We’ve only been home for a day and already King is ready to get out. “Are you sure you’re up for this?” I ask him as he takes his pills in front of me, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Yeah, of course, baby.”

“If anything gets to be too much, you’ll tell me, right?”

“With you by my side, how could that happen?”

“I mean it,” I tell him and he stands to hug me, swaying a little, the vertigo hitting him.

Leaving his house, I lock up and we get into his car. Bringing the loud fucking engine to life as he buckles up next to me, he is so sexy, dressed casually today. He stares out the window as I drive off, seeming to be in a daze, and I ask him, “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me, King.”

“I’m not, I’m thinking, that’s all.”

“What about?”

“How I’m going to apologize to your dad for what I did. I wasn’t thinking at the time what the repercussions of my actions were. I was out of my mind thinking that it would somehow help you both move on.”

“My dad is the most understanding person I’ve ever known. Just talk to him.”

I enfold my hand around his, ignoring my phone as it rings in my pocket.

“You gonna get that?”

“Nah, I’m with the only person that matters.”

King reaches over and brushes his thumb over my lips, then drags his hand down my body and cups my sex. “Can I finger you?”

I can’t help but smirk. “Do you have to ask?” Nudging his way into my shorts, he spreads open my pussy, tickling my clit, and then forcing two fingers into me. “Uhhhhh,” I moan. He’s so good with his hands. Gripping the steering wheel tighter, I focus on the road as he slowly moves in and out of me.

“You have the tightest pussy,” he says, lathering my neck with kisses.

“I wish you were inside it right now.”

“Mmmmm, I bet you do.” He kisses me more, fingering me slowly. I clench around his hand, hating that we are in the car right now.

“Pull over.”

“Why?”

“So you can come, I can see it in your eyes and feel in on my fingertips. Give over to what your body wants, baby.” Glancing in the mirrors as I turn down a side street, the car comes to a stop, but King does not. His hand rubs the side of my thigh as he strokes me, and I spread my legs, leaning further back. “That’s it, baby, let go. Give in to the pleasure.”

He unbuckles his seatbelt and takes a handful of my breasts with his other hand. Reaching over, his cock is hard, and I hold on to it through his shorts as I push against the seat. My body on a roller coaster of bliss and his hand is the track guiding me. He rocks his hips, looking at me so fucking sexily as I get lost in his eyes.

“Are you going to come for me?”

“Mmmhhhh,” I moan, struggling to breathe. My body convulses and without warning, he pulls the most amazing orgasm out of me. I can’t control my body as I scream, being fingered and coming from it like never before.

Swallowing as I search for reality, King looks at me through hooded lids so satisfied as he slowly pulls his fingers out of me and licks them clean. “God, you taste like a fucking dream.”

I chuckle at his description, still holding on to his dick as he sits back, buckling his seatbelt over my hand. Blinking a few times perplexed, I ask him, “What about you?”

“That was for me. Thank you, baby.”

Looking over my reflection in the mirror before I drive away, I am red and flushed. King says, “You look fine.”

“I look like I just came.”

“Yeah…you kinda do.” He raises his eyebrows at me, and I slap him across his arm. He grabs my hand and holds it tightly. “We’ve gotta long drive, you’ll look normal by the time we get there.”

Finally, pulling up to my dad’s, King hasn’t said much the entire drive and I’ve let him be. “Ready?” I ask.

“Yes, beautiful.” And he gets out of the car walking around and helping me out.

“Dad?” I call out as we walk inside his cozy home. Every time I come here, it’s the same. It smells like it did when I was a kid, taking me back to my childhood. “I’m in here,” he says, and King and I follow his voice to his little office.

“Hey, Dad,” I respond as we walk in.

“Hi.” He stands up from his cluttered desk that is covered in a hundred different antiques and all their parts and gives me a hug.

He and King shake hands a little awkwardly. That connection they once had now a bit tarnished. “Whatcha working on?” I ask him.

“Another clock for Galinda.”

King peeks over his shoulder at the item in front of him and says, “I remember that clock from when I was a kid.”

“Yeah?” he asks.

“Uh huh, there’s a little red bird that chirps out of the top and it used to scare the crap out of me.”

My dad lifts it up and makes the clock chime. King flinches and says, “Yup, that’s him, still gives me the willies.”

“How are you feeling?” my dad asks him.

“Good, surprisingly. A little vertigo every once in a while, but other than that, not too bad.”

My phone rings again – it’s Ross. I’ve been ignoring him since I bailed the day King went missing, and King says, “You might want to answer it.”

“I really don’t want to.”

“Go.” King urges me on, and I know it’s not only to handle my phone call, but also so he and my dad can have some alone time. “I’ll be right back,” I tell them and answer the phone walking to the front porch.

“Hello?”

“Finally. Where the hell are you, Ever?” Ross yells and it puts me right in defense mode.

“I had an emergency, don’t you remember?”

“Well, your shift started here this morning and I have no one to cover for you.”

“I’m sorry, Ross, but my boyfriend almost died. I’m going to need to take a few days.”

He huffs into the phone. “Emilio is already off this week for a family reunion, can you take some time next week?”

“No,” I tell him outraged.

“No?” He repeats it back to me, like he didn’t hear me correctly.

“No, I’m sorry, I can’t. Didn’t you hear what I said?”

“I heard you and I warned you that this was your last straw. Don’t bother coming back in here at all, Ever,” he barks and hangs up.

I look down at my phone as the call disconnects. Did he really fire me? Sitting on the porch so King and my dad can have time to hash things out, I’m a little shell-shocked. After all that I did for him and that restaurant. I put a solid four years into that place, and he’s going to just fire me over needing a few days off?

A text chimes through my phone from Mistee and she says, What in the world did you do to Ross?

Nothing, I told him I needed a few days to be with King and he fired me.

Shut up. I’m sure he wasn’t serious.

Reading her words, even if he wasn’t, I don’t want to work for someone like him any longer. It was bound to happen. I’ve got more important things to worry about.

Okay, sweetie, I’ll miss you here. Take care of yourself and let me know if you need anything…at all.

Mistee has been so awesome. Through everything with King, she’s been texting me worried and wanting to help with anything I needed.

“Everything okay?” King asks me, coming out front and sitting next to me on the porch.

I chuckle and rest my head on his arm as I say, “If you consider getting fired being okay. Then yeah, I’m fan-fucking-tastic.”

“He fired you?”

“Yup.”

“I’m so sorry, I know how much that place meant to you.”

“It’s okay, babe. I guess…it wasn’t meant to be. He was never nice to me.”

“Why did you stay then?”

“I wanted to prove to him that I could be his head chef. I don’t know…maybe I should’ve gone and worked for Lorenzo.”

“And you still can. But don’t have regrets, babe. I’ll hire you; I need a private chef.”

“Shut up.” I hit him and he kisses the top of my hair holding me snugly.

“How did things with my dad go?”

“Pretty good.”

“Yeah?” I ask a little shocked.

“Yeah, he said it was hard to read the letters and a shock of course that I did that, but now that he’s had some time to think about it, he’s happy to know what all she had to say. Life’s short, baby. I think we all forget that more often than not. Hell, I almost died the other day and your dad made a good point. What if the lady sending the letters to you guys died and then you’d never have known what your mom left for you?”

“Who did you get them from?” I ask, still not knowing.

“A coworker of hers. I found an email exchange between them when I was looking for pictures, and she’s pretty old.”

“Dinner’s served,” my dad says and peeks his head out the screen door. As King and I go inside, I guess I never thought of it like that. Had the person sending the letters suddenly passed, then what? It’s not like my parents are wealthy and my mom hired some attorneys to take care of it for her. I’d assumed it was a friend, but I didn’t know who, or want to know for that fact.

Looking in the spot where I left my letters, they are gone. I’m sure my dad has them. We haven’t talked about it, and quite frankly…I don’t think he needs to. As my parent, he’ll do what he thinks is right.