by Anya Palvin
"Back on a sidewalk again? What is it with you and sidewalks? Are you on patrol or something?" He jokes and she giggles sweetly enough for him to smile. For a man that hardly ever smiles, that's a huge deal.
"Ok this is going to sound really really strange and out of the blue but do you mind to go out with me? I told my dad I have a boyfriend which I don't BUT he's coming this way. I don't usually lie but this is the only way I can get him off my back." She begs, clasping her hands below her chin as if praying.
He looks at the door and Ciara's dad steps onto the sidewalk.
"Sweetheart, I thought you left?" He looks at her then Choker, then back to Ciara.
"Uh..." She pauses, searching for words but nothing comes out.
"I decided to pick her up." Choker responds, helping her, and she looks up at him smiling. "I thought you had plans with Danny?" Her dad asks and she slaps her forehead.
"Seeing sexy suit again completely fried my brain, hell, I forgot all about Danny."
"She still is, I'm taking her. I hate the traffic in this city. There's a helicopter waiting on the roof of my hotel." He says holding her hand and her skin erupts with goose bumps in response to his touch. She smiles up at him in. He's really good at this acting thing.
"So the man that answers all your questions is the boyfriend I presume?" Henry asks with an outstretched hand, and Choker shakes it briefly. "I'm Henry Carlyle, Ciara's very protective father." He says with the intention of intimidating Choker by his statement and the base in his voice, but clearly he has no idea who he's talking to. 1
"Charles...and I can guarantee you're not as protective or as possessive as I am."Choker offers his middle name for the first time ever in an introduction, and she smiles up at him again.
"Am I supposed to be happy or worried by that statement?" Henry asks, amused and puzzled.
"Maybe a little bit of both if you're smart." Choker says dryly. "I like him, he's a little scary but I like him." Henry says smiling and kisses Ciara on the cheek.
"See you Sunday dad." She calls out to him as he disappears down the street.
"Oh my god you were awesome!" She throws her arms around his neck and hugs him tightly, he bends a little so the height difference wasn't so obvious, and she rests her head on his shoulder breathing in the sweet scent from his neck. Her lips brushed his neck briefly, and she fought the strong desire to stick her tongue out and pass her tongue over his skin just for fun.
"He smells delicious, and it feels wonderful with his powerful arms wrapped around me."
After she satisfied her inner devil, she pulled away and stepped back a feet or two or three. Just in case she's seduced to give into her dirty thoughts and kiss him again like she did in Venice.
"I'm sorry about that. You must think I'm out of my mind to ask you to act as my boyfriend." She takes her hat off and flips her hair. "Nope, that's your usual thing so no, I'm not surprised." He tries to switch back to cold mode quickly because a specific part of his body got really excited when she kissed his neck...waaaaay too excited.
She furrows her brow and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "What are you talking about?" She asks folding her arms. "You told my mother that my best friend is your boyfriend." He blurts out and she covers her mouth with one hand. "Oh my god!" She pulls her hand away, and there's aregretful look on her face. "I, I only said that because she gets me nervous a little bit. She made it seem like she was going to call the cops on me for gatecrashing or something. I have no idea how to response and that kind of just came out." She explains poorly, staring down at her fingers.
"I feel like kicking myself. Of course that was his mom, before the second guy died at the party he called her over for advice. I'm so stupid!" She screams at herself in her head.
"Fuck!" She blurts out not realizing she said it out loud until it was too late. "What now?" He asks with furrowed brows. "Keys, Keys is your best friend?" She asks as if she disapproves, and who could blame her?
He nods yes eventually.....and she sighs.
"Keys threatened to kill me and my entire family and my friends. How could he be friends with someone like that?" She wonders to herself.
"I know what you're thinking." He says reading her mind. "I doubt that." She looks away from his eyes, because he looks at her as if he's REALLY reading her mind through her eyes. "You're thinking he's a terrible person, he probably threatened you and forced you to go to the party and god knows where else." He predicts in a low but raspy voice. His British accent is quite charming, it doesn't matter what he says it all sounds like Shakespeare.
"Ok so you do know how to read minds?" She chuckles.
Soon, he's looking up the street as if he checked out of the conversation.
"So, you're in New York again. Is JT okay?" She asks trying to get his attention. "Yea, I'm here for two days. I uh, I was quite serious about hating the traffic in this city. I do have a ride waiting. I can drop you off to your friend." He offers dryly, not bothering to look her in the eye.
She eyes him up and down, and he nonchalantly looks down at her.
"I have a confession to make. I liked you from the very first day I set my eyes on you, and I liked you even more when we kissed in Venice. I had no idea Keys was your best friend and nothing, absolutely nothing happened between us. I know you think I just walk around calling every guy I meet my boyfriend, but that's not really the case. I've never even had a boyfriend. I spent so much time focused on school that I completely ignore my other needs. I do like you. I really, really do. I don't even know your name. God, I saw you literally kill someone and I haven't been able to stop wondering about you since we met. You have no reason to believe me or trust the words I say, but I swear that I am saying the truth. I promised myself that if ever…just ever I came to walk down the same path as you once again,I'd just blurt out how I feel, and I can't let you walk away again without telling you everyth..." He cuts her off by cupping her face with his both hands and pulling her in for an electrifying kiss. Fireworks erupt like it did in Venice, and she shook her head to climb down from her wild imagination.
"Woah! That felt all too real. If only it was that easy to tell him how I feel. If only it was that easy to ignore all the warning signs flashing in front of my face. If only it was that easy to fall in love with a dangerous billionaire." She thinks in silence, and a recap of her day dream kiss makes her lips tingle.
"I uh, thank you for helping me with my dad. I'm going to take the subway to meet up with my friend. But thank you for uh, for the offer." She says grinning nervously.
She waited awhile for him to speak, but when he doesn't say anything, she decided to get moving. "Ohhhhh k. Umm, I must go." She steps into traffic, then bobs and weaves her way across the street. He watched as she hurries down the steps towards the subway.
"Hey, you're still here." Keys says walking up behind him. "I didn't see you pull up." Choker turns to face him. "Yea, Barry and JT are doing shots from the bartender's stomach, so I walked." He says grinning approvingly, and Choker walks over to the entrance of Le Bernadin.
"Are we eating or not?" Choker asks, seemingly agitated, and Keys flips into best friend mode.
"Ah, shit. Clearly things didn't go well with his reunion with Ciara. It's time for plan B. Operation Flip Switch."
"Change of plans. Fuck the seafood. Let's go order a fucking buffet in our suite like old times and 5 hot girls from our escort service here in the city. We can overdose on bitches, cake and liquor, and just binge all fucking day." Keys makes a wild suggestion, trying to sway his friend back to the dark side...the light is good but it isn't for everyone.
Choker looks across the street one last time, but she's already gone.
"Let's do it." He agrees and Keys smiles a devilish grin, rubbing the palm of his hands together.
11.
Javier's Hotel
Presidential Suite
Keys is wearing his Calvin Klein boxers, jumping up and down on the bed with 3 naked gorgeous women mimicking h
im.
JT's sniffing cocaine from the line he made on a girl's naked ass cheek.
Choker's in his boxers too, doing vodka shots with a Greek model Vidanka. She's wearing a red Brazilian bikini, and it looks amazing on her. She doesn't speak English, and he doesn't speak Greek so their conversations are absolutely hilarious. Neither one of them knows what the other one's saying. Vidanka's not an escort like the others, she's a model. Her agent is a really good friend of Choke and he's been trying to set them up for months. But how do you date someone you can't have a meaningful conversation with? Besides, Choker didn't even consider the whole girlfriend thing until Ciara
Everyone's doing their own thing, having a crazy time.
...
It's already dark outside but no one cared to notice.
Keys slips and falls off the bed, directlyto the floor. But he's so numb to feel the pain or affect him at all, he’s actually laughing like a crazy idiot, holding onto his bottle of Chardonnay, even after that hard fall.
"Dude! Are you ok?" JT crawls over to him, blindly bumping into table legs on the way. He's stretched out beside Keys, and they're both laughing for no reason at all.
"I'm fucked up!" JT admits, counting the rock hard waves on his abs.
"Wait!" Keys jumps up as if remembering something important. "Where's Choke?" He asks looking around, but Choker's nowhere to be found.
Keys stumbles from room to room searching for his best friend but he's not there. Vidanka's naked in bed with her agent instead of Choker, and the Swedish escort is asleep with them as well. He looks at his watch and it's 10:30pm ...they've been in this room for over 10 hours.
I guess Keys' plan didn't work after all.
What kind of stupid idiotwould abandon a room full of hot girls, alcohol and your best friends?
Choker's sitting on a bar stool at Chocolat chatting with Joshua the bartender. Choke looks casually sexy in close fitting Calvin jeans, an Express button down shirt, and dark blue loafers.
This particular bartender knows him pretty well. He actually does work for Choker sometimes in hiring new talents for the Empire. Apparently, a savvy night time bartender is his cover up. Joshua's Jewish; a red hair, fluffy beard, athletic body, and a really neat Upper East Side accent. He was born and grew up on the Upper East Side with butlers and drivers and the best things that money could buy. But ever since he came out to his family 2 years ago it's been a nightmare living under their roof. So he moved to Brooklyn, got a job as a bartender at a night club and that's how he met JT, and JT introduced him to Choker, and then Choker set him up with a good job at Chocolat and benefits from working for his empire as well.
"You justhad 2 drinks in the last hour so I know you're not drunk, but from the looks of it, you seem to drown yourself. What's going on?" Joshua's concern is visible in his voice and was written all over his face. Choker sighs repeatedly, and runs his finger along the rim of his glass.
"Am I a good person?" C asks so quietly almost a whisper. Joshua takes the glass from his hands and refilled a liquid. "Of course you're a good person. What's this about?" Joshua throws in the towel and removes his apron. It's obvious his friend needs someone to talk to, and honestly the other customers will just have to go for his apprentice, Mike or wait.
Joshua loves Choker like a brother. His only family turned his back on him the moment they’ve come to know he's actually a gay, and the man he thought loved him took his parents’ bribe to stay away from him, and ran off with $200,000. Choker came out of nowhere and offered his life back, never judging him or making fun of his sexual orientation and preference. He's been supportive since day one, even when he was just a stranger. Of course Choker's a good person, even with his short temper and incomparable cravings over revenge.
"Go back to work it's fine." Choker reaches over the counter and picks up a wine bottle, unscrewing the cover and taking a huge gulp. "You're not fine. Talk to me." Joshua insists.
"Do you think I could make a good boyfriend? Or a good husband? Do you think I could make a good anything?" C asks taking another huge gulp of wine. When Josh doesn't reply, he emptied the bottle and drinks the last drop of it. "That's what I thought." He hops off the bar stool and staggers for a few seconds before standing still. "Choke, let's sit, I'll make you some coffee and we'll talk." Josh tries to pull him back to the stool but he pushed Josh's hand away.
"I'm not drunk, I just wanted an unbiased answer that's all!" He exclaims, almost shouting.
The few people sitting in the lounge turn their heads to him, and he pours the wine slowly onto the floor, and drops the bottle as well. It makes a splat, shattering into many pieces. Security comes walking over, along with the night manager. "Is there a problem, sir?" The Manager asks with his two large security detail guarding him. "Don't worry, boys. I was just leaving." Choker dips into his pocket and pulls up what could be at least $2000 with a rubber band holding it together. He drops it on the counter and leaves Joshua a smile.
"That should cover everything right?" He asks, but Josh isn't a bit concerned about the wine bottle or the dirty floor. He's just completely worried about his friend.
"Don't look so worried, Joshy. Lighten up, have a drink on me." C urged him, trying to play it cool and hide his meltdown.
The security guards escorted Choker to the exit, to make sure he didn't destroy anything else. He could've easily talked his way into staying or threatened to buy the place out OR burn it down. But what's the point? Will ruining other’s establishment can make him happy right now?
He stumbles onto the sidewalk and crashed into someone. Deep down he hoped it wasn't Ciara again. He's in no courage to deal with her right now.
"Watch it!" Caitlyn whines, hopping on one foot. "You almost broke my foot, are you blind?" She asks angrily, and Choker shrugs apologetically. "I'm so sorry, are you okay? I had a really bad day. I’m really not the usual type to bump into people." His appearance saddens when he says that remembering Ciara once again. She finally glances up at him and her anger fades away almost instantly.
"You're Charles, right?" She asks with her mouth wide open. He narrows his eyes and his brows furrow in confusion, trying to figure out how she knew his name.
"How does she come to know my middle name?" He was taken aback by such remark from a complete stranger as he talks to himself.
"I don't even know her and she takes one look at me and knows who I am. Maybe she's a distant relative that mom forgot to tell me about." He keeps thinking of every possibility.
"I'm so sorry for staring it's just that your picture didn't give you justice. You're much more dangerously handsome. I can see why Ciara's so afflicted with you." She says upturning the corners of her mouth, and his heart leaps into his stomach, then up to his throat beating wildly upon the single mention of her name.
"How does she know Ciara? ....And why didn't anyone tell me she has pictures of me just showing to her friends." He tried to think hard, eyes widened in alarm.
"I should go" He tries to escape, but she steps in his way. "Oh no, I'm not sitting through another episode of mystery guy drama. She talks about you more than she everdiscussed about herself, I don't care what you have to do, but you're coming with me." She drags him back into Chocolat, and he takes a deep breath before entering the dining room.
She bravely took care of him, if only she had this same courage with Henry around.
Danny and Ciara are sitting at a small table he watched as she slowly sips her champagne and smiles sweetly.
Her outfit is different now, she wearing white jeans, white polo shirt and riding boots, he eyes her up and down hungrily. She's the sexiest rider ever.
"Ciara" Caitlyn calls her name, she looks up and her laughing was instantly put into stop when she sees who’s standing right beside Caitlyn.
"Now here's how this is going to go. Danny and I will go to the lounge and you guys can stay here and talk. No running away tonight from either of you. Sit!" Caitlyn ord
ers and surprisingly, Choker obediently followed her orders. Danny mouths an annoying kissy face at Ciara and she rolls her eyes at him.
Choker stares steadfast admiring her beauty. She looksso perfect and natural even in fluorescent lighting. "This whole thing is soignominious, I'm sorry about this, I’m sorry about Caitlyn. You can now leave if you want to." She whispers once her friends are gone from sight.
"I could do the right thing and get up and walk as far as I can away from here. She has no idea what it was like living with my life, and what all it takes to be in a relationship with a man like me could be. It could literally mean constant danger in her part and she'd need protection around the clock. What if I can't be around to watch over her 24/7? Will she leave her life here in New York to be with me? Will she accept and succumb to my lifestyle? Will the guys like her? This could be the best thing I've ever done or the worst mistake I could ever make." So many questions instantly flow to his mind, there’s just too much that he has no idea how to answer.
"Life is about taking chances, if we don't grab the opportunity right away and live our lives succumbing in fear of the unknown, and miss out on all the thrilling and unexpected parts we could find out by just trying. It's impossible for things to be perfect all the time, but pledging to protect her with my life, and always put a smile on her face should be enough right?" He lectures himself silently.
She tries getting up to leave, but he grabs her hand and he's quickly on his feet. He gently cups her face, stares deep into her beautiful eyes, and he pours all his danger, doubt, and feelings into an intensified kiss.
They pull apart moments later, spent in heavy panting. Her arms wrapped around his body, one hand possessively stroking her back, the other in her hair, and they continued to stand still staring into each other's eyes... and stays just like that for quite a while.
