*

I wasn't supposed to be up.

The crisp, cool November air howled around me as I stood in the middle of Washington Park, waiting.

Waiting for Colton. And all I could think about was how I wasn't supposed to be up

It was around 5am, and barely anyone was outside. The usually busy streets of D.C were barren, empty, and quiet, aside from the few joggers who dedicated their lives to health skirting past. I was supposed to be in bed, cozying up in my warm sheets, but a call in the middle of the night changed my plans for the day. Colton had asked me to meet him at this 'special' park at 5AM because he had a surprise.

It better be fucking good

Was all that was running through my head as I hugged myself, shivering from the cold. I had basically just gotten out of bed, and so my attire wasn't the most fitting for a morning in the freezing cold. I was wearing my pajamas, which consisted of some shorts and a sports bra with a loose hoodie covering it. Not my best work, as I had thought I wouldn't be waiting outside for too long.

I checked my phone, ready to just go home since it was already cornering to 5:30 and my mom would most likely be confused as to where I disappeared to at the crack of dawn. But to my avail, it wasn't long before I saw Colton in the distance, jogging in my direction.

Once we met eyes he grinned and picked up his pace, and soon enough, he was right in front of me. Winter beanie on, cheeks red, and heart pumping.

"Thought you'd be a no-show," he commented. His eyes raked my loosely clothed body, "I'm glad you came."

"Could say the same to you," I countered. "It's almost 5:30."

I was slightly irritated, but I think it was mostly the cold.

"Sorry about the wait. There was traffic on 37th and I thought I'd be able to get my miles in before you'd get here," he explained.

I nodded, understanding. "How many miles?"

"9 and a half," he took a slug of his water. He barely looked out of breath.

Why was that impressive? And why was that hot?

"Well, congratulations on getting your miles in. I think I'll just stand here and celebrate my frost bite," I joked. "God it's freezing," I muttered, shivering.

"Well I think I know one or two ways I can warm you up," he proposed suggestively.

Was he...?

We were walking now.

He looked down at me and smiled, "Coffee."

I nodded, slightly disappointed.

We began our way to the coffee shop when he glanced at me with a smirk. "What'd you think I meant?"

I rolled my eyes, entering the shop as the wind chimes rang from above me.

The coffee shop he took me to today was very different from the European one. This shop was one that had been in the community for years now, and it definitely showed.

Soul seeped through the walls upheld by graffiti art littering our adjacent surroundings. The Smokey Robinson jazz blues playing from the speakers added everything and more to the calming atmosphere.

I took a sip of my coffee. Today, I ordered a straight black. I needed something energizing to really wake me up.

"So have you thought harder about it yet?"

The grogginess was still in my system, so I was slightly startled at Colton's voice.

"About what?" I asked, confused.

"The banquet," he reminded me.

I paused mid sip, remembering the conflicts that arose when it came to the banquet.

Was it possible for an event to bring about so much hell?

Two guys. Two fucking guys had asked me to the same event in the span of 48 hours and I was torn as to who I would say no to. I didn't want to hurt either of them, and I knew that they'd both be there that night and I couldn't deal with them running into each other.

Not to mention, it was also kind of embarrassing working as the help at an event held to (basically) honor my best friend. I knew he wouldn't care, but either way, it was damaging.

Damaging to my ego, and damaging to our dynamic.

I fiddled with my fingers, unsure of how to respond.

"It's okay if you need more time," he assured.

I smiled thankfully. "So.... Did you wake me up at 4am just to listen to jazz and drink bean water or how 'bout that surprise you had in store?"

Amused, he began digging through his pocket and pulled out a tiny black box.

Before I could even open it, my heart began to race in my chest. Was he proposing? Holy fucking shit.

I had definitely dreamed about this day.

Doves chirping, sun shining, angels floating down from the heavens and--

"Don't get too ahead of yourself. It's a necklace," Colton snapped me out of my thoughts.

I rolled my eyes, "Oh shut the fuck up." I grinned, grabbing the box when I saw the tag on it and my smile immediately vanished.

Shaking my head, I pushed the box away, back towards him on the table. "No way, Colton. I can't accept this."

He looked from the box, to me, his eyebrows furrowed. "Is there something wrong? I can exchange it--"

"No. I'm not taking this," I rejected firmly.

He had forgot to mention that it wasn't just any necklace-- it was a Cartier diamond encrusted one. Just the stone in the middle of the jewel was practically worth a month of rent.

There was no way in hell I'd be accepting this.

"First the dress offering, and now this?" I scoffed. I don't know if I was reaching, but..."I mean what am I to you? A charity case?"

There was a pause, and he laughed a bit, taken aback. "What?"

I wasn't laughing though.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." The dumbfounded look on his face, however, said otherwise. "The pampering? Sympathetic and borderline patronizing gestures? The fucking tutoring sessions, for godsake. You know I'm poor Colton-- so what's the point of all this?" My voice was getting louder as my passion grew stronger.

People were beginning to look over, concerned.

Getting arrested was more than enough for his family's publicity to be severely damaged. The last thing he needed was a big scene of me blowing up on him. The drama-hungry tabloids would have a field day with this.

Whitman Investments morale being questioned after Colton Whitman caught having a breakfast affair with some psycho-girl screaming at him!

"Can we please talk about this in the car?" he urged quietly, scanning the restaurant.

He was right. I was getting angry, and I didn't want to disturb everyone else's peace.

"Fine."

Grudgingly, I made my way out of the shop and after walking half a mile down 35th street without saying a word to each other, we arrived at his car.

With keys n hand, his car chirped to an unlock and he opened the passenger door for me to get in.

I crossed my arms, opposed to it.

"Asha get in the car," he commanded. I refused to budge and he took this opportunity to sit in the passenger seat himself, staring at me. Challenging me. "Fine. I'll wait."

I was freezing cold, and he knew I would crack eventually. But I was not willing to get thrown around just because he had money.

Once he realized I would not be getting in, he ran his hands over his face, "Asha, I don't have all day. Get in the fucking car."

Luckily, it was still dark out and there was barely anyone around. He was parked near a sort of alley and normally, I'd be too embarrassed to be throwing the fit that I was but I was trying to make a point.

Before I knew it, I was being grabbed and sat on his lap inside of the car.

"Colton!" I gasped.

"I told you to get in," he shrugged, shutting the door. His car was warm and cozy. I hated to admit it, but I would have much rather been in here than standing outside in the cold.

"Now talk to me." he demanded, spinning me around to face him, straddled on his thigh.

"I'm not your charity case." I crossed my arms.

"You think a friend helping you is equivalent to being a charity case?" he scoffed.

"Oh so now you're just a friend?"

His eyes faltered. "That's not fair."

"You're ashamed of me, aren't you?" Today had so far been a stressful morning and I could feel tears pricking the back of my eyes as I exasperatedly felt the buildup of inexplicable stress, emotions, and sadness spill out of me. "You're ashamed of me." I realized, more defeated.

I wasn't sure if these were my insecurities or simply just the truth. The life he was being prepped to live was one that I could not exist in. If all the intricacies of family business that Colton had told me about were really true, then his appearances truly did mean a lot, if not everything. Anything that he did would be subject to scrutinizing and he would soon have to carry out and live up to the responsibilities that not only his family put upon him, but also the responsibility of millions of people as they were the ones who partially kept the dynasty running.

And the only thing that I contributed-- the only thing that I was, was a scar. A scar to his reputation. A bug. A parasite. And this was beginning to feel too familiar, remembering the topic of what the first fight we had was about.

"Ashamed of you?" he spat, incredulous as if the thought was such an insane one. "You think I'm ashamed of you?"

He cupped my face, his mesmerizing yet sensitive eyes boring in to mine. "Asha. I have made some serious mistakes the past few years in my life and one thing that I can wholeheartedly say is that you are not one of them. You are one of the only things I have ever been proud of. This," he pointed to the small space between us, "Is nothing I could ever be ashamed of."

I couldn't bring myself to meet his eyes. I was embarrassed. I had let my insecurities win again.

"Look at me," he spoke. I didn't look up. "Asha, look at me."

Wearily, I tilted my head upward to meet his deep-set gaze.

He leaned in and slowly, his lips melted onto mine. We were centimeters apart and his cherry lips tasted so good. My brain was whirring with thoughts of how I never wanted this to end, and soon enough, I was breathing hard, unable to get enough.

His back fell into the passenger seat and he desperately toggled with the tools on the side of the chair to recline it. I toppled on top of him, straddled in his lap as our lips kept moving and his hands found themselves snaked around my waist.

That's when I could feel it. I could feel his bulge pressed against my ass. He was rock fucking hard.

Slowly, I leaned down to kiss him and began grinding my hips against his erection.

"Asha" he groaned, gripping the arm rest. His veins flexed throughout his hands as I heard a low rumble from the back of his throat.

Placing his hands underneath my ass, he moved my my hips so that his dick was more directly underneath me. As I continued, I could feel myself grow more and more wet, and as I did so my hips involuntarily sped up.

Eager, I traced my hands down to the top of his pants but his hand stopped my traveling arm. "I- I can't let you do this." He stuttered, but his face and body did not match his words.

There was a bulge in his pants, now protruding, and his cheeks were flushed red, eyes hazy, and lips ever so parted. I could see in his eyes how much he wanted me to take care of this for him.

Carefully, my lips made their way to the tip of his ear and grazed them ever so slightly, before whispering, "Colton. Please let me do this for you."

Slowly, I began tracing my hand down his abs and towards his v-line, sliding my hand down his boxers and massaging the area above where all the action was occurring.

Curious, my wandering hand grazed his swelled cock and he inhaled sharply. Liking this reaction, I gripped onto his swelling cock and a low dark moan escaped from the back of his throat as I began moving up and down.

And this time, he didn't shy away from grabbing onto my hips to readjust my position. It was starting to dawn on me that he was this turned on- only for me? That was hot.

"Take off your shorts," he commanded.

Didn't have to tell me twice.

Needing to relieve myself, I shook off my shorts and was about to remove my laced underwear when suddenly, a phone rang from his car.

I was faced away from the radio station, so I couldn't see who was calling on Bluetooth. And quite honestly? I didn't care. The only thing I was currently focused on was getting myself off, and getting him off.

"Shit," he glanced at his phone, then back at me. "I'm so sorry, I have to take this."

He rushed to place a kiss onto my lips before picking up the call.

"Hello?" he answered as we parted.

I continued pumping his shaft anyway, enjoying his squirms and poorly concealed grunts of pleasure as he tried to keep it professional over the phone.

His breathing became labored as I massaged the tip of his swollen penis, already leaking with precum.

His free hand that was not holding the phone caressed my lower back as I continued grinding against him.

"Y-yeah not until the afternoon," I heard him say.

I could tell he could care less about whatever the person on the other line was saying. His composure was starting to become more and more unraveled.

"I-I'm almost," he grunted over the phone as I fastened my pace. I could feel his grip on my waist begin to tighten. "I'm in the middle of a meeting right now but I'll meet you."

He took a second to put the phone done and suddenly roughly grabbed my jaw, forcing me to look him in the eyes.

"Stop moving," he whispered lowly. I felt butterflies in my stomach, flooding down to my panties. His cock twitched right against my entrance as we were chest to chest, and I was still straddled on top of his navel.

He had me in the position he wanted me in all along: Almost naked and right on his dick.

Uncomfortable, I shifted slightly to get into a more comfortable position.

That's when he squeezed my hips tighter-almost painfully- locking me in position and whispered again, away from the phone, "Asha. Please don't move."

I bit my lip, almost unable to obey that command. The only thing my body wanted to keep doing was move against his thigh.

I could hear shuffling over the phone and his attention snapped back to whoever it was. "Wait what? You're where?"

His eyes widened with shock and now, I could tell he was panicked. I stopped my movements, noticing the shifted atmosphere.

'What's wrong?' I mouthed, but he ignored me, tugging his shirt back on and opening the car door.

He promptly hopped out as I was left absolutely puzzled in the passengers seat, wishing for his warm embrace back.

"Yep. Yeah! No yeah yeah don't worry I'm on way, babe." I heard him muffled from outside the car, before he opened the door and all sound drowned back in.

Babe?

He made his way to the drivers seat and frantically jammed the key into the ignition. "Yeah. Yeah. Kay. Love you too. I'll see you in a few."

And that's when I realized; he was talking to Brooke.

How could I be so stupid?

"We gotta get out of here right now. Brooke thought it'd be nice to surprise me on my run and she's on 45th street and could spot us at any moment." He was already backing out of the parking lot as he rushed to save face. "I'll drop you off at your house, real quick, alright?"

I nodded solemnly, broken.

His little princess came crying and of course, he just had to drop everything and run to her rescue.

"Just drop me off at the train station."