They woke up to them trending on Twitter. Paparazzi photos of them kissing on the steps of the courthouse had hit the internet like a tidal wave, everyone eager to weigh in on what it means for the already tumultuous relationship between the companies that bear their names. Tabitha sent Naomi a post calling them the "Romeo and Juliet of Corporate America". Dommed star crossed lovers, most likely getting married while on a coke bender, fucked from the start.
Neither of them really minded it, in the end, it's just noise. The scary part though, what stopped them dead in their tracks, was the calls from their families. Nan had been calling her through the night, her other cousins as well. It reminded her of when her mom died, everyone so eager to weigh in, to try to make sense of it.
Kendall wasn't any better off, Logan had requested a meeting with him, so had all his siblings. He had accepted all of the invitations, having Jess set up dinner with his family for that night. "Might as well kill four birds with one stone." he told her, smiling as he put on his clothes. They were so high off of one another, every second more perfect than the next. She felt like a kid on Christmas. He's the gift that just keeps on giving.
"I think I'm going to meet Nan for lunch, try to save face before she cuts me out of the will," she said. She was still laying in bed, just watching. He's so magnificent, breathtaking in the early morning light, that she can't seem to look away.
"Do you want me to come with you?" he asked her, watching as she came to the edge of the bed and stood, getting up to help him with his buttons.
"Well, I was planning on coming with you to dinner so it only seems fair." she said, a cheeky grin on her face.
"God, I love you." he breathed out as she finished his buttons, stepping back to admire her work.
"I love you too, now let me get dressed. I don't think Nan would appreciate seeing me in my pajamas."
They were quite a sight, standing outside, waiting for Nan. She was wearing a silky white button up and a pair of tan pleated pants, the ring he had bought her the night before sparkling in the afternoon sun. it was gold with three diamonds, the stones huge on her finger. She had wanted something big, something loud to broadcast to the world that she is his, forever and always.
He was wearing a black suit with a dark blue shirt underneath, looking strikingly like he had the night before. The bride in white, the groom in black, waiting for their judgment.
They were taken up to Nan's study, where she was already seated behind the desk. As soon as the door shut she put her elbows on the mahogany, and began to speak.
"How could you?" she asked Naomi, "After everything that family has done to us!"
"It's never been about his family." she told her, her voice deep and cold. Kendall took a seat across from Nan, not speaking yet, but simply making his presence known. Taking up space, an anchor for Naomi.
"What is your game here?" she questioned her, her voice raised. "What are you getting out of this!?"
"Everything," she said. Her voice was unshaken, so steady against the flood.
"Oh Naomi, you don't mean that. That's not even possible."
"It is, actually. I get ieverythingi out of this relationship." she told her through gritted teeth. She looked at Ken, trying to tell him to speak, to defend her. He got the message.
"I am not my family, but most importantly, I am not my father." he said to Nan, unwavering in his statement. "And we love each other, so can you be happy for us? Or at least, give us a chance."
Nan looked at him, and considered. Her expression hardened, like she was exhausted by them.
"No, Kendall. I can't."
Naomi looked at him again, she was melting under the heat of the interaction. Nan a woman she had looked up to her whole life shaming her, unleashing the gates of her at her feet.
He stood, took her hand and didnt stop walking until they got in the car.
"Thank you," she whispered as they drove away, her face pressed against the glass like a child watching a rainstorm.
He just squeezed her hand, not taking the little moments for granted.
"Oh look, its daddy issues and mommy issues, the hot new couple taking New York by storm!" Roman said as they walked out of the elevator. She dropped his hand, crossing her arms over her chest. Preparing for a battle they had already lost.
"Dad already wanted to kill you with his bare hands before, but after this, good fucking luck." Shiv remarked from her seat next to Tom, mock raising her glass to the couple.
"Thank you," Naomi said, using her only weapon of sarcasm until the yelling started.
"Where's Dad?" Kendall asked, "I want to get this over with."
"He's upstairs," Marcia told him, coming down the stairs and into the room. She bypassed Kendall and Naomi, seemingly pretending like they weren't there, "He will be down in a moment."
They waited for a while longer, the siblings (and Gerri, who was sitting suspiciously close to Roman on the sofa), grilling them for their stupid decision, sighting a million reasons why they would regret it. Neither of them really listened, coming in and out of awareness as the insults hurled like bullets at their head richocted, landing in their laps, unharmed.
He was a looming presence as he made his way down the stairs. Logan Roy, a god among men, here to break whatever soul his son had left.
"Fucking traitor," he said, standing on the seocnd step above the sitting room, glowering down on them, "you too," he pointed at Naomi, "you both are fucking traitors."
Naomi scoffed, "Isn't that kind of the point?" she thought.
"After everything I've done for you!" Logan told him, his voice so loud, so commanding, it had them all trembling.
"Are you done?" Kendall asked him, taking Naomi's hand in his again. She wasn't used to his dad like he was.
"Your such a fucking ungretafull, sorry exscuse for a son! I've given you ieverythingi and this," he gestured to Naomi, a look of profound disgust and this face, "Is how you repay me! By trying to fuck over my company in every way you can think of!"
She was doing it before she even fully made the decision to do it, her hand on the side of his face hard and fast, a delicious islapi the only sound in the room. He tried to lunge at her, but she was too quick, her hand on Ken's wrist, pulling him up the stairs. She pressed the elevator button, giving him a sloppy kiss before pushing him into the elevator. Leaving a stunned Roy family, exiting in the storm of chaos they caused.
"Where did you learn that?" he asked when the door shut.
"Get me fucked up and I'll tell you." she told him, a sly smile on her face.
They were each two lines deep, and she was asking him questions about his childhood left and right. She was all giggly and girlish, in her element.
"When did you first get high?" she questioned him, her face so close to his that their noses were nearly touching.
"Sixteen," he said, "smoked some weed with a busboy in Hawaii."
She laughed at him, catching his lips in a kiss, sweet and soft.
"I was seventeen. I don't remember what I did, but I came down from it a day later, and never went back." she told him, her voice small, like she was ashamed to admit it to him.
"This is gonna end horribly, isn't it?" he looked at her, really looked at her, searching her face the best he could. He knows her better than anyone, but it's still a work in progress, chipping away at each and every layer, each new one more intoxicating than the last.
"Probably, but don't all good things burn out in their prime?" she breathed out, leaning back against the bed, she was wearing a silk nightgown, and it almost seemed to glow under the moonlight. She's so haunting, so wise, so overwhelming. He's drowning in her, drunk on the idea of forever.
"I love you," he told her. Pulling her back into his arms, feeling her sink into him.
"I love you, too," she muttered, her head against his jaw, kissing it with all the spirit of a Mayday parade. "And that's the only true thing I know."