"Is this really necessary?" Darcy asked, her eyes flitting between the two men in front of her. While her dad stood with his arms crossed and his attempt at a menacing glare, Thelonious awkwardly kept his hands in his pocket, his more than half-way full coffee mug abandoned on the coffee table. While her dad thought that he was doing a good job in scaring her boyfriend, she knew better.
Thelonious had a few inches on him, at least forty pounds and a whole lot of muscle from his daily gym sessions. Her father didn't even stand a chance if fists were thrown, but it was somewhat cute.
"Darcy, why don't you give us some time to talk?"
She huffed and stepped forward to kiss Thelonious on the cheek. "Don't let him scare you away." She whispered to him before turning to her father. "Be nice." She warned before turning around and heading upstairs to her room.
Thelonious watched her leave with yearning evident in his eyes. What he would do to follow her upstairs and leave this awkward situation, which was about to get a whole lot more awkward.
"Take a seat." Elijah sat down on the single armchair and gestured for his daughter's boyfriend to do the same. "What are your intentions with my daughter?" He asked, cutting straight to the chase.
He scratched the back of his neck, nervously. "We've been dating for just over a month."
"That's not what I asked."
"I just want to make her happy."
Thelonious wasn't sure if his answer was sufficient enough or if Elijah was happy with it as he merely hummed and rubbed his chin, stuck in deep thought. "Tell me more about yourself."
If Thelonious was wearing a shirt, he would have tugged at the collar. It was suddenly getting quite hot. "My name is Thelonious Knight. I'm 28 and I own a hotel in London."
"You own a hotel?"
He nodded.
"And you're 28?"
He nodded again.
Elijah's jaw tensed. "Don't you think you're too old for Darcy?"
Thelonious didn't like the sound of that. Not once had Darcy shown any concerns with him being too old for her. In fact, he was sure that she preferred the age gap, not that he wished to express his daughter's taste in men to her father. "Darcy doesn't seem to have an issue with my age."
"I'm not asking what Darcy thinks. I'm asking what you think."
"No," he replied, clenching his jaw in anger and frustration, but he forced himself to remain calm â outwardly calm, at least. This man was Darcy's father, he couldn't afford to have a heated argument with him. He and Darcy had just resolved their issues and he didn't plan on coming between them and stirring up more trouble. "I don't think I'm too old for her. In fact, I think we're pretty compatible for each other."
"You're 7 years older than her."
His jaw clenched, but he exercised restraint, forcing himself to remain calm. "She'll be 22 in August."
"Then you're 6 years older than her."
"We're both legal, consenting adults. Darcy is aware how old I am and as long as she doesn't have an issue with it, it's not anyone's business."
Elijah just stared at him in response, though he didn't seem too thrilled. "You said you owned a hotel? How did that come about?"
"I worked hard and saved up some money, and used the money my parents left me to buy the building. And I turned it into a hotel." He shrugged. "I've been managing it ever since then." He was playing it cool. He was incredibly proud of his hotel. It had been a dream of his for a long time and once he had the funds as well as a small loan from the bank, he was able to make it come true. His hotel was his baby, his life and he was damn proud of it.
"The money your parents left you?"
He nodded. "They passed away in a car accident when I was younger. I've been in foster care ever since."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
He shrugged. "I miss them terribly and life has been very difficult since then, but it's made me the man I am today." He looked up and held Elijah's eyes, wanting him to understand the extent of his feelings. "I love your daughter, Mr Blake. She means a whole lot to me and we've just started dating. I wouldn't dream of hurting her."
A slow smile slid onto his face before turning into a full-blown grin. "Call me Elijah."
"Elijah." He nodded.
"I like you Thelonious. You make my Darcy happy."
A slow smile spread on his face. "She makes me happy."
Elijah nodded and stood up. "How about we get some dinner? I'm in the mood for a burger."
"That sounds good."
"Why don't you go tell Darcy? We'll leave in half an hour. Her bedroom is at the top of the stairs."
He nodded and followed instructions to find her door ajar as she sifted through some clothes in her wardrobe.
Her walls were painted a pale blue and her room was adorned with an assortment of brown furniture including a double bed which was the main attraction of the room, with matching bedside tables on either side. A large desk was placed in one corner of the room, littered with papers and books â sans her laptop which she had left in his room at the hotel â while a tall mirrored wardrobe stood tall on the other side of the room.
Darcy glanced up and caught his reflection in her wardrobe mirror. "What did you talk about?" She asked, turning around to face him, the jeans she was folding still in her hands.
He smiled and sat down on her desk chair. "Nothing to worry about."
She frowned at that. "Why won't you tell me what my dad said to you?" She asked, dumping the jeans before making her way over to him. When she came to a stop in front of him, he reached out and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her closer until she straddled him on the chair.
"He just wanted to know what my intentions were with you." He shrugged nonchalantly. Going into the conversation, Thelonious had been very nervous but by the end of it, he felt great; like he had won over her father. He had even smiled at him at the end. Maybe he was better at the whole parents than he thought.
She brushed away some hair from his forehead. "Do I get to hear about these intentions?"
"Maybe," he rubbed his nose against hers. "But we're going out for dinner in a little bit so it's going to have to wait."
"Whose idea was this?"
"You dad's."
She hummed. "He must like you then. He wouldn't have suggested dinner if he didn't like you. I guess that means the talk did go well." She squinted at him to gauge his reaction but he merely chuckled in response.
His arms tightened around her, reigning her in closer to him, leaving no room to escape. Not that she had any intentions of escaping his arms. In fact, she was feeling quite the opposite. "We have about thirty minutes before we have to go. Any ideas to pass the time?"
Darcy wound her arms around his neck and leaned in to give him a kiss. "I can think of a few things," she whispered against his mouth, tugging at his bottom lip for entrance. Thelonious groaned and allowed her entrance before curling his tongue around hers, battling for dominance.
His hands trailed down her body to come to a stop on her voluptuous derriere. Shaping his hands over her ass, he pulled her closer towards him and when her jean covered centre rubbed against his already semi-excited junior with the added pleasure of her trailing kisses down his jaw while tugging on his hair, a low groan passed his lips.
"Just because I approve of you, doesn't mean I want to see you molest my daughter, Thelonious!" A voice broke them apart. "Close the door next time."
Darcy jumped in fright but he reached out and caught her before she toppled off the chair.
Their ears met Elijah's chuckles as he headed downstairs.
He groaned again â this time, for different reasons â and leaned his head back against the headrest. "Your dad is going to hate me."
Warm hands travelled under his top, rubbing soothingly circles as they made a slow journey up to his pectorals. A wet tongue slithered a warm, tingly trail up his neck, occasionally teasing him with the added pressure of her teeth. "It's a good thing I like you very much, then." She giggled against his neck.
Thelonious chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, sitting back up. "You're such a vixen. Don't start something you can't finish."
With a menacing glint in her eyes, she reached down and palmed him through his jeans. "Who says I can't finish?"
"Fuck!" He swore as his dick all but jumped as she cupped him brazenly. "I need to get rid of this before your dad sees. I don't want him to think I'm going to deflower his princess under his roof." He stood up with her in his arms before placing her down on the chair.
"You've done more than that already." She remined him with a coy smile.
He turned around and glared at her, not that it scared her. She merely threw her head back and laughed at his predicament. "I could help you out, if you let me."
He grinned. "I'm going to hold you to that later but now, where's your bathroom?"
Within the next 10 minutes, Thelonious had managed to locate the bathroom and sort himself out while Darcy packed a change of clothes for the next day as she planned on travelling back to London with Thelonious after dinner. Though she had every intention of returning home for the weekend to spend some time with her dad.
Thelonious left his car parked in the driveway, allowing Elijah to drive them to the diner since he knew where he was going. The drive wasn't as awkward as he had thought it would be and actually found himself enjoying their company.
"Tell me more about what Darcy was like growing up." Thelonious chuckled as he raised his beer to his mouth. "It sounds like you really had your hands full.
Darcy buried her face in his hands and groaned dramatically. "Can we stop talking about me please?"
"Fine." Elijah leaned back in his chair and studied the couple that sat across from him. "But one more story."
Thelonious rested his arms on the table and leaned forward enthusiastically, ready for another juicy story.
"When Darcy was younger, I used to let her play on my computer while I worked. It was old, historic even, but she absolutely loved the thing."
Thelonious turned to grin at her. "That's where your love for computers and technology started?"
"My first interaction with modern-day technology," she nodded. "Dad downloaded a bunch of games for me to play but soon regretted it when he couldn't get me off the thing."
"She was on it so much I had to buy her, her own computer. Anyway, I had to take a work call one day so I stepped out of the room and when I came back, I found that she had scribbled all over the dissertations that I was marking. Apparently, they were far more interesting than an ancient computer."
Thelonious threw his head back and laughed. "I can't believe that."
Even though she pretended to hate hearing old embarrassing childhood stories about herself, Darcy secretly smiled at the fond childhood memories. "Okay, let's talk about something else, please."
The man shared a knowing look and started chuckling again. Darcy rolled her eyes but smiled, nonetheless. Conversation flowed easily between the three, only pausing to order their food which consisted of cheese burgers, fries, milkshakes and a large platter of spicy chicken wings to share.
"Is that Will?" Elijah spoke mid-conversation, peering over all the heads in the diner. "That is Will!"
Darcy visibly winced but before Thelonious could ask about it or even look up from his burger, Elijah had already waved him over.
Elijah asked with a warm smile. "What are you doing here?"
Will glanced around the table with a large grin. "I'm just grabbing some food for the evening. I don't really feel like cooking."
"Join us."
Will glanced at Darcy, and his grin grew wider when she avoided eye contact with him, suddenly very interested in her milkshake. "No, I don't want to impose."
"Impose? Nonsense."
Will smiled cheerfully and turned to face the other two patrons at the table. He smirked when his eyes landed on Thelonious. "You must be Darcy's boyfriend?"
Thelonious smiled, no idea what he was getting himself into. "I am. Thelonious Knight."
"Will Thompson. Our families are friends." His smile soon twisted, for Thelonious' benefit only. "We go way back."
Thelonious reached out and shook his hand with a polite smile on his face. Will's sudden appearance was not expected, but not completely unwelcome either; he even looked forward to meeting a family friend of the Blake's. However, Will's too-firm, prolonged grip and the way he was looking at Darcy, fuelled his instant distaste for the newcomer.
It appeared that he was wrong. Dinner was about to get a whole lot more uncomfortable.
-
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Layla Knight
22.04.2020