50 Shades of Drake 5 and 6

Chapter Forty-Four

    Carlos loved having Aubrey's house to himself. Back in the days when Aubrey was more commonly known by his middle name, he'd penned a line referencing the fact that his house looked like a resort inside. That was the case for inside and outside. No false advertisement there. If Carlos had millions to spend, he would've spent them on the pool alone.

    He floated in the water on his back while waving his arms through the the water. In this moment, he was peaceful and content. But in general, he was experiencing a discord. He was in a new city, albeit a city in the good old state of California. While he'd wanted to live in California ever since he knew what a California was, something was still bugging him. Maybe it's the fact that Destiny is here with the man that she loves, a man that is pretty much a soulmate. She gets to go and speak to the chief editor at Los Angeles Times. Her love life and career are pretty much set. Meanwhile, I'm just chilling on the sidelines.

Aubrey was extremely generous, offering Carlos a job at Graham Enterprises and a condo...but Carlos felt like he was still struggling to figure out who he was and what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to figure that out. He wanted to figure it out and one day in the near future meet his very own Prince Charming.

While swimming, he sighed dreamily.

The sound of loud shouting caught his attention. He swam over to the edge of the pool and climbed out. After briefly drying himself off, he padded towards the patio doors and entered the house. Through the living room and into the hall he went, until he reached the front door. He pulled the door open and was greeted with the sight of a train of cars lining the driveway. Shading a hand over his eyes, he muttered under his breath, "Aubrey is back already?"

There were at least six cars in the driveway, which...seemed excessive. Even for Aubrey.

Carlos stepped outside and scanned the line of cars. A group of people were crowded around the SUV at the front of the line, and their voices were raised. He planted his hands on his hips and stalked over to the group. "Will you guys keep your fucking voices down?" he demanded. "What's the damn emergency? What is worth all of this yelling?"

The people in the group, some of whose backs were turned to Carlos, exchanged glances.

"Oh now you all decide to get shy and quiet?" Carlos demanded. "After waking up the entire fucking neighborhood, now you want to go silent?"

A rich, Bajan accent floated to his ears. If you asked him, that's exactly how he'd describe it. Her magical, lilting voice was carried to his ears by the wind. "I apologize if my crew was loud," the female voice said. "Our little visit here wasn't on the schedule, but I decided to flip everyone's world upside down and visit my old friend Aubrey."

Carlos knew who it was, even before she turned around. Of course he knew who she was. Before he even knew he was gay, he was singing and dancing to her songs in his bedroom back in high school. If one of her new hits came on the radio, he'd sing and dance to it now. She was, after all, a queen in her own right - in his eyes, at least. Barely suppressing the urge to kneel in front of her, he stammered his way through a mess of a greeting. "H-hi. Oh my God, you're like...standing in front of me right now. Like..."

She removed a pair of designer sunglasses from the bridge of his nose. Sparkling green eyes peered at him, and she looked amused at his sudden loss of words. "Your name is?"

"Carlos."

"Hello, Carlos. I'm Rihanna."

"Robyn," Carlos corrected. Then he dropped his head down. "I mean...of course you know your own name is Robyn. But...I'd prefer to call you that. If you don't mind."

She flashed a pretty smile and walked up to him. Cupping his cheek in her tattooed hand, she said, "You can call me whatever you want, buttercup." Glancing up at the sprawling mansion that towered over them, she asked, "Is Drake home?"

Ah, that's right. Drake. As in Aubrey. As in Destiny's man. As in Robyn is Aubrey's ex...the ex of my best friend's current boyfriend. Fuck. She's my queen, though. He ran a hand through wet hair. "He's... out right now, actually."

Rihanna raised a hand into the air and snapped her fingers. "We'll wait here, then. With you."

Carlos widened his eyes.

Rihanna grabbed onto his arm and steered him towards the front door. "I feel like we're already old friends. Let's chat, shall we?"

1) Carlos was never going to wash his arm ever again. As in ever again. It could grow black and crusty from filth, and he'd still pin on a bow with a tag that read, "Rihanna has touched this arm."

2) When Destiny and Aubrey did finally return home, it was most certainly going to be interesting.

Being who he was, Carlos was always one to enjoy an entertaining show. But considering the fact that the woman currently clutching onto his arm was the very same woman who'd broken Aubrey's heart and cause him to doubt love existed...

Let's just say I'm going to need a fresh bag of popcorn, he thought as he led Rihanna and her crew into Aubrey's house.

Rihanna beamed up at him with one of the most gorgeous, enchanting smiles he'd ever seen.

He turned his gaze and stared straight ahead. And I'm going to need that popcorn stat.