Flying the Dominant Billionaire

Thinking Out Loud

Kelly

It had been a gruelling first week. She had to be in her flight bag for over eight hours every single day and sometimes she was required to be on duty even after office hours.

She was well paid and got decent overtime, but try peeing when you are in that suit and you’d know her agony. She had to take off her flight boots and step out of the suit every time she needed to relieve herself.

It was stressful, but she did not really mind it. Her friends had been waiting to celebrate her getting another job so soon. She didn’t even have to wait for more than 2 weeks before she got hired by Lombardi Aviation. Alex had been an a*sshole.

So when David called on Friday to see if she was available, she readily agreed to go out with him. She needed to get away from her suit and desperately needed a break. She was going to let her hair down.

After her first encounter with Mr Lombardi Junior, he had actively ignored her. Her 'good mornings' and other pleasantries were awarded by a grunt, so she knew he had heard her but that's it. No other acknowledgement by the arrogant uptight a*sshole. After the first few times, she too had stopped talking to him.

What was the point? If he was too busy to reply, she had enough self- respect not to prod him.

Her best times flying the A-star for the Lombardis had been with Gabby who must have been three to four years younger than her. The girl was a chatterbox and in their few meetings, she had become a good friend of Kelly’s. She was studying fashion. With the way she dressed and carried herself, Kelly knew she already had a strong sense of fashion. Gabby was quite a trendsetter and she was featured a lot in the tabloids.

The girl was pure pleasure. Somehow, the height genes that ran in her family had totally missed her and she must have been only a couple of inches over five. But her height had no bearing on her personality. She was a feisty little fire blaster.

Kelly adored her fiery spirit. The girl had an addictive smile that reached her soulful grey eyes. Her straight brown hair remained undisturbed even in a breeze and Kelly admired how she was able to hold her own in Lombardi Inc. which was clearly a man’s world.

It was evident that Gabby had her grandpa and her brother wrapped around her fingers and yet she had no arrogance at all, which surprised Kelly. She was so used to seeing the rich and their vain ego.

Kelly was the first one to reach the nightclub and looked around. She was standing on top of a broad landing which had a flight of stairs going down into a vast dance floor. This was only her first visit to Knight’s Lounge, which had a reputation of being the hippest bar in Manhattan with an award winning French DJ. Today she was here to dance away her stress.

As she walked towards the steps, David’s strong arm snaked around her waist and she turned around to hug him. She had missed the b*stard.

After their first meeting, which was almost a disaster, he had become her best friend and had been a solid support through her tumultuous relationships.

He now worked in the Emergency services at the Presbyterian State Hospital, which was close to the nightclub. Andy was his colleague in the same hospital and was deployed to their burn ward.

Andy had always had a keen interest in skin. Both Andy and David were doing well in their careers but were super busy. Even today they weren't planning to drink as they could be paged anytime. That was also one of the reasons why they were at that bar. They could be out of Knight’s Lounge and back at Presbyterian in under 10 minutes.

Over a period of time, Kelly had realized that David was from her hometown and they had grown up in the same neighbourhood. It was amazing how she had missed meeting him before. Could have been her straight-line focus on becoming a chopper pilot. When she would step out of their farm, Kelly had only one intention, one dream, to be a chopper pilot. She hardly had the time to pay much attention to her surroundings, let alone people.

They chatted, catching up on how things were as the other two arrived. As usual, Barbara looked pretty in her magenta and fluorescent green bandeau with her pink pumps. If anyone could carry such a vivid contrast of colours, it was Barbara. She looked resplendent in her retro appearance.

The girl's language had improved over time, especially because she needed to be a soft- spoken person for the elementary class where she was now teaching.

They made a beeline for the bar at the far end of the dance floor before it got too crowded and ordered their first round of drinks.

They had loads to catch up on. As suspected, David’s absence from her life was a result of Alex’s threat, and Kelly hated the b*stard for it. The guy hadn't threatened David. He knew the weaknesses of people. Alex had the guts to tell David that he would take it out on Kelly. Fear for her well- being had kept David away!

Well! Good, she had reported Alex and filed a complaint against her. Kamala at the law firm had been so helpful in bringing out Alex's crime in the open.

Now the a*sshole was behind bars and whenever he came out, at least he would not bother her anymore. A restraining order would surely stop him from doing anything stupid around her.

By leaving NYPD she had ensured he had no power over her anymore. If she was in the police force, some of Alex’s mates would harass her. Alex belonged to a group of people who were white supremacists and were notoriously known for their use of unnecessary force against black Americans, Asian migrants and Latinas.

Kelly now knew that it was her naivety that had led to a relationship with Alex. They were like chalk and cheese from the very beginning. She could never relate to the discriminatory ideologies that Alex and his mates harboured for people based on the colour of their skin.

Kelly had looked up a new apartment. She did not want a trace of her past life in the future that she wanted to build. The place was smaller than the previous one and more expensive, but it would significantly reduce her travel time between her apartment and the West 30th street heliport.

She moved from paying 2000 dollars a month for a one-bedroom apartment in Washington Heights to a modern studio for 4000 dollars a month in Alvista Towers in Queens. The building was an absolute contrast to her earlier red brick apartment building and had an ultra-modern silhouette.

The Belmont Park Heliport was a 20 minute drive away. She had applied to flight operations to allow her to park the A-star at the Lombardi Aviation hangar in Belmont instead of West 30th. She had a good reason too. It was an hour’s drive from her place and when any of the Lombardis needed the chopper she could get to them faster from Belmont.

She was in this job for a long haul. She knew this was going to shape her career.

She continued to enjoy the evening with her group at the Knights, ordering one Classic Jim Beam Highball after another. As time passed, the place filled up and the noise levels increased.

“KELLY! It’s you!!!” She heard a familiar shriek and looked at Gabby who was practically jumping on the balls of her feet. They were crammed into the sexiest pumps with the tallest heels she had ever seen. The girl's short silver dress dazzled in the dim lights of the club as she stood in front of Kelly.

“GABBY!” Kelly said a little loud as the music had already started. “What are you doing here?”

“This is my friend’s lounge. Her brother owns it. I spotted you from the upstairs gallery.” Gabby was truly excited to see her.

Oh my god! This is wicked! You look fabulous! Come on, let's dance!” She remarked excitedly. Her dilated pupils showed she must have had a few drinks already.

“Sure. Where is your partner?” Kelly asked and for the first time, she saw a hint of melancholy in the girl’s eyes, which she masked as quickly as it had appeared. She glanced at the dance floor longingly at a couple that clearly knew what they were doing.

A guy in an expensive black suit with an above- average BMI but a very flexible body was dancing along with a tallish, absolutely stunning redhead. Their dance moves were like the ones that you’d see in America’s got talent and people had moved aside for them to continue with their Rumba or whatever mesmerising dance form they were using.

Gabby sighed. "That’s my friend Michelle. I did not come here with a man, so I don’t have a partner, really."

Kelly could see that Gabby was looking at the dancing guy rather than the woman in the golden dress who looked like a princess and danced like a professional with that guy."

"Oh, don’t worry hun. You can join them! I have a friend who knows how to lead," and she pulled David who was in a conversation with Barbara. “David, sweetie, will you do something for me?”

“Anything for you babes.” In his usual chivalrous manner, he bowed, making Kelly chuckle.

“This young lady, Gabrielle, is a dear friend of mine and needs a dance partner. Please, could you have a dance with her?” Kelly cooed. David had always been her dance partner, but by some feminine code, her radar had picked up that Gabby needed to be on the dance floor more than her.

“Sure!” David smiled back and turned around, giving his hand to Gabby. “You are gorgeous! It would be an honour for me to dance with you, ma’am!”

Sure enough, Gabby giggled and hopped to the dance floor. The song had changed to Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud and this time there were two couples setting the dance floor on fire. David was an excellent dancer and Gabby was like putty in his hands.

The previous couple was also still at it, grooving to every beat. Gabby and David too joined them on the floor equally adept at the steps. David knew how to bring out the best in his partner.

It soon turned into a competition of sorts and other couples joined in, too, including Barbara and Andy. They were doing their own crazy thing, which was more of a PDA than a dance. If there was a prize for the sluttiest couple on the dance floor tonight, Andy and Barbara would win.

Barbara floated with complete abandon as Andy led her. Her bright pink underwear flashing constantly as she gyrated on the dance floor. Her bandeau dress had slipped of a couple of times exposing her breasts. Barbara giggled and pulled the dress up to cover them. Neither she nor Andy seemed to mind.

Kelly was having the fun of her life when things changed expeditiously. A fight broke out in the middle of the dance floor. She couldn’t see what was happening as there was a lot of commotion and the crowd thickened where the brawl was. The dim flickering lights of the dance floor did not help either.

Barbara and Andy were nowhere to be seen. They would probably be humping each other in one of the dark corners of the nightclub. Their sensual dance was a one-way street that had s*x written all over it.

She slipped off her bar stool to go closer and see if Gabby was okay. The effect of the highballs rushed into her head and she tottered a little.

She had just stepped on the dance floor when a powerful arm pulled her back. A slap rang against her cheek blinding her and bursting open her lip.

The place was still darker than usual and she was a little high on all those drinks. It took her some effort to steady herself as she felt light-headed. The pain from the slap subsided quickly and she turned around to face her attacker.

She tried to focus on the face of the person who had just slapped her. Her heart raced as she recognised the angry red eyes and the bushy eyebrows.

***