The Silver Lining (23 page)

“Do you still talk to Victoria?”

“No. I haven’t spoke to her since my accident. We’re not really on speaking terms.”

“Do you see a reconciliation in the future?”

“It’s hard to see one, but I would never say never. The opportunity for people to change is always there.”

“Yes it is.” He paused. “Thank you so much for coming on the air with me today. It was a fantastic interview. I appreciate your time. I hope you’ll come back again in the future.” He reached out and shook my hand. I nodded and painted on a smile.

“I’m Kevin Trey and this has been another edition of L.A’s Dish It Up.”

The camera’s cut out and Kevin and I both stood up at the same time.

“Good interview, James. Thank you once again. Brianna will have your check on the way out. Please, don’t be a stranger.”

I nodded and walked toward a woman in a tight black dress who was flagging me down.

“Here is your check. We all want to thank you for coming here today. The interview was amazing. I’ve been obsessed with your story in the news. I’m such a sucker for a good romance. I’m rooting for you and Emily by the way.”

“I have no idea what the papers say or report on. I try not to read them anymore.” I winked.

“Of course. The exit is that way.” She smiled and pointed to a door.

I walked out while checking my phone. I had so many calls and messages that my phone should have exploded by now. Some from Emily, some from Chad and a whole lot of messages from my mother. I had to assume everybody had caught the show. I dialed Emily first.

“Hey, baby,” she answered.

“Hey.”

“Are you okay? That was intense. I felt nervous just watching it.”

“It wasn’t too bad. Five thousand dollars for thirty minutes of stress. It’s all good.”

“They paid you five thousand dollars? Wow.”

“Yeah. Imagine if I was really important. They probably pay the A-list celebrities bank. I just wanted to get things off my chest. I guess that’s why I did it. I won’t complain about the money. We could use it to get the baby stuff all set up.”

“Yay. Are you leaving now? I’ll let you go. Mike is over here babysitting me. Feel free to tell him to leave if you want. He said he only reports to you.” She laughed.

“I’ll call him in a bit. See you soon.” I hung up and looked over my text messages. I pulled up my brother’s first.

Chad
: Mom is freaking out. She caught part of the interview and is on a war path. Be careful. Why didn’t you tell me you were on air today? I heard about it from Gary who was flipping channels and saw you on and started yelling at me to come watch. By the way you looked handsome on T.V. You did well, brother. So proud of you.

James:
Mom is always on the war path with me. Nothing new there. LOL. Sorry about not calling you. There was a scheduling problem, so they asked me to do the interview today instead of next week. It was a last minute type thing. I looked good, huh? Thank you.

I scrolled through to notice quite a few messages from my mother. I was about to open a can of worms with all this mess. I really should just delete them all instead of reading them. No. I’m reading them.

Victoria
: There was no need to demolish me on live T.V., James. Since when have I ever gone to the media with your antics? If your goal was to embarrass me, you accomplished. I should turn my lawyer loose on you for the things you said, but I won’t. I am going to be the bigger person here. Just know that there will not be a reconciliation at all after today. You are dead to me. Not that you ever existed really, but to me you are officially dead. Good luck with your Mexican poverty princess.

I shoved the phone in my jeans and ran my hand through my hair. I tried to not let her bother me, but she had the capability to just piss me off with a few words. I could feel the venom dripping off every letter. I wouldn’t allow her to know how it affected me. I wouldn’t engage her. She would just sit there and wonder. I hoped her brain would combust into flames from all the damn thinking. She was off to prison soon anyways. What the hell did I care? I smiled and realized I didn’t. Not a single bit.

I opened the door and walked into my place. Surprisingly it wasn’t as messy as I thought it would be. Boxes were neatly stacked against the wall with just a few of them open. I looked over to the coffee table to see a few candles lit. The scent of vanilla filled the air.

“Em, you here?” I shouted, as I threw the keys down on the counter.

My eyes almost popped out of my head when I turned to see her walking toward me butt ass naked. Good Lord. Every part of me stood at attention.

“Hello to you too,” I said, as she walked into my embrace. “I hope Mike’s not back there.”

She laughed. “He left about thirty minutes ago after your text.”

I squatted down and kissed her belly. She was beautiful, bump and all. I stood back up and pulled her into me. My hands gravitated to her ass and squeezed on her silky smooth skin.

“I have a surprise for you in the bedroom. I know you had a tense day and I want to make you feel a little less tense.”

“Mmmm. Tell me more. I like where this is heading.”

She pulled me along to the bedroom where she had more candles set up. I walked in and saw a variety of things on the bed. A blindfold, handcuffs, a bowl of ice and baby oil. She looked at me like a tiger does a gazelle.

“Sit down,” she ordered. I tried not to smile, but I was lit up with excitement. “Let me take your shirt off for you.” She climbed behind me and tugged off the clothing.

I watched her pick up the baby oil and squeeze quite a bit in her hands, before rubbing down my shoulders with it. I was in heaven.

“Does that feel good?” she asked.

“Yeah, don’t stop.”

She continued to massage me for a good five minutes before she climbed off of the bed and stared at me with those seductive eyes.

“I want you to lay back, put your head on the pillows.”

This was kind of sexy. I liked this side of Emily. I stared at her naked body, hard as a rock, already. I wanted to grab her and take over, but I refrained. She grabbed the blindfold and slipped it over my head, covering my eyes. I then felt the cold sensation of metal against my skin as she placed the handcuffs on one wrist. She pulled both of my arms over my head and then she place the other cuff on my free wrist. The sound of the cuffs locking made my dick pulse. Nothing about being arrested was sexy to me, but the thought of a hot, naked woman doing it for sexual gratification was a turn on. She then unbuttoned and unzipped my pants and pulled them down along with my boxers. Suddenly I heard the sound of the ice being clinked around inside of the bowl. I had a feeling what was to come next.

She took all of me into her mouth. I could feel the ice on the inside of her cheek. I moaned at the intensity of it all. She stayed down there for a while, before I felt her climb on top of me. She wrapped her hand around my dick and slid herself on to me. Immediately she began to ride, rocking back and forth. There was nothing like good loving to make you forget your worries.

“That feels so good,” I moaned out. I wanted to place my hands on her. I wanted to grip and squeeze her hips, but I couldn’t with these cuffs on.

She stopped rocking and leaned into my ear. “Do you like that? Do you want more?” she teased.

I started to pump up into her, desperate to feel the friction. She grabbed me firmly by the jaw with her hand and started rocking again. She leaned over, kissed me and pushed back the blindfold.

“Let me taste you. I want to put my mouth on you,” I whispered. My breath was ragged.

She pressed a button on each side of the cuff and released my hands. I gently rolled her onto her back and went down on her. I watched as she arched her back and moaned as my tongue hit every spot in that region. Her legs were shaking and the sides of her knees tightened around my ears. Finally she moaned out and her body quivered. I grabbed her hand, pulled her up and turned her around.

“My turn now,” I whispered, as I entered her from behind.

The way she backed it up, and moaned made me come faster than I wanted to. I gripped her hips and groaned as she partially collapsed onto the bed.

“I want more of that. I’m still hard. Look at this thing.” I let my body fall next to hers. I wrapped my arms around her body. One of my hands rested on her tit. I took my fingers and played with her nipple. I seriously wanted to get back inside of her.

“I made dinner. Pork chops with grape sauce, salad and cookies.”

“The only cookie I want is yours,” I said into her ear.

She giggled.

My phone started to go off and I ignored it, because I was so focused on Emily. She turned and looked at me wondering why I wasn’t picking up. I leaned over and kissed her bottom lip in an effort to try and get back to the fun zone. My hand slowly traveled down her belly and landed on her mound. I gently squeezed it.

“Can I have some more of this delicious cookie?”

The phone began to ring again. She looked at me with questioning eyes.

“Answer your phone and get dressed, horny toad. I’ll warm up your food.” She bounced out of bed and off to the bathroom.

“Are you really going to do me like that?” I smiled.

She poked her head out into the doorway and nodded.

I picked up the phone and stared at the screen to see an unknown caller.

“Hello.”

“Mr. King?” an older man’s voice asked.

“Yes. This is him.”

“I’m Mr. Harper with the Law offices of John Harper.”

“Aww. My mother’s keeper, huh? Is she suing me for today’s shenanigans?”

“Not exactly. Your father hired me specifically for all King Hotel matters.”

“I’m confused. Why are you calling me?”

“With all of the talk about Mrs. King, we were forced to do our own investigations when police officials came into my office recently and asked for records. It’s highly unusual for them to come in many years after a death. Apparently thanks to a tip off, your mother is being investigated for a few things aside from tax evasion which I can’t say at the moment. The police pulled copies of all versions of the will and it wasn’t until they left that I went into my computer where we store all records and started looking at what they were looking at. I don’t know how this got by me.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re saying.” I scratched my head.

“Your father signed over King Hotels to you a week before he died. See, the original will had your mother’s name on it. He left a majority of everything to her and some money to both you and your brother. The second will that came over was changed drastically. He left the estate and hotel to you. Mrs. King’s name was taken off completely. Another will followed directly with a note stating the previous was void. This third and last will received left everything to her and nothing to you or your brother. I spent hours looking at all three wills. I even called in a calligrapher to look over each signature. After close examination we came to the conclusion that the signature on the last will was not that of the Testator. I apologize for something this big to slip through the cracks. It’s quite the embarrassment.”

All I could do was laugh. I laughed hard. “Wait a minute. Are you saying I own King Hotels? What I understood was that my dad transferred King Hotels to me, and that someone probably found out and wrote up a fake will and signed my father’s name to it, which took me off. What about my brother, Chad?”

“Yes sir. That is correct. The prior will, which we will be reverting back immediately states your brother was left a considerable amount of money and he is listed to take over King Hotels should you decline or should you be unable to for any circumstance.”

“So what happened to Chad’s money? Was his name removed in this so called third will?”

“The only beneficiary listed was Victoria King,” Mr. Harper said.

I snorted.

“There is one other thing I noticed on the second official will that I feel inclined to tell you about. The King estate was also left to you, but another lawyer is handling that matter, as well as redirecting all money that belonged to Chad King. You didn’t hear that from me though.”

“Oh this is rich. Has anyone talked to my mother about this yet?”

“No, sir. I wanted to bring it to your attention first.” He quickly paused. “Are you capable and willing to run King Hotels before we continue?”

“Yes. Very capable and very willing.”

“Very well. No need for you to do anything on your end at the moment. I understand Victoria King will be incarcerated for a while. I will be in touch with her regarding today’s conversation. Would you mind coming into the office on Monday to fill out a few papers?”

“Sure. No problem.” I gave him my email to send his address.

“Thank you, and again my sincere apologies for this terrible error.”

“Mr. Harper you honestly just made my day. Don’t stress.”

“Enjoy the rest of your day, sir.”

“Thank you. Good Bye.”

I hung up the phone and stared up. Emily was standing there in a bathrobe.

“What happened?”

“I own King Hotels.” I shrugged. I was still confused. This was crazy.

“What? How? No way.” She smiled. “That’s fantastic, James.”

I don’t think Emily knew what this meant for her. She was a short term thinker and the thought that this was about to change her life as well hadn’t even occurred to her.

“My father left the hotels to me, and Victoria just couldn’t stand it. She made up a will and listed herself as the only beneficiary. I’m not sure how she knew he changed it, but she did. She forged his signature and everything.” 

“Oh wow.” Emily put her hand up to her mouth.

The shock suddenly hit me. “Our lives are about to change, forever.” I jumped out of bed and gently grabbed her and picked her up. “I can change it all, just like my dad wanted.”

Emily smiled at me.

I stared around at a few of her boxes. “Don’t unpack. We’re moving.”

“But I just moved everything over here.” She frowned.

“The King estate is mine also. That place you used to clean every day, it’s yours now too.”

“Holy shit,” she yelled. “Are you serious?” She lit up, and that’s what I wanted to see. It was starting to sink in with her too. We both stood there in shock with these dumb ass grins on our faces.

“Get dressed we have a meeting with the devil and she doesn’t even know it yet.” I tossed on an outfit as Emily scurried around the room trying to get dressed. She took a moment and blew out all of the candles. We were out the door in a flash and headed over to see Victoria. I had never felt so damn proud, as I did at this very moment.

It wasn’t long before we arrived. We pulled up, and turned into the entryway and punched in the code. The gates opened, as I drove up the long driveway. I saw my mother’s car parked out front which just flamed the fire inside of me. I jumped out of my ride with Emily trailing close behind me. We made it up to the door and stared at each other. I think we both knew this was the beginning of a new life for both of us. I smiled first and then jiggled the knob to notice the door was unlocked. I pulled Emily inside like I owned the place, because I freaking did. It was time to get used to it.

“What do you think, honey? Would this wall be a good place to hang baby pictures?” I grinned at Emily, who didn’t answer, but instead just squeezed my hand tighter.

“What the hell are you two doing here, James?” My mother said, as she marched into the living room. “Get your pathetic ass out of my house. Take that pregnant trash with you.” She pointed to Emily.

I heard Emily snicker.

“Your house? I was just asking Emily where she might want to put the baby photos on the wall of our house.”

My mother stared at me confused.

“Oh, I guess you don’t know yet. Dad left this house to me as well as King Hotels. I take it he knew you were fucking around for quite some time. A man knows when his wife is being a whore. Anyways, it’s all mine to do with it as I please. It would have been mine sooner, but someone was very naughty and put their name on the papers. The lawyers are investigating everything now. They know about Chad’s cash too. I guess you could say you are royally fucked.” I laughed.