King of New York (26 page)

They eat in
silence. Sierra seems to be enjoying her meal while Chad is barely eating
because of his anger and frustration. He grinds his teeth as he slowly eats his
food. He is beyond furious. Love is making him go loco and he doesn’t like that
side of the emotion he feels for Sierra. He realises that it’s not only the
green-eyed man he feels jealous of. Even strangers that he has never seen
before that look at his lady agitate him. It’s like a disease he’s suddenly
contracted and it’s with him every time Sierra’s around him.

She’s the
disease and when she’s around him there’s no cure. The only cure is when she’s
not around for men to gawk at her. He can’t handle another man’s eyes on her beautiful
body even though it is clothed, nor on her beautiful face even though it is
covered with make-up. He wants to be the only one who looks at her. He has now
become the green-eyed monster filled with jealousy and rage towards other men
that desire his precious jewel. All he wants to do is protect her and keep her
to himself. He wants to spoil her and show her a world beyond her wildest
dreams filled with whatever she wants, together with endless nights of passion.
He wants to make all her fantasies a reality, but something always seems to
tell him that danger is nearby.

Sierra has
definitely stolen his heart and it isn’t just petty theft, it is an act that he’d
not envisioned nor had she planned, it just happened!

Although the
feeling of love leaves him feeling elated and overjoyed, it also leaves him
feeling static and confused. For a man that has never been in love before, it is
a conflict of two wars and it is a war that he can’t fight physically, only internally.
He feels torn between the two colliding emotions as they play havoc on his mind
and judgement. When he’s with Sierra he has to try with all his mental strength
to restrain himself from being the bad-boy billionaire that he truly is inside.
Since Sierra made him fall in love with her, he has cut down on his illicit
deals as he fears for her safety, and deep down he does not want her to know
the monster that he truly is. He knows his dangerous streak excites her but he
never wants her to find out.

Chad does not
want anything to jeopardise his relationship with Sierra as he knows that she
does not tolerate violence. And maybe if he hits the stranger she might think
that he is capable of hitting her in a moment of anger and he would never want
her to misjudge him in such a way. He wants her to have this “perfect” image of
him as her man and lover, not a man that should be feared because of who he
truly is.

Ironically, he
wants her to believe that she can change him. He wants her to believe that she
can tame the beast in him and turn him into the man she can see herself
marrying, having kids and spending the rest of her life with, without his past
following them. And a part of him unconsciously wishes her to be the one that
will brighten his world.

She looks up at
him and he carelessly reveals a worried look in his ice-blue eyes, so she asks
him what the problem is.

“Baby, are you
ok? It seems as if something is bothering you. Is it the guy you were speaking about
earlier, because if it is, it shouldn’t be something for you to dwell on? I’m
sure he’s just some douche bag that’s being blatant in his attempt to get my
attention, but as you can see he’s failed miserably.”

A little smile
creeps across Chad’s face as his lady tells him encouraging words. He not only
loves her but he likes the way she’s always able to make him feel better when he’s
upset. He leans over the table and kisses her gently. They stare into each
other’s eyes with love and lust. He smiles awkwardly as she nudges his legs
under the table as if to let him know that she’s feeling horny. Chad loves when
she teases him because he knows that it’ll lead to mind-blowing sex, and only
she is capable of providing such heightened levels of orgasms for him.

****

From afar the stranger looks at
Sierra and Chad as they get loved-up in the restaurant for all to see. The man
feels hurt and sickened by their romantic gestures to one another. He can no
longer look for fear of revealing himself to her, so he sits and covers his
green eyes behind the menu. He needs something to cool his nerves so he orders
a glass of cognac, straight up, without ice.

****

Someone else other than the green-eyed
male is staring directly at Sierra. She sees him and immediately remembers who
he is. He is one of the people that kidnapped her. She remembers his partner in
crime telling her to stay away from Chad. Blood rushes to her head and she
excuses herself from the table.

Sierra tells
Chad she needs to go and use the ladies’ room as she needs to freshen up before
they leave the restaurant. She hurriedly clicks and clacks her heels all the
way to the back of the restaurant to the finely decorated and sweet smelling
ladies’ room.

 Fear consumes
Sierra as she tries to find a way of escaping from the restaurant for her lover.
She does not want them to see Chad. She wants to protect him. Tears fall from
her eyes as claustrophobia affects her thoughts. The restaurant is suddenly too
small for her and she needs to escape with her lover.

A cold hand
touches her shoulder. It is not the green-eyed man that had kidnapped her, but
she knows that he is part of his team.

“No need to cry,
Miss Malcolm. He’s fine. We won’t hurt him now if you don’t want us to. But we
have to change our minds about you because you have been very disobedient. We
will get Chad, and then we will come for you. Have a good evening, Miss
Malcolm.”

The man exits
the room leaving her in disarray. Tears flood her eyes.

Sierra knows she
has to act as if everything is normal. She wants to be with Chad and will not
allow anything or anyone to come between them. Chad is a part of her being and
she will fight till the end for him if need be.

Sierra does not
want to put on any more make-up, but she definitely wants to add more lipstick
onto her lusciously shaped lips. She accentuates her lips with colour and gives
some money to the old lady who is in the ladies’ room to keep it clean and
tidy. The lady gives Sierra a genuine sweet smile and it almost makes her
forget her treacherous encounter. But the man’s image suddenly pops in her head
again.

Darkness
overtakes her mind. “He will have to pay for this, the son of bitch!” she
mutters to herself angrily.

She exits the
toilet into the wide corridor that separates the main restaurant from the
ladies’ and gents’ rooms. Sierra sees a figure standing by the entrance of the
gents’ room. He’s finely built with a toned physique and wearing a grey suit.
Had it not been for the fact that Chad wasn’t wearing a grey suit she would
have mistaken the stranger for him, especially as his face is slanted to the
side so she can only see the shape of his body, which resembles Chad’s.

She gets closer
and closer to the figure, hoping to finally see the face with every step she
takes in his direction. As she nearly reaches him, he starts to turn around,
and before her stares the most intense green eyes she has ever encountered.

Sierra stands in
shock as she cannot believe who the figure that had eluded her actually is. Her
mouth drops slightly as if she has seen a phantom. Of all places, she had never
expected to see him in a restaurant corridor in New York City.

“Sebastian?”

He walks towards her and holds her in a warm embrace. He doesn’t let go
of her until she says in a soft and polite manner:
“You can let me go
now, Seb.”

He finally releases
her from his warm embrace, which is a little too suffocating for her comfort.

She is shocked
and doesn’t know what to make of the situation as she never in a million years
thought she would bump into Sebastian, of all people, in New York.

“Wow, I didn’t expect to see you here. This is a huge surprise. I’m
actually speechless at seeing you here. This … this is fucking crazy, man,” she
says excitedly as she playfully punches him on his arm. Sebastian looks at
Sierra with a seductive smile on his face as he places a subtle kiss on her
cheek.

Sierra doesn’t
know what to make of the kiss, but one thing she does know is that it sends a
spark down her body to somewhere near her womanhood. She instinctively moves
her cheeks from his lips and stands still, looking at him as if he is a total
stranger.

“Are you just
coming from work?” he asks.

“Yes, I just
finished work not too long ago and came for some dinner. You know I hardly
cook, and my job is very demanding.”

“It’s great you
finally have a job in the Big Apple. What an achievement. I’m very proud of
you. So what is your new role, and where?”

“I am an investment
banker on Wall Street and it’s based in New York not too far from here,” she
says, with a big grin on her face, realising she said that her workplace is
based in New York, because any fool should know that Wall Street is based in
New York and not Sacramento.

“Well I’m glad
to know that it’s in New York rather than anywhere else in the country, as it
would have seemed quite crazy for you to have travelled from another city to
here just to eat some dinner,” Sebastian says jokingly, milking her obvious
mistake.

She remembers
his smile from back in London and it makes her smile seeing him smile. He is
just as handsome as she had remembered and he looks like someone that is in New
York for a purpose, not just a mere holiday.

She still can’t
believe that her one-time lover has come to New York at the same time she’s
there.

Although she
tries not to admit it to herself, she still thinks about him from time to time
and how it could or would have been had he not become too immersed in her –
bombarding her with calls and cheesy stuff that had turned her off. She can’t
help but stare into his green eyes that feel like they want to penetrate
through her mind and figure out what she’s thinking. They both stare at one
another not knowing what to say. His grey suit fits him to a tee and he looks
like a top catwalk model modelling a suit for a top designer.

CHAPTER 18

On the other side of the room,
Chad’s becoming impatient waiting for Sierra so he decides to search for her.
She’s been gone for almost fifteen minutes and it’s unlike her to ever take
that long in a public ladies’ room. He thinks he should wait for another five
minutes until he looks back and realises that the green-eyed stranger that had
glanced at Sierra with passion in his eyes is no longer at the table he’d been
sitting at. Chad’s mind goes into overdrive as he tries to calm his thoughts.

He becomes
agitated with fury as he ponders where the stranger could be. His glass of
cognac is still on the table, which means he may not have left the restaurant yet,
and he may still be somewhere within the restaurant, as is Sierra. Chad tries
not to overthink his theory, but he can’t help it as he remembers that he’d
seen those same green eyes when he’d been at the boutique. He’d tried to behave
and act gentlemanly at first when Sebastian came into the restaurant and stared
at Sierra as if she could have been his, but now his whole being rages with
fury.

“I have to teach
this son of a bitch a fucking lesson for following me and my lady,” he mutters
to himself.

Chad gets up
from his seat and goes to the back of the restaurant. It seems like it takes
forever for him to reach the ladies’ room.

Chad sees the
figure of the stranger and with him is a female that he’s talking to and
touching with his right hand. Chad can’t make out who the woman is, but he thinks
that she looks like Sierra. His heart skips a beat and he hopes it isn’t her.

****

Sierra and Sebastian speak about
the time they have spent away from each other and what they’ve been up to.

“So how’s
London? Still the same or is the economy still struggling? Has it boosted
itself up?”

“The economy’s
fine, slowly but surely getting better,” replies Sebastian

They speak about
the economy, and England in general, totally oblivious that Chad is standing
behind them. Sierra’s just about to say goodbye when Sebastian leans in to kiss
her.

****

From where Chad is standing it
seems as if Sebastian is about to kiss Sierra’s lips rather than her cheeks,
and that is all it takes for Chad to lose his decorum.

He pounces on Sebastian
like a lion on his prey. They fight and slam each other against the walls of
the restaurant. Chad isn’t a weak man and neither is Sebastian, but Chad
clearly has the upper hand. They fight like brawlers from the street. Sierra
looks on in disbelief and can’t believe what is happening in front of her eyes.
Two restaurant staff hear the commotion as Sierra shouts for them to stop. They
try to pull the two men apart. It’s a bit of a struggle, but they’re finally
able to pull them apart with the help of two security guards.

Simply put, Chad
viciously beats the younger Sebastian! The sheer might of Chad’s punches leave
the handsome plastic surgeon with marks and bruises that even Tyson would have
had to train for.