The Silver Lining (21 page)

“I’m so fucking stupid. I’ve been terrible and I’m sorry that I hurt you as bad as I did,” she said. I tried to interrupt her, but she kept speaking. “I love you, James King. I love you like that god damned story out there, and I messed up. I see it clearer than ever.”

“Em, listen to me,” I said, but she ignored me. She was doing that rambling things she does.

“We were always supposed to be together and I spent so much time fighting it like an idiot.”

“Emily,” I finally shouted.

“What?” She stopped talking and took a breath.

I grabbed her hand. “Shut up and let me love you.”

I pulled her in for a tight hug which calmed her. I leaned down and kissed the top of her head. I could feel her entire body relax as she let her head fall against my chest.

“Do you think I’m crazy?” she asked, before releasing a sigh.

“Yes, but everybody is a little crazy.” I ran my hand over her hair. “You’re just a little more.”

We stood hugging for quite a while until we heard Miss Mona yelling from her chair.

“I don’t pay you to make out in my kitchen, Emily. Your male caller will have to go home.”

“Male caller?” I repeated, and laughed.

“Ew. That makes me sound like a prostitute.” She smiled and pushed back from me.

“You can be my prostitute if you want.” I wagged my eyebrows.

Emily smacked me on the arm. “Shh. She can probably hear everything out there.”

“I’ll take my cue and get out now while I can.”

“Oh! How are you getting home?” She grimaced.

“I’ll take a bus or taxi back. Don’t worry about me.” I smiled.

“Do you want to use my car? You’d have to pick me up tonight though.”

“That’s cool. I don’t mind driving the death trap. It got us here.”

She smacked my arm again. I pulled away and laughed.

“Before I go, can you give your male caller a little sugar?”

“That can be arranged.”

I walked forward and picked her up. My hands were planted firmly on her ass. I set her on the counter, kissing her gently as I sucked on her bottom lip savoring the taste. I was just about to pull back when she held me in place. Her hand was on the back of my neck.

“I do love you, Mr. King. This crazy fool should have told you that sooner.”

I smiled. “I love you too.” I rested my hand on her knee. I looked down at her belly. “You’re beautiful you know that?”

“I’m fat.”

“You’re beautiful,” I repeated. This time so that she knew, so that she heard me and actually listened. I placed my hands under her armpits and pulled her off the counter. “Take care of James Jr. in that belly.”

“You think it’s a boy, huh?” She smiled.

“I know it is. The Kings only make boys. On my dad’s side all boys. All my cousins are boys. Not a single drop of estrogen walking around besides my mom, and she doesn’t count since she married in.”

“Whatever you say.” She tossed me her keys and shooed me away. I quickly kissed her cheek and walked out of the kitchen. I tried to hurry past Mona, but of course she wouldn’t let me.

“I’ll be waiting to see an engagement ring, young man. We all know how this story ends.”

“Happily ever after?” I cocked one eyebrow up.

“If you make it that way.”

“Then I will do my very best to make it a happy ending.” I started to leave, but turned around again. “No. We will do our very best to make it a happy ending.” Emily stood in the doorway now, smiling at me. I winked at her and walked out. Mona didn’t say a word. She continued to just sit there teacup in hand, staring out of the window.

“So I guess that’s the last of it,” Emily said. She looked around at her empty place. “I can’t believe I’m doing this. I must be out of my mind.”

“It’s not safe in this neighborhood. I’ll feel better knowing where you are at night.”

It took two weeks to get her to agree to it, but she did. She was moving in with me. I didn’t like her here by herself. Her next door neighbor had his place broken into twice in the past month. One of which he was actually home, sleeping. The thought of it all made me feel uneasy.

“I don’t know how you managed to talk me into doing this. I really don’t. It must be your charming ways.”

“You think I’m charming?” I said, as I grabbed, and hugged her from behind.

“You have your moments.”

I swept her hair to the side and kissed the back of her neck. “How about now?”

“On a scale of one to ten, I’d give you a four.”

I kissed her shoulder. “How about now?”

“Maybe a six.”

I slowly turned her around to face me. I placed my hands firmly on her hips and stared at her.

“Don’t even think about it. I see the way you’re looking at me. We have things to do today, James.”

“You’re so sexy,” I whispered.

“James.” She pulled back.

“And beautiful.” I squeezed her hips tighter.

“Don’t start.” She shook her head no.

“And I really want to—”

“Oh, I know what you want to do. I can see it all over your face, you horny toad.”

“Can you blame me for wanting you? Is that such a bad thing?”

“No it’s not. We just have a really long day with moving and unpacking.”

“We have plenty of time.” I pulled her close to me. “Let’s go make a baby.”

She laughed and buried her head in my chest. “Mission accomplished already.” She looked up at me. “How can you possibly have it in you? We spent all day in bed together yesterday. I can barely walk straight at the moment. Give a girl a little rest.”

“You weren’t complaining last night. Oh, James. Deeper. Harder,” I mocked her.

She lightly pushed me. “Stop. I didn’t sound like that.”

“No. You sounded like this.” I started to moan in a feminine way.

She rolled her eyes.

“I like it when you moan for me. It’s hot.” I smiled, leaned down and planted a kiss on her lips. “Would you give me the opportunity to make you moan now?”

“You’re tempting me, you little devil. The King charm is not working though, so put it away.”

I let my head fall back in frustration. I heard her laugh.

“Tonight, you can have me any which way you want me, but right now we have a truck with movers headed over to your house. Actually I bet they are over there already so we should get a move on it.”

“You like to torture me, don’t you?”

“Yes. I stay awake at night and think of sexual punishments.” She playfully squinted her eyes.

“Sexual punishments. Now that sounds like a good time.”

“I’m not dealing with you right now.” She pulled away.

I reeled her back in. “Wait. Don’t move.” I released her and stared down at the floor.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

I closed my eyes and centered myself.

“James?”

I had this moment planned out in my head. The plan was, that I would cook her dinner tonight and do it while we ate. I had the timing mapped out, just before dessert. I had the words chosen and now I just wanted to toss it all to the wind and do it. She was beautiful standing there and it felt like the right time. I pulled a little black box out of my pocket and knelt down in front of her. My hands were shaking as I tried to open it. She gasped and placed both of her hands over her mouth. I finally popped open the top, revealing the diamond ring. My throat became dry and my hands trembled. My heart was thumping through my chest as I struggled to speak. I didn’t know if I was filled with nerves because of the excitement that she might say yes or fear that she might say no.

“Emily Rose Monroe, would you do me the honor and become my best friend, my lover and my wife for the rest of our life? Would you let me love you for eternity?”

She began to cry.

I knelt there waiting for an answer, hoping for the best. I took the ring out of the box and grabbed her hand. I held the ring right above her finger and waited.

Suddenly she shouted, “Yes!”

I then slipped the ring on her finger and stood up. She grabbed me and squeezed so hard I couldn’t breathe for a second. She was shaking in my arms and honestly, I was too.

“Are you sure you want to be with me for eternity?” she joked, as she wiped her eyes.

“It doesn’t get any better than you, baby.”

“You make my heart happy, you know that?” she asked.

I nodded.

She kissed me all over my face. She looked down at her ring and smiled. “It’s official. I’m engaged. This is crazy. I have to call my brother, and my friend Lupe and my cousin Maya.”

I stared at her and smiled.

“And my Grandma Juanita, and Deloris.”

She was excited and I was excited that she was excited. She stopped rambling and looked up at me.

“Are you going to tell your mom?”

I shrugged. “Chad’s been keeping me up to date on everything. Not that I care. He said she is about to leave in a few days to start her sentence. She won’t serve time in a real prison though. She’ll be in a nice, white collar crime type jail. Lucky for her, I guess. Anyways, he mentioned that she wanted to talk to me before she went in.”

“What do you think it’s about?”

“Probably nothing. It’s just her way of getting me to go see her. She might have heard that I agreed to do an interview with L.A’s top reporter, Kevin Trey. I’m sure she hates the idea of me opening my mouth on camera.”

“So are you going to see her?” Emily asked.

“I don’t know. I haven’t really thought much about it.”

“I think you should. I don’t know why I do. I dislike her and all that she stands for and what she’s done to you, but every relationship needs closure.”

“I thought I made it clear, more than a few times that I wanted nothing to do with her. Not sure what more closure she needs than that. Whatever it is, it can’t be good.”

Emily grabbed my hand and stared up at me. Her green eyes warmed me up and her touch cooled me down. She knew just how to take away my stress with one look.

“Well, once we leave here, are you following me over in your pretty new car? It must be nice to drive that thing. I still can’t believe you got so much money from the insurance company.”

“What are you talking about? I miss my old ride. Besides the driver did try to kill us both. I’d say that warranted a fat insurance check.”

“Well, I like your new car. It makes me feel pretty when I sit inside of it.”

“Do you want to drive it today and I’ll drive yours?”

Her eyes grew big. She nodded with excitement.

“Yes! I have never in my life driven a Beamer. It was on my list of things to do before I die.”

“Now I know why you talked me into buying it.”

“I did no such thing. I just think it’s gorgeous.”

“Yeah, I’m still stuck paying a portion of that gorgeous beast, even after the insurance money. Repairs will be a bitch and very costly might I add.”

“But it’s pretty.” She smiled. I held up the keys and she swiped them off my finger.

“Enjoy it, Mrs. King,” I shouted as she walked out of her soon to be old place.

“Oh, I will. Best day of my life,” she shouted back.

I chuckled at her excitement.

My phone started to ring just as she walked out.

“Hello,” I answered.

“My name is Kevin Trey, from L.A’s Dish It Up Media and More. I will be interviewing you and I wanted to touch base today. I know our interview was scheduled next week, but I wanted to see if there was any way I could bump up our meeting due to some scheduling conflicts.”

“Ugh. I suppose so. How soon?”

“I was thinking today at two o’clock.”

“Wow. I’m sort of in the middle of something at the time being.”

“I’d make it worth your while. I know we agreed to pay you three thousand dollars for this interview. I’d give you five thousand instead for your inconvenience.”

“You’re going to give me five thousand dollars to sit down with you for thirty minutes?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“Fine. I’ll move a few things around and I’ll meet you at your studio in a bit.”

“See you then, Mr. King. Thank you again.”

Damn. Emily was probably going to be pissed. The movers are over there waiting for us.

I dialed Mike for assistance.

“Hey, James,” he said. I could almost hear him smiling through the phone.

“Hey! Emily’s moving in today. The movers are already over at my place and I have this interview to do in a little bit that just sprung up. I’m not sure what you’re doing right now, but would you mind going over there and just helping her move boxes around if she needs it. The movers will do all of the work, but I don’t want her lifting heavy things around inside the apartment. I also don’t want her all alone with two fuckers I don’t know.”

“Yeah, man. No problem. I’ll hop in the car in a few minutes.”

“I’ll pay you for doing this. I appreciate it.”

“No need. I got you.”

“Thanks. I’ll talk to you later. I gotta run.”

I hung up and glanced down at the phone. I dialed Emily next, prepared to hear her chew me out. I knew she probably wouldn’t want to hear this.

“Hey you. I’m almost at your place,” she said, cheerfully.

“Yeah about that. I just got a call from Kevin Trey. He wants to move the interview up to today.”

“Really?”

“When I say today, I mean like in the next hour.”

“Baby, just go. We have everything under control here.”

“I called Mike. He’s going over to help out.”

“Mike? You didn’t have to do that.”

“I don’t trust two strange men in my house with my pregnant fiancé.”

“I guess he can help me organize. I’m not sure where to put everything.”

“Some of it’s going directly to storage and the rest you can put wherever you like. Honestly I don’t care as long as you don’t make my bathroom all pink.”

“Damn, that was my plan.” She laughed.

“Okay, baby, I have to get to this interview.”

“Oh wait. What channel again?” she inquired. “I’ll turn it on now. It’s live, right?”

“Yes, it’s live. It will be on channel six.”

“Good luck. I love you.”

“Thanks. Love you too. Bye, babe.”

I had already walked out to Emily’s car at this point. I did a once over and realized I was driving this thing to my interview. Part of me cared and part of me didn’t. I shrugged and jumped into the car.

I arrived at the two story studio where Kevin did all of his filming and interviews. As I entered the two doors I became nervous about what he might ask me. I became even more nervous about how I might answer. My throat constricted at just the thought. I was greeted by a young receptionist who checked me in and sent me upstairs. I entered through another set of double doors and walked into a room that was filled with celebrities. I couldn’t take my eyes off of one, maybe since we both were raised the same. She looked exactly how she did on T.V. She was thin, with short blonde hair. She was holding her dog on her lap and texting at the same time. She was another hotel baby like myself, but she wasn’t like me at all. She loved the spotlight. She actually went into reality shows and movies and tried her hand at music, not to mention the leaked porn video. I on the other hand did my best to avoid attention when I could.

She looked up at me and smiled. “I know you. King Hotels, right?” she asked.

“Yeah. Hilton, right?” I asked back.

She nodded. “Is this the hottie hotel edition or what?” She looked me up and down.