The Game

by Natalie Clarke

  “Of course, I’d love to.”

  “Great.”

  Once Uncle Jack and I lock up the diner, Kyle and I drive back to his apartment, stopping to pick up food along the way. We curl up on the couch after we eat and settle on The Shawshank Redemption, again. I can see why it’s his favourite movie, it’s so good. It’s just a shame we didn’t make it until the end of the movie before I’m straddling his lap, my jeans and t shirt lying discarded on the floor, my bra following closely behind. I’m left in just my underwear. My fingers winding into his hair, his hands palming my ass as his mouth assaults my breasts in the most glorious way.

  Right here, right now, in the arms of the man I love, I’ve never been happier.

  Chapter 32

  Hayley

  “Wow,” Kyle says, as I open the front door of Gwen’s apartment. We decided to get ready for tonight together after I found out that Gwen was going to be Luke’s plus one.

  Kyle looks me up and down, his gaze creating shivers down my body. I’m wearing a floor length navy dress with lace detailing with three quarter length sleeves, I’ve left my hair down, curled and pinned back at the sides. “You look so beautiful.”

  I smile, self-consciously. Even after two months together, this man never fails to make me nervous, in a good way though.

  He takes a step forward and brings me in for a kiss. My hands grip the lapels of his suit jacket as he spins me around and pins me against the door that he’s kicked closed with his foot. He works my mouth with his, his tongue skimming the seam of my lips. His hands slide down my sides, roaming over my body before stopping to knead my ass in his palms, pulling me into him. I can feel the outline of his hardening cock against my stomach.

  “Jesus, put him down, will you?” Gwen says behind us.

  Kyle and I break apart and look towards Gwen, who’s standing watching us, her eyebrow raised, a smirk touching her lips.

  “Sorry.” The edge in my voice tells her I’m not at all sorry.

  “Luke asked if I could pick you up, his car broke down, something to do with the steering.”

  “Yeah, no problem.”

  “You nearly ready?” Kyle asks her.

  “Almost,” she replies.

  Gwen is wearing a tight-fitting sleeveless red dress that ends just above the knees, a deep V cut out of the front, showing off her cleavage. She runs back into her room and returns with her clutch bag. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  “About time, it’s only took you most of the day,” I joke.

  “It takes time to look this good.” She winks, blowing me a kiss.

  ∞∞∞

  The entire casino is packed with people, soft music playing in the background through the sounds of voices fill the space.

  “Kyle, Hayley, I’m so happy you’re both here,” Ellen says, walking over to greet us, embracing her son in a hug before doing the same to me. Nathaniel is directly behind her along with Luke, who heads straight for Gwen, kissing her sweetly on the cheek.

  “Mom, dad. This is Gwen. Gwen, this is Ellen, my mom, and my dad, Nathaniel,” Luke introduces.

  “It’s lovely to meet you both, Luke has told me all about you,” Gwen says, shaking Ellen and Nathaniel’s hands.

  “Are you Luke’s girlfriend?” Ellen asks.

  “Um...” Gwen gives Luke a uncertain look.

  “Yes, she is,” Luke clarifies, taking Gwen’s hand in one of his own. “It’s early days, but we like each other okay.” He gives Gwen a wink and she lets out a little giggle.

  “Two new additions to the family in three weeks...” Nathaniel says with a warm smile.

  Ellen beams up at her husband. “And we couldn’t be more thrilled. Well, enjoy yourselves, there’s a few people I need to see.” Ellen gives us all a smile before floating away with her husband and disappearing into the crowd.

  We talk for a while with Luke and Gwen before the split off and work their way around to the blackjack tables to watch the games.

  Kyle takes my hand and leads me through the mass of people, crowding around the games tables, stopping occasionally to greet friends and business associates. It’s so strange to see Kyle this way, in his element, the popular millionaire businessman.

  “Hello, everyone.” Ellen’s voice comes through the microphone.

  We turn to find her, and Nathaniel stood on a podium at the front of the room. The chatter and laughter of the crowd disappears as everyone falls silent.

  “Thank you all for coming this evening. As you know, you are all here in a bid to raise funds for my charity. The King Foundation for Children has been my passion for the last twelve years, a subject that is very close to my heart and we couldn’t have made this organisation what it is today without your help. Tonight, all funds raised will go to the children that are in desperate need of our help. Together, each and every one of us in this room can change a child’s life. I just want to say a huge thank you to my wonderful son, Kyle, who not only, has kindly loaned out his casino for this evening, he has also donated one million dollars to our organisation.”

  I look up at him, taking his hand in mine and smiling proudly. The crowd applauses him and he nods curtly.

  “I won’t take up any more of your evening, so, have fun, win big and let’s raise some money.” The crowd applauses, and the chatter and laughter fills the room once again as they disperse, crowding around the roulette wheels and the blackjack tables.

  “I think I’ll try my hand at those slot machines, seem to have a knack for them wouldn’t you say, based on my luck the first time I was here?”

  “You definitely have a special touch.”

  “Mm, don’t I just,” I say, suggestively.

  “Who are you and what have you done with the Hayley I know and love? I do believe my ears in thinking this new version of her just turned something I said in complete innocence, into something sexual,” he jokes.

  He pulls me into him, his arms around my waist, my hands flat against the hard planes of his wide chest.

  “I love you,” I say.

  “I love you too.” He smiles. “I’m going to go grab us some drinks.”

  He pecks a kiss on my lips before winding his way through the mass of people.

  He returns a few moments later with a drink in hand and a huge pink stain on his crisp white shirt.

  “What happened to you?” I ask, trying my hardest to suppress a laugh.

  “I turned around and knocked into someone, wine went all over me. I’m going to head up the suite to change shirts. Won’t be long.”

  “Okay, I’ll be here.”

  He hands me my drink, kisses me on my forehead and once again, disappears into the crowd.

  I’m lost in thought, staring blankly into the crowd when a voice startles me.

  “You’re good for him.”

  I jump, turning to find Nathaniel walking up to me.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” He smiles.

  “It’s okay, really.”

  “I mean it though, you’re really good for him. Ellen and I are so happy to consider you a part of the family.”

  “Thank you, it means a lot.”

  “You know, the change in him since he met you has been incredible, he’s not as angry towards the world as he used to be. For a while there he had me worried, he would drink a lot, get into fights, any way to dull the pain I guess... I thought there was no way he was going to get over finding out about Nicholas...”

  My blood runs cold.

  Nicholas? As in... no, it can’t be.

  “Who’s Nicholas?”

  “I though he told you, about his real father?”

  “Yeah, he did, but he never told me his name. His father is called Nicholas?”

  My heart begins to beat faster, a small part of me knowing deep down that the answer Nathaniel is going to give me, is not one I want to hear.

  Nathaniel nods. “Yes. Nicholas Payn. I didn’t think there was anyway of him getting past that. He...”

 
; Every last bit of air is sucked out of my lungs like a vacuum.

  My stomach lurches. I feel sick.

  I zone out, Nathaniel keeps talking but I can’t hear what he’s saying, each word sounding muffled, as if I’m hearing them underwater.

  “Nathaniel, will you excuse me for a moment, I’m not feeling well,” I manage to say before I take off, not waiting for his reply. I weave my way through the crowds, unsteady on my feet, heading for the restroom. Bile rises up in my throat, that sickening, tingling sensation working its way up the sides of my throat. I make it to the cubicle in time for the entire contents of my stomach to make an unwelcome reappearance.

  How is this happening? How can one man be so significant in mine and Kyle’s lives?

  How could Kyle have lied to me?

  He knew. When I told him what happened to me, not long after we met, I told him the name of the man that assaulted me, and he never said a thing. He never once mentioned that the same man who raped me four years ago, was the man who fathered him.

  Another wave of nausea hits me, my head hanging over the toilet, my eyes streaming from tears. I wipe my mouth with a tissue before I flush the toilet and get up to wash my hands. I rinse my mouth out with water and leave the bathroom in search of Kyle.

  My heart pounds as I head up the elevator, tears burn in my eyes. The elevator dings and it opens on the floor of the penthouse. I pull the key card that Kyle gave to me out of my purse and let myself in.

  “Kyle?”

  “In here,” he shouts back, his voice coming from the bedroom.

  I make my way towards the bedroom on shaky legs. Kyle is in the middle of buttoning up a fresh shirt when he turns to me and smiles. “Hey. I’m just on my way down.”

  I say nothing, not knowing what to say, I just stare at him blankly, fresh tears burning the backs of my eyes as I fight to hold them back.

  He searches my face, his brows knitting in a mix of worry and confusion. “Hey, are you alright? Have you been crying, what happened?”

  He steps towards me and I instinctively take a step back.

  And just like that, something snaps inside me. “Has all of this been a lie? A game to you?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Nicholas Payn.”

  At the sound of those two words, his face drops. He swallows hard. “Hayley, I-”

  “You knew. You've been lying to me this whole time.”

  “Baby, please. Just let me explain,” he begs.

  “For two months, you've known that the man that raped your mother and fathered you, raped me too, and you didn’t say a word. After everything that has happened between us, how can you look me in the eye and lie so blatantly to my face? And what about us, was that all a lie too?” Tears seep from my eyes.

  “Of course not. Hayley, I love you so much, I’m so sorry, baby.”

  “That seems to be everyone’s favourite word doesn’t it. You're only sorry because you got caught, Kyle. If I hadn’t found out, would you have ever told me yourself, or just kept on lying?”

  “I wanted to tell you, but I was so scared of losing you.” He takes a step forward but I back away.

  “Don’t come near me,” I warn. “Our entire relationship has been based on lies and secrets.”

  “Baby, please.” His eyes are becoming bloodshot and glassy.

  “I’ve got to get out of here.” I back out the door and take off towards the front door. Kyle’s footsteps close behind me.

  “Hayley, wait, please.” He grips the top of my arm, but I wrench out of his hold.

  I fling open the door and break into a run, as fast as the tight dress and these ridiculous heels I'm wearing will allow. I bolt down the corridor towards the elevator that is just beginning to open.

  Nathaniel steps out of the elevator heading towards me, the look of shock written across his face as I come barrelling towards him, my eyes streaming with tears. “Hayley? What’s wrong, are you alright?”

  “Ask your son,” I spit as I dart pass him, slipping into the elevator just as the doors begin to close, pressing the button for the lobby.

  “Hayley!” Kyle calls, his voice cracking as he comes to a stop.

  I lean against the wall opposite the doors, through the small crack, I see Kyle fall to his knees, crying, crying harder than I've ever seen him cry before as he watches the doors glide shut.

  I slide down the wall of the elevator and hit the floor hard, hugging my knees against my chest. I howl as the pain radiates through me, my heart wrenching, shattering into a million tiny pieces.

  I trusted him, more than I thought I ever could after what happened to me, told him more than I'd ever told another living soul, put my faith in him.

  That too was broken, along with my heart.

  Before I know it, the doors open as I reach the ground floor. I stand up and stumble my way through the lobby, it’s late so it’s deserted except for the staff on the reception desk and the concierge. My vision is blurred by the tears, but I manage to make it out of the front doors and out into the street.

  I flag down a cab and head home.

  Chapter 33

  Kyle

  5 Years Ago

  "Mr King. Here’s the information you requested," William, the private investigator I hired says, handing over a handful of files, placing them down in front of me as I sit at my desk in my apartment.

  “Thank you. So, what did you find out?” I ask.

  “It seems Miss Godfrey, your birth mother, was sexually assaulted.”

  “What?” I sit forward on my chair, my forearms resting on the desk.

  He nods, regretfully. “Yes. We found her statement to the police, reporting that she was raped by a man that goes by the name of Nicholas Payn. The report was filed on June 15th, 1993, around a year before she committed suicide. I did some digging and there are no records of anyone by that name, no birth certificate, not official documents at all. I also looked at all the unsolved sexual assault cases over the past two decades and found that a lot of them mentioned names, false names, but all matching the description Miss Godfrey gave, mid-to-late twenties, short dark hair, broad, handsome, only now he’s older… my guess is, this guy uses an alias to cover his tracks, Nicholas Payn being one of them.”

  I sit back in my chair and take a deep breath. “Was there no DNA evidence, no idea as to who he is?”

  “No. Her report never amounted to anything as they had no leads or evidence to go on. Miss Godfrey didn’t report it on the day it happened, she went to the police a few days later. She claimed she was too scared and shaken up at the time, by the time she went to report it, all DNA evidence was long gone.”

  “Fuck,” I curse.

  “I’ll keep digging, look into Payn more.”

  “Great. Thank you,” I offer him a weak smile.

  William bows his head, taking a deep breath. “I also followed up on some leads concerning Miss Godfrey. A few weeks after she reported the assault, she went to visit her doctor, where she was told she was pregnant.”

  “This was June 1993 you say?”

  “That’s correct.”

  My stomach twists. Oh my God. “I was born nine months after it happened.”

  “There’s nothing to suggest what you’re thinking.”

  “She didn’t have a boyfriend right, she wasn’t with anyone at the time?”

  “No, but-”

  “Then I’m right.”

  I feel sick.

  Bile rises in my throat.

  I jump up from my seat and rush to the bathroom, reaching the toilet just in time for me to vomit. My eyes burn with tears, not just from vomiting, but from what I just learned.

  My mother killed herself because she was raped. She couldn’t live with what he did to her. She couldn’t live with looking at her child and seeing him, having a part of him so close to her as a constant reminder of being raped.

  And the man that raped her… Nicholas Payn… was my father.

  Chapter 34r />
  Kyle

  I fall to my knees.

  I watch as the elevator doors close on the most important person in my life, taking her away from me.

  I sob, my face buried in my hands.

  I don’t remember crying so hard in my entire life. My chest feels like it is being punched, repeatedly. It feels like my body is being torn apart, piece by piece, starting with my heart, my heart that belongs to her, my heart that Hayley just took with her.