6. Empire State Of Mind

~ Audrey ~

- - - - - ONE WEEK LATER - - - - -

“Happy birthday, Audrey!” 

Mikey and Olivia sang along with the waiters at Nobu as they brought out a box of cupcakes with candles on top. Audrey was absolutely embarrassed, being the center of attention while having dinner at Nobu, but her friends only wanted to celebrate her. She hunched away as a waiter placed the box in front of her. Her whole face blushed bright pink and she smiled brightly at the cute dozen cupcakes.

“Make a wish!” Olivia beamed.

Audrey closed her eyes and smiled. Seconds later, she opened her eyes and blew the candles out. Everyone cheered and clapped and she thanked the waiters for singing and bringing the cupcakes out.

“Ooh, I know that smile. That’s the I’m gettin’ lucky tonight smile,” Mikey commented on Audrey’s face.

“Is it really? Are you?” Olivia gaped.

“No,” Audrey shook her head.

“Girl, don’t lie. I know wished for some juicy eggplant for tonight,” Mikey sassed.

“I’m serious!” Audrey laughed. “I’m spending tonight with you guys, dinner and maybe a little drink. But that’s it,”

“So no special late night plans with Mr. Basketball?”

“Ashton’s got an away game down in Florida, but he’ll be back tomorrow and…”

“And?” Mikey and Olivia moved closer, waiting in anticipation.

Audrey shuffled uncomfortably, suppressing her grin, she said, “Well, you know, I’m… ready, so…”

“Oh, Lord, have mercy!” Mikey giggled.

“You are so brave,” Olivia stared at her in wonder. “You must tell us all the details. Record everything, measure the size, diameter—”

“Ew, Liv!” Audrey cringed.

“Come on, I have to live vicariously through someone,” Olivia whined.

Olivia Xi, the same as Audrey, grew up in a strict Catholic school environment. She was the daughter of the Taiwanese ambassador and her parents were even more strict than Audrey’s dad. 

“Anyway, thanks for spending my birthday with me, and thanks for the cupcakes you guys,” Audrey said as she grabbed her favorite red velvet cupcake.

“Of course, that’s the tradition,” Mikey grabbed a chocolate one. “Your birthday and Magnolia cupcakes, ever since we were little girls,”

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Olivia grabbed the vanilla.

It was Audrey’s actual birthday tonight. She was hoping to spend it with Ashton, but as an athlete, basketball had to come first. Ashton would be back in town tomorrow afternoon and Audrey had a special plan already in motion.

“So anyway, you still haven’t told us what happened at your other birthday party,” Mikey said as he licked the frosting.

“Oh, that,” Audrey shrugged. “Honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be,”

“Wait, did you mean someone?” Olivia asked.

“Are you gonna get hitched?” Mikey followed.

“No, no!” she shook her head quickly. “I met… these two guys. But they weren’t interested in marrying me, so we just hung out as friends. It was kinda fun. And then they sneaked me out and drove me to see Ashton,”

“What two guys?”

“Their names are Caspian and Killian Vanderbilt,”

Mikey and Olivia’s jaws were on the floor. They looked at Audrey as if they were seeing a ghost. 

“Holy cow! You hung out with the Vanderbilt brothers?!” Mikey squealed.

“What?” Audrey questioned.

“In the words of Noah Centineo, woah… just woah,” Olivia added.

“What, guys, what?” Audrey narrowed her eyes at them.

“The Vanderbilt brothers, they’re notoriously popular. Haven’t you heard?” Olivia replied.

“They’re all over the news. They’re always on Page Six. The internet is littered with all things Vanderbilt. There’s even a Tumblr blog dedicated to Killian Vanderbilt’s eyes,” 

Mikey pulled out his phone and started typing. A simple G****e search later, Audrey started learning a ton of information about the brothers. Caspian was the older brother, and he was twenty six years old. He got kicked out of a bunch of private schools for fighting and alcohol abuse, but then he got his act together and attended Dartmouth College. However, he dropped out of Dartmouth in his second semester. After dropping out of college, he was signed into a modeling agency and modeled for a year before leaving to join his father’s company. After taking charge of his father’s company, Caspian traveled the world and established businesses in Dubai, Europe, and South Africa.

Killian was the younger brother and he was twenty four years old. Unlike Caspian, Killian was dubbed a genius. He stayed out of trouble and graduated from the prestigious Princeton University and got a master's degree from Stanford, all by the age of twenty three. He was now co-leading his father’s company with his brother, Caspian. The two of them established various businesses on various continents, expanding their family’s empire beyond the nation.

“People say that Caspian’s a total party animal and an absolute man-whore. Rumor has it, he’s dated Kendall Jenner, Taylor Swift, and Suki Waterhouse, all in the same month,” Mikey whispered. “Oh, and I heard he got kicked out of Dartmouth ‘cause he almost killed a guy,”

“What?!” Audrey gaped.

“Yeah, and don’t be fooled by Killian either. He may not look like it, but he’s just as bad. I’ve overheard my dad talking business with his friends the other day, they said that Killian likes to play dirty and he’s scary. You know how scary you need to be to get Chinese businessmen to feel threatened?” Olivia added.

“Woah… that sounds… intense,” Audrey blinked several times, still processing all the information she just received.

“Yeah, so what do you mean by hanging out with them?” Mikey asked.

“Nothing,” Audrey muttered. “They were nice to me… They were… normal,”

“Normal would be the last thing I’d use to describe the Vanderbilts,” Mikey disagreed.

“Well, whatever,” Audrey waved her hand carelessly. “It’s not like I’m gonna see them again anyway,”

Those things she heard about the Vanderbilt brothers were scary, but Audrey didn’t think much of it. After her birthday dinner, she never heard anything from the brothers again. She thought that the encounter was a once in a lifetime thing, so she dismissed her friends’ suspicions easily. 

However, when Audrey came back to her apartment that night, she learned that she was deadly wrong. 

“Miss Huntington, we have a package for you,” Helen, the middle-aged receptionist who had been working in the building ever since Audrey moved in, greeted her. 

Audrey stepped towards the front desk as Helen brought out a beautiful vase of flowers and a long white box with a ribbon on top.

“It doesn’t say who it’s from?” Audrey asked as the simple envelope only had her name and nothing else.            

“It was hand delivered,” Helen replied. “Actually, the sender lives in the building. They just moved to the penthouse,”

How weird, Audrey furrowed her eyebrows. She didn't know any one of her friends, acquaintances, or family members who were moving in to this building. And no one said anything about leaving her a gift either.

Wait, maybe it’s from Ashton?

Audrey took note of the peonies and hydrangeas arrangement and it looked amazing, probably the most beautiful looking flower arrangement she had ever seen. The thought that her boyfriend had sent her such a lovely gift made her smile and giggle.

She opened the small envelope with excitement, but when she saw the card had a Vanderbilt logo on it, that smile disappeared. 

Happy 21st Birthday.

That was all that was written on the card. Very vague. Not much information at all.

Audrey eyed the box curiously. With her head tilted to the side, she opened the lid and peered inside. Helen, the nosy lady, was taking a peek too. Audrey pushed the tissue paper away and revealed this white machine-looking thing that almost resembled a microphone. Magic Wand Rechargeable, she read the writing on the machine. Still not having a clue, she leaned in and pushed a button, and suddenly the thing started buzzing.

Holy cow, this is a vibrator!

Audrey’s face turned bright red and she quickly put the cover back haphazardly. She looked around, hoping no one had seen that, but Helen had her eyes wide open and her jaw on the floor. Audrey gave Helen a sheepish smile before quickly grabbing everything and running towards the elevator.

What the hell are they thinking?! Do they think this is funny!?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Actually, it is pretty funny,” Caspian laughed.

After putting the flowers and the white box away in her room, Audrey was still fuming. She decided to take action. So, she marched right up to the penthouse suite and knocked on the door furiously, ignoring the fact that it was already past midnight.

“It’s not funny! What the F is wrong with you? That thing almost jumped out of the box in the middle of the lobby. My receptionist probably thinks that I’m some sex-crazed floozy!” Audrey groaned dramatically and stomped her feet, making her way inside the apartment.

“What the F? Floozy…?” Caspian mimicked her and laughed. “How old are you, really?” He chuckled as he followed her in. He was wearing nothing but a black velvet robe. 

“What is all this yelling?” Killian came out of his room, annoyed that Caspian was already bringing girls into the house. His eyes shot up when he saw the girl in front of him. “Audrey?”

Killian was wearing nothing but some black joggers. It showed off his perfectly sculpted abs and body, and Audrey couldn’t help but stare that the V-shape on his lower abdomen. 

“Go get a shirt, we have a guest,” Caspian said and Audrey quickly looked away. It was too late, though. Both brothers knew she was totally checking him out.

“To what do we owe the surprise?” Killian didn’t seem fazed, instead he flexed and stepped closer, showing more of his muscles.

“Oh, I don’t know, how about the Magic Wand Rechargeable that you left me at the receptionist?” Audrey rolled her eyes dramatically.

“What?” Killian gaped.

“Oh yeah, and it’s not the kind of wand I wanted either. Expelliarmus!” Audrey waved her hand like she was casting a magic spell. In her mind, she was going for angry, but to the brothers, it was just cute.

Killian couldn’t stop the smile forming on his face. He turned to Caspian and said, “You got her a vibrator? I thought we’re getting her flowers,”

“You got her flowers, brother. I wanted something more… out of the box,” Caspian said and the brothers laughed some more.

“This is not funny!” But the more Audrey insisted that this wasn’t funny, the more the brothers laughed.

Caspian was laughing so hard, his robe was starting to slip. Audrey caught sight of Caspian’s toned chest and the tattoos running across it. She couldn’t help but wonder what the tattoo said.

“Are you done eye-raping me, princess?” Caspian’s words caught her by surprise.

Audrey turned away instantly, racking her brain for any kind of comeback. “So, um, I heard you two just moved in here?” she tried her best to look nonchalant and not the blushing mess that she was. “Why?”

“It’s a nice building,” Caspian shrugged.

“Great location, it’s a good investment,” Killian added.

“Oh,” she nodded. “Well, in that case, welcome to the building. And please don’t leave me any more unwanted gifts,” 

Audrey was about to make a dash for the door, when Caspian stopped her suddenly, asking, “So, how are things with Romeo?”

Audrey stopped her tracks. She turned around and sighed. “His name’s Ashton, and things are great. Thank you for asking,”

The brothers gave each other a knowing look. Killian then walked towards a room that looked like an office and returned seconds later with a large brown envelope in his hand.

Audrey watched him with a questioning look as he said, “We, uh, hope you don’t mind, but we’ve run a background check on him and this is what we found—“

“You did what?” she gaped, almost yelling. “Excuse me, but what gives you the right to do that?”

“There’s something about that kid. I don’t trust him,” Caspian replied.

Audrey was about to yell again, but Killian put his hand up, saying “My brother, although can be crass at times, have never been wrong about a person. It’s why I keep him around usually. His instincts are on point. And he doesn’t feel good about this Ashton Whitaker,”

“I don’t give two cents about what your brother thinks of my boyfriend,” she spat, pausing for a moment before continuing, “And why do you care anyway?”

Killian took a deep breath, trying to find the right words to say. “Audrey, you’re such a… delicate being, we’d feel responsible if anything bad were to happen to you because of us,”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re the ones that sneaked you out and drove you to meet the guy. If your dad finds out, he’ll kill us,” Caspian replied.

“You’re not afraid of my dad,” she scoffed, but the brothers only shrugged. 

“Anyway, we’re just trying to look out for you,” Killian said. Audrey caught his gentle blue eyes and it seemed like he was being genuine about this.

To be honest, Audrey had thought about running background checks on Ashton herself, but she never went through with it because of how unethical that would be. But since she wasn’t the one doing the dirty work…

“Fine, give me the file,” she sighed.

Audrey took the envelope from Killian and sat down on the couch. She started going through the pages, skimming through the information. She knew a lot of them already, about where he was born, his family, and his high school. The thing that was new to her was his medical records. Apparently, Ashton was diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder when he was sixteen.

How did they even get this information? She thought, and that was scarier than what she was reading about Ashton.

“…Well, this isn’t so bad,” she said as she finished reading.

“Told ya, she’s gonna drive past all the red flags,” Caspian said to Killian.

“Have you read the medical file?” Killian asked.

“Yes, and it’s alright. We all have mental problems, I’m sure,” Audrey shrugged and got up to her feet. She slammed the file to Killian’s chest and said, “I’m more worried about you two and what you had to do to get this file,” 

“Audrey, we’re just trying to help,” Killian said.

“Thank you for your help, but I’m twenty one years old. I can handle myself,” Audrey said firmly.

“So, you’re gonna keep seeing the guy?” Caspian asked.

“Yes. As a matter of fact, I’m going to see him tomorrow night. We’ve got a special evening planned,” Audrey smiled meaningfully.

“You gonna bone him?” Caspian shot point blankly.

“Ugh, why am I still here?” Audrey groaned and turned to her heels.

“You sure you’re ready? You need us to give you the talk?” Caspian called out but she didn’t turn around.

“Good bye!” she waved and reached for the door.

“Make sure you practice safe sex!”

Audrey rolled her eyes and kept walking.

“Wrap it before you tap it!”

*

*

*

- - - - - To Be Continued - - - - -