Unexpected Consequences

by Jaye Cox

  "Right this way, Miss Preston,” he says.

  He knew I was coming, so there’s no confusion with the venue. Even though I don’t see Rayne yet, the Maître d’ takes me to my seat. "Mr. Hollywood will be right out, he is just personally placing your order with the chef." I finally see him exit the kitchen. The smile he’s wearing lights up his whole face.

  "Wow, Tiny Dancer. You look stunning," he says, kissing me on the cheek.

  "Thank you. You don’t look too bad yourself. I think I like you in a suit more than your leather jacket."

  "When you're this sexy, you can pull off anything," he says. It’s nice to see his attitude has changed and he’s happy. We talk about a lot of things while we wait for our food. He apologizes for today and tells me he’ll explain everything tomorrow. The mood swings and the secret phone calls, he says he doesn’t want to ruin tonight and I’m glad we’re having such a nice time. When our food comes out, I start to laugh. When we first met, I told him about all the times growing up, my father and Alice, Tommy’s mum, dragged us to fancy dinners and functions that only had horrible food and how all we wanted was to see them carry out a big, juicy burger.

  "Listen, I know I’m a pain in your ass, and I can’t explain how grateful I’m that you put up with me. As of tomorrow, in the light of a new day, I promise to be the man you need; the man you deserve." I nearly fall off my chair when he pulls out a ring. I start to feel a little lightheaded, I love him more than anything, but I’m only nineteen.

  "Don’t freak out, Tiny Dancer. It’s only a promise ring. I promise you until the end of time I will love you, and even then I will find a way to love you more, to keep on loving you. I promise I will always do what’s best for you. Before you, I never thought I would have a future, but all I see now is you,” he opens the box and the ring is beautiful. It’s a white gold infinity ring; half of it is set with black diamonds. He takes the ring out and places it on my finger.

  "I love you," I say through all my tears. I don’t care that I must look like a raccoon with my mascara running everywhere. He never ceases to amaze me with how thoughtless and amazing he can be. I thought the night I lost my virginity was sweet, but he just topped that night. We finish our food and dessert and now I’m ready to go home and show him how much he means to me. I excuse myself to use the toilet before we leave and he says he’ll pay and meet me out front. As I’m walking back to him, I see him standing with his back to me and I catch part of his conversation.

  "I can’t tonight, I’m busy... For fucks sake, I can’t keep doing this. I’ll lose everything... I know I wanted to move it up, but fuck!!!!” I watch him take a few deep breaths before he begins speaking again, “Fine, I’ll text you the address. Yeah, I’ll be there later."

  He hangs up the phone. We have decided no drama tonight, so I’ll bite my tongue and deal with all this tomorrow. Nothing is ruining my night when that could have been anyone on the phone. Tomorrow I will get some answers but tonight is for us.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  On the limo ride around the city, I can’t stop staring at my ring. I could not possibly be any happier. I look at Rayne, and I mean really look at him. He really is something else from his good looks to his bad ass persona, he's really a big softy at heart and times like these really make me appreciate him. I straddle his lap and put my hands on either side of his face, "I love you, Rayne Hollywood."

  "I love you more, Isabella Preston.” I lean in and feather kisses on his face and neck until he kisses my mouth. The kiss goes from nice to hot and steamy in a matter of seconds. I break from the kiss and lift the dress over my head, throwing it to the floor. I see the look of realization in his eyes when he sees my intentions. I’m now glad I took Sam’s advice and ditched the underwear. Having a girlfriend comes in handy sometimes. Sam made wearing no underwear sound hot and sexy, where Tommy would have said the same and made it sound sleazy, which would have made me wear them.

  "Now that’s a nice surprise," he says, running his hands from my ass up to my waist.

  "Shut up and make love to me already." I don’t think he could have gotten naked any faster. Even with me sitting on top of him, he tells the driver to keep driving until he lets him know to head home. I slide myself down onto his dick and the look of pure satisfaction flashes across his face. He grabs my ass and pushes me to match his thrusts, nice and slow.

  “I will love you to the end of time, and even then I’ll find a way to love you more, to keep on loving you," he whispers in my ear, as his thrusts get harder and faster. I feel my orgasm building so I make my movements slower and harder so that my clit rubs the front of his dick. I bite on his shoulder to stop myself from screaming out as the orgasm rocks me, and the electricity shoots between us as we both come together.

  "Fuck! That was hot. Where did that come from?"

  I push his hair from his face and kiss him softly, “I could ask you the same thing.''

  "That was my way of showing you how much I love you. The next time I’m an ass, please remember no matter what, I love you more than anything and anyone in this world. Everything I do is for you. It’s us against the world from now on, screw everyone else.”

  He helps me slip my dress back on and wraps the condom up, ready to put it in the mini bin. "Don’t put it in there."

  "Why the fuck not? It’s a bin, where else do you want me to put it? I can throw it out the window," he says, pressing the button to make the window roll down.

  "Don’t you dare,” I say, leaping for his arm.

  "Fine. I’ll put it in my pocket until we get home if that makes you happy."

  "Thanks, cowboy.” Once we get home, there’s a party going on. It’s been awhile since they’ve had a good party. I think they weren’t doing it for my benefit since parties aren’t my thing, but I never expected them to stop. I just hope Tammie and Kandi aren’t stupid enough to turn up tonight, even though I would really love to see Sam kick their asses.

  Walking through the house, it’s the usual crowd except I’m surprised to see Tommy here and talking to Kourtney. I tell Rayne I have to talk to Tommy and he says to come find him when I’m done, smacking my ass as I walk by. I look back at him and he shrugs and smiles at me. I’m loving his cheeky attitude tonight.

  Tommy spots me walking over, "Hey, Bells." I don’t say anything, I just hold out my hand and show him my ring. In hindsight, I should have told him it’s a promise ring first. I see the veins in his neck pulsating and I’m pretty confident he’s physically biting his tongue.

  "It’s just a promise ring, so don’t go having a stroke on me."

  "Thank God. I’m sorry. I’m happy for you, I just thought...shit! You know what I thought and you're only nineteen. This is your first relationship."

  "Just shut up. Come have a shot with me and keep pretending you're happy for me."

  "I am happy for you.”

  "Then what’s with the face? You look like someone kicked your puppy."

  “Natalie and I are fighting. Nothing major. I’m sure we’ll work it out, but tonight I came to get shit faced with my best friend.”

  "Well, you better go find us something to drink while I go see if Rayne wants to join us.”

  "No worries, but no hanky panky. Just find him and come get your drink on." I laugh. I’m fairly sure Tommy doesn’t need anything else to drink. It must have been a big fight he had with Natalie. I go into our room but Rayne isn’t there. I get changed out of my dress quickly and slip into some shorts and a singlet top. I decide instead of searching everywhere for Rayne, I’ll just call him. I hear his phone. It’s plugged into his charger on the bedside table. I end the call and pick up his phone, noticing he also has a message from Kandace. I’m not normally one to snoop, but if he’s cheating on me, I want to know. I click on the message and the whole conversation pops up.

  KANDACE: What’s the address where I have to meet you?

  RAYNE: 12 Johnson Street. Just after the old pet shop on the corner.

  KANDACE: I’
ll bring everyone with me. Don’t be late this time.

  RAYNE: I have an easy out this time. Her best friend is here and getting drunk, so I’ll have a few hours.

  KANDACE: Ok.

  The blood dramatically drains from my body and I start to shake, I don’t know if I’m angry or upset. No, I’m fucking furious! How dare he give me a ring and say all that stuff to me, and it all be a lie! I memorize the address and decide to wait until he leaves and follow him there because I know if I say anything now, he’ll know how to make me forgive him with all his lies. I know I’ll be gullible enough to believe him, but at least if I catch him in the act, he’ll have no way to talk himself out of it. I erase my call and Kandace’s last text message and plug his phone back in.

  Tommy is in the kitchen, doing a body shot off Kourtney, "Come have a shot," he yells when he sees me. I look at Kourtney and she nods. I think stuff it, why not? My night’s only about to get worse, so I may as well be drunk enough to face it. We do a few shots of Kourtney and I lay down as Kourtney does some off me. I see Rayne and Morris walking toward us from the corner of my eye and I’m a little drunk right now. Any more drinks and I may forget what I had read.

  "Oh, looks like I’m in trouble," I say loud enough for Rayne to hear.

  "Can I talk to you for a sec,” he asks.

  "No, I’m busy drinking with Tommy and Kourtney. I like her. She isn’t so bad if you look past all the sluttyness. No offense,” I say turning to look at Kourtney.

  "None taken," she says as she giggles.

  "I don’t have time for this. I have to go out with Morris."

  "Then go. No promises I’ll be here when you get back. I’m over coming second to whatever or whomever you're doing."

  "Fuck," he says and starts pacing.

  "We have to do this now, but tomorrow you two can talk.” Morris says, “And can you tell Sam I’ve left? She’s pissed at me again and won’t answer my calls."

  "Fine," I say, even though I plan to follow straight behind them.

  Rayne walks up to me and grabs the side of my face and forcefully kisses me, but I push him off. He walks away and Morris pats him on the back and says something to him and Rayne just nods. I wonder if Morris knows about Kandace. Maybe he’s cheating on Sam too and that’s why she isn’t talking to him. I have to remember to text her before I leave.

  "What was that all about?"

  "Nothing. As usual, Rayne does what Rayne wants."

  "You guys will make up tomorrow, you always do, and you love each other."

  "I don’t know this time, Tommy. Love might not be enough to fix this."

  "You always have me, Isabella. Tommy your BFF, remember? Tommy always knows what to say to make me feel just a little bit better.

  "Quoting the 12 year old me? Very funny." We have another drink and Tommy wanders off to make what will be a mistake. He’s drunk and calling Natalie, so I tell him I’m going to look for Romeo and call Sam to pass on Morris' message but instead. I send off a text to Sam about thinking Morris and Rayne are cheating and to call me when she gets the message. I then call a taxi to the address down at the end of the street, and sneak out the back so Tommy doesn’t spot me. I get to the end of the street and the taxi is pretty quick. I give him the address and hope to God I’m wrong and Rayne isn’t cheating on me. Please let me be wrong.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The taxi pulls up and I double-check the address. It looks like the house has a party going on and now that I’m here, I’m not sure this is such a good idea. This isn’t the greatest area and what happens if Rayne isn’t here? What if I come across guys that look like the ones standing out in front of the house, drinking something out of a bottle? I pay the taxi driver and make sure my phone is in my purse. I’m glad I didn’t wear heels because I can run if I have to in thongs, or they can be easily removed. I take a deep breath and decide it’s time to go in and see if I can find Rayne, or at least Morris.

  I walk up the rickety old stairs. The house looks so neglected with all the paint chipping off, but I keep going and walk past a few older guys around my dad’s age with big moustaches and old school looking tattoos. One guy smiles at me and he’s missing most of his teeth. He just laughs at me and blows me a kiss as I scurry inside, where I find it’s so much worse. There are people everywhere. The women look cheap and the men look scary, the type that would make you cross the street if you see them coming. Why is Rayne here? Who are these people?

  The music is loud and horrible; it’s some kind of metal music. The house is full of smoke I’m positive is mostly from weed. I still don’t see Rayne, but I get a few weird looks from some of the women and a few more guys are trying to come on to me, but I just keep walking. The kitchen is bedlam. The benches are full of alcohol and the table is set up with a shit load of drugs. You name it and it’s more than likely there. Bags of little pills, which I presume are ecstasy, and lots of white powder that a really big guy is crushing with what looks to be his credit card. I’m starting to think maybe he isn’t here, until I lock eyes with Razor and my face drops at the realization he is coming my way. Play it cool, Isabella. I keep repeating to myself.

  "I knew you would come looking for me eventually. All the sluts love me." I don’t say anything. He’s huge and scary, and I think if he yelled boo, I would piss my pants and run away crying. He grabs me and starts pulling me by my arm. I start pulling back because in situations like this, it never ends well for the girl. "Hey brother - look who I found" he says, pulling me into a room where I think my heart shatters into a million pieces. Rayne is sitting on a lounge chair with Kandi of all girls, on his lap, topless. A single tear rolls down my face as he looks at me and his eyes are black and soulless. I instantly know this isn’t my Rayne. For a split second I think I see a glimmer of him, but I blink and it’s gone. I notice Morris sitting on the other lounge with two girls all over him, but at least they have a little more clothing on than Kandi. My legs give out a little and Razor tightens his grip on my arm. "Looks like little Juliet here has come without her Romeo.”

  He pushes me into a chair. "Stay there until I decide what to do with you," he says before taking a line of what I think is cocaine. Rayne doesn’t look at me, he just sits there and lets Kandi put her tits in his face, right in front of me. He said he would hurt me, I just never realized how much. He said he wasn’t a good guy and stupid me, I thought I could change him if I loved him enough. Do you know what it feels like to see another woman on the love of your life, rubbing her tits in his face?

  It feels like my heart is going to burst out of my chest and I will bleed out and die, except death doesn't sound so bad right now - at least I wouldn't have to feel this pain. As much as I needed to see his cheating ways with my own eyes so I would believe it. Yet here I sit, trying to think of a reason he would be doing this: because he loves me, dammit. He loves me, not her, so why? I want to scream and yell. I want to run over and push her off and claim him as my own, but I can’t move. I’m just glued to this chair in shock and fear.

  Glancing over at Morris, I see that he will actually look at me. I can still see the old Morris in his eyes. He’s still there, unlike Rayne, who has checked out. Morris is trying to reassure me with his eyes that it will all be ok. But it won’t be ok. I can’t erase the picture of Kandi rubbing herself all over Rayne. It hurts and I never expected heartbreak to feel this bad.

  Razor finally speaks while he leans over me, "So pretty Girl, did you come here to be fucked by a real man? You over pretty boy, because I’m all man," he says as he grabs his crotch. I still see nothing from Rayne. He just sits there unaffected like this is totally normal. I decide fuck it. I now have nothing to lose, because losing him is as good as losing everything. If he doesn’t care, or never cared, than why should I?

  "I came here for something, alright."

  "Did you hear that boys? She came here for something, maybe we should share her around, see what pretty boy thinks of that, hey brother?"

  Shit, mayb
e I should’ve kept my mouth shut. Razor roughly runs his hand down my face and squeezes my mouth, which makes a kind of duck face. I twist my face away and tell him to fuck off, and he just laughs at me.

  "We have a feisty one, boy’s. That makes it so much more fun, little girl." He grabs me hard by the arm and pulls me to my feet.

  "Time to fuck now, Princess. Who wants to go first,” he says, looking around the room.

  "Let him fuck me first, by the looks of it, he has no standards,” I say, pointing to Rayne.

  "You don’t get a say. I decide what happens to you and I’m in charge around here." That actually makes me laugh and I think I see a vein pop in Razor’s neck. Obviously the women around here don’t ever talk back to him and they can’t possibly be here for the men, so it has to be the drugs. They let these pigs do whatever they want so they can get high. Razor grabs me by the neck and applies enough pressure so it’s really hard to breathe, "You think you can laugh at me? It’s time to teach you a fucking lesson and show you who’s in charge around here."

  Finally, that’s enough to make Rayne and Morris stand up. Rayne pushes Razor off me, "Come on brother. You know you can’t get into anymore shit again they’ll lock you up forever over some whore that belongs to pretty boy. Let me fuck her and you can send the pictures to him once I’m done with her."

  "Here take this one Razor and cool off. She gives a fuckin’ mean blow job," Morris says, pushing a willing blonde toward Razor who hands her a twenty dollar note rolled up. She smiles at him and does a line. I almost miss it, but I see Morris nod at Rayne, like they have some sort understanding. Rayne grabs me by the arm and drags me out of the room, far enough we can quietly talk but close enough that Razor can still see us.