Redemption (Complete)

4. It's On

Carl didn't talk much to Aiden after that. Whether it was due to the flurry of activity at the office or the fact that Constance was taking up most of his time off work, he wasn't sure. It didn't matter much to him in all actuality. He was letting his mind wander to other matters to take up his free time.

Women- of course. He had gone on several of what most would consider 'dates' with a few women over the next couple of months. None of them lasted of course because he was still hung up on a person whose name he didn't even know. The only difference with the new women was that even if the female he was pleasuring was completely different in looks, he always saw The Nameless One as he called her in his head.

Fortunately, Aiden didn't press the matter. He probably thought this was like all his other women- a passing phase. One he would f**k and dump faster than he could get their phone numbers most likely. For some reason, Carl knew this to be untrue. This one was- different.

Why would this one be different? Maybe because she was so young and innocent, maybe because she was practically unattainable and unknown to him. Carl didn't know and honestly didn't care. He wanted to wrest her visage from his mind like the invasive roots of a dandelion weed from a garden. He had been unsuccessful for two months now and the dreams he had only intensified with each passing day. It was frustrating.

"f**k this bullshit," he mumbled to himself as he got into his red Tesla.

He was dressed casually formal since he knew it would be expected of him. He was heading to the Charles residence for some special dinner that Mathilde and Harry had invited him to. Since his night was free from... distractions, he said why the hell not and was now regretting it. He knew that Aiden and Constance would be there and their seemingly transcendent happiness annoyed him for some reason.

He sped down the streets towards the freeway wondering if he should call to make his excuses. He really wasn't in the mood to be social and he would definitely need several stiff drinks to get through tonight. He planned on making a pit stop on his way home if he was in need of some company. Knew just the place too.

Why the hell had he taken his own car anyway? It would have been easier to get an Uber or Lyft there and back. At this rate, he would end up being too tipsy to drive. He certainly had no plans of sleeping over at Harry's tonight. The place was huge and felt cavernous and foreign, especially at night. He had always been one to luxuriate in the comforts of his own home.

Within ten minutes he had pulled up to the front of the Charles' estate, a monstrosity of a house that he was sure had more room in it than they needed. Besides their two children and some live- in servants, the house was practically empty.

Carl parked in the front and handed his keys to the man that awaited him. Without saying a word, he walked up the short flight of steps to the front door and walked through it as another servant stood there, face expressionless as he held the heavy door open. He looked as if if his only function was to be standing there, waiting for people ti arrive so he could open the door.

As soon as Carl walked through the door, he knew he had to be the last one to arrive. Checking his watch, he saw he was only five minutes late to this shindig which was in of itself a small miracle. He was also late to functions. And for work. Well, until recently at least.

He could hear talking a laughter and knew they were probably all in the sitting room. He headed there without asking where they would be at and he was not mistaken in the least.

Ramon and his wife Mariana were the first Carl saw and he nodded when they looked over at him. Ramon's wife was a pretty Hispanic woman with beautiful hazel eyes not much unlike his own. Her body showed no sign of having birthed children whereas looking over at Constance, he wondered if she would be so lucky.

Nathaniel was over by his father and they looked like they were talking shop their faces were so serious.

There was also an elderly lady he did not recognize that was sitting near Constance and Mathilde. It must have been a family friend or one of Constance's, though he knew she didn't have many.

Aiden was sitting with a protective arm encircling Constance's expanding waist and Carl had to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from rolling his eyes. His friend was so f*****g whipped for the woman.

"Is this everyone?" Carl asked once he had sauntered casually up to the group.

"Almost everyone," Mathilde grinned as she looked past Carl's shoulder towards the door.

There was a lull in the conversation and Carl looked back towards the door where a figure walked through. It was one that he was sure up to this point he would never see again.

Nameless Girl- what was she doing here?

"Darling, good of you to finally join us," Harry smiled at his youngest daughter and gave her a fatherly hug around her shoulder.

"I was on the phone with Leila," Violet said to her father. "They are having a plumbing issue and they need to sort it out so until then I will have no water coming into the house."

"Oh dear, You must stay with us until you have running water then!" Mathilde was only too happy to have her daughter bunking with them until her situation was sorted.

"Oh Vi- I'm sure you remember Carlton Smith?" Harry asked his daughter.

Violet looked up at Carlton's astonished face with a small smirk.

"Of course," she said, her lip twitching slightly. "How have you been, Carl?"

******

Carl felt extremely uncomfortable for most of the evening. Not only was the object of his recent lust in the same building he was in, but she was one of his best friend's daughters. On a scale of awkward, this was off the charts.

He had been in his own head for most of dinner and as the table was finishing their desert, he heard the unmistakable sound of a utensil clinking against one of Mathilde's ornate crystal wine glasses.

"Attention everyone," Aiden called out to be heard. "I know you are probably wondering why you are all here and I will answer that question for you right now."

Carl looked up at the man wondering if this was it. Was he going to be the last of his friends to find someone worthy of being shackled to for the remainder of his life? He sighed thinking he really did need to find more friends and a decent wing- man out of the bunch.

"I've asked Constance to be my wife and she said yes," Aiden stated with a huge grin on his face. Anything else that he had to say was drowned out by Mathilde's girlish squeals and hearty congratulations from the men. Carl smiled weakly at his closest friend and wished he could conjure up more enthusiasm for him. He liked Constance, he really did- but he just felt somehow out of place in this setting.

After another round of wine made it around the table, Constance drinking sparkling water instead, most of the people made their way into the sitting room again for whatever after dinner drinks they felt the need for.

Carl excused himself from the happy gang so he could use the restroom. He needed to wash his face and empty his bladder, but mostly he needed to be alone with his thoughts.

After doing his business in the hall bathroom, he came out and started to walk to his left down the hallway towards the others. Unfortunately, he ran into the one person he was trying to rid himself of.

"Violet," he said with a nod of his head.

"Hello Carl," she said to him a bit smugly. "Surprised to see me here I take it."

"You could say that," he agreed, slightly miffed at himself. He was handling this horribly and he knew she knew it.

"Wonderful about Aiden and Constance, isn't it?" she asked trying to gauge his reaction. He gave none, opting for a poker face instead of the strange sensations he was feeling that he had yet to identify.

"Indeed," he told her. "They make a lovely couple."

"They did go about it a bit backwards- getting married after becoming pregnant," she mentioned blithely.

"Don't tell me you are one of those women who is waiting for a wedding ring in order to give it up," Carl said with a small smirk. His wits seemed to be slowly coming back to him.

"Not at all," she replied. "It's simply a little less than optimal."

"How so?" He c****d his head at her wonderingly.

"Well, if I were Constance, I would wonder if the man that impregnated me was simply proposing because I was just that- pregnant. Or if this would have gone that way eventually."

"If you think Aiden would do that, you truly don't know him," Carl spoke. "No one can ever make that man do anything. If he wanted to pop out a bevy of kids with her and never propose, he would do it without thinking twice."

Violet smiled widely at that making Carl blink twice. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Were you testing my loyalty to my best friend and his fiancee or simply testing what type of person I am?" he asked her.

"Hmmm... a little bit of both maybe," she said with a small nod. "It's good to know you are loyal, even if you are a bit of a man whore."

Carl's eyes locked on hers with a glare. "I almost f****d up their relationship. I owe that man and Constance has been nothing but forgiving. Granted it was his fault mainly but- and I'm not a man w***e either. I- I have many female admirers."

"Well, they admire you right into your bed is what I hear," she said bluntly. Violet had not inherited any of her parents ways with words. Both Mathilde and Harry was genteel and polite to a fault.

"Jealous baby girl? Wish you were in my bed instead of them?" He smirked at her lightly and she gave a small frown.

"You wish loverboy," she threw back at him. "I have no wish to be in your bed at any time in the near or far off future. I've never been one to want what everyone else could have."

This knocked the smirk right off Carlton's face and he took a step towards the woman. "You'll regret saying those things when I have my head between your legs eating you till you scream my name."

Violet blinked twice at him, trying not to show her shock at his filthy words.

"Keep dreaming," she retorted back at him when she finally came down from her shock.

"Oh, I have and I will," he said softly with a glint in his eye.

That threw Violet off her game and she walked past him briskly, heading towards the bathroom he had come out of a few moments before. Carlton walked back to the rest of the party thinking he had won a small victory over the girl.

Violet swiftly closed the door behind her and pressed her back against it. Her heart was racing and it was only partially because she was irritated with Carlton. The other part, her weaker part, was clenching her thighs together trying to relieve whatever this foreign feeling she was trying to push back.

Violet wasn't as innocent as Carlton may have thought. She had had s*x before, a couple of times. She hadn't thought much of it and it was over long before she could makes heads or tails of it. She had known she would probably run into Carl at some point in the near future since her father was friends with him. She had only hoped to avoid him for as long as possible though. His reputation and the stories she had heard about the man were, well intriguing and disturbing to someone of her relative inexperience.

She couldn't help but be intrigued by the man. He was sinfully handsome and his mere presence made her feel things she wished she could ignore. Even when in the common area of the break room at Kintech he had invoked in her strange feelings that had made her thoughts drift back to him weeks after she had last seen him.

But- he was not someone she should show interest in. And she couldn't. Things were being handled behind the scenes she knew and an interest in Carl would only lead to heartbreak- hers to be exact.

Besides, with her father's covert machinations she knew it was only a matter of time before he came to her with a proposal. One she wanted to refuse and one she felt she couldn't- or shouldn't.

Violet ran her hands under the cold tap in the bathroom and bathed her neck in the cool water, trying to calm both her nerves and hormones.

It was a losing battle and she left the bathroom five minutes later feeling just as frustrated and jumpy as when she had gone in.