Manhattan: In Love with the Infamous King

Chapter 5

Alex POV

I must seem really plain in contrast to Kennedy and the others. We walk in through the doors of the Kingsman Restaurant. Liv must have chosen this place to remind me of my so-called “place.” If she wasn’t Kennedy’s childhood friend then I probably wouldn’t try to patch things up, but I need to play the part of social wannabe if I want to be unsuspecting. Going completely anti-social will probably raise some flags. I am wearing a mid-length one shoulder cutout asymmetrical maroon dress with nude heels. The others are wearing Gucci and LV staples that I couldn’t bother remembering the name of. I don’t know if they are tired of wearing sparkles, but I sure am tired of looking at them.

The Kingsman Restaurant is located on the top three floors of a national bank building. It has a perfect view of the Empire State Building. There’s a floor for light ballroom dancing in the center of the first floor with the second and third floor overlooking. We are seated on the second floor by the rails, so we have a clear view of couples slow dancing to the live orchestra in the corner. It’s a real beauty if it wasn’t tainted by these bored socialites.

“Alex, you probably have never been here, right? Guys, we should have chosen someplace more considerate.” Liv starts the conversation with an attack on me like she didn’t think I would notice it. One of the things that comes with my job is to keep it under the radar and never to let my emotions cloud my judgment. I just shrug, but Kennedy comes to my defense.

“Liv, she’s not poor. You guys know our little Alex here is a genius!” She beams at me, trying to encourage me to not leave. “Also, guys! Trent finally texted me back!” They all squeal and I smile to be happy for her, but deep down I have a feeling that he wasn’t texting her for her. Everything is just so compli- oh no. I see Ryker on the other side of the rails with what I assume are buddies of his. They seem his age. Groaning, Kennedy picks up on this and looks around to catch sight of Ryker. He lifts a glass of wine to gesture at Kennedy and I can feel her eyes roll. The other girls take notice of our behavior.

“Who is that?! Oh he’s yummy!“ Holly points this out. Gee, thanks for that Holly.

“He’s an ass.” Kennedy states plainly. “That’s Alex’s ex.” She shrugs while the others look at me. I catch Liv’s look at me like I must have been dumped by that asshole.

“Oh Ryker?” Liv states more than questions. “He’s an old family friend! Family is practically rolling in money. Don’t be too sad about it, Alex. He’s a huge player.” I wonder if she ever hears the words coming out of her mouth. We didn’t even really date for that long, plus the relationship was hardly real. Do I want to correct her or just coax her ego?

“Oh Liv, Alex dumped him. Apparently he’s not big, if you know what I mean.” She winks at them as we all laugh, well except Liv. I guess I don’t have to defend myself, Kennedy is doing that for me. She really is a loyal friend. The waiter comes by to take our drink order, but I just take a water. I’m looking at the menu to see what I’m feeling tonight when the waiter comes back. He sets down everyone’s drinks and comes to me since I’m sitting closer to the rail. In his hands are a glass of water and a glass of wine to which he sets them both down next to me.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t order any wine and I try to hand it to him for him to take it back, but he shakes his head at me.

“Compliments of that gentleman.” I look to see where the waiter is pointing, expecting it to be Ryker, but he’s pointing at the third floor. Looking up, I see them, the Royal Flush. Nolan raises his glass to gesture to me while the others give me a nod or a smile. I look back at the waiter.

“Please give this gentleman my thanks, but return it to him and put it under my tab.”

“But ma’m, that is a glass of Château Le Pin, Pomerol, 2001, it’s $1000 per glass.” I smile lightly at him and usher him to do as I tell him. The others at the table look at me like I’m delusional, but I shrug in response and continue to look at the menu. Minutes later, I feel them looking in my direction, guess they got the memo. In response, I lift my glass of water to gesture at them, but I keep my eyes on the menu to take a sip of water.

“Oh my god, that’s Trent!” Kennedy grabs my arm and shakes excitedly. I just nod at her knowingly. She waves a hello at them and he gives her an award winning smile. God what a player.

“You know, my father heard about them.” Holly says to us after we stop looking up there. We turn to face her instead as she tells us more. “Apparently they run the Royal Flush Club. They are raked over in money. Dad says to stay away from them because they’re really dangerous. And if we get on their bad side, our business could go under.” This thrills the other girls, especially Liv. If anything, she seems more thrilled at the challenge. Maybe it’s just human nature to want what you can’t have, I think to myself before sighing.

The waiter comes back and interrupts us gossiping about them more. We place our orders and talk about small things like what we did today and whatever drama was happening at home. I know this is supposed to be a make-up dinner, but I am not even sure what I did to make Liv so upset with me that we needed to have this dinner in the first place. It’s probably just a chance to throw money around at me after the whole Nolan fiasco. Before long though, we are approached by Ryker and his friends. They make light conversation with the girls and do a little flirting, but I watch the couples dancing below me. I pay close attention to all of my surroundings by listening, but I’m not trying to join the conversation.

“Let’s go have a dance!” Holly squeals a little and I shake my head, letting know that I won’t be joining them. They groan at me.

“C’mon! There’s five of us and five of them!” s**t. I will look like a real asshole and stand out more if I don’t go and do it. Fine. Fine. Let’s just get this over with. I get up reluctantly and make sure to hide my personal belongings under a napkin. Force of habit. We walk down the stairs to the dance area and we start grouping up. For me, it was between Ryker and some guy that’s not as attractive but seems nice enough. I am about to grab onto that guy, but Liv goes up to him instead to force me with Ryker. b***h.

Ryker grabs my hand immediately and leads me to the floor. “I forget how good you smell.” Did he seriously say that to me? I resist the urge to roll my eyes and continue swaying to the music. He slides his right hand slides down my back to my ass and I have to bring my hand to his arm to drag it back up. Instead of being apologetic, he smirks at me. “Man, I miss the challenge.” Ew. I’m so repulsed by him, it’s alarming. “Why don’t you come home with me tonight? Tease me a little the way you do. For old times sake?”

“Excuse me.” Before I can even respond to Ryker, Nolan interrupts our conversation and dance. He looks hard at Ryker before Ryker bows out in respect to him. Nolan has a lot of weight to him, I’ll give him that. He puts out a hand for a dance and I take it. I mean, he did just save me from Ryker. “Ex-boyfriend?” He asks me with a chill in his voice. I just nod because I don’t need to explain myself to him. “Didn’t think he would be your type.”

“And what would my type be?” I ask back, but I don’t look up at him because he’s definitely almost a foot taller than me. In the corner of my eye, I can see Ryker staring daggers in our direction. Nolan doesn’t answer for a little bit, so I figure he is dropping it until he looks down at me. I face him and catch his dark green eyes with little flecks in them.

“More.” That one word. His one word makes my heart flutter a little. He looks back up and I am back to looking at his chest. I take a deep breath to let the flutters release before continuing my composure. As the music slows down, he gives me a twirl before leading me back to him. His grasp on me is firm, but respectful. I wonder what his grasp would be like if he didn’t need something from me. The orchestra finishes yet another song and we all break apart to clap for them.

When I step to take my leave, his rough hands softly grab mine to be tucked in his arm. “I will walk you to your table.” Though I want to fight him on it, his hard eyes makes me know that it wasn’t a mere command. One way or the other, he was taking me back to my table and it could prove detrimental for me if I didn’t let him. Instead of fighting it, I nod and walk in pace with him back to my table where the other girls just promptly got back. They are already seated and as I release myself from Nolan, he grabs my chair for me to slide in. He nods back at me before taking his leave while the others quietly watch. When he’s gone, they all widen their eyes at me.

“What was that Alex?” Liv asked me, fuming. If we were cartoons, I have no doubts that smoke would come out of her ears. The others look at me in a mix of worry and excitement. I simply shrug. Even I don’t know what that was really about. Maybe this meant that I owed him one. Not because he stepped in with Ryker, but because he recognized I wanted, no, deserved more. Before Liv can question me further, our food arrives and we dig in. Before long though, I can feel eyes on me and I look over to see Nolan staring. The others in his gang are talking amongst themselves. But there’s something about the way he’s looking at me, like he’s figured something out. I look back to my group of girls and excuse myself for the restroom.

I get out of the stall and see Victoria waiting for me. Giving her a questioning look, I make my way to wash my hands. “Victoria.” I acknowledge her since she just stares at me. Looking into the mirror, I catch her eyes.

“Only my mother calls me Victoria.”

“Tori doesn’t suit you.” It’s a ballsy response on my part, but it had to be said. I don’t break eye contact with her as I state to her. “You’re a badass and you don’t take s**t, Tori doesn’t suit you.” I say again, but this time with more emphasis and reasoning. She looks at me a little surprise in her eyes but she suppresses it. “Did you need something?”

She smiles at me before speaking. “Just wanted to see the b***h that made me tongue the squealer.” I smile proudly at her while shrugging. Her response is a smirk so I know she’s kidding. If she wasn’t with the Royal Flush, we might be good friends, but I can’t risk friends in the same field.

“Careful, that squealer is my friend.” Kennedy may squeal a lot, but she was there for me and is still here for me. I may get to make fun of her but no one else gets to do that. Victoria nods and on my way out, I stare at her alluring brown face and beautiful black curly hair. “Vic. It suits you more.”

I’m back at the table and finish up my meal before we ask for the check. Liv seems back to normal ish after the meal, so maybe she will drop this whole thing.

“Madams, your meal has been paid for by Mr. Dietrich.” The waiter states and we all look at each other.

"Who is Mr. Dietrich?"