I only wanted to see if I had lost or not. He seemed so confident. We both knew he had tried to use his looks to distract me.
When he refused to lay his card, I dropped mine. I wanted this to be over.
“A queen of spades.” He read my card aloud.
Then he dropped his. It was a king—a king of spades. The king was greater than the queen.
I had lost.
“Don’t give me that look. A king is as important as his queen.” He smiled, playing with the cards.
He placed them side by side and turned them to face me.
“What do you think?” He taunted.
I wished I could look into someone else’s eyes, but everyone seemed so far away. When I looked up, I noticed the boys were gone but Darcy sat where she had been sitting.
At the same time, the door opened, and her brother busted in, fury written all over his face. He went straight to his sister and tried to pull her away, but the huge guys blocked him. I couldn’t hear the words they said but he was mad that they wouldn’t let go of his sister. Hell, he was mad that she was even here in the first place. We had a million explanations to do. The guys were still missing, and I wondered if they had sneaked out or if the men had let them go.
The boss that sat on the table with me waved a finger at one of the huge guys and he let go of Darcy. Her brother pulled her away, leaving me alone.
I had lost and now I had been abandoned. I didn’t miss the apology on Darcy’s face, but it didn’t change the fact that she didn’t even try to tell him about me or make any attempt to help.
“They were free the moment you agreed to play. You’re on your own, Emily. Who will come for you?” He asked, taunting me with the last words.
He couldn’t have been able to tell how deep those words hit.
“The King is higher than the queen, stronger. Of more value.” I answered his first question, ignoring his second question. My dad would never look for me as far as a place like this, the worst he would do was to drop a missing report at the police station. I doubted he would miss me.
“Do you want to know what I think?” He asked, pulling both cards away from me and closer to himself.
I said nothing but raised my brows like I had said, “What?”
“I think the queen is as strong as her king.” He smiled. A little bit of hope shimmered in my heart.
“Meaning?” I asked. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I wanted him to say the words clearly.
“Let’s just say you didn’t lose.” He said finally.
I jumped up. My seat scraped the floor and made a loud noise that called everyone to me. “I didn’t lose,” I screamed.
It was the first time I made such an achievement and I felt on top of the world.
“You’re quite good.” He commented. My dad wasn’t bluffing after all.
The boss didn’t tell anyone the condition of my winning but only said I won the last round. They all looked at me in awe and I felt like I had found the respect I wanted.
It felt awesome.
I was no longer a debtor. I stayed around to play with three other big guys, I won two of them but lost to one. I had more than a $100 winning when I decided to go home.
“Here.” I handed it to the boss when I was done and ready to go home. “I know I didn’t win, so take. It’s the highest I can give you.” I told him.
“You think that I’d have let you go if you were a bad player and was holding a bad card?” He asked, disbelieve evident in his voice.
“Maybe not.” I stammered in reply. He had a point, but I was still hesitant about the whole thing. He didn’t look like a good guy, why was he nice to me?
“Definitely not. Now, don’t you have a home to be?” He snapped at me. That called me back.
Oh my God. My dad or maybe my mom was going to kill me. What was I going to say? Would di say the truth or tell a lie? It was getting dark, and I ran as fast as I could. I turned back to see the boss still watching me. He had probably stood there till I was out of sight.
I wondered who he was. There was this sadness in his eyes, beneath all the macho and brave look. Maybe I would see him again.
When I got home, I was surprised to see my mom and dad sitting together. I had expected a look of panic, or even worry, instead, they sat together in the dining drinking cold yogurt.
As soon as my mom heard me come in, she looked up and smiled at me. “You’re late Emily, were you having fun with friends?”
My dad hadn’t even turned to look at me, he lifted his hands to clean the smudge of milk on his wife’s face.
“Yes, Mom. I did have fun.” The words came out of my mouth like they had been programmed to.
They had not been worried. Had they even cared at all? Were parents usually worried when their child came home late?
No one asked me what exactly I had been doing.It was three weeks till I summoned the courage to go to the coffee shop again. This time, I went alone. Darcy and I didn’t remain friends but she was no longer dependent on her brother. Now, she had other friends and we often smiled when we saw each other. She was the only one that asked if I lost or won. I didn’t tell her the whole story, but I did say that I won.
Unfortunately, the shop had changed. There was no longer a hidden mini-casino. It was just a plain coffee shop. The inner part was now used as a salon. No one looked familiar except the man who served coffee. Surprisingly, he recognized me at one.
“Here. I was asked to give you this if you ever came back.” He took me to his desk and gave me a folded note.
Although I was curious about what it was about, I didn’t open it till I was home and in my room.
Written boldly on the note were the words, “JUSTIN. CALL ME WHENEVER YOU NEED ME.”
Beneath the words was a phone number.
<<<<<end of flashback>>>>>
Do you think she ever called??
EMILY KINGPRESENTLYI smiled at the memories, watching spread the cards again over the table. I had no plans to lose but I confirmed my credit card in my purse before the game even started. Everyone looked at me with watchful eyes as I was asked to shuffle.I picked it up and displayed the only shuffle trick I knew. After my mom died, only cards kept him sane. We played for hours. We were best friends in the game but whenever I got my hopes up and thought he was finally feeling better, he drew back into his shell as soon as the cards were away from his hands.I could play cards a lot better now, but I was no closer to my dad.I called myself back to the game as I laid the cards I had shuffled. I lifted my head to see keen eyes watching me.“Where did you learn to play cards? I heard from behind me. “Did Alexandro teach you?” it was Nina. I might have lied and agreed if it was someone else, but I liked Nina enough to be honest with her.“No, I learned this before I met Alexandro. My f
I got home tired and had a bit of a headache. I was starting to refer to this beautiful suite as home, I would miss it when I got home. Funny enough, as soon as I got in, I couldn’t sleep so I picked up my phone. I wasn’t drunk but maybe I wasn’t very conscious of my actions or the alcohol I had drunk earlier made me brave. I went to my contact list and dialed Alexandro King. “Hello, Cheater.” I greeted as soon as it beeped to signify, he had picked. And that was the last thing I remembered. ALEXANDRO KING She had to be drunk. How could she not be? I swerved as I noticed my favorite parking slot was free. A valet had offered to help me park, but it was my favorite car, and I wasn’t in a hurry. I had not intended to come back to the hotel till the end of the week but all I could think of was what mess Emily would put herself in. Then Baxter reported to me that she had attended last night’s party. I had not expected her to attend in my absence and was a bit worried, but when I hea
Her bra and panties lay abandoned on the floor, and she was spread on the bed. In only one piece of clothing. It was my shirt, but now it was no longer just on her hip. She is wearing it. Her head was resting on a pillow which her both hands were tucked under. On the table was an opened wine and a glass cup. There was still wine in it but she hadn’t drank much of it. I moved towards her and sniffed in her smell. There was a little alcohol on her, but it didn’t seem like she had drunk much, I took another sniff but all that invaded my nose was the vanilla smell of her hair. I couldn’t resist the urge to touch them. On my touch, she moved, curling herself before stretching again. Revealing the rear of her and making me wish I had stayed away. I couldn’t resist touching those legs. I laid a hand on her knee and heard her give a deep sigh. I let a little chuckle escape my lip, she wouldn’t hear it. I loved how sensitive she was. My hands moved down her legs, loving how smooth they w
Emily King No, no, no, no. This did not just happen. But it did. If the pleasure running in my veins wasn’t enough proof, the clenching of my insides for more should sprinkle a cold bucket of reality on my face. If that didn’t work, all I had to do was open my eyes to see the man standing in between my legs. “Open your eyes, Emily.” He called. His voice was gentle, was patient, like that of a lover. He was not my lover. Her was Alisha’s. “Let go of me. This didn’t happen.” I muttered the first words to him then the second to myself. “No, no, Emily, don’t do that, except you want a reminder.” He spoke, and I could hear the chuckle in his voice. It sounded cold and triumphant, like that of a devil when he knew he had won. His hands tightened over my hip and I felt the tip of his nose gently nudging the side of my core. My whole body swelled in response to his touch, betraying me. I tried to buck off him but instead, I just brought myself more into his face so I strayed still, emb
My hands couldn’t stay in place, I tried to keep him in place by pulling his hair, but I couldn’t word the need for him to go slow because the breath I got was barely enough to keep me breathing.He let go of my his to use the hand to keep my hand in place but instead, he allowed me to buck against him, trashing up against him and reducing the pleasure on my neck.“You don’t want to be a good girl, do you?” He growled. He moved away to free his tie from his neck.Excitement bubbled through me in the hope that he was about to undress but only the tie came off. It came off him then came on me.He grabbed both my hands and wrapped his tie around them.“What are you doing, Xandro?” I asked, a little fear crawling up my throat. I had never been tied before, hell, I had never had sex before.“I’m not going to hurt you. I promise.” His voice was reassuring, I believed. Then he smiled and said, “At least, not today.”I didn’t know what the fuck that meant, but I held on to his words about not
EMILY KINGI watched the horror that rose on his face before he withdrew totally from me. He took a moment to tally untie my hands before moving off the bed, away from me.His expression moved to annoyance as he got to the edge of the room before turning to face me.“What the fuck, Emily?” He spoke harshly. Anger was evident in his voice yet I had no idea what my sin was. When did being a virgin become something abominable?“I don’t know what the problem is,” I said it wasn’t being in denial, I just couldn’t accept that he was mad because I was a virgin.“Why do I not know that…. That you’re…. You’re… a…” He trailed off, running his hands through his hair.“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m what?” I snapped.“Wait! Are you still drunk?” He asked in wonder as he moved closer to me again.Was I drunk? Maybe a little, but I was very much aware of what happened tonight, and I doubted I would forget when I became sober.“I’m not drunk.” I denied. Freeing my hands from the tie, he
“I wouldn’t have guessed you would be such a great social media person.” He said to me. We slept on the bed, facing each other. I couldn’t sleep and he didn’t either. It was not my choice to face him, I would rather turn my back to him, maybe I would have a better chance of sleeping but he wouldn’t have it any other way. “There are many things I didn’t think I could do either,” I replied, ignoring him would be of no help. Things like letting him touch me, or even dreaming about him. “I’m discovering myself.” I smiled.He watched me quietly but said nothing, then finally, he commanded, “Sleep.”The words seemed backed up by a spell because I slept off immediately.The nights were when I was most happy that I met Alexandro King. I didn’t have to sleep all couched on someone’s couch or be scared of anything.I loved the bed too.When I woke up, my husband was sitting up on the chair closest to the bed. It seemed like he had been waiting for me to wake up.“Is there anything
“I am not trying to seduce you!” I screamed before he said anything. I hid myself behind a trail of clothes and couched, hoping he wouldn’t pick. “I left my towel here and had nothing to wear out, I called your name for help but got no reply so I thought you had left. I am not trying to seduce you, I don’t even want you.” I rapped in embarrassment. “What are you doing here?”He threw the towel at me and said nothing, I managed to catch a bit of annoyance and disgust in his eyes before he stormed out of the closet without paying attention to me.“Wear the clothes I picked out. We have somewhere to be.” He commanded, his back turned to me before he slammed the door.I couldn’t stand up for the first few minutes, I had succeeded in embarrassing myself in front of Alexandro King like I had not made enough fool of myself last night.I sat in front of the mirror and oiled my skin before turning to see the dress he had picked. It was a beautiful jumpsuit that was classy as well as fun, I won