Page 24 of Wild King
Good. Maybe we can work together successfully.
Matthias stands with his two brothers and says, “Kellen has agreed to do whatever you say he needs to. No social life.No women. He’ll take a leave from the company. Basically, he understands he needs to lay low for a while.”
I look at Kellen and see him try to smile. “Good. I didn’t mention this earlier, but I think it would be best for him to not stay at his place while we’re working to make people forget what he did. Is there a chance he can stay here or somewhere else that we can be assured the press won’t descend on like locusts?”
“So now I’m sent into exile? If I knew I’d be shunned like this, I would have committed some real crimes,” he mumbles, clearly not as willing to be cooperative as Matthias believed a few minutes ago.
The brothers talk for a few moments before Matthias says to me, “Our grandmother’s house is somewhere nobody really knows about. I think he could be safe from the press there.”
The suggestion makes Kellen lose his cool. “No fucking way. I live in a penthouse in the greatest city in the world. You’re sending me to stay in Grandma’s house that hasn’t been updated in half a damn century. What the fuck am I supposed to do out there? That place doesn’t even have Wi-Fi, for God’s sake!”
“What the hell do you need Wi-Fi for?” Ronan asks, obviously frustrated by his brother’s unwillingness to work with all of us. “No social life means no social media, dude.”
Hoping to defuse the situation from descending into another shouting match, I say, “To be honest, I do need some way to reach the outside world. I’m going to be monitoring him for at least three months, and from what I’ve seen here tonight, I think that’s going to mean I need to stay with him to ensure he doesn’t undermine any work I’m trying to accomplish with rehabilitating his reputation.”
As his brothers begin to bicker around him, Matthias finally loses his patience. “Enough! I’ll get Wi-Fi at my grandmother’s house. It’s not as bad as Kellen’s making it out to be. Whateveryou need, just let me know and I’ll get it for you. Does that work?”
I nod, happy he’s willing to support my efforts. “Thank you. I think we’re going to be fine there.”
He shakes my hand, but on my right, Kellen shakes his head at me. “Is no one going to ask me if any of this works for me? I am the one who has to endure living at Grandma’s, after all.”
Finally tired of hearing his complaints, I say, “I’m willing to stay away from my home for three months to ensure you can someday walk into parties without people verbally abusing you or your company forcing you to quit. I’m doing all the work here. All you have to do is not offend people anymore. Can you do that?”
The room falls silent as we all wait to hear his answer. After what feels like forever, he lowers his head and sighs.
“Yeah. I can do it.”
“Great! I’ll get started on the Wi-Fi as soon as possible. Do you want to wait until it’s available?” Matthias asks me.
“No. I’ll be fine for a few days. I’ll handle everything the old-fashioned way by phone until you get it installed. I think we should begin staying at your grandmother’s immediately. I can drive into the city and be there tonight, assuming that’s okay with you.”
Kellen sighs again. “Tonight? Jesus, I already miss my place.”
Pleased by how this meeting has gone, I turn to him and smile. “See you there, roomie.”
Matthias and his brothers shake my hand again and thank me, but Kellen doesn’t say another word. That’s fine. I don’t need to hear any more from him.
The look on his face tells me all I need to know.
As I walk down the stairs, I have to remind myself I can’t use this job to get payback like he thinks I will. It’s tempting, though,and who deserves it more than Kellen King after what he did to me back at that villa?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Kellen
I watchthe person who I’d thought could have been the woman of my dreams a day ago leave, and then Matthias walks out without saying another word to me. Why would he? Now that he’s got his fixer, he’s sure his problems are over.
Fuck, this has turned into a nightmare that I can’t wake up from no matter how hard I try.
Pacing, I try to wrap my brain around where it all went so wrong. The obvious answer is when I laid eyes on Gina. I could kick myself for getting involved with her. She’s not even that hot, and the sex was average at best.
All of this for a mediocre lay.
Marius and Ronan talk in low tones on the other side of the room, no doubt about what a mess my life has become. I don’t understand them. How could they turn on me and side with Matthias on this? Both of them have had their fair share of good times, but now they act like they’re the paragons of proper behavior.
If Theo was here, he’d back me up. That I’m sure of. Out of all of us, he devoted his life to having fun. Yeah, if he was sitting in that meeting, it would have gone a hell of a lot differently.
Fucking Matthias! I swear he wouldn’t know a good time or what to do with one if it bit him straight on his damn ass.