Chapter 12
Richard
“Morning, criminal.” Gloria smiled, she was sitting on one of two benches just outside the police station when I walked out. She had two blessed cups of black heaven, one in either hand.
She was the last person I expected to see this morning.
Gloria wore upper-thigh length, fashionably ripped shorts, a gray tank top and a sleeveless denim over-shirt without buttons. She tapped the ground with her dark flats, stood up, and handed me a coffee.
“You're a life saver,” I said.
“Least I can do. I saw them tow your car and figured you might need a ride out of here.”
“I can call for a driver.” I said between warm sips of coffee. With a little caffeine in me I almost felt human again. “I don't want to keep you from the Rocket.”
“No such luck, I'm afraid.” Gloria shrugged and started for her car in the larger-than-necessary parking lot. “You happened to get arrested before my one day off a week.” She lowered her oversized sunglasses and flashed me a look that said she liked what she saw, but also understood I wasn't at my finest either. “Shower or food first?”
“Shower. Definitely shower.” I wasn't expecting a Ritz-Carlton, but the holding cell's mattress stank of almost every fluid a human could secrete. I chose to sit in the metal chair for the night instead. That stank much less.
I needed to burn these clothes.
Gloria drove me back to the guest house I inhabited at the base of my father's estate.
“Fancy.” She whistled, walking into the three level stucco and stone guest house behind me.
“It's alright.” I peeled off my ruined over and under shirts, casually tossing them on the floor near the trash can.
“Are you hungry?” Gloria asked, dragging a hand over the polished marble counter top. Her eyes licked up my naked torso. My broad chest and abs were still bulging from the sets of push ups and sit ups I did in the holding cell.
When there was no chance of sleep it was the only way to keep myself occupied.
“I could eat.” My eyes returned the favor, dragged down her petite form and milky exposed legs. I was hungry. The last thing I'd eaten was her. It didn't fill me up, but it sure as hell was satisfying.
Deciding against letting my cock fully wake until I'd at least taken a shower, I thought of all the colors and smells coming out of the cell's backed-up toilet.
That killed my hard on immediately.
I'd have to remember that particular horror show if I was going to be spending any more time Gloria in public.
I was arrested at the worst possible time. We were so close to actually having sex that it frustrated the hell out of my body. One way or another I needed to vent this pent up sexual frustration.
I used my time in the shower to both clean up and get myself off. I was finding it harder and harder to think straight with Gloria around. The water streamed over me as I stroked my thick cock. In the privacy of the shower I was free to remember everything I'd forced out of my head in jail.
I had to slam a palm up against the wall to keep my strength through the fantasy. Gloria's smooth thighs were split over my shoulders and the warm, wonderful taste of her pussy in my mouth. I imagined what it'd be like to slip my swollen head inside those tight lower lips of hers and fuck her till she couldn't walk.
I came soon after.
Drying myself off, I struggled coming to a decision about Gloria. I dressed in thin khakis and a linen shirt—something light and breezy for summer—and began to plan.
I liked to plan things out. I liked control in all things. When I had a clear path to what I wanted everything in my life made sense.
I wanted to win the inheritance, more than that... I wanted to crush my brother. I would figure out a way to get him back for what he did to me, but to really win I'd have to get a girl pregnant.
That was the real problem.
I wanted to be a father...eventually. But it would have to be with the right woman, a woman I truly cared about. For as much as I wanted to win, the thought of bringing a child into the world out of obligation instead of love made me feel hollow and sick inside.
Then again, the clock was ticking. If something happened to Dad, we’d both lose everything. It was too dark a thought to dwell on for long.
Dammit, Dad.
Why did you do this?
I bedded whoever I wanted without risk or attachment, easily moving from woman to woman. I did it all on my own terms, in full control.
I liked my life!
Feeling sorry for myself wasn't going to change anything.
The first step was to find a woman who wanted kids. Unfortunately that eliminated Gloria right off the bat. My heart sank a little. Gloria was just a pleasant distraction, one I'd have to get rid of if I wanted to seriously beat Lucas.
I walked into the kitchen fully dressed; swabbing the last bit of water out of my ears with a small towel I kept on my shoulder. I could smell that Gloria was cooking something, maybe even several somethings. When I finally turned the corner I saw that the counter top, stove and sink were full of pots, pans, dishes and utensils.
Had she used every piece of cookware I had?
“Hey,” she said, looking a bit flustered. “I started making some eggs, but I think your stupid oven is busted.”
“It's just unplugged,” I laughed. “All of this was for eggs?”
“That's what it started as. Then I looked up a quick recipe to make in the microwave, but that came out like garbage.” Gloria had the water running and was washing some of the messy dishes. “I just said the hell with it and ordered some food through the Foodler app on my phone.”
I laughed again, walking over to give her a hand cleaning up. “You didn't have to make anything.”
“I'm usually a good cook!” She protested “I just—I don't know what happened. I blame your kitchen. I think it hates me.”
“You're probably right. It hates me too.” I rolled up my sleeves, stood next to her and took a large glass casserole dish into the empty sink. Her shoulder brushed against my elbow, and sent goosebumps up my arm. I swallowed away the notion that forgetting about Gloria would be easy. “So what's for breakfast?”
“I hope up you like Chinese food.” Her smirk had a tinge of self-consciousness about it. It was actually kind of cute. “I couldn't find any diners that delivered.”
“I'm just impressed you found a Chinese place open at nine-thirty in the morning.”
Almost like clockwork, when we finished doing the dishes the food arrived.
“So what did they end up charging you with?” Gloria asked with half a mouthful of fried rice some time later.
She'd ordered a small mountain of food, which was good because I didn't realize how hungry I was until I could smell it. I didn't answer her until I downed half a container's-worth of Beef Pad Thai. “Possession with intent to sell.”
Gloria smiled mischievously. There was a glinting spark in her gray eyes. “Who'd of thought you had a wild streak in you?”
I opened my mouth to explain that it was my brother's doing, and because it was only a little over the limit, it being my first offense—and who my family was—I was most likely going to get the charges dropped. Maybe I'd have to pay a fine.
I was going to tell her all that, but I kept quiet and shrugged instead.
Let her think what she wants, I thought with a thrill.
I was always a bad boy in my own right, but I'd never been the wild one. That was always Lucas. Breaking the law and living by your own rules was liberating, I could see why it was so compelling to Lucas.
We chatted lightly as we finished our meal. When I put my chopsticks down triumphantly, the mountain of food was just scattered wreckage.
“Who was that guy at your party? The one that looked like the dirty biker version of Fabio?”
“Lucas,” I replied, wiping my mouth with a napkin. “My brother.”
“Ah,” Gloria pushed a small battered piece of chicken across her plate idly. “I take it you two don't get along.”
“That's a bit of an understatement.”
“What's the deal with you two? I have an older sister out in Washington and yeah, we fight a lot on holidays, but who cares? We're family. Why do you hate each other so much?”
The topic had come up a few times, and each time I was able to redirect it. It was hard for me to open up to strangers, even the ones I liked.
“We have our reasons,” I said cryptically. Gloria scowled at me. I sighed, lounged back into the couch and accepted that she wasn't going to let it go this time.
“Lucas is everything I'm not.” I paused and attempted to clarify. “Lucas— He should've been so much more. He's naturally talented in many ways, not just with music.”
“Wait, Lucas King—Lucky Luke from Gunmetal Tears?” I could see the realization dawn on her, followed by a feeling of foolishness that she didn't figure it out sooner. “How do you mean more? Those guys had at a few bestselling albums...when they were still together. Not many people can pull off the whole rock star thing.”
This wasn't coming out right.
Gloria quickly texted a message then set her phone back down.
I could talk for hours about so many things, but my family was not one of them. It was easier for me to compartmentalize all that pain and anger, push it away, and focus on other things that were important like running my business.
“I worked my ass off for my degree in some of the toughest schools in the world, then had huge shoes to fill when my father got sick and couldn't run the family company anymore.
“My brother should have been right there with me the whole way. My father prepared us to take over an empire and when the time came, Lucas wouldn't answer the call. He'd rather go off do drugs and be a waste than to uphold the King legacy.”
“Who’s to say the King legacy ends at business?” Gloria asked, playing the devil's advocate.
“That's how we are though. For generations the King family ran businesses. Ever since the eighteen hundreds when Gerald King came to America with the fleet of ships he owned.”
“Gunmetal Tears were a big deal for their genre. Your brother definitely built something there.”
“That's just a flash in the pan,” I waved it off, not able or willing to hide my disdain for his band. “Everything I struggled with in high school, he just breezed through. Lucas could've been every bit the businessman I am, probably even more so. He's naturally cunning and brilliant, but would rather squander that immense potential than use it for anything productive.”
“I don't know... It sounds like he's just doing what he loves.”
There's doing what you love, then there's being selfish.
After everything our father did for him, taking a stake in the family business was the least he could do. If anyone should understand what it was like to be a part of something greater it should've been Lucas. He'd be nothing right now if it wasn't for my father.
And he repays him by abandoning everything the King family stands for?
For as mad at Lucas as I was, I couldn't tell Gloria any of that.
“Your sister in Washington—” Instead, it was better to just change the subject. “What does she do?”
“She's married to a Navy seaman and has two kids.” Gloria snorted in exasperation. She must not approve of the guy her sister is with. “That's what she does.”
Gloria's phone vibrated. It was a text from a friend.
“Looks like Lucky Luke is playing an acoustic show this Friday at the...” Gloria's face screwed up like she'd drank some spoiled milk.
“What is it?”
“He's playing at the Family Room. I thought they shut that cesspit down.” She glanced up at me then added, “It's this shitty rundown venue the next town over that's been around way too long and needs to get bulldozed.”
“I take it you're not a fan?”
“Absolutely not. The owners are assholes. It's got a reputation for letting minors drink. My friend's underage sister left there drunk one night and wrapped her car around a tree.”
I wanted to ask if the girl was alright, but the dark expression on Gloria's face told me she wasn't.
“Sorry to hear that,” I said. During the lull in conversation that followed, a wicked idea came to me. “Are you free Friday?”
“Hmm.” Gloria thought about it, then shrugged. “I should be able to have Judy cover for me. What do you have in mind?”
“Payback.”