SLancelot stepped out of Doctor Flinn’s office. Peter was seated in one of the chairs in the reception room, eager for his boss’s arrival.
When Lancelot cleared his throat and straightened his posture, Peter eyes rose up from the Macbook on his lap to his boss’s tall frame. Lancelot tucked his hands into the pocket of his trousers and leaned against the wall.
“Am I missing something?” Lancelot asked, taking note of the creases formed on Peter’s forehead as a result of his frowning.
Peter sighed, packed up his gadgets quietly and rose up.
“Nothing serious. The Alpha king has just requested for your presence at the golf course.”
Lancelot scoffed, rolled his eyes and stood straight.
“My father knows I hate golf.” He stated. Lancelot had never cared for the game. Golf was simply one of those things his aristocracy demanded that he learnt. And it was very easy to, considering the eight thousand yards of expanse land that served as the Dankworth’s golf course.
“So do I sire. However, it is the King’s orders…”
“And must be obeyed. Bold of him to cut into my schedule like that.” Lancelot replied, walking ahead of Peter, who fought to steady to strap of his heavy shoulder bag on his left shoulder.
He often wondered why Lancelot liked to walk around with a lot of things he never used.
“Perhaps I should go and meet him.” Lancelot said. He paused abruptly and turned his back to Peter, catching the young man off guard.
Lancelot’s left brow rose up in query.
“Is everything alright?”
No. Nothing was.
But Peter said nothing. Only roughly managed a smile at Lancelot before steadying his composure.
“I would head home before leaving for the golf course…” He paused, appeared thoughtful and shook his head slightly. He wouldn’t prepare for it. That way, he could excuse himself and leave the second his father made him uncomfortable.
He shrugged and looked over at Peter.
“On second thought, let’s us head straight for the golf course.”
To this, Peter nodded affirmatively and ushered Lancelot to the black Mercedes parked in front of the facility, just for him.
The drive back to Dankworth estate seemed to take longer this time. Lancelot assumed it was as a result of the evening rush. It was that time of the day when school’s closed for the day and parents either rushed to pick their children, rushed to drop their children at home or rushed to hurry back to work.
It took Lancelot on a short trip down the memory lane. When he was a child, hopping into his father’s car and watching all the eyes at school rest on he and his brothers. The Dankworth boys had been the desire of every girl and the envy of every boy.
Even now that they had grown into men, not much had changed about either of them.
The metal gates that protected the entrance into the largest Estate in the whole of the city of London, Dankworth Estate, opened up to allow their car entry.
“Are you certain you do not want to have a change of clothes sire?” Peter asked, looking over at Lancelot who continued to stare absentmindedly, out of the window.
“The golf course first, Peter.” Lancelot replied, not sparing him a glance.
As they approached the golf course, Lancelot was surprised and annoyed to see a total of seven cars parked in the parking lot. He had thought this was going to be a father and son affair.
All of a sudden, he was very glad he had earlier decided to not come prepared. Now, there was an excuse to leave. From what he saw, Lancelot had a feeling he was going to be out of here quicker than he had expected.
Peter left the heavy bag in the car this time as he followed Lancelot behind. He knew Lancelot didn’t need; considering how good his boss was at everything (besides matters of the heart) whether he wanted to or not. Still, he knew being Lancelot’s caddie in today’s game would give him an opportunity to watch the sweet game of golf.
When they got to the Teeing ground, Lancelot took in deep breaths to calm his annoyance. He wasn’t about to walk into the crowd of men – even though they were only five – looking like the world had just fallen on his shoulders; despite the fact that it actually had.
“Lancelot dear!” His uncle, Bailey called out. Lancelot forced a smile as he walked towards the older man.
Bailey stood in black shorts and a pink shortsleeved shirt. He had his facecap covering his forehead so the sun didn’t burn him too much.
On hearing his name, everyone had turned back. Everyone besides James who was preparing his stance for a dive. Lancelot took note of his stride, his club and his stance.
On reflex, he scoffed.
“I don’t think you want to do that brother. Your stance is not right.” Lancelot said, standing between his father and his brother after giving the rest of the men curt nods. It was only to Lee that he smiled faintly. Albert replied his curt nod with a cold stare, before focusing his attention on James.
“I know.” James called out, without turning to him.
“So is your club, and your stride.” He spoke again. Folding his arms across his chest.
James grit his teeth before turning to his older brother.
“And who shows up to a golf course in suit pants? Huh? Brother?” James asked. The tone in which the last word slipped out of his mouth almost made it seem like he regretted the fact, or hated it.
Edward scoffed and allowed his gaze to fall to Lancelot.
“Lance obviously.” The spite in his voice could not be missed.
“I thought this was supposed to be a family affair.” Lancelot spoke, focusing his gaze on his father who did but anything to make sure his eyes didn’t meet Lancelot’s.
“We are all the men of this family, so I called us all here.” Edward spoke, still not risking a glance at Lancelot.
In his heart, Bailey sought for a topic of discussion to ease the tension. When he caught sight of the way Lancelot’s nostrils twitched violently, he sighed.
“Say Lance, you’re starting to over work yourself these days. You need to come out an have a drink sometime.” Bailey called out, playfully punching his nephew’s arm.
Lancelot’s cold gaze fell on his.
“Yes brother.” James was standing in front of him now.
“You should come have a drink with me. In the club, bang some whores…” James paused for a while, feigning a thoughtful expression before his lips folded with pity.
“Ouch. Forgive me brother. I seemed to have forgotten that you have decided to tie Bran’s chosen mate to your bed…” The words rolled out of James’s tongue with all the venom that had arranged the words in his head.
In front of him, Lancelot’s fists rolled into balls, tight balls.
“I mean, I had known you would inherit all that belonged to him, but his woman? I thought better of you Lance.” It was Albert’s voice that caused Lancelot to look away from James’s face.
By God, if he heard one more word about his older brother, he was going to…
“Boys!”
Edward’s voice called all of them back to order.
“Now I don’t know what is going on here, but I would advice that you all save the beast you are about to unleash on yourselves, for the hunt!” Edward scolded in anger. How many more years until they learnt to see eye to eye?
If they didn’t get along now, what would happen after he is gone?
He focused his gaze on his now eldest son. With his stance, Edward could tell that if he had not stopped them from talking, James would have been on the floor with blood oozing out of his nose.
“Lance, you should know better. Your coronation is barely a month away and the hunt is even closer! Just two barely three weeks away! You know how important the ritual is to your coronation. My father and his father before him set a record that I lived up to, one that I am expecting you to surpass!…” He stopped to look over at the three young men.
“You should be training together, not devising new means to tear each other apart!”
“Everything would be easier if Lancelot remembered his place.” James spoke up again, stubbornly looking straight into Lancelot’s eyes.
Self control. Self control. Self control. Lancelot continued to repeat the words to himself. If he threw the kind of punch he sought to throw at James’s face, he was certain his brother would lose his note and his two middle incissors for life.
“James!”
“No father! Let me speak.” James tore his gaze from Lancelot and fixed it on Edward’s.
“Lancelot needs to understand that he has to stop trying so hard to fit into shoes that do not belong to him. These shoes do not belong to you!”
Bitter. His brother was filled with bitterness. And now, looking him in his eyes, Lancelot knew why.
It wasn’t about Bran. It had never been about Bran.
Lancelot chuckled. A gesture that infuriated James all the more.
“Why don’t you stop acting like all of this is about Bran? You and I know it isn’t and it has never been.” Lancelot spoke. The calm edge of his tone caused James to look like an angry fool standing in front of him.
A forced chuckled came from James.
“There you go again brother, acting like you know every goddamn thing.”
“Perhaps, after I beat you at today’s game and reduce you to nothing but a pup at the hunt, you would understand that I, as a matter of fact, do know everything.”
It was there in James’s gaze and stance. The defeat, the sudden humility and subtle humiliation. He stepped away from Lancelot and tightened his grip on his club.
If there was anything he knew about his brother, it was that Lancelot was never one to make empty threats.
Albert, who had been silently watching the display by the two brothers, was triggered by Lancelot’s last statement.
“You might want to lessen the words that come out of your mouth Lancelot, so that there won’t be too many words to swallow.” He spoke, slowly walking towards the part of the field Lancelot stood.
Lancelot drank in the sight of his cousin. The one person that resembled him in height and beauty. Albert also had the same domineering presence around him, but his was always forced.
Lancelot’s lips curved in a one sided smile. Albert was not worth battling words with.
“Now, I am not one to gamble, but would you put your money on it?” Albert asked with a smirk. He was openly challenging Lancelot, in front of all the men in the family.
If his catch turned out to be greater than Lancelot’s, it would be a great win for him. And he desired and craved that win more than anything else.
However, Lancelot had a better idea.
“You and I know that money lost won’t mean anything to the both of us. But, I’ll place the bet.” Lancelot spoke, moving closer to Albert, so he stood face to face with him.
“When I win you, I would own sixty percent of your properties. And if you win, you can have seventy percent of mine.”
Albert’s eyes narrowed at Lancelot, who threw him a flashy smile. Albert wanted to back out, but his pride would not let him.
“It’s a bet.”
“Very well gentlemen. We have our bet.” He looked around him, before narrowing his eyes at his cousin.
“Be warned Albert. I would show you absolutely no mercy.”
he forced another handful of popcorn into her mouth as she pressed her left ear down to her shoulder to hold her phone in place.
“You’re sure it’s okay if I stay out tonight?” Emily asked, from the other end of the phone.
Roxanne, who’s eyes were fixed on the television in front of her, nodded her head in affirmation. As if Emily could see her from the voice call.
“Roxy! I’m serious. If it’s not okay and you need me, I can come back right now and…” Roxanne tried to laugh in a way that won’t require her to choke on her popcorn.
“Are you watching real housewives of Atlanta again?” Emily queried.
“No, no.” Roxanne finally spoke, after swallowing her popcorn.
“I’m seeing wags. The show would be over soon and I’ll just go to bed…”
“Once it’s done.” Emily cut in.
Roxanne laughed. “Once it’s done.”
“Promise me you’ll call me if you need me.” Emily said again. Roxanne placed her bowl of popcorn on the center table in front of her and smiled. She removed her phone from her shoulder and pressed it to her right ear with her right hand.
“No, I won’t. Come on, we talked about this just this afternoon Emily. I need you to live your life, go out and have fun…”
“I will Roxy, but…”
“You’re not on pills, so make sure he uses a condom.” With that, Roxanne ended the call while laughing and placed her phone on DND (Do Not Disturb) cause she knew Emily would definitely want to call her back. With that, she placed her phone on the table, in order to enjoy the rest of her now favorite reality tv series.
Another ten minutes into the show, the sound of the doorbell caused Roxanne to pause her show and look up from the TV screen.
She clicked the home button of her phone to look at the time. Just ten minutes had passed.
Had Emily seriously returned home after trying to call her? Besides Emily, there was nobody else who would be at her door by such a time.
It was already 8:30 pm and she had not ordered pizza, so, it definitely had to be Emily.
Roxanne had already prepared how to laugh her friend to scorn. How is it that Emily did not want to be a mother, yet, was one of the most “motherly people” Roxanne knew?
Laughing, Roxanne rose from her couch and took slow strides to the front.
“Emily, you know you’re definitely cra…” She stopped talking when she opened the door.
Her heart fell. Something like anger and pain began to boil in the pit of her stomach again.
She had already walked out of their lives, so what the fuck was this man doing at her door by 8:36pm, and drunk out of his mind too.
Roxanne looked over him in reflex. There was no one behind him, nothing as well.
Roxanne found herself sighing in relief that he hadn’t drove here. In his condition, God knows what would have happened to him.
He raised his eyes to meet hers. He reeked of alcohol and sweat.
Still looking down at him in disgust, Roxanne couldn’t tell whether to send him to hell and jam the door at his face, or to bring him in first, send him to hell, send him out then jam the door at his face.
“Roxy!” Jonah called out, staggering as he struggled to keep his stance. Right now, he was the definition of fucked up.
Roxanne’s eyes lifted up, in order to look away from him.
She pulled him inside the house and shut the door behind her. She watched him fall on her couch with his legs spread open. His tie was loose and the first two buttons of his sleeved red shirt were off.
Roxanne had often wondered what it would be like to be alone with Jonah after all that had happened. She had often imagined what it would be like to look at him again. But now that he was here, she only felt three things. Three things which were not normally supposed to coexist; anger, pity and indifference.
“Roxy, I’m so tired.”
Roxanne stood across him, her arms folded under her breasts as she watched him mutter almost inaudibly.
“I’m so sorry Roxy, I miss you so much.”
Roxanne scoffed bitterly. She moved to the table to pick up her phone.
“That’s it, I’m calling the cops to take you away.”
“No! Please don’t.”
Roxanne stopped on her tracks and turned to him. She cast him a disgusted glance again before taking her stance.
“And why should I not?”
“I’m here to apologise Roxy, I hurt you …”
“No, no. Nope.” She waved her hands in the air dramatically.
“I don’t want that Jonah, save it.”
“But you have to know Roxanne. Rayla, she …” He paused, a faint hiccup erupted from his throat.
“She trapped me into all of this. She seduced me and got pregnant with my child. I had to take responsibility for it Roxy, I had to do the right thing.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief, chuckling bitterly.
The right thing? Did he just say “the right thing” ? The right thing would have been to not put himself in a position to cheat on her with her twin sister! The right thing would have been him gathering the balls to tell her to her face. And not cower behind her sister and stupid emails!
“I thought that after marrying her, I would fall for her and get over you. But, I was lying to myself. Rayla is nothing like you. She’s…” He paused to sniff back his tears.
“She’s incorrigible, pathetic, selfish, proud, she’s a bloody psychopath! I can’t take it anymore Roxanne, you have to help me please. Just let me stay with you. I can’t go back home to Rayla. Ever since we lost the baby, there’s been nothing for me to live for. I want you back Roxanne. I…”
He fell on his knees and began to crawl to where she stood. Dumbstruck with more anger than shock, her gaze lowered to him as he knelt in front of her.
“Nothing makes sense anymore Roxy. I could file for a divorce, me and you can be happy again.”
That was the last straw for Roxanne. Why wouldn’t they just leave her alone? Had her family not put her through enough already? They wouldn’t let her be with them, still, they found one way or the other to torture her. Jonah had the guts to come to her house drunk and pitiful. Maybe the booze had given him the guts. Still, Roxanne felt insulted, terribly insulted.
“It’s time for you to go home Jonah.”
On hearing her, he fell to the floor and continued to wail.
Roxanne frowned and lowered herself to him. She thought of calling Rayla to come and pick him up, but decided against it.
She knew she could not bare to look at her sister’s face now.
So, she lifted him from the floor and flung his hand over her shoulders. She pulled him to herself so that she could control his stance. She walked him out of her house and waited for a taxi to pull up in front of her.
After giving the taxi man the description of the house, she paid the man and helped him with a twenty dollar tip. She didn’t have much money to spare, but she knew the man was going to need it.
“That is for the extra stress. I really hope you’re well familiar with the address. He is not in a position to answer any questions.”
The driver took an uncertain look at Jonah before forcing a reassuring smile. After all, she had paid extra for whatever baggage the drunk man came with.
“You have nothing to worry about miss.”
With that, Roxanne stood straight and watched the taxi driver off.
It was only when she had her back against her door, did she realise that she had been sweating profusely ever since. Still with her back against her door, she locked it and did a ten seconds breathing exercise to calm her nerves down.
Seeing Jonah had exhausted her, terribly.
As she walked to the living room, she noticed that she no longer has the zeal to watch her show, or the appetite to finish the popcorn.
Annoyed and tired, she walked to the study table beside the kitchen door. She pulled out the wooden chair and settled into it. Her laptop was on the table, staring back at her.
She was going to rummage through it for some good news, no matter how small. Something just had to make her smile.
Roxanne thought of calling Emily. But she knew her best friend’s night would be ruined if she let her know that Jonah was here.
No, she couldn’t do that.
As her eyes danced around her home screen, she saw a notification pop up.
Roxanne’s heart skipped a beat, a joyous beat.
When she clicked it, it was a job ad from a site she had signed up for. It was the one who had provided her with all job offers. Now, there was a new one and she was ready to try again.
“Dankworth technology corporations, New York, USA now has an opening for the job of a sales marketer. If you meet the requirements below, please send your CV to the email attached to this mail and await a response. Thank you.” Roxanne read aloud.
Instantly, her eyes skimmed through the requirements. When she realised that she met all of it, she clicked the email link and smiled.
She smiled! She smiled!
Alas, something had made her smile.
She only hopes in her heart.
“Please, let this be the one.”