Chapter 6
Chapter Six
K ingston
"How did I let you guys talk me into spending a Friday evening with my assistant?" I say to Max and Remi as we make our way into the bar.
"Well, it's not like she wants to spend an evening with you either," Remington says, laughing.
We look around the room and I can see that the bar is packed. "I'm going to have one beer, then I'm leaving. I have an early morning tomorrow."
"Whatever," Remi says. "Hey, Max. Where's your girl?"
"She's sitting over there in the corner," Max nods towards the back. "Do you want to get some drinks before or…?"
"Yeah, let's do it." I nod in agreement. I don't want to keep going back and forth in this crowd, even though there are a couple of very beautiful women here tonight. I look around the bar, my eyes perusing the single groups of ladies. There's a group directly to the left of us with three tall, beautiful looking stunners. All of them are eyeing me up and down, so I take a step toward them and smile. "Hi. Nice to meet you. My name is Kingston."
"Did we ask you your name?" the lady closest to me with dark, brown eyes says. She has a long gold necklace hanging down the front of her body, falling right between the valley of her beautiful breasts.
"No, but I had a feeling you were going to ask."
"Really?" she says, looking into my eyes.
“Yes really, maybe I wanted to know your name, and I figured it would be polite to give you mine first."
"Really, then, Blue Eyes?"
"You can call me that as well. Though, like I said before, my friends call me Kingston."
"Well, I'll have you know that my friends call me India."
"Oh, yeah?" I say, staring at her shimmering darker skin. "And that's because?"
"Because my mother enjoyed visiting India when she was in college," she says. “I really want to go one day."
“I’ve got friends that went to Goa when I was in college," I say, staring at her beautiful smile. “They said the beach was amazing. So are you having fun tonight?"
"I am," she nods. "Maybe even more so now that you're here. This is my friend, Ashley."
"Hi," Ashley, a cute little blonde says, holding her hand out.
"Nice to meet you, Ashley."
"You too. You're really handsome. Your eyes are so blue."
"Thank you," I nod, and then look at the third girl, who is a petite Asian with very long, black hair.
"Hi. I'm Ariel, like The Little Mermaid, and yes, my mom named me after The Little Mermaid. Please don't say anything."
"I won't," I say. "You guys are really classing up the place, like we’re in Paris or Milan." They all start to giggle. “This is why I love living in the city," I say, nodding. “I get to hang out with supermodels like you three.”
"What do you think about the three of us?"
Pausing as my eyes move over to the right, I frown. Is that Skye? I’d recognize her long, red, cascading curls anywhere, but she isn't alone, and she’s laughing. I lean forward slightly to see who she's with. A tall, handsome looking man is standing there, looking like Ricky Martin, and a surge of annoyance passes through me. "So what were you about to ask, Blue Eyes?" Ariel says and taps me on the shoulder. I blink because I realize I'm still with the three women.
"Oh, I was just wondering if you wanted a drink." I smile at them, though I’m not feeling happy. I had been about to ask if they wanted to have some fun back at my place, because I'd much rather end the evening having a foursome than hanging out with my employees, but now that I’ve seen that Skye isn’t sitting at the table looking off, but actually having the time of her life, I’m not happy about it.
"Sure. We're drinking cosmos, but we also like dirty martinis," Ariel bites down on her lip, "Because we're dirty girls."
"Oh," I smirk. "Well, that's good to know. I'll go and get the drinks."
"I'll come with you," India says, holding my forearm possessively. "I'll help you bring the drinks back and make sure you don't put anything in them."
"I would never do such a thing," I say.
"I'm sure you wouldn't, but here in New York, girls are born with street smarts and we don't let guys buy us drinks unless we see the drinks being made and handed to us."
"You're very smart," I say. "Well, let's just go and get your drinks. We'll be right back," I say to Ashley and Ariel, who just nod and grin.
"So, you're here by yourself?" India asks, still holding on to me as we make our way to the bar top.
"Yeah,” I nod slightly, my eyes not leaving Skye as I watch her run her fingers through her hair and lean over to whisper something into the guy's ear. What the hell? Is this the plan that she had for the evening? Was this why she wasn't able to complete her work, so she could go and flirt with some jackass?
"I think we'll get the cosmos, seeing as that's what we've been drinking all night, and they say you shouldn't mix your liquor, right?" India continues, and I look into her eyes and give her a brief smile.
"Yeah, that's true. So what do you do? I've never seen you around here before."
"I'm an attorney. You?" I ask.
"I'm a DJ. Well, part-time DJ. In the day, I manage a little boutique in the West Village. You may have heard of it. Englewood?"
"Sorry. No," I shake my head.
"You mean you've never bought your girlfriend or your wife any cute bikinis or lingerie? That's what we sell."
"No, I haven't," I say, and she gasps.
"Wait, are you married?"
I blink as I look at her. "No, I'm not married. Sorry, I was just a little distracted. No, I haven't bought my girlfriend or wife any lingerie from your boutique because I don't have a girlfriend or wife." I grin at her. "Does that make you feel better?"
"Yeah, because I don't do married men. I know some women are like, 'Maybe they're in a bad marriage, maybe they're separated. Maybe you'll be the second wife', but I just think it's bad karma."
I nod, my eyes still on Skye. "I mean, if he's going to cheat on his first wife, he's going to cheat on me too, and I don't want to be a second wife. Or rather, I don't mind being the second wife, but I don't want to be the second wife before the third one. You know?" I nod again. "Hey, are you listening to me, Blue Eyes?" We’ve stopped at the edge of the bar, about two people away from Skye.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about something work related."
"Oh, you must be so busy with work. What, are you like a judge?"
"No, I'm an attorney. Business litigation, some commercial real estate?—"
"Oh my gosh, so we just got this new line of bikinis in that I think you would absolutely love," she cuts me off.
"Okay," I say, signaling to the bartender to come over. "Excuse me," I say loudly, and I know that Skye has heard me because I watch her shoulders tense and she turns to look toward me, as if in slow motion. Her eyes widen and she shakes her head.
"Oh, hell no," she says, and I grin as I give her a wave.
"Nice to see you, Skye. Having an enjoyable evening, are we?"
"Yes, I am. Thank you very much," she says, glaring at me now. "What are you doing here?"
"Didn't Lila tell you that she invited Max and us to come join since we were finished at our previous bar?"
"No, she didn't. Oh my gosh. Are you trying to ruin my evening?"
"Are you trying to ruin mine?"
"Yo. I'm standing here, you know." A drunk guy between us backs away and I push over to the side so that I'm standing next to Skye now, and then I feel India's hand on my arm again as she squeezes. I look back over to her. I had forgotten all about her.
"India, I'd like you to meet my assistant. My not-very-adept assistant. My not-very-hardworking-or-productive assistant."
"Wow. Thank you very much, Kingston. That makes me feel like a really valued employee," Skye says sarcastically, and I laugh.
"This is Skye. Skye, this is India."
"Hi, India," Skye says, giving her a wide smile and reaching over. "Nice to meet you. Are you two dating or…?" Skye's eyes go back and forth between myself and India.
"Not yet," India says in a tone that very clearly says that we will be soon. She gives me a confident smile and I admire her high cheekbones. She was definitely going to make it as a supermodel. “But who knows what could happen if tonight goes well."
Skye nods slightly and looks at me, a smirk on her face that I’m not quite sure about. Her eyes flicker between hurt, consternation, and triumph and when she laughs hoarsely, I wonder if she’s losing it?
“What's so funny?" I ask her.
"Just that you're exactly the sort of guy that I thought you were."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"I think you know exactly what that means."
"And who's your friend?" I nod toward the Ricky Martin look alike that's standing behind her.
"Hey," the guy says, looking me up and down. "You are extremely good looking." It dawns on me then that this is definitely not Skye's boyfriend.
"Thank you. I’m Kingston, Skye's boss at the law firm."
"Oh, you work at a law firm?" he asks Skye, and I grin. So this dude doesn't even know where she works? They barely know each other.
"I'm his assistant, but I'm also a model and an actress."
"What modeling have you done?" I ask, raising my eyebrow.
"I'll have you know that I was in a Macy's catalog."
"You were in a Macy's catalog. Really?" My mind wonders what she was wearing in the catalog.
“To be clear, Macy's doesn't know I was in a catalog," she admits, laughing. "One summer, my cousin took photographs of us and cut out our faces and pasted them onto models in the Macy's catalog, and then we were able to tell people we were in Macy's catalogs. It was just something for my resumé when I went to look for modeling jobs."
My eyes narrow. "Really? And how many other jobs have you lied about on your resumé?" I ask, thinking about the fact that she has yet to get me her final resumé. I’m pretty sure it’s not going to list a long line of attorneys that she had verbally said she'd worked for.
"Like I said, I didn't do it. My cousin did. Everything I do is above board."
"Uh-huh," I say.
"Are you getting those cosmos or what, Blue Eyes?" I feel India's hand on my back, reaching down to squeeze my ass.
"Of course. Anything else?"
"Shots."
I look over at Skye and Ricky Martin. "Would you guys like shots?"
"Yeah. Are you paying?" Ricky Martin says, and I nod.
"No, thank you," Skye says.
"Really, Skye? You don't want a free shot?"
"Fine," she says. "You may buy me a shot."
"I had a feeling you'd say that. Let's see. What should we get?"
"I like buttery nipples," India says.
I look at her and grin. "I think I prefer the whipped cream."
Skye gasps, "Really? This is so inappropriate."
“You’re telling me something is inappropriate?” I say looking down into her eyes. “Pot calling kettle?"
"What are you talking about?" she says.
I lean down and whisper in her ear, "If you think you're going home with Ricky Martin there tonight, I think you'll find that you're mistaken."
"You're just jealous," she hisses. "You're just jealous because I told you I didn’t want to have dinner with you, and I told you I'm not interested in you and now you're trying to cock-block me with this very handsome man."
"I don't think I'm trying to cock-block you. I think you've cock-blocked yourself."
"How do I cock-block myself?" she demands, glaring at me.
"Maybe because you don't have a cock."
"What? What are you talking about?" She looks confused, and I shake my head.
"Are you ready to order, sir?" the bartender says.
"Yeah. Can I get three cosmopolitans? I will have a Guinness, if you have them, and then we'll get four shots of tequila."
"Tequila?" Skye says. "What? Are you trying to get me fucked up tonight?"
"I don't know. Do you want to get fucked up tonight, or are you just trying to get fucked?"
She gasps again, "Oh my gosh. You did not say that."
"I mean, if you want to get fucked, I would recommend you move on to someone else."
"Excuse me?" she says, blinking at me.
"I really don't think jealousy is a good look on you."
She gives me a smug look. "Just because me and my new man want to—" I tap her on the shoulder to interrupt her. "What?"
"Have a look," I say, nodding behind her.
"What are you talking about?" She turns her head to the right and her jaw drops when she sees Ricky Martin kissing a guy that had just walked up to him, and not as friends. "What?" She looks back at me, and I chuckle slightly.
"Honey, Ricky Martin doesn’t bat for our team."
"But I thought he was so into me," she whispers. "He was literally talking to me as soon as I got to the bar, admiring my hair, asking who my stylist was…" She blinks in confusion. "I wasn't even sure if I was into him, but…"
"But, what?" I ask.
"Nothing." She blushes now.
"Hey, guys. I want you to meet my boyfriend. This is Serrano."
"Nice to meet you, Serrano."
"It's a pleasure to meet you too," the skinny man says with a French accent.
"Hi," Skye says. "I’m Skye."
"Ah. You're the one with the beautiful red hair!" He nods. "I heard about you."
"You did?" she asks.
"Yes, I am a stylist. I work for a very famous hairdresser and, well, I wanted to give my card to you so you could give it to your stylist, because we have a new product that we created just for redheads to make the hair shiny, shiny, and silky." He touches her hair. "You have beautiful hair, but it is not at its best. See?” Skye blinks, and I burst out laughing. "I hope you're not offended. I just thought this could be good business for your stylist, and of course, if you buy some products from us, we will give you some free for yourself to take home."
Skye looks to me and shakes her head, "Do not even say a word."
"Okay," I nod.
I look over at India, who's looking bored. "Is there something going on here that I should know about?" India says, pointing between me and Skye. "Does she really work with you, or is this some sort of game, like you guys are fucking and pretending you don't know each other so you can pick each other up in the bar, and then go to the restrooms at the back and fuck?" She rolls her eyes. "Because that's so 2010."
"No. We are definitely not about to go to the back and fuck," I say, though I can feel myself growing hard at the thought.
"I wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole." Skye blinks and the bartender arrives with our shots.
"Here you guys go."
"And another one for Serrano here," I say to the bartender, who lets out his sigh.
"What is it with you people?" he mutters under his breath.
I don't even bother to ask him to clarify what he's talking about. He makes another tequila shot, brings it back, and hands it to Serrano. "Cheers, everyone," I say. As I down the smooth liquor, I look into Skye's eyes as she drinks hers and coughs lightly. "You okay? I guess you don't swallow much, huh?"
She stares at me for a couple of seconds, blinking as she shakes her head. "I'll have you know that you will never know if I swallow or not." She licks her lips, then looks down at my crotch and then back into my eyes. "I know you wish I wanted you, and I know you wish I gave a shit about you being here with a woman, but I don't. I do not care about you whatsoever, Kingston Chase. I don't want you, not even for one night, not even for one second, so get off your high horse and I'll see you on Monday."