King of Slaves (Jenna's Story) (The Slave Series Book 5) (33 page)

After forty minutes of playing nonstop he ended a melody and Jenna came on stage to stop him from playing on. She had him stand up and face the audience, who went wild in standing applause, shouting, and stomping their feet. Kalen stood and waved at them all. He was a beacon of joy and kept making small jumps of pure delight until Jenna took his hand and tugged the waving and smiling Kalen off the stage.  

In the intermission Andy found them and shook Darren’s hand. “What do you think about my new discovery? Isn’t he great?”

“I don’t even have words to describe how impressed I am,” Darren exclaimed. “How can he play without sheet music?”

Andy laughed. “Well, how do you think Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder played without notes?”

Darren looked thoughtful. “But Kalen isn’t blind, is he?”

“No… he’s not blind. I don’t know why he doesn’t like to play by notes, or how he memorized all the melodies in his vast repertoire… he’s a bit of a mystery.” Andy looked over his shoulder, spotting someone and waving his hand in greeting. “Meet us backstage after the show is over. I thought we could go out for some drinks or something,” he said and pressed a kiss to Alex’s cheek. To her surprise he didn’t make a single comment on her hair, but that was most likely because he was so distracted.

“Charlie, how are you, old friend?” Her dad was already moving on and working his mingling skills.

“I still can’t believe your dad is a senator.”

Alex shot another glance in her father’s direction. As always, he was loud and took up a lot of space in the room. “Well, now you know.”

“But isn’t he the senator whose daughter got assaulted or jailed or something?”

“Yup, that would be my sister Jenna. She got in a bit of an argument with the king of Spirima when she first arrived. He was being a jerk and she told him so, and then… well, he had her thrown in a cell.”

“On what grounds?”

“It’s against their law to insult the king.” She didn’t want to go into how scared she had been for her sister and skipped to the good part. “Don’t worry, she got out and they are getting married in a month.”

“That’s right…” He said in that aha tone of voice of someone who has just solved a puzzle. “I heard about that on the news… I just didn’t put the dots together until now.” He looked thoughtful. “But that means that you are the daughter of a senator and the sister of a queen.”

“A future queen.”

“Still…”

“Yeah… so?”

“Well… I’ve would have never suspected – I mean I’ve seen your apartment, and it’s nice and all, but…”

“But what?”

“Well, you’ve got to admit that it’s not very fancy. Your family must have loads of money; why don’t they give you some?”

Alex took a small step back. “I can make my own money.”

“But you’re a student, Alex.”

“Would you like your parents to give you money?”

“Of course. They helped pay my college tuition, and if they had loads of money I sure hope they would share it with me.”

Alex had money. Her mother had died when she was only six and left her a large insurance sum that had been invested well. She didn’t need her father’s or Jenna’s money, but the fact that Darren thought she was somehow entitled to their help, or needed it, didn’t sit well with her.

“Come on, we should get back to our seats; the second part is about to start,” she said.

Just like the first part of the performance, the second part was followed by another round of standing applause.

“Let’s go and congratulate him,” Alex said and made her way through the crowd with her red roses for Kalen.

To avoid getting separated by the crowd, Alex took Darren’s hand and steered him in the right direction. He kept a firm grip on her hand all the way.

“There you are, Alex, come say hi to the star of the evening.” Andy’s loud voice boomed as soon as they got backstage.

Alex grinned and smiled to Kalen, who ran toward her. She had only met him once but knew this was just his personality, and without a second thought she let go of Darren’s hand to hug Kalen.  “You did so well. I’m so proud of you.”

When she handed him the flowers he kissed her cheeks like a happy puppy overflowing with love.

“Wasn’t he just amazing?” her sister Jenna asked from behind her and Alex turned to answer. And froze.

Her grin washed away in a nanosecond as her eyes fell on the large man standing next to Jenna.

“Zurry,” she whispered almost inaudible.

There he was, tall and still roguishly handsome in a dark suit with a white button-down shirt that revealed his chiseled body, or maybe that was just her memory filling in the blanks.

He stared at her with great intensity but he didn’t look happy to see her. His eyes were burning when they slid from her to Darren with a questioning look.

Alex suddenly found it hard to breathe. Zurry was standing more than ten feet away from her but her body responded violently to his presence. With a racing heart and sweaty palms, not to mention a butterfly farm in her belly, Alex forced herself to step closer. Zurry, on the other hand kept perfectly still and quietly radiated his alpha male dominance.

Jenna came to her rescue. “You must be Darren,” she said and held out her hand.

Darren politely stepped closer and looked like a star-struck boy when he shook Jenna’s hand far too long. “Yes, I’m Alex’s date. We live in the same building. You must be the queen.”

Alex noticed how tall Zurry was compared to Darren and how Darren cowered under Zurry’s hard stare.

Jenna made another attempt to ease the tension. “Still enjoying my last few weeks of being
just Jenna
. Let me introduce you to my friend Zurry. He is the minister of defense in Spirima and my fiancé’s best friend.”

Darren stretched out his hand, and it was almost painful to see Zurry take it and squeeze so hard that Darren flinched.

Alex closed her eyes for a second trying to push away memories of a magical night with Zurry. Despite his dominant personality and his hardcore exterior, she had experienced a soft side of him when he made love to her. He had whispered all the right words in her ears and it didn’t matter that it had been role-playing between them. It had been the most amazing sex of her life, and the soundtrack from that evening had played in her mind for the last six months – and now, with Zurry in the room, it started playing again. 

“Oh, Zurry, yes, you feel so good inside me.”

“That’s right babe, that’s because we were made to be lovers, made to fit together.”

“Yes.”

“You are my woman, Alex. Only mine.”

“Yes, Zurry, only yours.”

“And who do I belong to, sweetness?”

“Meeee,”
she had moaned and tensed in her body.

Zurry had taken her with long deep thrusts, pushed her close to the edge, and whispered in her ear.
“I want you to hold on to me and say my name when you come, Alex… I want you to tell me how good it feels.”

“Yes, oh yes… more…”

She remembered how Zurry had grabbed her wrists and pressed them down into the mattress above her head.
“Who is your man?”
he had asked while thrusting hard into her at a fast pace.

“Is your fiancé not here tonight?” Darren asked Jenna and moved closer to Alex, breaking her train of thoughts. Alex moved nervously, feeling how affected she was just from being near Zurry.

“I’m afraid Kioni couldn’t leave at this time. There were things in Spirima that he needed to attend to.”

“Oh, okay.”

Senator Davis came over with an arm around Kalen’s shoulder. “I think this guy deserves a drink somewhere… what do you say? How about we all go to the Irish bar around the corner?”

Glances where exchanged all around; Jenna was the first to speak up. “Sure, I’ll be happy to join you and so will Zurry.”

Zurry’s head snapped around.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that, Zurry,” Jenna said with a smile. “You know you can’t let Kalen out of your sight; if he goes, you go. You promised Kioni to be Kalen’s bodyguard, remember.”

He didn’t answer but glanced over at Alex. “Are you coming?” he asked.

“Of course Alex is coming with us,” Andy roared and slammed his hand down on Zurry’s broad shoulder.

Bad idea, Alex… Zurry is dangerous. Darren is what you need. Stick with him.
She wanted to say “no,” but instead she said, “Only if my date wants to go.”

Darren took her hand, and shot another worried glance at Zurry. A blind man would be able to see that her nice-guy neighbor was intensely intimidated by her one-night-stand warrior. And no one could blame him for it; Zurry was fierce-looking with his scar, impressive build, and short military haircut. He signaled
confident fighter
and had the skills to back it up.

Alex had never thanked him for saving her sister from being raped and potentially murdered by a crazy person last year. Jenna had told her how Zurry had thrown a knife and killed her attacker, and Alex had planned to thank him at the wedding next month, but now that he was here, she might as well do it now.  

“Then that’s settled,” her dad said and turned on his heels without waiting for Darren’s consent. “We’re all going! Come on, Kalen; to the bar!

Darren tightened his grip on Alex’s hand, and her first instinct was to tug it back. She had only been holding his hand to get through the crowded foyer together, but now, Darren seemed to think it was something more.

Zurry passed them with a scowl before she got a chance to decide how to handle the situation.
What a nightmare
, she thought, and followed the rest of the group, too polite to break Darren’s firm grip on her hand.

Zurry

The Irish bar was full of loud-talking, beer-drinking patrons, but Andy somehow managed to get them a place at the bar with three stools. He pointed to them. “One for the star of the night and two for the ladies.”

Zurry translated to Kalen, who didn’t understand English.

“Hey, bartender, we need a round of drinks over here,” Andy shouted and held up a hundred-dollar bill in his larger-than-life manner.

“What are you guys having?”

“Cider for Kalen,” Zurry said. “A large beer for me.”

“Ohhh, for god’s sake, give the man a beer if he wants one,” Andy roared and nodded to Kalen. “He deserves it with his sublime performance tonight.”

Zurry shot Andy a grim stare. “No alcohol for Kalen. He has no tolerance for it.”

Andy ordered their drinks and tipped generously.

Alex and Jenna sat on the barstools with their backs to the bar; Jenna sat next to Kalen, who held her hand. Zurry was happy to be translating between them since it distracted him from the pain of seeing Alex with her date, who stood way too close to Alex in his opinion.

He should be the bigger man and go talk to her and Darren, but he couldn’t. He hated that Darren touched her, that they lived in the same building, and that Alex had chosen that other guy over him.

What Zurry and Alex had experienced together in their short-lived romance had blown his mind and made him unable to forget her. He felt like he had tasted something
so sweet
that everything else now tasted sour. He had come to Chicago feeling excited, hoping to get more of Alex – only to find that, unlike him, she had moved on.