We all sit. Mom next to me and Dana next to Lottie.
“Did you plan this all along?” I ask Lottie.
“I might have,” she says, smirking. “When you told me you had a day off, I thought it was a great opportunity.”
“It’s perfect, thank you.”
Neither of the moms mentions the commandos outside. I can see them in my peripheral vision, but they are fairly inconspicuous, so I don’t mention it either. I really don’t want my mom to worry, especially when I have it handled.
We order, and eat. And before long, we have laughed more than I have in years and polished off a couple of bottles of Prosecco between us.
“So, are you and Brent coming to the ball, mom?” I ask hopefully.
“No, we’ve been away so much just lately, I haven’t had a chance to get a dress or anything.”
“No need to worry about that,” Lottie says firmly. “I know just the place.”
I laugh at Lottie’s enthusiasm for our secret shop but reaffirm her thoughts, “Mom, you would never even know this little place existed, it’s like an Aladdin’s cave.”
“You’ll have to show me another day, Lottie,” Mom says placating her for today. She knows Lottie almost as well as I do, and once she gets the bit between her teeth, she doesn’t let go and if mom showed even a hint that she wanted to look, mom’s lunch would be cut short, and she would be dragged there for more shopping. “Also, the house is nearly ready. The builders have left such a mess, and I have that to sort out before we go to Florida on Monday.”
“Florida?” I say, maybe a little too loudly. “You’re away
again
?”
“Yes, darling. Brent gets to travel with his job and I like to go with him.” The dreamy look in her eyes makes my heart swell. Who would have thought that we’d get to this point in both of our lives after everything we both went through.
“Dana,” Lottie announces. “What about you? Can we tempt you to come dancing with us at the ball?”
Dana laughs and takes a sip of her drink before answering, “And watch you molesting my baby boy? I think I’ll pass.”
My mom almost spits her drink out at Dana’s direct comment, and the way she keeps her expression so neutral when she says it. But it’s just another thing that shows me how down to earth she is.
“Me?” Lottie shrieks. “I’ll have you know, I was a virgin when I met your son,” she says maybe a little too loudly but she doesn’t care and tilts her chin upwards as if what she just said were true, and she can’t believe anyone would think anything else.
“Yes, verging on the ridiculous,” Dana retorts, which has my mom dissolving in fits of hysterics, clutching her stomach.
“I can’t believe you just said that!” Lottie yells. “Tell her, Ari. Tell her what a good girl I was before I met Spike. He’s corrupted me,” she says indignantly, with a hint of a smirk playing on her pouting lips.
I place my glass on the table and hold my hands up. “I’m not saying a word. I need to pee.”
I sidle past my mom, who’s still chuckling to herself. It’s evident that she’s enjoying the girlie banter we’re having. “Whose side are you on, Ari? You’re supposed to be my best friend.” She giggles, and I watch as Dana pulls Lottie in for an affectionate hug. It’s great that Dana accepts Lottie for who she is, big mouth and all.
I glance out the doorway as I head to the restroom. The commandos are now parked opposite in a black SUV. I’m pleased that they’re not standing outside like a couple of soldiers, but they’re also still fully alert. One of them tips his cap as he notices me looking in his direction, and I smile back.
I follow the signs for the ladies’ restroom, and it takes me toward the back of the restaurant.
I push the door open and it closes behind me with a bang. Before I can turn, a hand is clamped over my mouth, and I am pushed roughly against the wall next to me. A cold, calloused hand is clamped over my mouth and the length of a forearm across my neck.
“Surprise,” Jonny sings, his cigarette breath blowing in my face. “Bodyguards not doing such a good job, are they? And, I bet lover boy is paying them a small fortune to keep you safe.” He talks in a low voice. “If I take my hand away, are you going to scream? Do I need to give you a little something to make you more … cooperative?” He barks out a laugh that makes my stomach roll. I shake my head frantically from side to side and he loosens his grip. His arm falls away from my neck, and his hand leaves my mouth, but he slides it across my face, settling it over my jawline. I pant, trying to take in air, no matter how fast I breathe, it’s not enough.
“You know, your...” he waves his free hand around as if trying to think of the next word, then curls his lip, “…boyfriend, he’s making it very hard for us to be friends, all these people guarding you like you’ve become royalty, have I missed something?”
I stare at him blankly, wondering just how he can try and hold a conversation as if it were a normal situation. “Well, I know Mr. Jamesson isn’t royalty, so it can’t have been because you married him.” He lets that linger in the air for a few seconds, expecting me to bite, but I don’t. I know he must have done his research to find me, I don’t know how long he’s known where I am, or how he knows about Aaron, but I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of asking.
“Is Mr. King … a King? Is that what makes you as precious as a princess?” He smiles at me crookedly. “I’ve missed you,” he hisses in a hushed voice, stroking his knuckles across my cheek. “Are you ready to come back to where you belong, yet?” he asks, fingering one of my curls, then tucking it behind my ear. I shudder under his cold touch, and wonder how long it will take for someone to come looking for me. It feels like I’ve been gone for ages when in reality, it’s only a couple of minutes.
“I’ll never come back to you, never,” I say firmly, through gritted teeth.
“So stubborn. My beautiful girl. So stupid.”
“You can’t make me come back. You won’t.”
“I won’t
make
you do anything, Arianna.” He laughs and takes two steps backwards, dragging his feet as he goes. “I’d never take you without your consent. You should have figured that out by now. No, you’ll come of your own accord.”
“Don’t hold your breath. It’ll be a cold day in hell when I come back to you.”
“You think you can shut me out? You think I’d let you go that easily?” He lurches forward and slams his palms against the wall on either side of my head. “You haven’t even let go of
me
yet, I’m in here …” He taps the side of my temple with his index finger and I flinch away from him. “I’m deeply ingrained, I affect everything you do. I’m right, aren’t I?” he spits, tilting his head and staring into my eyes. His eyes are black, they’re almost inhuman, and having him in such close proximity hurtles me back to the time where I had to look into these soulless eyes every day. “I may have taken my eye off the ball for a split second when you left. But since I found you, I’ve been in control of everything. They say you control your own destiny, Arianna … well, I control yours. You think there are coincidences?” He laughs a bitter, twisted laugh. “There are no coincidences, Arianna. I’ve controlled every situation you’ve been in, even the ones you can’t quite remember yet. I always have. Always will, and the sooner you see that, the sooner we can give up this game of cat and mouse, before someone gets really hurt.” He drops his hands from the door and straightens out his suit, smoothing out imaginary creases. “Does the king know about me?” he asks as casually as if he were asking me about the weather.
“Yes,” I whisper.
“Speak up,” he yells in my face, making me jump.
“Yes,” I try to say more firmly but by raising his voice, he’s forced the adrenaline to rush faster through my body, and I have very little control over it.
He steps back letting his hands swing by his side and his voice drops back to a low, dangerous level. “You’ve told him … everything?”
I shake my head. “No, not everything.” My voice sounds small, even to my own ears, which makes me shake harder in anticipation to the yelling that could follow. But it doesn’t.
“You’ve told him that I visited you, in your new workplace?” he questions, raising a brow.
I look at my feet but don’t answer.
“I thought as much.” He laughs. “You know, I would never let my woman work. It’s a man’s job to provide everything his woman needs; I’m thinking Mr. King isn’t a real man.”
He’s goading me, I know he is. Trying to get a reaction. Well, he can suck it this time. I’m not rising to it. “He’s taken you, a little broken bird, under his wing. He’s trying to fix you because it suits his white knight image, and god knows you’re broken. I did the breaking. And, when he’s done trying to fix you, he’ll move on to the next girl that stumbles through the door of The Kingdom, one that he can control and manipulate, making them think he’s Mr. Fucking Wonderful. The man who thinks he has everything,” he sneers, and the more he talks, the more I can see him getting agitated.
“What do you want, Jonny?” I ask, trying to keep my voice neutral.
“All I ever wanted was you, Arianna. I still do.”
“And if you can’t have me?”
“That’s not an option. I want you, and I’ll stop at nothing to get you. You’ll see,” he says resolutely.
He strides toward me and reaches for the door handle. I step aside and he grabs the back of my head and pulls me to him, planting a hard kiss on my lips without warning and consent. But Jonny never waited for consent for anything. He wanted what he wanted, and he took it. He lets me go abruptly when I push at his chest, and I wipe my lips with the back of my hand.
“You’ll see,” he says knowingly, pulling the door open. “Oh, one more thing … I wouldn’t tell King about our little chat today, you never know who will suffer for it.”
He winks, smirks and then he’s gone.
His parting words to me spin through my head along with everything else he’s just said. My knees weaken and finally give in, and my stomach lurches, threatening to return my lunch.
I run to the stall, just in time to drop to my knees and empty my stomach. It feels like the walls are closing in, the room is spinning.
“Ari …are you in here?” Lottie’s voice cuts through the dizziness, but I’m unable to call back as my stomach starts to heave again. “Oh god, what’s wrong Ari?” I hear her pushing open all the stall doors until she finds the one I’m in. “You’re sick … Shit.” She curses as she pulls all my hair back from my face and rubs my back until I finally stop being sick. “Your lunch must have been really bad for it to come back up that quick, huh?” she jokes.
I take a deep breath and manage to stand up far enough to turn around and pull the lid of the toilet down. I plonk myself down, with no control whatsoever. I have no strength left in my body, and I rest my elbows on my knees and drop my head in my hands.
“I need to go and tell the moms what’s going on in here, and then we’re going to get you home, okay?”
“No.” I shout. “Please don’t go anywhere, Lottie …” I beg, as panic sets in that I’ll be in here alone, again.
“I’ll be two seconds, okay. Just stay right there,” she orders before she flies out of the door.
Lottie doesn't press me for an explanation; she's oblivious to the cause of my sickness. I’m grateful that she assumes it’s something to do with the food we had for lunch, because I don’t know how to force the words out to tell her, although I do feel very sorry for the staff, as I hear her in the background creating a scene. I catch the words ‘food poisoning’ and ‘law suit’, while the moms help me out of the door, and into the waiting SUV. The commandos don’t ask any questions, they just sit up front and drive, while my mom sits next to me with her hand on my knee.
I don’t trust myself to speak, so I’m silent until we get to the apartment. Mom takes this as I’m still feeling sick and just talks gently to me.
It’s an effort getting from the car to the top floor, and I drag my feet through the apartment, and throw off my clothes into a pile before heading for the shower. I don’t even think about closing the doors behind me, I can’t think about anything. My brain shuts down, and my only focus is getting under the hot spray of the shower and trying to wash away my troubles.
The water pelts my sensitive skin, everything prickles and I turn the temperature up to try and counter the shivers that insist on jangling my nerves.
“Arianna?” Denham’s soft voice calls out through the crack in the door, but I don’t trust myself to answer.
I can’t tell him. Jonny’s threat echoes through my head
‘You never know who might suffer.’
“Are you okay?” he says, standing next to the shower.
His face, his handsome face, breaks me, and I start to cry. It comes from nowhere, and it comes fast. “Oh, Stunner, come here.”
I fall into his arms, feeling hopeless, helpless, and utterly exhausted. And he just holds me even in my wet state, stroking my dripping wet hair, and murmuring comforts to me.
“You’re sick. You need to rest.”
He gently lifts me into his arms, and I curl my body into him. I feel protected. Cocooned in the safety of his body,
“I … I’m not sick,” I stutter as he places me gently on the bed, reaching for a towel to dry off my hair.