The ride out of the city was peaceful and quiet.

"When are you telling him?" I studied his words.

"If possible, never. He doesn't look like the type to take things like this well." I stated.

"Oh. So what happens if he sees you sitting at Kingdoms' right hand?"

"It's just a matter of time Josh. You know this better than anyone else. We all are expandable. I'll be facing the barrel of a gun in the future. And one of them will be pulling the trigger," I said. Joshua sat quietly in contemplation.

We pulled into the dealership car park. I put the car in park.

"Who would you prefer to do it?" said Joshua.

"My King, of course." He smiled warmly.

"I'm glad to hear you're still on our side."

He stretched across the car seat bringing my head towards his. Unlike the passionate, fast paced kisses shared with Ace, Joshua's was slow and teasing. More effort was placed into his tongue work and the emotions drawn from each kiss.

Joshua's kiss pulled at my heart strings the same way they did that fateful night. The sweet sound of our lips parting caused my heart to flutter. A thin thread of saliva was formed where our lips were once connected. I fought to steady my breathing.

"What if I wasn't..." He frowned at my sudden words.

"I'd still stand with you."

He moved in a second time, leaning his head to the right. I greedily accepted his unconditional love, as my once idle fingers trailed along his chest to his neck. More than a couple minutes later we surfaced for air.

"Good bye Damien." He placed one last peck on my lips, before stepping out of the car.

Taking with him all of my warm feelings. Joshua looked even more alluring, as taut muscles pulled underneath smooth brown skin. I stared at him until he entered the building. I blinked twice. When did that habit form? I released my bottom lip. I pulled down my shades onto my nose and put the car in drive.

"Good morning Mr. Dagasse." said Xina, the company secretary. I smiled at her.

"Good morning!" I strolled down the hallway of New Age Engineering. Not even allowed a moment to settle myself, Casey stopped me.

"Change of plans, you need to make a site visit," said Casey. I frowned.

"What happened?" Casey relayed to me all the events that took place over the weekend. After making a connection between what happened, the client and the company, I felt a headache come on suddenly.

"It's nothing you haven't dealt with before so don't look like that!" Casey reprimanded.

"Oh no I was in deep thought. You see in lieu of the advancement of the new technology used to... " I strung together meaningless words and went off the tangent, saying anything and everything needed to get Casey off my back. His face went from one of anger to one of understanding. Perfect!

My smile broadened. Whoever invented the language of professional bullshitting needs a pat on the back.

"Ok. In that case I can send Walker. He looks like he could do with a stretch in the legs." I nodded whole heartedly.

"And by the way, Kingdom wants to see you when you're available." I swallowed upon hearing that news.

"I'll go right now." I said while smiling.

Casey walked off leaving me with an unsettled mind. I rode the elevator up to the top floor. I loosened a few buttons on my shirt. The elevator opened silently.

"Good Morning Mr. Dagasse." The receptionist chirped. Not giving her the light of day I entered the double doors.

A pair of deep black eyes looked up at me. Passing his hand through his salt and peppered hair he greeted me warmly.

"Morning Damien." I gave him a tight lipped smile as I sat opposite him.

"Good morning." You're aging well! I took in his face as he wrote, deep in concentration. Smooth pink lips were pressed together tightly, as short, straight wisps of hair danced about his face. Traces of his youth could be seen through the fine lines on his face. Handsome.

"How've you been?" He asked as his eyes settled back onto the paperwork before him.

"I've been well, and you?"

"Oh neither here nor there. You know how things are with the boys and then there's the business." I nodded in agreement.

"Speaking of which, has anything exciting happened of late? Business seems to be booming on your end of the woods."

"Ah no. Not really. It's just people are really open to the sale of her paintings." Where is he taking this?

"Not really? So Mr. Ackerman had nothing to do with that at all?" My muscles froze. He pulled the glasses off his face and looked directly at me.

"Nothing escapes my ears. How long?"

"A little over a month. The same day of her funeral. That when we first met."

He sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Tell me. What is the nature of this newly formed friendship?" He spat the last word out of his mouth. I broke away from his stare.

"Romantic." I think? The silence that fell was unavoidable.

"If that was the case I didn't need to waste a good chunk of my men to seize those territories!" You've been active?

"I don't follow," I said, while looking back at him.

"What do you mean you don't follow!" He raised his voice. "Had I known his cock was far up your ass. This could have been a one man job!" I fidgeted uncomfortably. Why is everyone under the impression that we're fucking?

"Just get him to give you this." He pulled out a photo. My eyes widened.

"Of course. I'll get on it right away." He snickered at my words. I frowned in annoyance at my poor choice in words.

"You can leave now." I shot out of the chair as though it was on fire and walked quickly to the door. As my fingers grazed the handle of the door I remembered something.

"Oh one thing. I need a new condo."

"Done." He answered without looking up. I smiled.

"Th..."

"Goodbye Damien!" He cut across my words. I scowled.

"Goodbye, Tendom!" I said loudly before adding on a little extra at the end.

"What'd you say!"

"Nothing!" I quickly shut the door behind me. With my new objective in mind, I headed down the elevator to begin my day's work.

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