#maxwell does NOT count he sent that woman to HELL

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

noticing a trend w all my faves which is that it is an unpopular but simultaneously very real fact that they don't get bitches and their swagger sucks

[angelasscribbles]

The De Facto Queen Chapter 4: Are We Okay?

Series: The De Facto Queen

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairings: Riley x Drake, Riley x Liam

Rating: MA concepts

Warnings for this chapter: Language

Word Count: 4,483

A/N: Special shout out to @karahalloway for reading over part of the polo match and reminding me that English saddles have pommels, not saddle horns!

My other stuff: Master List.

The two teams faced each other on the field. Drake, Maxwell, Neville, and Rashad on one side; Liam, Hana, and Penelope on the other. Riley was late as she finally shook herself out of her stupor and trotted onto the field. Murmurs of approval rippled through the crowd as she took her place next to Liam.

“Looks like you’re turning some heads!” Hana smiled at her.

“Yeah. She does that,” Drake’s voice was low and quiet, his eyes flicking back and forth from Riley to Liam.

Riley opened her mouth to speak but before she had the chance, Rashad noted, “Nice day for a game.”

“Quiet,” Neville leaned forward on his mount to look around Rashad at Drake, “Though I could think of nicer company.”

“Save it, Vancoeur,” Drake snapped, his eyes still locked on Liam, “We have a game to win.”

Liam was oblivious to his best friend’s attention, as his was on the woman at his side. A soft smile played on his lips as he stared at her in open admiration.

As the announcements finished, the umpire stepped forward and held up a hand to quiet the crowd. The horses whinnied and stamped in anticipation. Hana joined Liam in turning her head to give Riley a wide-open grin, but Riley’s attention was focused on Drake, dread pooling in the pit of her stomach as she took in the stormy expression on his face.

Shit! Why had she told him ten seconds before the polo match? What the hell was wrong with her? There was no time to think about it now, the game was starting!

The ball rolled into play and the horses lurched into action. Riley pushed her personal life out of her mind as adrenaline dumped into her bloodstream and hoofbeats thundered down the pitch. Hana made it to the ball first and sent it spinning down the field with a practiced swing. Riley thought she had it, but Rashad swept the ball out from under her only to be nearly mowed down by Penelope as she knocked the ball away from him.

Riley and Max both rode hell-bent for leather after it. She had to distract him somehow, but how? “Is that a peacock on the field?”

“What? No, it’ll get trampled!” Max pulled his attention away from the game to quickly scan the playing field.

It was enough of a distraction for Riley to knock the ball away and send it flying through the goalposts. The crowd erupted into shouts and applause. Phrases like “Well struck!” and “Good play!” rang out as the players rode back to the center of the field.

Riley brought her horse up alongside Drake’s, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he slid a quick sidelong glance at her but didn’t meet her eyes, “I told you, we’ll talk later.” Then he tapped his mount with his heels and sped up, trotting away from her.

The second time the ball was tossed up, Maxwell was on it, knocking it down the field to Neville.

“Neville, over here,” Drake yelled, “I’m wide open!”

“I’ve got it!” Neville snarled as he swung his horse around, but the king was on top of him before he could strike the ball.

“Do you, Lord Neville?” Liam laughed as pulled alongside him and started to nudge him away from the ball.

“Neville, damn it, pass me the ball!” Drake yelled again, spurring his horse into action.

“I said I’ve got it!” Neville leaned over and out, nearly losing his balance as Liam’s horse bumped against his.

“Goddamn it, Neville!” Drake roared as he galloped his horse across the field, reaching them just as Liam was in position to send the ball back toward his team’s goal.

Drake didn’t slow down as he barreled down on them and forced his way between the other two riders. He turned into Liam, the back of his horse colliding with Neville’s, sending Lord Vancoeur tumbling into the dirt. Drake yanked the reins and leaned into Liam, slamming into him as horseflesh crashed into horseflesh. Liam was unseated by the intensity of the blow, he scrabbled at the pommel, unable to make purchase, as he slid sidewise out of the saddle.

Righting his horse, Drake smashed his mallet into the ball, sending it careening down the pitch and into their goal as the whistle blew and the clock stopped. “What the fuck?” Drake bellowed as the ump called foul.

“You knocked two men out of the saddle and one of them was your own teammate!” the umpire pointed at him as he yelled.

“It was a ride off!”

“It was a foul! That was more than a forty-five-degree angle!”

Liam’s teammates trotted over to where he was picking himself up off the ground as Drake argued with the umpire. Riley dismounted and hurried over to him.

Max brought his pony alongside Drake’s and quietly said, “Hey man. I don’t know what’s going on with you right now, but the entire country is watching.”

“Shit!” Drake swore soundly under his breath as some semblance of reason settled over him. “Whatever fine, it’s a foul. Sorry.” He dismounted and walked over to offer his hand to Liam. The crowd roared its approval at the show of sportsmanship. Without looking at Riley, he muttered a halfhearted apology to his best friend.

“What the hell’s gotten into you?” Liam asked in bewilderment.

“Nothing,” Drake shrugged, “It was our ball. Maybe next time stay in your own fucking lane and don’t try taking things that aren’t yours.” He spun and stalked back to his mount.

Liam froze and then slowly turned toward Riley. Lowering his voice so no one else could hear, he hissed, “You told him, didn’t you?”

Riley sighed as she nodded, “Yeah.”

“Right before the game?” he asked incredulously.

“He knew something was wrong and he wouldn’t stop pushing until I told him! He thought I was going to break up with him. I couldn’t let him keep thinking that!” Of course, now she was worried he was going to break up with her but that was a worry that would have to wait. Right now, all of Cordonia was watching so she blinked back her tears, straightened her shoulders, and climbed back into the saddle.

Liam dusted himself off before remounting. His eyes went immediately to Riley because they always did whenever they were in close proximity to each other. He couldn’t help it. Seeking her out in any crowd, at least visually, was a habit that had started the night of the Masquerade Ball, one that he had never been able to break, even after the advent of her betrothal to another.

Her betrothed. His eyes pulled reluctantly away from her and traveled across the pitch to find Drake’s eyes boring into him.

Liam shook his head and the match resumed. The horses raced up and down the field as the game progressed. He came face to face with Drake again near the end of the fourth chukka.

He was ready this time.

“Hey, I had that!” Drake objected as Liam swept the ball out from under him and sent it skittering downfield to Riley.

“Your backhand’s always been a little slow,” Liam smirked, “Maybe if you were faster, other people wouldn’t get to the ball first!”

“Seriously, man?” Drake’s mouth fell open but then a smug smile tugged the corners of his mouth up, “Getting to it first and keeping it are two different things though, aren’t they?”

“I…that…” Liam sputtered as Drake spun his horse and took off down the field.

The rest of the game proceeded without incident and before long, they were tied and facing off for the final point.

“Max get ready!” Drake yelled as he positioned himself to smack the ball downfield, but he was distracted by the sight of Liam bringing his horse alongside Riley’s. He only hesitated a fraction of a second as his eyes flicked over to them, but it was long enough for Hana to swoop in and send the ball skittering away from him.

“Shit!” He yelled as he watched Penelope easily outmaneuver Neville, passing the ball to Riley.

Riley tossed her mallet into the air, then caught it, with the windmill motion Hana had taught her. Swinging her mallet, she drove the ball home for the win.

“Wow, that was awesome!” Max chortled.

“You know you’re on my team, not hers, right?” Drake groused.

“Yeah, no, I know. I’m just saying…”

The crowd went wild, jumping to their feet, waving flags, stomping their feet, and chanting Riley’s name.

“Well done everyone!” Liam cried, lifting his mallet into the air and waving to the crowd.

While the crowd lost their minds cheering for their king and the rest of the team celebrated, Riley’s eyes searched the field for Drake.

When she found him, they made direct eye contact for several long moments, but he didn’t smile. He turned his horse and trotted for the fences.

Her heart sank.

She wanted to go after him but was pulled into a series of congratulations from officials, the press, and the members of the court. She sat beside Liam, trying to keep her mount still, pasted on a smile, and gave an interview, gushing about how much fun polo was and how beautiful she found Portavira. 

When she was finally able to disentangle herself, she found Drake waiting for her at the edge of the field, helmet off, hair wet with sweat, “Hey,” he greeted her with a half-smile.

“Hey,” she replied as she dismounted.

“Sorry for all…that,” he gestured weakly toward the field, “I…um…” he shook his head, “I’m just sorry, okay?”

She handed off the reigns to one of the grooms and stepped closer to him, “Was that really necessary?”

“No, it was not,” he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Now that the initial shock and surge of anger had worn off, he was ashamed of his actions. “You did great out there, by the way.”

“Thanks,” she wanted to be mad at him for knocking Liam off his horse, but she just couldn’t.

“Can we go somewhere and talk now?”

“Yes, please,” she agreed, “Showers first?”

“Probably a good idea. Pretty sure I stink.”

She slipped her hand in his, “Let’s hurry before someone-“

Landon and Emmeline caught them before they could make their getaway.

“Duchess Riley…Drake,” Emmeline called as she hurried over to them, Landon and Penelope in tow, “you put on quite a show out there for us!”

“We did what we could,” Drake smiled politely.

“Don’t be modest!” Emmeline chided, “I haven’t seen a game like that since Landon hung up his mallet!”

“You flatter me, Dear. Even in my heyday, I had nothing on Riley here!”

“She did great!” Penelope agreed.

“I’m just happy we were able to help with the relief efforts,” Riley pasted on her diplomatic smile and squeezed Drake’s hand in apology.

He squeezed back letting her know it was okay. He understood the need for politicking. He hated it. But he understood the need.

“I’ve received the projected total of donations from today,” Emmeline told her, “And it’ll be enough to shore up our relief funds!”

“That’s fantastic!” Riley’s enthusiasm was genuine. She was ecstatic to help those affected by the flooding.

“We can’t tell you how much of a difference this will make for Portavira,” Landon said.

“And it wouldn’t have been possible without you, Riley,” Emmeline gushed, “in fact, I’m rather optimistic about our ability to help you.”

“Would you give us a moment, please?” Landon asked as he pulled his wife and daughter aside.

“Of course,” Riley chirped.

As the Ebrims conferred amongst themselves, Drake moved closer to his fiancée, readjusting their hands and lacing his fingers through hers, “The moment of truth, huh?”

“Yeah,” trepidation pulled through her as she glanced up at his face. Was there even still going to be a wedding for the nobility to attend? “Drake-“

Before she could ask the question, the Ebrims returned. Emmeline was brisk and to the point, “We talked it over and-“

“We’d like to officially offer our support to the crown and our attendance at your wedding,” Landon finished.

“That’s great!” Riley forced a smile, “Thank you. I can’t wait to see you there!”

After a few more minutes of small talk, Drake and Riley extracted themselves from the conversation but everywhere they turned there were nobles who wanted a word with the country’s most famous duchess.

“Do something,” Riley whispered.

“On it!” Drake swiftly typed into his phone and then pulled her around a corner and behind the stables, “No one will be looking for us here.”

“But how are we going to make it from here to the showers then back to our car?”

“We’re not,” he grinned at her.

“Then how-“

“Just wait,” he told her as he glanced around the corner, “it pays to have friends in low places, Brooks.”

Riley deflated a little. He’d stopped calling her Brooks when they’d officially become a couple. The use of her last name had initially been a ploy to put some emotional distance between them, he’d told her that the night they’d gone to the beer garden. Was he trying to emotionally distance himself from her again?

Before she could respond, an enclosed golf cart careened around the corner of the building and came to a stop next to them. It was bright blue with the words Ocean Side Polo Club emblazoned on the side. Drake pulled the door open and ushered her into the backseat and then climbed in behind her.

“Here, as you requested,” the driver shoved two blue baseball caps into Drake’s hands. The caps bore the same words and emblem as the golf cart.

Drake tossed a hat into her lap and then put the other one on his own head, pulling it down low over his eyes.

Riley got the idea quickly, donning the cap and slumping down in the seat. “But what about our clothes?”

“Loaded into your car, Your Grace,” the driver replied.

“You just helped us escape from a polo club, you can call me Riley,” she laughed.

She was rewarded with a big smile from the older Italian gentleman driving the cart, “You haven’t escaped yet, Riley!”

She threw a glance at her fiancée. Everywhere they went he made friends with the staff. The common people loved him, and he loved them and that’s what made him perfect for the role he never wanted.

He could do a lot of good if he just got out of his own head.

Drake returned her glance with a sparkle in his eye. He answered her unasked question, “I had the car moved, we’re meeting them on the opposite side of the club outside the entrance the grooms use.”

Warmth flooded her chest at seeing him acting like his normal self. She slid her hand into his again, “You’re pretty fucking smart, Walker, you know that?”

“Oh, I know, but it is gratifying to know that you know!”

The golf cart delivered them to their car and Riley turned back to thank the driver, “What was your name, again?”

“Vincente,” he answered, “and you’re welcome Your Gr- I mean Riley.”

Goodbyes were said and they were on their way to the boat Drake had rented, “Don’t worry,” he told her, “There’s a shower onboard.”

“Ahhh!” She relaxed into the seat, “Privacy at last!”

“I like the sound of that,” he leaned across her body and brought a hand up to caress her face, “Riley…I-“

Her phone rang.

Drake dropped his hand and fell back against the seat with a frustrated sigh.

She glanced down at her screen, “It’s Liam.”

“Better answer it,” Drake turned his head to stare out the window.

Riley silenced the phone, “He can wait.”

His head turned back toward her, his eyes guarded, “What if it’s important?”

“How important can it be? He’s the king, not me. Whatever it is, can wait and if it can’t, then he can handle it! I said I would help him, Drake. I didn’t sign up to be queen. Besides, there is nothing more important to me right now than fixing us!”

Relief flitted through his eyes, “I…didn’t know you felt that way.”

“Of course, I do!”

“That’s…that’s good…” he nodded as if reassuring himself of something.

They pulled up to the beach, unloaded their bags, and made their way to the twenty-five-foot cabin cruiser docked at the end of the pier.

As they stood on board the deck, Drake looked around with a sigh, “I know it’s not a yacht but-“

“And you know I don’t care about that!”

He stopped and turned to stare into her eyes, his own gold-flecked orbs darkening to a hammered copper shade as they roamed her face, searching for answers. Finally, he nodded his head and said, “I know. Come on, I’ll show you where the shower is.”

Once they were both clean, Drake navigated the boat out into open water. He neither needed nor wanted a crew to drive it. He preferred to be hands-on.

Riley joined him in the cockpit, “Where are we going?”

“Away from shore so we don’t get interrupted again.”

“I turned my phone off,” she told him.

He gave her a sidelong glance, “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I did send Liam a text letting him know I’d return his call later. Just so he wouldn’t worry…”

“It’s fine, I texted him too.”

“You did?”

“Don’t so sound surprised,” he scoffed, “I also didn’t want him to worry plus he’s technically my boss and you’re my assignment.”

“Sure. Yeah.” She nodded.

“I didn’t apologize for knocking his ass in the dirt.”

“Okay….”

“Hold on, let me drop anchor then we can talk.”  

Fifteen minutes later they were seated on the wrap-around seating gracing the deck, each turned to the side, so they were facing the other, both ignoring the beauty of the Mediterranean as they focused, instead, on one another. 

Drake reached out and took her hand in his, “First let me apologize again for my behavior out on the pitch.”

“That was my fault!” She protested, “I should never have dropped that on you seconds before the game started!”

He shook his head as he scooted closer to her, “I pushed you into it and even if it was horrible timing, nobody’s responsible for my actions but myself.”

She gave him a half-hearted smile, “So, you admit it was horrible timing?”

A short bark of laughter escaped him, “It certainly could have been better, but I had plenty of time to think while I watched you give that interview, and I realized the only moment we had alone was this morning-“

“I was going to tell you after, but we got interrupted!”

“I know.”

“I was going to tell you last night, but you were asleep when I got back to the room!”

“I know that too. You did text me on your way back from your meeting with Liam and said you had something to tell me.”

“Yes! I was going to tell you then, but-“

“But we got interrupted then too. I know.”

“I should have woken you up last night or stopped you this morning but-“

“But you didn’t know there would be an impromptu breakfast meeting. I know, Riley, it’s okay! You don’t have to convince me of your intentions. I understand that you wanted and intended to tell me right away.”

“Okay, good,” Relief rolled over her in waves as the weight on her shoulders evaporated.

It was short-lived.

He toyed with the ring on her finger as he held her hand, “Do you want to end our engagement?”

“What?” She jerked her hand out of his, “No! How can you even ask me that?”

“I’m giving you an out, Riley…”

“I don’t want an out, Drake!”

“I know you love me but-“

“But what?”

He shifted in his seat with a sigh, “I love you, Riley, with all that I have and all that I am… I would choose you a million times, I would choose you every time…but…maybe I’m not the right choice for you. Liam-“

“Stop it! Just…stop!”

He dropped his eyes to his lap with a sigh, “You were on Liam’s team today, not mine. And you looked like you belonged there.”

“I was on Cordonia’s team, Drake! It was a polo game for God’s sake!”

“I know, but-“

“Don’t do this. Please!”

“Do what?”

“Break up with me!”

His head snapped up, incredulity filling his expression, “You think I’m breaking up with you?”

“You aren’t?”

“I’m not an idiot, Riley! Well…I am an idiot but not that big of an idiot,” he said with a wry smile, “I said I was offering you an out, not that I wanted one!”

“Well, I don’t want one either,” Riley huffed as she crossed her arms defensively in front of her, “So now what?”

“That depends,” he responded slowly as his eyes ran across her face, “Why did you tell me?”

“What?”

“It was one kiss, Riley. I never had to know. So, why did you tell me?”

“Because it was the right thing to do! How can you even ask me that? Would you rather I’d kept it from you?”

He shook his head, “No. I’d rather know the truth, even when it hurts. Isn’t that what we promised each other?”

“It is!” She agreed, “Better an ugly truth than a pretty lie.”

He nodded thoughtfully, almost as if to himself, “And you upheld that. That means a lot to me.”

“Good, because-“

“You still love him.” It wasn’t a question.

Riley froze, eyes growing wide as panic burned through every synapse in her body, “I….”

“It’s okay, I knew you still loved him when you and I started,” he told her softly, “I knew you still loved him, but you were resolute in your decision to end things with him, and I believed you when you said you wanted to move on.”

“I did want to move on!” She insisted, “And I did, we did!”

“We did,” he nodded, “but you still love him, and he still loves you.”

“What makes you think-“

“I’m neither blind nor stupid, that’s what. I haven’t been missing all those longing looks he gives you, Riley. I’ve just chosen to ignore them.”

“Why?”

He shrugged, “What was I going to do about it? He can’t help the fact that he still loves you and I don’t feel like I have a right to question him about his feelings on the issue all things considered.”

“Drake,” she reached out and took his hand again, “You know none of it was your fault! You and I were just friends until after my relationship with Liam ended!”

“On your end maybe, but I-“

“That doesn’t matter!” She assured him, “Whatever feelings you had before then, you never acted on. You didn’t come between me and Liam; he did that all on his own, and he knows it.”

“Still,” he blew out a frustrated breath, “I can’t help wondering if he thinks I was just waiting for an opportunity….exploiting your pain and vulnerability-“

“Hey,” She placed a hand on either side of his face and turned his head until he was looking into her eyes, “Is that what you believe?”

He stared back at her, his expression completely defenseless and exposed as he whispered, “Maybe….”

She shook her head vehemently from side to side, “No, Drake. You didn’t! I’m a grown woman perfectly capable of making my own decisions! We fell in love! I love you!”

“But you still love him, Riley. I just…I don’t want to stand in your way. You’re amazing at the ruling thing. You would make a good queen. Liam needs you; he loves you, and he would take you back in a heartbeat-“

“Goddamn it, Drake!” Riley pushed away from him, sprung to her feet, and stalked away from him, “Do you not want to be with me?”

“Of course, I want to be with you!” He jumped up and hurried after her. Grabbing her by the shoulder, he spun her around and gathered her in his arms, “I…I just want to be sure you want to be with me! I don’t ever want you to regret your choice!”

“I will never regret choosing you!” Her hands dug into his shirt, twisting the fabric in her fists and pulling him closer, “Can we please just find our way through this?”

“If that’s what you really want, then yes but-“

“No buts!”

“Yes, there’s a but and you need to hear it…”

“Fine, what is it?”

“I need you to know that we can find our way through this even if you don’t want to marry me, okay? I love you,” he cupped her face between his hands, “and I will always be here for you, even if that means we’re just friends.”

Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill down her cheeks, “Drake, why would you-“

He pulled her flush against his body, and hugged her tightly, “Because I love you, and that means I want what’s best for you. So even though I will always want you, I will never abandon you, even if you decide to break our engagement and marry my best friend.”

“I want to marry you, Drake!” She sobbed against his chest.

“Okay, good,” he tightened his arms around her, “Because I really want to marry you too!”

“Oh, thank God!” She laughed through her tears.

“Now that that’s settled….”

“How the hell did you end up comforting me when I’m the one that-“

“Shhhh, hush, stop!” He admonished, “You didn’t do anything wrong, Riley. You had a moment where you gave into something initiated by someone you still love and have mixed feelings about. I’d say that makes you human.”

“See?” She hiccupped a little as she pushed back so she could look up into his face, “This? This kind of shit right here is why I love you so damn much!”

“Glad to hear it! And just to be clear, I will never be the one breaking up with you, okay?”

“Then you’re stuck with me forever because I am not breaking up with you!” She said forcefully, “So are we okay?”

“We’re fine,” he assured her, “Now, are you ready to do some fishing or what?”

She nodded happily and followed him to the fishing gear determined to relax and enjoy spending time with her fiancée, whom she was definitely going to marry and most probably going to drag below deck to the master suite before the end of the night while trying not to dwell on the fact that all the unresolved tension between her and Liam was still very much alive.

But that was a problem for another day.

[cordonian-literature]

The Aftermath - Ch. 2

International News

Summary: Drake finds news about Riley and goes to tell Liam

Word Count: ~2.7k

Warning: Mention of character death

*All characters belong to Pixelberry, except those that are unique to my story (I’ve also used some characters and fictional instances from Donna Tartt’s “The Goldfinch”)*

Catch up here!

Tags: @captain-kingliamsqueen​ @marshmallowsaremyfavorite @gkittylove99 @lovablegranny @loudbluebirdlover @mom2000aggie @kingliam2019

- DRAKE - 

Taking the leftover pizza out of the microwave, Drake eats his dinner leaned against the kitchen counter, facing his empty living room. He had Bartie over last weekend. When the boy walked in, the entire place felt more illuminated. Not only was the place more lively with some company, but Drake was finally able to see exactly how boring his cabin was — of course, the initial plan was to go camping, but it started raining, so Drake thought his place would be the next best thing. But alas, it wasn’t. He did his best to make the place a little more fun and to make Bartie’s time with him enjoyable. All he wanted was to give his nephew a break from courtly life. When Savannah came to pick him up Monday morning, the house felt dim again. He knew that even if he preferred being alone, he wouldn’t enjoy it as much as he would’ve enjoy being with friends or with the people he cared about.

Tonight was supposed to be the night that he and Liam went out drinking, but Liam had to reschedule due to an overload of meetings. Drake didn’t take it personally, and was recently used to Liam distancing himself from everyone.

After Riley had left, Hana, Maxwell, and Drake went to Los Angeles to try and find Tariq by themselves. When they got him to give an announcement, it was sent out in the middle of Liam’s and Madeleine’s engagement shower, even though the group wanted desperately to do it quietly. Drake remembered Liam’s face after Madeleine had calmed down the crowd and was giving her own thoughts about how the court had treated Riley; Liam had scanned the crowd for her face, his eyes passing over the faces of his three friends, no Riley in sight. Afterwards, Drake had to tell the entire group that Riley had left the night before. He thought she was bluffing, so he did nothing to stop it.  

The court remained in New York for another long week, in an attempt to try and find Riley. They’d gone anywhere they thought could help find her, even the bar they first met her at and her old apartment. They even tracked down Daniel, Riley’s co-worker. Liam had gone as far as to tell Bastien to do a background check on her parents and had a security team monitor her mother’s house for any signs of her. 

Drake had been the one to put the issue of finding Riley on his shoulders. His guilt for letting Riley leave that night was something that he knew he would take to his grave. Sometimes he’d work with Olivia and Maxwell — Hana had left court after there was no sign of Riley returning. They’d send small search parties internationally and contacted any establishment that they thought she would have any association with. 

Of course, nothing turned up, but Drake still kept his eye on international news, while Maxwell and Olivia continued their own searches. Even though they’d all lost hope for finding Riley long ago, she still remained in the back of their thoughts.

The two best friends were beginning to distance, but Drake was glad that him and Liam were at least trying to stay connected — even though he had moved out of the palace a while ago, his cabin wasn’t a ten minute drive away. 

After putting his plate in the sink, he took out his phone and decided to scroll through the internet and current news.

Out of all the states in the country Drake paid attention to in his search, he slowly began to ignore New York. He figured that if she didn’t want to be found, that would be the last place she would go. 

He begins pouring himself a glass of whiskey, when he stumbles upon a vague article title: 

America Left in Shock as Country's Largest Museum is Bombed Over the Weekend.

With the slight hope that the museum wasn't in New York, he clicks on the link and reads about a bomb going off in a new exhibit in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He almost exited out before noticing that an internationally known CEO had been found dead and a Senator was badly injured.

He keeps scrolling and sees the subtitle Known Visitors around Time of Incident and Their Conditions. Beneath it was a list of names with either “dead”, “injured”, or “unknown” written in bold next to them. 

He scans through the names, as he's always done with any list ever since Riley left, a dull hope in the back of his mind that one day there'd be a list with her name on it. His heart gives a jolt when he reads “Riley Brooks injured”.

- Liam -

After hours of back to back meetings with dignitaries and ambassadors from all over the world, Liam finally gets a chance to close his eyes and lean back in his chair. A rare moment of peace. 

He didn’t mind the workload. In fact he embraced it. It allowed him to distract his mind and his heart from the void Riley had created when she left. Years after her departure, Liam never stopped putting the blame on himself. He regretted the heartache he put her through during the Engagement Tour. He regretted that she had to suffer her name being dragged through the mud by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. He regretted every moment he didn’t tell her that he loved her. He regretted every moment that he didn’t cherish her. Every moment he hadn’t held her in his arms had been a moment wasted. 

Of course she’d want to leave me, he told himself routinely. I never deserved her. What type of man forgets to cherish such a precious being? How did I forget to cherish the woman who stood by my side even when she was experiencing Hell? 

Diving head-first into his work was a necessary reprieve from this thoughts. He would never want to forget her, but he hated remembering how he didn’t keep her safe. This life of loneliness was his punishment, and he believed he deserved it.

When the door opens and the light thud of Drake’s foot steps barrel towards him, Liam doesn’t open his eyes, but asks, “How are you Drake? Did you have a nice weekend with Bartie?” 

Drake freezes. “How did you know I spent the weekend with him?”

“Maxwell told me.” He looks at Drake and goes to fill a glass of scotch for himself and some whiskey for Drake. “He usually calls to tell me how his day’s been going. That day he was particularly upset. Sunday, I think it was. I heard Bertrand or Savannah trying to cheer him up in the background, though I couldn’t make out the most of what they were saying through the sobs.”

Drake takes the glass of whiskey. “He cried to you? About what?” Maxwell crying or showing any emotion wouldn’t have been surprising when Riley was around, but after she left, everyone had bottled up their feelings. It seemed unnatural, but everyone was so focused on hiding their own emotions from one another that they didn't even notice that they were all doing the same thing. Lately though, the walls they had built around themselves were crumbling. Their decade of ignored pain was becoming too much to handle, but none of them were ready to face it yet. 

Liam sighs, looking down at his drink. “About how Riley never got to meet Bartie.”

“She saw him in Paris.”

Shaking his head, Liam says, “It’s not the same.”

The men take a moment to finish their drinks, the silence hanging between them, as was usual when anything about Riley, her social season, or the Engagement Tour ever came up. 

“Speaking of Riley,” Drake starts, pulling out his phone. “She’s in New York.” 

“What?” Liam jolts to attention and reaches for the phone, scanning the screen that Drake opened up for him. When he looks at her name, he can’t take his eyes off of it. 

Riley Brooks. His Riley. 

Injured, but alive. 

The article was uploaded less than two hours ago.

Disbelief, shock, pain, and hope all flash through Liam’s face when he looks up at Drake, who explains what happened at the Met, and when he’s done relaying the information that he has, Liam takes a moment to absorb it all. He pulls out his own phone and looks for more articles to read; he was alive with the need to see her name again, the need to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. After all this time, it felt too good to be true.

He’s only able to type “The Met NYC” before he looks back at Drake and breathes, “Maxwell and Hana. We need to let them know.” 

Drake takes a moment to respond. Liam scans his friend’s face, and is shocked to find himself expecting Drake to disagree. 

And he does: “I don’t think that’s the best idea right now. We should take our time and approach this slowly.” 

“Not the best idea?” Liam stands, abandoning his phone. He blinks a couple times, making sure that he's really in the moment, and that he really just heard those words come out of Drake's mouth. “When will it be the best idea?” He stands, leaning against the table to close the distance between himself and Drake. “Eleven damn years isn’t a long enough wait for you?” 

“Liam that’s not what I meant. I just think we should give her space. Reach out to her. She's been hurt—.”

“Space?" He turns around and begins to pace. There are too many words, and he doesn’t know how to get them all out. After a desperate decade of trying to find her, trying to find the only woman he’s ever really loved, he has to wait even longer? "Where was ‘give her space’ when you ran after her car the night of my coronation? When you wanted to jump on the plane to New York and follow her?” He took a moment to stare down at Drake. “Do you understand how hard it’s been, religiously searching for her name in every one of Bastien's daily reports? Waiting for Maxwell or Olivia or you to call and say that you've found her or had a lead? Do you understand how hard it is, traveling without her by my side, or without her waiting for me back home? How hard it is, during every damned press conference,” his voice breaks, “being asked of my marrying or at least producing an heir? I can’t get over it. I can’t get over her.” He puts his head in his hands. “Ten damned years and she’s still the person I work to be a good king for...." He takes a deep breath, trying to control his volume. "I understand that you are in pain as well, Drake, she's a sore wound to pick at, but we’ve all been hurting. Maxwell cries about how his ‘little blossom’ would have enjoyed the last Beaumont Bash and how she would have made it more memorable, or how there’s no one else he would want to star with him in his ‘breakdance opera’. We have been calling Hana incessantly over the past five years about returning to court. Do you know what she said to me a few weeks ago? She said she doesn’t want to return without Riley. That it won’t be the same without her. And when I gave my speech to the court and to the people at Applewood last month, it felt just like that, so so empty. All these years—.”

A knock on the door interrupts Liam. He leans back, dusts off his clothes and takes a moment to compose himself, making sure no tears escaped him. He calls for the person to enter and Olivia walks in.  

“Liam,” she starts, but stops herself as she notices Drake sitting in front of his desk, and how tense Liam’s shoulders are. 

“What is it, Duchess Olivia?” Liam asks. 

“It’s Riley,” she starts, all business. “She’s in New York, but has been injured after a bomb went off in a museum she was visiting. I don’t know which hospital she might be in, but I have a list of places I assumed they'd put her.”

“We know about Riley,” Drake scoffs. “Since we know where she is, finding the hospital they put her in shouldn’t be too hard.” 

“Actually, there’s quite a number of hospitals she could be in. I called some to check if her name was on their list of patients brought in from the bombing, but they said the hospital they put the victims in would depend on the type of injury. And since I’m not exactly in New York, they wouldn’t let me know if she was there or not, and said I’d have to be there in person for them to give me information.”

“I’ll have Bastien look into it,” Liam suggests. 

“Hopefully he’ll have narrowed it down before you get there,” she says. 

The men fall silent, looking between themselves and Olivia. 

“What?” she spits, taken aback. “You two have been an emotional mess because of her for the past decade and now that you know where she is, you don’t want to see her? You’ve given up, just like that? At the most crucial moment? I didn’t take you two for such cowards.”

Drake stands, balling his fists. “Giving her space isn’t called being cowardly.” 

“Maybe not,” she speculates, “but what is cowardly is letting someone you love leave without fighting for them.”

Liam puts his hand up, asking for peace. “We will go.” Drake looks back at him, but Liam doesn’t meet his eyes. “We were discussing whether we should tell Hana or Maxwell yet.” 

“Tell them before you take off. They’ll catch up.” 

“Will you be accompanying us?” Liam asks. 

Olivia’s face falls. “I think it’s best if you all greet her first. If she’s to receive a reminder of Cordonia, I’m sure my face isn’t one she’d want to see first.” 

“Nonsense,” Liam claims. 

Drake looks back at Liam. “I’ll go tell Bastien,” he says. “Get some things together, Liam. I don’t know how long we’ll be gone, but pack quickly. Hopefully we’ll be able to take off within the hour.” 

...

Liam had taken many trips across the Atlantic after Riley left. Though more than half of his trips were for political conferences or parties, the other times Liam would come to just absorb the atmosphere of the city: the constant motion, the consistent energy of people always going somewhere, needing to be in another place, waiting to start something new, unafraid of any interruptions as long as no one stopped moving. It reminded him of her.

Looking down at the water under the plane, Liam imagined what Riley would have been thinking about on her first flight to Cordonia with Maxwell and Drake. Was she nervous, excited, regretful? All of the above? He wondered if she ever crossed the Atlantic again, after she left. Did she ever dream of visiting Cordonia, the same way Liam dreamed of greeting her at the airport after all that time? 

He couldn’t even remember what it felt like, to be in her embrace, to force himself not to look back at her during courtly functions when they were on the Engagement Tour. He carried the memories of their stolen moments like talismans, and more than anything he wished he had savored those moments more. 

After the men are off of the plane, Bastien told them that they all have to go through a mandatory security check, a precaution after the city had been closed off for the weekend. He notified Liam and Drake that he wasn’t able to get farther than what Duchess Olivia had found. He suggested visiting the hospitals one by one. 

“That could take days,” Drake protested. "There has to be a faster way."

Liam thought about contacting Riley’s mother, hoping that the woman had heard something about her daughter and could help them locate her. He decided against it, not only thinking that the woman might not be alive, but he thought it better to respect her family’s privacy. After all, they were in the same city. Their reunion was inevitable.

[nayutai]

Bad Boy Bakery

↠ Pairing Yeosang x Female OC

↠ Genre fluffy dirty angst

↠ Word Count 11.806

↠ Warnings infidelity (kinda sorta), mutual pining, unprotected sex, oral (f receiving), foul language, crude jokes, fingering, tattooed yeosang, mentions of criminal activity

↠ Summary Yeosang has a storied past and most of it is documented at the local police station. That’s the past though. These days he’s too busy running a semi-successful bakery with his best friends. After securing an order for the engagement party of well-known socialite Ivy Maxwell, he thinks his business might finally be taking off. He may have bitten off more than he could chew though.

It’s decided. Yeosang is going back to jail. Why he thought hiring the seven other misfits he used to run with to work in his bakery was a good idea he’ll never know. Bad Boy Bakery was supposed to be his way to get his life back on the right track and all these heathens do is test him every single day. He does a quick mental calculation of how much money is stashed around his house and he’s positive he’s got enough to post bail for a simple assault charge, but then again they might try to make an example of him considering his impressive arrest record. With the way he’s being tested at this moment though, he’s willing to spend every penny if it means he gets to beat Mingi into oblivion.

“Mingi, I swear to God if you fuck up another batch of egg whites I’m going to shove that whisk in your ear and beat your brains.” He glares at the clumsy giant vigorously whisking a bowl full of egg whites that already look like they’re begging for mercy. They have to have a full dessert spread ready for an engagement party that’s taking place in less than six hours and Mingi has ruined more eggs than Yeosang is even comfortable counting.

“Man, shut up. I did three years upstate. My arms are too damn strong for this which is exactly why I told your dumb ass to do it.” Everybody groans out loud at having to hear that exact phrase for what has to be the millionth time.

“That was over a year ago and you haven’t lifted anything heavier than a bag of flour ever since. Give it a rest.” Wooyoung garners a round of hearty laughter at his dig, looking quite pleased with himself at successfully bashing his friend.

“I make up for it by jacking off five times a day instead of four now so my point still stands.”

“I hope you wash your hands just as much.” The group of tattooed bakers loudly express their disgust when Mingi gives them nothing but a devious grin in response. Mingi, on the other hand, is phased by neither his friends’ disgust not Yeosang’s bristling anger as he dumps his third attempt at the egg whites into the garbage. So much for third time’s the charm.

Yep, Yeosang is going back to jail. 

Ivy is resigned as she carefully sweeps her brush across both of her cheekbones. The glittery gold of the highlight powder left in its wake perfectly complements the rich sepia tone of her skin. She’s just as precise in the application of her lipstick. Slowly, but surely, painting her lips a deep purple. She sighs as she gives herself a final once over in her vanity mirror. The inky black curls that normally adorn her head like a crown have been forced into straightened submission indicative of her mother’s urge to impress the crowd of people that Ivy can already hear beginning to gather downstairs. Her left hands feels uncomfortably heavy as it has ever since this nightmare first began.

As if sensing her procrastination, Ivy’s mother Yvette comes striding into her daughter’s bedroom. It’s easy to tell how much she’s enjoying playing her mother of the bride role. She hasn’t stopped smiling since Ivy’s engagement to her long-time “boyfriend” was officially announced last month. Needless to say, she’s the only one finding any joy in this situation.

“Ivy, sweetie, hurry up and come downstairs. Everyone is waiting to see you.”

“Yeah, right.” Ivy scoffs in response. “They just want to see this.” Yvette frowns at the way Ivy glares in disdain at the stunning ring adorning her finger.

“Ivy Elaine Peters, you better get it to together right now. Keeping this family business afloat requires sacrifice and its your turn now stop moping and get your narrow ass downstairs.” Her mother disappears back out the door before Ivy can get in a word of her own. Not that it would have mattered. Her fate has been sealed for the past twenty four years.

She slips her feet into the black patent leather pumps still sitting pretty in the box on her canopy bed. The red soled beauties are sure to provide more status than comfort, but such is life. Ivy gives herself one final pep talk, smoothing out the imaginary wrinkles in her slip dress. She looks more like a fashionable mourner than a blushing bride but this is her silent protest. She’ll make her damn sacrifice but she’ll dig her heels in wherever she can.

Ivy quickly spots her fiancee Seokjin cracking jokes with a few of her cousins near the front door. He beams at her when he catches her eye across the room, breaking away to come greet her. Not for the first time, Ivy wonders why she couldn’t just fall in love with him to make this whole process easier. Their families have known each other longer than they’ve both been alive so they grew up as best friends. Plus, Seokjin is genuinely a great guy. He’s charismatic, kind, and attractive to the point of unfairness. She has no doubt that he’d make a fantastic husband for someone. She just wishes that she wasn’t that someone. The only positive is that Seokjin feels the exact same way. He loves Ivy to pieces in the most platonic way possible. She’s quite possibly the last person he would ever consider marrying, but business is business and this is a merger that must be made.

“You look absolutely stunning, Vee.” She smiles gratefully at his compliment as he bends slightly to kiss her on the cheek. A camera flashes somewhere off to her right so she makes sure to play her happiness up for the photographer. With the combined notoriety of their families, any pictures taken tonight are sure to be all over the local and regional news outlets by morning.

“I could say the same about you, Jinnie.” The tips of his ears turn red as they always do whenever anyone compliments him. Ivy giggles playfully when he ducks the hand reaching up to tweak on of them like she always does, choosing instead to square up like he’s ready for a fight. Oh, Jin, ever the entertainer. The numerous peals of laughter that erupt around the couple as they take turns jabbing at each other like children tells her that their antics are paying off.

The two imposters spend the night putting on one hell of a show. Anyone would be hard pressed to find someone that didn’t think they’re madly in love with one another. Their parents couldn’t be more ecstatic about this outcome if they tried. 

Everyone is seated at the lavishly decorated tables set up in the backyard as an army of waiters replaces empty entree plates with various cakes and tarts that look almost too delectable to eat. The cheesecake placed in front of Ivy looks nearly too beautiful to eat. Topped with fresh berries and drizzled in what smells like some sort of hazelnut sauce. She wishes she hadn’t left her cellphone upstairs so that she could take a quick picture of it for her instagram. When she finally gets over her reluctance, she take a small bite. A borderline pornographic moan escapes her lips, catching Jin way off guard.

“What the hell wa-” Ivy cuts him off by shoving a forkful of the cheesecake into his open mouth. He groans in pleased delight, attempting to go in with his own fork for another bite, but she quickly slaps his hand away.

“Let me taste yours. Bite for a bite.” She pretends not to notice him sneaking another bite of her cheesecake while she tastes the chocolate tart in front of him. A hint of red chili lends a kick that perfectly rounds out the sweetness of the chocolate and the fresh whipped cream the dessert is topped in.

“I don’t know what bakery they used but we need to get them to do the cake for the wedding.” Jin declares as he practically inhales the chocolate tart. He signals the waiter to bring them two more for them to try while Ivy hums in agreement at his side. She makes a mental note to ask her mother who was hired to do the desserts tomorrow as she happily digs into the coconut cream cake being set in front of her.

Yeosang stares in awe at the payment he’s just received for the engagement party they’d done three days ago. His bakery has been faring better than most businesses do in their first year but the deposit currently pending with the bank is going to go a long way in making sure it stays that way. They had even sent two grand more than the $1,800 that the contract had stipulated. Yeosang had called immediately to make sure it wasn’t an accounting error because the last thing he wants is to be accused of stealing, but he’d been informed by the woman who had arranged the deal that her employers had been so satisfied with the food they wanted to “tip” him. Rich people are different.

He leaves his small office to clean up a little while it’s slow. He had let everyone else go early since there were no big orders to work on and Tuesdays are notorious dead zones. The bell above the door tinkles lightly as he cleans some wayward chocolate curls out of one of the display cases, cursing to himself because he’d told Seonghwa that he put too many but of course no one listens to him. Doesn’t matter that he signs those lazy bastards’ pay checks every week.

“Hello, how can I help you?” The young woman before him fidgets with the tie on her wrap dress inadvertently drawing Yesoang’s gaze to the womanly curves she possesses. The emerald green of the fabric highlights the warm undertones of her skin in a way that should definitely be illegal.

“My mother’s assistant told me that you did the desserts for my engagement party last night.” Yeosang curses mentally as he finally takes notice of the skating rink sitting on her left ring finger. He misses most of what she says next but tunes back in just in time to hear her ask if he’s available to do her wedding cake as well.

“What’s the date?” He questions, all business now that more money is on the table.

“September 9th. It’s going to be at the old vineyard across town.” 

Yeosang nods in acknowledgment. He pencils her in and schedules a day in two weeks for her to come back with her fiancee to do a tasting and make final selections for the other desserts they’d like to have. Ivy is turning to leave when she catches sight of a full-sized version of the cheesecake she’d fallen in love with at the party.

“How much is that cheesecake?” 

Yeosang follows her outstretched index finger to the hazelnut berry cheesecake that he’d come up with. It had taken him ages to perfect but hasn’t really taken off like he thought it would. Nevertheless, he makes sure to put one in the display case every day and he’s glad that he did.

“It’s $6 per slice. Did you want one?”

“How much for the whole thing?” Yeosang notices that she has yet to take her eyes off of the dessert.

“I’ll do $35 for you, beautiful.” For a second, he thinks that he may have overstepped his boundaries but she simply reaches into her bra to pull out a flashy, black card. The credit limit on that thing would probably pay off the loan on his storefront and then some. 

He tries not to focus on how warm it is when she places it into his outstretched hand. He could’ve sworn that she intentionally let her fingers graze his own in a less than professional way. Yeosang shakes the thought away as that can only lead to trouble. He packs her cheesecake up while she signs the credit card receipt.

“Have a great day,” Yeosang pauses to look at the signature line of the receipt. “…Ivy.”

“Right back at you.” She winks at him playfully and sashays outside to her car. Yeosang’s eyes are trained on her until she’s seated in her seated in the black Audi he’s just now noticing was parked across the street.

Ivy calls Jin the second she steers her car back onto the road, waiting patiently for him to answer. She’s practically vibrating from the few minutes she’d spent with…fuck she’d forgotten to get his name but there is plenty of time for that. One thing she’s sure she’ll never forget is how hot he is. Ivy would’ve never guessed that she’d be attracted to someone with quite so many tattoos but on him they had looked like priceless works of art worthy of being placed in the Louvre.

“Hey, Vee, what’s up?”

“Two things. One, the bakery that did the desserts for the engagement party agreed to do the wedding.” Ivy curses at a slow driver that cuts her off at an intersection, losing her train of thought for a second.

“And the second thing?” Jin presses. 

“Oh, I’m going to fuck the owner.” A thrill shoots through as she imagines those tattooed hands roaming every inch of her skin. She shifts uncomfortably in her seat as her body reacts to her impure thoughts. 

“Absolutely love that for you. What’s his name?” Of course he asks her the one question that she doesn’t know the answer to. She rolls her eyes skyward as Jin starts talking shit when he realizes that she didn’t ask her new crush his name.

“I hate you.” She pouts as she turns onto her street. “We have a tasting scheduled for the 17th so I’ll ask him then. I’m almost home so I’ll text you later.”

“Smell ya later.” Oh what she’d give to flip him off right now. 

The smile on her face when Ivy walks inside her parents’ house is genuine despite the fact that she’s spent all day doing wedding preparations which normally leaves her in a foul mood. Her high spirits don’t go unnoticed by her mother who is in the backyard pruning her orchids.

“What’s got you so happy?”

“The bakery that did the desserts for the engagement party agreed to do the wedding too. Also,” Ivy lifts the box holding God’s favorite cheesecake in the air. “he gave me a deal on the cheesecake that we liked.”

“Are you serious? He said that he was booked up the entire week of your wedding.” Ivy is a bit taken aback as he had specifically told her that he would be available, but she shrugs it off.

“Maybe he had a cancellation. Do want some cheesecake? This is your only offer because I fully plan to eat the whole thing right now.” Her mother tosses her pruning shears back into the box she keeps them in and follows Ivy into the kitchen where they make quick work of the heavenly dessert.

“Yeosang you fucking dumbass. How are we supposed to do a wedding and an anniversary party in the same damn day? Explain it to me.” Yeosang almost flinches when Yunho yells at him. He can’t think of a time the man has ever raised his voice before now and he’s known him since they were three. Not one to accept disrespect, Yeosang would normally react with anger of his own but even he has to admit that thinking with his dick has put them all in a bind. A socialite wedding and an anniversary party with a guest list longer than his body on the same day is going to take a miracle to pull off. 

“Listen these rich people gave us two grand more than they were supposed to as a fucking tip. If they had asked me to get ass naked and let people eat pineapple rings off my dick I would’ve said yes.”

“She had big tits didn’t she?” Jongho typically stays out of their petty arguments but he knows bullshit when he hears it.

“Yes, but,” The room erupts into a cacophony of groans as they all simultaneously throw the closest object at hand Yeosang’s hand. Luckily for him he’s always been quick on his feet. “What’s done is done you fuckwads so get over it and start mixing. We still have orders to fill.”

All eight of them are covered in flour from their frantic baking when they hear the bell jingling up front. Hongjoong happens to be the only one able to immediately stop what he’s doing so he washes his hands and goes to attend to the customer. Yeosang nearly falls backwards off of his stool when he hears the voice of the woman that had put them in such a bind. Wooyoung and San exchange curious glances before they wipes their hands on the front of their aprons and head up front as well. Yeosang feels like his stomach is going to fall out of his ass as one by one they all abandon their posts. 

“Satan, why are you doing this to me?”

There’s no reason for him to stay in the back like a coward so he follows suit, wiping his hands and going to the front counter as well. They’re all squished together behind the counter trying to get as close to her as possible. Yeosang shoulders his way between Jongho and Seonghwa and he finally understands why they all look like lovestruck school boys. He finds himself looking just as dopey as his friends when she turns that megawatt smile on him. She’s dressed a lot more casually today in a pair of jeans that had to have been painted on and a plain white baby tee. The little jewel glittering in her belly button looks like its winking at him and he has the overwhelming urge to flick it with his tongue. 

“Another cheesecake?” He nods his head towards the box cradled in her hands. She looks sheepish at being caught out. Yeosang thinks it’s cute.

“In my defense, it’s tasty as hell.”

“Just make sure you tell everyone where you got it.” He winks at her playfully which was an incredibly bad idea. She sinks her teeth into her plump lower lip and he knows immediately that despite the massive rock on her finger he would still make a move on her. Time to leave before he does something stupid.

“Alright you lazy sacks of shit, back to work.” They protest just as he’d expected but he pushes them all back towards the kitchen, rolling his eyes as they try to resist him.

“Hey, wait!” Yeosang shouldn’t have turned around. He should’ve kept going as if he hadn’t even heard her, but no, he just has to have manners. She’s propped herself up against the counter that makes her breasts nearly pop out of the scoop neck line of her shirt. “What’s your name?”

“Yeosang.” She repeats it back to him, testing it out on her tongue. Her voice curls around the syllables lusciously and he could die right where he stood. At this point, he’s convinced that she’s made it her life’s mission to ruin him.

Ivy is quick to call Jin when she gets back to her car which seems to be the norm every time she goes to the bakery. She knows that he’s going to make fun of her for being so excited, but she can’t exactly tell her other friends about the hot, tattooed bakery owner that she plans to screw so she’ll suffer the consequences. At least now she actually knows his name so he can’t hold that over her head anymore.

The 17th has finally rolled around which means Ivy has another opportunity to draw Yeosang into her trap. Jin currently sits cross-legged on the bed in his guest room where Ivy had spent the previous night as she models her potential outfit for the day. The yellow slip dress has potential, but Jin isn’t totally impressed. He sends her back into the closet to try on one of her other options. She reappears in a fiery orange tank top tucked into a pair of lightly distressed white jeans.

“Your ass looks great in the jeans so that’s a definite yes, but I’m not really feeling this shirt.” Jin comments as Ivy does a slow turn in front of him. He crosses the room to his closet to help her go through the clothes she’d brought with her to see what her other options are. He eventually helps her settle on a simple black tank top that perfectly molds to the curves of a figure.

“Alright let’s go eat some cake and hopefully get your cakes smashed.” Jin remarks as he herds Ivy towards the door. 

When they arrive at the bakery, Yeosang has just finished putting out the tasting plates that he’d prepared. Jin is too focused on the fact that he gets to eat cake before lunch without anyone scolding him for it to notice the way that Yeosang’s face falls when he sees him walking in with Ivy. She doesn’t miss it though. Nevertheless, he reaches out to introduce himself.

“Yeosang. Nice to meet you.” Jin reciprocates his greeting before pulling out a chair for Ivy to sit down in. 

Things are all business from there on as Yeosang slides the first cake towards them and Ivy has never been more disappointed in her entire life. Gone is the Yeosang that called her beautiful and responded well to her flirting. She blames Jin. 

“So this first one is a spiced vanilla cake with a raspberry cream cheese frosting with a little orange zest.” Ivy is so focused on the way Yeosang’s lips are moving that Jin has to elbow her to bring her back to reality. She sheepishly accepts the fork that she hadn’t realized was being presented to her to taste the masterpiece in front of her. 

As they talk about what they like and don’t like about the cake, Yeosang hands them each a scoring cards to rank their favorites. Regardless of the way she feels about him on a personal level, Ivy has to admit that Yeosang is incredibly good at what he does. He was able to take her obsession with his cheesecake and come up with such interesting cake options. She’d been slightly concerned that he hand’t asked for her likes or dislikes in terms of taste, but as they move from cake to cake she realizes that he didn’t need to. Everything tastes amazing. It’s no surprise that each cake receives the highest score possible on their scoring cards. Deciding which one to go with is going to be hell.

“If you don’t let me have the spiced vanilla one we tried first I am calling off this engagement and marrying Yeosang instead of you.” Ivy stands corrected. Yeosang chuckles lowly at Jin’s enthusiasm and the throaty sound sends a shiver down her spine. It’s unfair just how effortlessly attractive he is.

“Okay folks, let’s talk decorations.” Yeosang reaches to his right, pulling a sketch pad from the empty chair next to him. His hand loosely grips a pencil as he waits for Ivy and Jin to throw some ideas at him. Ivy would prefer to throw herself at him instead, but someone how she manages to focus her brain on cake design.

Both Ivy and Jin agree on the fact that they want something simple, but beyond that they have clue what they want. Yeosang busts out a quick sketch of a three tier cake with fondant branches bearing dogwood flowers climbing the height of it. When he presents the rough drawing to them, Ivy immediately falls in love. Thankfully, Jin agrees because she was prepared to fight him over this. They spend a little while longer picking out other desserts for people who don’t want or can’t have cake, but all too soon Yeosang is watching the happy couple disappear from his shop. 

The six months until the wedding seem to blend together. Business has picked up significantly in the previous weeks which has been good for Yeosang in more ways than one. The extra cashflow has allowed him to get ahead on some bills while also giving everybody a bit of a raise. According to Seonghwa, who is primarily in charge of the front counter since accidentally slicing his hand open, a lot of the new customers have been big names in the community that are connected to Ivy or her family in one way or another. The woman in question often stops in for a cheesecake. She always asks to speak to Yeosang, claiming to have questions about the wedding though he gets the feeling that she really just wants to talk to him. Every day it gets harder and harder to resist her flirtatious advances. He refuses to be a casual fling for some bored rich girl no matter how much his dick begs him to. Especially one with rapidly approaching nuptials.

Yeosang has never been a very spiritual person, but when he gets the call that the anniversary party he’d scheduled Ivy’s wedding over had been cancelled due to the wife having the flu, he knows that some divine being is looking out for him. He had planned to do his best, but with only one more week left to prepare he was still very unsure of how he was going to pull off two events of that scale in one day. The husband Johnathan Tooney, current district attorney in the next county over, sounds shocked on the phone when he offers them a full refund despite the fact that his contracts states that customers are only entitled to a fifty percent refund of any money paid if the event is cancelled the week of. Most of his customers pay half upfront and the remaining half afterwards, but they had chosen to pay for everything up front. Something Yeosang had greatly appreciated as it was a $2,600 job. Ultimately, Mr. Tooney tells him not to as they intend to reschedule the party as soon as his wife is feeling better and would still like for him to provide the desserts they’d contracted for.

The guys are all equally relieved when Yeosang delivers the news of the anniversary party’s cancellation. Things are smooth sailing from there as they throw all of their focus and energy into making sure that everything will be ready for the wedding next weekend. Not surprisingly, Ivy doesn’t make an appearance in the bakery that week, but what is surprising is that Yeosang finds himself actually missing her presence. Despite his avoidance of all her flirting, he actually likes talking to Ivy whenever she comes in. She may be a bored rich girl but her mind is just as captivating as the rest of her.

On the day of the ceremony, Yeosang is uncharacteristically antsy. He’s not sure what it is but he can’t seem to sit still no matter what he does. He’s itching to get this day over with so Mingi can buy him the beer he owes him. Wooyoung scolds him for being distracted when he almost drops one of the cake tiers on his way to load it into one of the delivery vans. No one has to vocalize just how disastrous that would’ve been because they all know but missing an opportunity to call people out on their shit is just not in Wooyoung’s nature.

“Look, I know you’re feeling some type of way because your crush is marrying a pretty boy that’s not you but I’m going to need you to at least pretend that you still want to get paid for this job.” Yeosang nods in acknowledgment because while he doesn’t like being yelled at like a child even he knows that he’s got to get his shit together and quickly. 

“Notice how he didn’t deny his crush on cheesecake girl though.” San pipes up as he hops into the drivers seat of the van. Everyone snickers, switching to full on laughter when Yeosang flips them all off.

Thankfully, the reception goes off without a hitch. The wait staff helps set up the extensive dessert table to save on time and it comes out just as Yeosang had envisioned it. He snaps a few pictures for the bakery’s website before they leave venue. Ivy and Jin had extended invitations to Yeosang and his staff to stay for the reception, but they’d all politely declined. They’re on their way out of the service entrance when one of the girls on the wait staff runs out with two giant paper bags in her hands. Apparently, Ivy had included enough meals in her catering package to feed the vendors that would be in the building on her big day which coincidentally included Yeosang and his gang of merry bakers. They’re all taken aback by the thoughtfulness of the gesture as Yeosang accepts the bags from the staff member who quickly runs back inside the dining hall.

“Cheesecake girl is a fucking saint.” Mingi hardly ever garners emphatic agreement from the rest of his friend group but today is one of those rare occasions.

Business continues as normal following the wedding. Product is flying out of the display case. Catering orders are still coming in left and right. Ivy still stops in once a week for a cheesecake and to flirt with Yeosang. The guys still tease him for his crush on said married woman. Everything is normal.

Until it’s not.

Jin looks like freshly printed money when he strolls into Bad Boy Bakery for the first time since the cake tasting all those months ago. The silver band on his ring finger glitters even in the fluorescent lighting. Yeosang is finishing up his closing routine when he hears the bell and emerges from his office.

“Seokjin?” The manila folder clasped in the other man’s hands makes Yeosang nervous. The last time someone in a suit approached him with a manila folder he was being presented with a plea deal and ended up doing ten months in jail for assault and grand larceny.

“We need to talk. I’ll wait for you to finish up.” Jin takes a seat at an empty table and hums to himself as he waits for Yeosang to join him.

He doesn’t have to wait long for the young business owner to emerge from his office with his keys and a denim jacket in hand. The mischievous smile on Jin’s face makes him uneasy, but he’s no bitch. Yeosang steels his nerves and schools his facial expression into one of bland indifference. He arches an eyebrow when Jin slides the folder across the table and produces a pen from the breast pocket of his suit jacket. The folder may as well be a poisonous spider with the way Yeosang refuses to touch it. 

“Whatever you think it is, I promise it’s not that.” Yeosang stares Jin down for a few seconds, looking for anything at all that would suggest he should end this whole interaction right now. He doesn’t find it.

With a resigned sigh, Yeosang flips through the contents of an envelope. He shoots Jin a look when he realizes that he’s currently skimming over a nondisclosure agreement. It looks to be focused around Ivy and Jin’s marriage. The word arranged jumps out him a few times and his eyes nearly bug out of his head. The agreement is vague on the finer details but Yeosang is comfortable enough with what he’s read to quickly scrawl his name at the bottom of the last page. Jin signs his name as witness and neatly tucks everything back into the manila folder.

“Now that we have that out of the way.” Jin relaxes back into the chair and fiddles with his wedding band. “Ivy likes you. She’ll never admit that because she’s stubborn but she likes you and wants you fold her like a towel.”

“Wait, wait, wait, are you saying that your wife wants to have sex with me? How are you okay with this?” Yeosang has always loved forbidden fruit but ruining relationships was the old him. He doesn’t know what to do with this information. Furthermore, he can’t imagine being married to someone like Ivy and being okay with her sleeping with someone else.

“That’s where the NDA comes in.” Yeosang sits in stunned silence as Jin gives him the true behind the scenes story about he and Ivy’s marriage and it’s nothing like the best friends to lovers trope that they’ve fed to society. Well, he guesses the best friend part is true, but they’ve definitely never been anything close to lovers and never will be. They’re simply holding up their end of a decades-old business deal. According to Jin, he and Ivy have already devised a plan to be divorced in a year.

“So,” Yeosang is a bit unsure on how to proceed. This is uncharted territory. “what exactly are you saying to me?”

“Stop feeling bad about wanting to fuck Ivy and just do it. She’s driving me insane at home talking about how hot you are all the time and I can’t take it anymore. She’s out of cheesecake so she’ll be in here within the next couple of days so make your move. Discreetly.” 

Yeosang lays in bed that night still shocked at everything he’s learned today. His mind and body have been at war over what he believes to be right and what his body craves. He’d love nothing more than to worship Ivy from head to toe and before today it had been a pipe dream. Now that he’s been given the green light, he’s still conflicted. It feels too good to be true. But he plans to take full advantage of all the good that comes his way until shit decides to hit the fan.

Ivy gives herself a final once over in the mirror. Her outfit is simple. Just a black bodycon dress paired with a denim jacket and her red converse. According to Jin, she should look like she’s making an effort but not too much of one. She’s hoping that this will do the trick as she grabs for her keys and purse, stuffing her phone into the latter as she waits for the elevator to reach the ground floor. 

She wants to call Jin for some last minute encouragement on the way over, but he’s being a boring businessman today and is in the middle of a meeting. Ivy is totally on her own and she’s panicking. Hopefully, Yeosang finds her nervousness cute enough to overlook the awkwardness.

When Ivy enters the bakery, one of Yeosang’s friends is manning the counter. A gentle giant with a kind smile. She remembers that his name also starts with a Y like Yeosang’s but she can’t put her finger on exactly what it is.

“Hey, cheesecake girl!” Ivy rolls her eyes humorously at the nickname the other guys in the bakery have given her. She can’t help that the damned cheesecake tastes as good as it does. Before the wedding, she’d had to up her trips to the gym from zero to one just to make sure she’d  still be able to fit into her dress on her wedding day.

Her heart drops a little when she scans the display case but sees no sign of the dessert that her soul craves. Yunho laughs are disappointment before disappearing into the kitchen. He returns with a box, smiling at the way her eyes light up. 

“Yeosang is with the other guys on a job, but he said you’d be in today so he boxed it up before he left.” He slides the box across the glass countertop into her waiting hands. Ivy digs in her purse for her card to pay for the cheesecake, but Yunho is quick to stop her.

“This one’s on the house. Boss’ orders.” Ivy is a bit taken aback. Hand frozen in her purse. Yeosang makes sure that she always pays a discount rate for her cheesecake, but she’s never gotten one for free before. 

“Oh…okay. Well, have a good day.” 

It isn’t until she gets back to Jin’s place — well she guesses it’s her place now too — that she realizes why Yeosang had decided to pre-package her cheesecake this time. A phone number is scrawled on the inside of the lid with a quick message from Yeosang asking her to call him. She squeals as frantically scrambles to pull her phone from the recesses of her bag. Yunho had told her that Yeosang was out on a job so she texts him instead of calling so as not to disturb him. 

She is happily digging her fork into a second piece of cheesecake when Ivy randomly recalls something weird that Jin had said this morning when he left for work. She was still half asleep and barely human, but now here she sits at the dining room table replaying the strange sentence that her brain had decided to finally comprehend.

Don’t forget to call the baker.

Ivy hadn’t been in the right headspace to question it then, but now that the puzzle pieces are clicking into place, it’s becoming painfully obvious that Jin had something to do with the reason she’s anxiously checking her phone every five minutes. The part of her that wants to chase him with a butter sock is overridden by the much larger part that wants to thank him profusely for whatever it is that he did. Unlike Jin, Ivy doesn’t have a harem of men, women, and others lined up to satisfy her needs whenever he’s feeling inclined. 

She’s three episodes into a Cold Justice marathon when her phone rings, scaring the living daylights out of her. It’s Yeosang. Ivy’s eyes widen comically as she freaks out over what to do. She chugs the rum and coke she’d been nursing and picks up the call.

“Hello?” She cringes at how apprehensive she sounds even to her own ears.

“Hello, Ivy.” He sounds tired which has given his voice a gravelly edge to it that’s making her blood sing. “I saw your message and thought it would just be easier to call you.”

Ivy isn’t surprised in the slightest when Yeosang tells her about Jin’s visit to the bakery the night before. That’s a typical Jin move to jump the chain of command to accomplish a job. Yeosang doesn’t seem to bothered by the strangeness of it all. He seems more relieved that his guilt for lusting after a taken woman has been absolved if anything.

“This is a first for me so I’m not exactly sure what to do.” Yeosang trails off. He’s out of his element here. It goes without saying that there will be no romantic dinners at expensive restaurants or long walks to the beach.

“This is a first for me too, but you’re a hot baker that laughs at my stupid jokes and I like that.” His throaty laugh in response makes her chest swell with pride at 

“I still want to take you on a date though so I guess your place or mine?”

Yeosang is sweating bullets as he punches in the elevator code for the penthouse suite in the swanky high rise at the address Ivy had given him. In his Michael Jackson t-shirt, ripped jeans, and sneakers, he knows that he sticks out like a sore thumb, but thankfully no one in the lobby had vocalized that to his face. He adjusts his duffel bag on his shoulder as the elevator smoothly ascends to the top floor. He’s been ecstatic when Ivy had told him that she wanted him to come spend the weekend with her since Jin would be out of town on business. This is going to be the first time that he’s seen her in person since they agreed to their little arrangement and he’s nervous to say the least.

The doors silently reveal a posh sitting area as well a lacquered black door adorned with a silver “P”. Yeosang grins at the door mat just outside the door. It depicts a crudely drawn cat with both middle fingers upturned and the words “fuck off” written in a speech bubble. It looks just as out of place as he does and for whatever reason it makes him feel more at ease. He reaches out to press the doorbell but the door is yanked open before he even gets the chance.

“Jesus Christ you scared me!” If his hands weren’t full of groceries, Yeosang would’ve clutched at his rapidly beating heart. Ivy chuckles, pointing to a little black dot above the door.

“We have cameras.” 

She grabs for a few of the bags in his hands, but he twists and turns to block her efforts. Their childish antics continue until Yeosang has finally had enough. He crouches down until he’s able to wrap his arms around her thighs, delighting in her squeal when he successfully lifts her from the ground. Ivy swats at his shoulders, but the brute simply crosses the threshold, kicking the door shut with his foot before walking deeper into her home. This first “date” is off to a great start.

“So what’s on the agenda for today, Mr. Kang?” Ivy drums on the marble countertop enthusiastically as she watches Yeosang unpack the groceries he’d brought with him. 

“As much as I love a good paying customer, It’s time for you to learn how to make this cheesecake yourself.”

“You better hope I suck at it or I’ll put you out of business.”

“I don’t mind a little competition.” Yeosang smiles deviously. “Especially when the rivals look as pretty as you.”

Ivy feels her cheeks heat up in the face of such flirtation and she’s never been more thankful for the fact that her darker complexion hides the evidence of it. She’s come to know him well enough to know that he would definitely rib her for that.

As it turns out, Ivy is a natural born baker. Yeosang’s heart swells in his chest as he watches her sway her hips to the music she’d turned on as she stirs the berry compote on the stove. His chest bumps against her back as he steps up behind her and he swears he sees her shiver. He rests his head on her shoulder, covering his hand with hers and slows down the speed of her stirring.

“You have to be gentle with the berries, love.” At the sound of his voice so close to her ear, Ivy’s insides turn to goo. 

“Maybe I don’t want to be gentle.” Her words hit him square in the chest and he wants to respond in so many ways, but he settles for a chaste kiss on her temple. He’d briefly contemplated taking it slow with her, but they’ve been dancing around each other for nearly seven months at this point and there’s no point in prolonging the inevitable. The wanton desire is mutual on both sides but he wants to hear her beg. Wants her desperate and needy for him.

He eventually removes his hand from hers, choosing to instead hold onto her hips as he continues to coach her through the next steps. She’s so focused on keeping her berries from sticking that Yeosang is able to catch her off guard when he slips his hands inside her tank top to rest them against her bare skin. The gasp she lets out makes him smile deviously. His hands drift up from her lower stomach until his thumbs are brushing the lacy cups of her bra. It’s Yeosang’s turn to be caught off guard when she presses her ass firmly against his front. The way she subsequently swivels her hips is nearly his undoing, but Yeosang has a game plan and he intends to see it through.

“You’re a naughty girl, Ivy.” He lowers a hand to tug on the elastic waistband of the tiny shorts she’s wearing, letting it snap back in place. She hisses at the sting but, if the way her head lolls back onto his shoulder is any indication, she loved it. Yeosang slides his hand lower as if he’s going to cup her over her shorts only to completely remove himself from her.

He busies himself with other things around the kitchen but he can feel her glare on him the entire time. She grumbles something under her breath that sounds suspiciously like the words “teasing asshole” but he choose to ignore it. For now. 

Ivy is visibly on edge as she waits for Yeosang to touch her again, but he doesn’t make a single move to do so. He simply dances around her in the kitchen as they finish up their cheesecake preparation. It has to cool once they take it out of the oven so they migrate to the living room while they wait. The episode of Bones that Ivy been watching before he’d arrived is still paused on the tv so she restarts it and settles in next to Yeosang on the couch. She lets out a girlish squeal when he hauls her into his lap instead. He spreads her legs so that they straddle both of his, letting out a content sigh as he rests his chin on her shoulder. Arms wrapped securely around her waist. 

He waits until she’s engrossed in the episode. Certain that he’s going to keep his hands to himself. If he’d been able to see her face, he would’ve been able to see the devious grin as she devised a plan of her own. Ivy shifts her legs around until both of her feet are planted on the floor between Yeosang’s. She swivels her hips in the cradle of his lap, snickering at the groan he lets out. Two can play this teasing game. She grabs both of his hands in her own and lifts them to her breasts. Yeosang just lets them linger there. This is her show now and he wants to see her directing skills firsthand. 

With her physical encouragement, he pinches her erect nipples through the thin layers of her shirt and bra. The breathy sigh in response to his touch gives him a high that he can quickly see himself becoming addicted to. She ups the ante by dislodging his hands to remove her shirt and bra. She places his hands back on her chest, sighing once more at the feel of him kneading her breasts without any hindrances. Yeosang licks and sucks at the column of her neck. He’s careful not to leave any marks which he’s sure she’ll be appreciative of later. Her needs grows and grows until she’s craving more than what he’s giving her.

“Yeosang,” The way she half moans his name sounds like the sweetest melody. “Touch me.”

“I am touching you, baby girl.” She grunts in frustration. Looks like she’ll have to take matters into her own hands once more. 

Yeosang is shocked when Ivy suddenly rises to her feet. He’s more than confused as he watches her disappear down a hallway off to the right of the living room. His breath catches in his throat when her shorts suddenly fly back into view followed closely by a pair of panties that match the bra on the floor by his right foot. He nearly falls over in his haste to catch up to her. He finds her in the bedroom that she’d pointed out as hers when she’d given him a quick tour earlier. She’s reclined amongst the mountain of pillows circling her swollen clit with her middle finger as she fondles one of her breasts. Her mouth is slightly ajar from the pleasure and he swears that he’s never seen a sight more breathtaking. Yeosang swallows, trying to get his wits about him when she speaks and breaks him out of his daze. 

“Clothes off, babe.” His limbs are a blur as he rushes to follow her instructions. With every inch of skin he reveals, Ivy finds herself falling deeper and deeper into his trap. 

She’d seen the tattoos that covered his arms and the back of his right hand, but the Hebrew script running down his side is new to her and she makes a mental note to ask him what it says later. Right now she wants nothing more than for him to hold her down with his weight and make her his. Yeosang’s eyes are practically glued to her center so shiny from her arousal. He licks his lips at the thought of how good she probably tastes and the mere idea of having her on his tongue nearly consumes him.

Yeosang tugs on his hardened cock as he slowly walks towards the oversized bed. She’s mesmerized by the appendage standing proud between his legs. It’s not over long but he can barely get his own fist around it so she knows that the stretch will be phenomenal when he finally gets inside. He grabs her by both ankles and pulls her into the center of the bed so that she’s flat on her back. She squirms in anticipation as he crawls over her. Lips and hands caressing every inch of her skin that they can reach. She moans deep in her throat when he finally covers her lips with his own in their first ever kiss. Her fingers find purchase in his hair, holding him to her as they ravage each other. Each exhale from her lips traded for his.

Ivy is brought back to the task at hand when a needy thrust of Yeosang’s hips has the engorged head of his erection pressing against her clit. She bites down on his bottom lip at the sudden onslaught of pleasure, rolling her hips up to get more of the addictive friction.

“Gotta taste you. Want you to cum in my mouth.” Yeosang’s words don’t match up with his actions as he continues to peck her lips over and over again. Eager to discover if his tongue is just as talented as his hands, Ivy pulls away to gently push at his head until he gets the message.

The first swipe of his tongue on her soaked flesh is purely self-indulgent. He’s thrilled to discover that she tastes just as sweet as he thought she would. Like the nectar of a fresh honeydew. He sucks her clit into his mouth, biting down on it gently before swirling his tongue around it to soothe the ache. Her eyes roll into the back of her head and she can’t decide if she wants to run from or towards his mouth. She doesn’t get the chance to decide as Yeosang anchors her squirming hips to the bed with one of his arms. 

He teases her entrance with a single finger, smirking at the filthy curses falling from her lips as she begs him to make her cum. He gives her clit a particularly harsh suck as he sinks his finger in deep. Her breathing starts coming in quick pants when he adds a second finger and then a third. When she starts folding in on herself, he pulls his fingers from her dripping hole. Her suddenly empty hole clenches around nothing as she complains about being denied the orgasm she was dancing on the edge of.

Her complaints die on her tongue when she takes in the sight of Yeosang walking on his knees towards her. Ivy sits up and meets him halfway. She can taste herself on his tongue as their lips meet for the second time and it has a fresh tidal wave of arousal all but gushing from her. His waning self-control is evident in the way he turns her around to face her headboard, pushing on her shoulders until she’s face down in in the sheets.

She whimpers at the heavy smack he rains down on her ass. He groans at the way it bounces before he grips both cheeks in his hands, pulling them apart to get a proper view of her waiting entrance. Part of him wants to tease her some more, but he doesn’t have it in him to wait one more minute. She nearly sobs at the satisfying stretch of him sinking into her eager flesh in one smooth thrust. He grinds his hips against her ass, relishing in the way her walls are hugging him so tightly. She clenches around him, trying to draw him back in as he eases his hips back only to roughly thrust his length back into her. He repeats that action a few more times to open her up before finally breaking loose. 

All forms of speech beyond broken curse words and his name are lost to Ivy as Yeosang demolishes her. His pace builds till it’s almost frantic. It feels like his length is vibrating within her and she can feel her orgasm approaching quickly. She tries to warn him, but he is already well aware. He slows his hips down to a gentle roll and the change in pace has her seeing stars as he can now expertly target that sensitive spot deep within her. He reaches underneath her to rub circles in her clit and she’s lost. Black dots dance around across her vision as the pleasure threatens to completely drag her under. His hips never stop moving as he fucks her through it. The erratic clenching of her inner walls soon proves to be too much for him. He pulls out of her wet heat just in time to release his seed onto her back.

Ivy collapses onto her stomach. Exhausted beyond measure. Yeosang falls next to her breathing just as hard. He’s not going to lie and pretend that he hasn’t dived into more than his fair share of pussy, but that was easily the best sex he’s ever had. He can barely breathe but that doesn’t stop him from leaning over to press his lips against hers once more. Their chests are still heaving when they separate, choosing instead to lean his forehead against hers. 

“I can’t feel my legs.” She whispers on a breathless laugh. 

“Good thing I’m the king of aftercare.” He pecks her lips once more before crossing the room to her en suite bathroom to get a warm towel to clean her up with. By the time he returns, she’s fast asleep much to his surprise. Normally, Yeosang likes to end his trysts with a massage, but she’s sleeping so peacefully. He cleans up his mess before sliding back into the bed next to her as he pulls a spare blanket over them. 

Yeosang awakens the next morning to an empty bed and the smell of coffee brewing. A shower is definitely in order before he seeks out Ms. Ivy. He walks into the kitchen a little while later to find her cooking breakfast in his t-shirt. It’s so domestic that for a moment he forgets that she’s legally spoken for until her wedding ring catches the sunlight from the picture windows.

“Morning.” He whispers into her ear. She jumps at the sound, obviously not realizing that he was awake yet. She relaxes against him when he wraps his arms around her midsection.

“Good morning, handsome. I’m almost done if you wanna grab some plates.” Yeosang preens at the compliment, kissing her cheek an obnoxious amount of times before grabbing plates and some silverware.

The sound of their forks clinking against their plates as they eat fills the pleasant silence as the two adults make faces across the table at each other like children. Yeosang can’t remember the last time he was this comfortable with a woman he was seeing. For the millionth time since he woke up this morning, he finds himself resenting the fact that she’s married. 

“I can feel you staring.” Yeosang doesn’t bother looking up see Ivy’s facial expression at being caught as he rinses the last breakfast dish to put in the drying rack. “Spit it out before I get old and feeble.”

“What does the tattoo on your side say?” He looks up at her then, searching her face. Ivy is beginning to feel that she shouldn’t have said anything the longer Yeosang remains silent. He drys his hands on a towel, walking towards Ivy where she sits sprawled across one of the cushy armchairs in the living room. He lifts her only to set her back down in his lap.

“May you rescue us from the hand of every foe, ambush along the way, and from all manner of punishments that assemble to come to earth.” Yeosang absentmindedly strokes his fingers back and forth across Ivy’s bare thigh. “It’s part of a Hebrew prayer of protection that my mom made me get when she realized that her scolding was falling on deaf ears.”

Ivy can’t help but giggle as Yeosang enthusiastically re-enacts his mother’s words all those years ago. She’s seen the articles in the local magazines. They all tell the same story of a young street kid that found his calling and turned his life around, but words on a piece of paper doesn’t capture the nuance of who Kang Yeosang is. He doesn’t shy away from who he was. He embraces it with open arms. She listens intently as he tells the story that will never be found in any magazine. The story of how he successfully graduated from small-time dealing to running guns, drugs, and the occasional fine artifact when he was only twenty three.

“Would you do it differently if you had the chance?” Ivy picks at the hem of the Thriller he’d been wearing the day before as she awaits his answer. She’s admittedly shocked when he he gives an emphatic no. 

“It wasn’t exactly something I could put on my resume, but it set this part of my life into motion.” She leans her head into the crook of his neck. Lulled into comfortable security by the vibration of his vocal cords. “I learned how to run a business. Granted, it was illegal, but I baked my first cake in jail which is what ultimately led to me opening the bakery and then meeting you.” 

Time is a forgotten concept as they sit in the armchair sharing embarrassing childhood stories and fleeting kisses when they just can’t help themselves. That’s how Jin finds them. Giggling like teenagers that have finally earned closed door privileges. Yeosang freezes when he notices Jin’s still unsure how to act around him. Ivy on the other hand is excited to welcome her best friend back home. 

“Jinnie!” She hops up to give him a quick hug and peck on the cheek before returning to her perch on Yeosang’s lap. Awkwardness is radiating off of the man beneath her in near tangible waves. He visibly relaxes when Ivy buries her fingers in the hair at the back of his head to scratch at his scalp.

“I missed you too, Vee. Good to see you again, Mr. Kang.” Jin winks conspiratorially at Yeosang as he cracks open the bottle of water he’d snagged from the refrigerator. “Take good care of my wife.” He adds as a parting shot on his way down the hall to his bedroom which sends Ivy into a fit of curses. Yeosang finds himself cracking a smile at the sound of Jin’s laughter somewhere down the hall.

It’s not the most conventional situation by any means, but Yeosang feels like he can make this work. He glances down at the grumbling woman in his arms. Yeah, he can definitely make this work.

Yeosang is elbow deep in bread dough for a new recipe he’s working on when he hears his phone ringing where he’d left it on the charger in his bedroom. He’s supposed to be heading to Ivy’s later tonight and he’s hoping to have her taste test his new bread when he gets there, meaning he can have no interruptions so he lets his phone go to voicemail. His phone rings again, but this time the song it plays catches his attention. The Alina Baraz song he’d set for Ivy’s ringtone drifts down the hallway. He instantly cracks a smile at the thought of the woman on the other end of that phone call. Passing up an opportunity to hear her voice is beyond Yeosang’s capabilities so he extracts himself from the dough, making a mad dash for the ringing device.

“Hey, babe.” She sniffles in his ear and all of his sense are suddenly on high alert. In all of the months since they started dating he can’t recall her crying. Ever. She’s just too happy. His mind runs through a myriad of horrible possibilities like film cuts. “Ivy, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

“I need you.” Yeosang has absolutely no idea what’s going on but his heart feels like it’s being ripped in two at the sound of her crying. He pulls his phone away from his ear when it pings. He has to swallow to keep himself together when he sees that Ivy has sent him her location. 

“I’m on my way, baby. I’m coming.”

The other cars on the road look like blurs as Yeosang weaves between and around them at break neck speed. The hospital that Ivy is at is supposed to be a twenty seven minute drive according to google maps, but Yeosang is parking his mustang exactly sixteen minutes later. He’s honestly surprised that he wasn’t pulled over on the way, but his euphoric disbelief is short-lived as he dashes towards the front doors of the hospital. 

“Can I help you?” The woman manning the front looks at Yeosang with a barely concealed air of distaste. He follows her eyes to his tattooed arms on display in the short sleeved shirt he’s wearing. He’s still pretty much covered in flour from his bread making and he can tell that she doesn’t think much of him. Normally, he would make an attempt to assuage people like her and show that tattoos don’t make the man, but he doesn’t have time for that.

“I’m looking for Ivy Kim.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny whether or not we have someone here by that name.”

“Listen, lady if you-” Yeosang is on the verge of falling into the trap of the old wench’s bias when he hears his name being called. He turns his head to see Jin waving him over from where he’s holding the elevator doors open. He flips the old lady off, delighting in her scandalized gasp as he jogs towards the bay of elevators.

Now that he’s closer, Yeosang notices the cuts and bruises that litter his friend’s face. He looks like he’s been beat pretty good, but he brushes off any questions about what happened. Yeosang is on the verge of choking on his nerves as he follows Jin off of the elevator to room 437.

“I’m going to get some coffee. You guys need to talk.” Jin claps Yeosang on the shoulder once as he goes back the way they came. 

He’d risked life and limb to get here, but now he’s afraid to take one more step. He has no idea what’s going on, but he can feel it in his bones that nothing will be the same once he steps through this door. Yeosang’s phone vibrates just then with a notification from the Nike app about some stuff he left in his cart. The little nike swoosh on his phone screen feels like a divine sign for him to stop being such a pussy and go in the room. 

Seeing Ivy curled into a ball in the middle of the hospital bed is nearly his undoing. The tears steadily streaming down her face catch the light from the hallway when she turns her head to see who it is. A sob racks her figure as she reaches for him. Yeosang shuts the door, plunging the room back into darkness as he rushes to her side. He’s not used to her looking this fragile and it’s killing him. He kicks his shoes off and climbs into the bed next to her, careful not to jostle the IV needle in her arm. She leans into his touch as he brushes her hair away from her face. The fabric of his shirt is no match for the barrage of tears that Ivy dumps on it. He lets her cry until she has nothing left. For a moment he thinks that she’s fallen asleep, but she whispers something against the skin of his neck. Her voice is so low that he can’t make it out even with her lips being mere inches from his hair.

“You’ve gotta speak up for me, love.” This time when she speaks, he hears her loud and clear.

“I lost our baby.” 

He can hear her saying something about a car accident and blood, but her words don’t register in his brain. Yeosang feels like the ground has opened up beneath him, but he’s not falling. Simply hovering, drifting in the void. He hadn’t even known she was pregnant and that’s definitely something Ivy would have told him so he’s guessing that she didn’t know either. Visions of a tiny child with her doe-like eyes and his nose flash across his minds eye. Yeosang has never given much thought to being a father, but knowing that he’d created a child with Ivy only for them to be ripped away like this is tearing him apart. He holds her impossibly close, trying to anchor himself to reality. Tears are flowing down his own face as he attempts to process what they’ve lost. 

“This is all my fault.” The guilt in her voice is nearly palpable. Yeosang cups her face in his hands to force her to look him in the eye. 

“You did nothing wrong, Ivy. Get that thought out of you head right now, do you hear me?” Ivy nods her head slowly but Yeosang is not naive. No matter what he says, it’s going to take a while before she actually believes the truth in his words. 

Jin hates to interrupt them. He loathes it, but life is cruel and Ivy’s parents just texted him that they just parked their car and are on their way inside. His feet feel heavy as he treks back down the hallway. He pokes his head into the dark room and winces at the muffled sound of them crying together. 

“I’m so sorry guys, but Ivy’s parents are on their way up.” Yeosang gets the urge to laugh despite the fact that absolutely nothing is funny. This is just adding insult to injury.

Ivy clings to him like a koala when he tries to stand and he’s got half a mind to say fuck the consequences and stay. That wouldn’t be fair to Jin though. He harbors no ill will towards the man even though he’s living the life he wants so for his sake, he extricates himself from Ivy’s grasp to put his shoes on. Her bottom lip quivers dangerously as he leans down to softly kiss her forehead. Jin pulls Yeosang into a hug before he can walk past him and it takes a herculean effort for Yeosang to keep it together. His heart aches with every step he takes towards the exit stairs. It feels like someone is taking a jackhammer to his chest.

He leans his head back against the headrest when he finally reaches his car. A pained yell bursts from his throat before he can even think of trying to stop it. His horn beeps erratically as he pounds at his steering wheel in anger. Yeosang has been through hell in his twenty six years on Earth and yet, he can’t recall a time when he’s ever felt this much mental anguish and despair. Part of him wishes that he’d never stopped slinging coke and running the streets because he’d have never met Ivy and thus would’ve never experienced this. He hates that thought the second it materializes.

The shrill ringing of an old school phone that Yunho had insisted on having as his ringtone breaks through his misery. Yeosang has no desire to utter a word to anyone other than Ivy but Yunho is a persistent bastard. He’ll just keep calling until he gets an answer. He clears his throat and hopes that his childhood best friend is having an off day with those damn spidey senses of is.

“Hello?”

“Dude, have you been crying? No wonder my spirit is unsettled. The fuck is going on?” So much for eluding Yunho’s questions. Yeosang huffs out a shaky breath. He’s not even sure he’s even fully grasped what’s going on himself. He can hear the sound of keys jingling on Yunho’s end.

“Listen, I’m gonna go buy an obnoxious amount of alcohol and then I’m coming over to you place. See you in twenty.” Yunho doesn’t wait for a response, hanging up the phone with a sense of finality. 

True to his word, Yunho’s car is parked in front of his building when Yeosang makes it home. His car is empty, so he’s guessing that he must have used his key and gone inside already. He’s not surprised to find Yunho nursing a beer on his couch as he scrolls through something on his phone. His eyes widen slightly as he takes in Yeosang’s haggard appearance. He knows he looks like shit so Yunho’s reaction isn’t unexpected.

It’s nearly three in the morning when they finally crash. Yunho is passed out in the guest room but sleep evades him despite the multiple beers swirling through his system. If he was sober, he probably wouldn’t make this decision, but he’s far from it so he reaches for his phone to FaceTime Ivy. The second her face replaces his on the screen, Yeosang immediately feels like he can breathe again. He’d been avoiding the feeling before now, but after everything that’s happened in the last twenty four hours? He’s tired of beating around the bush.

“I love you, Ivy.” The smile that spreads across her tired face brings Yeosang so much joy. There’s no telling how long it’s been since she’s graced the world with one of her radiant smiles. He takes it as a victory that he was the one to bring that out of her. 

“I love you too, Yeosang.”

[flutistbyday-1]

Picture

This is a fan fiction work for “The Royal Romance”

TW for drug use.

“Picture”

A/N

I was inspired by all the things I see on Tumblr. This idea has been floating around in my head for a while, and I hope it does my dream justice.

Characters are a little OOC, and the universe is almost an AU. In this universe, MC (Riley) decides she isn’t quite ready to marry anyone but is a part of Liam’s council. He is heartbroken but puts on a brave face.

This is a one-shot.

Song inspiration: “Picture” by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow

Word count: 3,850

Liam's alarm clock beeped at him, almost angrily. Angry that he was coming down from a bender. Last night, it was a hooker, cocaine, and whiskey. He wasn’t proud; no, he was ashamed of who he was. Ever since Riley broke his heart, accepted her position as a duchess, and chose Valtoria over him, this was his life.

His head hurt. He was hungover as hell and had a meeting he needed to be at in an hour. He slowly pulled on his pants, his socks, and his shoes. He stumbled out of bed, his vision blurry from the hangover that he now had. This was his punishment. He glanced around his room. Much like himself, it was disheveled. This is what he gets for putting Riley what she went through. Riley had to watch Liam and Madeleine pretend to be in love for an entire month before her name was cleared. He deserved every ounce of heartache he had. Liam wonders to himself if he would ever be worthy of Riley‘s love.

Liam glanced at his nightstand, where a photo lay facedown. It was of him and his friends, Maxwell, Drake, Olivia, Hana, and Riley, all together, the night after Anton was hanged for his treason. They all had genuine smiles, except for Liam. He was heartbroken because the ruse was over that night. He had placed the photo on its face because he couldn’t look Riley in the eye while he slept with another woman. Silent tears fell as he combed his hair.

Bastien knocked at his door, his sign it was time to leave his quarters.

The day after Liam proposed, the train was quiet. Painstakingly quiet. Everyone knew that Liam was going to propose to Riley the second he announced his engagement to Madeleine was over, yet there was no ring on Riley’s finger.

Liam was heartbroken. He wanted to be showering Riley in kisses and adoration.

Drake was nervous. He was worried Liam knew about his feelings for Riley. He was worried that Liam would stop being his friend for his transgressions.

Maxwell didn't know what to say. The whole point of him bringing Riley to Cordonia was for her to be a Queen, but he had his suspicions that her heart was elsewhere.

Hana upset that Liam and Riley were on the rocks.

Hadn’t this been the whole point of clearing her name, Liam thought to himself that night, so that she and I could get married? Make my Kingdom stronger? He looked at Riley, but she was looking anywhere else but at him. Drake was ignoring him, too.

Liam didn’t know that Drake and Riley shared several passionate kisses while on the engagement tour. He didn’t realize that they shared one passionate night somewhere on the train between France and Italy. He didn’t know that Riley had begged Drake to take her away from it all, just after the first day of the Engagement Tour at Madeline’s estate. Liam didn’t know that Drake was also in love with Riley.

To be fair, everyone who ever interacted with Riley fell in love with her, at least a little. Hana had stolen a kiss the first night at Madeleine’s estate. She and Riley were in Riley’s room, drinking hot cocoa — Hana’s famous recipe— and catching up. Riley had whipped cream on her lip, and Hana had leaned in and kissed Riley before she could stop herself. Riley had smiled warmly at Hana in return, but even then, Hana knew that Riley’s love for Liam would outweigh any love Riley had for her. Or so Hana had thought.

Even when Maxwell had kissed Riley on the top of her head, in a protective manner, he wished his lips were on hers instead.

That night, after Liam proposed, all eyes were trained on Riley. Riley never looked up from her lap, though, because she knew she had broken four hearts that night.

Riley spent most of her days waking up, feeling the grating emptiness of her king-sized bed in her new Duchy. The Duchy that Liam had kindly gifted her, trying to keep her in his kingdom. Of course, she had her corgi, Duke Ramsford, to keep her warm. But it wasn’t the same. She knew that it should be Liam in the bed next to her. Maybe Drake. Maybe even Hana. Her heart and stomach churned.

It had been five months since Anton was hanged. She slept in the castle the entire time they hunted him. They lured Anton in with a fake wedding— hers and Liam’s. They let the whole country think their King was going to have a Queen. She tried to act interested in her ‘wedding,’ but she was terrified.

The nightmares were so nasty during those weeks of deception. She could hear Anton laughing in her dreams. Madeleine fell to her knees, blood pouring out of her mouth. Riley, Madeline called. Riley, save me! Madeleine was poisoned again and again in her sleep. Her nightmares exaggerated the event, playing on her fears.

The nightmares were worse after they were kidnapped by Anton. Oliva was covered in blood, dead. Riley’s legs never worked in her nightmares. She couldn’t scream at Oliva to stand. Night after night, Mara would come bounding into Riley’s room, gun drawn, searching for the perpetrator that made her Duchess scream, but there was never anyone there. Riley was always wide-eyed, sweaty, and teary, though.

After three weeks of relentless nightmares, alone in her Duchy, she begged Liam to let her stay in the castle. She didn’t tell him why, but he knew after the first night. He had heard Riley’s blood-curdling scream from down the hall. The cry had made the hair on the back of his neck and arms stand up. No shoes, no shirt, just his pajama bottoms, he flew to her room. The door was open, and Bastien was already there, Riley clinging to him. Liam’s eyes met hers, and he knew that it was just a bad dream. Wordlessly, he picked her up, bride style, and laid her in bed and curled up next to her. Her sobs ebbed, and she eventually dozed. The next night, he heard her screaming again. He ran faster this time, but Bastien was already there, Riley clinging to him then. The night after that, he just climbed into Riley’s bed instead of his own.

Months passed, no words spoken between anyone about the sleeping arrangements.

There was one night, after a few glasses of champagne and several rounds of poker, Liam and Riley were both tipsy. Riley’s nightmares had stopped, much to her relief, but to Liam’s dismay. She was going to leave him soon, and he knew it. But that night, when they went to bed, Riley didn’t just lay in the crook of his arms. No, she straddled Liam and kissed him fiercely, the alcohol knocking down that one last wall Riley had around her heart. He had gladly accepted her kiss and they spent the night tangled in the sheets together. Liam never made a move to do more than kiss her on the forehead after that night, and for that, Riley was grateful.

When Riley left for her Duchy, she allowed Liam to kiss her on the forehead. She smiled ruefully up at him.

“Call whenever you need something,” Liam had said.

Duke Ramsford nudged Riley with his nose, pulling Riley back into the present.

I can’t believe it’s been two months since I’ve seen Liam face-to-face, she thought. In those two months, Drake, Hana, Maxwell, Oliva, and even Bertrand visited her, trying to pry her out of her Duchy, to no avail.

She closed her eyes, squeezing them tightly, one last time before she got up for the day. She sat up, the wine hangover kicking her ass, making her dizzy and nauseous all at once.

She took a glance at her bedside table— an empty spot where a picture had been, the same one Liam had placed face down at his castle just days ago. Hers was tucked away in the top drawer, as she had a visitor in her room. She stood, pulled the picture from the top drawer, and traced all of the faces of her friends, Liam’s last. They were all happy, except Liam. No, Liam was heartbroken that day. Riley had left the castle two days after the hanging, not even saying so much as a goodbye to Liam. Then, three weeks later, she was on his doorstep. It wasn’t fair and she knew it. She knew Liam couldn’t say ‘no’ to her. The picture was laid back in the drawer and the drawer was shut.

Riley picked up her phone, although she knew there would be no notifications. Nobody had tried to contact her in almost a month.

Riley sent a text to Liam, although he hasn’t responded to her in three days. Hey, call me when you can. I want to talk.

She almost said, “I miss you,” but she didn’t.

Riley desperately needed to talk to Liam. She wanted to ask him if he still loved her. She needed to know if she should move on. Tears pricked her eyes, not knowing what she would do if he had moved on. The other night, lying next to another man, she realized she was in love with Liam. It was always him, and she was a fool for ever thinking it wasn’t. She was going to the castle today. She was going to beg him if that’s what it took.

Riley decided to text Hana.

Riley: I need to get out of the Duchy. Care to meet me at the Beer Garden? I could be there around 7.

A few seconds later:

Hana: I’m so glad to hear from you, Riley!! Of course, I’ll be there. See ya. ❤️

For the first time in almost two months, Riley was leaving Valtoria. She glanced at the clock. 2 PM. Riley mindlessly wandered to her closet, looking for something comfortable yet stylish.

What Riley didn’t know is that Hana was texting Drake. She knew Riley was miserable. She had to help in whatever way she could.

Hana: Riley texted me today!

Drake: Holy crow, you heard from Brooks?

Hana: I know!

She said she wanted to get out. I think you and Liam need to happen to be at the Beer Garden around 7:30 tonight.

Drake: You don’t have to tell me twice.

Riley arrived at her destination at 6:59, wearing a soft yellow dress, with a pair of wedges that complemented it.

Hana already had a table and waved at her. Riley saw that Maxwell was there too. She didn’t realize how much she had missed them both until they were in front of her.

“Hey, stranger,” Maxwell said as he wrapped her in a hug.

“Hey, yourself,” Riley responded as she wrapped both her arms around him and squeezed.

He kissed the top of her head and let go.

Riley gave Hana a side hug then sat down, her favorite ale already in front of her, no doubt thanks to Hana. Hana had artfully arranged the seating so that Riley’s back was to the entrance, so she couldn’t see Liam and Liam couldn’t see he when he came in.

“I didn’t realize how badly I needed to be out until just now, when I saw you two,” Riley admitted with a smile. “Thanks for meeting me here!”

“Of course, Riley. It’s our pleasure.” Hana always knew what to say.

The three of them sat and talked, two of them not paying attention to the time. Hana, however, was anxiously waiting for 7:30. She peeked at her phone for what felt like the 15th time.

“Hot date, Hana?” Riley inquired.

Hana blushed. “No,” she groaned out. But you’ll have one! She thought.

The time on Hana’s phone was 7:35. Drake and Liam will be here any second now.

Hana peered at the entrance, and just in time. Liam and Drake came into her sight, followed by Bastien, and Hana visibly relaxed.

Maxwell and Riley were caught up in conversation. Riley laughed loudly at one of Maxwell’s terrible jokes, beer snorting out of her nose. Hana laughed at Riley and handed her a napkin. Riley blushed but continued to laugh.

“Here,” Hana giggled.

Out of the corner of her eye, Hana spotted Drake and nodded slightly. He gave her a nod back.

7:50. 8:15. 8:47. Riley and Maxwell were tipsy. Riley laughed harder than she had in ages. 9:30. Riley was drunk. Hana gave her water. 10:00.

“I should go,” Riley said to Hana and Maxwell. Riley stood, but she felt the full effects of the alcohol and she faltered in her steps. She laughed loudly, uninhibited, while Maxwell rushed to hold her up. “Thanks, Maxie,” she giggled.

Hana pulled out her phone to text Drake. It’s now or never, Drake. Riley is leaving.

Drake had kept Liam’s attention all night. He somehow managed to keep Liam from staring at Hana, Maxwell, and... Riley. Drake, however, couldn’t help but stare. Especially after how much he had to drink.

“Hey, man, ” he said to Liam. ” I’m getting tired. You ready?” He motioned at the door.

“Ah, how the mighty have fallen,” Liam teased, setting money down on the counter.

“Oh, shut up. I’m thinking of you, Your Majesty,” Drake teased right back.

Liam laughed heartily as he turned. Just then, Liam caught a glance of Maxwell holding someone up. She was giggling at him, no doubt being charmed by his goofy personality.

Liam made his way to the table, noticing Hana as well. He approached and cleared his throat to gain their attention.

Hana turned and smiled brightly. “Liam! How pleasant to see you.”

Liam took her hand and kissed her knuckles. He turned to Maxwell, now sitting with the woman draped in his arms, her face in the crook of his neck. “Lord Maxwell.” He smiled. The lady looked up at him, and he felt foolish for not recognizing her immediately. Blame it on the alcohol.

Riley stiffened at the sound of Liam’s voice, but Maxwell gave her an encouraging squeeze. She looked up and smiled brightly. “Liam.” She was drunk, and everyone knew it. Her heart ached for him, and his heart ached for her. “How are you?”

Liam’s heart pounded. “I’m well, Lady Riley. Thank you for asking.”

“‘S gooooood,” Riley said, her words getting away from her. “I... appear to be intoxicated.” She giggled.

Maxwell stood, taking Riley into his arms once again. “You must forgive us, Liam, but Riley needs to get home. Lots of meetings tomorrow. Important ones, too. Yup, real important,” he rambled.

Riley leaned into Maxwell, letting him do the hard stuff, like walking, for her. She wrapped her arm around his waist; he was leading her with one of his hands on the small of her back and his fingers of his other laced with Riley’s on his stomach. They walked toward the exit, in their own world.

Hana stood, placing money on the table, watching Maxwell lead Riley away. Riley laughed again.

Liam wondered if he’d lost Riley to Maxwell somewhere along the way.

As if she could hear Liam’s thoughts, Hana said, “She still loves you, Liam.” She pressed her skirt down. “It was always you.”

Riley’s head whipped around, and she smiled brightly at Hana and Liam. She waved at them then disappeared from their sight.

Hana sighed. “Over me. Over Maxwell. Over Drake. It was always you, Liam.” She smiled sadly as Liam turned to look at her.

“Thank you, Lady Hana.” He bowed and took his leave.

Riley woke with another hangover. She glanced at her bedside table, wondering how the hell she got home last night. I’m such a lightweight. I can’t even have a few beers without getting drunk. She tried to mentally tally her beer intake. Seven? Was that before or after Maxwell's drinking game? Nine? Fuck. I have to see Liam today.

She picked up her phone. 6:30 AM. Liam should be awake by now.

Riley: It was great to see you last night, Liam. Can we do dinner tonight? Catch up?

Riley set her phone down and threw her hands over her eyes.

Liam woke up at the crack of dawn, his head pounding from the shots he and Drake did when they got back to the castle.

“I still love her,” Liam said to Drake as he threw back another shot.

“I know. We all do, Liam. The difference is she loves you. You’re both too goddamned stubborn to do anything about it.”

Another shot.

What time did Drake leave? I have to see Riley today.

His phone dinged and his heart stopped when he saw the name on his screen.

Liam: That sounds wonderful to me, Lady Riley. I’ll have supper ready at 6.

“Duchess Riley called to say that she left Valtoria and should be here by 5:30, Your Majesty.” Bastien watched for Liam’s reaction, knowing how he felt about Riley. He watched Liam’s heart break a little more every night when he held Riley. He also knew that Riley was in love with Liam, but was too broken up after what Anton did to her. She needed time, and he needed whiskey.

“Of course. Thank you, Bastien.” He nodded, dismissing him. He wanted to drink. He was worried she was going to leave him once and for all today.

He made Riley a Duchess with the hope that she would accept his marriage proposal. He was heartbroken, but understanding when she said no. He then hoped that with her staying in Cordonia, he could woo her the proper way, and not just stolen moments here and there, but she kept him at arm’s length. Even when they shared a bed, and she clung to him, scared witless from her nightmares, she kept him at arm’s length. Eventually, it just hurt his ego. He was strong, but only around her. When the nightmares stopped, and when she went back to Valtoria, his drinking habits got worse and he quickly started cocaine. It was the only thing that made him feel alive.

She used to come back to the castle for council meetings, but she stopped two months ago, much to Liam’s dismay. She would join via phone call.

Today was going to be different, though. After dinner, he was going to confess that he was still in love with her. That he still wanted to marry her. He didn’t know if he could stand to be away from her ever again.

After last night, seeing Riley all tangled up in Maxwell’s arms, after what Drake said— it just reaffirmed his feelings.

He walked to his room and opened the top drawer. A ring for Riley that was never worn sat in its box, not seen by the light of day for almost five months. He picked up the box, red satin, and examined the ring. The ring was his mother’s, and he was anxious to see it on Riley’s finger. Regina had given it to him after he ended his engagement to Madeleine. Even back at the beginning of the social season, Regina knew Liam’s heart belonged to Riley.

Riley’s town car pulled up to the castle, and her heart was beating so rapidly that it made her faint. Liam was outside, ready to open her door. His heart was pounding, too. They both had the same plan: make it through dinner and then profess their love. All of that went out the door as soon as Riley saw Liam on the steps.

The car hadn't even stopped when Riley almost ripped her door open.

“Ma’am!” Mara protested, slamming on the brakes, but it was already too late.

Riley was out of the car, running at Liam's full speed. She didn’t care who saw— she needed to kiss him. She flung herself at him, hoping he knew what she wanted when her door opened like that.

Liam was waiting at the top of the steps when Riley’s town car pulled closer to him. He smiled, thinking about his lips on hers. Her car door whipped open before Mara had come to a stop. His heart stuttered for a moment; he didn’t want to hope that she was going to run to him. He wasn’t ready for that heartbreak again. But Riley was running at him as fast as she could, so he braced himself.

Riley leaped into his arms, wrapping her legs around him, kissing him fervently. He held her closely, kissing her back with just as much passion. She pulled back much too soon for his liking, but he was dizzy and breathless. They both were. Her breath was warm and smelled like champagne— her liquid courage.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Duchess Riley?” His heart thumped. He smiled at her, wondering if this was all just a dream.

“Yes,” she whispered. Her eyes searched his, hoping he understood. She would die right here if he turned her down.

He chuckled, “What?”

“Yes, I’ll marry you.”

He faltered, loosening his grip on her legs, and they fell to the ground. Her eyes glazed over, and tears began to fall.

I’m so stupid, she thought to herself. Her heart shattered.

“Please, Liam. Please! I know I’m late. I know you may have moved on—” Sobs wracked her body. She was too late. He didn’t love her anymore. Her voice cracked as she spits out one last desperate plea: “But I love you. It’s always been you. Please, Liam. I want to be your wife.”

He sat there, watching her come unraveled in front of him. Finally, he thought. She sobbed violently, shaking from the emotions.

He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close. He kissed her hard, and they crashed into each other like waves of a stormy sea. Every apology they never muttered out loud was conveyed with their lips. Every I love you. All of it was out in the open now. Liam kissed Riley until the tears stopped.

After several minutes, they parted. Riley’s eyes were red and puffy, but hopeful. Liam couldn’t contain his smile anymore.

“I was going to do this in the hedge maze after dinner, Riley,” he got down on one knee, ring in hand. “But you seem to have your plans,” he laughed.

She laughed, too, a real, hearty laugh. She gazed down at Liam. “I was going to wait until after dinner to confess my feelings, Liam, but once I saw you, I had to let you know.” She smiled brightly.

He looked up at her with loving eyes. His heart pounded but for a good reason this time.

“Duchess Riley Brooks, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

She squealed, pulled him up by the lapels, and kissed him. “Yes! A thousand times, yes!”

“It’s about Goddamn time,” Bastien muttered as he headed inside, carrying Riley’s bags.

“I’d say so,” Mara agreed.

[pug-bitch]

That’s not why I’m staying (6)

The quicker pace of his heart

Book: The Royal Romance, Book 2

Pairing: Drake Walker x Amara Suarez (and....maybe another pairing? 😇 🤫)

Rating: some foul language, some extremely suggestive, and a VERY steamy scene. This is absolutely NOT appropriate for people under 18.

Word count: about 4,500

Notes: This picks up much where we left off, during the first evening at the cabin, as Leo arrives, starting with Leo’s POV.

*****

‘Come on in,’ Drake says enthusiastically, which Leo instantly reads as fake. Drake grabs the whiskey bottle from him and sets it down on the table. ‘Make yourself at home, Leo, we were just about to have some cocktails. You hungry?’

Leo shakes his head and then smells the delicious aroma of steak. ‘Um, maybe? What you got?’

Drake smiles, ‘Steak. I have a leftover one, the ladies shared a steak. Can I make you a plate?’

Leo smiles broadly. ‘Sure, thank you, that sounds great.’

He walks into the cabin and nods. He hasn’t seen it in years, not since they were in their early twenties and came here for the occasional guys’ night grilling and drinking beer. Tonight, the vibe is different. First, there are ladies present, which he’s definitely not complaining about, but also, Drake is different. But how, Leo can’t exactly put his finger on it.

‘Good to see you, Leo,’ Amara says as she greets him with a smile and a glass. ‘I’m making whiskey sours, want one?’

He nods and inches closer to her. ‘What did I do to deserve being greeted by such an enchanting woman, AND cocktails?’

Amara chuckles. ‘Don’t get too excited. It’s whiskey and sour mix.’

God, she’s snarky. But hot. He could get behind that, but something tells him she’s not interested. Perhaps even not available. Now it’s his mission to find out more.

The petite Asian woman takes a glass from Amara. He forgets her name. Anna? Ella? Oh well. She is hot as hell, in a shy kind of way, but according to Liam, she plays for the other team. Too bad.

‘Oh, Drake, can I use your bathroom really quickly? It was a long drive from the Capital, and I had a fucking truckload of coffee.’

Drake yells out from the kitchen. ‘Um, yeah, it’s upstairs. Straight ahead.’

Leo scans the room one more time before heading upstairs. Everyone is super silent, even Maxwell, who is usually chattier than a little girl. Clearly, his presence is unwanted.

Upstairs, he heads to the bathroom right away, looks around a bit. Some toiletry bags. These guys are staying overnight for sure. After pretending to flush, he peeks into the three rooms. He doesn’t have time for much more, but he sees that Drake’s is clearly bare, no luggage in sight. He frowns. He could have sworn there was something between him and Amara. That look on his face during the Decision Ball, those fucking tears… Maybe it was just concern for a friend, but Drake doesn’t make friends that quickly.

As he walks down the stairs, he thinks about how unfair it all is for his little brother. Stuck in a loveless engagement, with very little support, while all his so-called friends are partying together in a commoner family’s cabin. Liam plays strong, he tells him that Drake still supports him and talking to him helped, but Leo knows better. He left his little brother in what he thought were good hands, and now he comes back to a shitshow. That’s not right.

*****

‘What do you mean a bar fight?’ Leo asks incredulously.

Amara rolls her eyes. ‘Come on, Max, that’s a gross exaggeration. An asshole insulted Hana, Liv, and I, and Michael was very chivalrous and punched a guy for us.’

‘Michael, you mean...you?’ Leo points at Michael who bursts out laughing.

They had been chatting for a couple of hours, and everyone had relaxed a bit, which Amara was grateful for. She had taken care of the evidence upstairs, and she suspects that Leo isn’t bright enough to dig any deeper than the surface anyways. He showed his cards pretty clearly when he pretended to need the bathroom as soon as he arrived, and it had eased her mind a bit. Even though, of course, it means that he was here to dig dirt indeed. Is he sent by Liam? Probably not. Given the grief he had given Drake at the Ball, about his supposed debt to Liam, he was probably here in an ill-concealed attempt to protect his brother.

She gets that, of course. But his protectiveness would have a lot more impact if the current situation wasn’t directly caused by his actions. After all, he was the OG Madeleine fiancé, and his abdication resulted in Liam’s increased responsibility.

Still, she feels badly for Liam, and she still intends to help him break his engagement. If only they could find Tariq quickly enough…

‘So, Amara, I heard that you won’t talk to the press?’ Leo asks without a transition.

Amara frowns. ‘Well, I didn’t know that you were here to talk shop, Leo. I thought you were just here to eat Drake’s steak and drink my cocktails.’

Leo pauses and shoots her an annoyed look, before changing his demeanor completely and bursting into a very fake laughter. ‘We got ourselves a fiery one!’ He exclaims.

Ew, she thinks. This is indeed the seed of Constantine, all entitlement and condescension. ‘Well, I can answer your question,’ she responds. ‘I’ll talk to the press when we’re about to go on tour. I don’t feel like I owe anyone an explanation at the moment, and I’m taking a well-deserved break from all the shit that’s been thrown at me, and at my friends lately. Is that alright with you?’

She didn’t mean for it to come out so aggressively. She really didn’t. But she couldn’t help it. She makes a conscious effort to maintain eye contact with Leo, and to not lock eyes with any of her friends, not right now.

Leo takes a sip of his whiskey and a deep breath. ‘I get it. My brother told me that those pictures were staged, and for what it’s worth, I think a lot of people were suspicious of that. You’re a favorite in the Cordonian press, and a lot of people support you.’

Amara swallows hard. She didn’t expect him to go this route. ‘Oh. Thank you. I didn’t mean to be defensive, I—‘

Leo holds out a hand. ‘No no, I know. It’s natural to be defensive in this particular case. All I wanted to say is, you should talk to the press. They can surprise you.’ He takes another sip. ‘Hell, if they’re still kind to me after the shit I pulled, there’s no way they would reject a loveable knockout like yourself.’

Amara forces a smile. At least it’s semi-nice and just a little skeevy.

*****

Leo walks in the kitchen and hands Drake his plate. ‘Thanks bro, it was delicious. And thank you for the hospitality.’

Drake smiles as he takes the dirty plate. ‘Of course. I’m glad you came. It’s been fun.’

Leo nods. He wishes he could just ask him what he wants to know, and be done with it. He’s not stealthy, that’s not him. His mom used to call him her little bull in the china shop, always putting his foot in his mouth. He chooses to view it as a quality, but right here, right now, he’s not sure.

The worst part is, he genuinely likes Drake. They had such good times together when they were younger, and he was always a brother to Liam, moreso than Leo was himself. Maybe he’s just pissed that Drake has thrown in the towel a bit, forcing him to cut in again and face his responsibilities as an older brother. Maybe it’s just that.

Or maybe it pisses him off that the one woman his brother was interested in doesn’t seem interested at all, and now Liam is stuck with the same bitch Leo was stuck with in the first place. Maybe he’s pissed that, against all odds, the royals get the short end of the stick while the commoners have their fun in their country homes.

Or maybe he just wants to get to the bottom of this, dammit. He would never go to his brother to tell him that he’s suspicious about Drake and Amara, no. That would break his heart, and without proof, it would be useless.

But if he does see anything incriminating...maybe that would help Liam move on?

Oh well. Next time. They’re gonna be stuck on a train for a while, all together, kind of like an Agatha Christie novel.

‘I’m gonna head out,’ Leo says calmly. ‘But bro, I just wanna say, I’m worried about Li. He’s not well. I’d appreciate it if you joined my efforts to lift his spirits, on the tour.’

Drake nods. ‘Of course. Liam and I talked yesterday, and I agree with you, he’s not doing well. I’ll do what I can.’

Leo pats Drake’s shoulder. ‘Great. I also hope this one over there—‘ he gestures at Amara from afar— ‘changes her mind. Liam is pretty smitten, to the point that he wants to give her a fucking duchy. Would be nice if she got off her high horse.’

*****

Drake bites his lip. His instincts yell at him to go to bat for his Amara, but he knows he would fuck them both over if he revealed too much. So, he bites his lip a little harder, and he nods. ‘Well, can’t force her to like him, Leo.’

Leo shrugs. ‘I know, I know. No one is saying that. But if she spent a bit more time with him, maybe she’d change her mind, it’s all I’m saying.’

Drake plasters on a fake smile, which he’s never really done before, and he’s sure his face looks like a deflated balloon. ‘It’s their business, yeah,’ he says awkwardly.

Shit, he thinks, hopefully he didn’t fuck it all up with one awkward moment. Amara has been doing so well all evening, even when she got a little defensive, she pulled it off. Hana, Max, and Michael have been champs ever since they had all gathered around cocktails, but he was definitely the weakest link. Leo knows him well, and he’s pretty sure he picked up on the tension.

Leo walks back into the living room and holds out his arms to Maxwell. ‘I’m gonna get going, I have an early breakfast with my Father. See you on tour, Maxxie?’

He hugs everyone, even Michael whom he barely talked to, and when Amara’s turn comes, Drake has to squeeze his fist really tight to relieve some of the tension and annoyance it brings to him.

‘Alright brother,’ Leo says to Drake as he pulls him in for a bear hug. ‘Thanks for everything and see you soon.’

They all continue to fake it for a little longer, until Leo’s headlights are seen driving away. Then, a collective sigh resounds.

‘Holy fucking shitballs,’ Michael exhales.

‘I second that sentiment,’ Hana adds.

Amara starts giggling uncontrollably. ‘Guys, that was awful. What the hell is our life now? We’re dodging very bad spies from the Royal family?’ She continues to chuckle.

Michael joins in on the laughter. ‘When I tell my coworkers, they won’t believe me, that’s for sure.’

Amara closes the distance between herself and Drake, and wraps him in a warm hug. ‘You all did great, guys. Plus, the man’s no genius. No way he found anything incriminating.’

Drake plants a kiss on the top of Amara’s head. ‘He’s definitely suspicious, though.’

Amara shrugs. ‘Who cares? He’s a narcissistic royal dropout. Who’s gonna believe him?’ She sighs. ‘I’m glad I hid my stuff in Michael’s room, though. He was definitely snooping when he went to the bathroom.’

Hana gasps. ‘I knew it! He didn’t even pee.’

Maxwell grimaces. ‘How do you know? Do you have a superpower to see how full someone’s bladder is?’

Hana giggles. ‘No, ew, I just noticed everything was silent until he flushed. No peeing sound.’

Amara makes an approving face. ‘Look at you, Detective Lee, gathering clues. You make me proud.’

*****

‘Ugh,’ Amara sighs as she schleps her luggage back to Drake’s room. ‘Being sneaky is so exhausting.’

Drake smiles. ‘You could have let me carry all this, y’know.’

She shrugs. ‘I could have.’ She plops down on the bed. ‘I’m glad we played Monopoly after he left. It lightened the mood.’

‘Yeah, if you exclude Maxwell getting super upset because he kept paying Hana rent. The man has no idea what rent is.’

Amara laughs wholeheartedly. ‘I know. And Michael couldn’t stop saying ‘That’s how it WORKS, Maxwell!’, in his scary lawyer voice.’ She snuggles in Drake’s arms. ‘It was so nice. Can we also do nothing productive tomorrow?’

Drake nods. ‘You got it. Maybe we can go to the farmers’ market? No goats this time, though.’

‘Deal. Ugh,’ she repeats. ‘This reminded me how much I love being out in the open with you, and how much I love being here in the cabin. Sneaking around is stressful.’

Drake raises an eyebrow. ‘It is, but… it’s a little bit exciting, too, right?’

Amara bites her lip. She loves seeing that spark in Drake’s eyes. The same spark that has been there ever since their first escapade to the cop bar, all those weeks and weeks ago. The same spark that has come back every time they locked eyes in a crowd, knowing perfectly well that they would meet in the palace bathroom a few minutes later.

‘It is VERY exciting,’ she responds, running her hand down his unbuttoned shirt.

He strokes her hair, and down to her shoulder, not breaking eye contact. ‘Imagine being confined to a train car. We have to behave in front of people, right?’

She feels a tingle in her core. ‘Right,’ she agrees.

‘But in private,’ he continues, ‘as soon as I can get you alone, wherever that is—‘

‘Where would it be?’ She interrupts.

He grins. ‘Anywhere I can, we can’t be too picky about our stolen moments. It could be between two cars. In your cabin if you’re alone. In a deserted restaurant car.’

She gently nibs at his neck. ‘What would you do to me in the deserted restaurant car?’

‘I would kiss you as deep as I can,’ he says before capturing her lips in a passionate kiss, illustrating his point.

She moans. ‘And?’ She asks

‘I would push you against the wall, and unbutton your jeans,’ he says as he actually does so. ‘Then…’ he trails off, unzips her pants, and lets his hand wander inside her panties, drawing a muffled moan from Amara’s lips. ‘Yeah, just like that,’ he whispers, ‘I’d pin you against a wall and I’d do the thing you like, just like this,’ he adds as he draws circles around her clit with his index finger, all the while letting his middle finger find her entrance.

‘Fuck,’ she whispers. ‘Mmm, Drake…’

Her lips crash against his, and her tongue finds his, as she bucks her hips against his hand. ‘I’d tell you I love you,’ he adds between kisses, ‘and that I want you so fucking bad…’

‘Mmm,’ she moans, entranced. ‘I’d tell you I love you too, and I would also unzip you,’ she says as she finds his zipper and pulls it down. She feels her stomach flutter as she frees Drake’s hard cock. ‘If we’re really alone, maybe I would even…’ she interrupts herself and lowers her head towards his crotch.

Drake moans. ‘Baby…’ he whispers.

Amara teases the tip of his cock with her tongue, until he can’t take it any longer and she takes it in her mouth.

‘Fuck,’ he groans. ‘This is so fucking good…’

She takes care of him intently, her head bobbing up and down, faster and faster, until he gently cups her face.

‘I want you so fucking bad,’ he says in a low, raspy voice.

She feels her core tighten. She needs him inside her, right now. She’s never wanted someone so badly, all the time. If he wanted to fuck her all day, every day, she’d be all in.

Amara sits up and takes off her shirt and bra. Drake groans some more, taking off his clothes in a hurry. He pulls down her jeans and underwear completely, as if every second counted. ‘Fuck, get naked for me,’ he groans. He pulls her on top of him, his hands everywhere, as if he had more than two. He cups her breasts, caresses her back, her stomach, her ass, everything. He pulls her close, and kisses her like there’s no tomorrow. She places herself so his cock is right at her entrance, and she gently lowers herself onto it, taking every inch slowly.

‘Mmmmm, Amara,’ he whispers, bucking his hips slowly. She rides him with long, slow thrusts, each one drawing a moan from the both of them. She feels her orgasm getting closer, she needs to take her time. He knows her, he knows she likes it deep and slow, deeper and deeper, and he lets her control her rhythm. Soon, her breath is uneven, she can’t wait much longer.

‘I love you,’ he whispers between kisses, ‘I fucking love you, Amara. Please come for me.’

She feels her walls contract around Drake’s hard cock, she feels it coming. She loses herself in the moment.

*****

‘NO!’

Maxwell wakes up on the floor, stunned. What the fuck just happened, he thinks. He sits up and rubs his eyes. He peeks over to the bed, where Hana is sprawled out, pushing off the comforter and seemingly reenacting a strange battle.

‘No! Not the bees again,’ she whispers as she fights an invisible army of bees.

Maxwell slaps his hand on his own mouth, trying to muffle the sound of his laugh. Oh boy, he thinks. That’s an oddly specific nightmare.

No way he’s gonna go back to sleep right now, with Hana all across the queen bed. He shrugs and gets up. He glances at the alarm clock. 4 AM. He can probably catch some sleep on the couch.

He’s careful not to wake anyone up, and goes down each step very slowly. Once downstairs, he notices the kitchen light is on. ‘Hello?’ He whispers.

He comes in to find Michael at the kitchen table, tea in hand. ‘Hi, Max,’ he yawns.

Max’s heart skips a beat. Why does he have to feel this way every time he stumbles upon that man? He shakes it off and smiles. ‘Hey, Michael, what are you doing up?’

‘I couldn’t sleep, I guess,’ he shrugs. ‘You?’

Max shrugs too. ‘Hana had a massive, weird nightmare, and literally pushed me off the bed.’

Michael’s eyes widen. ‘Wow. Intense. Is she ok?’

‘Well, she better not be allergic to bees in her dream.’

Michael laughs. ‘Wow, scary stuff. Want some tea? I found some herbal stuff in the pantry, it’s old but it’s still ok.’

Max nods. ‘Sure. It must have been Bianca’s, so it’s probably ten years old, but I’m willing to risk it!’

Michael serves another cup for Max and hands it to him. ‘Here, it’s very hot.’

They sit side by side on the living room couch. Michael sits cross legged, and Maxwell can’t help but notice how nice his legs look in his pajama pants, simple light gray joggers. He shakes it off again. Stop it, you perv, he thinks.

Michael smiles as he sips on his tea. ‘This tea is actually pretty gross, you’re right.’

Max chuckles. ‘Told ya.’ He gets up and grabs the bottle Leo brought. ‘Here. Drake won’t care if we open this.’ He pours two shots and puts a couple of ice cubes in each. ‘Here,’ he says. ‘To stealing your friend’s booze.’

Michael laughs. ‘Ha!’ He takes a big sip, sighs, and adds sheepishly, ‘To be honest, I feel like Drake owes me this much.’

Maxwell raises an eyebrow.

Michael continues, ‘I’m pretty sure I heard his bed squeak very loudly earlier, along with a few...unmistakable sounds. I’m scarred for life.’

Maxwell bursts out laughing. ‘Welcome to my life, Michael!’ He raises his glass again. ‘To whiskey helping with your trauma!’

Michael chuckles. ‘Not just the whiskey, Maxwell. You’re helping, too.’

‘Aw shucks,’ Max waves him off, blushing. ‘Solidarity for the insomniacs of the house.’

Michael looks down at his glass. ‘It’s more than that. You’ve been quite the rock for me. I feel like I’ve thanked you many times, but none of those times have seemed...enough. I’m forever grateful.’

Maxwell looks away, unable to hide his blushing face any longer. ‘Michael, you don’t have to be. It’s been my pleasure, truly. I wish you weren’t leaving so soon.’ There it is, it came out. ‘I mean, I know you need to go home to Callie, of course, but I just meant, um… I wouldn’t mind hanging out with you more.’ Oh God, he thinks. This isn’t going well, he can’t stop talking.

Michael remains silent for a little while. Surprisingly, it’s comfortable. In another situation, Maxwell would try to fix his earlier babbling by babbling a lot more, but...not now. Now he just settles into the silence.

Michael downs the rest of his whiskey, and gulps it down with a deep sigh. As soon as the liquid is down his throat, he swiftly reaches out to Maxwell’s hand, which was casually resting on the couch cushion. He squeezes it, still silent.

Maxwell can’t speak. All he can do it squeeze it back, as tenderly as he can. After a minute, Michael takes his hand away and uses it to pour himself another shot of whiskey, which he downs instantly. When Max finally gathers the courage to turn towards him, he realizes Michael’s eyes are filled with tears. He wants to reach out as well, but he’s afraid of overstepping.

‘Seriously,’ Michael says, finally breaking the silence. ‘You’ve helped me more than I can explain.’ He lets out a sad chuckle. ‘Maybe it’s for the best that I’m leaving on Thursday. I have a lot to process.’

Maxwell exhales, and realizes he’d been holding his breath ever since their hands had touched. His heart is racing. ‘To...process?’ He asks hesitantly.

Michael nods and puts his head in his hands. He turns to Maxwell and looks him right in the eye. Max’s stomach flutters. ‘I wish I could stay, but I wouldn’t want to go too fast. I finally feel like I have a chance at healing.’

Maxwell finds the courage to nod. ‘You do?’ He risks.

Michael smiles, and a tear falls down his cheek. ‘I really do. And it’s fucking crazy, because it’s been a week, but hey,’ he shrugs, ‘stranger things have happened. Like, oh, you know, my sister being in a competition for a fucking prince’s hand.’

Maxwell laughs. Thank God for Michael’s humor. ‘I guess,’ he chuckles.

Michael continues. ‘I’m sorry, I’m putting a lot on you. I don’t mean to, but I can’t help it, believe me, I’ve tried.’

Maxwell wants to reach out for his hand so badly, but he refrains and settles for a light pat on the shoulder, which feels wrong, and too distant, but it’ll have to do. ‘You’re not putting too much on me.’

Michael lets out what wants to be a chuckle, but it sounds like a muffled sob. ‘Yeah? Because I swear I feel like this—‘ he gestures between the two of them— ‘isn’t all in my head, but sometimes I think, hey, maybe it’s all in my head.’

Maxwell snorts. ‘Believe me. It’s not all in your head. It’s there.’

Michael wipes off the tear that fell off two minutes ago. ‘Good. I mean, I’m glad. God, this isn’t smooth, come on Michael…’ he laughs to himself.

‘Michael, you’re speaking to the man who once stabbed his brother in the arm while opening a bottle of champagne with a sword. I am the king of not smooth.’

‘Really? You stabbed Bertrand?’ He asks anxiously.

‘Eh, it was a little cut,’ Maxwell waves him off. ‘But still. I am not smooth, and not everything needs to be perfect. I like this. I like that we tried to have tea, and it sucked, and then we made it good by dumping it out and replacing it with whiskey. I like improvising. I’m in no rush, I impose no pressure. I’m just here.’

Maxwell lets out a long sigh. He’s gotta stop holding his breath so much.

Michael smiles. ‘Well, for someone who doesn’t like perfect, you sure deliver a pretty perfect pep talk soliloquy.’

Max’s throat is in knots. Thank God for the dark-ish room, because he couldn’t handle seeing all of Michael’s face, with everything it represents. Everything it could be.

Michael takes a deep breath and gets up to rinse his whiskey glass. He walks back over to Maxwell and, without hesitation, plants a tender kiss on his cheek. Max has to fight the urge to capture his lips in his, to hold him tight, because no, not now, not yet, not while he’s processing.

Michael’s eyes meet his, and he whispers ‘Good night, Max,’ before disappearing up the stairs.

*****

Michael closes the bedroom door behind him, his hands shaking. He can’t believe that he did that, said that, confessed everything. He can’t believed there was this much to confess in just a week, but here we are.

Still shaking, he unplugs his phone from the charger and opens the photos. Scrolling back, his eyes meet smiley pictures of his late husband, including some of their wedding day, all toothy grins and happiness. Michael plops down on the bed, weak at the knees. Before he can stop it, he lets out a long sob, and tears flood his cheeks.

Two years.

Two years since he’s seen the love of his life, the father of his daughter, the man he said ‘I do’ to, in the flesh. Two years since they kissed, held hands, made love.

Two years since he’s been loved. Taken care of. Looked at with tenderness.

Are two years enough?

They were enough to make him feel like all hope was lost. They were enough to make him feel comfortable in the blanket of loneliness that wrapped him. They were enough to make him feel like a long-time widower, a person who would remain in that situation forever, and that’s that.

But were they enough to move on?

Probably not. Those two years did nothing in that direction. But the past week did. The warm, caring man he’d met did. The quicker pace of his heart when he was around did. The rush he felt when he kissed his cheek tonight did.

The feelings growing in his heart did.

*****

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[bobasheebaby]

Ava Adore- Be Careful What You Wish For chapter 2

Pairing: Drake x MC; (past) Liam x MC

Word count: 1,927

Warnings: incorrect medical practices, blackmail, manipulation, Evil Liam

Summary: A trip to the doctors and leaning on friends for support.

A/N: This chapter starts the major canon divergence. I will try to incorporate elements that still fit with the overall story but here is where we go completely rouge. A huge thank you to @sirbeepsalot for all of her help and advice and being an ever patient sounding board. (MoE thanks DoE as well.) This chapter is named for Ava Adore by the Smashing Pumpkins, it so perfectly fits Liam.

Series warnings: Evil Liam, dark!fic, deceit, manipulation, dub con, possible NSFW content, possible character death. This is taking the Liam from TRH to the extreme, he is not the Liam we know and love. By clicking read more you acknowledge you are at least 18 years of age.

Let me know if you want to be added or removed from the taglist.

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters, I’m simply borrowing from PB for a bit.

Drake sat frozen in fear and worry. He announced it. He already announced it. Liam’s words still ringing in his head. ‘...as the king of Cordonia, I’m honored that they’ve allowed me to appoint their future child the royal heir.’ It felt as though there was a weight on his chest making it so he couldn’t breathe. What if something goes wrong? After their conversation on the jet he’d thought that perhaps the announcement would come later in the week after they’d seen the doctor. ‘Dr Ramirez is the best.’ He took a deep breath, releasing his fears. Everything will be fine, we’re both young and healthy. We don’t need to worry, this is just a precaution, nothing will come of it. He turned, smiling at Rebecca as the doctor came in, smile on her own lips. Okay nothing to worry about. We can do this, it’s for Liam, he’s my best friend. I’d do anything for him and he'd do the same for me.

Doctor Ramirez sat, smiling wide. “Well everything looks promising, there’s just one thing that’s bothering me.”

“Oh?” Drake swallowed. Don’t tell me we let him down already.

“It’s nothing to be worried about really. It’s just a small concern and given your rushed timeframe to produce Cordonia’s next heir I would like to address it.” The smile never leaving her face as she waved away Drake’s worry.

“I guess that makes sense.” Rebecca replied feeling more at ease at the doctor’s reassurance.

Dr Ramirez nodded empathetically. “Now as I said it’s minor, normally I wouldn’t be worried, but as the future queen or king of Cordonia is at stake I want to address it now.” She glanced back down at her paperwork. “It seems Duke Walker, that you have a slight motility problem. It’s very minor, but the concentration isn’t what I would like to see either.”

“Umm, Okay.” Drake blanched, everything coming down on him at once. If the country didn’t have an heir it would be his fault. She said minor, that it could be addressed now. “How exactly would you address this issue?”

Dr Ramirez flashed a hundred watt smile. “Oh it’s very simple. These issues usually come up when the scrotal veins are dilated, we would simply go in and repair them. It’s a very simple, easy, minor outpatient procedure.”

Drake’s eyes widened and darted to his crotch. Surgery, on my… it’s for Liam, for Cordonia. “Okay. When can we take care of it?”

“Usually it wouldn’t be able to be taken care of for a few days, weeks at most, but as we are talking about Cordonia’s future monarch I can fit you in later this week.” Dr Ramirez turned her gaze to Rebecca. “Duchess Rebecca, you should have no problems conceiving once we’ve done the procedure, however I’d like to get you started on prenatal vitamins right away. I will send you home with a script but I also have a special concentrated version I could give you as a shot. You see you should really be on prenatals for three months prior to conceiving if you are trying to get pregnant, and with it being our country’s future, I really don’t want to take any chances with his or her health.”

Rebecca nodded. “Whatever you think is best.”

*

Dr Ramirez sat back in her chair, finally dropping the smile from her face. She hated the lying she had to do today but she was given no other choice, she couldn’t say no to the person who asked. She grabbed the picture of her family, the happy faces glaring at her in judgment. I did it for you! She slammed the picture frame face down onto the desk, the glass cracking on impact. She raked a hand over her tired face, jumping as her phone ringing broke through the silence. She looked at the number flashing on the display. Breathe, you did what he asked. “Hello?” Her voice high and cheery.

“How did the appointment go?”

“Perfect. Your Majesty, absolutely no issues.”

“What did I say about formalities? We wouldn’t want anything to happen to your beautiful family because someone found out what I was up to, would we?

Dr Ramirez paled, her throat going dry. “O—of course not. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. You were saying?”

She swallowed thickly. “Yes, I said there were no issues. I gave her a depo shot and he’s scheduled for a vasectomy on Friday. They are willing to do whatever for the future of Cordonia.”

“And they suspect nothing?”

“No, they are fully onboard no trouble at all, they are happy to serve the crown.”

“Good.”

*

Rebecca covered her mouth as she yawned. “Why am I so tired? I thought vitamins where supposed to give you energy.”

Drake chuckled lightly. “It was a concentrated dose, it’ll even out. And you’re sure you don’t mind if I stay up?”

“No have fun.” She rubbed her still flat stomach. “Soon there will be the next heir growing here and our days of partying and staying up will be numbered. Have fun.” She kissed his cheek. “Just don’t stay up too late we need to get sleep while we still can.”

*

“Li, are you sure you want the future of Cordonia resting in Drake’s balls?” Maxwell slurred his hand swinging to hit Drake’s shoulder only for him to miss falling forward in his chair.

Great. He’s drunk. I knew I shouldn’t have told him how the appointment went! “Max…” Drake growled, his tone low in warning.

“I’m sure. I have the utmost faith in Drake and his…” Liam trailed off. “I trust that we will soon be announcing the heir of Cordonia is arriving in no time.”

“Are you sure? Maybe you should ask someone else, I mean Drake said the doctor said—”

“Maxwell, your drink is looking low maybe you should get another, and maybe one for me too?” Drake cut him off. Another drink is the worst idea ever but I need to get him away from the damn table before Liam learns everything.

Maxwell jumped to his feet, nearly tripping over his limbs. “You got it buddy.” He staggered off in search of another drink.

“Are you sure he needs another drink?” Liam asked with an arch of his brow.

“No, but it got him thinking about something else.”

“You’d tell me if something went wrong at the doctors right?”

Guilt wrapped around Drake, ensnaring his limbs, squeezing them tightly to his body, making it impossible to breathe or move. “Of course.” Liar!

Liam’s chestnut eyes softened, he placed a gentle hand on Drake’s forearm. “Drake, you can tell me, was what Maxwell was saying true?”

Drake sighed his head dropping back. How the fuck did I get in this mess? Oh yeah, I trusted Maxwell… “The doctor said that under normal circumstances she wouldn’t even worry yet, but given it’s the future of Cordonia on the line she recommend a procedure.” He drew out the last word. Dammit why is it so hard to lie to him? “To fix the vessels. She said we’d be fine to conceive naturally after.”

“Drake.” His voice soft and full of understanding.

“Li, I swear if she had been worried I would have mentioned it to you, but you have enough on your plate with the unannounced guests, and everything else. Hell, I didn’t want to make you worry about this again.”

“I completely understand, and I thank you for worrying about me, but you need to worry about yourself too.”

“Right.” Drake nodded.

“I would hate to see something happen to you because you let yourself become too stressed. Remember you are as important to me as an heir, I couldn’t imagine what I would do if I lost my best friend, my brother, because he overstressed himself about giving me an heir.”

*

A few days later...

Rebecca let out an exaggerated groan as she eased herself into the hot tub. Not too hot, wouldn’t want the tabloids to report I don’t care about the future heir, again. The warm water melted her stress away and eased the tension in her muscles. She rolled her head to the side, her eyes remaining closed in pure bliss. “Thank you for suggesting this Liv. I didn’t realize how much I needed it.”

“Don’t mention it.” Why Liam wanted me to suggest it instead of doing it himself is beyond me. “I figured after the way you handled the invading kings and queens you could use a day of relaxation.”

“Definitely.” She opened one eye. “Is it normal for people to ask for betrothal agreements before the child is born?”

“You’re asking the woman who was married off by her parents at the age of four.”

“I’m sorry Liv, forget it.”

“No. It’s fine. I’m over it.” Mostly. “But to answer your question, some nobles will make betrothal alliances, but most aren’t that extreme. I’d worry about their hidden agenda.”

Rebecca nodded her head. “Yea, it seemed a little off. I mean I’m not even pregnant yet.”

“You signed on to carry the heir, everyone will be waiting to hear news, and wanting to be the one to make a betrothal to elevate their own status.” Her voice growing harder.

“Right.” Why didn’t I think about that before I said yes? Change the subject! “I noticed Bastien has been absent from Liam’s detail.”

“Yes, Liam sent him to Lythikos to help me look for any loophole to get me out of the agreement, we came up empty. He asked Bastien to stay behind and catalogue what we did find on Anton and my parents involvement, I don’t know why, there was nothing useful.”

Rebecca nodded, a pit of regret forming in her stomach. Why did I bring up betrothal agreements? Stupid! “Thanks for suggesting the spa day, and convincing them to turn down the temperature.”

“Don’t mention it.” Olivia replied with a laugh. “Besides, they wouldn’t want to cross a Nevrakis.”

*

Liam smiled as she walked with poise and purpose through the duchy, expensive bottle of whiskey in hand. Everything was falling into place, he could clearly see the end when she would once again be his. “Drake.” He clasped a hand on Drake’s shoulder, his smile threatening to widen as he took in the frozen bag of peas on his crotch. “I brought you a little something before I head back to the palace. I wanted to treat you because you wouldn’t be in the pain you are if you and Rebecca weren’t trying to conceive an heir for me. I won’t ever be able to convey with words or gestures just how thankful I am that you would agree to this.”

Soon. I will once against know the feel of her skin, the taste of her on my lips. Soon, she will once again be mine.

Drake’s chocolate brown eyes widened. “Li, that’s a really expensive whiskey.”

“Nothing but the best for my dearest friend.”

“Thanks Li, you didn’t have to. You know I’d do anything for you.” He nodded to his lap. “Even endure a little pain. All I want is for you to have the chance to be as happy as Rebecca and I are.”

“And I will never stop thanking you for giving me that chance.”

“Like I said Li, I’d do anything for you. Just like you would for me.”

“Of course. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for my best friend.”

Oh Drake, I truly am sorry I had to do this, but you took what’s mine...

Feedback fuels me, please like, comment reblog or send an ask. Feel free to scream, I promise I can take it.

Masterlist can be found in my bio.

Taglist will be reblogged.

[kaitycole]

New Beginnings (10.a)

Summary: It’s been four months since Drake and Riley went their separate ways. Riley has been spending her time between the Beaumont Estate and the Palace while Drake has been holed up in Lythikos.

This is the first part of the tenth installment of My Best Friend’s Wedding.

I recommend listening to Friends Don’t by Maddie and Tae, the lyrics are used as well as it fits Drake and Olivia.

A/N: I really am working to wrap this up but this part is going to come out in two pieces and then the ending will come. I swear I didn’t expect this, but I just write what comes to me, guys lol

Pairings: Drake x MC (past tense), Liam x MC (mentioned), Drake x Olivia (platonic??)

There’s also some smut, so by reading you are agreeing that you are 18+

Word Count: 2044

Tag List: @liamxs-world @lynn1214@mynameiskaylabella @mrswalkers-blog            @drakelover78@gardeningourmet @zilch3 @speedyoperarascalparty   @umccall71@mrsdrakewalkerblog @hopefulmoonobject  @sleepwalkingelite            @annekebbphotography @jared2612 @indiacater @lodberg  @lauradowning29 @dcbbw @araihc-ce @cora-nova @pedudley @custaroonie​

           He’s sitting in the wine cellar, well technically it’s a wine/whiskey cellar because Olivia added some shelves just for his whiskey. If you sent him a letter, it would probably be addressed a little something like this:

           Mr. Drake Walker

           The Cellar under the Stairs

           He doesn’t mind spending his days in the cellar, he actually preferred it to being around anything. In his opinion, it hasn’t been long enough since his disaster of a wedding for him to come out of hiding. It was only a month after their “wedding” that he saw Riley and Liam on the cover of a tabloid, showing off their relationship, as if Drake was never a part of the story.

           “Hey, Walker.” One of the Lythikos servants says to him as she comes down to gather a few bottles of wine.

           “Party tonight?”

           “There’s a state dinner tonight. To discuss the upcoming soc—” She pauses franticly, her eyes widening and she tries to think of something quick but draws a blank.

           “Social season? Whose getting married? Maxwell? Bertrand? Penelope?” He’s confused, he hasn’t been out of touch with everyone that long.

           “It’s best you speak to Lady Olivia,” she scurries up the stairs, disappearing.

           Well hell, guess its time to come out of here.

           He walks up the stairs, letting out a deep breath when he gets to the door before opening it. He hears conversation towards the ballroom so he heads in that direction.

           “Drake! You’re upstairs!” Olivia quickly smiles at him before dropping it so no one sees it. She notices that his stubble is overgrown and his hair is long enough to put in a short ponytail. He had been doing fine, he was sleeping in the guest room, eating regularly, and he wasn’t drinking more than a glass or two of whiskey a day. But once the tabloid cover came out, she found him more often in the wine cellar than in his room. She even found that he had put a cot in the cellar so he didn’t have to leave.

           It broke her heart to see him broken like this, to see him striped down to this raw shell of himself. Later that week she requested a section of the cellar be allotted to whiskey, just for him. Don’t ask her why she did, it just felt right. She thought maybe he’d after a day or two down there, he’d come upstairs, but it seemed he only came out when she was away.

           “Heh.” He runs his hands through his thick hair, it’s greasy from lack of care, “I uh…heard there was a state dinner.”

           Olivia’s eyes widen, she glances around looking to see who could have told. One of the kitchen maids look a little too red to Olivia, who is giving her the side eye. I guess I have to tell him.

           “Drake, let’s go to the study to talk, shall we?” She guides him down the hall before turning around to her servants, “Finish the ballroom decorations and I’d like to see tentative seating chart when I return.”

           The pair walk down the hall and slip into the study. Drake sits down in the chair that sits in front of a fireplace and Olivia takes the one across from him.

           “Just tell me what’s going on, Livy.”

           She cocks her head to the side, he hasn’t called her that in years. When she was a young girl, she hated it, but now. But now it made this weird fluttering sensation in her chest, yuck.

           “There’s a social season starting up in a few weeks. Today is a state dinner to see whom from Lythikos will represent it as the suitor.” Her words switch between no emotion and emotion because part of her is lying. Well not lying, but definitely withholding a huge piece of information.

           “I hadn’t heard from anyone.” He checks his phone, yup still on and working, he even checked his email that he never does, causing an annoying 538 notification to sit on the corner of the app.

           She takes a deep breath. She can sentence people to the dungeon, make the strongest man kneel to her with just one look, she always has control, but here she doesn’t. “Drake…it’s Liam.”

           He snorts, “Of course, doubt he’d be off the market long. Got bored of Riley already?” He stands up, pacing, mumbling to himself, “Maybe we can fix things and get back together.”

           “He’s marrying Riley, Drake.”

           He stops dead in his place, there’s anger in his eyes that Olivia has never seen, but it excites her.

           “Riley…? Already?” He sinks back into the chair and Olivia places her hand on his knee.

           “They have the courts approval, but for appearances they are doing a short social season. Something about unity and not looking so scandalous.”

           He starts laughing uncontrollably, he doubles over and Olivia swears he’s about to fall out of the chair.

           A psychotic break? Is that what he’s having right now? What the hell is wrong with him? Torture victims don’t even act this strange.

           “I’d really prefer if you didn’t die on this rug. Legend goes the first dagger was used on a rug just like this, many years ago. By a woman too.” She smirks.

           He clears his throat as the laughing stops and he sits up, he even wipes a tear from his eye, “Man, I really needed that laugh, Liv.”

           She stares at him, completely confused before he continues, “They think a social season will make this look less scandalous.” He starts chuckling again.

           Before she knows it, Olivia is laughing herself. She realizes just how ridiculous it sounds now. Thinking that making a few stops around Cordonia and pretending to be interesting in others before ultimately picking the American, that you either love or hate.

           “So, am I going to be asked to dinner?” Drake asks, after the two have calmed down.

           “Oh.” She’s taken aback, “I thought you hated those stuffy noble events?”

           He looks at the ground and smirks, “I wanted to help pick out who Riley’s competition will be.”

           “You’re on. Meet me here at 5:30?”

           Drake nods before walking back to his guest suite. Once he’s in the room, he leans forward, stretching his back. He starts unbuttoning his shirt and pulls it up over his head, dropping it on the floor. He stretches his arms in front of him, before undoing his pants and stepping out of them.

           What should I wear? These clothes are filthy and I don’t remember bringing many options. He turns on the hot water before heading back in the room to grab his phone.

           “Oh! I’m sorry!” Olivia shouts as her face reddens and she turns away.

           It wasn’t until Olivia turns away that Drake realizes he’s fully nude. Quickly, he grabs a pillow and holds it in front of himself.

           “I heard the shower,” she stammers, “I...I...was just going to bring this.” She places a bag on the bed.

           He gives her a puzzled look, “What’s that?”  

           She’s drawing a blank on the word she’s trying to say, “Uhm….uh….” a light bulb goes off, “Clothes! I had your clothes from New York sent here.”

           “Oh?”

           “I figured you wouldn’t go back to New York, so I had all your things packed up and put at your family’s cabin near the palace.”

           He rubs the back of his neck, almost dropping the pillow, “Oh. Thank you.”

           She points towards the door, “I’m going to…uhm…go.”

           Drake watches her rush out the door before getting in the shower.

           A blushing Olivia rushes down the hallway before stopping, leaning against the wall, trying to catch her breath, she feels herself become damp. Of course, she thought Drake was easy on the eyes, but she wasn’t prepared for what she saw today.

           Has he always been that…attractive? Does he work out? That can’t be natural, he has to work out, right? And what he was packing wasn’t bad either, she bites her lip at that last thought before shaking it off and heading back to the dining room.

           The hot water runs down Drake’s back as the silence between the song change fills the room.

           The upbeat guitar strumming begins to spread, erases any silence that remained. The slight ting of the tambourine surprises him.

They don't cancel other plans Have conversations with nothing but their eyes They don't hear each other's names and forget to concentrate Hits a nerve and lights you up like dynamite

           Drake wasn’t really feeling any kind of lovey song, but this one he could tolerate. This one, he never thought of Riley when he heard it. There were several other songs that he would sing and think of her, but never this song. As if maybe, just maybe this song was being saved for someone else.

Friends don't call you in the middle of the night Couldn't even tell you why They just felt like saying "hi" Friends don't stand around, playing with their keys Finding reasons not to leave Trying to hide the chemistry

           His cheeks redden thinking back to Olivia walking in. Sure, she was beautiful, but they grew up together and came from different sides of the tracks. Good thing I’m not a grower, heh.

Drive a little too slow, take the long way home Get a little too close We do, but friends don't

           The lyrics swirl around the room, he closes his eyes, letting himself sway to the music. He feels relaxed, for the first time in weeks. Flashes of Riley start to appear before they fade into Olivia. He thinks about the way she ran her fingers through his hair the night of the wedding, the way she smelt which was a strong orchid scent that could be overwhelming but not to him.

They don't almost say "I love you" When they're downtown somewhere, just a little drunk They don't talk about the future and put each other in it And get chills with every accidental touch

           He recalls how caring she had been since he came to Lythikos and understanding she had been. He half expected her to slap him around and force him to sleep out in the snow until he stopped wallowing over Riley, but she never did.

I keep telling myself this might be nothing

But one look in your eyes and, God, there's something

           Drake places a hand on the shower wall for balance before using his other hand to stroke himself. It sucks in a quick breath, he couldn’t tell you how long it has been.

           Flashes of Olivia’s surprised face fill his mind as he slides his hand up and down, adding the slightest pressure to the head with his thumb. He thought of her making that face as his fingers slowly trailed down her thighs, his tongue exploring around her outer lips before delicately flicking the tip of his tongue on her clit. He imagines her moaning, her back arching as he slid his fingers into her wetness. He begins to pump his length faster as a deep moan leaves his lips.

           Drake gets lost in his thoughts of Olivia and before long, his breath hitches and spills his cum on the shower wall. Panting, he tries to catch his breath as he uses the shower head to rise off the wall before quickly rinsing himself off.

           He wraps a towel around his waist, cuts the water off and walks into his room. He quickly gets dressed, trying to shove the thoughts he’s just had to the back of his mind.

           I can’t have these thoughts right now. Olivia doesn’t feel that way, I definitely can’t feel that way about her. I can’t do another one-sided relationship.

           He pulls on his shoes, running his finger through his hair to get it out of his face while making a mental note that he needs to get it cut.

           Grabbing his phone, he cuts the music off, allowing the last line he hears to linger in the air.

You can lie to me and say you don't But I know you do, and I love you too

…

Get a little too close We do, but friends don't Uh uh uh Friends don't.

[thequeenofcronuts]

Thin Walls

Hopefully an enjoyable little one shot. I have yet to complete my “fandom obligatory” look at the proposal, but I liked this idea for it, and I hope you do too!

Book: The Royal Romance

Word Count: 1,725 - ish

Pairing: Drake x MC

A/N - I do not own any characters, they are the property of Pixelberry Studios. I just have fun with them.

The Social Season was just as horrible as he thought it would be, but not for his original reasons. He found himself looking forward to going to events and balls, and he stopped standing in the corners. He woke up each morning looking forward to getting out of bed. And worst of all, he liked letting her chip away at the walls he painstakingly built around his heart. Yes, the Social Season was just as horrible as he thought it would be, but only because of her.

Just one night in a New York City dive bar was all it took to fall in love with the unattainable. The next morning his own personal hell flew with him half way across the world, but to win the heart of his best friend. He was going to be lost in the background again. Left in corners of rooms and sent to the tables of the exiles, forced to love her from a distance, or so he thought.

A few short weeks was all it took for him to question all he knew of his past, and where is future was going. During most of his life he never thought he had a sliver of chance for a real future with a real love. It was in that Social Season his world was turned upside down. The life he had known saw all the rules and all the realities unequivocally reversed. Just by one woman from half across the world.

Then soon after there was the absolutely absurd facade of an Engagement Tour that was caused by the circus of a scandal. A scandal which had been a set up to hurt her. Hoping to make her flee, and hoping in succeeding to keep her away. Except it failed, and her strength took her step after step forward knowing she would unravel the puzzle. All the while he spent the time trying desperately to convince himself she was an impossibility for him. Then the unexpected happened and he began to see things differently. All because of the hours of time spent together, and thin walls.

————————

Drake was lying in bed looking at the ceiling for hours. Sleep does not come to those consumed with confusion. It does not come to anyone within a changing world. Every night it was the same routine with his mind going over the stolen glances he caught her giving him. The smile that he learned was one she gave only to him. How she would sit by him at the first chance she could at any event. How she would take his arm unashamed, and sneak off for the moments in between.

Eventually with the days and months marching ahead, he conceded that Riley Brooks made absolutely no sense to him, and yet made all the sense in the world for him. With all the signals in public, in private, and behind the thin walls in between estate rooms and train cars, he let his heart hope. He let his walls come down piece by piece. Everything about Riley challenged him and made him feel at home. Finally at home, a thought he never believed could come to him.

Each time they snuck out of an event or out for the night, she subtly, and not so subtly, she told and showed she cared for him. That she had thoughts about him. That she wanted him. He would have never entertained it was real, except in the quiet of nights he sometimes heard Riley in her room talking to her friend Daniel. He tried not to listen in on their private conversations, but the pillow over his head did little to drown her out, and he could only take so many showers. While he told himself he should put in his AirPods and listen to music he just couldn't, because the conversations Riley had with Daniel were some of the best parts of his days. Drake would hear his name on her lips in these conversations over and over. She told Daniel the things Drake hoped to hear. The conversations were always about him, and never Liam.

But even with all these signs, conversations, and blatant confessions, he still believed he would never be chosen over a king. Especially a king, and man, such as Liam. Just as it had always been for years, he figured he had gotten the attention as long as the fun lasted until the time Liam became available. Then Tariq was found, his statement given, and a broken engagement between Liam and Madeleine happened. He knew his time with Riley was over. There was only one more step in all of this, and he knew it would be coming as soon as Liam could make it happen.

The most dreaded night of his life finally reared its ugly and taunting head. Through the thin walls in between he heard Maxwell and Bertrand getting Riley ready for the big night. When he thought it sounded like they were almost ready to leave, he quietly went down to the lobby bar, and sat waiting. He knew he shouldn't, and couldn't, talk to her but he wanted to see her one last time before she officially promised herself to Liam. He took a long draw of his whiskey waiting for her to exit the elevator. Finally he heard the ding, the doors open, and Bertrand's voice still blabbering last minute useless information. Drake turned just in time to see Riley glide by the bar to the lobby exit. His eyes welled as he saw his gorgeous angel dressed in the most incredible dress he’d ever seen walk right out of his chances for a life with her. Once she was out of the hotel he paid for his drink and went up to his room.

While he waited for her return he considered numerous times to lose himself in a bottle of whiskey, but another part of him wanted to hear her voice once she returned. He loved her with all that was in him, but with that love came the fact that when all was said and done he just wanted her to be happy. Happy no matter how it turned out. So he stayed sober and awake to hear her be the happiest he figured she would ever be, and then he would down a whole bottle of whiskey.

He heard her door unlock and latch closed way before he expected her return. It was very quiet for a while. Deadly still. It wasn't what he expected, but maybe she was just too elated to even call anyone. He expected Maxwell and Hana to rush in with her at anytime, but that wasn't happening either. Finally he heard rustling and draws opening and closing. He was just about to get stared on that bottle of whiskey when he heard her door open and latch closed. Then a heard a soft knock on his door and her small, sweet voice saying his name. He didn't want to open that door, but his body was moving on its own. He took a deep breath and composed himself as best he could knowing he was going to hear, from her no less, he had definitely just lost the love of his life.

He opened the door and there Riley stood in old jeans and a sweatshirt. She stared at him and he noticed she was neither happy nor upset. He stepped aside to let her into the room as she gave him a quiet hello. He nodded his in return not trusting his voice to remain calm. Drake motioned for her to sit in one of the room’s chairs while he took the other across from her. Riley broke the silence finally after what felt like years. “So Drake.” She sighed. He was trying so hard not to cry, yet. “Liam proposed tonight. Obviously I wasn't surprised. Drake I told him-“ He cuts her off before she said the “word” while he was still able to talk. “Congratulations Brooks. I’m really happy for you, for both of you.” Riley just stared at him with her mouth open in what he thought was disbelief. He figured she wasn't expecting him to be so calm about the situation.

She cleared her throat and started over as she looked deeply into his eyes with a fierce sincerity. “Liam proposed to me tonight and I had to tell him no.” After a moment of consideration Drake jumped up from his chair. “What Brooks? Why on earth would you do a thing like that?!” As he continued to stumble for words Riley stood from her chair getting up to her tiptoes and pulled Drake into a kiss. She placed her arms around his neck and he instinctively pulled her into himself tightly while he deepened the kiss. Many moments later they parted trying to catch their breath. He rested his forehead against hers. “I told him no because I love you, you big marshmallow. I chose you. I knew I always would, you just were the one not convinced, you dummy.” Drake stared at her silently for a moment too long for her comfort. “Drake, please say something, anything.”

Instead of words he beamed a gigantic smile while he picked her up in his arms spinning her around until stopping to give her another deep kiss. “Drake, this means you're happy I take it?” She laughed and it filled the room and his opened heart. “More than you can ever know Riley.” He set her down and kissed her again. They cuddled on the bed silently for a while until they both reluctantly agreed she should head back to her room. As soon as Drake’s door closed he flopped back onto his bed with a stupidly massive smile that just wouldn't quit. It was surreal. He was afraid he had fallen asleep and it all was dream. Riley Brooks chose him, Drake Walker. He thought it over and over afraid if stopped it wouldn't be true. But he was brought back to reality when he heard Riley’s squeal of excitement talking to Daniel on FaceTime telling him all about all about her night with Drake Walker. Drake had never been so thankful for thin walls in all his life.

[silviasutton1989]

T.T.K. Ch. 11  “Regret” (NSFW)

A/N: Well you all may have noticed (or may not idk lol) I haven’t posted anything in over a week. My life has been pretty busy. But I also have another idea for a new series that has been taking up a LOT of my attention lately. I think I may post a sneak peak of it in a few weeks. It’s going to be a lot ore fluffier than I’m used to writing but I want to try it out and see if I can do it. Anyway here is Chapter 11 I’m ending it with a major cliff hanger...sorry.

Rating: NSFW (pretty light smut but it’s there) Happy Thirsty Thursday!!

Word Count:1900

Catch Up: Here’s chapter 10 you should probably read this if you don’t know why Riley is in such a funk.

Summary: It’s Riley’s Birthday!! Will her day be fun filled of laughs or a complete disaster? (who am I kidding you know I’m never fun lol)

Through the confines of her comforter the whole world was all grey, with today being today that’s how Riley wanted it. Drake’s side of the bed dip and rises as he pulls her into his chest.

“Happy birthday, baby.”  Drake places the softest of kisses down the back of his fiance’s neck.  She stirs from his touch but only for a moment.

“I just want to sleep.” She pulls the covers over her head blocking another kiss. She's been like this for days.

“Wow…I guess I am rubbing off on you, Sutton.” He chuckles; his hands snake under the cover finding her warm body as he slowly bunches her silk night gown in his hands. “I have to give you your birthday gift.” Drake ducks under the covers, his hands move underneath the nightie quickly cupping her breast with his calloused hands, toying her nipples between his fingers

She moans as he spoons her, unable to stop herself from rubbing against his arousal. But as one of his hands begins to descend down she abruptly stops.

“No.” turning to lay on her back pulling the covers from over her head. “ I don’t deserve morning sex on my birthday.”

“Come on, Sutton. It has been days since that happened no one is talking about. Olivia’s speech saved the day… stop beating yourself up over it.” He tries to pull the covers away but she holds them tight.

“I made a stupid insensitive joke, Drake. Did you see their faces?” She knew he hadn’t. He was too busy whispering what she could only assume were sweet nothings into Kiara’s ear as she completely humiliated herself in front of everyone. They still hadn’t talked about that, not sure exactly how to ask the questions buried deep in her heart. They also hadn't had sex since that day either.

Riley hops out of the bed. “I have to get dressed Liam’s probably waiting for me, turning to avoid her fiance's stare as she walks towards her closet.

“Yeah… How about we just take a break from all of this. Let’s go fishing.” He catches the brief look of disgust on her face before she forms a smile. “Ok we don’t have to go fishing…what ever you want to do. As long as it is not shopping…ok we can go shopping I don’t care.” The rambling only stops when Riley kisses him.

“Let me have this meeting with Liam and we can go anywhere… but fishing ok?”

With another quick kiss she hurries to the bathroom before he can even answer.

In her 25 years Riley never had a birthday party. Being an only child with an over worked grandmother, her birthday was always just another day. In all honesty she never really knew how to celebrate it, as an adult she chose work over giving the day special treatment. When Liam offered to give her a few pointers on diplomacy she jumped at the idea.  Yes Olivia’s speech has been the hot topic lately making her joke all but forgotten. But that didn’t stop the embarrassment, and with the press more focused on Olivia than her she felt something else. Jealousy. She had to be better and if all Drake had planned was a trip to a mosquito infested pond she would spend the day like she had any other, working.

Liam sent her a text to meet him in the Dining Hall. She didn’t think much of it; they would probably go over her dining etiquette or something.

She opens the door and is abruptly hit with shouts of…

“SURPRISE!!!”

Balloons and streamers purple and green line the walls of the dining hall. There wasn’t many guest to her surprise party only the few nobles that stayed on the tour after the recent attack, but everyone one of them she considered a friend…well except for Madeline, friend would be too strong a word.

She was bombarded with hugs everyone wishing her a happy birthday.

As Liam approaches the stunned woman he holds her tightly. “Happy Birthday Riley.”

“Liam did you do all this?” Looking around trying to find Drake in the small crowd.

“Well a little birdie told me that today is your birthday…so with the help from Kiara and her staff we just thought you deserved a party.”

“Bon anniversaire.” Kiara greets her the two side hug awkwardly.

"Thank you." She answers curtly. "Where's Drake?"

"Oh umm.. he's coming. Lady Kiara, you told him about the party? Right" Liam's hands braces tightly on the small of Riley's back. "Don't worry he will be here soon."

Kiara walks away pulling out her phone her fingers taping the board with great speed.

Drake arrives as Riley is opening her gifts. She looks happy, a smile on her face that he hadn't seen in days. Liam only gives him a quick glance as he takes the empty seat next to her as she lift the lid of a large velvet box, to see a single pearl pendant cradled in solid gold chain. The sight of the necklace tightened his whole body, a lump caught in Drake's throat that he couldn't swallow. He painfully smiles at his beaming fiance.

"Wow." she exclaims touching the jewelry with such carefulness. "Is this?" looking at Liam a grin filling his face.

"Yes that is the very pearl I gave you that night in the grotto. You told me to give it to you when you deserved it. You have always deserved it...Happy Birthday." He takes the necklace from the box and begins to place it around her neck.

"That's enough." Drake shouts the site of Liam's hands on her was just too much. He grabs Riley's arm tighter than he knew, pulling her away from Liam. "Let's go."

"What? Why? It's just a necklace Drake." Riley glares at him snatching her wrist back. 

"Is this how you wanted to celebrate your birthday? Being alone with me wasn't fun enough for you?"

"Why does everything have to be so doom and gloom with you Drake? I had fun today until you came in. I just want one day to feel better about myself and you--"

"Well by all means let me leave you to your happiness." Drake turns and walks towards the door, grabbing a full bottle of whiskey on his way out.

"That's not what I meant."She says, mostly to herself, as she watches him leave.

"Drake wait!" Kiara begins to run after him Riley catches her arm before she speeds past her.

"Where the hell are you going?" 

"I'm going to check on your fiance...someone needs to." Kiara gives the woman a once over before snatching her arm free and heading out the door.

The room is dead silent. 

Riley stands in the middle of the ball room The party music playing lightly in the background but she can't get her mind off of the look in Drake's eyes.

"Hey he will be ok just give him some time to cool down." Liam touches her shoulder as she watches the closed door.

"Yeah you're right." She turns to watch her remaining friends. Olivia and Maxwell Hana and a few others stand near a lightened cake as they begin to sing Happy Birthday to her. She made the choice to stay.To enjoy the party she never had,and years from now when her birthday comes along that choice is always the one she forever regrets.

One drink.

That's all it took, well that's not entirely true. It took several drinks.  An empty bottle of Crown Royal Apple still sits on the balcony left behind by the horny drunks that abandoned it.

 It didn't take long for the sexually frustrated couple to find a quite dark room.

He locks the door not bothering to cut on the light. He didn't need to see her body to find the exact spots he wanted to touch with his mouth and hands. Their pants fall to the floor simultaneously, the rest of their clothing thrown into the depths of darkness around them.

She moans so lightly into his ear, nibbling on the thick skin of muscle from his shoulder blade lightly dragging her fingernails down his bare back cupping his ass to pull him in closer. She had forgotten how good it felt to be touched...by him.

He let his other senses take over: the smell of her apple puree shampoo, the taste of her lips as his tongue seeks entrance. The sound of her moans echoing the void around them. 

She lays on the bed watching as the man crawls above her. Through the light of the moon peeking from the blinds she manages to see the condom slide on his length. She sees the smile creep upon his face as his hands begin to slide down her chest teasingly brushing past her nipples, further down her sides to her hips landing at her thighs, gripping her limbs before spreading her open.

"You are perfect." He groans.

"You can't even see me."

"I've seen you naked before..." he descends upon her, the tip of his cock brushes her clit sending a shock through her body. In her ear he whispers, " and believe me you are too fucking tempting for words.  "

She doesn't respond. How could she dispute that? Wrapping her legs around his waist, she arches her body pulling him closer to her center, until he finally enters. Like a piece to a puzzle they fit so perfectly. They both cry out in pleasure. Had they been sober these two would never be in this bed. He would never tell her how tight or wet she felt as he slides in and out of her. She would never suck so tightly onto his neck to stifle her moans, nails digging into his ass as his thrusts into her began to  speed up.

The head board starts to knock against the wall. Titillating sounds break from the darkness of their oasis reaching the hallways of the mansion. Sounds of wet flesh mixed with cries and groans rival the beat of the bed. The harmony is steady as if there's no end to this melody but eventually reaching its crescendo. Their screams could have been heard down the stair case echoing through the empty foyer. And then silence.

The sun shines on her, waking her to a new day and to the realization of the man sleeping next to her. 

This was NOT supposed to happen..not again. But it did. It did happened, the slight pain in her groin her freshly swollen lips, affirmation that she did have sex with....she has to get out of here before he wakes up. Maybe he wouldn't remember...they were both pretty drunk maybe she can just pretend like the whole thing never happened and he will just think it was all a dream.

She slides out of the bed carefully watching the tousled dark hair on the pillow as she gathers her clothes praying that he stays asleep. Grabbing her heels she bolts to the door. But before she could even reach the knob he sits up and she is cemented to the floor.

The two stare at each other. First he looks confused searching around the room then back at her for answers. It only took a second for them to all come back to him. His eyes widen, his mouth opens but no words come out. Then he looks at her with a glance she knew all too well...regret and she retreats out the door.

Tag List: Ok so I do not want to upset anyone so I’m going to put this with the tags every time. If you want to be on the tag list permanently (this one is randomly selected with some permanent in as well)  let me know. If you DO NOT want to be tagged ever just send me a message I will not be upset.

@walkerismychoice@darley1101@speedyoperarascalparty@mfackenthal @jadedpixiescribbles@boneandfur @andy-loves-corgis   @blackcatkita@missevabean@snyggflicka@stopforamoment @agent-zephyrkah @endlessly-searching-for-you  @indiacater@choiceswreckedme @tmarie82@liam-rhys@viktoriapetit@alicars @jlouise88@mrsdrakewalkerblog@walkerisbae@butindeed@greyeyedsmile14 @barbaravalentino @mymandrake@client327 @confessionsofabrokegirl

[zane-rapha-the-mun]

The Transformation: Paradigm shift. Ch-1 By Zane Rapha

Prolog: May of 2020

    'The dark-haired woman sat silent, I counted the seconds as they went by, 4 minutes and 37 seconds. To say the least, I know she is mad.'     She gave him a stern glare as she reached for the top drawer in her desk and pulled out a red folder, labeled Special Agent's File 417- Zane Morningstar, before starting to read from the top page.

     "Special agent Zane Morningstar. DOB: 12/22/1998. Age 22. 5ft-7in. 140lb, Eye color: Blue. Hair: black, Left handed. Male. History: Unknown. Family... Let's see... Mother: Cora Morningstar, Deceased. Father: Unknown. Siblings: None. Childhood home: St. Ann's Home for Children.     And yet even though you have had it rough, it also says your the youngest agent to have ever graduated out of Quantico. Known as one of the smartest people in the world having an IQ of 163 on the Stanford test. Also known for holding a World Guinness record for most cases solved, given you have been providing information anonymously via letters to the leading agents or detectives on the cases starting at the age of 12.     Now I like an underdog as much as the next guy but it is no excuse for drinking your problems away, Acting like a complete fool at my crime scene, and publicly mistreating your partner?!" She shouted in his face.

    His face was flush red, a color not common for him.     'She has a right to be angry at this juncture, yet she is exaggerating a bit.'

    "I'm... Sorry? However, I must inform you that is an exaggeration."     "Oh! Is that so?" She said with clear sarcasm.      " Well, for one, I drink only a glass of wine in the evening, just to calm my nerves. Also, if acting like a fool is what you call it when I do my job, then yes, otherwise, I was not. AND!-"     "SHUT THE HELL UP! That was not a real question smart-ass." She fumed, clearly not enjoying my humor in all this.     "Well, you don't have to be so rude!"     "You know what, your right! I can just do This!" She said sliding the paperwork across the desk. "You get to fill all this out on your days off from now on."     'It's old cold cases from last year. Does she really think this will be an issue?'    "I know your thinking, What, is that all? NO! You are being reassigned to a new partner who won't take your shit! Say hello to Agent Sian." She said pointing to the door.    He looked, to the door and saw them standing there listening in on their conversation.     'This girl is quiet, I didn't hear a peep from her this whole time. She is going to be intriguing.'

--Chapter 1: Just a Gear in the Machine--

Dec 2021

      There was a sound of a blood-curdling shriek that filled the back alleys of the bustling city block ahead of me. No one seemed to hear the screams but instead chose to ignore it, as if it is not there. I still moved quickly but cautiously towards the sound, a little frightened of what I will find.

    'Why must I be here?' I think to myself as I watch everyone pretend the world is on their phones and nothing else is real. Then, without thinking I unholster my sidearm, running into the alley, and I call out quickly, "FBI! Freeze, Drop your weapons!" Nothing was there. It was just a shadow casting off a dumpster as a dimly lit side building lamp flickered, a woman's shoe sat at the base of it.     'Clearly, something is wrong here.' I thought to myself before looking around the alleyway and questioned anyone who might have seen something to find no one had seen a thing.     "Just Typical! People keep their heads down when the FBI ask questions." I said to myself in frustration. 'At least there seems to be a boot print in the mud by the garbage bin. I took out my pen which I have markings for measurements. 14 inches and the depth is 3 centimeters. This guy is big and tall. Most likely male based on the shoe size. Most females don't get that big. Might be in the 6ft and up range.     I then received a call in to report on my radio. I soon reported in. "We may have a 207 or a 10-54 at the 42ed east and 14 broad back alleys possible male suspect may be in the 5'7 to 6ft range."     A static sound filled my radio before the noise of the other agent repeating 10-1 came through. 'Why would there be poor reception out here? Someone must have a jammer. Anyhow, I'll report back at HQ, and there will be a squad out here.'     After I walked a few feet away the static cleared, "10-4, Go home. I will want a briefing in the morning."     I responded quickly. "10-10, Boss." 'That's a bit unusual... and not by the books. I'll need to look into this.' I thought to myself.

    As I walked home, the sensation of having eyes on my back grew stronger. 'Someone is watching me, but who?' I questioned myself in thought. 'This is strange. No footsteps. Where did the people go? Why am I so dizzy?' I looked down to the ground unsteady, almost fainting. 'I need to go home now.' I quickened my pace to get home as soon as I could. Finding my keys as I ran to the door. I entered the pin for my apartment *0419* The gate door chimed, and the latch clicked open. The door was open and soon locked behind me. 'Whoever is following me will find it hard to get in this place.' I thought as I looked at the door to see if anyone passed it. Running up the two flights of stairs I soon re-found my apartment key now having the right door. I entered the clean and well-kept studio apartment. One of which most would think belonged to someone with OCD. I flipped the lights on and closed the door behind me. I checked the locks on the door before moving over to the windows. I checked the locks on the sliding steel bars. "Safe," I said with a sigh of relief. Walking over to the kitchen too poured myself a glass of red wine, sipping on it for a minute before going to my desk where my all black desktop sat. I moved the mouse to hear the roar of the fans in the tower come to life. Timestamp 12/3/2021 10:27 PM.     'Damn, it's late. I have to get that report in before 12. I hope I can get it done on time.' I thought to myself as I set my wine down and sighed into FBI server and started on my report.

    The next morning, I arrived at the office to discover it had become a crime scene.  My boss was found dead and was being carried off in a body bag.  There was yellow tape everywhere. "What happened here?" I shout. "Why is he dead? I just spoke to him last night!" I said, frightened and angry, "What the hell happened to him?"    "The Director needs to talk with you." Special Agent Sian said.  "Very well then," I said. "Do you know what happened here, Agent?"    "That is what the Director needs to speak to you about."    I hurried to the Director's Office with a horrible feeling of dread. 'This is going to be bad.'    I knocked on the closed door, and hesitantly entered the superior agent's office. "Welcome, Agent Morningstar, thank you for coming in, please take a seat. I need to speak to you about something important."    "As I'm sure you have been made aware, the Assistant Director, Maxwell Horren has recently passed."    "How did he die?" I asked.    "We are still looking into that, Agent Morningstar, but we suspect suicide. The circumstances of his death are still under investigation at this time." He said before a long drawn-out sigh escaped. "I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to hand in your service weapon and shield, you are under suspension pending the conclusion of the coroner's inquest. At this time, you are the last known person to see him alive, and we need to consider all possibilities of his death. I'm sorry, but you know this is only a formality as you were here last night, at the suspected time of his death. So, you will remain a suspect until this is settled and until then, Agent Morningstar, I expect you to remain cooperative."    "You can't do that, I wasn't here last night, I did my report on my home PC and Sent it in at 11:45 PM.  I was on a case and then went back home. I wasn't here at all yesterday."     "Yes, you were. I saw you getting coffee for Maxwell when I left at 9:00 PM. Your report was submitted at 9:40 PM and our records show you checked out at 10:00 PM, which matches the footage of you leaving the lobby. His suspected time of death is between 9:30 and 10:00, so if it was not suicide, you are our prime suspect! I'm sorry, but I have to ask you not to leave the city at this time. Do you understand?"      "Yes," I replied begrudgingly as I placed my sidearm and badge on the table.      "I'll update you on what we find as soon as possible, Mr. Morningstar, goodbye." He said getting up to show me the door.

                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I left the FBI headquarters suspended pending this damn investigation! I'm now a possible murder suspect! 'What did he mean when he said he saw me there? I know I was not there, and why say my report was sent at 9:40? No that is not right, I sent it in at 11:45, I swear... I don't know what is going on here, but this is bad. I need to check my computer when I get home, but I can't set on the couch and do nothing, I have to take action right away. Are they trying to frame me for Max's death? If this is going down the way it seems to be; I must speak to Kate on this matter. She'll know what is going on and she'll see what I should do.' I thought to myself as I walked to the children's hospital.

   Kathryn Morgen, Age 22. 5 foot 6 inches, 147 lb, Eye color brown, hair brown, Right-handed Female, works as a C.I.A. Agent, she also volunteers her spare time at the children's hospital, to help out the staff with excess paperwork overload. She can often be found at the front desk filing intake papers with a smile. Her kindness and generosity exceed imagination. Not only that but she is a world-renowned mathematician having an IQ of 157 and three books on theorems and formulas. She is also Zane Morningstar's foster sister and best friend since they were kids.

   "Hey Zane, how is my favorite person?" Kate asked endearingly.      "I need to talk to you. Your C.I.A. connections. Perhaps you can find out why I'm being framed?" I asked, hesitant of her response.    "Framed for what?" She asked, raising a brow in suspicion.    "They are trying to frame me for Max's death," I Stated.     "Wait, what?! Maxy is dead?..." She looked down trying to process the information. "When?" She questioned hesitantly with a sad expression.     "Last night apparently. They said between 9:30 and 10:00 PM," I replied quickly trying to get her to move this along.     "Okay... Right. So that would be when you were working at the office last night. Oh, so you are a suspect since you were there?" Kate asked.     "No, I was on a case. You know, the one I told you about last night, where I heard a woman screaming, and when I arrived, no one was there. She poofed. I can't explain it! No evidence of her or anything aside from a shoe and then I was asked to go home by Max with no explanation." I explained with only a confused expression as my reply.     "I had just gone home at 10:27 and filed my report." I continued only to get her shaking her head no.     "I talked to you all last night after I finished my report, remember?" I said.     "No! At around 10 PM last night, you called me to tell me you were going to be busy all day today, and that you would come over to visit me tonight!  Whatever you are talking about with this case and no one being there, you never said a word to me about this. What happened? Did you forget, and have a dream that you told me about this case? Because I don't recall you telling me about that case at all!"    "I see... I have to go, I'm sorry!" I said before rushing to get outside.    "Okay, bye!" She yelled as I opened the doors.    'I hate to leave Kate like that abruptly, but I need to go home, Now!' I thought to myself as I ran from the hospital.

 'Okay, that was very strange,' I shuttered, in thought. Now in a panic, I moved fast through the city, passing a tall man with long black hair holding out roses to a little girl as I ran. 'I don't remember any of that conversation happening like that. I need to check the date for today!'

  As soon as I arrived home, I then went directly to my desk computer. I needed to check my files and confirm the time and date stamp on my reports. I found that all of my sent files were gone and I couldn't log in to the FBI at this time. Everything that I know I did yesterday is missing.     "FUCK. What the hell is happening here? I need to check my personal journals."     Maybe I can use it as evidence, I kept a detailed record of everything that happened, and some proof too, I kept photos in it. I always keep daily journal entries in precise detail, before I go to sleep each night. I know that no one could have tampered with it. I went to my antique desk, that has been rigged to conceal my secret documents. I doubt anyone knows I keep a journal And, even if someone found out, it is even more unlikely they could find my hidden desk compartment.   I sat down at the stained wooden desk and reached into the fountain pen drawer to retrieve the secret key stashed inside a hollow fountain pen. Then I reached behind the retractable keyboard tray, to locate the key latch for the locked file box. I opened the file box without looking because experience with my daily writing exercise made me familiar with the lock by touch alone. I retrieved my book and began to review my last entry. As I started reading, I discovered that there was indeed an entry for yesterday. However, the page had been ripped out of the book. My computer says it is 12/6/2021, but the entries for the 3rd 4th and the 5th are gone. This is strange, no page has ever been torn from my Journal by me. Now, there are only ragged edges.    'Okay, who has figured out I had journals? No one knows about my writings. Not even Kate knows. No one knows. So how did this happen?'     I can't fathom who or what could do this, or why they would want to. Who would go this far to frame me for a murder I never committed? I mean My memories of the past two days are gone.    'Why would anyone do this to me?', I thought. I reflect back on how careful and methodical I have always been with my undercover work. I have never blown my cover. No criminal I have ever successfully caught and arrested has ever discovered the truth of who I am. I am so cautious that few people even know where I live.     I am more concerned right now than I have ever been in my entire life, but a form of rage is rising to take the place of my fear. I begin pacing the room as my anxiety increases. I find myself moving toward the windows, to check if all the locks are secure. There are no signs of a breach of the home. 'How did two days disappear from my memory? And why?' I questioned.

    While looking out the window I saw a very tall man, wearing a Black hat with long curly black hair and a long dark gray trench coat.     'Wait a minute; he's the guy I passed by at the hospital handing a girl a rose.' I thought to myself in shock. I reach for my sidearm to find it missing.     "Fuck it to hell, I'm unarmed," I said to myself before grabbing a hidden flip knife from the kitchen and moving fast to the door and running down the stairs.     'This is crazy. No sidearm, no badge, No backup. I'm running in blind to a potentially dangers situation with only a flip knife. Fuck!' I thought in a panic as I slipped the knife into my pocket before running outside.     Now outside of my apartment, he was lurking next to the bus stop out front. It is as though I can feel his presence calling me to come to him. I know he's trying to lure me someplace quiet. I see a glimpse of his eye, and I start to follow him as he leads me down the sidewalk. After a few paces, he walked down an alley; I choose to go. I begin to walk toward him, though I can't think of a good reason for doing so aside from instinct. I soon realized I am making a terrible mistake as I continue towards him and catch a glimpse of the man's face.   As I move closer to him, I finally question why I am even out here doing this. I am a very well trained agent; I should know better than to do this alone.     'I have a 1 in 5 chance of being raped, a 20% chance of being kidnapped and a 1 in 6,100 of being murdered. I'm a suspect in a murder case, so chances are my life is over, and I'm walking towards a stranger who I suspect of killing a woman. I don't like my odds here. Even if I get out of this alive, I most likely won't like the results of the case. I should go to Max's Apartment and see if there is a suicide note. If someone did kill him, there should be none.'     My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by what can only be described as a deep, smooth voice. I realized that while my mind was racing my body continued to move toward the danger. Suddenly, I found myself trapped in a narrow alley with my body pinned against a brick wall.    "Now, aren't you interesting. May I offer you a gift?"    The man reached into his trench coat pocket to pulled out something but waited. "What's your favorite color? Come now don't be shy."     "I am FBI Agent, Zane Morningstar. I have a few questions for you, sir. To start where you the night of December 3rd?     The man smirked. "There is no need for that, I know you know I was there. But don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just trying to give you a gift."     I gave him a fearsome look as I imagined all the things that he could possibly do to me at this point. I have few options, I need to position myself out from against the wall and find a better angle to deal with a guy like this fast before things get out of hand. "Listen, whatever you did, I need you to tell me now. Things only get worse from here on out unless you turn yourself in." I stated calmly reaching for my holster. 'Perhaps he won't notice that I don't have a gun..'     "You know it's not very nice to try playing games with me. I could offer you an end to keeping that little mouth of yours shut forever." He said sounding devious as if he would enjoy the challenge.    "You are a choice little sick fuck aren't you? How dare you! Who the hell do you think you are? Do you even realize that you just threatened a federal agent? I should arrest you!" I retorted trying to keep my voice stable.     His smirk widened with a slight uneasiness to it, it was as if the prospect made him laugh a little inside. His black and oily razor-sharp teeth exposing themselves, dripping onto the pavement. "No, I'm afraid you're not. See, you're not a cop or an agent right now, and it is you who doesn't have a clue who they are talking to, or what for that matter. However, that is beside the point. I'm going to show you a trick, and all you need to do is accept my gift. Okay? Now, I'll ask again. What is your favorite color? Doesn't have to be your favorite, just name one you want."     "I refuse to entertain you any further. Get out of my way!" I said firmly as I tried to assert my authority.    "Oh dear, Very well then. I must say that was a very dumb move on your part human, I may just give you a chance since I'm in a good hunting mood. Maybe I can have some fun with you," he said. Before standing upright.    'Taller than six foot... He's in the eight range, but how?' I thought to myself in wonder, before looking at his face better as he tilted it to one side. He has one eye, and its iris is Red. 'What is this thing?'                                                        ~ ~ ~ ~                                                

[pug-bitch]

That’s not why I’m going (21)

Time to let go

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Drake Walker x Amara Suarez

Rating: some foul language, some extremely suggestive, and a VERY steamy scene. This is absolutely NOT appropriate for people under 18.

Word count: 3,875 (let me know if the ‘keep reading’ cutoff isn’t working well!)

Notes: This starts the next morning, after the big Bastien reveal, at breakfast, with Amara’s POV.

*****

Amara was anxiously waiting for Drake’s reaction, after giving him the flip phone the next morning. The gang--Drake, Amara, Max, Hana, and Olivia--had met after breakfast, once everyone had left. They didn’t have any events that evening, so they all decided to stay put at Ramsford.

‘So? What do you say?’ Amara asks Drake, all the while glancing at Olivia.

Drake shakes his head, his face reddening. ‘What the hell. I can’t believe he would betray--’

‘Calm the fuck down, Walker,’ Olivia said placidly. ‘Getting angry won’t solve it. I know you like your little substitute Daddy, but let’s be honest here, he’s not exactly the most fun dude in history.’

‘Olivia, he’s not a dad substitute, he’s a family friend. I trusted him. Don’t you understand?’

Amara steps in. ‘We do understand, Drake. What is really crucial now, is that you don’t talk to him about it. We have no further proof than him disposing of the phone. He could have been doing this on behalf of someone else, and if we talk to him, he may report us.’

Drake takes a deep breath and nods. ‘You’re right. Sorry. I won’t say anything.’

‘Good. We’ll keep an eye out for anything suspicious, but unfortunately, for now, there is nothing else we can do. When we see Bastien again tomorrow though, all of us should be on our guard. We need to have him within eyesight at all times to see who he talks to, and if he gets another burner phone. Besides that...nothing we can control.’ Amara continues. ‘Hana, how are you doing, sweetie?’

The young woman plasters on a big smile. Fake it til you make it, Amara thinks. ‘I’m okay, thanks Amara. I...haven’t received anything from my parents, so I’m assuming the news still hasn’t gone international. But I’ve made a decision.’

Everyone looks at Hana expectantly.

She continues, ‘I’m gonna own up to it. I need to talk to Liam about how to go about it, because I don’t want to hijack his social season, of course. But this whole ordeal just showed me that it’s time.’

Amara reaches across the table and takes Hana’s hand in hers. ‘You sure, babe?’

Hana nods. ‘Yes. I’m 28 years old, it’s time I took my life in my own hands. Plus, seeing this picture of Caroline again…’ she blushes, and takes a sip of her coffee.

Amara looks at Drake, and they exchange a brief smile. ‘Caroline, the woman on the picture?’ Amara asks.

Hana nods. ‘We were together in college, at Oxford. For almost three years. I broke up with her when I went back to China after we graduated. I...couldn’t be honest about her to my parents.’

Max chimes in, ‘Do you regret it?’

‘I do. I know she’s probably forgotten about me now, but I haven’t. It doesn’t matter, though. All it means is, I’m ready now. I’m gonna come out.’

*****

Amara and Drake sit on the balcony, the only two remaining after everyone is gone. Drake is stroking her hair, taking in the view as they sip their coffee in comfortable silence.

‘I missed you last night,’ he finally says.

She smiles. ‘So did I… that’s why I couldn’t sleep. Hence the late night phone rescue mission.’

Drake chuckles. He shouldn’t laugh at that. He was still upset at Bastien’s betrayal, but as Amara said, nothing they could do now. ‘Productive. Did you get any sleep after?’

Amara puts her mug down, looks around, and gets even closer to Drake. She whispers, ‘No. I looked at the employee files from Bertrand. You know, to find the account number that receives the monthly money.’

‘Did you find it?’

She nods. ‘Yup. Does the name Albert Saunier ring a bell?’

Drake gasps. Albert was well known around court. ‘That’s their accountant. He does the books for the Beaumonts, and did my parents’ taxes, too.’

Amara nods again. ‘Well. I guess he found a way to get around the books.’

‘Fuck,’ Drake whispers. ‘I can’t believe he’s scamming them. That’s it? That’s why they’re broke?’

‘I don’t know, though. That’s too simple, right?’ Amara takes another sip of coffee. Drake can’t help but notice how beautiful she looks in the sunlight. She continues. ‘I mean, Bertrand keeps receipts for everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, Drake. He buys a new shirt, he puts the receipt in his files. Batteries, even, he documents. How could he not notice? It’s the same amount, a considerable one, every month. It goes to the same account, but with various pretend purposes. Most of them upkeep of the estate. Bertrand would know if any work was being done around Ramsford.’

Drake nods. Unable to resist, he closes in the distance between himself and Amara and captures her lips in a passionate kiss. She kisses him back, and they sit there, tangled, for a while.

Breathlessly, Amara smiles. ‘What was that for?’

‘You’re hot when you’re investigating.’

‘Well, get used to it, Walker, because this is only the beginning.’

‘I guess I’m gonna have to learn to keep it in my pants, then.’

She smirks. ‘No, that’s not what I meant,’ she says before kissing him again, deeper this time. Drake’s blood runs hot through his veins. He pulls Amara closer, until she’s straddling his lap, still kissing him.

‘Wow,’ she says as they catch their breath. ‘We should stop. With everything that’s happening…’

Drake nods. Of course she’s right. But it doesn’t make it ok. He wishes he could whisk her away for the night, but he knows her too well: she won’t want to leave Hana in this trying time, and deep down, Drake doesn’t either. He doesn’t protest when Amara gets up from his lap and gets back to her chair, even though all he wants to do is hold her back and kiss her more. They’re gonna have to be careful, he knows that. But he doesn’t know how long he can pull that off.

‘Hey guys,’ Olivia’s voice interrupts them, as she comes back to the balcony, frantically looking everywhere. ‘Did you see my phone by any chance?’

Amara shakes her head. ‘No, I don’t think so. Where did you last see it?’

‘I thought I’d left it in my room but it’s not there. Maybe I brought it down with me.’ She looks around some more, and quickly gives up. ‘Oh well. I must not have looked hard enough upstairs. What’s everyone up to today?’

Drake shrugs. ‘I don’t know. Nothing is planned at court until tomorrow’s brunch with the King and Queen, so I guess we’re free to do whatever.’

Olivia smirks. ‘Look at you, Walker, abiding by the rules of court. If anyone is interested, I’ll be in the Beaumont armory this afternoon. I want to see the goods.’

She waves and walks away. Drake locks eyes with Amara, and they both laugh heartily. ‘Oh Liv,’ Amara says. ‘Only she would call antique weaponry ‘the goods’.’

‘Heh. True. Well, if you want to go visit the armory, I’ll go with you. It could be fun.’

The truth is, Drake could not care less about seeing the weapons. He had seen them countless times already. All he wants is to spend time with Amara. She seems to catch on and responds ‘I’d like that. But before that, I’d like to make a couple of phone calls to France. I found single mom support associations in Paris and daycare facilities that I’d like to call.’

Damn, Drake thinks. She never stops. He kisses her hand and holds it in his for a long time, until Maxwell comes to interrupt them, and Amara leaves to go investigate in her room.

*****

‘Merci beaucoup, Madame. J’apprécie votre aide, vraiment. Bonne journée à vous.’

Amara hangs up and looks at the time. Two hours she just spent, calling people to ask about Savannah. Two minutes ago, she had lost hope. No one knew anyone by that name, until she called this one association for young moms in the 10th arrondissement, very close to the bank in which Savannah had opened her account. The woman had hesitated at first, but Amara knew how to make people trust her. Whenever they had to get a difficult testimony, Jamie would always let her lead. She was the younger one, and that helped, but she was also gentler, and at heart a people person. The woman on the phone let go of her guard very easily.

She looks at the address she just jotted down on her notebook. This could be it.

She is startled by a sharp knock on her door. Quickly, she tucks the notebook under her iPad. ‘Come in!’

Bertrand lets himself in, a serious smile on his face. ‘Hello, Lady Amara. How are you doing?’

‘I’m good, how are you?’

‘Great. I wanted to personally greet you, and make sure you are recovering from the scandal from last night. I just spoke to Lady Hana, she looks determined to take matters into her own hands.’

‘Yes, she is very strong,’ Amara adds. ‘She’ll be ok. And I’m fine. I just would like to know who is doing this to her.’

She watches Bertrand intently, hoping not to see anything suspicious in his eyes. He fumbles a bit, still unreadable, until he finally responds, ‘Well, yes, I would like to know as well. A good woman such as Lady Hana, who would want to tarnish her reputation?’

Amara, ticked off, frowns. ‘What do you mean, tarnish? There’s nothing wrong with the picture that was sent. That’s not what’s wrong. What is wrong is that her choice was taken from her, her choice to come out or not.’

Bertrand blushes and loses his smile for a bit. ‘Of course. That’s what I meant. Of course.’ He pauses for a long time. ‘In any case, I’m assuming she will withdraw from the competition. Or, at the very least, be ineligible. Which, as bad as this sounds, is a plus for us.’

Amara had almost forgotten about Bertrand’s vested interest in her victory. She forces a smile. Now is not the time for breaking the façade. ‘Sure.’

A smile illuminates Bertrand’s face. ‘Great. I’ve arranged for a one-on-one between you and Prince Liam tomorrow, after the brunch. He said he’ll take you for a walk if the weather is nice.’

Great, Amara thinks. Thankfully, Liam seems to have calmed down since Hana-gate, and she didn’t feel as threatened by him anymore. Still, this was a bummer. ‘Thank you, Duke Ramsford. I appreciate it.’

He nods and turns around. Against her better judgment, Amara catches herself calling him back into the room. ‘Bertrand?’

He turns back and says, ‘Yes?’

For some reason, she cannot stop herself from talking. Maybe it’s the excitement from almost cracking the Savannah case. Maybe it’s just because she’s lost her police manners. ‘You put a lot of emphasis on reputation, right?’

Bertrand’s eyes lose focus for a split second, and he fixes his posture. ‘Well of course. When you are part of the nobility, you have a duty to protect your house’s reputation.’

‘Sure. I get that. Would you say you’d do anything to protect it, though?’

Bertrand scoffs. ‘Everything within the limits of decency, yes. Why is that, Lady Amara?’

Amara gives him a feeble smile. She truly cannot stop herself. She has to know if the man she has been trusting has been lying to everyone. ‘No reason. I was just wondering if buying someone off would be within the limits of decency.’

Bertrand’s face reddens. ‘What? What in the world are you talking about?’

‘Nothing. Just wondering why you’re always worried about your finances, and always saying House Beaumont is broke. Could it be the price of your reputation?’

Bertrand looks as if he may explode. ‘I’m not going to even grant this with a response. As you pointed out, Lady Amara, I do not have the financial means to kick you out, because we need your participation. But let me tell you, young lady, you are on thin ice. What you’re insinuating…’

‘Wow, Bertrand, I’m like 5 years younger than you. Calm down. Can we talk frankly? I’m not gonna do anything. I just want the truth.’

She notices that Bertrand’s hands are shaking. ‘What do you want?’

Suddenly, she feels terribly about making him feel this way, but she truly cannot stop herself. She has uncovered a secret, now she has to go all the way. ‘I want to know why Albert Saunier is getting the same amount of money from you every month.’

From red, Bertrand’s face turns white almost immediately. ‘How...how on Earth…?’

So, he knows. He’s not being scammed, he is completely aware of this mysterious transaction. ‘It doesn’t matter. Why are you paying him off? This amount is a lot bigger than just his wages, Bertrand. Are you buying his services for something? His silence, maybe?’

His face falls. ‘This doesn’t concern you. Now please, whatever you’ve been doing, stop it. My brother doesn’t need any more silly ideas implanted in his head. Let’s forget about this conversation.’

He turns around, hesitates for a couple of seconds with his hand on the doorknob, but finally turns it and leaves. Amara sits there, breathless, for a few minutes. He may be right. This doesn’t concern her, not really. But she’s come to really love these people, especially Maxwell, whom she considers like a brother. If Bertrand is hiding something from him, she wants to help him find out.

She takes a deep breath. She’ll figure all of this out later. For now, she wants to tell Drake about her new Savannah findings.

She knocks on his door, and he tells her to come in. She finds him lying on his bed, reading a book. ‘Hey Suarez,’ he says, his face lighting up as she comes in.

‘Hey Walker. Do you have a minute?’

‘For you, always.’

He gets up, peeks his head in the hallway to make sure no one is around, and locks the door. He approaches his window and closes the blinds, too. Amara smiles, watching him. She can’t help but think he’s both adorable and sexy, caring about their privacy, all the while hoping she is here to have sex with him. It’s true that she did not come with this particular agenda, but seeing him in this plain white T-shirt, his hair gently tousled from his reading position… maybe the privacy is an added bonus.

But first, the investigation. ‘I found something. On Savannah, potentially.’

Drake’s eyes widen. ‘Really?’

‘Yeah,’ Amara responds while sitting on his bed. He sits right next to her, and remains silent while he waits for more information. ‘I called a bunch of places, and no luck. But this one association… They have a Savannah, who has a one-year-old. The lady says she comes once every couple of weeks for a mom support group. They have a daycare on the premises but she told me the little boy has never stayed there. He comes along for group, but the mom doesn’t leave him there. The lady doesn’t even know the kid’s name. But the place is in the 10th arrondissement, which makes sense geographically, and Drake...this girl told them she was called Savannah Lemarcheur. Do you know what that means?’

Drake’s eyes widen some more. ‘Does that mean…?’

Amara nods excitedly. ‘Yup. It means Walker in French.’

*****

Drake can’t believe that Amara pulled it off. She did tell him that nothing was certain, she just has an address and still has to work on finding a phone number, but it’s a solid lead, and that’s more than anyone has found in the past two years.

‘Thank you, Amara. Thank you for doing all of this...for me.’ He cups her cheeks in his hands and places a soft kiss on her lips.

‘Of course I want to do this for you, Drake. I’m glad I can help. I hope I find her…’

She kisses him back, deeper this time. He doesn’t want to rush her, he knows she is worried about this climate of fear, worried about them getting caught.

But she doesn’t seem to be too worried right now. Before he realizes it, she is straddling him again, just as they had left off outside, earlier. Her kiss is more pressing, and he feels his pants get extremely tight. He lets out a moan as she pulls his T-shirt above his head.

Her hands roam all over his chest, and he cannot resist any longer, he has to feel closer to her, without the constraints of her clothes getting in the way. Still tangled in a kiss, he has trouble cracking the code of her dress, and his hands look for the answer all over her chest and back. Finally, he finds the zipper right under her arm, and undoes it quickly. She swiftly removes both her straps, leaving her in a cream lace bra, which compliments her olive skin.

‘Fuck, you’re so beautiful,’ he whispers into their kiss.

She lifts herself up and expertly unzips Drake’s pants, which he promptly removes, along with his boxers. He then slides Amara’s panties to the side and teases her already wet entrance with the length of his cock. She rubs herself onto him, almost taking him in with each stroke. Once they both cannot wait any longer, Amara takes Drake’s throbbing penis in her hand and guides him towards her slit. As he goes in, they both gasp slightly, still deeply enmeshed in their kiss.

*****

Amara is still smiling uncontrollably as she zips her dress back up. It had felt like two months since they’ve slept apart, even though it had only been one night. Still, this little late morning escapade was most welcome.

She looks at Drake, who is pulling up his jeans, a smile also adorning his face. ‘You’re gorgeous, Suarez,’ he says.

‘So are you, Walker.’ She gets closer to him and captures his lips in a kiss, before heading out. It will be lunch time soon, and now that Bertrand is back, he won’t appreciate them being late.

Bertrand. Amara had already forgotten how harsh she’d been with him. She debates telling Drake about their conversation, but changes her mind. She doesn’t know enough, yet.

She leaves discreetly, and heads towards the outdoors patio, where they will serve lunch soon. She wonders if she’s been too mean to Bertrand. After all, the payments had been going on for as long as she could tell, months, probably years even. There was very little chance this was linked to the Hana leak, but she could not be 100% sure until she had more information.

When she arrives outside, her friends are already at the table, having what looks like lemonade but what was probably something alcoholic, judging from Hana’s giggle. Still, it felt good to hear her friend laugh again.

‘Hey Amara!’ Hana calls her over excitedly. ‘We’re having Beaumont Lemonade. It’s lemonade, but with vodka and limoncello. Have one!’

Amara smiles and nods. Max pours her a drink, which she tastes right away. The Beaumont Lemonade is definitely the best lemonade she’s ever tasted.

She sits down in front of Hana and next to Olivia, who is texting furiously. ‘Hey Liv, you little millennial, you found your phone?’

‘Hm? Yeah, I did,’ Liv absentmindedly responds. ‘It was on my bed all along, I guess. Those lemonades are good, Beaumont.’

‘Oh thanks,’ Maxwell says, ‘I invented them. Amara, where’s Drake? I’ll go get the salad and the sandwiches when he comes down. Bertrand isn’t feeling well, he won’t join us for lunch.’

Amara blushes. Damn, that might be her fault. ‘Oh, that’s too bad. Drake’s upstairs, he’s coming down soon.’

‘You mean he just went down and now he’s coming down?’ Olivia smirks, finally putting her phone down.

Hana bursts into laughter. ‘Haha, that was hilarious, Olivia! Good one!’

‘Thanks, Lee. Maybe slow down on the vodka, girl.’

Hana shrugs. ‘Why would I? I finally feel good again. I talked to Liam on the phone and we’re meeting tomorrow to discuss a time for me to come out publicly. I feel good, guys.’

She clinks her glass to Amara’s, and Maxwell cheers. ‘Woo! Hana, you’re the best. Oh look, here comes Drake.’

‘Not the first time he’s come today,’ Olivia smirks again.

‘Hahaha, you’re on fire, Olivia!’ Hana yelps, holding out her hand for Liv to high five her. Liv complies, shrugging, but Amara can see a hint of a satisfied smile on the corner of her lips.

‘Hey guys,’ Drake smiles, ‘what are we drinking?’

‘Your fave summer drink, my friend,’ Max says while pouring him a glass.

‘A Beaumont Lemonade?’ Drake exclaims. ‘Score.’

*****

After lunch, everyone lingers on the patio for some more drinks and a game of cards, while two staff members take the plates away. Amara excuses herself, guaranteeing her friends that she will be back for the second round of cards.

She approaches Bertrand’s study, knowing very well that he is there. No way is he feeling sick for real, not after their conversation. He clearly did not want to face her, and she understands why.

She’s been thinking about reasons why Bertrand might need to pay someone off. She’s been replaying their previous conversation in her head. The devastation on his face when she suggested he’d been buying Albert’s silence. The way he winced when Amara talked about Hana’s choice being ripped from her. What Bertrand had said about reputation.

Amara wasn’t sure, but there was a good chance that she was right about Bertrand’s secret.

She knocks on the door of the study, and nothing.

She waits, and knocks again. ‘It’s Amara,’ she says softly. ‘I came to apologize.’

She hears a cough, and then Bertrand says ‘Come in, Lady Amara.’

She obliges. Here he is, sitting at his desk, his back very straight, although obviously he had just fixed his posture. She can tell that he’d been slouching at his desk, from the pile of documents that are scattered around, as if he’d been taking a nap in them. His eyes are red.

‘Are you ok?’ she asks.

He clears his throat again. ‘Close the door, please.’

She closes the door behind her and gets closer to the desk. She puts her hand on the chair opposite Bertrand, and meets his eyes. He quickly nods, signaling that she may sit down.

‘Bertrand, I’m sorry for what I said earlier.’

He looks down. ‘Apology accepted.’

‘Thank you. You were right, I was out of line.’ Bertrand nods, still not looking up. ‘But I was also right about some things, wasn’t I?’

He does not look surprised. He knows she’s here to apologize, but also to get the truth. ‘You were,’ he says solemnly.

Amara nods. ‘Bertrand, it’s ok. I get it.’

He scoffs, but not in an annoyed way. What Amara hears is sadness, and a whole lot of regret. ‘Do you get it?’ he asks.

‘I think so. I know you were really buying your accountant’s silence for all this time. I also think you should stop.’

Bertrand finally meets her eyes. ‘Why do you think that?’

‘Well, I think you should stop trying to protect your father’s reputation. It’s time to let go.’

*****

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Thank you for your encouragements, everyone! Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist :)

[pug-bitch]

That’s not why I’m going (10)

Especially when it comes to your heart

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Drake Walker x Amara Suarez

Rating: some foul language, some extremely suggestive, some steamy flashbacks. This is NOT appropriate for people under 18.

Word count: 3,850 (let me know if the ‘keep reading’ cutoff isn’t working well!)

Notes: This relates the aftermath of Drake and Amara’s (Dramara? I’m taking a page out of @drakeandcamilleofvaltoria ‘s book for couples’ names :)) first time having sex. It starts with Drake’s POV, the next morning.

Also, I’ve been writing like a crazy person this weekend but, full disclosure, I’m about to have a pretty insane work week, so it might be a few days until I post Part 11. That being said, I have a very precise plan for it, so stay tuned! The next episode is also when shit gets real, so...there’s that :D

*****

‘Earth to Drake?’

He shakes it off, and realizes Liam is offering him another croissant. ‘Oh, yeah, thanks.’

Liam was right. Drake hadn’t touched Earth ever since last night. He couldn’t stop thinking about the amazing night he’d had with Amara, and flashbacks were populating his mind, preventing him from being a functional member of this group breakfast. He thought of the closeness they’d shared the night before, when they made love and fell asleep in each other’s arms, spent and satisfied. He thought of Amara’s alarm waking them up at 5.30, and how they’d made love again, lazily, all the while waking up together. He thought of the taste of her kiss, the touch of her hands, the feel of her body against his. He thought of her, persuading him to take a shower together, to prolong their togetherness. He thought of how they had made love again in the shower, Amara bent over against the wall, and Drake sliding inside her, again and again--

‘Walker, wake up. People are trying to talk to you.’

Olivia’s curt wake up call had shaken him back on track. He passes the jam to Hana, as she had been waiting for it for a good two minutes, while Drake was replaying his and Amara’s double morning sex in his mind. He blushes, acutely aware of the inappropriateness of the situation, but as soon as he makes eye contact with Amara, he realizes she is probably feeling the same way, as the embarrassed but cheeky look on her face betrays.

They all share breakfast, coffee, and stories in the grand salon, by the fireplace. This place is nice, he thinks. Luxurious, yes, but rustic. Everyone is in good spirits, except maybe Maxwell, who seems less enthusiastic than usual. Drake feels grateful for him today though, since his text telling Amara that he’d meet her directly downstairs this morning allowed them to have extra time together.

‘So,’ Olivia announces, ‘today I would like to take everyone on a tour of the grounds, and then I would be happy to invite Prince Liam to a private lunch with me, before we all reconvene to ski a bit more in the afternoon. Tonight, I have a special wine tasting and dinner planned for all of us. While Liam and I are at lunch, my staff will be at your complete disposal should you need anything.’

Everyone thanks her and agrees to the plans, except Liam, who interrupts: ‘Thank you, Lady Olivia, I gladly accept your lunch invitation. However, as far as the tour goes, I’m going to need a raincheck. I need to speak to Drake, maybe the two of us will go for a walk. But please, everyone enjoy the tour and I will see everybody on the slopes.’

Uh oh, Drake thinks. What is that all about? Maybe Liam just needs a breather, but somehow, he has trouble believing that things would be exactly like they used to be.

On their way out, Drake wonders if Liam can tell that he just spent the night with Amara. Does he smell like her? No, he showered. But, he showered with her, so… But how would Liam know Amara’s smell? After all, given his obsession with her, he had probably sent someone to steal one of her shirts to smell as he falls asleep at night.

Alright, he needs to play it cool. He already had growing feelings for Amara the last time he had a heart to heart with Liam, and it went ok. Well, he had called Liam out on his entitlement, but he had kept everything else together. But now, the stakes had skyrocketed since last night.

He realizes he was stuck in his head again, and Liam waves in his face for him to start listening.

‘Drake, is everything ok? I just wanted to make sure you and I were good. You’ve been acting weird.’

Oh, so that was that. ‘I’m fine, Li. I promise.’

‘Good. I’ve been doing some thinking. You were right about me being pushy towards Amara. She did seem distant last time, on our one-on-one, and I guarantee you that it’s because, well...you were right. I summoned her, and that was wrong of me. So, I’m gonna try and play it cool.’

‘Good. I’m glad to hear this.’

‘I mean, I said I’ll try. I’m crazy about her, Drake. She’s...something else, you know?’

Oh, he knew. ‘Yeah. She’s pretty cool.’ Understatement of the year. He tries not to think of her arched back, as she was riding him slowly, this morning.

Liam pauses for a long time, and seems to be looking for the right words. ‘I heard that you two are getting to know each other.’

Drake’s heart threatens to jump out of his chest. Holy shit. ‘Um,’ he hesitates, ‘what do you mean?’

‘Oh, just that Bastien saw you two at a bar a few days ago. I’m glad she is surrounded with people who are making her feel welcome.’

Drake gulps. This is not the moment to fuck up. ‘Yeah, she was bummed out when I bumped into her that day, she missed New York and her family. She asked if I knew of any bars, so I took her to one.’ He’d made this sound as natural as possible.

‘I’m glad. She is not used to this setting, and you are probably the one person who can understand this the most. I’m glad you guys are friends. You’d say you’re friends, right?’

This felt like a trap. ‘Yeah. She’s nice and really funny. I could see us becoming friends.’ Friends who go down on each other, maybe.

Liam smiles. ‘That’s great. Just one thing, Drake.’

Uh oh. ‘Yeah?’

‘Next time you sneak her out, don’t keep it a secret. I’d rather hear it from you than from my bodyguard.’

Drake wanted to open his mouth and say a whole bunch of things. Like, what the hell, Liam. She doesn’t belong to you. She’s a grownup and she doesn’t need anyone tracking her movements. Or maybe, fuck you Liam, I’m falling in love with her and we’re gonna run away together. But he knew that House Beaumont was on the line, and that Amara felt guilty enough about deceiving Maxwell in particular. This was not the moment to blow up. If he stayed quiet for a little bit longer, they could find a way to be together, maybe. So, he kept his mouth shut, and once again, nodded at what his childhood friend wanted him to do.

*****

‘How do you like Lythikos, Suarez?’

Olivia and Amara had stuck around after the tour, sipping on another coffee on the patio, wrapped up in their winter coats and hats.

‘It’s gorgeous, Olivia, really.’

Olivia gives her a knowing smirk. ‘Did you guys bone?’

Amara nearly chokes on her coffee. ‘Excuse me?’

‘Oh please, cut the crap. I’m the one who arranged for the isolated rooms. I deserve some details.’

Amara couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She looks around, making sure no one can hear, and whispers, ‘It was fucking amazing.’

Olivia smirks some more, and says ‘Glad to hear that. How many times?’

‘Oh, come on. You can’t be serious.’

‘Do you want me to take your lock away?’

‘Three.’

Olivia nods in sign of respect. ‘Good. Enjoy the privacy tonight, too. I suppose Drake told you about my reasons? I don’t want you to believe I’m just doing this out of the goodness of my heart.’ She uses air quotes around the words ‘goodness’ and ‘heart’, which Amara finds very much on brand.

‘Yeah, he did. So, you want Liam that bad, huh?’

Olivia remains silent, looking at a distant point in the sky.

‘Olivia? Do you have feelings for him?’

She snorts. ‘As if I’m going to tell you that.’

‘Come on. If you tell me, I’ll give you one more detail about last night.’

‘Oh please, I’m not that desperate. Plus, I don’t want any graphic details about Walker’s dick, thank you very much.’

Amara laughs, and is immediately transported in her daydreams again. Oh, she’s got graphic details for days.

Olivia gives in and continues: ‘Liam has always been there for me. I’ve always envisioned myself with him, that’s all. When my mind is set on something, I don’t let it get away from me. I don’t give up.’

Amara doesn’t know what to say. She understands what Olivia is saying, of course. Plus, she’d heard from Maxwell about her tragic childhood, with her parents dying when she was five. Of course she would value her relationships with the people who’d supported her. But it broke her heart to think that Liam was visibly taking Olivia for granted, when she was a complete badass and a stunning woman. ‘I get it. But, forgive me for saying this, have you thought of, you know, meeting other people, and seeing what your options are? Anyone would be lucky to have you, Olivia, so I don’t think you should limit yourself to waiting for one man.’

Olivia looks straight in her eyes, and Amara feels like an icicle is burning through her skull. Shit, she should have kept her mouth shut. ‘What do you think I am, a pathetic virgin waiting for her prince? I fuck my bodyguard every day,’ she says while gesturing to the hunk of a man who’s sitting in the next room, at a safe distance.

‘Oh. Um, good, he’s, um, very hot. But that’s not what I meant. You make yourself available for Liam, when he’s holding a competition for his hand. Men should be lining up for your hand, Liv.’

Olivia pauses, seemingly taking in what she’s hearing. ‘Touché. You’re right, they should.’

They drink their coffee in silence, until Olivia breaks the ice and asks: ‘Why do you dislike Liam so much?’

Amara, slightly taken aback, replies: ‘Oh. I don’t dislike him. I actually really liked him when we first met, I thought he was genuine, nice, and funny. I was not attracted to him, but--’

‘So, why are you here?’

Oh, the million dollar question. ‘Olivia, I--’

‘No, that’s ok, don’t answer. As I told you before, I know it’s complicated, I can tell.’

Amara takes a deep breath. ‘I liked him in a genuine, friendly way, and the night I met all of the guys, I felt really good, really alive for the first time in...two years. Max inviting me to Cordonia was the push I needed to leave my shitty life behind. I can’t even call it my old life, because the life I was living in NYC for the past two years wasn’t even my life, it was a fabricated, shell of a life I had imposed on myself. Meeting the guys shook me out of it a little. Showed me I was still fun, still spontaneous. Showed me I could turn my life around if I wanted.’

She realizes she had said all that in one single breath. She finally exhales.

Olivia gives her an honest smile, and Amara wonders if she’d ever seen her really smile before. ‘I get it, Amara. Now, the circumstances are different.’

‘Exactly. In New York, Liam was a nice, potential friend I had just met. He was fun, friendly, and pleasant to be around. But here, I don’t know. He’s very pushy with me, tricks me into meeting him in the gardens, and I feel very guilty every time I push him away. I also think he acts in a very shitty way with you and with Drake, taking both of you for granted. So, yeah, maybe I’m growing to dislike him, in his natural habitat.’

Olivia chuckles. ‘He’s not always like that, you know.’

‘Oh, I can imagine. I trust your judgment, and Drake’s. If you both see something in him, I don’t doubt that he’s a good guy. I’m sure he’s under a lot of pressure right now. I’m also aware that I’m not being honest with him, and if I could tell him the truth, maybe we could be actual friends and bond in an honest manner.’

Olivia nods and ponders. ‘That’s fair.’ She looks at her watch. ‘Oh, I have to meet him soon, I need to go reapply some lipstick, if you’ll excuse me.’

‘Of course. Thanks for the chat.’

‘Anytime.’ Olivia pauses, walks away, and turns back around. She grabs her cup of coffee, and puts her hand on Amara’s arm. ‘I enjoyed our talk, Detective.’

*****

Amara was still shaking. How much did Olivia know? Had she just googled her quickly and found her NYU Alumni page, or had she been digging deeper? Knowing Olivia, it was probably the latter. Amara wasn’t ready for everything to come out; she had considered talking to Drake about it, especially since he had seen her cry and knew more or less about Michael, but talking to other people, no, that was not an option.

She was walking aimlessly through the hallway when she saw Maxwell heading to the dining room.

‘Hey Maxwell!’ she says, trying to forget about the end of her conversation with Olivia.

‘Hi, Amara’, he said flatly with a weak smile.

Huh, she thinks. This doesn’t look like Maxwell at all. ‘Are you ok, Max?’

He opens his mouth, but then closes it.

‘Max, you’re scaring me. Are you feeling ok? Did you have another fight with Bertrand?’

He looks around, seems to ponder a response, and asks ‘Is it just a fling?’

Boom. Second hit of the day. And to think she had been actually excited to get up this morning, after the amazing night she’d had. She didn’t feel like playing coy with Maxwell, who had been such a strong support, on all fronts. ‘No. How about we get some food and go talk in my room?’

Maxwell nods, and they head to the kitchen.

Once safely in Amara’s room, they plop down on the bed and on the loveseat respectively, and as Maxwell pecks timidly at his food, Amara goes for it. ‘How do you know?’

He sighs. ‘I came to talk to Drake last night and um...I heard you guys.’

Amara’s eyes fill with tears. She feels bad for her friend, who had trusted her. ‘I’m so sorry you had to find out like that, Maxwell. Truly.’

‘How long has it been going on?’

‘Um...I’m not sure, but about a week, I’d say.’

He nods, and offers a faint smile. ‘Do you like him?’

Amara’s face instantly lights up. ‘Yes. I really, really do.’

‘So, I suppose the competition is over for you?’

‘Maxwell, that’s not what I said. I don’t want to let you down--’

‘I’m gonna stop you right there.’ He comes to sit right by her on the bed and takes her hand. ‘You have zero obligation towards me, especially when it comes to your heart. I have no intention of pimping you out to Liam against your will, Amara. It actually hurts that you’ve been thinking that I would.’

‘I didn’t think that exactly, but I have to admit, what prevented me from being honest is that, well, you and Bertrand especially have been telling me that I’m House Beaumont’s last chance, so--’

Max interrupts, his head in his hands. ‘Oh my God, I had no idea we were getting into your head like that. Of course you have no obligation, Amara. If you want to withdraw, you can, and we’ll find a solution for House Beaumont.’

‘Actually, I think withdrawing would be a mistake. Hear me out.’

Amara explains everything to Maxwell: how she doesn’t want to ruin Liam and Drake’s friendship, and how she believes that everyone will benefit from Liam choosing someone else. If she just keeps a low profile, maybe Olivia, or even Madeleine, can be Queen, but House Beaumont’s sponsored suitor remains respectable and she can help Maxwell and Bertrand raise funds when the competition is over. She lays out her plan, explaining to him that Drake has a business degree and could take a look at their finances even, but Maxwell refuses point blank.

‘Ok to a low profile. I’ll stop pushing one-on-one dates with Liam. If he chooses you, you turn him down. That way, maybe we can play on a loophole, and the Crown can still sponsor the House. If he chooses someone else, then you’re free.’

‘Deal. And I promise I’ll help you guys out. What matters now is that we keep playing along. Now that I’ve gotten to know Olivia better, I can even help her have alone time with Liam, kind of like sabotaging myself by allowing her to tag along. What do you say?’

Maxwell regains his composure, or rather, his usual excitedness. ‘That would work. OMG Amara, I’m loving the scheming! I have to say, I was really hurt that this all happened behind my back, but I understand your reasons. One more thing though, um… I don’t know how to ask you this…’

Amara laughs heartily, and hugs her friend. ‘Don’t worry Max, I won’t say a word to Bertrand.’

He hugs her back, sighing with relief. ‘Oh thank God.’

*****

Drake had always enjoyed the outdoors, especially on a gorgeous day like this one. Hard to believe there was a blizzard just yesterday; now the snowy clouds had given way to a beautiful blue sky. He was trying to relax on a quick hike and get all of the day’s stressful interactions out of his head. Amara had texted him earlier to say that Maxwell knew and was supportive, thankfully. But now, he had no idea how to handle the rest of them.

He almost turns around when he sees Liam and Madeleine talking together, walking in the opposite direction. But it’s too late, Liam has seen him. ‘Drake! Where are you headed?’

‘Oh, just stretching my legs before the wine tasting. Is it time to head back already?’

‘No, you’ve got time.’ Liam flashes a smile. ‘Where’s everyone else, do you know?’

‘Yeah, I was just with Max and Amara, they’re skating with Hana I think, she’s teaching them some moves.’

‘Good, let’s go see what they’re up to, shall we, Lady Madeleine?’

Madeleine plasters on a fake smile and replies ‘Of course, I’d be delighted to.’

Ugh. He waves goodbye and continues walking away. He truly cannot stand Madeleine. He’d always known that she was a fake friend to Savannah, who looked at her like she was a fucking work of art and a fabulous mentor. Of course she would never listen to him when he told her to watch her back. Although it was obvious that he hadn’t told her in the most diplomatic way... Drake was convinced that Madeleine had been the worst to Savannah, among the fake people at court. Plus, the very fact that she was here, competing for Liam’s hand when, just last year, she was engaged to be married to his brother, showed that all she cares about is the crown. And yet, Liam had to entertain her and act as if he were into her. Well, ‘had to’... Liam liked pleasing people, which Drake had never understood, but of course it came with the job description; you can’t be a prince and tell people to fuck off.

His phone buzzes in his pocket. He removes his gloves to retrieve it, and sure enough, a text from Amara.

Oh no, Madeleine is coming my way. Send help.

He chuckles. He imagines her sneaking away to send an illicit text, and this little forbidden gossip session feels incredibly warm and intimate.

He replies promptly.

Uh oh, that one might be on me, Suarez. I bumped into her and Liam and told them you guys were skating. I owe you big time…

The dots appear. She’s typing. God, this feels nice. Drake finds a small boulder to sit on while he’s waiting for her message. He takes in the gorgeous view. Things could be a lot worse.

OMG Walker, you DO owe me big time. I’ll think of a way you can repay me…

Heh, he thinks. It took only two texts for their exchange to become suggestive. They truly were still enmeshed in one another, even in the middle of all these people, with all these responsibilities… He had thought of her all day. He had loved every interaction with her, even pulled off some sneaky hand holding at times. Easy to do when you’re skating.

I’m sure you’ll find a way. I’m at your entire disposal, Detective.

The dots appear, then disappear. Then appear again, and vanish one more time. Oh no, had she gotten caught by Madeleine? That one was always on the prowl for some scandal to reveal, they would have to tread lightly. Finally, a message appears.

Speaking of Detective...I forgot to tell you with all that Maxwell drama, but Olivia knows about my old job. I don’t know how that might affect me, but it freaks me out.

Shit. Liv might have been super understanding about the two of them, but he knew how private Amara is with her past. This can’t be good, right?

Damn, I’m sorry. Are you ok? Any idea how she found out?

More dots.

No clue. I’m assuming she googled me, Madeleine asked me what I studied in college and where, so maybe she found me on the NYU Alumni network?

Shit. If Olivia was digging dirt, then maybe Madeleine was doing the same? There was nothing wrong with Amara having been a part of the NYPD, but she didn’t want to talk about it. And it was stressing her out. So, he types one last message.

On my way back, Suarez. I’ll be here soon, don’t go anywhere.

*****

Amara was grateful for Drake rejoining the group. She felt bad about cutting their sexting short, but when he called her Detective, she suddenly remembered Olivia’s revelation that she knew about her past. She had to remain calm about it, though. No need to freak out. It was Olivia, who had never done anything against her. She didn’t call her ‘Detective’ in a threatening way, just a playful throwaway at the end of a conversation. Did she aim to throw Amara off? Absolutely. But did she mean her any harm? Amara highly doubted it; she had come to trust Olivia’s judgment, so she would have to continue trusting it for now. Nothing she could do. She also didn’t want to ruin her last night in Lythikos with Drake.

Speaking of, here he was, walking back quickly towards the frozen lake. Amara gestures for him to join her on the side, where she was watching the others from.

‘Hey,’ he says, slightly out of breath from power walking in the snow. ‘Are you ok?’

‘Yeah, don’t worry. I just wanted to keep you in the loop. I’ll figure it out.’

He smiles at her, almost leans in to kiss her, visibly forgetting their surroundings. He catches himself and awkwardly runs his hand through his hair, removing his hat. ‘I wish I could kiss you,’ he whispers.

‘Me too. Later, though. I’m excited about the wine tasting.’ She inches closer and whispers ‘I’m very uninhibited when I have wine.’

He looks at her hungrily and smiles. ‘Good. Me too.’

*****

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Thank you for your encouragements, everyone! Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist :)

[pug-bitch]

That’s not why I’m going (8)

Things you can’t control

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Drake Walker x Amara Suarez

Rating: some foul language, some extremely suggestive, a steamy-ish scene! :) This is not appropriate for people under 18.

Word count: 3,405 (let me know if the ‘read more’ cutoff isn’t working well!)

Notes: This picks up right where we left off, with Drake’s POV.

*****

Drake had played it cool with Bastien, and he wasn’t even sure he’d recognized Amara from afar. Even though it was literally his job to recognize faces and to observe every single detail…

Enough. He couldn’t control everything. Plus, Bastien trusted him. He wouldn’t naturally assume there was anything between them, even if he did report seeing them to Liam. Drake’s dad had been Bastien’s mentor, so that must count for something, right? Drake knew he was foolish to think this way. When you weighed in your options, it all came down to it: Liam weighed more.

He’d been silent for a good ten minutes in the car ride home, and Amara was starting to notice he was worried.

‘Are you ok?’

He shakes it off, looks at her, and here comes the smile, as if he couldn’t contain it. To hell with the rest of the world. ‘Yeah. Don’t worry.’

She snuggles up in the car seat. ‘Good. I thought you regretted taking me there for a second.’

‘Never. I had a really good time, Suarez.’

Her face lit up. ‘Me too! It was awesome. Can we go back another time?’

‘Sure. I’d love that. But for now, let’s get you home, and let’s keep you hydrated, Agent Suarez.’

‘Detective.’

‘Sorry. Detective Suarez, you are hammered. I need to keep you watered.’

She flashes a gorgeous smile, and he melts. He just wants to take her far away, forget about everything else. And right now, he can’t think of a good reason not to.

His phone buzzes. Incoming call from Liam. Ugh. Should he pick up, or…? No. He’ll listen to the voicemail later, if he left one. But suddenly, the thought of Bastien popped back in his mind. Could he have reported them already?

‘You’re not picking up?’

‘Nah, it’s Liam. I don’t want to talk to him right now.’

Amara looks out the window, wistfully. ‘I don’t want to be an obstacle to your friendship.’

He hated that he’d make her think anything was her fault. No, she’d done nothing wrong. His hand looked for hers, and when he found it, he squeezed it tight. ‘Stop. You’re not. There are just things...things you can’t control.’

She scoffs. ‘Yeah.’

They ride in silence, until Amara, still looking out the window, softly says: ‘I have a tendency to destroy, Drake. I ruin things. I hope I don’t ruin anything with you.’

His heart broke a little. How many times had he thought the same about himself? Hell, he’d had that exact thought just earlier this evening. But somehow, when she said it, this beautiful, incredible, funny, smart woman, it hurt him so much. Why did she trust herself so little?

‘Suarez, you could never. I’m not going anywhere, ok?’

*****

They’d decided to head to Drake’s room, which did have a lock. Maxwell’s interruption had taught them a lesson about privacy, even if Drake had been clear about not wanting to take advantage of her while she was inebriated. At the very least they’d have a quiet, relaxing evening without the risk of someone barging in.

Liam had left a voicemail, and just wanted to see if Drake was up for a drink. Nothing alarming. Drake could breathe again.

Against her better judgment, Amara poured herself a glass of wine after pouring Drake one. After all, she didn’t have any commitments in the morning, and it wasn’t that late, or so she argued. Drake looked at her with a smile on his lips, and when she noticed, she rolled her eyes and said ‘Oh come on, just one!’

She looked around his room, and he suddenly felt very naked. He hadn’t had anyone in there in a long time, and he hadn’t tidied up at all. She glanced at the pile of photos and various letters on the desk. A photo of his mom and dad as newlyweds was on top of the bunch, and she studied it intently. It made him smile, and he was surprised to realize that he instinctively opened up, before she even asked anything.

‘That’s my parents. Before they had me. I’ve always loved this photo.’

She takes it in her hand and looks closer. ‘You look like both of them. They looked very happy.’ She pauses. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to--’

‘No, not at all. I miss my dad a lot, and I enjoy thinking that he was happy.’

‘I get that. Where does your mom live?’

‘She lives in Texas, with her new husband, Barry. They live on the family ranch.’

‘Oh nice! Do you guys get along?’

Drake shrugs. Funny how he had no problem telling her everything. If she asked him for his ATM pin, he’d probably give it to her. ‘Meh. It changed things when my mom remarried. Barry’s a good guy and all, it’s just… y’know.’

‘He’s not your dad.’

‘Yeah. Although I’m aware it makes me sound like a brat. You know, the whole ‘You’re not my real dad!’ tantrum.’

She laughs, and replies, taking her eyes off the photo and looking directly at Drake. ‘I can understand that. I see things differently, but I get where you’re coming from.’

He walks closer, and sits right next to her at the desk. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Well,’ she says, sitting on the arm of the chair, comfortably close to him, ‘when my dad remarried, I was grateful he had someone to share his life with. To get through...things. It doesn’t mean he loved my mom any less, on the contrary. But he just found a partner, for the next stage of his life. Plus, Nancy is also a widow, and they understand each other’s pain. So, the way I see it, he’s in good hands. Someone other than us--than me--cares for him.’

Drake nods. ‘I didn’t know your mom passed. I’m sorry.’

She gives him a sad smile. ‘When I was ten. Dad married Nancy ten years later. So, there’s also the fact that he had been alone for a while, he was an empty nester...It felt good to know he had companionship.’

He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. She was beautiful to begin with, but the way she spoke about her family, with so much understanding, so much compassion. And without making him feel like a brat for not fully accepting his stepdad, even though he should probably feel bad about that. Barry was a good guy, after all. ‘That’s actually really good to hear. I needed to hear it.’

She smiles, and puts an arm around him. ‘So, you gonna call Barry tomorrow? Ask him to bond over a soccer game or something?’

He chuckles. Maybe he would, next time he’s in Texas. ‘Heh. Sounds like a plan.’

Amara continues to look at the photos. Drake doesn’t even think of stopping her, when she stumbles upon a picture of Savannah, probably taken a couple of months before she left. He feels a pinch in his heart. ‘Um, that’s my sister. Savannah.’

Amara smiles, and just says ‘She’s very pretty. Kind eyes.’

He notices she doesn’t pry any further, and does not try to know where she is, or anything else. For some reason, he finds it endearing. ‘Yeah. She’s a kind woman. We were extremely close growing up, but I guess I must have become overprotective somewhere along the road.’

‘Well, you guys lost your dad when you were young, right? That’s a reason to be protective, when you lose a family member, you want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.’ Her voice becomes choked up, but she shakes it off.

‘Yeah, I was 18 and Savannah was 16 when our dad passed. But it wasn’t until about 8 years later, so about two years ago, that Savannah left court abruptly. She left a note, and I haven’t been able to contact her since.’

He couldn’t believe he had told her that. He never talked about Savannah. On some level, it was because he felt responsible for her leaving. After all, she allegedly contacted their mom, but never him. She probably needed to be far away from him, and far away from the pressure of court. So, he blamed and resented both: himself, and court.

Amara’s eyes widen in shock. ‘What do you mean, you haven’t been able to contact her? There has been no trace of her at all?’

‘Well, my mom claims she sends an email once in a while, but nothing else. I have never seen the emails, but my mom gave me the address. I sent many messages, but no response.’

‘Drake, I’m sorry, this is a shitty situation. But there are ways to find people. Did you ever think of hiring a detective, or--’

‘Bastien and some other members of the Royal Guards tried to help me at first, but when there were no leads, they quickly gave up.’

‘Well, lucky for you, I’m a detective, and I have my ways. If you give me the email address, and all the info you can think of, I’ll look into it. I can’t promise you anything, but I can try.’

He hadn’t had hope in almost two years. Even when Bastien had tried to investigate, he simply didn’t trust they could do it, or even that they really wanted to find her. But now, looking at this hot detective he had known for less than two weeks, he was hopeful, and legitimately grateful. She cared enough to offer. He gently stroked her hair, and captured her lips in a deep kiss. ‘Thank you, Amara.’

*****

Amara awoke at the sound of her phone going crazy. She’d fallen asleep in Drake’s arms, once again. As she was drifting off to sleep a few hours earlier, she caught herself wondering if she would be able to sleep alone here, without Drake’s reassuring embrace. Two nights in a row they had spent the night together, and she had been completely nightmare-free. That had to mean something.

They had talked about Savannah’s case, and Amara had taken lots of notes on everything Drake could remember. She had gotten extremely excited at the thought of investigating again. In two whole years, she’d never looked back at her old career, but now, the old bug was coming back to her.

Dammit, what did her phone want with her now? Four texts from Maxwell.

Number one. Hey Amara, you can still sleep in, but you have an event scheduled for 10am! Woo!

Number two. You need to be dressed casually but cute, because you’ll see Liam! Woo!

Number three. I know I said you can sleep in but it’s already 7.30 and I haven’t heard from you so maybe you could text back at your earliest convenience?

Number four. Is everything ok??????????

Alright. She needed to text back. She just types Relax Max, I’m up, getting in shower now. Meet you in your room in half an hour to discuss outfits?

He replies right away with YAY see you then, gurl.

She rolls her eyes and smiles. Oh Maxwell. What an intense little guy.

She kisses Drake’s neck, not wanting to wake him up, but kinda hoping he would. ‘I have to go,’ she whispers.

He stretches, and quickly finds her lips. ‘Mmmm can’t you stay a little…?’ He pulls her close, kissing her deeper, and running his hands all over her back.

Fuck, she thinks. Why can’t Maxwell let her be? Plus, does she give two shits about seeing Liam? When she weighs her options, the bulge in Drake’s boxers wins, hands down, not even a question. 

He kisses her neck lazily, his lips trailing towards her chest. She rolls her head back and strokes his hair, enjoying the moment.

‘Mmmm I wish… Maxwell will barge in soon if I don’t meet him in his room, though…’

Drake grunts. ‘Ugh, how long do we have?’

‘I’m meeting him in half an hour in his room.’

Drake rolls his eyes, and plants a kiss on her lips. ‘When this happens, it’s not going to be a quick thing while Maxwell waits outside. I want us to take our time. So...raincheck?’

Amara thinks, she’s gonna have a collection of rainchecks, soon. And somehow, they were all due to Maxwell, that little minx.

‘Deal,’ she says while shaking Drake’s hand. ‘But I don’t know how much longer I can wait.’

‘Heh, same. But hey, anticipation is key, wasn’t it Charles Dickens who said that?’

‘Yeah, well Charles Dickens didn’t have an annoying friend like Maxwell, I bet.’

‘Alright Suarez, go go go. I’ll text you later.’

She sneaks back into her room, careful not to be seen.

*****

It’s Amara’s turn to see Liam, one on one. She and Maxwell--or rather, Maxwell alone--decided on a floral dress for the date. More than ever, she felt like a contestant on The Bachelor. Except that she didn’t want the rose. The rose could eat a bag of dicks.

Speaking of roses, the date was set up in the gardens. Again, she thought. Does he have a topiary fetish?

‘Hello, Lady Amara,’ Liam said enthusiastically, a dashing smile on his lips.

‘Hello, Prince Liam. How are you doing?’

‘I’m great, thank you! Would you care for a cup of coffee?’ He gestures to a small coffee cart, manned by a server dressed up in a tuxedo. At 10am. Amara nods, and gives the guy her order, feeling bad every step of the way for causing a man to dress up to watch someone else’s date and pour the coffee.

‘Shall we walk through the gardens?’ Liam asks, just as enthusiastically.

‘Sure, that sounds lovely.’

She’d have to be careful not to be rude. His relentlessness annoyed her profoundly, but then again, she was a guest here and definitely did not want to end up being kicked out, not with what had been happening between Drake and her.

Liam talked to her about the history of the garden, and she listened intently, relieved that the conversation, so far, steered clear of anything personal.

‘So, Lady Amara, how have you been getting along with the other ladies?’

‘Oh, really great. Lady Hana is amazing, we took to each other right away.’

‘I’m so glad to hear this!’

‘Yeah, and I think Olivia and I are starting to get along really well, too.’

Liam’s eyes widen in surprise. ‘Oh, really? That’s so good to hear, truly. I was concerned, because as you may have noticed, Lady Olivia can be a tad...abrasive.’

Amara chuckles. On the one hand, he wasn’t wrong. But something about the fact that Liam was bitching to her about Olivia irked her somehow. She wanted to tell him that he’d be lucky to have Olivia, but instead she said ‘Well, I find her to be extremely interesting and, pardon my language, but badass.’

Liam laughs lightheartedly. ‘Yes, that’s one word for her. In any case, I’m happy you’re making friends. It can be difficult to arrive in medias res, you know?’

Who says ‘in medias res’ out loud? ‘Yes, I know what you mean. But you can rest assured, I’m fine.’

‘I also wanted to talk to you about the newest suitor. Lady Madeleine. You probably know her history with my family, by now.’

‘Um yes. Olivia filled me in.’

‘Good, good. Well, you should know that, regardless of her link with my stepmother, it doesn’t change the fact that I am still very much interested in you.’

Amara stops dead in her tracks. Oh great. Now she’d have to deal with that, live. ‘That’s a very nice thing to say, Your Royal Highness, but--’

‘Liam.’ He stops walking and grabs her hand. Amara wonders if saying his own name is another one of his kinks. ‘And Amara, please know that I am at your complete and utter disposal. Should you want to escape from the court. Take a break, just the two of us.’

Her stomach churns. This feels wrong. She wants to yank her hand free, but she feels obligated towards him. If she rejects him point blank, she’s out. She’d need to be more subtle about it. Let him think she’s trying, and ultimately, that she’s just not falling for him, if he’s still into her.

She gently takes her hand back. ‘Thank you. I appreciate it. But, you see, I feel uncomfortable about being treated any differently. I actually like the other ladies, and I’m not asking for a special treatment because I’m not from this world.’

Liam seems to buy it, for now. ‘I commend you. You’re a good person.’ Gee, thanks, morality police. ‘Alrighty then, let’s play by the rules. We have a little more time before the end of the date. Would you like a tour of the maze?’

Hoping he doesn’t have a maze fetish, she nods.

*****

Drake sat anxiously at the coffee shop table, painfully aware that, at this very moment, Amara was alone with Liam. He’d bumped into Maxwell earlier who excitedly told him about the date, and he had been bummed out ever since. He couldn’t tell if he was worried Amara might change her mind about the two of them, or if he was just unsettled and uncomfortable with the thought of Liam, a man no one had ever said no to, being alone with the woman he...cared about.

‘Hey Walker, can I sit?’

Before he could answer yes or no, Olivia sits down next to him.

‘Hey Liv. How’s life?’

She takes a sip of her coffee. ‘Fine. What are you sulking about?’

‘Nothing. Just...thinking.’

She stares into his eyes. He feels like a White Walker is poking his nail into his skull to turn him into a wight. ‘Thinking about how Amara is alone with Liam?’

Oh. Straightforward. Olivia Fucking Nevrakis at work. ‘What do you want, Liv?’

‘Look, I’ll be straight with you.’

‘Wouldn’t expect anything less from you, Nevrakis.’

‘I assume Liam asked you to join the group on the trip to Lythikos tomorrow, right?’

‘Yeah. Why?’

‘Look.’ She inches closer. ‘I’m gonna be hosting the festivities for the next two days. I can arrange for alone time between you and Amara. Assign the two of you to neighboring rooms. Keep Liam busy. The works.’

‘And why would you do that?’

She stirs her coffee, even if there’s no cream or sugar in there. ‘No reason.’

‘You said you’d be straight with me. Keep your promise.’

‘Fine. I know Liam is into her. If he had his way, he’d probably choose her. Neither of us is willing to risk it, are we?’

Drake looks down at his coffee mug. She’s right. And Amara isn’t willing either. ‘Go on.’

‘It’s in my best interest to have Liam’s full attention, especially in Lythikos. It’s my turf, I should be the center of attention, but with Suarez around with her big eyes and big boobs, I can guarantee you it’s not gonna happen.’

Drake chuckles. ‘Ok, but it would be more on brand for you to, I don’t know, sabotage her. Not that I want to give you any ideas.’

Olivia snorts. ‘What kind of person do you think I am, Walker? Believe it or not, I actually enjoy the bitch’s company. She’s a good drinking buddy. She’s dark, and not weak like the others. I don’t want her gone, I just want her to get what she wants, so I can get what I want. Win-win.’

Sound reasoning. Drake nods, taking it all in.

Olivia takes a breath, and adds: ‘Not to mention...I owe you one.’

Drake raises an eyebrow. ‘You do?’

‘Kinda. I figured I could have been...nicer to your sister. Maybe she wouldn’t have left if everyone had been less of a dick to her for not being noble.’

He’s surprised. Olivia had never mentioned Savannah again, after she left, much less admitted any kind of fault in her departure. Not that Drake blamed anyone in particular but himself, and the pressure of court, which he could barely handle, let alone his little sister.

Olivia continues: ‘Also, I thought you’d need some help being discreet. My bodyguard was out last night,’ she gestures at the muscular guy who is having coffee two tables over, ‘and he told me he saw the two of you singing Disney songs together at a cop bar.’ She snorts with disgust.

‘It was a Queen song!’ Drake protests.

‘Yeah yeah. In any case, you’re gonna need some lessons in sneakiness. Do we have a deal?’

Drake shakes her hand vigorously. ‘You got it, Liv.’

*****

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[bobasheebaby]

Vegas Fling (NSFW)

Pairing: Bertrand x Addison Word count: 1,685 Warnings: smut, oral Summary: Craving one last taste of a challenging new conquest, Addison goes after the only available tough mark, Bertrand Beaumont. A/N: AU with the scandal but no assassins. Will diverge from canon a lot. Addison is a thot and unapologetically so. I started this as a request for @liam-rhys and was shocked where Addison took it. This chapter is all because of @riseandshinelittleblossom making me find Bertrand as semi attractive, it didn’t last long. If I can actually turn anyone on with this trash I will gladly concede that I am a good writer.  Let me know if you want to be tagged. Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters, I’m simply borrowing them for a bit.

Addison had never once considered sleeping with the older Beaumont, that was until she was faced with the thought that she would never sleep with anyone new ever again. They were in Vegas, Sin City, on their joint bachelor/bachelorette party when it finally hit her—she was getting married. She still didn’t quite understand how or why she said yes to Maxwell, marriage was not in her plan, ever. To be tied to one man for an eternity was like cutting off one of her limbs—yet here she was mere days from becoming Duchess Addison Beaumont of Valtoria. The idea terrified her, never sleeping with someone new ever again. It felt as if she couldn’t breathe, slowly suffocating on the life she would soon be forced to live. So when Maxwell asked her how the party was, if there was anything she’d like to do that they didn’t, she knew exactly what to ask for without even a moments hesitation—a fling. If she were a better woman she would have felt bad when his face fell and would have quickly reassured him that she only loved him. Hell, if she were a better woman she wouldn’t have requested the fling from him in the first place. No, if she were a better woman she wouldn’t be in this position, about to live a death sentence tied to one man for the rest of her life. 

Maxwell was beyond surprised when Addison requested a fling, he wanted to tell her no, terrified it would only lead her to realize she made a mistake in choosing him and calling off their wedding. He knew deep down after promising to do whatever it took to make their party the party of her dreams that he had no choice but to say yes. He figured she’d go to Liam or Drake, maybe even a stranger for her fling, either way he shut himself in his room throwing back a shot trying to take his mind off his gorgeous fiancé under another man. It never once occurred to him that she was asking for a fling because she craved new, an adventure. Addison could have gone to any of the bars located on the strip and easily found dozens of men willing to be her one last bit of excitement before she marched forward to her demise of singledom. She didn’t want easy, she never went for easy, she always wanted the challenge—one or two exceptions along the way, Landon being one of them. No, she wanted a challenge, someone who was off limits, someone who she shouldn’t want—that left her with Bertrand. Bertrand Beaumont, the older stuffy Beaumont who would soon be her brother in law, what gets more forbidden than that? Sure she didn’t crave him the way she craved some of the others, had the head of the Royal Guard accompanied them she would have gladly worked her charms on him instead. Alas Bastien was back in Cordonia ensuring the security for the wedding was in place. Bertrand was her only chance at something new, someone challenging. Addison approached the older Beaumont cautiously, unsure how he’d react to her advances. She had noticed he had been drinking quite heavily, she only hoped it would be enough for him to lower his inhibitions, allowing him to give into her without question. If he questioned her she would simply play off that she was drunk, when in fact she had barely anything to drink all night and was fully in control of her faculties, odd for her during a night of partying—perfect for want she had planned. Addison knew she had to do this slowly, as to not shock him and send him running. She started by buying him another drink, and ‘accidentally’ grazing the outer edge of his hand with hers. She noticed him visibly shiver at the small touch. She smiled internally, knowing she had him exactly where she wanted him if she was going to get him to fall into bed with her. This should be easier than I thought. She was cautiously optimistic, she knew this could still go bad at any minute. Before she knew it she had him practically begging her to take him back to her room. Addison led him back to her room, pleasantly surprised with how quickly he took control. He must really want this. The feeling of his lips on hers and his firm body pressing her against the back of the door had her reeling more than she expected. His kisses were intoxicating, making her feel drunker than she was. She was surprised by the reactions he was pulling from her, she always found him to be stodgy and boring, she never expected to actually desire him, crave his touch. He had a strange pull on her, making her body react in ways she never expected to with him. He trailed kisses along her neck, his touch igniting a fire along her skin. His hands made their way to the back of her dress, pulling down the zipper, his fingers ghosting her back leaving goosebumps in their wake. He stepped back as he slipped the golden strapy dress down over her shoulders and curvy hips. His eyes sent an involuntary shiver down her back as he took in her nearly naked form. A black lace thong the only thing keeping her from being fully exposed to him. The cool air and his intense gaze turning her nipples to hardened peaks instantly. Addison watched as his grey eyes darkened, flashing with a lustful desire, heat pooling in her core unexpectedly in response to his heated gaze. He removed his tie and suit never taking his eyes off of her body, leaving himself standing before her in his briefs, his hardened cock straining against it’s confines. He sank to his knees, removing her black thong, his hand gripped the back of her leg pulling it up to rest on his shoulder. His mouth met her dripping core, making her gasp in response. He licked along her slit, flicking her clit with the tip of his tongue. She bucked her hips, trying to get him closer, his hand gripped her hip holding her steady. He spread her lips with his free hand fucking his tongue into her tight heat. She gripped his head, fingers tangling in his black locks, her head falling back against the door as she moaned. He rubbed her clit in circles with his thumb as he continued fucking her with his tongue, driving her closer to the edge. She pushed his head closer to her, driving his tongue deeper into her tight heat, soon he had her screaming his name as she dove over the edge. He lapped at her flowing juices like a man who was starved. He slowly pulled away wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he lowered her leg to the ground. She was panting, her breasts heaving, she would have collapsed if she hadn’t been leaning against the door. She pushed herself away, holding herself up on shaky legs, she couldn’t help but wonder if the skill of his tongue could be matched by the skill of his cock. He surprised her with his strength when he scooped her up, carrying her over to the bed, laying her down. He pushed off his briefs, his short but thick cock springing from its confines. He climbed up on top of her, reclaiming her mouth in a searing kiss. He balanced himself on his forearm, lining himself up with her wet heat, he slowly pushed his thick cock into her tight pussy. She wrapped her legs around his hips as he started thrusting into her at a punishing pace. Her hands grasped his shoulders, her nails digging into his back as he thrust into her with wild abandon. Sweat formed upon his back and brow as he fucked himself into her, the sounds of skin slapping skin echoing in the space. His lips trailed kisses down her neck, gently grazing his teeth along her supple flesh. He reached his hand between them and rubbed her clit in tight circles. She threw her head back and moaned at the added sensation as she bucked her hips up into his. His thrusts started to falter as he pounded into her harder. He rubbed her clit harder and she came undone, clenching her walls around his cock, moaning his name. His hips stilled as he came pumping ropes on milky cum deep into her, his moans of her name muffled by her neck. He rolled off of her both of them breathing heavy as they came down from their highs. Bertrand got up, gathering his discarded clothes and redressing. Addison leaned up on one elbow watching him, she had been pleasantly surprised with his performance, but she needed this to stay between them. If she thought it would get her out of having to marry Maxwell she would gladly let it slip. She knew Maxwell would tell her he had given her a free pass he just hadn’t expected her to use it on his brother. She needed to ensure that this stayed between them, “that was fun, but what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” She purred, trying to draw him into agreeing. Bertrand stood up straighter, straightening his tie, stern look once again on his face, “but of course. I wouldn’t want Maxwell to find out about this.” He replied, his normal ‘I know better than you’ demeanor back once again. At least we’re on the same page about that. She thought rolling her eyes as she watched him leave her room. She flopped back on her pillows, her blonde hair fanning outward, she couldn’t believe she just bedded the dull older Beaumont just to satisfy her urge for new and a challenge. The only good thing was that she knew she never had to worry about anyone finding out about her tryst with Bertrand, after all what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas—but does it?

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Tags: @imafictosexual @speedyoperarascalparty @liamxs-world @annekebbphotography @tanyaschoices @hopefulmoonobject @scarlettedragon @riseandshinelittleblossom @itsstillnotwhatyouthink @cocomaxley @3pawandme

[bobasheebaby]

Redemption

Pairing: Athena, Liam, Perceval, Drake no pairing

Word count: 1,638

Warnings: angst

Summary: On her way to break one man’s heart she learns something that could change everything. 

A/N: @mrsnazario1223 was my sounding board as usual, but she helped me way more than usual. Love you girl!  

Tags: @walkerismychoice @mrsnazario1223 @ladynonsense @madaraism @hhiggs @butindeed @boneandfur @drakewalkerwhipped @mfackenthal @pens-girl-87 @nobodyfromnowhere45 @drakelover78 @awesomeevaneposts @kawairinrin @indiacater @laniquelove @mlmseangayle @omg-foreverfilledwithweird-posts @imafictosexual @jyruesser85 @trr-fangirl @itsalliepg @theroyalweisme @diamond-dreamland @moodygrip @imma-winchester-addict @alicars @crookedslimecreatorpasta @umccall71 @lizeboredom @speedyoperarascalparty @xxrainbowprincessxx @lolablackwrites

Athena left her room, she made her choice, now she had to tell the man she didn’t choose, she had to break a heart. She was so lost in thought, with what she had to do, that she ran straight into Maxwell.

“Hey little blossom, Liam is making a huge announcement, we need to head to the main ballroom.” Maxwell told her steadying her as the force of hitting him nearly sent her flying onto her ass.

So it had to wait, of course, nothing in this situation could ever be easy could it? She followed Maxwell to the main ballroom and found a seat towards the back. She looked around and found Drake by the bar, and Percy was seated at a table towards the middle with a few other nobles, Liam hadn’t arrived yet. She wondered what could be so important that Liam had to gather everyone together like this. Wait, was that press up at the front? What was Liam planning? She was utterly confused as to what would cause Liam to call a press conference with all the court present in the middle of the Royal Engagement tour.

“Do you know what’s going on?” She asked leaning over to speak to Hana.

“No, nobody does. Just that Liam has a big formal announcement he needs to make in front of the court.” Hana replied, as she shook her head.

“There is press here too.” Athena said pointing to them in the front.

“Wow, must be really big then.” Hana responded looking towards where Athena was pointing where at least a dozen members of press say.

“Maybe they have to move up the wedding because Madeline is pregnant.” Penelope mentioned having overheard Athena’s question.

Athena’s stomach churned, that couldn’t be, right? He hadn’t been with Madeline too had he? She knew she was with Percy too, but the thought of Liam being intimate with Madeline while telling her she owned is heart made her heart shatter into a million pieces. It didn’t matter who she had chosen, if Liam had been seeing Madeline, the woman who made her life a living hell, too it meant every word he had said to her had been a lie. That’s what broke her heart the most, the thought that maybe everything Liam had told her had been a lie. Maybe her choice never mattered, maybe her decision had been made for her.

Athena watched as Liam entered with Madeline on his arm, she looked as smug as ever, and they walked to the podium that had been set up. Maybe Penelope was right, why else would Madeline look so smug? Athena felt the her breath catch, she couldn’t listen to the man she had once thought she’d spend forever with announce that he had to move up his wedding date. No matter who her heart belonged to now, hearing that everything with Liam had be a lie would destroy her once again. She had been destroyed enough, she didn’t want to go through it again, but she couldn’t leave, she was forced to listen, just hopefully this wouldn’t destroy all the memories she had with Liam.

Liam stood at the podium, Madeline to his left and back a few steps, back straight, head held high,  her hands clasped in front of her, a perfect smug smile on her face. Athena sat stiffly, back straight, head held high, if she had to listen to this should would at least give the illusion of strength. On the outside Athena gave the illusion of strength, while on the inside she felt fear of what’s about to be announced run through her body.

Liam cleared his throat and adjusted the mic on the podium, signaling the start of the press conference, the room went quiet. The room felt heavy, the impending announcement weighed heavy on Athena, would everything that had happened with Liam become worthless?

“Ladies and gentleman of the press and court, I’d like to thank you for gathering on such short notice.” Liam started, his voice strong and even, his kingly authoritative voice was being used, his back straight, his body posture giving nothing away. This was it, everything that had happened since the coronation, every sweet word he had uttered was about to become a lie. She took a deep breath, stealing her nerves, preparing herself for his next words.

"I made a monumental mistake in choosing Madeline the night of my Coronation. I should have backed Lady Athena. I know she wouldn't throw herself at Tariq, it clearly was a set up to keep me away from her and I played into their hand like a fool." Liam continued, hushed whispers started around the room. What? This press conference was about her? They were nowhere near finding Tariq, what was Liam doing? Her breath hitched in her throat, what was going on?

Madeline stepped closer to Liam leaning toward him, "Liam what the hell are you doing?" Madeline whispered to Liam through gritted teeth.

"What I should have done in the beginning.” Liam whispered back harshly. He had regretted choosing Madeline every minute of every day since he had uttered the words ‘I choose Madeline’ at the coronation, now he was going to make everything right. They would no longer need to find Tariq, he would clear up this mess himself. He was laying it all out on the line, only time would tell if it would save his relationship with Athena.

Drake took a gulp of his whiskey, Liam was doing it, he was taking a chance, putting it all on the line. Drake was about to lose him, how could Athena say no after a public backing? She couldn’t, no one could say no to a man saying he screwed up in front of the press. Drake didn’t want to listen to the man he loved profess his love to someone else in front of the press and court, but leaving now would only hurt Liam.

Percy sat shocked and dismayed, King Liam was finally putting Athena first, finally ignoring his own image. Percy had always been the one to be there for her on the royal engagement tour, the one to make her laugh, the one to wipe her tears, the one to just hold her, but would any of that matter if the king was ready to tarnish his perfect image for her. Was he about to watch the moment when he lost the the only woman he had ever, would ever love?

Whispered murmurs broke out across the room, but she couldn’t understand any of it, she remained facing forward, her hands clutched at her small bag, her knuckles went white. She held her breath waiting for the next words.

Liam squared his shoulders, Madeline tried and failed to remain expressionless, she was now remaining directly next to Liam. Liam cleared his throat loudly, alerting  everyone that he needed their full attention once again. The room once again became hushed.

"Lady Athena, instead of supporting you I shut you away, I only hope you can forgive me. I would like to formally announce in front of the court the end of my engagement with Countess Madeline. My heart belongs to one woman, and I only hope that I'm not too late to win her back." Liam proceeded.

Madeline let out a gasp, she reached for Liam only to be held back by a guard, they were ready for her reaction. The room was no longer silent, and the words where not quite whispered as the court tried to process what Liam had said.

Percy swallowed hard, King Liam had actually put her first, there would be no way he would be chosen now. The king had thrown away his image for her and got rid of the largest obstacle that stood in their way. The scandal no longer mattered, the king had just created a bigger one. He picked up his glass on Scotch, downed it in one gulp before standing up and walking out of the room. He couldn’t be here anymore, he couldn’t watch as he officially lost the woman he loved.

Drake nearly dropped his glass at Liam’s words. He had not expected him to completely destroy his image, to end his engagement to Madeline, to profess his love for Athena. This was it, things between him and Liam were over, how could they possibly continue? Athena would surely chose him after this public declaration. He threw back his whiskey and walked away. He needed another drink, but not here, not in the room where he was losing the man he loved.

Liam paused his statement for a moment as he watched Drake storm out of the ballroom. He had stupidly forgotten how all of this would affect Drake. He probably assumed this meant that they were done. That made Liam’s heart shatter, but he had to continue.

Liam concluded the press conference but Athena couldn’t process a word that had been said. She sat in shock, did that just happen? Her heart broke as she watched Percy walk out of the room. Did Liam really just dump Madeline in front of the entire court and press? Had he really just professed his undying love for her? She pulled out her phone, she needed to talk to him, the man she hadn't chose, now, let him know she already chose that Liam's words didn't matter, her choice had already been made, that she had been on her way to tell him when she learned of the press conference. She pulled up his name in her contacts.

I need to see you, meet me in my room. She typed.

I'll be there, came the eventual response.

It was time, she was breaking a heart so she could start her life with the man she loved.

A/N: Okay, I promise next chapter you find out. Who do you think it is?

A/N2: Do you want a Madeline Drabble?

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