by Scarlet West
“How did you know I was going to be home?” I asked with a grin. “What if I decided I was going to go out with friends after work?”
“Then I would have come here and had dinner alone,” he said with a smirk. I slapped him playfully on the arm.
“That’s rude!” I said with a laugh.
“So is turning down going to dinner with me because you would rather be with your friends,” he replied with a grin.
I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I said and you know it.”
“Well, that’s what I heard!” he winked at me before we turned our attention to the menus. It wasn’t hard for me to pick what I wanted. I was going to get the same thing that I had before. I didn’t want to try something new in case it wasn’t as good, and I was excited to have what I’d already tried.
There were a few other people at the restaurant, but it really wasn’t that busy. I was glad for the quiet. I did want to find out what Blake had to talk to me about, and now was a good time to ask. After the chef brought out the appetizers, I turned my attention to him.
“You said you wanted to talk to me about something last night,” I said. I let the words hang in the air and Blake shifted in his seat. He seemed to be nervous, and I hoped it was in a good way. I didn’t want to press him, but at the same time, the longer he took, the more I worried that it wasn’t something good that he was about to tell me.
“There’s something I need to tell you now, that I should have told you before we got married,” he said. I felt my stomach lurch.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Well, my father. There was this other woman. He, I’m not saying this right,” he said.
“Another woman?” I asked.
“I thought she was out of my life for good, but then”-
He was clearly going to continue, but at that moment, another woman came walking up to the table. She was wearing a sultry dress, and she was very beautiful. Her hair was short and blonde, and she was as tall as a model.
“Blake! There you are! How did I know I’d find you here? I’m back in town!” she said. “I’ve been calling, but I thought it was time that we finally meet up.”
She looked down at me, and I tried to keep a straight face. I gulped, then I looked back at Blake. “Who’s this?”
“I could say the same about you, but I happen to know,” the woman said.
“Candace, shut up!” Blake snapped. “You aren’t welcome here. I’m done with you!”
“You’ll never be done with me,” she said with a grin. “Or you would have been done with me a long time ago.”
“Blake?” I my voice cracked. “This is the woman who called you the other day in the car, isn’t it? When you said that it was a telemarketer?”
Blake hesitated, and I could see by the look on his face he knew he had been caught in the lie. He had been playing games with all these other people, and I was immediately suspicious that he’d been playing games with me as well. He had to have been. Why would I think that I was the only one above his games?
“Yes. This was the phone call that I got the other day. I told you that it was a telemarketer because I didn’t want you to worry,” Blake said.
“You didn’t want me to worry? You lied to me about another woman calling you, and you don’t want me to worry? How many games do you have going on, Blake? How many people are you lying to? You say that you love me, but do you? Do you love her? Do you love this baby?” I pointed to my stomach as I rose from the table, and Blake’s face went ashen.
Candace looked down at my stomach and clicked her tongue, then she looked back at me. “Wow, so that’s the truth of it all. You were going to marry me, never mind.”
She turned to me. “He was going to marry me, but then I’m guessing that you two must have had a little accident. What, did you tell him you were going to sue or something?”
“No!” I shouted. “You bitch!”
“Either way, I’m sure it was a whirlwind romance. And now you two are going to live happily ever after? What about me? What if I’m pregnant, too?” she asked.
“Shut up!” Blake shouted again. “You and I never slept together, and you know it for a fact. Don’t try to make this worse than it already is. Can’t you see that I’m trying to make things better with my wife?”
“Oh, it’s beyond that,” I said as I pulled off the ring and slammed it down on the table. “I was never your wife. I was just another prop in your sick and twisted little game, and I’m not going to take it anymore. Me and this child deserve a real man in our lives, not one who is always putting on a show!”
“Then you better be looking elsewhere,” Candace said. “I’ve never had him be real to me a day in my life.”
“You know why! I told you that I didn’t want to have anything to do with you, and I’m going to stand by that!” Blake said. But, I’d heard enough. I didn’t need to stand there and watch him bicker with this woman who had come out of the shadows.
Clearly, he knew who she was, and he had admitted enough of what she said to be true, I wasn’t sure what to believe myself. I had much bigger things to worry about, and I wasn’t going to waste any more time.
I strode outside and hailed a cab, sliding into it and asking the driver to take me to the nearest hotel. He nodded and pulled into the street, but not before I turned and saw Blake and Candace still arguing in the restaurant. But, it wasn’t just that sight that bothered me.
In the cab behind me, and also watching the scene unfold inside was a man dressed in a dark business suit. He had an amused look on his face, and a sadistic smile on his lips. I recognized him immediately, even in the dark.
Monty Bogart.
21
Blake
“Get it through your fucking skull! I’m never going to have anything to do with you, and I don’t care how much you stalk me to try to convince me otherwise. If you come near me again, and if I ever see you around me again, I’m going to call the cops!” I screamed.
Candace laughed. “Don’t you worry. I’m done with you, too. In fact, I’ve been over you for a long time. I met a great guy when I was in Italy, and we’ve been madly in love ever since.”
“What the Hell?” I snapped. “Then why the fuck?”
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you not to use that language in here. And I’m going to have to ask both of you to step out. You’re causing a disturbance,” the waitress said when she walked back over to the table.
I threw some money down and started for the door, but Candace grabbed me by the arm. I yanked myself away. “Get away from me!”
“Like I was saying, I met a great, rich man in Italy. He’s going to take me to see the world,” she said.
“Great, then get out of my face and go do it,” I snapped.
“But that’s just it. I came back here for a reason,” she continued.
“To ruin my life? Because I didn’t want to marry you? You need to get over yourself. And you clearly have a lot of issues in life,” I told her. “I can’t believe you would do something like that.”
“I was paid,” she said.
“You were what?”
“Look, I know you’re probably going to hate me forever, but I’ve been having some financial problems of my own. While I’m going to be marrying a rich man, I know how money can fly away,” she said.
“So? What is that to me?” I asked.
“Your father paid me quite well to make sure I came in and did what I just did. You see, I’ve been doing more acting and less modeling these days. I’m sure the day’s going to come when you see me on the big screen,” she smiled.
“So that was nothing more than an act to you?” I snapped. “You took money to take on an acting job just to ruin my life?”
“Not all of what I said was an act, but yes,” she said with a smile. “Wasn’t I good?”
“No, Candace, No! You were very bad!” I snapped once more. “Now that you have your money you can get out of here. Please. Get out of h
ere and leave me alone!”
“I’ll go, but there’s one more thing first,” she said.
“What the fuck?” I snapped. “What do you want?”
“Your father said if you give me a check for ten thousand dollars, I’ll go away and never talk to you again, you won’t see me, hear from me, or even know that I exist, save for my fame,” she said sweetly.
I stopped. I was shocked that money was all that mattered to any of these people. Ten thousand dollars? To leave me alone? That was what it would take? And it was my own father who promised it to her? The thought wasn’t surprising to me, but it was certainly infuriating. He knew that I needed all the money I could get for my startup.
But suddenly, I didn’t care anymore.
“You know what, Candace? If that’s what it’s going to take to get you to fuck out of my life, then here you go,” I pulled out my checkbook and scribbled the amount, then signed it. I was sure to leave a rude message on the tagline as well before handing it to her, but I knew she didn’t care.
She had her money, and whatever it was that my father had paid.
“Now go live your stupid pathetic life elsewhere,” I said. “Leave me alone.”
“Will do, Sugar,” she said with a smile. She walked slowly up the sidewalk ahead of me, so I stopped. I wasn’t going to race her, and I wasn’t going to let her find out where I was now living. For all I knew Ashley had gone back to the house to try to calm down, and I didn’t want her seeing me walking with this bitch.
Then again, with the way she had left the restaurant, there was a part of me that felt I really wouldn’t see Ashley again. And it was my father’s fault.
Is it really your father’s fault for this? Aren’t you the one who came up with this plan to get married? Aren’t you the one who didn’t tell her the truth in the beginning? If you had, then she wouldn’t have done that.
She might not have married you, but then again, she might have gone through with it anyway. That girl has been honest with you since the day you knocked on her door and demanded to know the truth about her disappearance. But she’s right, you have been doing nothing but playing games with everyone around you.
Of course she has the right to think that you were playing games with her as well, and that’s going to reflect on you. You can hate your dad for what he did, but you need to think about yourself and what you’ve done in this situation, too.
What’s it going to be? Are you going to run from this and feel sorry for yourself? Are you going to blame everyone around you and not look at what you did to yourself? You are the one who created this plan, now what are you going to do now that it failed?
Get your shit together, and figure out how you are going to make this right. IT might not work the way you want it, but that’s going to have to be okay. You can’t just run off from the people that you love because of this.
Grow a pair, and find that girl.
I didn’t think I would find Ashley back at my place, but walking through the door felt so empty. She had been there so many times when I got off work, when I just wandered in, when I was going about my day.
She was there when I got out of the shower, and when I got up in the morning. But now, the entire house was dark, her room was dark, and there wasn’t anyone in it. I checked the bathroom, slightly relieved to see that her clothes and her toothbrush were still in it, but there wasn’t any sign of her.
Then again, she might have left to find a place to stay for the night so she could come back and get her things in the morning. Hell, for all I knew she might decide to come back when I was at work. That way, she wouldn’t have to see me at all, and she could get her stuff and go.
I sank onto the couch, feeling both pissed off at the world and defeated. I couldn’t believe how things had turned out. They were going so well for us in the beginning. Hell, I thought when I saw her for the very first time in my life that she was someone I wanted to stay.
Now, I’d lost her. I’d lost her and it was my own fault.
I wasn’t the kind of man to show much emotion. But Ashley had changed that in me. She brought out another side to me besides the arrogant, cocky bastard who liked to hit it and split it. Hell, she brought out the romantic side of me, and I didn’t want that to go away.
I didn’t want her to go away, but I’d fucked it all up. As I thought about it, the tears started streaming down my face. They came slowly at first, but the more I thought about the gravity of my situation, the more I realized she likely was gone forever.
You know you don’t want to go to work tomorrow. Hell, you never want to see that place – or that man – again. You want your wife back, so maybe you’ll get the chance to see her if she comes back for her things.
You’re going to have to be honest with her. You can’t tell her that you’re not going to be here if you are, and you can’t tell her any more lies. Even leaving out information is a lie in its own way. If you want to make this right, you’re going to have to find that girl, and you are going to have to talk to her.
I still felt so condemned by the thoughts that were running through my brain, but I knew I had to listen to the reasonable side of myself for once. It had been there all along. There were many times in my life when I knew something wasn’t the best idea and I’d done it anyway.
But, most of those times took place when I was in my early twenties. It was time for me to man up and stop hiding behind the image of myself that I’d created. I was ready to settle down for good, and I wanted it to be with that one woman. I wanted to bring her home and prove to her how sorry I was.
She was right, I had fucked up. I might not have cheated on her, and I might not have done anything fabricated, but I had left out some key information she should have been allowed to know before she let me put that ring on her finger.
It didn’t matter if we had agreed to something temporary or not. We were moving toward something real, something that I’d hoped was going to last a lifetime. That was when I should have told her the truth about everything, and that is when I decided to make her just as much a game piece in my life as everyone else I’d used.
I wiped the tears from my face and took a deep breath. I could sit in my apartment and cry about this, or I could get up, grow a pair, and go find her. I wasn’t going to get far by asking around at hotels, but I could be patient, and maybe I’d see her out somewhere.
I didn’t have any clue where she went. Obviously, not a bar. But then, she was pregnant and alone in New York City. She wasn’t going to want to wander the streets, that was for sure. I rose from the couch and walked back and forth in my apartment. I could call Peter, ask him if he’d come help.
Or, I could wait it out.
For the first time in my life, I had no plan at all. I didn’t have anything crazy or elaborate going through my mind, and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even know if there was anyone who I could genuinely ask for advice.
Peter had been right before, but what was he going to say to something like this? What would anyone say? I fucked up, and clearly the girl wants to be left alone. If I wanted her to come back to me, then I was going to have to give her the respect she needed – the space she needed.
I poured myself a drink in the kitchen. It was stupid to run the streets yelling her name. But, if I gave her the night to cool off, I could see if I could talk to her in the morning. I’d apologize, I’d accept responsibility. I’d do anything I could to get her back.
“Then fuck it, I’m going to do anything I can!” I said suddenly. The rational side of myself went out the window with the whiskey I threw down my throat. If I wanted to feel like I’d done everything, then I was going to go look for her. I didn’t care if it took me all night, I was going to try to find her.
She was my wife, and the love of my life. So many things that I thought mattered, didn’t. All that mattered was her, and I was going to stop at nothing until I got to tell her that to her face.
Even if it’s the last time you get to s
ee her?
Fuck yeah. Even if it’s the last time I get to see her. She deserves to know how I feel, and I’m going to tell her.
One hundred percent the truth.
22
Ashley
I opened my eyes slowly, staring up at the ceiling. It was the third morning that I’d woken up in this shitty hotel, and I was exhausted. The bed hurt my back, the breakfast bar looked inedible, and I didn’t have enough money on me to really do much shopping.
I still had Blake’s card in my wallet. He had given it to me a while back so I could get anything that I cared to get for the baby, or even for myself if I wanted it. But, I didn’t feel right about using it. It was his money, not mine, and even if he did hurt me like that, it didn’t change the fact that it would be stealing.
Too many times in my life I’d seen my grandparents do things that were immoral for money. They were more than happy to lie or cheat someone if it meant they were going to get more money themselves, and I hated it.
I hated to be part of it. There were too many times in my grandfather’s so called investing I felt like I was being used as a pawn. He wanted someone young and with a pretty face to go in and make the deal seem smooth.
Of course, he never said anything like that outright, and I didn’t want to believe that it had really happened, but I knew him too well to know that if he thought he could make money of someone, he would do it.
And the same largely went for the people he associated with. I didn’t ever suspect Blake of doing that. Hell, he was always griping about the way that his dad did business, but with the way he had cheated people, I was starting to wonder.
But, I knew I was going through the stages of grief. Sometimes I would be in one, sometimes in another. Sometimes I would feel as though I was in more than one at the same time. I was both hurt and angry with Blake for what he did for me, then there were times when I felt it was something that I had to accept it and move on.
