Princely Passions

“Hey William, it’s Kaden Charles.”

Mr. Pencil Neck’s eyes are bugging out of his forehead. I’m assuming that he probably recognizes William’s voice…and my name.

I warned him, right?

I pull Brittney closer to my side.

“Hey Kaden! I’ve been meaning to call you and set up a golf game. Your secretary says you’re taking it up?”

I try not to laugh. Good ol’ Gweny, helpful to the end.

“I might, yeah, but listen, I need to ask you a favor.” I look up at Mr. Pencil Neck and ask, “What’s your name?”

He’s shaking his head in terror when Brittney pipes up, “Jake McDonald.”

“Hey, I’ve got a Mr. Jake McDonald here. He needs to be fired Monday morning. Can you take care of that for me?”

“Sure can! I’ll tell HR on Monday. He’s a jackass anyway.” Jake is shaking his head so hard, I’m afraid it’s going to go flying off. I just smile placidly at him.

“Yeah, that’s exactly my opinion on the topic. You have a good night, and I’ll call you about that golf game.”

“Great! Thanks for the phone call.”

Right as I hit the red button, ending the call, Jack starts screaming, “You bastard, how dare you!” He goes swinging for my face, and I pull Brittney with me to the side, letting him spin past me and into a table of customers.

“Sir, it’s time for you to leave,” a bouncer says, hurrying up to us, grabbing his elbow and dragging him from the restaurant, kicking and screaming like a little girl.

“I was totally going to just punch him, but, you know, we’re on a rooftop and all,” I say, finally able to smile down at Brittney like I’d been wanting to for ages. What felt like years, really. “I’d hate for him to fall off.”

“Very practical of you,” she says, grinning back up at me. “He deserved to get fired; I don’t think he deserved to die, though.”

“Yeah, it seemed a little extreme.”

Enough words. They aren’t my strong suit anyway. It’s time to show Brittney how I feel. I stroke her hair away from her forehead and then dip my head down to kiss her. When our lips meet, it’s like fireworks and the band starting up and winning the lottery, all rolled up into one.

Except, in this case, it’s even better, because kissing her feels like home.

“Want to take me home?” Brittney asks when we finally pull apart, snuggling into my side.

There’s nowhere else I’d rather take her.

119

Brittney

Kaden Charles loves me.

I’m not making this up, I swear, he actually said it to me. Finally.

He finally showed he cares about me. I can’t stop repeating the words in my head: Kaden Charles loves me. Have I ever been this happy?

I don’t know if Lisa or Diesel pushing him is what made him finally pay attention and stop being so blasé. But it doesn’t matter now. Kaden came for me. And hearing him saying those little three words… It changed everything. Every single thing.

> Nothing will ever be the same now.

We catch a cab back to his place and I don’t know how I kept my hands to myself.

Yup, it’s sitting on my hands all over again. This is starting to be a habit. I am so wet that I’m sure it’s made the leather all sticky.