“It went great. Are you ready?” He asked as he kissed my lips.

“Yes.”

“Great. Just give me a second to go change,” he spoke as he walked into the bedroom.

As we walked through the zoo, Alex had a smile on his face. He was enjoying seeing the animals and I found it to be quite a turn-on.

“OMG! It’s the lemurs. It’s King Julian!” I exclaimed.

“Who?” he asked.

I gave him a perplexed look. “King Julian. You know, from Madagascar?”

He slowly shook his head. “From what?”

“You have never seen Madagascar?” I asked in shock.

“I have no clue what Madagascar or King Julian is.”

I placed my hands on each side of his face. “You have lived a very deprived and boring life, Parker.”

He chuckled and hooked his arm around me.

After a fun day at the zoo, I was feeling pretty tired so I asked Alex if we could have dinner back in our room. Once we made it back, he handed me the room service menu and asked what I wanted while he poured us some wine.

“I want a pizza.”

“Pizza? You don’t want a nice steak, or maybe some fish?”

Climbing on the bed, I shook my head. “Nope. You order that for yourself if you want, but I’m having pizza.”

“Okay. Then we’ll both have pizza. What do you want on it?”

“Anything but anchovies. You pick.” I smiled.

“How about pepperoni, mushrooms, and green peppers?”

“Sounds good to me. Could you also order some of that lemon cheesecake I saw on the menu?”

“Of course.” He grinned.

He placed the order for dinner and I patted his side of the bed. He smiled as he sat down next to me.

“Don’t you think we should wait to have sex after the pizza comes? I would hate to be in the middle of it and there’s a knock on the door.”

“We aren’t having sex, Parker. We’re going to watch Madagascar.”

“Seriously?” His playful look turned serious.

“Yes. It’s such a cute movie. You need to let out the inner child in you. Now make yourself comfy.” I pointed the remote to the TV and searched for Madagascar on the pay channels.

We sat on the bed, our backs propped up against pillows while we ate pizza, drank wine, and laughed at Madagascar. Every time I looked over at Alex, I could tell he was enjoying it. I shoulder bumped him and he looked over at me.

“What?”

“You’re loving King Julian.” I smiled.

“Actually, the penguins are my favorite.”

“Yeah. They’re pretty cool but King Julian rules!”

“King Julian is great but I’m a sucker for the penguins.” He grinned.

When the movie was over, Alex noticed there was a second one.

“Rent the second one,” he spoke.

“Don’t you think we should get some sleep since we’re leaving in the morning?”

“Go ahead and lie down, then, but I’m going to watch the second movie.”

“And sex?” I asked as I ran my finger down his chest.

“Sex can wait, Emerson. The penguins can’t.”

I sighed. I think I had just created a Madagascar monster. I set my wine glass on the nightstand and rolled over, secretly smiling while I listened to him laugh as he watched Madagascar 2.

****

Alex

When we arrived home, I went up to my office and started to do some much needed work. I had been taking way too much time away from my company and, surprisingly, it didn’t fall apart. As I was sitting at my desk, the reality of Adam coming home this week set in and, suddenly, my mood changed. After a couple of hours, I went downstairs and saw Emerson doing laps in the pool.

“I’m going to the office for a while. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay. I’ll cook us dinner.”

I gave her a nod and drove myself to a bar instead of the office. I just needed to think over a couple of drinks and I couldn’t do that with Emerson in the house.

“What can I get you, friend?” the bartender named Alan asked.

“Scotch on the rocks. Make it a double.”

“Coming right up.”

He poured the scotch and set the glass down in front of me. I drank it faster than he set it down.

“Another,” I said.

“You okay, man? You slammed that pretty fast.”

“Actually, I’m not okay. The woman I’m in love with is going to be leaving California soon and I don’t think there’s a damn thing I can do to stop her.”

“Sorry to hear that. Have you told her that you love her?”

“Not yet, and even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. She hates it here. This place holds too many bad memories for her.”

He handed me another glass of scotch. “Maybe you can show her what the good memories used to be. Make her forget about the bad,” he spoke.

“She lost her parents and twin sister in an accident several years ago. She’ll never be able to forget that. Pour me another.” I threw a hundred-dollar bill on the counter.

“Nah. That would be hard to forget. I’m sorry, bro, but before that, there had to be good memories.”

I kept drinking and, before I knew it, Alan cut me off.

“Did you drive here?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, you aren’t driving home. Can I call someone for you?”

“No.”

“Then I’m calling you a cab.”

“No. Call Phillip. His number is in my phone.” I slid my phone to him.

About a half hour had passed, and as I laid my head down on the bar, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“What the hell are you doing, Parker?”

Lifting my head, I looked up to see Emerson standing next to me.

“I thought I told you to call Phillip?” I drunkenly spoke to Alan.

“He didn’t answer and she kept calling. You need to go home, friend, and sleep the alcohol off.”

“Let’s go, Alex.” She grabbed my arm and helped me up.

As I stumbled out the door, Emerson began to yell at me.

“I thought you were going to the office. I made this nice dinner for us. I sat there alone, waiting for you to come home, and you were sitting in this bar getting drunk. Why?”

I didn’t say a word as she shoved me into the passenger seat of Adam’s car.

“I swear to God, Parker, if you puke in this car, you’re buying Adam a new one.”

I moaned as I lay my head against the window and she drove me home. She opened the door and grabbed my arm.

“Come on. Give me a little help here, Parker. I may be strong, but I’m not strong enough to hold up your dumb drunk ass.”

“I’m going to be sick.”

“Not on me you’re not. You are to wait until we get into the house. If you throw up on me, you’re buying me all new clothes and I’ll make sure they’re high end designer and cost you thousands of dollars. No, make that millions.”

I stumbled through the door and she took me to the bathroom off the foyer.

“There. Now you can throw up, you stupid man.”

Once I was done, I sat up against the wall as she wiped my mouth with a wash cloth.

“Can you get up the stairs?” she asked in irritation.

I moaned as I fell over.

“I guess that’s a no.”

She helped me up and took me to her room, stripped me naked, and helped me into bed. As she climbed in next to me, the last words I remember her saying were, “Throw up on me and I’ll stab you in your sleep.” I silently smiled because her mouth never stopped and I loved it.

Chapter 27

Emerson

It was the end of the week and Adam was due home today. Alex and I never talked about that night he got drunk. He wouldn’t talk about it and had been irritable all week long. We didn’t have sex and I barely saw him. He reverted back to staying late at the office and when I would text him and ask when he was coming home, he would just reply “soon.”

I pulled out my map and laid it across my bed to make my plan for my next move. With Alex’s behavior, he was making it easier for me to leave. What happened to the man back in Napa and Seattle? Something went seriously wrong and I wanted to know what it was. The night he left and told me he was going to the office, nothing had happened, and I thought things were good between us. He was shutting me out again and it hurt me. It hurt me right down to the very core of my soul. I thought a lot about things and needed to put my mind to rest and concentrate on where I was going to go next. I still couldn’t help but be bothered that my money was almost gone. Something wasn’t right because I didn’t live to the extreme. I was very careful with what I spent.