Chapter 38
Kinsley
Jellybeans & Complacency
Marcus and I stepped onto the elevator and rode the way down in silence. Once we exited, he walked beside me with that easy confidence I’d come to appreciate. Even though it was early, the lobby was somewhat busy. I stole a glance at Marcus and noticed he had a smile on his face. Ever the gentlemen, he held the door open.
“Music?”
he asked after I had buckled in.
“You choose today. Anything is good.”
“Anything, huh? Do you like heavy metal rock? Opera?”
he asked, trying to lighten my mood.
“Oh, um, how about anything other than heavy metal rock or opera,”
I said, feeling myself relax the farther we drove from the hotel.
He settled on an ’80s playlist, which was good. I lost myself in Journey’s “Open Arms.”
It reminded me of my father. Maybe I should have picked. This was going to be a long day. The tears flowed. Poor Marcus kept looking at me in the rearview mirror. When it finished, I asked him if he could play it again.
“Are you sure, Ms. Taylor?”
He looked worried. I nodded, asking him to turn it up.
Taking stock of my situation, I had to admit that I took a chance and it backfired on me. I foolishly thought I could manipulate things. I told myself that I could manage Aleksandr, and that proved ludicrous.
I should have stayed in Skagit County. If I had, I wouldn’t be in this mess right now. Going back was always an option. That was why I hadn’t sold it. The other glaring truth was I had become complacent.
I needed to take my ass home, rip open that envelope with all the secrets I’d ever needed answers to, and come back into agreement with my reality. And only then could I knowingly move forward in my life.
“Jellybean, never become complacent. Nothing in life is certain,”
Owen’s voice rang out in my head.
“Ms. Taylor?”
Marcus’s voice startled me out of my memories.
“I’m sorry. Can you repeat the question? I didn’t hear you the first time.”
I flushed in embarrassment.
“Um, I didn’t ask you anything. You were saying something. I thought you were talking to me. Something about jelly beans?”
“Sorry, I ramble sometimes.”
“About jelly beans and complacency?”
I groaned, realizing I must have spoken aloud. My phone buzzed. It was a message from Alek. Choosing to ignore it, I unbuckled and climbed in the front with Marcus.
He laughed and then scolded me. “Buckle up.”
“I’m curious,”
I began, my voice holding a mix of curiosity and frustration. “Does Alek always act this obsessive and controlling?”
Marcus responded without hesitation. “Only with things that are important to him.”
There was a subtle side-eye, a hint of something unspoken.
“Great, so my mundane life has somehow become important to him. I promise I’m not that exciting.”
Settling in, I pushed the butt heater on his dashboard. I sighed as the warmth spread across my backside.
The silence between us stretched on for a few minutes, broken only by the hum of the engine. Suddenly, Marcus turned to me with a grin, breaking through the heaviness that enveloped the car. “I hear you like to hike?”
he asked, his voice carrying a playful undertone.
“Yes, I don’t get to go nearly enough anymore. When my grandfather was alive, we used to take a few days and visit some of the waterfalls along the Pacific Northwest.”
“Did you stop for jelly beans?”
A genuine laugh escaped my lips at his question, the sound filling the confined space. “We absolutely did, every single time.”
With his eyes fixed on the road ahead, Marcus continued our conversation. “So, if you love hiking so much, why did you leave this morning?”
His tone was gentle, but his words pierced through my defenses, inviting me to share my vulnerability.
I turned my gaze toward him, even though I knew he wouldn’t look over. “It’s complicated,”
I confessed, my voice shaking with my frustration and sadness. “Last night was a disaster.”
Marcus shook his head at my words. “That bad, huh? Game nights are usually fun,”
he remarked, acknowledging the contrast between my expectations and the reality I had experienced. The invitation to open up further hung in the air when he gently nudged me. “Want to talk about it?”
I nodded, accepting his offer. “Sure, with the full expectation that you’ll share with your boss later. I’ll be as honest and candid as I can.”
“Seems fair,”
he said, still focused on the road.
“The Reaper is confusing. I can’t read him. You’d think with his obsession, he would have jumped at the opportunity to spank my ass last night. Yet, here I sit, quite comfortably, no sore bottom.”
“And you wanted a sore bottom this morning?”
His lips twitched into a smile.
“It was part of the game. I didn’t set out seeking that outcome. In the end, I’m not mad that they didn’t go through with it. More humiliated than anything. Egos suck, you know. It made me realize something important.”
Curiosity laced Marcus’s voice as he asked, “What’s that?”
“It’s somewhat twofold,”
I replied, my thoughts intertwining. “On one hand, your boss’s refusal to spank me pissed me off, and now I have to dissect that revelation, or I’ll go crazy. I mean, he clearly didn’t have a problem shoving his face into Jenna’s pussy, but giving me a light spanking was pushing the envelope. Anyway, all that to say I’ll need to work it out. It’s how my mind works. I have to have a full-picture view in order to process it. It’s opened a can of worms now.”
His hands danced over the steering wheel as he turned the car. “And the other?”
After pausing for a moment to collect my thoughts, I continued. “I’m out of my league. Never hike the hardest trail without tackling the easier ones first. The world your bosses live in is like The Maze—that’s a hiking trail. It’s one of the hardest to hike in the United States. I’m not cut out for their world.”
Marcus’s next question was laced with a mix of understanding and concern. “And just so I’m clear, what world would that be?”
A wave of confusion washed over me as I peered to the side and studied his profile. “The one I seemed to want to jump headlong into, for nothing other than to prove a point.”
“To whom were you trying to prove a point?”
Embarrassed, I admitted, “Pathetically, Jenna. We had this whole exchange at the spa. She’s known the Kings for a while. If she’s still around, then that means something.”
“I see,”
he murmured, looking concerned.
“So, with no real thought, and in true Kinsley fashion, I impulsively chose to jump the high-dive board. But I should have stuck to the kiddie pool.”
“And are you normally impulsive?”
“It’s a character flaw—one that is as deeply ingrained in me as my DNA. Beauty and grace without a lick of sense. But in my defense, I never claimed to be a smart girl. What’s Jenna’s deal with Alek, anyway?”
“You’ll have to ask him that,”
he responded as my phone rang. I sent it to voicemail.
It rang twice more, and I turned the damn thing off. Apparently, Ivan was right. Alek wasn’t going to leave me alone.
“He has boundary issues, big time, you know.”
I shook my head. “Tell him something else for me.”
I paused as he glanced at me and then back at the road.
“What’s that?”
“He had his chance last night. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and that boat has sailed.”
I mimicked a boat on the water drifting away.
A knowing smile played on Marcus’s lips as he considered my words. “He won’t like hearing that, I’m sure. But I’ll pass it along,”
he assured me before adding, “I should warn you, though, it may make him more determined.”
“Snooze, you lose. He had one shot, and he let it slip through his fingers. His loss, someone else’s gain.”
I shrugged my shoulders and winked at him. “Bet you never thought your day job with Alek would include passing messages like we were in grade school, huh?”
“My job with the Kings has had some odd moments, I won’t lie, but I’ll admit this is truly a first for me. Now, Marcel…he would be amazing at it.”
“Marcel?”
I scoffed. “You’ve got to be joking. No, that is how I found myself in this mess to begin with. He was the fool who said, ‘go on one date. It’ll be fun, and he’ll lose interest after.’ I’m afraid he may have lost his touch. Not sure if he ever had one, but Alek sings his praises, so there is that. Friends can be biased, though, so it’s understandable.”
My voice carried a hint of amusement.
Marcus shook his head, but the grin on his face told me we were okay. As the road stretched out before us, carrying us closer to the airport, I allowed the heaviness to ease.
Another classic ’80s song came on, and I let the conversation go. We rode the rest of the way in silence. He dropped me off, and I stared at the taillights as he drove away. Becca, the flight attendant, waited for me at the top of the stairs.
“Ms. Taylor, Alek has asked that we hold the plane until he can get here. He’d like to fly home with you.”
Pulling out my phone, I turned it back on and called an Uber. I was in luck, as there was someone five minutes out. I walked away from her without a single word. The last person I wanted to talk to was Aleksandr King.