Page 85 of Hale's Pawn
Oran laughs and attacks me with a kiss. I hear a disgusted sound from Markos. Mikonos announces he’s going to make a drink. Oran pulls away. “Look at you always fighting to married me,” he teases.
“Shut up.” I smile. “And married you, I did.” I wrap my arms around his neck and I kiss him hard.
“I didn’t come here for this!” I hear Markos yell from the kitchen. I laugh, not breaking the kiss.
39
Andres
The rhythmand beginning of Foreigner’s I Want to Know What Love Is, begins playing and it makes me angry, who the hell is playing this damned song…
It transports me to another time in my life. A time when I let everything go. Senior Prom, I walked in alone and didn’t care that I was no longer with Michelle. I didn’t care anymore. I let her go sophomore year when my father passed and I became the Don of the Bishops family. Mama doesn’t like who I’ve become, but fuck it. When I walk in, the kids look at me, but they don’t dare comment on the fact that I have men walking in behind me. Some are a bit older and others are my age. I don’t need some old-ass man trying to give me advice when my father has trained me since the day that I was born for this. I look over at Dondi and some girl that I don’t recognize. Dondi tips me his red cup that’s probably filled with the spiked punch. I’m going to miss the fucker. I’m not going anywhere, but I know that my time to be a kid is done. I turn my gaze on Elmer, he and I were friends since we learned how to walk, but something snapped in the guy. It wasn’t anything good and after papa died, he acted like me being invited to the head of the family table made me better than him. I’ve never acted better than anyone but now, fuck it, I don’t care. He thinks I’m trying to take the girl he pined over, Natasha, but I’m not trying to take someone who wants me. Natasha has wanted me since the day she met me and that was back in middle school.
Everyone gets quiet as they watch me and I look at Michelle, who is now with Arthur. Her and I could’ve made it work, but we both know how that would’ve ended. I sigh as I roll my eyes at everyone. I walk over to the table that no one but Karter is sitting at. She looks all alone and I’ll give her something she’s never had; the opportunity to talk to her crush. I sit down and Karter widens her eyes. I know she thinks I never saw the sad puppy dog eyes when I ended up with the girl that used to bully her, Michelle. My boys sit at the empty seats and everything seems to go back to normal except Karter. She stares at me, wide-eyed. She looks cute. Her purple eyeshadow that matches her dress goes well with her darker toffee skin tone and it brought out her light brown eyes. She got her hair straightened instead of its normal puff. It looks cute. “You clean up nice, Karter with a K,” I tease her.
She pushes her glasses back. “Th- thank you, Andy.” She smiles.
She’s the only one I allow to call me Andy, no one else. “Want a drink?” I ask her.
She nods. I don’t bother getting up as I pull the silver flask out of the inside of my suit jacket. Karter takes it and chugs. I laugh as I take some too. I guess I can stay a bit.
Karterand I are tipsy as shit and somehow, her freaky side has shown up. Karter pulls me into the janitor’s closet. She’s not too short, so it’s easy for my 6’2” self to grab her and kiss her. One thing leads to another and I slip inside of her, fucking her up against the wall like nothing else matters to that stupid-ass song I Want to Know What Love Is in the background. Karter throws her head back as I lose myself in this moment, not even caring that we didn’t use a condom. It doesn’t matter. Fuck. Her nails scratching me all over, leaving me wanting more and, fuck, I want more. More until she fucking disappears.
After we’re done, I help Karter clean up and we laugh. We sit back on the dirty floor and just talk.
“I never thought I’d have sex with Andres Bishops.” She laughs hard.
I laugh with her. “Never thought Karter Greene would let me take her virginity in the janitor’s closet.”
She laughs, then snorts. “You’ve made prom the best night of my life, Andy. Thank you.”
“Of course.”
She reaches over, taking my hand in hers. “One day Andy, you are going to find someone who sees beyond all this like I did. Someone who loves you for you and makes you remember the kid that you lost on the way.”
I lift her hand and kiss it. “Thank you, Karter with a K. It’s not for me, but hey, I can at least love my kid when I have one.”
Karter smiles and lays her head on my shoulder. “Yeah… you want a boy or a girl?”
“I want a little girl so that I could love her and teach her that even if it’s a man’s world, she can conquer it all.”
Karter laughs. “Only Andy. Hmm name her Ainslee, like with an A.”
“Will do. And if ever you have a boy, name him Esra with an S. I like that name.”
“Got it.” We laugh. “If we have the opposite, then switch?” she asks.
“Yep!” I kiss the top of her head. I ended up spending more time with her; kissing, talking, and fucking.
Karter Greene moved to Fairhope for school and married a guy named David Fairhope. It was a whirlwind love for them. Two years later, Karter Greene died in a car accident, but her husband and a baby, a daughter named Esra Fairhope, survived. I set up a trust fund in her name and gave her more money than she could ever imagine. Her dad couldn’t touch it, even if he is a damned Fairhope.
“Love has finally found you, Andres Bishops…” I hear Karter saying. “Wake up, Andy…”
My eyes snap open. Why am I thinking about her and why the hell did I wake up on her command? I hear machines beeping and see the white ceiling. Am I in the hospital? “Why the hell am I here?” I force myself to talk. My voice is hoarse and my throat hurts like hell.
“Mr. Bishops? Are you awake?” A dark toffee-toned doctor stands over me. The color of her scrubs burn my eyes so fucking pink under her white lab. “I’m Dr. Err… probably shouldn’t tell you my name cause I’m not supposed to be in here, so let me just go get your doctor.” Her big brown eyes look terrified. She looks young. The hell, is she playing dress up in here? Before she turns, I see her name on her name tag, Remington -Remy- Monroe. She runs out before I can say a word.
Does she know who I am? What the fuck was she doing in my damn room and what am I doing here?
