by Fiona Murphy
When it fell out from underneath itself, the losses I suffered were nothing compared to everyone else, because all I cared about was myself. I could have said and done more but I didn’t.”
“Drake, you can’t think like that. Would you have really been able to stop people from buying and selling something like that? From what I read, they were the next big thing since junk bonds, it was their risk to take.”
“That was the whole problem, they didn’t know how big the risk was. They were selling grade A when they knew it was more like junk than A. I wasn’t the only one who knew, if more people had said something, then it might not have been so bad.”
“I love you, you know that. You’re so damned smart, and arrogant, but you couldn’t have stopped it. There were others who tried to say something and don’t you remember someone even testified on it. Please stop thinking that way. Not even the Dragon of Chicago could have stopped it from happening. The market has cycles and it had been up for way too long, it was inevitable. Those were things I heard just going about my day in the city, so you, of all people, have to know that.
Please, let the guilt go. Is that why you do all you do with your properties? Practically giving a few condos in buildings and other properties to families in need.”
Sighing, he nods. “Maybe, all I knew was after everything that happened I’d never go back into the market. Real estate seemed a hell of a better option, my great-grandfather was huge into real estate. I liked the idea, something to touch, something people had and needed. I like what I’m doing now and really enjoy taking something and building it back up.
Yes, guilt played a huge factor in giving properties at greatly reduced or practically free to people who need help. I gave up the running of the foundation to the lawyers long ago, so doing something for others and seeing it up close has been more fulfilling than I ever thought it could be. Chicago isn’t an easy place to live in, and if I can help others then I want to.”
“The Dragon doesn’t breathe fire after all, who knew?”
“You knew, the whole time, don’t act like you didn’t. Now, sweetheart it’s time to get you moving. The wedding planner, Jane, will meet you at the bridal place. She needs an invitation list from you, we’re keeping it small. Even small they’ll need to put the order in at a rush. A word of warning, she’s acting as if she’s moving heaven and earth for us. When you’re done there, you’ve got the florist, they already know your favorite flowers and colors. Tomorrow we’ll do the food together and pick out a cake. Justin, do you want to go with your sister to pick out a dress?”
“Ugh, no way. Besides, my stupid teacher gave us enough homework for two weekends not one. I need to start on it now if we’re going to do the tuxedo thing on Sunday. Do I really have to wear a tuxedo?”
“Oh, you would look so good in a tuxedo! Justin, why don’t you want to wear one?”
Justin rolls his eyes, “Okay, you were right. Girls and tuxedoes.”
I watch as he stomps into the kitchen and tosses his heavy backpack down. “Oh, Drake, he’s going to look adorable in a tuxedo.”
“Don’t call him adorable, he’ll hate it.” Drake kisses me as his phone goes off. “Yes, Jane, she’s leaving now. I’m sure traffic is bad, it’s always bad in Chicago. No, the bridal salon won’t care if she’s ten minutes late or an hour late. They want my money and I want their dress. No, you don’t need to talk to her, she’s going out to the car now. You’ll know how to find her. I’ve told you what she looks like twice, gorgeous, five foot four with long brown hair and eyes. She’ll also be the only women walking in when the store is closing. Because she’s the only woman there who has a fiancé who wants every salesperson’s attention on her alone.”
With a press of a button, he ends the phone call with a sigh. “Okay, from now on, you’re dealing with her. I’ve already told her, you get whatever the hell you want, cost doesn’t matter, it’s your day.
Norman is waiting outside for you. He’ll take you into the city and bring you back to the house. I have my car and I’ll take Justin with me once all the packing is done. Your landlord is a nice guy and has been dealt with, don’t give him any money. They aren’t always nice and if he thinks you don’t know, he might try and get something extra from you.”
Standing, he walks me to the door and with a light kiss pushes me out the door. The moment I step out of the house, the door to a Mercedes sedan in all black parked in front of the duplex opens and the driver runs around to the back door. “Hi, Norman. I’m Ria and you don’t have to open the door for me, okay?”
“Okay, Ms. Ria.”
“Ria, just Ria.”
He nods and closes the door. He’s casual in jeans and black button down shirt. Tall and well-built, he’s a very dark black man with hair clipped very short and an air of control and contained menace. “So, how long have you worked for Drake?”
“On and off for a few years, usually just private investigation jobs for Drake. A few times during the year he’ll travel and request me as a bodyguard. I do bodyguard jobs out of the country for a few other high profiles, over the last few years though I’ve been looking for something more stable. When Drake offered me the job for your driver and bodyguard, it was exactly what I was hoping for. Also, Boston is my hometown, he liked me knowing the area for when you guys move.”
I’m surprised and it shows, I can’t think of anything to say.
“Ria, Drake is doing the right thing. I know it seems scary and maybe a little over the top. Really though, a pretty woman like you, on her own in Chicago and Boston, will always be a target. Add in that soon it will be obvious from your clothes and the way you carry yourself that you have money, the threat will be higher. I’ve known Drake a long time, and those he cares for are treated like the precious things he considers them to be.”
I don’t know what to say, I nod and look out the window, not seeing the city going by. A bodyguard, really? Then it flashes, how every night I had gone into work early, to avoid the harassment I had dealt with on the few nights I had traveled in the dark. Tension eases out of me, damn Drake for being such a know it all. My annoyance goes up a notch when Norman stops at a fast food favorite of mine. Asking me what I want because Drake told him I’d be hungry and likely wouldn’t be able to eat for several hours.
As we drive to Drake’s home in Lake Forest, farther north than Evanston, I sink into the soft leather seats. Jane had been as bad as she sounded on the phone. I wondered how in the hell Drake had put up with her for more than a few days. Until the moment when she had slipped out of the florist’s to take a call and the florist had muttered that it didn’t matter if she was the most sought after wedding planner in all of Chicago, the florist couldn’t stand her. I then found out she had done every major wedding in Chicago and the suburbs for the last five years. It became clearer then, she was the ‘had to have’, and if others had to have her then Drake would make it known he had to have her. When I found out she had dropped another client whose wedding was in a few weeks, I’d been shocked and in awe of how far Drake was willing to go.
Letting my hair out of the pony tail I had put it in while dress shopping, I sigh with contentment. The perfect dress had been found and it would be ready in only three weeks. Once, I tried to look at the price tag, the saleswoman told me Drake had instructed them to be removed so I wouldn’t know how much it was. The dress was to look as close as possible to the lingerie he had sent over and that was the only consideration the saleswoman or I needed to worry about. Even without being there, Drake could be bossy.
The house catches my eye as we drive toward it, as almost every room in the house had the light on. Then Norman pulls up the long drive toward it and I’m sitting up straighter. This was the kind of house on the front of magazines, and I’m supposed to live in it? I don’t even notice Norman has stopped the car and opened the door for me until he clears his throat.
“No problem. I thought the same thing the first time I came here. It’s a nice place,
Drake’s mother worked hard to make it not feel like a museum.
I’ll be taking Justin to school and picking him up, as well as driving you. We chatted before he went into your house today, we’ll do well together.”
It doesn’t surprise me, Justin would love having a driver and a bodyguard at that. I go in through the open garage door Norman indicated and find myself in a huge dark-wood kitchen with a large island as the centerpiece and white granite countertops. Both Drake and Justin are at one end of the island, Drake on his laptop and Justin with a book and notepad in front of him. They’re talking about whether Justin needed a laptop and a desktop or just a laptop. The debate is light and Drake is smiling. When he feels my eyes on him, he turns and his smile grows wider. Seeing me, Justin shakes his head and looks at Drake, then with a shrug goes back to his book.
Drake pulls me into his arms lightly, he sighs with longing and I smile to let him know I’m feeling it too. “Come, meet Meredith. Meredith, this is my fiancée, Ria. Ria, this is Meredith, she and her husband have looked after this place since before I was born. This is her husband Enrico. Enrico takes care of the grounds. He’ll also take Justin to school on mornings when Norman is driving you. Dinner is almost done, Meredith and I have unpacked your clothes and personal things in our bedroom. The household and kitchen items are still boxed. We can look at what you want to keep or move with us to Boston.”
Meredith is a small, smiling woman with steel gray hair and pretty light-blue eyes. Enrico is tall, thin and as welcoming as his wife.
When I ask if I can help, the other woman’s eyes go wide and she shakes her head. “No, dear, you have a seat.”
Shrugging, I look to Drake for help. He laughs and pulls me close. “Did you find a dress?”
“Of course, I found a dress and it will be ready in three weeks and no you don’t get to see it. The flowers are picked out and the china pattern to be used for the dishes and flatware too because Jane said men don’t care about those things.
We absolutely can’t be late to the cake tasting because yet another bride is being bumped for us. I can’t believe you stole Jane from some poor bride.”
He laughs as I glare at him. “Sweetheart, do not think of Savanah Hill as a poor bride. She’s a gold digging, husband stealing slut, who used to be known as Savanah’s Hills when she worked as a stripper, before she got her claws into Evan Green. From what I hear Evan’s already having second thoughts, that’s why Jane cut and ran. Evan couldn’t believe the bills Savanah was running up and kept asking questions, they’ve had some blow-ups already. Odds are running against them actually making it to the altar, because she’s digging in her heels at the prenup.”
“Oh,” I feel oddly deflated. “I feel a little better now.”
“Dinner is ready, the small dining room has been set.” Meredith announces, Drake pulls me up and tugs at Justin to get him moving. He puts his hand over the book Justin is trying to take into the dining room.
“Ria lets me take homework to the dinner table. It’s not like I’m on a cell phone or something.”
“Dinner is for family, twenty minutes won’t cut into your time. Why exactly do you have so much homework over the weekend, anyway?”
“Because Mr. Simonson is trying to make a name for himself by being a hard teacher. But he’s not hard, he just gives us more work that he doesn’t even always grade because he gives so much. Still, if we don’t do it and turn it in, then we lose points for not doing it. Kevin swears he turned in homework that was pure crap and it wasn’t even graded. He just got the points for it being done. If I were to try it, I know I’d get caught and lose the points. All the gifted teachers try to be hard, and since Mr. Simonson is new this year, he’s trying make a name for himself.”
“So is the work he’s giving you helping you learn more about the subject, or is it basically busy work?”
“I don’t know, it doesn’t feel like it’s helping. Especially when it’s not even stuff we go over in class. He tells us if we’re doing it then we’ll get it. It’s advanced calculus. I was doing calculus for the first time last year, but nothing like this.”
“So, you aren’t learning anything?”
“I honestly don’t know. Sometimes it feels like it but in class we just keep going over the basics, none of the stuff we do from the book is even in the book the school gave out.”
“Go get your homework and let me see it.” Justin comes back with his notebook for calculus and the book. Drake is looking through the pages intently, then he looks angry. “This is an advanced calculus book given to college students their final year to get their degree for engineering. Your homework, all the work you’ve done, you’re getting the basics, but—no, this isn’t right and he should know that. Whatever homework you have from him, don’t do it. I’ll talk to your principal on Monday.”
Justin’s eyes widen. “What are you going to do?”
“Don’t worry about what I’m going to do. You’re in the gifted program to learn and engage at a higher level, not to be a workhorse and kept busy. If he’s not going to actually teach at a higher level then he shouldn’t be there. Eat your dinner.” Drake closes the book with a thud and a shake of his head. “No wonder you were so close but didn’t pass. Maybe if you had a real teacher you would have passed.”
“How did you know how close I was?”
“I talked to MIT and the person who administered and graded your test, Lacy Dugan. She’s happy to know you’ll be able to attend next year. She was sure if she could have worked with you a little more, you would have had it. She’ll be one of your professors.”
“You’ve already talked to MIT?” I ask in surprise.
“Of course, I wanted to know how well he did on the testing and notify them he’ll be attending next year. I also wanted to know if there was anything he’ll be needing. Lacy put me in contact with a tutor who can get him where he needs to be. He’s advanced and learns quickly and easily, but he’s just short of where the school would like him to be. That’s why we’ll make the move as soon as possible after school ends.”
“How do you know all this about calculus and where the book came from?” Justin asks with interest.
“I had an earlier edition of it from Harvard. I did a double major in economics and in engineering to scare my dad. I was doing calculus at your age, I wasn’t a genius, I just learned quickly. Something similar happened to me in middle school, the teachers had no idea what they were doing. When my father found out, he pulled me out altogether. I had a governess until I was sixteen, and she had taken me as far as she could. I got into Harvard and off I went, it took a little longer for me to graduate because of the double majors. I came away with a masters in economics and a bachelors in engineering.”
“I didn’t know that. The bios on you mention Harvard and you were the fourth generation of your family to go. Nothing about how young you were or the double majors.” I’m startled to be surrounded by two men so much smarter than me. I had never gotten farther than Algebra in high school.
“That’s because my father didn’t want people to know I was on my own at such a young age, for security reasons. I didn’t look young, as far as everyone else at Harvard could tell I was eighteen. I’ve been tall since I was fourteen and started working out at fifteen when I started to get bored with the governess.”
“Wow, I thought a governess was someone rich people in England had in the eighteen hundreds.” Justin exclaims with excitement.
“No, not just in England in the olden days. My father wasn’t happy about me going off to school so young. He wanted to get me someone else, but I talked him into letting me go to Harvard instead.”
Dinner ended with Justin asking question after question about Boston and the area and our upcoming move. When we’ve finished the best ravioli and tiramisu I have ever had outside of an Italian restaurant, I get the tour of the house Drake had given Justin already. We leave Justin in the downstairs television room. It really was a room devoted to tele
vision with a fifty-inch projector set up for viewing. Justin made sure I knew it wasn’t even the movie room, which was downstairs along with the gym, bowling alley and had a movie popcorn maker in it. We said goodnight and warned him not to stay up late.
He called us grandparents for wanting to go to bed so early and we didn’t look at each other as we agreed with him. We both knew we wouldn’t be sleeping.
Chapter Seven
Drake points out the room he’d steered Justin to, which is four doors down from the master bedroom. He closes the door, leans against it and pulls me close.
“It’s only been seven hours since I was inside you, but it feels like an eternity.” He moans into my mouth and I groan in agreement as I tear at the buttons on his shirt. Pulling off my stretchy top in one movement his hands cup me in my black silky bra. “So fucking perfect. You get it, sweetheart, you fucking get it all. I love that. I went shopping for you, I was dying, remembering what you wore, and wondering about the dress. Thank god Justin waved me off without asking where I was going. Get undressed for me, sweetheart, while I get what I got you.” With a gentle push in the direction of the massive bed, Drake opens what appears to be a gigantic walk in closet.
I tear off my bra and push my jeans and panties down in one excited rush. Kicking off my flats, I pull back the sheets and get into bed. I’m about to get under the covers, when I see it and burn with embarrassment. It was the picture of Drake I had cut out of the newspaper last year, on what I can only assume is my side of the bed. I packed it this morning, not expecting anyone to unpack the suitcase. I wasn’t ready to get rid of it.
“Don’t blush, I loved finding it. It made me feel so damned good. Look on the other side of the bed.” Setting the bag on the bed, he’s as naked as I am. I love how beautiful and easy he is with his nakedness. I can see it’s a very large bag from the store I bought the negligee from yesterday. I’m wondering how many he bought as my bag had been a quarter of the size of his. Looking at the other side of the bed I see a beautiful silver frame with a picture of me. “Latisha, that bitch.”
