Page 113 of Roulette: The Madam

TWELVE

Guilty pleasure.

I rubbed my hand up and down Roulette’s arm. She had yet to rise. A weekend away was the perfect solution to the mindfuck she had placed on me.

She was the most unpredictable being I’d ever had the pleasure of meeting. Yet, she was honest. Her fears stuck out like sore thumbs.

It wasn’t that she was completely against sharing life with one person. She was afraid to give herself completely to a single human. They’d possess an uncomfortable amount of power and she couldn’t relinquish the supply she’d been collecting over her lifetime.

A woman unwilling to transfer her wealth of power to a man was an anomaly and a woman that was often misunderstood. However, I wasn’t part of the mass majority that didn’t know what to do with or how to accept a woman of her caliber, simply because she deviated from the norm. She had every right to want to protect her peace, sanity, heart, and head. How she went about it was her business alone.

But, she had every right to love, too. Every right to be loved. And, I’d made it up in my mind that I’d bend the rules if it meant convincing her to allow herself to do so. She’d mentioned what I deserved a hundred times. But,my God, she was just as deserving.

My vibrating cell pulled me from my thoughts. I leaned over, removing it from the nightstand on the side of the bed. The swaying curtain tickled the back of my hand. It was under the influence of the breezy patio that led to the beach where the water was as clear as the filtered water we consumed daily.

The Clarke area code prompted me to answer. I cleared my throat and placed the phone against my ear. Uneasiness settled in my stomach.

“Yeah.”

“Mr. Kingston?”

“Yes.”

“This is Glenda Mandarin from Agnes Prep. I’m calling about Malaya.”

I slid up against the headboard of the bed. The sound of the ocean ceased. So did the light snores coming from Roulette. All else evaporated at the mention of my daughter’s name.

“I’m listening. Is she harmed? Is she breathing?”

“She is breathing. A bit upset, but she is breathing. She had a dispute with a few of the older girls here and she’s having a hard time settling down. I was wondering if there’s any way you can come have a word with her to mak–”

“Glenda, you said your name was?”

“Yes, sir.”

“If my daughter is unwell, be it emotionally, physically, or mentally, I’m coming to get her. And, you’d better hope none of the parents of the little fuckers she had adisputewith is at the school when I make it.”

I ended the call with a fire forming inside of me. Malaya was far from confrontational. If there was something going on at school, she wasn’t the issue. I’d bet my last dollar on it. She mirrored the insecurities of many of the girls she shared classes with.

That angered them, making Malyala an easy target. Not only because she was passive, but because a fucking baby compared to them. They were eighteen and nineteen year olds waiting to walk across the stage. She was fifteen and would share the same stage in a few months. That didn’t sit well with most students.

“Princess–”

Regretfully, I stirred Roulette awake with gentle taps.

“Princess, wake up.”

“Hmm?”

“Wake up. We need to leave.”

“Leave?”

“Yes, a little earlier than planned.”

We were scheduled to leave at two o’clock, giving me enough time to get Roulette home and for me to get up to Malaya’s school for pickup. Things had changed. The forty-five minute flight would be happening much sooner than later. I was texting Peter to warn him that we were on the way to the private port.

“Is everything okay?”

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