Lush Beginnings Read online

  Table of Contents

  LUSH BEGINNINGS

  Lush Seduction Bonus Book

  Hadrian Smith

  Vicky West

  Make sure to read the whole story when you buy Lush Seduction

  About the Author

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  Layla Arts – [email protected]

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  Copyright © 2018 by Layla Arts

  All Rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of required fees you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known, hereinafter invented, without express written permission of BLVNP Inc. For more information contact BLVNP Inc.The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content. This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real.While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  DISCLAIMER

  This book is a work of FICTION. It is fiction and not to be confused with reality. Neither the author nor the publisher or its associates assume any responsibility for any loss, injury, death or legal consequences resulting from acting on the contents in this book.The author’s opinions are not to be construed as the opinions of the publisher.The material in this book is for entertainment purposes ONLY. Enjoy.

  LUSH BEGINNINGS

  Lush Seduction Bonus Book

  By: Layla Arts

  © Layla Arts 2018

  Hadrian Smith

  Los Angeles, 2007

  “Hadrian!” Marcel yelled. “Don’t run through the hallways, there is a show going on!”

  “I don’t care!” I yelled and continued running.

  “Those damn teenagers.” I heard him complain faintly.

  The music filled the club as I made my way to the bar. I greeted Tim who started with his shift at four p.m. I asked for a drink, and he gave me a soda – telling me again that I wasn’t old enough for an alcoholic beverage.

  I pushed myself through the crowd as I searched for my grandfather. The dancers were on the stage and were performing a show I had repeatedly seen in my life. I stopped walking for a split second to observe the women.

  People might wonder if it was worth it to see them dance the same routine twice a year, but it was. They always managed to perform magnificently, that they captured everyone’s attention.

  However, right now, women were watching me as I tried to get to the spiral staircase and reach my grandfather’s office. Once I was finally up, I noticed how much I was panting.

  I knocked on the door – since my grandfather loathed to have people walk into his office randomly – and waited for a response. I wasn’t getting it right away. Therefore, I waited in front of the door while pacing back and forth to kill time.

  I adjusted the tie around my neck. This was my first time wearing one, properly. It made me feel powerful, and somehow I came across as an adult. Well, when I looked at my reflection in the mirror this afternoon, I thought I could be an adult.

  Suddenly, the door of my grandfather’s office was smashed open, and I was met with the green eyes of my father. His brows were pulled down. And, like always, he gave me such an unfriendly gaze that I wondered what I had done wrong this time. I knew he’d give me shit once I was home again.

  Then my grandfather appeared in the door opening, and he gestured me to come inside. When the door was closed, the noise of the Empire was drowned out. He sat down on his chair behind his desk and grabbed a cigar for himself – he always looked cool doing that.

  “People love it, again,” I said aloud.

  I noticed a smile appearing on his face. “I’m glad they do.”

  My grandfather walked over to his music collection and put a record on. He searched for a glass and poured himself a glass of whiskey. The scent was unbelievably strong, and I wondered how he managed to drink it and enjoy it.

  Perchance, it had something to do with being old.

  “Have you considered going to college yet?”

  My grandfather had asked me that question too many times. Sometimes, I wondered if he actually listened to my answers.

  “You know I can’t seem to find a study that suits me,” I complained and folded my arms against my chest. I had opened my jacket so I could relax in the chair.

  “There are so many colleges out there. Don’t look for one in the US if they don’t seem to fit you – or you have high standards?”

  I moved to the edge of my seat. “No,” I said. “I don’t want to leave Los Angeles.”

  “Why not? There are different continents around us. There is much to explore. It would be a shame if you did not see what the world has to offer you.”

  He was right.

  Yet, I just couldn’t travel around now.

  I could hardly say that all of my friends were in Los Angeles because I preferred not to see them – we were rarely on the same page. We had different interests.

  “I understand, grandpa. But I don’t want to leave LA right now.”

  He cocked his head to the right.

  “When will you?”

  “When I get older,” I suggested.

  “I said the same thing when I was your age.” He chuckled.

  “Did you see the world?” I asked kindly – I was intrigued.

  My grandfather sat on his chair again and placed the glass in front of himself. “I didn’t,” he said, a hint of sadness was in his voice.

  “Why not?” I questioned confusingly.

  I didn’t understand why my grandfather told me to see the world when he hadn’t.

  “Because I stayed in Los Angeles,” he replied.

  I sighed heavily. “Los Angeles isn’t that bad.”

  “No, it isn’t.” He agreed with my words.

  To me, Los Angeles was a wonderful place to live. I knew my way around, and everything was close to my home.

  I kicked my shoes off and drank the last bit of my soda. This office was my second home, so I didn’t need to worry about my grandfather telling me not to be like this.

  “You just get stuck here easily.”

  Maybe he was right – since he stayed in Los Angeles for the Empire. But if you really wanted to go somewhere, you’d manage to get out of here.

  “What if I promise you that I won’t always be in Los Angeles?”

  He blew the smoke out of his mouth and raised an eyebrow at me, signaling me to continue. He wanted to know what idea was roaming through my mind.

  “You once told me that you and grandma always wanted to visit New York City. You just never did. I promise you that I’ll visit New York City.” I noticed how my grandfather wasn’t fully convinced yet. “Multiple times a year,” I added enthusiastically.

  I didn’t know how I was going to make this work, but I wanted to convince that Los Angeles was my home. I didn’t want to leave this plac
e because everyone was ‘supposed’ to go to college. And if this was the right way of convincing my grandfather, then I had to take this opportunity. Even though I had never been in New York City myself, I knew I’d manage to visit it once in a while.

  “Okay,” he said. “Make it your favorite place.”

  “I will,” I promised him.

  But I didn’t know yet if I could. Of course, I wanted to see the big city, but I needed to have the money and time to get there.

  At some point, he told me we were going to move to the other room to see the performance. We walked through the mass, and he got a pat on his back constantly from people who wanted to congratulate him for another successful evening. He had become used to receiving compliments that it didn’t affect him so much anymore.

  “Peter.” His brother greeted him. They hugged one another before my grandfather walked over to his chair. “Hadrian,” he said once he noticed me standing here.

  I gave him a hug too and made my way to the couch in the back. This room had the most epic view for visitors – but most of the time, we decided to watch the dancers from up here.

  “You are growing up so fast, son,” e told me.

  I simply nodded my head. I wasn’t up for an awkward conversation about children growing up and achieving their dreams as soon as possible.

  I didn’t say much while sitting here. I was extremely occupied with watching the women on stage. They were almost my age – all of them being around twenty-five – and sometimes I could have a crush on a dancer.

  However, I knew it was impossible to date them.

  “Hadrian?” My grandfather questioned me.

  “Yes?”

  “Could you go to my office for a while? Peter and I have something we need to talk about,” he informed me, so I stood up and said goodbye politely. “Oh, and I’ll come back soon. Just be there, okay?” I assured him I wasn’t going anywhere else, and then left for his office.

  He knew that it was easy for me to entertain myself. I’d go through his music collection and read the back of the records. Finding names of the themes he had chosen for the shows. Back in the days, I wondered how my grandfather came with all his ideas, but it was right beside him.

  The door of the office went open, and I saw Marcel appearing in front of my sight.

  He rested with his body against it.

  “Shouldn’t you be hanging around with your friends? Causing trouble?”

  “I can cause trouble right here.” I teased.

  “Let’s not do that, okay?” Marcel warned me.

  He made his way to me, and his eyes were watching me curiously. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “Grandfather told me to wait for him,” I said. “So I have to do something productive.”

  Marcel stared at me confusingly. “And you mean with being productive looking through all the records, again?”

  “It occupies me,” I stated bluntly.

  He sat on the edge of the desk and stared at all the records I had laid down.

  My grandfather had the records in alphabetical order, so I had to be careful when it came to putting them back.

  “You are a unique kid, do you know that?” Marcel suddenly said.

  I placed record down and looked at him.

  “Kid sounds like I am four years old,” I complained.

  “Sometimes you act like a four-year-old.”

  I shrugged nonchalantly – I couldn’t deny that. He handed me a few records, and I placed them back in the collection.

  Marcel gave me the last record before taking his stuff and heading towards the door. “With unique, I mean you are different than the other teenagers. See it as a positive thing, Hadrian,” he told me, and he shut the door without bidding me goodbye.

  My eyes traveled to the wall where many picture frames were. I noticed how many there were framed of me. I didn’t have any siblings, so my grandfather always cherished me with his whole heart. Also, pictures of the grand opening of the Empire from years ago.

  Speaking of my grandfather, he walked into his office when I had stopped with looking at the memorable moments. I turned around to greet him softly.

  “Sorry that it took so long.”

  I knew my grandfather was tired – he wasn’t young anymore.

  “It’s all right,” I told him – not bothered because I had to wait.

  “Have you searched through the records again?” he asked with a smile creeping onto his face. He loved it that I had found out about his secret.

  I smiled back with a huge grin. “Have you come up with a new concept for the next show?”

  He didn’t reply my question instantly, but then the answer left his mouth. “Yes.”

  He’d give me hints throughout the week so that I could guess what the theme was going to be. A game we played since the moment I held those records in my hands. Right now, I had guessed twenty-two out of thirty correctly.

  “Grandpa?” I called out questioningly.

  “Yes, Hadrian,” he answered.

  “What just happened?”

  The majority of the people who knew me also knew I was eager to learn everything. I eyed my grandfather, and he seemed to struggle with telling me what went on behind closed doors. But I kept my focus on him because staring for too long always helped to get the answers.

  “When I arrived, dad left. He seemed mad.”

  “Your father and I weren’t on the same page,” he addressed.

  “You never were,” I stated the obvious.

  I didn’t try to be cocky, I was used to them always discussing a certain topic. I just didn’t know yet what today’s topic could be.

  “Hadrian–”

  “You know you can trust me.”

  “I know,” he assured me kindly and took a drag from the cigar.

  I was used to hearing everything from my grandfather the moment I stepped into his office. We were two best friends who shared everything together. He was there for me when I was growing up. My father and I didn’t work out that well. Not because I did everything wrong – well in his eyes I did – but we were two different characters.

  And when I was fourteen, I asked if I was allowed to move to my grandfather’s place. My dad didn’t agree at first. But when my grandfather was involved in the arrangements, I lived within two weeks with my grandfather.

  “One day I won’t be here anymore, Hadrian.”

  When my grandfather spoke those words aloud, I instantly wanted to stop the conversation. The words he used were cumbersome and painful to hear. I tried to keep my emotions at bay. I didn’t want to ask further, but my curiosity always got the best of me.

  “What do you mean?”

  I tried to play dumb. He knew I was faking this.

  My grandfather sat straight and sighed deeply – feeling the fear streaming through his veins. He stared at me with a facial expression that only warned me for what was to come. Surprisingly, I started to feel his emotions.

  “I am going to die one day,” he said.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat.

  This was a subject I never wanted to talk about. I knew he was getting older – hell we even talked about it years ago.

  Like I said, that was years ago. We were living in 2007 right now, and everything was different. His health had changed drastically, and I often questioned myself how long this was going to last. Clearly, he had thought about this subject for a while.

  I just loathed the fact we were discussing it at this moment.

  “The Empire cannot always be mine.” He made it clear – pain bleeding through his voice.

  I nodded my head in understanding, showing my grandfather after every sentence that I followed his story. Yet, I started to doubt whether I wanted to follow his story.

  Whether I wanted to feel this huge pain in my chest.

  Sadly, I couldn’t stop him from facing me with the truth – the harsh reality.

  “Who will get it then?” I questioned in a rush.


  He sealed his eyes for a while. Probably holding back the tears. Then his evergreen eyes met mine intensively.

  “You, Hadrian. The Empire is going to be yours.”

  From that exact moment, I was silent. Not one sound left my mouth as I was staring at my grandfather. I felt my palms getting sweaty. I knew that I had a tie around my neck, but I suddenly didn’t feel like an adult anymore. I was a teenager. And it almost choked me.

  “I’m nineteen. I-I can’t run the Empire.” I shifted uncomfortably in the chair.

  Panic was taken me over, and I tried to keep myself at bay.

  “Don’t doubt yourself, Hadrian. You are made for this job. You adore the Empire with your heart, and I don’t want anyone else to run this place in the future,” he explained to me, but his words weren’t convincing my teenage heart – which was beating against my chest.

  “What about dad?”

  My father and I didn’t have a strong bond – neither my grandfather and my dad. But he was older. More mature. More responsible.

  I was comparing myself to my father.

  “Listen, Hadrian,” he started seriously. “Your father doesn’t like the Empire – he loathes everything about it. When he was born, I told everyone he was going to run this club one day. But he never showed interest in the club – only the money that he can make is important.”

  I had removed the tie around my neck.

  “But I–”

  “Don’t think you cannot do it.” He interrupted me. “You breathe the Empire.”

  “I’m nineteen.”

  Something in me forced me to use the teenage-card.

  “Your age doesn’t define your abilities.”

  I thought it was absolutely kind that my grandfather offered me the freaking Empire. Even though he was frank about giving me the Empire, I did doubt myself. I couldn’t imagine myself – a nineteen-year-old boy – running this successful club.

  “Hadrian…” My grandfather spoke faintly.

  He looked at me as if he was going to say that everything was going to be fine.

  But I couldn’t imagine this going to be fine!

  The fact I had to process the thought of running the Empire – alone – and being faced with the fact that my grandfather was going to die.