Kalia.I went straight to Eric's house, he was the only one I could talk to and also the only one that could answer me. As soon as I got out of the car, I saw Eric immediately by the curb, and our eyes locked as I ran towards him and straight into his arms. As soon as he held me, my whole body melted and I started sobbing uncontrollably, and he let me do it.I don't know how long we stayed that way before we finally left, his car was waiting fully loaded with all my suit cases."Let's go for a ride." I finally managed to say. " Where to pretty woman?" He said jokingly as soon as we got back into the car."Is that even a real question, the hospital ofcourse. I want to see dad." "Do you know what time it is Kalia?" he said shocked, looking at me like I had lost my mind or something."I know and I don't care, I will sit there until he wakes up." I said, meaning every word."The hospital it is." we drove in silence for a few minutes and I actually appreciated the silence, but he must h
Jake. I woke up completely covered in sweat. Another bad dream. This had been the fourth one this week, I had not been sleeping well at all. I sat up, looking at the clock on the table, it was still early, too early to be up anyway. I looked around the room, Naima was nowhere to be seen. Where could she have gone this early in the morning, in the few years we had dated I had never even known her to be a morning person, or maybe she had changed. I sat back down, my mind still blank and confused. I could not stop thinking about Kalia, she had really left. It had been almost a week now, since she left and Naima moved in. I had tried to reach out to her, but her old phone was disconnected. But I knew she was back in New York living in her father's house.Atleast that's what my sister had told me. I picked up my phone and started to go through the gallery, looking at some of the pictures we had taken together. "You did this you know, and I don't think that it's worth it." Maria sa
Kalia. New beginnings. As the big city skyline lay ahead, towering over building as we drove under the evening sun, I couldn't help but reflect on my life in New York. This is the only city I knew as home. I was born here, raised her and even my parents died here and were buried here. This was my home. And now I was abandoning my home, a big part of me wanted to remain, to stay and fight, but how could I when so much was at stake. I was also not thinking about myself anymore, I had to think about the little human I was growing inside of me. I sat in the passenger sit, my hands twisting nervously as my father sat in the back seat together with Eric . Paul was our designated driver for the night. “Are you sure about this?” Paul asked, his voice steady but laced with concern.I glanced out the window, watching familiar sights fade into the distance. “I have to be. I can’t go back. Not now.” I said meaning it. I knew Jake well enough to know he would never really be able to let me
JakeI sat at the kitchen table, absently stirring my coffee as I flipped through the pages of some book I had found on the counter, but my mind wasn't on the pages. My thoughts wandered to Kalia, my wife , who was nowhere to be seen. Did Naima find her and do something horrible to her? I asked myself, my blood boiling with the thought of that. I will kill her, I will fucking kill her if she touched her a single strand of hair on Kalia's head. The baby was due in a few months, and the excitement of becoming a father had begun to overtake everything else even though I had to pretend like I didn't give a damn. I wanted to be better than my dad ever was, I wanted my child to feel loved and to have everything, but i was clearly failing before he even got here. Maybe my mother had been right. I fucked up big time. I should have come up with a better idea to get rid 9f Naima without getting rid of the woman who was carrying my baby. I fished out my phone and tried to call her number a
NaimaIt had been a few hours since I stormed out of downstairs after Jake accused me of kidnapping Kalia. I returned immediately to my room and got dressed. Jake was still gone, he had been gone for over five hours now, and I was worried about what he might have been cooking out. I needed the day out, away from his family and this cocoon of crazed lust I had for him and the mental gymnastics I needed to undertake to pretend to myself that everything was still all right. That my heart wasn’t about to break into a thousand jagged pieces. I Had just found it the news, overheard his sister and his mother talking about Kalia. It was all a lie she had not lost the baby. She was going to have Jake's child and that burned me up. He had lied to me which made me question what else he was lying about. Was his feelings even real? Or was it also part of the plot to distract me from what was really going on. I called Katie and we agreed to meetup at the mall where we usually met, and do lunc
Nine months later.Jake. It had been over nine months since Kalia dissappeared with no trace at all. It was like she had never even existed. But I never gave up, I still had people out looking for her. I stood by my bedroom window, or atleast what used to be our bedroom window, overlooking out, looking at the sky. It was a beautiful morning, and I could not stop thinking about her today..She must have already had the baby by now. My baby. Now looking back, none of this things mattered anymore, I had fought for my company which was not hard given Kalia left me half the company she shares that she owned before she disappeared. I had everything I ever wanted except her, I was in love with her and she was all I could think about. Wondering if she was okay, if my child was okay. "Hey," my mom said rubbing my shoulders gently from behind me. I had been so absent minded that I never even heard her get into my room. She stood next to me and we stood there together in silence, we under
Kalia. I sat in the sterile hospital room, the scent of antiseptic lingering in the air, mingling with my growing sense of dread. My son, Jake Junior lay asleep on the bed, his small frame dwarfed by the oversized hospital sheets. At just eight months old, he had been the light of my life, a joyful, curious child who filled my days with laughter. But today, his pallor and the lines of worry etched on his face revealed the reality we were facing.I had been here all night, worried sick to my stomach as the doctors performed tests trying to see what was wrong. The doctor had delivered the news just an hour earlier. Jake's blood tests had shown a severe deficiency in his bone marrow's ability to produce red blood cells. He would need a bone marrow transplant to save him. My heart sank. The procedure was complicated, and finding a match was critical.He was only eight months old and he needed one of the most hardest surgery, tears rolled down my face freely, no parent ever wants to see t
Kalia. It had been a few hours since the transplant. Of course Jake was okay, he was outside sitted by the bench. But junior was still not awake. The doctor had said he would not wake up for a few hours and it was killing me. I was about to go to the doctor again, when my phone started ringing. I looked at my phone, it was Jake's mother Maria who was calling me. I looked at the buzzing phone for a few seconds before I decided to actually take it. "Kalia," she said as soon as I picked up, her voice a little raspy, "How is the baby doing?" she asked and my whole body melted and I wanted to ball my eyes out"We are still waiting, the transplant was successful though." I said trying to be strong. "I am so sorry Kalia, I really am. I had no idea..." i immediately stopped her. "It's okay, it's all in the past Maria, it was a long time ago too." i wasn't trying to end the conversation because I didn't want to talk to her, I just did not want to start crying. "I will come see him soon,
Kalia.I had been working for him for a couple of months now as his pr, and still I was not used to it. The fact that the very first thing I felt when Jake’s deep, masculine voice pulled me out of the deep sleep I had been in was a shiver of excitement, and not a pang of annoyance, was disturbing on a lot of levels, all of which I was too tired to analyze in that particular moment.“It’s one in the morning, Jake .” I said, as I blinked against the blinding light radiating from the screen of my smartphone. After four months in working for him, I should know better than to be surprised by a midnight phone call, but somehow every time it happened it caught me unprepared. “It’s nine a.m. in England.” He said, “And we have a crisis on our hands?” I immediately rolled over and brushed myhair out of my face, the cool sheets from the side of the bed that had been unoccupied chilling me slightly.“The sky isn’t falling, if that’s what you mean, but we have protesters lining the streets at
Kalia.And I had vowed i wouldn’t become like that. I wasn’t letting anyone have control over my life again.Although, obviously Jake had some modicum of control over my life since he was my boss and my child's father, but that was different. “If you expect me to buy new clothes you have to give me time to shop.” I said facing him with a straight face, after all this was his event he was inviting me to, it only made sense. “You can have the afternoon off.” I shook my head, my tight bun staying firmly in place. “Morning and afternoon. I need some sleep too.”“Morning to lunch hour,” he countered.“Deal.”“No black. No beige.” He added“It’s an art gala, most of the women will be in black.” I said defensively “I know, and that’s exactly why I want you to wear something else.”I frowned. “I’m not in the habit of allowing men to dictate what I wear. I can choose for myself.”He stood from his desk, and I was distracted, as I always was when he surprised me like that, by the superb sha
Jake was from a fairly affluent family, that was general knowledge. It surprised me that he’d had to take out loans to start up his company.When we were married he never talked to me about this type of stuff, or anything business related at all. Which is why I loved our new arrangement, I felt needed and smart. I was not just a pretty girl. “But now you have to play the diplomacy game,” I said.“I would anyway. I develop resort and hotel properties, the public has to have a favorable view of me.”“That’s true.”For the most part, the public did have a favorable view of him. He was charismatic and charming and dated the most eligible women in Hollywood, which put him on the front cover of a lot of magazines andmade him very high profile for a businessman. He was also a slave driving taskmaster, but only his employees knew that. And in fairness, he never expected anything from her that he didn’t expect from himself. In fact, he seemed to expect more from himself.Which was why, even
Kalia. In theory, I liked sexy men, at least from a distance. When said sexy man was both my baby daddy and boss, it made life a bit more complicated. It didn’t really matter, though. Business was business and I had no intention of crossing any lines with him. I wasn’t his type anyway. He liked party girls. The shallower, and the shorter the skirt, the better. Of course, I wasn’t entirely certain what my type was as far as practical application went. Judging by my recent string of failed dates I didn’t really have a type.“How many shots?” he asked, lowering the cup.“four,” I answered, trying to bring my mind back into the present and away, far, far away, from his lips.“Good. It’s going to be a long day.” i sat down in the chair by his desk, pulled my notebook out of my briefcase and sat poised with a pen in my hand.“Why do you do that?” he asked.“Do what?”“Take physical notes on paper. You have a million little gadgets for that kind of thing. I know because most of them were pu
Kalia. In theory, I liked sexy men, at least from a distance. When said sexy man was both my baby daddy and boss, it made life a bit more complicated. It didn’t really matter, though. Business was business and I had no intention of crossing any lines with him. I wasn’t his type anyway. He liked party girls. The shallower, and the shorter the skirt, the better. Of course, I wasn’t entirely certain what my type was as far as practical application went. Judging by my recent string of failed dates I didn’t really have a type.“How many shots?” he asked, lowering the cup.“four,” I answered, trying to bring my mind back into the present and away, far, far away, from his lips.“Good. It’s going to be a long day.” i sat down in the chair by his desk, pulled my notebook out of my briefcase and sat poised with a pen in my hand.“Why do you do that?” he asked.“Do what?”“Take physical notes on paper. You have a million little gadgets for that kind of thing. I know because most of them were pu
Jake was from a fairly affluent family, that was general knowledge. It surprised me that he’d had to take out loans to start up his company.When we were married he never talked to me about this type of stuff, or anything business related at all. Which is why I loved our new arrangement, I felt needed and smart. I was not just a pretty girl. “But now you have to play the diplomacy game,” I said.“I would anyway. I develop resort and hotel properties, the public has to have a favorable view of me.”“That’s true.”For the most part, the public did have a favorable view of him. He was charismatic and charming and dated the most eligible women in Hollywood, which put him on the front cover of a lot of magazines andmade him very high profile for a businessman. He was also a slave driving taskmaster, but only his employees knew that. And in fairness, he never expected anything from her that he didn’t expect from himself. In fact, he seemed to expect more from himself.Which was why, even
Jake.I had never seen Kalia look less than perfect. She always looked beautiful, even when she rushed into the office at two in the morning to handle some sort of media crisis. But in a dark navy blue gown with ruffled sleeves, a demure neckline and a back that dipped so low it ought to be illegal, she was stunning.Her hair was pinned to the side so that her curls cascaded over one shoulder, and didn’t cover any of the skin that was on display in the back of the gown. Her makeup was more dramatic than she usually wore to the office and her legs were bare, and on glorious show, the dress barely skimming her knees. And they were amazing legs.My libido kicked into gear, a reminder that I hadn’t had sex in a very long time. But business had been intense and when I hadn’t been focused on my various building projects I had been handling Maya’s big move into her new, off campus apartment. An apartment she hadn’t wanted, because she couldn’t afford it herself. But there was no way I was let
JakeI put my hand on the small of her back, on her bare skin, and I felt a small shiver go through her whole body. She was feeling every bit of the attraction I was. Strange, because I had only ever seen her in herbuttoned up professional mode for a while now, now suddenly she was unbuttoned and very, very hot. Although, she had always been hot. I had thought more thanonce about uncoiling her tightly wound hair and watching the dark curls tumble down.She shifted against me, her hip brushing my body intimately. My muscles tensed and desire roared through me, my body hardening at the accidental contact.I drew her closer, letting her feel. Letting her know exactly what she was doing to me. I didn’t hit on employees as a rule, ever. But she tempted me. And that was a new experience. Women appealed to me, and I desired them. But I had never considered them a serious temptation. If itwasn’t the right time, it was easy for me to leave my date standing on the doorstep and go home withou
KaliaI bit my lip. This side of Jake always confused me . In some ways he seemed more uncomfortable having people know anything good about him.He didn’t seem to mind the negative press that came when he dated one supermodel, then switched to an actress the next night. But he didn’t seem to want to let anyone know about his good behavior. And there was something about that that made me almost like him sometimes, and that made all the other physical things he made me feel intensify.“It’s … okay, events like this are definitely a little bit fake. It’s see and be seen. Most people are flashing their bids all over the place.” I jerked my head toward the glittering celebrities and debutantes gathered around different pieces of art, waving their bids around while they talked.“I don’t play the game,” he said. “It doesn’t appeal to me.”“You have to play the game a little bit, Jake It’s good for business.”“What’s it like for you, doing a job that’s so at odds with who you are?”The questi