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CHAPTER NINE
We were standing outside of the hall with Mira and Donnan where several people were milling about. Mira was trying to go over the basics of the night with Ali. "First, I'll give you a simple outline of the ceremony, and explain where everything is in the hall. I don't think you'll find anything particularly confusing, but as a basic rule, Donnan, please keep an eye on our author so he doesn't escape."
"What's wrong?" Ali saw me struggling with my tie.
"Oh nothing. The tie keeps going crooked, no matter what I do."
"Let me see that." He completely undid my terrible knot and started again.
"It's like I'm a brat or something."
"You are a brat."
"But it's not like I can help it. This is only my third time wearing a suit." Just then I noticed Donnan watching us. I could never tell what that guy was thinking.
"All done." He patted my shoulder.
"Alistor, please come over here," Mira bossed him. She opened the door to the hall. "Your place is... Oh, you'll be next to those flowers. Hey, are you listening to me?" He followed her in.
I started to go too, when Donnan stopped me. "Hey Shorty. I wanna talk to you for a sec. Do you mind?" He led me down a corridor that had less traffic so that we were alone essentially. "I've been meaning to say this to you for a while now, and I figured this was a good chance." He turned on me with sly eyes. "I want you to keep your distance from Smoak as much as possible."
"Wh-where's this coming from, all of a sudden?" I didn't know what he meant.
"I've known Smoak since we were both kids..." he loved to remind me, "...so I know his personality very well."
"Um, are you sure you haven't gotten the wrong idea here?" He couldn't possibly be talking about me and Ali being lovers, could he? "Ali and I aren't really..."
He slanted knowing eyes at me. "You know he's got talent and looks, right? As things stand, people aren't going to leave him alone. And I mean that in both good and bad ways. I don't want Smoak to get drawn into anything unnecessary, and possibly scandalous. You're smart, so you can see what I'm trying to say, right?"
"Uh, Donnan, it seems like you're operating on a misunderstanding here, but I'm just...l-living at his place. He's my brother's friend. He's nothing more than my landlord."
"Is that right?"
"Yes! It's not like there's anything going on between Ali and me." That left a bitter taste in my mouth. I can't believe how much it bothered me to say that.
"My job is all about moving product. I think about what I can do to make my products sell better, and to achieve those sales, I'll trim away anything that's unnecessary or gets in the way. Sorry. If there's nothing between you and Smoak... Just chalk it up to me worrying needlessly, and forget I said anything." He placed a heavy hand on my shoulder that I found creepy. "Anyway, the party will be starting soon, so watch closely. You can actually be blind to things when you're too close. You don't want to make trouble for others, right?"
That struck a chord. Trouble? I never wanted to be trouble to anyone, especially Ali.
The hall was absolutely packed, and for some reason I was surprised by the amount of fan girls that were there. "And now, we would like to begin Alistor Smoak's commemoration party for winning the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal."
In other words, what Donnan wanted to say, is make sure people don't find out that Ali's dating me...a guy. He wants me to keep my distance, right? It's not like I'm really dating him. Or rather, when you get down to it, it was Ali who started it. I wonder how much Donnan knows. Probably more than I'd like to admit after yesterday morning, but I'd convinced myself that they hadn't seen anything, really. I'm never quite sure what he's thinking. I pretty much denied it, but I don't know... There's a little part of me that's a bit annoyed at myself for denying it... sort of. And it wasn't helping that I couldn't keep my eyes off of Ali, as Mira took him around the room to shake people's hands.
"Ladies and gentlemen, a word from Mr. Smoak on winning the Gold Medal."
Walking on stage, there was a completely different Ali than I knew. His aura was positively radiant. "I'm Alistor Smoak." Who the hell was this guy? "I appreciate you making time in your busy schedules to come today, and I am deeply grateful for this splendid event."
I went over to Mira who wasn't standing too far away. "Mira, this is fraud! They're all being deceived."
She giggled at me. "Kip, that's what it means to be an adult."
"The work that gratifyingly won the Gold Medal upon this occasion may be considered unique among the books I have written." You've got to be kidding me. Playing all nice with a big phony smile. "In fact, there were times when I came to a standstill while writing it, but I was very happy that I was able to get it published." Don't let him fool you everyone, I gazed around at all of the women whom were practically swooning. He actually has a really screwed up personality. "I am also deeply grateful to everyone at Penguin Books." The only thing he's good at is writing, you know. He's an absolute letch, you know!
With a wave and a dazzling smile, he left the stage. What's he doing, looking all virtuous? Time to go make some snide comments. I made my way to where he was coming off stage. Or at least I tried to. His fan girls were swarming him. "Congratulations, Mr. Smoak!"
"Congratulations!"
"I read your book. I was so moved by it."
"Thank you very much. Please, enjoy the party." He skillfully extracted himself only to be intercepted by a gentleman congratulating him.
Turning, his eyes found me behind the group of women. "Kip..." Donnan quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him away, Mira in his wake
"This is Mr. Baher. He was a member of the nomination committee."
"Congratulations," Mr. Baher held out a hand. "I always look forward to your books."
Ali took his hand. "Thank you, sir."
"I always read your works, sir."
Ali might be pretty incredible. I mean, I knew he was a popular author, but...
"Isn't that Antigone Dason, the actress?" I heard one of the fangirls say.
Everyone was looking at a stunning woman that had just entered the hall, wearing a slinky silver dress, sienna hair to her waist, and holding an enormous bouquet of red roses. "What's she doing here?" I heard a fangirl ask.
"Well, The Box that Shelters the Moon is being turned into a movie. She's playing the heroine."
"I wonder if Mr. Smoak will be okay? That woman is famous for her appetite for men."
"I've heard that, too."
"But look, Mr. Smoak is amazing too, since he's not being outshone, even with a gorgeous actress next to him."
I was frozen as I watched introductions being made between Ali and Antigone, and he graciously accepted her roses. Donnan's words came back to me. "I don't want Smoak to get drawn into anything unnecessary and possibly scandalous." In terms of common sense, two guys being together is still sketchy...right?
Trouble.
Is that what I'll end up being to Ali? For me, more than anything, that word is...unacceptable.
"Here." Someone was handing me a drink.
"Ah, th-thank you."
I recognized him. It was the guy who drug Donnan out of our private room at the restaurant. "I'm sorry you had to witness that embarrassing scene the other day. Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Mr. Dorsey's executive assistant. My name is Asher."
"Hi. Nice to meet you."
"Is this your first time attending such an event?"
"It is."
"I've been to several, but it's no use. I just don't seem to be cut out for these elegant events." Is he trying to be considerate of me? He does work for Donnan, so he could be purposely making me feel out of place. Then again, I was feeling out of place before he came over. "Since we're here anyway, shall we get something to eat?"
"Why not? I could put away some of that roast beef that guy is slicing up over there. I'm going to make a quick trip to the bathroom."
Ali was still talking to Antigone when I left the hall. What Donnan was trying to say, I feel like I understand now. Even if it's something that Ali says is okay, my very existence will ultimately make trouble for him. That can't be allowed to happen. I don't ever want to be the cause of trouble for anyone. Least of all Ali.
Already feeling conflicted about being with Ali in a romantic relationship, now I had someone else fanning those negative thoughts I was struggling with.
I wasn't watching where I was going and walked directly into someone. "Oh, pardon..." I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sight of Halston. "What are you doing here?"
"I took a room, thinking I might get to see you. I never imagined I would really run into you, though." Holy shit, I bet he's pissed about yesterday. "There's a lot that I want to discuss with you. Come with me." He started down the hallway, leaving me to follow, and for some reason I did. "Come in." He opened the door to his room.
He ordered tea that came with a white layer cake with glazed strawberries on top. I cut a slice for both of us as he poured the tea. "Thank you for the food." I took a bite of cake. He left his on the table.
This is bad. I totally went off on this guy yesterday. Now I feel like I have to be nice to him. Ali would tell me I'm too solicitous. He criticized Ali, so I kicked back at him. That was all his fault to begin with, so I don't owe him an apology, but still, me screaming moron like I did was like a year's worth of morons. I hadn't a clue what to do.
"Um, thank you very much for the flowers. But, why flowers?"
"You like flowers, right? That's what you said."
"That's because I happened to have flowers with me at the time, but it's not that I dislike them or anything." Mouth full of cake.
"Then, what do you like?"
"Ah, nothing special." I looked down at the cake. "Strawberries are pretty good."
He used his fork to take a glazed berry off his untouched piece and drop it down on my half-eaten piece. "What is this?" I asked, mystified at his gesture.
"It's a strawberry."
No shit. "It is a strawberry, yes." He obviously didn't infer my meaning.
"You said you liked strawberries."
"Right..." Again, because they were in front of me. Is this guy dense?
Saying nothing further, he picked up his teacup and drank. What the actual fuck? We are on completely and totally different wavelengths here. I honestly have no clue how to talk to someone like this; a rich asshole that apparently lives in his own world, ironically something he accused Ali of yesterday.
Holding his cup in front of his mouth like a weirdo, he inquired, "Have you been living with Alistor for long?"
"Uh, no. Just since April. Five months or so."
"It must be tough living with him. As I recall he's incapable of doing anything around the house." He never missed an opportunity to shit on Ali, did he?
"I do all that stuff. That's my rent." So, he doesn't need to do it...dick. Besides, I'm pretty sure he could afford a housekeeper.
"You do all the household chores?"
"Yeah."
"I see. How commendable, for one so young." He placed his teacup back on the saucer.
"You're still young yourself. Um, how old are you?"
"Two years older than him." So, twenty-nine.
"You and Ali aren't very much alike," I felt I had to note.
And odd expression that I couldn't quite make out fell over his mien. "Our dissimilarity is only natural." His voice had turned cold.
Whatever that meant, but it looks like I definitely said something that bothered him. Enough of this awkwardness. "Well, I guess I'll be going now. Thanks for the cake." I think he may have ruined strawberries for me. I got up and made my way to the door.
"That party will be going on for some time, so you should be fine. Stay here for a while."
Looking over my shoulder I answered, "Uh, no. I'm sorry. I only slipped out for a moment, so I should get back to Ali."
He stopped me at the door, grasping my wrist. "I intend to take you from Alistor."
"I'm sorry?" I muttered as though I hadn't heard him, but I'm pretty sure I heard him correctly.
"I love you," he asserted intensely, but it came off super creepy.
Ho-ly shit. Did Halston just say he loved me?! I ran. "Gotta go!" He didn't come after me, but I kept on running. What just happened? Had he really said that? Take me from Ali? He loves me? Why?! I'd say he was kidding, but I don't think he's capable of a sense of humor.
Another guy? Am I exuding some kind of weird pheromone?
"Damnit! Where could he be?" Kip had disappeared from the hall and I came up to the room looking for him. Just about to go look downstairs again, he came barreling through the door running into me as if the hounds of hell were on his tail. "Ahhh!" he screamed, surprised at the sight of me.
"What is going on?"
Trying to catch his breath, he pointed at the door. "Um, just now, there were strawberries, and we were on totally different wavelengths, but it was all so sudden! I... But I just have to be... Another guy!"
"Did you hit your head, or something?" Kip wasn't a stranger to behaving bizarrely, but this was a new level. "What's wrong? Calm down," I beseeched him soothingly, placing my hand on his head. "I was worried because you suddenly disappeared." He quieted down and looked up at me. "What happened?"
"Sorry for worrying you. It was nothing." He was a terrible liar.
"Who runs into a room at a dead sprint over nothing?"
He was no longer looking at me, lost in his thoughts. "Um...I was going to the bathroom, when I happened to run into your brother."
"He's here?"
"Y-yeah. And we were talking a bit because of what happened yesterday, and then he suddenly said something about taking me from you. It didn't make a lot of sense to me." He spoke so quietly.
Rage. White hot rage poured through my veins like a volcano readying for eruption. I wasn't even aware that I had started striding for the door until Kip threw his arms around my waist, pulling me back. "W-wait! Hold on a second! I might've heard it wrong. No storming in there. No violence!"
I was shaking I was so furious. How dare Halston! "Taking away what's mine sounds like something he'd do."
Kip didn't let go, but he looked up at me with ire in his loden eyes. "What do you mean, 'what's yours'? Don't treat me like an object."
I couldn't calm down, and now Kip was making it worse trying to claim he didn't belong to me. "It's not my intent to treat you like an object, but you are mine!"
"Who decided that?"
"I decided that!"
A knock came at the door. "Smoak, come out, damn you!" Donnan called through the door. "At least show up for the after-party, you idiot."
"I've done everything that I'm supposed to do!" He picked the wrong moment to show up. If Kip wasn't standing between me and the door, it would've felt good to throttle him. "You and the others can finish things up."
"It wouldn't hurt for you to put in a little off-the-clock overtime. What the hell do you think your job is?"
"That kind of thing is your job," I growled through the closed door.
"Smoak, you bastard!" If I hadn't been so livid, I might have laughed when he pathetically kicked the door. "Do whatever the hell you want!" As I always intended.
Halston, Kip, Donnan; I was about to pop. I went to the mini-bar taking an individual size bottle of vodka, drinking it down.
"Ali, you should go. It'll be bad if this hurts your work." Really? Now Kip was on my back about work. Was he trying to push my every button.
"There's no need. My work is done. This is my personal time now. The top priority in my personal life is you." There was no way Halston could take Kip from me, but he needed to know precisely how I felt. "No matter what anyone says to you, I don't want you to forget this..." I pulled his tie out from his buttoned jacket, "...so I'll say it as many times as it takes." I used the tie to pull him closer. "Remember this. You're mine for life. Give in." I rubbed the cobalt silk against my lips.
He pushed back. "No! I'm not giving in." He marched over to the panoramic window.
"We'll have to see how long that stubbornness lasts," I challenged.
"It'll last forever!"
"Then I'll just have to make you understand." I flicked off the lights, leaving us in darkness but for the glow of the city. Kip turned to me, startled. I stalked over the him, dropping my lavender tie to the carpet on my way.
I stripped him naked, taking no care for the clothes; buttons were lost, buckles yanked. For every noise of protest, the rougher I got, and he caught on quickly. He attempted to help me with my suit, but I swatted his hands away. Removing his red, blue, and black striped boxer briefs I discovered he was swollen. I stood back taking in his lean muscles, taunt and carved. "Touch yourself." He did. He made no movement though, but when I discarded my jacket and shirt I noticed a small stirring. And when I removed my slacks and silk boxers, revealing my erection, his hand began bobbing up and down. My dick twitched.
Picking up a black lacquer garment box, I placed it in front of the window. "Stand on it." He did as he was told. This gave him the extra height so that we were lined up better. I ravaged his mouth, bruising him, using my tongue as a weapon to break down his defenses further. His hands clung to my shoulders for support. Spinning him toward the window, I pressed my erection against him, grinding, smoothing my hand over his abs. First, I nipped at his ear, then I bit down on his shoulder. His breath hissed from him. I didn't break the skin, but there would be a mark.
Sliding my hand down, I grabbed his rod. I began tugging and pulling as fast as I could. I knew him and I knew not long after when his body stiffened and his moans became breathy that he was soon to come. I let go. He nearly fell forward as a pained groaned escaped him from not being able to complete. "Put your hands on the window."
"Not here, Ali," his voice was tight.
"No one will see us. I thought I told you to give in." He bent slightly and put his palms flat against the glass. I grabbed his hips and pierced him swiftly. There was no easing into it, I started pummeling him. I held his hips firmly. I wanted him to stand there and get fucked by me. I wanted him not to be able to sit tomorrow, and every time he tried, he thought of me. He thought I had messed him up before? He was about to learn. His hip bones were bruising me I was driving into him so hard. The sound of skin on skin was almost louder than both of our keening.
I looked at his reflection in the window and saw that his eyes were squeezed shut and his mouth was open panting and moaning, louder than I had ever heard him before. "Kip, open your eyes. The window is like a mirror." He peeked at our reflection, and soon his eyes went wide. He was mesmerized by the sight of me hammering into him. It may have been because it was he and I, but then the thought occurred to me that it was possible that this was the first time he had ever seen two men having sex. I was his first, and from his challenges, most likely his first inclination towards it, so he may have never even seen gay porn. He was completely enthralled at the sight of us.
He was so innocent; how could I have forgotten that for a moment. My wrath drained away as I melted against him. Enclosing him in my arms, I bent my knees a touch so that his thighs rested against mine, swirling our hips together. Reaching down I grasped his sex and found it already wet. He had already come; how had I missed that? Because I had been busy teaching him a lesson, getting him to give in to me. I stroked him gently.
His gaze into the window moved from our bodies to staring me in the eyes in earnest. I buried my nose in his hair, taking in his smell of musk, water and paint. "I love you," I whispered in his ear. And when I couldn't help but pick up the pace, though not as rough as before, bouncing in and out of him, I told him again, "I love you," as I filled him up.
I laid against the headboard smoking a cigarette. Kip was at the bottom of the bed, propped up on his heels making certain nothing touched his asshole. I grinned as I flipped ash into a crystal ashtray. My eyes drank him in. I loved that he always stayed naked after sex, not rushing to cover up.
Taking a drag, when I exhaled smoke I asked him, "Shall we check out early from the hotel tomorrow?" My eyes drifted back to the palm prints that he had left on the window.
"I don't mind. But why?"
"Because it'll be a pain if we run into Donnan." His features visibly drooped and he laid down on his stomach, rubbing his face in the pillow. "What's wrong? Are you sleepy?" He made a noncommittal noise. "Then go to sleep."
"Okay," he mumbled. I pulled the covers over him and rubbed his back. Poor kid. He deserved a rest.
So much had happened last night that I had forgotten all about leaving the party upset. But Ali talking about us leaving early to avoid Donnan brought it all crashing back. What should I do? The one thing I don't want is to make strife for Ali, but I didn't want to think about that right now. So, I hid my face in the pillow from Ali and tried to sleep. Right now, all I want to feel is Ali's big hand, his warmth, the smell of his cigarettes...his gentle voice.
I was having déjà vu.
"Room service for Kip Lexington." Except this time, it was a basket of strawberries instead of flowers.
"Don't you mean for Alistor Smoak?"
"No, we were definitely asked to deliver it to Mr. Lexington. The sender is..." she looked at the delivery slip, "...one Halston Smoak."
"Strawberries?" Ali looked like a thundercloud.
Before we left strawberry chocolate bars, chocolate covered strawberries, a strawberry tart, and a strawberry cake the same as I had in Halston's room, were all delivered.
I never imagined a day would come when I would suffer at the hands of strawberries.