15. Delilah
Chapter fifteen
Delilah
“ M inimize interactions with them; no need to prolong any unnecessary conversations. Be attentive, make sure you follow along in all discussions to find any loopholes we can discuss later—” my father began, but I cut him off as I sighed.
“I feel like you give us this same lecture every time we’re going to see anyone, and because this is Calvin in particular, I feel like you’re preparing us for an upcoming war.”
My mother entered the room with Tyler on her hip and nodded. “Which is utterly useless because this lunch is met for you two to calm these differences you both have, not create more.”
“Exactly why I’m trying to prepare the children for what lies ahead.”
“Killian, nothing is going to happen—” my mother started, but my brother cut in, quickly dismissing it.
“You don’t know that for a fact, Mother. For all we know, Calvin could be trying to plot against us as we speak,” Zachary said, entering the room as he fixed his tie.
“What have I told you about encouraging your father, Zachary?!” Mom asked, growing irritated, and Zach shrugged.
“When you feed his ego, you get places in life. After fifteen years of marriage, Mother, I’m surprised you haven’t figured that out.”
My father shrugged his shoulders as he stood up. “He’s not wrong, love.” My mother sighed, exasperated, and I watched as my father placed a small kiss on her head. “But if you really want me to, I’ll make eye contact with him and make an effort to hold a conversation.”
She rolled her eyes and walked away. “God, at least it’s a start,” she muttered, and Zachary followed her out of the room.
I leaned back in my chair and smoothed down my dress. “I don’t mean to be rude, Dad, but you and I both know it’s not in your character to actually make conversation with Calvin willingly.”
“You must know me more than your mother does. At least you can see through my friendly fa?ade.”
“For me, Dad... Can you please not stress her out today?”
“Darling, you don’t think she’s stressing me out?”
“You stress her out mentally and, not that I want to mention, but... physically sometimes. This ‘stress’ you’re feeling right now is nothing more than the feeling of pettiness.”
Dad looked at me for a moment in thought before he cleared his throat and looked away.
“George should be waiting for us outside. Gather your siblings and mother so we can get going.”
He walked away, and I laughed.
“You know I’m right,” I said, and he didn’t say anything as he walked into the next room.
Eventually, my mother had situated the twins with Reginald and Benjamin as Ivory, Zachary, and I were on our way to the car. We entered the car, and we pulled off in the direction of the restaurant.
Once we reached the restaurant, my father’s face turned emotionless, and he was the first to get out of the car. My mother looked over to me and sighed heavily. I knew that look, which was basically begging for my help. I gave her an encouraging smile, and she grabbed my father’s hand as he outstretched it to her. She stepped out, and Ivory, Zach, and I followed suit.
We were directed to the restaurant’s entrance, and I noticed Uncle Blaine and Uncle Masahiko standing with Calvin and Andrew. Uncle Eugene was one of the people in our family who didn’t want anything to do with all the drama. He and his wife only came to events when necessary, but he mostly kept to himself and stayed with his family.
“Say hello, children,” I heard my father say, trying not to sound annoyed, and I looked up to see Archer with his eyes aimed at me.
I cleared my throat. “Hi…”
Archer tilted his head slightly. “Hello… Delilah,” he said, and my father looked over to us for a moment, causing me to avert my eyes to look at anyone but Archer.
I felt a hand on the small of my back, and I quickly looked to see Luca with a cocky smile on his face.
“Hello, Delilah. Don’t you just look absolutely beautiful?” he said, and I wasn’t able to say anything as he lifted my hand and placed a small kiss on it.
I felt my arm being pulled, and I looked to see Uncle Blaine glaring at Luca, who just had a sarcastic “apologetic” smile on his face.
“Control your son, Crawford,” my father said to Andrew, and only then did I notice that Archer had disappeared. Luca chuckled, and I followed my uncle to the table where we were going to sit.
I took a seat at the table, and a chair was forced out beside me. I looked up, a bit startled, but internally rolled my eyes as Kimiko took a seat and kept her face cold. Archer finally reappeared and took a seat across from me. I tried my best to limit eye contact with him, and I watched as his friend sat beside him.
Luca also approached the table and sat beside Archer’s friend, whose face had immediately gone pale. My siblings sat beside me, and our parents sat at the head of the table, and I could already feel the tension starting to rise.
We put in an order for the appetizers, and I listened as Calvin’s wife spoke.
“This lunch was organized to get over this bitter fighting that you all have going on, and nothing can get accomplished if you all continue to glare at one another.”
Calvin sighed childishly and spoke. “I’ve tried, my love. Do you know how long I’ve been trying to befriend him? It’s virtually impossible.”
My father rubbed his temples. “I’ve given you multiple times to fix your mistakes, Lockwood. How long will it take for you to realize that you’re a backstabber and manipulative bastard?”
My mother glared at him. “Killian. Today is about making amends—”
Calvin cut her off. “Yes, Killian, amends ... Brielle knows all about fixing those. So does my goddaughter—”
“Excuse me, the only godfather to Delilah here is me,” my uncle Blaine butted in, and my sister rolled her eyes.
“Oh, boy, here we go,” she said, and I sighed.
Dad said, “Blaine, please.”
“No, this is outrageous! I claimed her as my godchild the moment I laid eyes on her, and out of nowhere, this man thinks he holds any power to challenge my claim.”
“Blaine, honey—” his wife began, but Calvin cut her off.
“Porter, you’re the least capable of becoming anyone’s godfather or taking on any responsibility. I did you a favor—”
Uncle Blaine cut him off. “Oh, you want to go there? We can do this all day if you want to—”
“That’s what she said.”
The entire table went quiet as we heard Archer’s friend speak, and my mother sighed as she called over the waiter and ordered a bottle of wine. So much for making amends... This entire lunch is going to end up being a shitshow.
The silence was getting uncomfortable. There was now a tremendous amount of growing tension at the end of the table, and I sighed again as I took a sip of water. As I did, my eyes met Archer’s, who was stupidly making it very clear to everyone at the table that he was looking directly at me. I stood up, ignored his gaze as I walked over to the end of the table, and spoke to my mother.
“I’m just going to run to the ladies’ room for a moment. I won’t be too long.”
She nodded, and I walked away from the deafening silence.
I walked into the hallway and felt my phone vibrate. I opened it to see a message from Kimiko.
Kimi: So you’re just going to leave me with these insanely idiotic rich lunatics?!!
Our fathers and uncles are a part of that group of insanely idiotic rich lunatics, FYI.
I know that, which is why I’ll say it again. You’re just going to leave me with these insanely idiotic rich lunatics!!!
I giggled as I read her message.
I went to respond when I felt someone turn me around, and I jumped, almost screaming in the process.
“You know, Princess , trying to escape your problems will catch up to you sooner or later.”
“The only problem I’m trying to get away from is you, Archer. And sadly, you have legs, so it’s inevitable that you chase me.”
He gave a short chuckle and continued to gaze down at me. I did my best to ignore my growing blush as I asked him, “What is it that you want now?”
“You look gorgeous.”
“How did you get away from them? You don’t think it’s a bit suspicious how you left right after I did?” I questioned, ignoring his compliment.
He shrugged. “They’re back to bickering back and forth. My apologies if I wanted to get away from all the noise.” I watched as he took a step closer, causing me to take one back. “And who says I came out here for you?”
I shrugged. “Well, it sure wasn’t me. I simply said it was a bit suspicious of you to leave right after me. So the only person who technically mentioned coming out here for me was you.”
“Your attitude has never been one of your best qualities, but... I don’t mind it much.”
I felt something against my back, and my hands caught the edge of it quickly. We both looked over at it, and I noticed how we were a few feet away from where we were in the beginning, and now… now I was backed against a table in the corner.
“And why is that?” I asked him, and he sighed as he leaned over me, his scent engulfing me as he towered over my frame. My breath hitched as he trapped me by placing his hands on the edge of the table as well.
“Well, I have reason to believe I’m the only one who can actually make you speechless.”
I gulped softly and shrugged internally... Technically, he’s not wrong.
His arm wrapped around me, and I looked away from his eyes as I bit my lip, placing my hands against his chest.
“Archer... no, someone could see us.”
“Not to be rude, love, but those people are too worried about themselves to see where we’ve run off to.”
“That’s what you think, but I know them like the back of my hand, and once my father notices I’m missing—” I began, but I was cut off as Archer grabbed my chin and placed his lips on mine. I shuddered on the inside and gripped his suit in my fists as his arm pulled me in closer. His lips were surprisingly addicting for how much I hated the guy.
Well, “hate” is a strong word. Because for the first time in a long time, I was actually starting not to hate Archer. I would never admit that to him, but it was hard to push him away as his mouth devoured me as if he’d been waiting for this moment for the longest time. His tongue exploring mine caused my face to grow hot as our kiss became more intimate.
His hands traveled over my hips after a moment, and I pulled away breathlessly as I looked into his hooded eyes. My hands against his chest pushed at him slightly as I spoke.
“I told you before, Archer, this can’t happen again.”
I tried to pull away, but a gasp escaped me as he caught my jaw in his hand and glared down at me possessively. He wasn’t as breathless, but he was clearly a bit worked up, too.
“And I told you before, Princess… you’re mine,” he groaned, and before I knew it, his lips were on mine once again.
Omniscient
“Your attitude has never been one of your best qualities, but... I don’t mind it much.”
Luca listened to the conversation just around the corner at the end of the hall. He had managed to slip away from the drama at the table and was curious to see where Delilah and Archer had run off to.
“And why is that?” he heard Delilah ask and remained still. He would be caught if he made any wrong move from the spot he was standing now.
“Well, I have reason to believe I’m the only one who can actually make you speechless.”
“Archer... no, someone could see us.”
“Not to be rude, love, but those people are too worried about themselves to see where we’ve run off to.”
Luca disagreed slightly. After all, he was more concerned about where the two of them would be than about himself.
“That’s what you think, but I know them like the back of my hand, and once my father notices I’m missing—”
Luca furrowed his eyebrows as she didn’t finish her sentence, but a small moan was heard. He peeked his head around the wall for a split second, but it lasted longer as he watched Archer kiss what was his...
Anger started to rise within him, and eventually, they slowed to pull away.
He walked away, not wanting to witness any longer, and returned to the table to hear another pointless debate. It was clear they still hadn’t noticed his or Archer’s absence.
He took a seat and felt eyes directly on him. He looked up to see Ivory, Delilah’s little sister, staring straight at him, almost as if she were silently questioning his actions. He knew Delilah most likely spoke about her blatant dislike of him, but there was something behind the young girl’s eyes that he couldn’t quite decipher, though it looked like fear—as if she knew what he was capable of.
Luca smiled internally. She was afraid . She could either be a great assistance or an irrelevant problem. He looked around the table for a moment before bringing a finger to his lips to indicate silence, and the fear in Ivory’s eyes started to grow slightly.
He felt another pair of eyes on him, and he turned to see Kimiko glaring daggers at him. He slipped her a quick wink, and she rolled her eyes, revolted by his actions.
“Hey, if you don’t mind. I kind of saw you going after Archer and, um, Delilah. Were they... you know...? You came back awfully quick,” Sterling asked in a whisper, trying to control his nerves, and Luca sighed.
“Not that it should matter to you, but yes… they were.”
“Wow, that must have been awkward for you. Watching something you’ll never get? Must be pretty hard... That’s what she said.”
“God, Reynolds, if you know what’s good for you, you will stop fucking talking—”
Luca stopped as Archer walked back over to the table and took a seat. Sterling moved his chair closer to him and grabbed his arm.
“He used my last name, Archer. I’m scared.”
Luca rolled his eyes, and Archer sighed.
“You’ll be fine, Sterling.”
Turning away from the conversation, Luca focused his attention at the end of the table to hear a now slowly intensifying discussion.
“You know, Killian. I admire you, I really do,” Calvin started, and Shin rolled his eyes.
“It’s not like you haven’t already said that a hundred times already.”
“I don’t think the conversation was directed towards you, Masahiko. I believe the name ‘Killian’ should have rung a few bells,” Andrew inputted, and Calvin chuckled.
“Thank you, Andrew. You would think Killian’s best advisor would know his name.”
“Lockwood, I don’t want to have to deal with you longer than required. If you all think it’s best to finish this up, then I’ll grab the check and—” Killian began, but Calvin cut him off.
“Your real estate department has been doing quite well lately, hasn’t it?”
Killian remained silent at the question, catching Blaine and Shin’s attention.
Calvin nodded as he sat back in his chair and continued, “Yes, as I was saying before, I admire you, Killian. You’re finding more investors by the second. It won’t be long until your monthly profit reaches over eight figures.”
“Lockwood, don’t play fucking games with me,” Killian almost seethed.
Brielle looked over to him. “Honey, what is he talking about?”
“Well, Brielle, if you must know, Killian recently acquired a substantial investment in a new property and signed a contract with Blaine and Shin.”
“Sorry for being so long; I—” Delilah started as she entered the room, but she flinched as Killian’s palm hit the table.
He leaned over in his seat and glared at Calvin. “That information is strictly classified. Where the hell did you get it from?”
“Andrew actually has an associate who introduced me to your biggest investor, so, in a sense, I heard it from him,” Calvin finished.
Blaine sighed. “Oh fuck, this can’t be good.”
Killian chuckled darkly, and Delilah quickly noticed his fingers drumming against the table like a countdown, something he did often when his anger was at its peak.
“An associate, you say...? And if you don’t mind me asking, what did you and this certain associate discuss?” Killian asked.
Calvin tilted his head as he sighed. “You know, Killian, I don’t think I need to disclose that information to you.”
“You will if you don’t want me to suffocate you right this second.”
Calvin held his hands up in a sarcastic manner. “Fine, if you so desperately want the details, we made an agreement. ”
“What kind of agreement ?” Killian pressed.
Calvin thought about it for a moment. “Well, now that I think about it, it wasn’t much of an agreement... more of a compromise or a negotiation.”
“I don’t care what the hell you want to call it, Calvin. What the hell did you do!” Killian yelled, causing some to flinch, but Calvin stayed motionless.
Pouring himself a glass of champagne, Calvin smiled, tipping the glass towards Killian. “We’re back in business, baby.”