by Mikey Lee
“So, that is her,” Erik said back.
“Where is she?” Austin asked, scanning the room.
“I don’t know. I lost her. I thought I saw her and when I looked back up, she was gone,” Erik was ashamed to say.
“Fuck, that girl is good,” Austin huffed.
“I’m actually beginning to believe all those wild stories about Yally are true,” Erik guffawed.
12
The next morning, Dryce awoke to the muffled sound of a conversation taking place in the great room of the suite. He recognized the rumble of Erik’s deep voice, and could discern two other voices out there as well, but was unable to hear exactly what was being said. Wiping the sleep out of his eyes with his left hand, he glanced around the disheveled room. His right arm was numb. Slowly moving his groggy head to look down, Dryce noticed a woman’s head resting in the pocket of his shoulder. Her enormous breast was draped over him and she had her legs tangled with his.
He maneuvered and wiggled his way out from under her successfully without waking her. Dryce sat there on the edge of the bed rubbing his face when he noticed the sound of the shower running. Through his fingers he looked up to see another woman in the shower. Her ass smashed against the glass every time she bent over washing her legs.
Dryce stood up and began walking towards the closet for a robe, tripping over a pair of panties that he accidently stepped into. Kicking the lace off his foot he continued to the closet and opened the door. Before tossing the robe over his naked body, he paused, admiring himself in the mirror. God, I love being twenty-three… I don’t even have to workout and damn I look good, he thought to himself. Plus the added benefit of double or triple the cardio after every party.
Stepping over empty bottles, Dryce started for the bedroom door. Cracking the door a bit before stepping out, he wiped his face again. Then he looked out and saw her. Who is that? Good Lord, she is stunning. Dryce’s eyes widened. She was the reporter from the lock ceremony. Well, he had thought she was a reporter but now, with her standing in his suite’s great room, Dryce wasn’t sure. But he was sure about the fact that she had been there.
Yally stood in front of both Austin and Erik, the trio deep in conversation. The black pumps she wore pushed her calf muscles tight and firm. Her thighs were like pieces of art. The pencil skirt hugged her curves more beautiful than any painting in history. Her core was slender, which only extenuated her breasts even more. Her hair flowed over her shoulders and back like a tropical rainforest waterfall. Even though he was only able to see her from the side profile, he knew her mouth could form the most elegant smile he’d ever seen.
Stumbling back behind the door, Dryce was baffled. Fuck me twice on Sunday. Who the fuck is this girl? Why in the hell am I feeling like this? I’m not shy around women, he thought, smacking himself in the face.
She was talking fast and directly to Austin while Erik stood there listening.
“I gathered what information I could from the cell phone I acquired last night at the parking garage. We’re actually looking for a smaller faction who mostly deal in arms trading. No one I can’t handle and haven’t in the past. They’re actually nobodies. We should be good and your Prince is as safe as a baby in the cradle,” she said.
Erik grinned and tapped Austin in the arm. “See, I told ya she took the cell phone.”
Shaking off the odd feeling, Dryce opened the door and walked out. “Good morning,” Dryce said with a fake yawn, playing it off like he had just woke up and didn’t hear anything.
“Good morning, Your Highness,” Austin said.
“Hey, good morning there, kiddo,” Erik said, then noticing Austin’s face, “ah, I mean… sir.”
Yally turned, “Your Highness.” Her eyes caught her first up close view of Dryce and her composure faltered. When she’d seen him up on stage at the ceremony two days ago she’d been struck by an overwhelming sensation, a pull she was unaccustomed to. His body and face slightly reminded her of someone in her past.
He smiled back and, when he came within arms distance of her, extended his hand to shake. “Please, call me Dryce.”
The pull was back in full force and she didn’t know what to do.
Her eyes rolled off to the side, then looked down at the floor almost behind him, then back up again to his face quickly. His smile sparkled in her eyes. Confused and nervous, Yally left Dryce hanging there without returning the handshake. She turned back to Austin and Erik. “So… Ah,” she coughed, attempting to clear a knot that had built up in her throat. “Ah, I’ll…” She looked at Austin for the answer of what she was about to say.
Austin stood there, confused, politely waiting for her to finish. Slightly shaking his head. “Youuuu’ll?”
“Umm, when I find out more. I’ll be in contact. What… umm.” Yally took a long blink like she was thinking. When she opened her eyes Dryce’s face was still there. Quickly her eyes shied away and down at Austin’s feet. “I… what frequency are you on with the radios?”
“Oh… I’ll get a radio and an earpiece for you,” Erik chirped. “It’ll be easier for you this way.”
Yally and Erik walked off to the back room.
While watching Yally walk away with Erik, Dryce whispered to Austin. “Who the hell is that? She’s stunning.” His eyebrows raised.
“That… that is the bodyguard I hired.” Austin grinned, beginning to understand what had just happened. Turning to Dryce, Austin asked, “So, what’s the plan for today? What kind of shit are you going to get into?”
Dryce looked around the suite and sneered at the mess. Shrugging his shoulders, “I don’t know, maybe just lay low. All I know right now is that I’m freakin’ hungry.” Patting his stomach, “I’m going to get dressed, then let’s go eat.”
“And your guests from last night? Will they be joining us as well?” Austin inquired, watching Dryce closely.
Looking from the closed bedroom door to the short hallway Erik and Yally had disappeared down, Dryce looked at Austin and said, “Get rid of them.”
Dressed and very well put together, Dryce came out of the bedroom a short time later; after Austin had escorted the two girls out. Walking and looking down at his phone, he read a text from Tom. “Austin,” Dryce called out. “Hey, there’s a party tomorrow night for Tom.”
Austin looked up from the couch. “I thought you said last night that you were done. Last night was the last time.”
“No no no…” shaking his head, “this is going to be for Tom’s investiture. It looks like he’s moved up in the ranks with his family.” Dryce was a bit surprised.
“What happened? What happened to his bajillion brothers in front of him for the line?” Austin said confused.
“I’m not really sure. All the message says is that he’s getting recognized within his family and he wants me there with him.” Dryce scratched the side of his head, “I’m guessing it’s kinda like my coming-to party when I turned eighteen. Just, umm, like five years too late.”
“Well, I’ll tell you this, I’m proud of you. You’re going to the dedication ceremony at the new lock the other day, with almost no arguments, and making the decision to stop all the partying...” His voice started to catch, somewhat thick with building emotion. Austin stood up, fixing his suit jacket, and cleared his throat before he switched gears. “Just let me know the details and I’ll make the arrangements.”
During brunch, and in the midst of making the arrangements for protection at the party the next evening, Austin glanced over at Dryce. Something had changed in the prince in the last thirty-six hours and Austin was trying to puzzle it out.
“What… what are you looking at?” Dryce asked, finally noticing Austin was staring at him.
“You. Just look at you today,” Austin said in a tone similar to that of a proud father. “You’re actually wearing your clothes properly. You actually did something with your hair today. Why, Dryce, you almost look like you care about your appearance for once.”
“Just beca
use I don’t like to, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to or that I don’t care,” Dryce mumbled, playing with the food on his plate.
“So, what’s going on? What’s different about today as opposed to any other day?” Austin said taking a sip out of his cranberry juice.
“I don’t know. Like I said last night. I get it, I understand now. It's not just me anymore. Tom has a ton of older brothers; he’s allowed to show off and not worry about anything. But, me? I’ve only got one brother. What if something happened to him? I’ve gotta step up. I think it's about time for me to start acting like the prince I am.” Dryce laid his fork down on the plate and crossed his arms leaning over the edge of the table. “I think it's about time for me to settle down. I had my fun drinking and gambling. I’ve done the whole street racing scene… and, I’ve had my fun with the women.”
“You have been a menace, that’s for damn sure,” Austin murmured.
“I know you think I’m just a little spoiled punk, but I see everything you do for me. I see how much you work. And it’s all because of me, all because I get some wild hair up my ass and decide to go to Las Vegas or… or even here to Dubai, all on a whim,” Dryce said with a very serious look on his face.
Smiling slightly, Austin leaned forward on the table. “So you’re going to settle down, huh?” A smirk cracked the corner of his mouth. “Who’s the lucky lady? Anyone in mind?”
Dryce’s head dropped, his chin rested on his tie. “I’m not really sure yet.” His head tilted upward slightly, his eyes focused on Austin’s neck. Dropping his voice to near a whisper, he asked, “If I was going to be serious about just one girl, like actually have only one girlfriend, how would I go about doing that?”
A chuckling laugh from Austin burst out, “Dryce… my Prince… that is something that you’re going to have to find out on your own.”
Just then Erik walked up to the table. “Ah, there you two are,” he said taking the seat across from Austin. “Can you believe it? Never in a million years would I have guessed that Yally was a chick. A smoking hot one at that.”
Dryce’s face started to blush. Tilting his head down, so as not to make eye contact with them, he picked up his fork and continued to fumble around with the food again.
Austin sipped his drink. “When I first met her, she was dressed in a business suit. I had no idea, she pulled an ugly duckling on me. For sure.”
Erik signaled to the waitress for a drink. “So, anyway… Mr. Ngo, I got the message about the party tomorrow night.” Erik turned to Dryce, “And look at you lookin’ all spiffy today. Check you out.” He nudged elbows with Dryce, who kept his head down.
Feeling that there was some kind of tension in the air, Erik looked back and forth between the both of them. Austin was still smirking and Dryce was still blushing.
I’ve never felt like that around any girl before. Why am I still even thinking about her? Dryce thought.
“What did I miss here? What’s going on?” Erik started to feel like he was left out of something.
“Our Prince here,” Austin winked. “Our Prince is seeing the light. He’s decided to make some changes in life.”
Dryce stood up from the table. “Come on, let’s go. I’ll let Tom know I’ll be there tomorrow but that I’m staying in tonight.” He wiped his mouth with the napkin and tossed it over his plate before walking away.
“Was it something I said?” Erik questioned, baffled.
13
Dryce was completely sprawled out on one of the couches in the living room of the suite with the remote in his hand, flipping through the movie channels trying to decide on something to watch. Austin and Erik were perched on various chairs around the room, and the armed security was outside the door as well. Even with Dryce deciding to stay in tonight, everyone was still on alert just in case.
“Will you just decide on something please?” Austin called from across the room, looking up from his laptop.
Dryce continued to flip through the stations until he stopped on some action movie that he thought looked good, even though he wasn’t paying too much attention to it at all. No, Dryce’s thoughts were on the brunette that had been in the suite earlier. Erik had called her Yally down at brunch but he knew nothing else about her. Other than Austin had said that he’d hired her as extra protection.
How close of a protection detail are we talking? Dryce wondered to himself.
“Why are you smiling?” Erik asked as he dropped into one of the chairs across from the couch.
“I’m not,” Dryce countered.
“If you say so,” Erik said.
Silence fell over the suite again except for the click of the computer keys from Austin’s laptop.
“Well aren’t you a somber crew,” Yally called as she emerged from the back room.
“What are you doing here?” Austin asked, rising from his chair in front of his laptop and crossing the room.
“I’m just here to let you know I wasn’t able to learn anything more about that group, but I am still fairly certain that the threat has been squashed,” she said, dropping into the chair Erik indicated, across from Dryce.
She looked everywhere but at Dryce, who had sat up on the couch and was now staring directly at her.
“Well that’s a good thing then,” Austin said, settling himself onto the other end of the couch.
Fumbling with something to say, Dryce shot up from the couch and walked to the bar in the corner. Pouring himself a finger of scotch from the decanter on the bar top, he downed it in one swallow. Looking up he noticed everyone’s eyes were on him.
Covering a cough with a nervous chuckle, he asked, “Anyone want a drink?”
When three heads nodded, Dryce set four empty glasses on the bar. Adding a couple ice cubes to each glass, he poured tonic water into each glass and topped them each with wedges of lime from the mini fridge. Austin raised his eyebrow when Dryce carried over the non-alcoholic drinks and passed them out.
Handing Yally her glass last, their fingers brushed and immediately their eyes locked. They stayed like that for a moment, not breaking contact until Austin loudly cleared his throat behind them. Yally was the first to look away.
Dropping his hand to his side, Dryce retreated to the corner of the couch and sank into the cushions.
“You were at Tom’s garage, weren’t you?” Erik asked then.
“I was,” she confirmed.
“Why didn’t you stay?” Erik asked.
“I prefer to not be seen until necessary. Plus I like to observe the people I work with to see how they handle situations,” she explained.
“Makes sense.”
Dryce watched the exchange between Erik and Yally closely, trying to figure out if he’d seen her that night. Then it dawned on him.
“You were at the dedication ceremony,” he blurted out. “I saw you in the crowd but when I tried to point you out to Tank, you were gone.”
“I was,” she agreed, taking a sip of her tonic.
“We hadn’t even met at that point. And you hadn’t replied to my email yet either. How did you make it there so quickly?” Austin asked suddenly.
She took a deep breath before explaining, “I have alerts set up for my file. Any time it gets requested or pulled, I know about it before anything is done. When I was alerted to your interest in my file, I did my own research to find out who wanted it. After learning your travel itinerary, I flew to the ceremony. You had my file and I scouted you all out at the dedication before I replied to your email.”
“That makes sense,” Erik noted.
“But your reply to my email said you’d be arriving from the United States,” Austin said.
“Actually, Mr. Ngo, my email only said what time my flight would be arriving here in Dubai. I never said where I would be flying in from,” Yally pointed out, taking a sip of her tonic and using the glass to hide her smirk.
Thinking back, Austin recalled the wording of her reply email. She was correct. She hadn’t said where she was
joining them from. Austin tipped his head slightly in acceptance of his assumption, noticing a smirk on the faces of both Tank and Dryce.
“What would you have done had you not liked what you saw?” Austin inquired.
“I would have simply declined your offer,” she said with a nonchalant one-shouldered shrug. She could feel Dryce’s eyes on her so she kept her attention divided between the television and Austin, careful not to look at Dryce.
“Will you be joining us for the night?” Austin asked.
Yally made the mistake of looking at Austin, catching sight of Dryce in her peripheral vision. His hopeful expression tugged at her core, but she shook her head.
“I try not to mix business with pleasure,” she said coolly. With that she finished her tonic with lime and set her glass down on the coffee table. The three men in the room rose to their feet at the same time Yally stood from the chair.
“Will we see you tomorrow for Tom’s party?” Dryce asked.
“Not unless it’s necessary,” she replied, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. She felt a little bad when she saw Dryce’s shoulders slouch slightly.
Without another word, Yally walked to the front doors of the suite and let herself out.
“How did she get in here?” Austin asked finally.
“I have no idea, but, like I told you from the start, Yally is a ghost, sir,” Erik said.
Dryce watched the door for a moment longer, willing it to open and for Yally to walk back through. When that didn’t happen, he finished his drink and announced he was going to bed. Closing himself in the bedroom, Dryce flopped down onto the bed and thought about the mysterious bodyguard he was falling for.
14
The limo pulled up to the manor. Erik stepped out first. Dryce followed and smiled for all the cameras the paparazzi pointed in his direction. Austin and Erik walked behind him, watching everything around them, as they made their way up the steps. Tom was at the top greeting everyone as they came in.
