Manhattan: In Love with the Infamous King

Chapter 6

Nolan POV

She looks radiant tonight, I think to myself as we file out of the restaurant and into the lobby. I paid for their meal in hopes of making her talk to me about this security program. Though, I’ll admit, I wasn’t exactly expecting her with Ryker tonight. The way he acted towards her lets me know they were intimate in some way. For whatever reason, that ticks me off. Ryker is an i***t and she, well, she isn't. I can tell from tonight that she paves her own way in life. She actually returned the wine I sent and put it on her tab. It tells me she can’t be bought. We are going to need a different approach if we want that program.

Laughter fills the lobby as I see her and her friends make it to the lobby after their meal. Trent smiles at Kennedy and gives her a hug. Phillip and Tori just stay back a little in an observatory role. I walk up to her as she has fallen back behind the others. One of them tried to catch my attention, but I ignore it. “I hope you enjoyed your meal, Ms. Kane.” She just nods and actually side steps me to keep walking.

“I’ll see you guys later.” She turns back to me. “Thank you for the meal, Mr. Dietrich.” With that, she takes strides to get out of here. If she thinks that’s going to stop me, she’s delusional. I catch up to her on the street as she goes to a parking garage.

“We need to talk.”

“I beg a differ, Mr. Dietrich.” She continues walking. Is she out of her mind? She’s smart enough to have at least looked me up, right? I grab her arm to stop from walking, but she uses her other hand to hit my elbow, forcing me to release. She digs her arm to my throat and puts me up a wall. That's different. Before I can do anything, she releases and just continues walking to her car. Getting inside, she drives off as I stand and watch her before waking up from whatever trance she put me in.

“Where does she live?” Phillip is on the other end of the line when I see she’s gone. He takes a minute before uttering back to me.

“Nolan, her listed address is a fake.” Who would she be hiding from? She is a young college student. Why the secrecy? I shake my head and drop it for now before ordering them to head back to the penthouse.

“A thought has occurred to me.” I address them as I pace in my living room. “What if we were going about this wrong?” I pause to make sure I really want to share this with them. “What if The Whisper isn’t completely alone? We profiled that snipers are loners and have trust issues, but I’m wondering how many people can create a network system so complex that boy wonder here can’t crack it?” Phillip looks disappointed after my statement, but then he blinks hard. The probability of someone being both a computer genius and a quality marksman is close to impossible.

“You think Alex might be the brains behind the operations?” Phillip questions me and I nod in response.

“It might not exactly be her, but someone with a high level of computer skills.” Trent adds while we nod in response. I mean she’s a 20 year old college student. How would she be dragged into this world?

“Phillip, you need to compile a list of computer geniuses that could be the brains of the operation behind The Whisper. This way we don’t break our favor by trying to hack him, we are going to find his partner.” He nods and walks out of my living room to go get started.

“How’s the shipment Tori?”

“Everything is good on that end.” She pauses and thinks a little. “Call me Vic. Tori doesn’t suit me.” What? Since when did Tori not suit her. Vic does have a nicer ring to it though, she looks more like a Vic than Tori, but the sudden change is weird. Sensing our strange glances, Tor- I mean Vic responds. “Alex wouldn’t call me Tori. She said it didn’t suit me and that Vic does. I have to agree with her.” Our group is too influenced by this girl. Even Vic is affected by her charms.

“Okay, Vic. Will you handle the distribution?“ She nods and walks out, leaving Trent and I to talk.

“Want to tell me how you lost her?” Trent gleams at me while I head over to the bar and grab a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. Settling down on the sectional, I tell him what happened and he laughs his ass off. Great, I’m glad he is so amused by this. “I think this is the first girl that has you so perplexed.”

“Let’s not talk about this anymore. We need to get a handle on Keegan Duval.“

Alex POV

He actually had the audacity to pay for our meal. I like my quiet life with the young socialites that kept me close enough but not too close to Manhattan. Liv thinks it’s about her, even though the rest of the table is pretty sure it was about me after his little stunt. When I got home, I took a longer than usual hot shower. With my new vintage physics book, I open it to do some light reading while catching up on some homework.

My phone buzzes and I see that Kennedy has made plans to go have brunch at the Claremont next weekend and then some shopping. The Claremont? That’s a little exclusive too. I wonder why they would pick that location. It is a bit more on the pricey side, but I text her back that I will be there.

The week passes by with nothing major, just a simple job in Phoenix, but nothing to be too concerned about. The transfer has already been deposited into my account. As I am preparing for this brunch, I put on light natural makeup and my hair in a messy low bun with my jaw-line side bangs hanging down. Giving a little twirl, I have a simple sage green dress on that goes just above my knee. Finishing off the look, I have some light brown wedges and a small nude purse. I have a simple necklace and some gold hoop earrings.

I get to the restaurant and I am five minutes late. Thankfully, they had just gotten situated. I take my seat next to Holly and Kennedy and notice that there’s four extra girls with us today. I didn't recognize them so I politely nod before asking Kennedy who they were.

“Oh. They’re Liv’s cousins and old school mates.” Portia and Jade are fraternal twins and the other two girls in our group. Going around the table, I learn the other girls’ names.

Jessica was Liv’s best friend in their prep school in the United Kingdom. She’s very pretty with her sleek brown hair and glowing skin. Kimmy is Liv’s shy cousin, who is visiting New York City from Los Angeles. Trish is Jessica’s new best friend and very nasal. She’s Puerto Rican so she has beautiful tan skin and black hair. Finally, I’m introduced to Jo. She seems to have been glaring at me since I have arrived. She is pretty and all, but something in her eyes tells me she’s manipulative as hell. Note to self to stay away from her. Jo is Italian and evidently like their leader back in the day. Great, the queen of mean has decided to make an appearance in NYC.

We place our drink orders and I make sure to order a strawberry mimosa with a shot of one of their hardest liquors. If I’m going to get through the next couple of hours, I’m going to need some alcohol in my system.

Since this rooftop is so high up, I’m not worried too much about getting shot at from afar. From this angle, you’d have to be me to make that kind of shot. The Claremont is a very ideal place for illegal business transactions, which I think is in its design.

They’re all talking about, you guessed it, boys. Though they’re mostly just talking about gossip and Jo’s new boyfriend, Marcus, who is a famous soccer player in Italy. They’re fawning over him as Jo shows us a picture of him. I take a look at it and I have to admit he is incredibly attractive but doesn’t hold a candle to Nolan. I don’t say that though.

“Oh he is cute Jo! But you haven’t seen the American boys!” Jo scoffs at Liv’s statement when she gets a peek at Marcus.

“Like who?”

“Nolan Dietrich.” Everyone stops talking and looks over at Liv.

“Have you met Nolan Dietrich?” Kimmy asks Liv to which she nods proudly in response. Damn it Liv, don’t lead them to think you actually know Nolan like that.

The waiter comes back and hands us our drinks and takes our brunch order. I do not hesitate to gulp down my mimosa as the conversation continues.

“Of course, we all have multiple times.” Internally, I'm cringing for her but I keep my face neutral. Reaching into my purse, I grab some Burt’s bees and chap my lips.

“I heard he’s loaded and that he killed his own father to get the money to start his businesses around the world.” Trish shares with us in a hushed tone, like anyone is listening to some socialites discussing boys like they are some sort of prize. I mean I have heard of Nolan too before we met, but not a lot of people have seen his face. That’s why I didn’t know it was him until we were in Trent's penthouse. The King of the Royal Flush, just my luck to run into him.

“Are you kidding? I have heard that he has the face of a Greek god.” Jessica adds as I remain completely unfazed.

“He paid for our dinner last week!” Holly exclaims, a little too excitedly I might add. Oh geez. Please make it stop.

“I’m told he’s unbelievable in bed.” Jo adds to this with a little arrogance and smirk. The other girls squeal at this information and I give my usual soft giggle like I am one of them.

“Girls, I can’t get Harrison Joseph to define our relationship.” Jessica brings up suddenly. If she wasn’t Liv’s old best friend, I might be able to tolerate her.

“Seriously! I have been trying to get Nolan to take me out to a real dinner after paying for ours last week.” How interesting, Liv. One of these days, her foot is going to get caught in that mouth.

“Maybe you can introduce me.” Jo states with clear mischief in her voice.

“Oh come on, Jo. You already have a boyfriend!” Jessica chuckles at her.

“Yeah, but he’s no Nolan Dietrich.”

“Geez Jo, trying to take my man?” Liv refutes back as the rest of us start to tangent off to other conversations. Once we finish, we start heading out to 5th Avenue.

It’s been two hours and I’m already getting irritated by them, but I make sure to still smile from time to time. I glance down at my phone and see it’s only 2 PM. Shopping with socialites is strange, since they would rather buy something ugly and expensive than something cheaper and better looking. I haven’t bought a single thing. This isn't abnormal. I usually don’t buy anything unless I love it.

“Oh my god, guys we should hit up some stores that Alex can shop at. She hasn’t bought a thing!” Liv points out. Wow, thanks for that.

“I’m fine. I just don’t see anything I particularly love. Just picky.” Kennedy nudges me and smiles.

“Liv, she can afford wherever we are going.” Holly jumps in this time. I think even she’s tired of Liv’s jabbing at me. On the other hand, I see Jo sneak a little smirk in my direction. What is her problem with me? Trish rolls her eyes, but the rest seem to just ignore the comment.

“Ah! We have to go in there!” Portia points to Bulgari, a really nice jewelry store. “Daddy got mommy this amazing necklace that I can’t stop thinking about.”

We all chuckle a little at her and nod in agreement. As we make our way over there, I see Jo and Liv talk in hushed tones to one another. Liv seems to be upset as Jo lectures her on something. We walk in and are greeted graciously by the staff. Going around the jewelry cases, I must admit their jewelry is beautiful.

An attendant notices my interest and tends to me as the others go around the corner to look at the much more expensive sets like Diva’s Dream and the Serpenti collection. Although those are nice choices, the necklace I was looking at is from the B.Zero collection. The small classic look drew me to it.

As the attendant is bringing out the different choices, I notice some people walk in the store, but I don’t look in that direction. I keep them on my radar, so I know there’s not just us. I see a small gold one that would probably suit me best. Before I get a chance to reach for it, I notice one of the men that walked in come closer to me. I look at his direction and see him. Nolan.

What is he doing here? I didn’t recognize him until he was a lot closer to me because he is wearing a very sleek Tom Ford suit with his hair done nicely. He comes from behind me and puts both arms on the counter on either side of me, trapping me. I go look back down at the necklaces in front of me, but before I reach down again, he picks up the one I had thought of trying on.

I look at him with a blank expression, but I can feel my heart beat strike once from the close contact. Trent and Vic are here too, but Phillip is missing. They both give me a smile as Nolan inspects the necklace in his hand closely. I hear the other girls coming around their corner, should I push him away? I doubt he would let me. f**k. How am I going to explain this one? Ohp. Too late.

The girls are back and pause when they see the three of them. Nolan still has his left arm on the counter trapping me in and his right hand on the necklace. He hands the necklace to the attendant who holds it for him.

“What are you doing?” I whisper slightly as his hands come together at the back of my neck to take off my current necklace. He hands that necklace to the attendant.

“Bag that for her.” He tells her calmly as he grabs the Bulgari necklace out of her hand. “She’ll be wearing this one out.”