veritas

-

Her blue eyes scanned his features. He was the traditional handsome man. Seemingly to be genuinely sweet as well. something the young woman was definitely not acostom to. “Accidently?” she questioned before refocusing her eyes back to meet his eyes. “Darling, can’t be an accident if that was the whole goal.” Val teased and gave his arm a light little squeeze. “Oh no no no, you told me at the Gala you were an amazing cook, I’ll need to see that in action. Nothing hotter than a man that can cook.” Typically Val wouldn’t be as bold as this, but if the poisoning taught her anything, it’s you never know what’s going to happen.

-

x

“ Others can watch if you want ,” she whispered, her lips trailing up to his ear to bite his lobe gently. His question piqued her interest a bit. “ Oh ?” She tilted her head from side to side, weighing her options. “ I think I can make it … Can you ?” She wondered, reaching for the top of his thigh, not wanting to overstep too many boundaries. “ Although , the car does sound a bit more scandalous ,” she agreed, rising to her feet. Melrose turned on her heels, taking three strategic steps forward so that Julius could watch her butt sway as she did so. “ Aren ’ t you going to come ?” She jeered, wondering if he would catch on to the double entendre. 

-

.

   it didn’t matter that there were five different clocks in her house all set eight minutes fast or how early she started preparing for the day. the only thing she could consistently manage to get out of the house on time for was work. ( thank god for that at least, no work, no rent money. ) kiara was so easily distracted at times, she’d put on her favourite spotify playlist to get ready and next thing you know half an hour had gone by and all she’d accomplished was dancing around her loft singing into a hairbrush. it wasn’t her fault. the blame could only be placed on the music, clearly. 

did she feel heat rising in her cheeks at the reminder that she didn’t abide by the timeline they had set? maybe a little. it was the compliment though that pulled a bashful smile to her lips, promptly brushing it off with a playful roll of her eyes. “ oh, so you’re smooth? “ biting back her grin as she let her gaze wander fully along his frame. “ you don’t look half bad yourself. “ a small admission before she slid into the passenger side of his car. it took only a moment for her to buckle her seatbelt, hips turning inwards slightly as she drew her attention to wolf as he climbed in the drivers seat, head falling back against the cushioned headrest. “ seven minutes late. or just text me you’re here like ten minutes before you’re actually here and maybe i’ll be on time. “

-

The reply brought a grin to his lips, and he was slowly growing less apprehensive about the entire evening. He did have a slight ulterior motive for asking Kiara to the event that night, and though he had mentioned it somewhat over the phone, there was still a small part of him that thought he’d better mention it again, and add on how much he appreciated the help in general. “Listen, in my line of work, Kiara, being late costs you dollars, so you learn very quickly to be on time, or even early, to things. I saw a junior paralegal fired once for being three minutes late. The deposition had started, and the poor kid was stuck in the lobby because the lifts were out, but it wasn’t good enough. Fired. Straight away.” He clicked his fingers after putting his seatbelt on and slowly pulling out of the parking spot. “Like that. Might as well have missed the entire thing,” he chuckled as he settled into the seat, watching the roads carefully as he drove.

x

“ If I didn ’ t know better , I ’ d say you were intrigued by my proposition .” Melrose leaning in closer to Julius, trying to read his non-verbal queues. Hearing his response, a smile curled on the sides of her lips. “ I would be so disappointed if you denied me , Wolf ,” she cooed, looking down at his lips, the smirk still apparent on hers. The woman’s eye flickered towards the hallway, wondering if there was a vacant room nearby they may be able to sneak away to. “ I would offer an empty room here , but I feel like they ’ re busy here … My place is only a few blocks away ,” she whispered, her lips now merely inches from his own. If there was one thing Melrose specialized in, it was public teasing. “ And I would love to entertain you ,” she continued, her lips brushing against the tender skin of his neck. 

-

.

   “ shit, shit. “ the words muttered when the screen on her phone lit up, ’ WOLF ‘ popping up beneath the highlighted time. she didn’t need to read the text to know that he was here, which was only mildly stressing to the woman who was perpetually late to well - almost everything. it didn’t matter how early she started getting ready, she always found herself rushing towards the end, this instance was no different. she stopped the music she had playing from her speakers, typing out a quick reply of ‘ be out asap. ‘ so he wasn’t left completely clueless on her whereabouts. taking one last glance in her handheld mirror, kiara quickly swiped some gloss onto her lips - throwing the compact, tube, and her cell into the black clutch she grabbed as she passed by her bed. brown hues scanned the floor - a mental fist pump happening in her mind when she spotted the black heels in the corner by her dresser. shoes and then she was done, or at least as done as she was going to get. she promptly put her heels on while walking across the floor, resulting in more of a skip and a hop than a walk. she stole a glance at the watch on her wrist before she walked out the door, only a few minutes behind, it really was almost a personal record, ( not that she would outwardly admit that. ) 

kiara locked the door to her loft, regaining composure as she walked down the stairs - a smile tugging at her features when she passed through the second set of doors exiting the brick building and the blonde finally came into view. “ we should really talk about this whole being early business. “ an easy tone carrying her words across the space between them. 

-

It wasn’t that he was always early on purpose, but he had the value of time keeping drilled into him from a young age, and it just so happened that it was now a personal promise to be early, or at least, on time to functions and events, and an agreed upon time to pick someone up was not an exception to that rule. He didn’t mind waiting, truly - he liked being outside, and it gave him some time to reflect on his day, and in his wait, it was also a nice reason to watch as the world flew around them a little. When she replied in text that she was on his way, he knew enough from his little sister that it rarely meant that they were on their way, and his hunches were confirmed when she appeared, a few minutes past ‘on the way’ looking slightly flustered.

∞

“I’m hoping you’d tell me if I was wrong.” The brunette said with a shrug of her shoulder. They were innocent at best and she hoped that he knew as much. “Wow. Is that so? I don’t think I’d be too comfortable admitting that aloud even if it was true.” It sounded a little cocky but she was sure that was the goal. “Thank you and they’re very ambitious. Well, maybe they were just foreshadowing your future. Good for them. They must have great genes. But we better not get in the debate about nurture vs nature.”

-

There was a playfulness to their exchange and he quite enjoyed it. After all, it wasn’t very often that he was able to interact with women who were quite easy on the eyes in a capacity that wasn’t business driven. “Well, Emine, now you’ve got me thinking I should endeavour to keep you around. Shall we venture to get you some food that isn’t from a cafeteria vending machine?” He asked, extended an arm in an attempt for chivalry. “And you can tell me all about how attractive, how handsome, how charming I am over some decent food.” 

   While she already had a Subway sandwich ready to go, Aeva wasn’t above trying out the food openly given to her. “Alright then.” Hastily wrapping up the bitten sandwich into its packaging, she placed it on the table next to the soup, in favour of picking up the slice of sourdough he was egging her on to try. Tearing a good chunk, she proceeded to dip the bread into the soup, and giving that a taste. 

   “Oh–” The satisfied reaction she had when chewing was more than telling. Delighted, widened dark browns also spoke before she even could after a swallow. “Okay, that is good and I’m completely floored. The pairing is perfect.” The slice was certainly different from the bread her sandwich had, and it gelled better with the hearty taste of the soup. 

   Thrilled by the pleasant company and an amazing soup, Aeva figured she could at least spill Spencer’s story, as long as it wasn’t her own. “So basically I have a foster brother. Again, only family I have.” she prefaced, managing to talk in between bites of her bread and minestrone. “Broke up with his ex years ago, and he never got over it. Fast forward to now, he found her in the city and asked her to the gala. Off they went, but you know what happened next.” she said, finishing off her slice. “And now she’s confined upstairs and he’s watching her. And I’m just being a good sister and minding him, because he gets really into her and someone needs to look after him just as much.” 

   By the time she was done with the tale, she was nearly done with her soup as well, draining the last of the Styrofoam cup’s contents. Pausing in her spirited eating, Aeva smiled from across the table, noting of his kindness and overall aura. He was at ease, and yet, she could somehow tell that he was a person with authority. And as he mentioned the words ‘firm partner’, her hunch was more or less confirmed almost immediately. “Thank you. I guess we’re all just hoping that everyone comes out of the incident.” surmised the woman, hopeful in her tone. “And thank you for the soup, too. I loved it.”

-

He found a certain delight whenever people enjoyed things he’d made, and simply whenever he was proven correct. “All I’m saying is that nothing beats a homemade meal,” he sent the other a charming smile, and then smoothed down his jacket. It had been a rather long lunch he’d decided to take, but with the capacity to hire more attorneys and paralegals, things tended to run themselves at the firm smoother, which gave him the luxury of taking longer lunches and early dinner plans.

Listening to her story, Julius couldn’t help but wonder about the intricacies of the relationship. “In my experience, exes tend to be much more trouble than they’re worth. But from what I’ve heard from the doctors, it seems like they’re both going to be making speedy recoveries.” A small smile lifted the corner of his lips. “You’re a very good sister, it’s a shame you don’t have more family members to share your love with,” and he truly meant it. It seemed that she had quite the bleeding heart, and in his realm of life, it wasn’t often that he met people like Aeva.

“Well, my dear, it’s been a pleasure meeting you today, but I’m afraid that the office calls,” never one to give up a chance, he reached into his breast pocket for a business card he happened to carry in there, pulling out the card easily and sliding it across the table. “If you’re ever in need of a personal injury lawyer, make sure you give me a call,” he sent her a cheeky grin and with the glass container in one hand, he offered her a wave with the other and stood. “I hope your brother makes a full recovery. If not, you know where to come. It was nice meeting you.”

x

Melrose was still unsure of how to go about her relationship with Wolf. It was all still very new to her, they had really only seriously spoken at the gala and she was interested in knowing who he was as a person, what made him tick. “ Coffee was going to be one of my suggestions ,” she agreed, with a nod of her head. Toying with the idea in her head, Melrose thought why the hell not? and eyed Julius with her dark hues. “ Since you have to get back to work , I say we do something more fun first and coffee second . Maybe some light cardio ? Or …” she paused, sneakily taking her bottom lip between her teeth. “ Or maybe something a bit more … Tiring ,” she offered, shrugging her shoulders and turning her back to him, hoping he would follow her lead. 

-

It wasn’t in his usual repertoire of locations within Oceanside, but the Regal Sierra Casino was where he would find Max, and secretly, he hoped that the encounter would mean a few more answers to some questions that had surfaced. The mystery of the man was intriguing, and without there being many mysteries left (not in his line of work), Wolf found it almost impossible not to try to find the answers. Well aware that there was a darker side of the town that he had made his home in, he wasn’t entirely sure if pulling at the thread that was Max von Brandt was a wise move, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him.

He likes praise from his parents, because deep down he does like knowing that he’s made his parents proud. Plus, they created the ostentatious monster when they named all three of their children after Roman political leaders.