24. ~Caspian~

I detested these sorts of events.

Fortunately, the awards part was over and done with and I was no longer under the direct spotlight. Two hours of that had taken its toll and I'd retreated to the gardens of the venue to delay the whole schmoozing aspect that was taking place inside now.

At least having the boys and Skylar there had taken some of the edge off this time and provided a certain comfort and grounding that I didn't usually have, as I attended most of these elite gatherings alone. Unfortunately, it was part of the image I needed to maintain.

Seeing Skylar look so elated when her mom had accepted her award from me had been a sight to behold, and it had cut into my uncomfortable disposition.

Looking out seeing Caleb and Bastian there as well had assisted.

After the ceremony when the cocktail hour had begun along with a ridiculous amount of networking, all the antagonistic elements had come to the surface.

For one, Damien was here and hanging off his mom's dress. She'd brought one of her boy toys, those two elements keeping Bastian visible so they knew he was here for support, but at a distance.

Then there was Caleb and his bigoted and consistently unsupportive parents. He'd had to stand with them and fake his smiles.

Skylar hadn't been far off from that either, while she was around her mom, and as I'd watched Maria guide her from one influential figure in her field to another and talk her up. However, a couple of times, I'd seen her father strategically intervene in a clear attempt to take the pressure off.

That was what the elite of Rossun was all about—lies and manufactured images.

It was definitely one of the downsides of walking in these circles.

But there was a price to power.

It was one of the reasons I had my underground activities, a place where I could be my true self, where that brutality within served me very well in that world. Although, that had become rather heavy lately for other reasons.

I took a sip from my glass of bourbon, just as the rear door opened and heavy footsteps sounded.

I turned to see none other than Frank Bennett striding out.

He was pulling uncomfortably at his navy tie that matched with his suit, then undoing the top button of his white shirt. He clearly wasn't faring well with the black tie attire. While I didn't particularly care for the bow tie I was wearing, being much more of a tie-man, I was exceedingly comfortable in my black Armani suit.

With a grunt, he pulled the tie off entirely, then stuffed it in his suit jacket pocket.

He caught my eye, then muttered, "She tried to get me to wear a bow tie." He gestured at mine. "How do you handle those things?"

"Years of practice and childhood indoctrination as well."

He chuckled, then joined me beside the wall overlooking the rest of the gardens, including a hedge maze a few feet away.

"All this time, even the business you've had with my wife, and you and I have never actually formally met," he mused, while staring off into the distance.

I picked up on the subtext there. "So, what's brought it about all of a sudden tonight?"

He turned to face me, leaning his shoulder against the wall, and I did the same, facing him head-on.

"My daughter, King."

Hmm. "What about her?"

"After what happened with that accident, and something scaring her so much that she came running back here and gave up a career path that she loved, do you really think I wouldn't have eyes on her? I wasn't about to make the same mistake I did that first time, leaving her be. I know what's happening between the four of you. That aspect is fine with me. For the most part. It's her decision to make. But I'm also aware of your nightly operations, the fact that she's begun to participate. I'm fully aware of Onyx, I always have been. She needs it and I know she can handle herself. However, it's different this time with the three of you being involved there."

"You're asking me to pull her from the team?"

"No. She's found some people to connect with after so long being alone. I won't take that from her."

I frowned. Not the response or stance I was expecting.

Frank Bennett kept to himself and that was serving him well here, especially given that he was proving exceedingly difficult to read. He was clearly well aware of that fact, given that he'd had the confidence to approach me like this.

"These nightly activities are one thing, but I don't want that work to expand beyond that. I don't want her pulled into your other illicit activities, your arms-running and all the other underground shit you're knee-deep in."

"I have no intention of pulling her into any of that."

"Keep her head above water."

"She's already under my protection."

He started, seemingly surprised by that, and looking relieved too. Although, he couldn't accept that all the way as he stepped up close until we were nose to nose and growled, "If things go south, if you don't do right by her, if she gets pulled in too deep, I will intervene. I'm sure you have a file on me like you do with everyone, so you'll know how detrimental my involvement will be. I'll be watching and if I don't like what I'm seeing, I'll take her from you all. Believe me, she won't be found either should I need to go that route. Not even by you. When I hide someone, they disappear off the face of the earth."

I gritted my teeth.

I didn't take well to threats.

He was fucking lucky that he was Skylar's father and I was aware of how close they were, how much he meant to her.

"Message received. I'll see to it."

"All right," he said, stepping back, then blowing out a breath. "Not how I wanted our first encounter to go, but I have to protect my baby girl."

"I understand the sentiment."

He nodded as we both stared out over the gardens again. "Sebastian and Caleb. Your brotherhood."

"Yes."

"It's admirable what you've done there, how you've guided and protected them since you were teenagers. It's hard to know when to let go and when to pull them in tighter, isn't it?" He scrubbed his hand over his face. "If I'd gone the latter route with Skylar back then, I might have been able to prevent everything that came crashing down. And now, this path she's on… it's not right for her. She's not her mom. She simply wasn't built that way."

"She's coming around. She's recognized it now. The next step is voicing it to you both, then getting back on the right track."

"She told you this?"

"We encouraged her to forgo the pretense. She's strong and forthright, she just needed a helping hand to see that through her fear. The three of us were able to assist with that."

He stared at me for a moment, trying to absorb the weight of my words.

And then he scanned the immediate area and lowered his voice, "Did she tell you what really happened back there at Vista Ridge?"

Fortunately, before I needed to respond—or more likely evade the direct question—the door burst open and Skylar, herself, came out.

She didn't even look like herself. Except for her hair, but even that was pulled into an unflattering bun, pushing down all the loose curls. She was wearing a black satin halter dress that flowed all the way to her ankles, and a pair of flats. Very conservative and absolutely not her style at all. There was none of her usual flair or edginess, her creativity completely squashed. It was her mom's style, through and through. In fact, I'd seen Maria dressed in the same style of dress, hers being navy to match her husband's suit.

"Dad, there you are," she said, rushing over. Her gaze darted to me and her eyes sparkled. "Uh… hey, King."

Frank pushed off the wall and turned to her with a roll of his eyes. "I know, baby girl."

She started. "You… what?"

He gestured between me and her. "I know about you two. Well, you four."

"Oh," she struggled, flabbergasted. "Well, I…"

He chuckled. "Relax, it's your life. Just be careful. We'll talk about it more later."

She looked out at me and I could see her urge to come to me, but something was stopping her. I found out what that was all too quickly as she looked back at her dad and told him, "I need your buffering skills. Vivian Thorn's date struck up a conversation with Mom while I was—I mean—"

"With her son in the coatroom?"

Jesus.

"I… maybe." Her cheeks flamed, and she cleared her throat, then managed to go on, "Vivian noticed and the last I saw she was headed over to Mom."

"Oh, Christ. All right, let's go."

"And Damien?" I asked Skylar.

She flinched, but then told me, "He was up at the bar."

Good. He hadn't followed Vivian over, sticking to my orders of staying away from Skylar.

As the two of them headed back inside, I took a moment, then made my way back into the nightmare too.

I watched Frank manage to diffuse the situation, calming things between Vivian and Maria impressively quickly, while Skylar looked on and rubbed her mom's arm.

With that contained and me spotting Damien still up at the bar and settled there, I began my schmoozing.

About halfway through, I neared Caleb and his parents in one of the far corners.

Their raised voices reached me through the cacophony of noise through the mammoth space.

"I want an explanation," Ford Rowland was demanding of Caleb who was chugging back a glass of whisky, looking the epitome of sophisticated elegance in his heather-gray tux.

"Just getting into the swing of things, I guess."

"You guess?" Ford grumbled, shoving a hand through his short salt and pepper hair. "Your GPA is in the toilet and that's all you have to say for yourself?"

"Pretty much."

"Caleb," Bridget, his weak little mouse of a mom interjected, pulling at her blond bob. "Please don't disrespect your father like that."

"Why not? That's all he's done for the last seven years. You too, Mom."

"Watch your mouth!" Ford snapped.

"Ford, please," Bridget whisper-yelled, fisting her hands nervously in her demure beige dress. "You're going to make a scene. People will hear."

"Hear what an ungrateful shit he is, what an utter, directionless failure, and an absolute disappointment on all levels he is as a son?"

"You know fucking nothing," Caleb seethed, slamming his drink down on one of the small circular tables situated around the space.

Ford rose to the aggression and grabbed at Caleb's suit jacket, jerking him into him. "Your trust fund will—"

"Take a look at it."

"What?"

Caleb grinned. "Let's just say that as of two hours ago, you have nothing to hold over me. It's done, Dad." He broke Ford's hold on him and stepped back, fixing his jacket. "This is the last time we'll ever be in the same room together. It's done."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Like I said, check the money."

With a growl, Ford went for him with Bridget grabbing at his arm in an attempt to stop him. If only it had actually been about her wanting to protect her son, and not just due to her being worried about her image and the scene they were making.

I was there in the next second, shoving Ford back.

"King, we—" Bridget started, lowering her head in supplication.

"Quiet. I witnessed the entire scene."

Ford tried to hide his nerves at suddenly finding himself facing me down, but he failed miserably.

I slid my hand along Caleb's cheek. "All right, lovely?"

Expecting him to jerk away because I was touching him in front of his parents, he surprised me when he actually nuzzled against my hand instead and beamed out at me, not hiding our intimacy from them at all. "I am now."

He grasped my hair then and jerked me to him.

And then he was kissing me.

I rose to it, grasping his nape and thrusting my tongue into his mouth.

It was sloppy and wild, a public claiming of each other really.

I heard whoops and whistles, some clapping erupting around us.

When we pulled back, panting, I looked to see Bridget's face beet-red and Ford's face twisted in utter disgust. "I would reconsider your narrow-minded judgment if I were you. Especially with the information that reached me a few days ago. Your fondness for two of the maids in your flagship hotel? Having one ride your face while the other eats out your ass?"

He choked and staggered back a step.

Bridget gasped and slapped a hand over her face, staring at him in utter disbelief.

I tucked Caleb into my side. "Now, speaking of that, I need to comfort your son after this unfortunate scene. That will likely involve him on his knees for me, happily swallowing my cock, then me pleasuring him by sinking deep into his sweet little ass until he paints my hand with his cum." I smirked. "I'll leave you with that delicious visual."

With that, I guided Caleb past them, ignoring the crowds and those guests who'd overhead the entire thing.

I led him through to the back, all the way through to the farthest coatroom.

Nothing looked disturbed in this one, so Bastian and Skylar hadn't used it then.

I locked the door, then spun around to face Caleb, who then burst out laughing. "Holy shit, Cas!"

I grinned. "Too far?"

"Nothing is too far for those assholes," he said, lunging at me and pushing me up against the wall. "That's gonna live rent-free in my mind forever."

He brushed his lips over mine, breathing me in, then laving my neck with his tongue, dipping beneath my collar. My cock thickened in my pants, and I wanted to sink into it, to sink into him, but something was nagging at me, something he'd said to them.

I grasped his wrists and eased him back, holding them between us.

He frowned. "Cas?"

"What happened to your trust fund?"

He tensed. Very noticeably.

"Caleb?"

"I… we'll talk about it later. Right now, I want to worship every inch of you."

He pulled his wrists free, and then he was cupping my cock through my pants.

I groaned and threw my head back.

"I'm gonna strip naked and have you take me while you're still fully-suited."

Fuck. The visual alone sent a jolt of need through me.

He knew how to fire me up without a doubt.

And he was doing it now to distract me.

I batted his hand from my cock. "Caleb, talk to me. What's going on?"

His mouth opened and closed.

He stepped back and shifted his weight.

"It's just—"

A knock at the door sounded.

I cursed under my breath.

In the next second, Caleb was darting away from me and opening it.

And there Bastian was pushing on into the coatroom, along with Skylar who was holding his hand.

What the—

"Are you guys okay?" she asked, looking between us all worried.

"Did you just cut your parents off?" Bastian asked right afterward.

"And that kiss… that was something else," Skylar commented with a grin.

"You mean this kiss?" Caleb said, a second before he descended on her, basically eating her face.

I saw Bastian's eyes hood as he watched her being ravaged and her hips start to roll against Caleb's cock.

He started for them to join in and escalate things beyond measure.

I was there just in time, pulling him back by the arm of his tux, then breaking up the eroticism between Caleb and Skylar too.

"Not here," I told them as the three of them stared at me like lost puppies.

"As long as we keep Sky's screams quiet, it'll be fine," Bastian said.

"My screams? What about Caleb's dirty mouth?"

"My dirty mouth that's had you coming your brains out?" Caleb questioned with a self-satisfied smirk.

"Stop," I said. "Skylar's father knows about us now. He's right out there. So, again, not here."

They all stared at me in various stages of shock. Skylar already knew, but she was blushing deeply.

I flicked my hand at the door. "Disburse."

As Bastian went to open the door, Caleb snuck past him, and then he was slinking away.

Son of a bitch.

The fact he was so determined not to tell me what was going on just made it seem all the worse, and it made it clear that whatever was going on, I wasn't going to like it one bit.

"You all right, Cas?" Bastian asked me as he ushered Skylar out, then turned at the door to check on me.

I blinked. "Fine. I'll be fine."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah," I said, forcing a smile.

I could see he didn't buy it, but there wasn't much else he could do with me unwilling to discuss it at present.

He nodded, then turned to leave.

"Wait."

He eyed me expectantly.

"You fucked Skylar in the other spare coatroom earlier?"

"I did. Sorry I didn't invite you or Cal, there was a small window and the two of you were elsewhere at the time."

"It's not that."

"Then what's up?"

Lowered inhibitions.Especially considering those present—Damien being right up there—it was a stretch for him to have allowed that to happen, to take her here.

I stared at him. It was the first time I'd gotten this close all night with the awards ceremony first, then the crowds between us afterward.

I stepped closer and it took him a few moments to even react.

And then he was smiling wildly and asking me with a strange laugh, "You all right there, Cas? I'm not Cal, okay? Want me to bring him back here for you?"

He was misreading the situation too. Majorly.

Considering his usual esteemed ability to interpret other people's emotions in such an accurate and detailed way, that was concerning.

His pupils were dilated, but that could be put down to sexual arousal. He'd just been raring and ready to go moments ago.

But they were also bloodshot.

"Not getting much sleep?" I asked, casually.

"Why would you ask that?" he rebutted, getting defensive on a dime.

Another bad sign.

"I wanted to ask your advice about The Jackals," I lied.

He relaxed again. "Oh, right, yeah. You think we're throwing ourselves too hard into it?"

"Perhaps. With Shakers, then two more takedowns over the last few days, then another target coming up, maybe it's tiring you all out too much?"

"No. Not at all. We're all living for this shit right now. Having Sky there with us, the thrill, the delivering of much-needed justice, then the fucking afterward… it's been the best for all of us." He eyed me. "Unless it's getting to you? I mean, you already have a lot on your plate with King. And then there's also—"

"I'm fine, sweetheart. This is just me checking in."

"Okay. I'll see you out there in a few then?"

"Absolutely."

He took off then, closing the door behind him.

I sank against the wall and scrubbed my hand over my face.

Jesus fucking Christ.

He was high.

Bastian was using again.