I collapse against my couch. It’s dark out, the sky covered in thick suffocating clouds that promise rain is not far off. I was tired, but I had a plan for tomorrow. It would work, and then I would get out, handing in my notice on Wednesday after the gala.
I need King to agree of course, but I’m certain he’ll be happy to when it involves him now.
With an exhausted groan I haul my sorry butt off the couch and head to my room to pack some things. I turn on the lights only to be greeted by a very large black box on the bed. I huff out a laugh, already knowing where it’s come from and what’s likely inside.
I pluck the note card from the top and rip it open.
I think my new favorite thing is going to be you in this dress. K.
I roll my eyes but eagerly rip off the lid. The dress is covered in a thick sparkling black paper that I gently open to find a dress the color of blood inside. It’s vibrant but not overly and there is a subtle sparkle in the fabric. It’s soft to touch and nerves come over me as I grasp it between my fingers and draw it from the box with a whoosh of material.
It’s floor length with a high, halter-neck style top half that looks like it’ll be tight and while it looks simple, I know it won’t be. I chew my lip, debating on trying it on before I head to Kingston’s and then decide not to. I have no doubt it’ll fit.
I pack it back into the box and then shove all my other things in a bag and call an Uber.
A half hour later I’m dropped off outside the building housing his penthouse and head through, hitting the call button on the elevator. It rings a minute later, the doors opening.
Kingston is cooking when I reach the kitchen, so casual in his gray sweats and tight white tee, all those intricate tattoos on show to me. For a minute I just admire the view.
“It’s quite rude to stare, love,” I hear the amusement in his tone though he doesn’t turn around, just continues cooking at the stove.
I don’t see them, but I know the other two are here somewhere.
“The drives?” I ask.
“Safe.”
“I know where to insert the second drive,” I tell him. He pauses his cooking, just for a second, spine stiffening, “and I have a plan.”
“Whose computer?” He asks before asking the plan.
“King, it’ll work, I just need your help.”
“Whose?”
“Tobias’.”
“You couldn’t find any other?” He spins, eyes narrowed.
“No, I couldn’t, and we need to do it sooner rather than later, so this is it.”
“What’s your plan then?” He crosses his arms, jaw tight.
“I need you to distract Tobias while I get into his office and insert the drive.”
“A very simple plan,” he runs his thumb across his bottom lip.
“These things don’t need to be difficult, King.”
His mouth quirks at the side, “A lot could go wrong, how do you suppose I distract him?”
He turns back to the stove, finishing off the dinner and plating it up. He lays a plate in front of me and sits opposite, spooning the pasta into his mouth.
“You can’t schedule a meeting,” I say, “with the gala he’ll be too busy to accept, so you need to turn up and demand to see him. Don’t give the option. I’ll get you and call for him, with you already there he won’t refuse. Half an hour, that’s all I need.”
“The drive takes five minutes to upload to the server, why do you need that long?”
“I don’t, it’s just in case.”
He nods slowly, moving the food around on his plate.
“Okay.” He agrees eventually.
We fall into silence as we finish off the food and when I’m done, I look up at him, “Thank you.”
His brows pull low, “For?”
I smile, “I’m sure there is plenty I could thank you for but this, giving me this. Trusting me to do it.”
“I trust you, Eleanor, not just in this.”
My brows rise, “why?”
“Why?”
“Why me?”
King smiles and reaches across the table, plucking up my hand before he leans forwards and presses his mouth to my knuckles, “For the same reason any man would pursue a woman like you.”
He turns my hand over and presses a kiss to my wrist, right over my jumping pulse. His breath is hot on the thin skin of my wrist, my pulse reacting to his closeness, “because your innocence is a fine wine, the sweetest dessert. Like a taste of the forbidden you’re all too willing to take. You are all the things I crave and all the things I would ruin, and yet I wasn’t able to stop myself.”
He pulls away, but I’m not able to speak. Not when he keeps a hold on my hand and traces the blue lines of my veins snaking up the inside of my arm. The touch feather light, barely a whisper on the skin, and yet I feel it as if he’s scorching me, branding me.
“I wanted to taste it, all the things I wasn’t, the innocence, the kindness. I thought that was it, all I wanted and once that was done it would be over, but then once I’d had it, I knew immediately it was never going to be enough. More than once was still never going to be enough.” His eyes jump to mine, “I want to show you everything, make you feel everything. What your body can do, what I can make it do. I want you to know what it feels like to be worshipped and protected.”
He drops his head on a sigh and lets go of my hand, “I’m not a good man, Eleanor. I’ve done bad things, I’ll continue to do bad things to protect the ones that mean the most to me. My sister was hurt a long time ago, I’m doing what I’m doing now to make that right.”
“Kingston,” I start, he just shakes his head, stopping me.
“It’s all kinds of fucked up, Eleanor, and it won’t stop being that way.”
“I understand.”
He lifts his eyes to search mine, “I’ve killed people.”
“I know.”
“And what?” He cocks his head.
“And you’ve made it clear leaving isn’t an option so what else am I supposed to do? Do I agree with it? I don’t understand it enough to disagree with it, but you think I’m blind to how bad this world can get, I’m not. It doesn’t mean I’m going to do it but I’m not going to pretend that I don’t feel this too. I tried to and it didn’t work out well. I’ll learn to live each day as it comes.”
He nods, “Okay.”
I sigh, “Okay.”