A/N: Hola! I want to remind everyone to check out the Holiday Story Exchange by BluebellaMortimer . The due date for story ideas is coming up on December 1st. I know a few people already have their stories in, but the more the merrier. Also, I encourage people who wouldn't consider themselves "writers" to participate, it's going to be a lot of fun. Check out the Holiday Story Exchange book for all the rules, guidelines, and deadlines. 💜
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XXIV
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I stepped out of the warmth of Paisley Park into the rapidly chilling afternoon air that whirled around the parking lot, creating small dust devils that terrorized the parked cars. I should've taken that as a sign to turn around and abandon my trip to St Paul, but decided to just get my search over with.
Climbing into my car, I looked up at the stark white building one last time before pulling away. By the time I'd return, the sun would be set and the bright purple pyramid would be illuminating the sky surrounding Prince's sanctuary.
Traffic on the way to St Paul was horrible, the usual thirty minute drive took almost an hour. Although I wasn't really expecting to find my jewelry, the quest would give me the final closure I needed to end that chapter of my life with Janet.
As I sat in the car in stop and go traffic, I reflected on my time with her. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that our whole relationship consisted of me enabling her. When I gave her money, she bought drugs. When I gave her a place to stay and food to eat, she failed to find a job or do anything productive with her life. It was doomed long before Prince came into the picture.
Once I reached my exit, I drove up and down Rice Street until I found an area with a concentration of pawn shops. There were six that I had to weed through to see if they even had my stuff and if they did, I had to attempt to get it back.
The blustery windstorm in Chanhassen had been mirrored in St Paul. Fallen leaves barreled down the street where I parked while I stood outside of my car fighting to keep my hair in some sort of order.
The first pawn shop I entered was manned by an old biker dressed in leather from head to toe. His head was bald and shiny and a long white beard hung from his face. I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle when I noticed that his name tag read "Cueball."
I spoke with Cueball for a couple of minutes but it was obvious that his establishment hadn't been the lucky receivers of my stolen property. So I moved on to the next one, which was only two doors down, in the same strip of stores.
As luck would have it, when I started talking to the owner, a clean shaven younger man with a thick French-Canadian accent, he seemed very familiar with the items I described. He also remembered Janet vividly, saying she smelt of Captain Morgan and lost hope.
The owner, Olivier, was very reasonable. He said without a police report, he couldn't do too much but he would sell the jewelry back to me for what he paid for it. I knew I should've filed a police report, but given the history between Janet and I, I just didn't have the heart.
So, as much as I didn't want to pay for my own jewelry, I didn't really have a choice. Olivier brought out a ziplock bag that held my belongings and I gave him $400.00. My hand shook while I handed him the money, the anger I felt when I opened the half empty jewelry box resurfaced right there in that pawn shop.
Once I returned to my car, I took a moment to calm my nerves, telling myself that that part of my life was over and I can now move on.
Traffic on the way back to Paisley Park had lightened up considerably since going the opposite direction forty five minutes before.
Butterflies began to flutter within as I drove down the freeway back to Chanhassen, getting closer and closer to my destination. I knew the best thing to do was to tell Prince how I felt, that I was falling for him. But the little voice in the back of my head was filled with doubts that sometimes consumed my thoughts.
Ultimately, Karen's loud voice telling me to just tell him the truth drowned out the doubts I had within.
The clock inside my car read 5:02 when I pulled up to Paisley Park, taking far less time than I had intended. My fingers were wrapped tightly around the steering wheel while I took several deep breaths in through my nose and out through my mouth, working up the courage to tell him the truth. One last breath and I quickly exited my car then headed into the building.
By the taxed look on his face, I assumed Prince would still be busy working on the problem he initially left me to remedy. So when I walked up to the reception area of his office, I was surprised that Gladys called him to let him know I had arrived. Once she hung up she told me to have a seat since he was with someone else.
I turned around to take the seat closest to the door when it swung open. A young brunette woman with long flowing hair sauntered through the threshold towards me. She looked into my orbs with her big brown eyes while wiping her mouth then directed her focus to the crooked skirt she wore around her waist.
My heart sank while she walked past me, slightly nudging my arm with hers, that was covered in a white silk blouse.
From her gaze, I looked to the right to see Prince inside the office, leaning against his desk with his feet and arms crossed and a emotionless look on his face. His eyes never left mine as the door closed with the loud sound of the latch hitting the door jam.
I stood there convincing myself to stay, the way I felt about him was obviously not the same way he felt about me. He was only doing what he'd always done with most of the women in his life.
The receptionist's phone rang, temporarily redirecting my attention from the office door to the loud sound of the receiver, "Ms Bryant, he's ready to see you."
Suddenly, my feet felt like they were made of iron, weighing me down into the carpet below. All of the things I'd planned on telling him, how I loved our little talks and our silent stares. How I cherished the moments we had together and in those moments, where it was just him and I, I began to feel something. It was something small at first, but soon grew into full blown, heart warming love.
I hated admitting that he had that sort of hold on me, even to myself. The love I felt for him, I'd been fighting for so long, but today was the day I was going to let it all out.
The heaviness of my feet eventually lightened up, allowing me walk into his office. Fighting back whatever emotions I had that seemed to bubble up into my throat, I made my way to the chair I favored and took a seat, never making eye contact. "Hey, I wasn't expecting you until later." His voice deeper than usual.
"Hmm, It didn't take as long as I thought it would." I said, my voice lacking emotion, my eyes fixed on his disheveled hair.
"Are you mad at me?" A slight snicker left his lips.
"Why would I be mad at you?" I closed my eyes and shrugged.
"I can tell by the way you walked in here. Is it because of that?" He pointed to the door of his office, I assumed he was referring to the brunette that just left.
"The girl that just left? The one straightening her skirt out? No, I'm not mad about that. Why would I be?"
I watched as a smirk lined his mouth, "You just seem a little upset that's all."
"Nope." A long silence made its way between us while I tried to push my feelings that were starting to creep back up, down. Finally, with a quick breath, I broke the stillness that permeated the air, "I'll admit, it does sting a little when I see other girls, but that's only natural. I know my place around here." I said, twirling my finger around in a circle.
"You do, huh?" The tone in his voice seemingly unaware of the pain that every nonchalant word he spoke caused. I nodded my head. Prince took a step forward, then knelt down, resting on his knees in front of me on the plush carpet, catching my gaze that had fallen again. "So what's your place around here then?"
"I don't know, I guess accountant slash fuck buddy."
A smile grew on his face, "Well isn't that what you wanted? Just someone you could fuck without any commitment?" I didn't say anything, but closed my eyes. Originally, that's exactly what I wanted but over time it grew into something deeper than that. "Huh, Bambi?" Silence filled the room while he awaited an answer. "Well, if you don't want to talk-"
"Prince..."
His eyes pierced mine, waiting for me to continue. "It's just... I'm sorry... I don't want to..." I drew in a deep breath, effectively resetting my brain so I would stop stumbling over my words. "I'm so sorry for laying this all on you, I know this isn't what this whole thing between us was supposed to be. But, over the past few months that we've been hanging out, my feelings for you have grown. And I'm so sorry, I've been trying to push them away and hide them, but they just keep coming back and it's driving me crazy. So seeing that," I pointed behind me towards the office door with my thumb while Prince stared at me, dumbfounded, "I can't take that. I don't wanna share you, Prince. If I have to share you, I can't do this anymore. I'll find another-"
"You've been having feelings for me?" His eyebrows furrowed, relaxing back so he was sitting on his feet, both of his hands resting on my knees.
"I'm sorry, I know this isn't what it was supposed to be." The realization of the risk I took by letting all of my feelings for him show became overwhelming. Tears started lining my eyes, blurring my vision.
"Why didn't you just tell me?"
"Because you're you and I'm... well, I'm me. I never thought you'd want anything beyond what we already had."
"Well, for starters, we're both people. And also, you should've expressed your feelings to me instead of hiding them. What'd you think I was gonna do? Fire you?"
I chuckled, wiping my damp eyes, getting rid of the tears that never fell, "Yeah, I kinda did."
"Well, no. I won't fire you. But I've been hoping we'd have this conversation for a long time now." Prince slid his hands up my thighs and around my waist, bringing himself closer to my face, "I've been trying to tell you that I wanna take this to the next level since I was in L.A. In fact, I did tell you the other day. The day I got back."
"That's what you were talking about? Why didn't you say something?"
Prince lowered his head, his eyes peered at me from underneath the ridge of his brows, "Let's just forget about that, Bambi." I took his redirection as a sign that the words I spoke that day still hurt him.
Prince started placing gentle kisses along my lips, "So you don't wanna share me, huh?"
"No. I want you all to myself." I smiled, looking down at my lap then back to his eyes, hoping he'd accept my addendum.
"Can I let you in on a secret then?" Prince licked his lips before bringing his face close to my ear. "You've had me all to yourself this whole time." His low voice sent chills down my spine while he let me in on his secret.
My face pulled away from his face. The information he just divulged to me was unexpected to say the least, "I have?"
He nodded, "Mmhmm, I've had some kinda school boy crush on you since you started working here. I was not about to fuck this up."
"Prince..."
A sly glint flashed over his eyes and small smirk appeared on his face, "Oh and that chick? That brunette? She's my lawyers assistant. When Gladys told me you were here, I told her to fix her skirt and nudge you on the way out. I just wanted to see what you were gonna do. I didn't mean to get you upset. I'm sorry."
"That's messed up." I couldn't help but smile. Since Prince and I have been hanging out, I witnessed him mastermind multiple pranks against people. So, for him to admit that the interaction I had with the brunette was all a joke, wasn't surprising.
"So, you gonna let me cook you dinner tonight?"
"Cook?" My eyebrows raised up high on my forehead.
Prince chuckled, "Yeah, cook. What, you think I don't know how?"
"I just assumed-"
"It's not good to make assumptions." His lips slightly parted, with a crooked smile taking shape on his mouth, "Come on. I'll prove to you I can cook." All I could do was smile in response. Prince stood to his feet and grabbed my hand, leading me out of the door to his office to towards the kitchen.