50 Shades of Drake 5 and 6

Chapter Forty-Eight

    There was a story that Aubrey had told Destiny once about his little Robyn. It was a story that ended with him no longer believing in love, a story that ended with him shutting his heart down so that no one else could ever hurt it again. It was one thing to hear the story from him second-hand and having to use her imagination to picture the events that transpired; it was something else entirely to stand in front of the woman who'd once shattered the love of her life's heart into tiny, infinite pieces.

    "Let me find out where my new bestie..." The words died in Carlos's mouth as he half-jogged, half-stumbled out into the foyer. "Oh, shit."

    "Your new bestie?" Destiny repeated, keeping her tone even.

    Rihanna walked up to her, looking her up and down. "So you're the one, then?"

    "Pardon me?" Destiny repeated.

    "'The one,'" Rihanna said again. With an expression of disbelief, she turned to face Carlos. "Does no one know what 'the one' means anymore?" Turning back to Destiny, she said. "You know...the one. As in, the woman who has captured Aubrey's heart."

    Destiny frowned while trying to interpret the pop star's words and the tone behind them. "Umm...I don't..."

    "Yes," Aubrey said, speaking up for the first time since Rihanna emerged from the living room. "She is. Her name is Destiny."

    "Hello, Destiny," Rihanna greeted, grinning.

    "What are you doing here?" Aubrey asked, not bothering with pleasantries.

    "It's good to see you too," Rihanna said with a pretty pout.

    Aubrey's hand slid down Destiny's arm. It didn't stop moving until it reached her hand. His fingers linked with hers.

    Destiny closed her eyes briefly before looking up at him.

    Rihanna arched an eyebrow at the two of them. "Oh, come on. I didn't come here to start any trouble. Honest." She looked between them and must have seen the doubt on their faces. "Honest."

    "You haven't answered the question," Aubrey said, just as his security team showed up, entering the room from every entrance point possible.

    "All of this?" Rihanna demanded incredulously. "For me? Seriously?"

    "Answer the question," Aubrey urged.

    She rolled her eyes. "All right, look. I heard that you were back in L.A. Not just visiting, but to stay. With a new girlfriend. And... to be honest, I didn't believe it. I mean, it's been so long since you've lived here. So I just wanted to see it for myself, that you've moved on."

    His brows furrowed.

    She shrugged. "It was important to me to see that you've moved on and that...you're happy."

    "As if you ever cared about that," he muttered.

    "I've done some stupid shit, okay?" She held both hands up. "I'm not going to debate that. I'm not going to argue that. But...so have you. All right?"

    Aubrey shook his head and turned his back to her, pulling Destiny after him.

    "Aubrey, don't!" Rihanna shouted at his back.

    He halted his steps, but didn't turn to face her.

    "You and I need to have this conversation," Rihanna insisted. "Don't you want to hash it out so we can both close the book on that chapter of our lives and move on?"

    He was quiet for what seemed the longest time. The only indication he gave that he was still halfway alert was the occasional squeezing of Destiny's hand. Then he asked, "Is that what you really want? To move on?"

    "I hope that you didn't think I was sitting around sulking and waiting for you to come back to me," Rihanna said, her voice as smooth as velvet. "I'd hope you knew me better than that."

    Carlos remained quiet near the living room entryway. Despite being mouthy at the most inopportune times, even he seemed to know that his wasn't the time for his fuckery.

    Rihanna glanced at Carlos, then back at Aubrey. "Well...the tension is so thick in here, you could cut it with a knife, right? I really did need to use the little girls' room, though. That was not false advertisement. So...if you didn't mind..."

    Aubrey watched her head towards the nearest ground floor bathroom. He waited for her to disappear out of sight before swiveling his hard gaze on Carlos.

    Carlos's hands went up immediately. "I tried calling you. Both of you. This wasn't my fuck-up."

    Aubrey released Destiny's hand and moved away from her, running both hands over his head. "She's here. In my fucking house."

    "She sounds like she wants to move on," Destiny told him, attempting to calm his nerves.

    It didn't work. He paced the length of the foyer while shaking his head and muttering under his breath.

    "You guys have worked together since the breakup," Carlos said. "You guys seemed to get along. I thought you guys were friends even."

    "It was work - that was different," Aubrey said, and didn't offer much more clarification than that.

    Destiny shot Carlos a desperate look.

    "What?" Carlos hissed at her. "I've got nothing."

    "You've been here chatting it up with her and becoming besties with her," Destiny surmised. "How did she seem to you?"

    Carlos shrugged. "Nice? Normal?"

    Destiny tilted her head to the side.

    "What?" he shrieked. "I don't know what answer you're looking for. She was sweet as pie, not the type of thot I'd expect to be out here cheating and breaking hearts."

    Destiny rolled her eyes and stared at Aubrey's retreating back as he paced away from her. She wanted to console him, but didn't even know what name it was safe to call him. Would he lash out at her if she called him "Aubrey?" His hand seemed to have forgotten the controller in his pocket ever since they'd seen the collection of cars parked in his driveway, but his finger might as well have still been pressed on the button for how much control he had over her. The tools and toys that he had at his disposal were just that: tools and toys. Although he used them to emit a certain desired response from her, they were in no way required to demonstrate the sheer control that he had over her. He paced back and forth across the foyer while she remained standing still, hands clasped in front of her, awaiting instruction. Every instinct, every cell in her body screamed at her for her to run to him, gather him in her arms, and promise to him that everything would be okay...but the submissive in her kept her standing still, since he hadn't given her permission to move.

    Even Carlos was giving her a puzzled look, as if he expected her to do more to make her man feel more comfortable.

    It was confusing to her, but as Aubrey was pacing towards her, the fog in his eyes seemed to clear. His steps slowed, and he focused on her as if he was seeing her for the first time since Rihanna's appearance. He stopped walking altogether, still a good five feet away from Destiny. "Why are you standing there like that?" The tone of his voice made it sound as if he truly wanted to know the answer to the question; the look in his eyes said he knew the answer and just wanted to confirm it.

    "Because you haven't given me instruction to do otherwise," Destiny replied, her voice shaking.

    The smallest hint of a smile started to curve his lips before he crossed the foyer, gathered her up in his arms, and backed her against a wall. His mouth came crashing down on hers with so much force, she struggled to find air. In the end, she took the air that he so willing gave her.

    "If you kinky fucks don't find an entirely different house for this twisted shit you have going on..." Carlos muttered, just as the sound of heels clicking on tile reached them all.