6. Picking Up the Pieces.

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Sebastian Black falls back into the inviting, silky-soft sheets of his bed. A sound of pure pleasure, enraptured in his deep, guttural grunt.

Two smaller hands, manicured to perfection, roam his chest. The hands of Kellie Cardin, a bombshell blond with more silicone than morals. She sits atop Sebastian and straddles him. Bouncing, moaning, gasping, and groping at his light mat of chest hair. An irreverent session of sex. Sending long, raucous waves of ecstasy between them. In seconds, they orgasm with simultaneous moans of pleasure. Both too drained to speak, or to even breathe properly.

Kellie climbs from atop him, falling down into the softness of the bedding. Panting and sweating. Pleased and irrevocably satisfied. Her body clings to Sebastian’s, like milk being poured into coffee. Soft, tiny fingers roaming his chest, leaving tingles on her fingertips. She shifts her weight, turning to lie on her side. Her nakedness glowing under the orange luminance of the ceiling lights, blonde hair cascading on the pillows, like the finest silk. Her brown eyes twinkle, and her pouted pink lips curl into a pleased smile.

She watches Sebastian, marveling at the man’s raw sex appeal—just radiating like the heat of the Sun on a hot pavement during midday. His bulging pecs and impressively muscled biceps adding to that allure. The way they flex and stretch as his body moves makes her womanhood flutter with want. Like the waves on the ocean, calm, beautiful, yet dominant and dangerous.

They had met many nights like this, but it always ended the same, with Sebastian calling his Driver to take her home. Yet, she felt as if she wanted to stay with him, to even speak about something else, besides what they wanted to do to each other. It had grown old, and Kellie feened for something more. She grew weary of being his on-call sex toy, but she loved the dominant arrogance he exerted.

“Sebastian,” she whispers, tracing her right index finger across the hard, bulging contours of his left breast.

“Kellie,” he responds, unenthused, eyes focused on the chandelier above them.

“I’m glad you called.” Her breath trembles across his right ear. Yet it does not affect him, for he had already gotten his fill. “I was thinking I would never see you again.”

“You’re splendid company, Kels.” His voice is silvery, deep and knee-weakening as if she was standing.

“I wish you would look at me when you say things like that.” Her voice trickles like honey and Sebastian’s patience snaps like an overstretched elastic band. “We just made love-,”

“We talked about this.” Sebastian’s voice lowers, cutting her off.

“In my experience with this... arrangement. We barely ever talk—if any at all.” Kellie snaps.

Sebastian rises to a sitting position, then stands after throwing his legs over the side of the bed. He didn’t even bother to cover himself when he turns toward Kellie, his jawline hardening as he bellies up to lay the law down—his law.

“We both agreed this wasn’t anything serious. What do you want from me?” Sebastian shuffles, fists clenching about his sides.

“So I’m not good enough to be exclusive with some rich boy from the north side?” Kellie asks, modest enough to cover her chest with the white bedspreads.

“I don’t know. Are you?”

“Is it because I’m white?” Kellie’s voice rises an octave higher than Sebastian could tolerate.

“Don’t do that.” Sebastian scowls, wiping his hand across his face. “We’re not exclusive. We never entered this thing with that intention. I enjoy you in bed, Kellie, that’s all it’s ever been.” Sebastian shrugs, watching her, waiting for whatever else she had to throw at him. “And that’s all it will ever be.” He outstretches his arms, then lets them fall to his side with a minute slap of flesh against flesh.

“Well, I’m human, Sebastian. Sue me for falling for you.” She confesses, and although it startled him, Sebastian remains stoic.

“Then you know what that means.” Sebastian responds, turning up his nose at the smell of sex in the air. It didn’t spike his libido, or did anything else to please him. It smelled like coitus—like no strings to tie a connection or attach itself to a mutual attraction.

“You don’t want to end things with me.” Her voice lowers, trembling under the hooded gaze she receives from Sebastian.

“Cute. You’ve fallen for me, so much so you’re willing to threaten me with... exposure?” Sebastian raises an eyebrow. “Yeah, see, my family has a thing for sex scandals. If you’ve done your unsanctioned research on me, you’d know how true that is. Also... I don’t appreciate your inauspicious vibe so you can kindly get the hell out.”

“You are a smart, successful black man, Sebastian.” She urges, begging with eyes that betray her desperation. “You don’t want to play this game with me.” She grins, eager to hear his response, but he remains unbothered.

“I’m a successful man who knows enough lawyers to put people like yourself in place.” Sebastian states, matter-of-factly and without apprehension or trepidation in his eyes. “I’ll call my Driver,” Sebastian mutters, then saunters away. “He’ll be downstairs in under ten minutes.” His voice follows as his footsteps fade in the distance.

Kellie knew better than to lay her nest egg with someone like Sebastian. He avoided the media, and did everything he knew best in the shadows, building a name for himself. A black man too successful to bother with the growing problem in his species. Nothing else mattered but making money, taking names, and burning the competition to the ground on legal margins. Even love became a distraction, and she knew that. She’d made her peace with it, but only when he was inside her.

Shaken out of her sad reverie, Kellie hears the familiar chime of her cellphone and the incessant vibrations that follow. She looks towards the bedside table and spots her phone, letting out a small gasp.

“Dammit!” She curses under her breath as she reaches for the device. “It’s 2am, Baron.”

“I need to get out of my lease early.” The voice of her not so favorite client rings in her ears.

“Early? I thought you were leaving in a month... when the lease ends.” Kellie shuffles atop the bed, pulling the silky bedspreads over her naked chest. “Never mind that, you could have called me at regular hours. We aren’t friends, Mr.-,”

“Just hear me out. My dad wants me in England in three days, so I don’t miss the chance to wow my new boss at Montague.” Baron, the mysterious figure on the other end of the line announces. 

“Fine, we’ll talk tomorrow.” She hurriedly hangs up the phone, throwing it on the bed beside her still frame. Exasperated, she rubs both her hands about her face, suddenly feeling weary.

Two minutes later, she walks into the living room that sits between the kitchen and penthouse foyer. She watches as Sebastian pours himself a generous glass of dark liquor from an oddly shaped bottle.

Kellie walks further into the living room, pumps clicking against the marble floors, as she fumbles with her figure fitting black dress. His eyes roam over her body. Yet knowing his effect on her meant knowing what ideas it would insinuate. Ideas he wasn’t too keen on giving considering her previous rant. Yet he grew hard watching her in the dress. It’s delicate v-cut, and the plunging neckline offers an unobstructed view of her firm bosoms, tanned and in perfect sync with the rest of her skin tone. The lacy material of the dress gives her creamy skin a cool contrast. Highlighting her complexion and making her brown eyes pop.

“Want a drink?” Sebastian asks—preferably to appear cordial.

“No, thank you.” She declines, her lips drawn in a tight line.

“Suit yourself,” he drones, and she rolls her eyes, the irritation apparent in her soft, brown eyes. “Grover will be here shortly.”

“Hmm,” she grunts, walking towards the large, tan leather couch. Her gaze following the view ahead, with a trace of pure disdain in her shadowed eyes.

She takes a seat and crosses her legs, like the classy debutante she deemed herself. Hair neatly resting against her delicate back, as if her brains hadn’t just pummeled into his headboard. 

“Can I be honest?” He urges, feeling the need to say something, to defend himself.

“It couldn’t hurt any more than the things you’ve said before.” She avoids his gaze, yet prompts him to go on with just the tone of her voice.

He ponders his next words, then sighs before speaking. “I’m not the guy you want to fall in love with. There are certain expectations I must meet to keep my name.”

“Exclusivity is a no no, because you do business with other gorgeous women.”

“That too.” He chuckles, avoiding her nasty glare. “Look, the sex is wonderful. The sex is great actually, but I...” He takes another sip of the burning, dark beverage. “... want nothing more than that from you. We don’t connect in that way.” He shrugs, which is the final stake driven through her heart, for she felt deeply for him.

“How would you know? You haven’t exactly given me a fair shot.” Her retort, taken lightly, gets no reaction or expression of guilt from Sebastian.

Others saw the business side of the mogul, but she was one of too many blessed to see his more intimate touch. Still invulnerable, she’d seen softness and need in his eyes. The rough, sometimes painful pleasure she got from their hookups, spoke of his insecurities. She enjoyed that dominance—it played a role in her heart’s demise. Because falling for him was not a part of her plans, but experiencing his softer, more delicate aspects deluded her thoughts. Gave her a fantasy that she couldn’t achieve with begging a man so powerful for his love and devotion.

A long beat of silence passes, with Kellie just peering up at the statue of a man—drinking him in. Yet the composure he exudes on a constant is unmistakably intoxicating.

“Grover is downstairs.” His voice lowers and his gaze averts to avoid the pained look in her eyes.

Instead of looking her way, looking her in the eyes, Sebastian takes his glass and walks to his terrace. Letting the sound of the city wash over him. The beauty of the lights reflect in his optimistic eyes, but he thought of nothing more than the future. The future of his company, the future of his fortune, and who would take it over.

He was a man that lived to thrive and be successful. Selfish enough to not want anyone else to share it with, not for the sake of greed, but fear. A deep, overbearing trepidation that he might fall in love with the wrong person. The shallow chime of the penthouse elevator that follows her clicking stilettos startles Sebastian a little. However, he shakes it off to take another sip from his almost empty glass.

“Another day, another dollar.” He smiles towards the concrete jungle, thinking of a song he’d heard a couple years prior.

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