question it. We didn’t know what had become of him, and, frankly, we didn’t want to. Romano had dealt with it in his own way, and we had moved on.
“King, are we good to go?” Christy called out.
“Yeah, baby. Let’s go home.”
In the six months since, Christy and I had grown even closer. She was my best friend, my ally, my business partner, and my rock. She was the love of my life. We shared everything together, including our past, our present, and our future. I wouldn’t have it any other way. We’d even moved in together, a decent apartment that suited the both of us. It wasn’t over the top, by any means, but just enough for us, and that’s why it was perfect. We’d made a home and a life together, and we were still just as happy with each other as we’d ever been.
# # #
It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, and I was reclined on the couch, watching an old football rerun and relaxing before Christy and I needed to head off to work. She had been strangely absent for the past few hours, running about the house doing strange tasks and keeping herself occupied. I had even asked her at one point if something was wrong, only to be rewarded by a pillow smacking me straight in the face. After that, I just let her do her thing, even if that meant cleaning our light bulbs and door handles. I assumed she would just tell me whenever she was ready, so I left her to it, keeping an eye on her through my peripherals.
The funny thing was that I knew she wanted to get something off her chest by the way she was sending glances at me every few seconds. It was almost as if she was a strange combination of excited and nervous, which didn’t really make sense to me at all.
Finally, having had enough of her flighty behavior, I groaned and turned to her expectantly.
“Tell me what’s wrong!” I burst out.
“What do you mean?” she hedged, darting around and avoiding my eyes.
“I know you’re going to tell me eventually. Just save us both some time and stop cleaning things that don’t need to be cleaned.”
Christy dropped the cloth in her hand and hurried over to sit beside me on the couch, crossing her legs and taking my hand in hers.
“How do you feel about kids?” she asked.
My mind went blank immediately, as I struggled to comprehend what she had said. That was definitely not what I thought would be coming out of her mouth.
“What about kids?” I asked slowly.
“Do you want them?” Christy was peering up at me, as if I had the answer to all her hopes and dreams in my hands, and I was threatening to crush them.
Kids hadn’t really been on my radar throughout my life. Growing up like I did, without typical parents, had put me off ever having kids of my own. Then, after I became a wanted man and assumed I would live alone, kids didn’t even factor into the equation.
Now, though, things were remarkably different. I had a life now. I had a house, a job, and, more importantly, I had Christy. Christy would make a great mother; I could already imagine it. Any kid born to her would be the luckiest child in the world, and she would make sure of it. I found it difficult to see myself as a dad. I had no experience in that field, apart from the bare bones that I received from my own father. That wasn’t what it was about, though. The real question was, would I be willing to start a family with Christy?
The answer was yes.
Of course, it would take a while for her to get pregnant once we started trying, and it wasn’t a sure thing that we would even end up having kids. I didn’t want to get my hopes up if–
My thoughts seemed to stop right in their tracks as I looked down into Christy’s hopeful face.
“Shit,” I said aloud, as my eyes grew wide with shock.
The utter disappointment in Christy’s eyes as she misunderstood my words felt like a vice around my heart.
“Are you pregnant?” I exclaimed.
Her eyes filled with tears at my outburst, but I couldn’t help my shock. I had to know if it was true. She confirmed my thoughts with a single nod of her head.
I couldn’t help the way my lips began to stretch up in a wide smile, as I looked at her beautiful face.
“I’m picking the name!” I demanded immediately.
Her cries turned to those of happiness, and she leapt forward to kiss me passionately. She put all of her emotions into the kiss, tears still running down her cheeks, as she tried to convey her happiness to me.
“You should’ve known that, for you, I’d do anything.”
Our frantic kiss turned into a slow and sensual indulging of the mouths. Our clothes came off one piece at a time, in no particular order. We weren’t rushing anything these days. We had all the time in the world. It wasn’t long before our clothes were on the floor, and we were naked and warm in each other’s arms.
Our bodies were so acquainted with each other’s now, but she still excited me every time. It was an excitement that came from the familiar and one that I could never truly explain.
My fingers explored Christy’s body as if it were for the first time, sliding over her stomach and round to her hips.
“He’s in here now?” I looked up at her, a childish curiosity in my eyes.
Christy nodded as I spanned my palms over her belly. A brand-new life would be growing here soon, one that was half Christy and half me. With a gentle touch of my lips to her stomach, I tried to imagine what it would be like in a few months, swollen and glowing with a life inside. My grin couldn’t be contained, even if I tried.
Finally pulling up and moving back to her face, my hands started rubbing all over the rest of her body, working Christy up to her climax. There was no sense of urgency as we slid our slippery bodies over each other, legs tangled, arms running over one another. Christy reached for my hard length, stroking me gently between my legs, as I did the same to her.
We were close, the both of us, and Christy knew it too.
“King, I need you,” she whispered.
I didn’t hesitate as I slipped myself inside her with one wet thrust. Our resounding sighs at the feeling of completion sounded out in unison, and, for a moment, we stayed there, unmoving.
“Are you happy?” Christy asked me as we lay still together, not yet ready to reach our orgasm.
“More than happy,” I replied, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.
We kept our gazes on each other as we began to move together, a slow and steady rhythm that matched the beating of our hearts. Our climaxes spread through us in unison, as we shuddered, convulsed, and exploded around each other.
“I love you, Christy,” I whispered on her lips. It was the first time I had said it to her, even though I couldn’t remember how long I’d felt tha
t way.
Christy had never forced the issue, though, and now, as the words fell easily from my lips, I couldn’t describe how true they were.
“I love you too, King. So much,” she whispered, shuddering around me.
We lay in the aftermath of our lovemaking, because that’s what it was, and I felt contentment filling my lungs and spreading through my veins.
“You’re still not picking the name, though,” Christy teased, and I couldn’t help my light chuckle.
“Together, then?” I asked. We both knew that I wasn’t just talking about baby names.
We had been through a lot together, more than what most couples would go through in a lifetime. But we’d come out on top, working together to fight our way to where we were now, happier than we’d ever been before.