The Barbarian King

Chapter 62

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If not that she was so upset he would have been amused by how she always loved calling him by his full name, but he knew he would be in trouble if he so much as smiled now, "I'm sorry, I was drunk so I didn't..."

"Too drunk to realize it was my first time, but not too wrong to know the right hole to insert your f*****g d**k?" She yelled, and then raised a hand to her mouth as though realizing the kind of word she had just used.

Seeing the surprise on her face Ken sighed and moved forward to meet her, deciding this was the best time to explain, "I didn't mean to make you feel like that. I was actually feeling guilty for taking advantage of you in your drunken state. I left because I was feeling too guilty to face you, not because of anything else." Ken said looking into her eyes.

*************

Maybe he was right, but she has approached them, not the other way round. "So what do you want in return if not money or s*x?"

"I want you to start therapy, and be faithful to me in that one year." Eric said looking into her face.

Kimberly gave him an incredulous look like she couldn't believe what she had just heard, "How can you ask me that? Are you crazy? You didn't hear anything I just said? I can't be faithful!" She exclaimed sounding agitated.

"Yes you can. And you will." Eric said taking both her hands in his once again, "There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it. It won't be easy at first, but you can do it, trust me. I'll be here with you every step of it. Just give me your word and say you're willing to try. If after the one year it doesn't, I won't blame you. I will leave knowing we both tried but it just couldn't work." Eric said making her frown.

"But why that? Why can't you just ask for money? You could even ask my father to help you get a government contract or a job. Why this?" Kim asked in frustration.

"Because I value some things more than money. And this is what I want. So give me your word, and then we can move on with our plans to get married tomorrow. Are you willing to give this a try with me? It won't cost you anything to pretend to be really married to me for a year. If anything you'd at least know what really being married feels like since you don't want to get married." Eric said making Kimberly sigh.

He was right. What did she have to lose? If anything she was the one gaining from the whole arrangement, "Okay. I will try. But if I cheat..."

"Don't think about it." Eric said cutting her off.

Kimberly sighed. If he believed in her this much, then she had to believe in herself too. "Okay. Let's give it a try."

"Good. We will just take it one day at a time." Eric said with a smile of approval, and before she could guess what he was up to, he drew her closer to himself and planted a kiss on her lips.

Kimberly's heart skipped a beat and she blinked several times as she looked at him, "We just agreed to get married. I'm sealing the deal with a kiss." Eric explained when he pulled away from her and saw the confusion on her face.

Kimberly swallowed, "Oh! Okay."

"Good. So I'll just go pick my things and..."

'You're still leaving?" Kimberly asked with a frown. What if he was just pretending and was planning on running away from her once he leaves here?

"Yeah. Why? You don't want me to?"

"I thought you wouldn't go back since we are getting married tomorrow."

"Or you think I won't return if I leave tomorrow?" He asked, looking at her in amusement as though he could read her mind.

"I need to organize some things. I'll meet you tomorrow and then we can go over to the registry..."

"But don't we need to like give a month's notice? The courts don't operate that way." Kimberly said thoughtfully when she remembered a cousin of hers had mentioned registering at the court some weeks before the marriage.

"This is Nigeria where anything can be done if you know the right people. Don't worry, I'll ask a friend who knows someone that works there to make it happen tomorrow." Eric promised.

"You seem to have lots of friends with connections..."

"You mean like I have you now?" Eric asked with a wink.

"Yeah."

_________

Pete raised his head from the movie he had been seeing on his laptop when a knock sounded on his office door. He could tell it was Kathleen since it was past closing hours and his secretary had left over an hour ago. He had been wondering how long it would take before she finally joins him in his office. "Yeah?"

"It's Kathleen." Kathleen called uncertainly from the other side of the door. She had been stalling... Praying and hoping he would wrap up whatever he was doing quickly so they could be on their way home, since she didn't want to be alone with him in his office. But the more she had waited alone in her empty office, the more restless she had become so she had decided to come over when she remembered that Amanda would be back from school by now.

"Come in." Pete said as he quickly removed the movie he had been watching and picked up a document while pretending to be busy.

Kathleen slowly pushed open the door as she walked into the office, "Uhm, Amanda isn't here yet?" She asked when she didn't see any sign of Amanda around. The office building was almost empty now since almost everyone else had left immediately it was close hour.

"She's not coming. I asked Chidi to help me pick her up since your mom and sister are at home. I'm sure she wouldn't be lonely." Pete said pretending to be engrossed with whatever he was looking at.

"Oh! I see." Kathleen said with a nod, not knowing if she was to go outside and wait, or sit down there. She really would have preferred to just go home in a BRT, rather than wait for him like this. She was feeling some sort of tension in the atmosphere between them which was quite different from anything she had felt around him before today. A part of her wanted to ask him why he had been tailing her earlier that afternoon, but another part wanted to just let sleeping dogs lie. She had been able to confirm Chuka's claim earlier when she sighted Pete driving behind them.

"You don't want to sit?" Pete asked, giving her a questioning look.

"How much longer do I have to wait? I could just book a bolt ride, or use the BRT." She suggested as politely as she could muster.

"Why? You have somewhere else you want to go to? Or someone you want to meet up with? How was your meeting with your friend? Was he able to make it?" Pete asked casually as he returned his gaze to the document once again even though he couldn't see a thing that was written on it.

Kathleen scoffed as she looked at him, so he was trying to pretend like he hadn't at least seen Chuka? "He couldn't make it. Something came up, so he had to cancel." Kathleen said with a shrug making Pete look at her in disbelief.

Was this lady a perpetual liar? Like whenever she opened her mouth only lies fell out of it? He wondered, "Oh! Really?"

"Yeah." Kathleen said, flashing him a cheerful smile.

"I see. So since you're not in a hurry to go anywhere, why don't you sit down? I'm still busy here." Pete said before returning his attention to the document.

'You're alone in the office with her. Why don't you try out the office table s*x? It could be a mind-blowing experience, you know?' A voice in Pete's head whispered suddenly making his heart skip a beat. Pete stood up abruptly and moved away from the table, as though walking away from the center of temptation. He walked over to the window and stood there with his back to Kathleen.

Kathleen looked at him, wondering why he had left his seat so abruptly, before walking over to sit down opposite his desk. The edge of her dress rode up as she sat down and crossed both legs, "Are you done?" She asked, making him turn to look at her. His gaze fell on her exposed thighs, and he swallowed hard. What sort of sudden attraction was this? This wasn't normal in any way, he thought, as he looked into her face and tried to remember what she had just asked him.

"I asked if you're done." Kathleen repeated when she saw the confusion on his face, and assumed he was looking at her that way because his mind was occupied with thoughts of business.

Pete knew he had to leave the office now before he ended up doing something he might regret, so he nodded his head, "I'll just finish up tomorrow."

"We should go home then. It's getting late." She said, and flashed him a smile. Chuka had suggested that she learn to smile more often. She had no idea why he had said so, but her mother had mentioned something similar, so she was practicing on Pete.

He blinked at her when she smiled, and couldn't help noticing how perfect her dentition was, and the beautiful pair of dimples which decorated both cheeks. Pete shook his head and took in a deep breath to calm himself. Something was definitely wrong with him. If he was an animal, he would have assumed he was on his heat period or something and that was why he was reacting this way to her. But he hadn't reacted like this to his secretary, even though he had noticed her trying to get his attention earlier. It was definitely Ken's fault, he concluded as he returned to his desk and shut down his laptop.

"Yeah. I'm hungry. Let's stop by a restaurant and eat something on our way. I'm very hungry." He said as he dropped the documents in his drawer.

"Restaurant? Can't you manage until we get to the house then I can fix something really quickly?." Kathleen asked as she stood up.

"No. I'm not craving a home-made meal, besides, you're not my maid. You'd be tired by the time we get home. So let's just stop over at a fast-food." He said as he walked ahead of her and held open the door for her to walk ahead of him.