Torn Hearts

by M. E. Gordon

  I took the note, after reading it, and shoved it quickly into my pocket.

  “What do I say?” I asked, looking at Gia, just moving my mouth with no sound.

  “Well,” Gran said. “I’ve been looking at this box for more than two weeks trying to figure out what’s inside. Spill it, muffin. What’s in it and who’s it from?”

  I smiled over the box but quickly looked back down. Moving the tissue paper, I saw the contents within.

  There, lying perfectly draped in the box, was a white dress. It was stunning. The same as the red one but even better. Small crystals were added making it shimmer against the light. I took the dress in my hands and held it up for everyone to see.

  “Wow, Beth that’s a really nice dress,” Danielle said approvingly.

  “Who’s it from,” Gran asked.

  “It’s--umm.” I swallowed but my throat was too dry.

  “It’s from me,” Gia said, wrapping an arm around me. “I saw it a couple of weeks ago and didn’t want it sitting around the house so I sent it early.”

  I stared at her in total bewilderment. She just saved my ass--big time.

  Quickly I put the dress back in the box and hugged her tightly. “Thank you, I owe you big time,” I whispered in her ear.

  Pulling back, she shook her head. “No you don’t. Merry Christmas. Now come on, I want to see what it looks like on you.” Grabbing my arm, she pulled me up and into a spare room.

  ***

  Locking the door we, stared dumbfounded at one another.

  “I thought he didn’t want anything to do with you?” she said, laying the dress neatly on the bed.

  “I thought the same thing. What is his deal with confessing his love then leaving for a month? Does he have me on some kind of weird rinse and repeat cycle? Why is he doing this?” I asked, while I ran my hand over the perfectly beaded dress.

  “You want my opinion?” Gia asked, turning to me.

  “Sure,” I said, sitting next to the dress in defeat.

  “All right, this is what you do. You wear this dress to the club opening and make sure you look smoking hot. You find him, get him alone, and lay in on him. Tell him how he’s ruining your life, tell him to leave you alone, tell him to never contact you again. That’s what you should do.”

  I liked where she was going with this. Get him all wanton then kick him in the groin. I’d like to watch his domineering ass be on the shocked side for once. I just hopped that my stupid body didn’t betray me. Because we all know how I get around that man. Distracted, and I can’t let myself get distracted.

  “Since we’re here, you may as well try it on,” Gia said, bringing me back into the room.

  “I don’t know. It’s not that nice.”

  Ooo, bad lie. This dress is stunning, but there is no way it was going to still be stunning on me. Oh. My. God. What if he got the wrong size? How embarrassing. I probably can’t even wear it to make him jealous now because my ass won’t fit in it--literally.

  “Oh, come on, it’s a size twelve. It’s got to fit.”

  I don’t need to hear that. This was just great. The sexiest man on earth knew I was a size twelve. No big deal, right? Not. It’s a huge deal!

  “Fine, give it here. It’s not going to fit. Look at this there’s no way,” I said, holding the dress up to my pajama-clad body.

  “Go!” she said, pointing to the bathroom.

  Stripping down to just my underwear, I stepped into the dress. Taking a breath, I pulled slowly and found that it hugged my hips closely. I pulled the straps up and slid my arms in.

  It was stunning, but it also wasn’t zipped yet. I called out to Gia to come zip it up.

  “Holy shit, you’re going to have him eating out the palm of your hand in this dress. There’s no way he hasn’t been fantasizing about you in this since the day he got it,” she said, adding a high-pitched squeal on the end.

  “Calm down, it’s not zipped up yet.”

  Not even a tug to get it up. It fit perfectly. “Okay, it’s zipped, it looks good, now get it off of me,” I said, starting to panic.

  “Come on let’s show everyone first. Gran--”

  “Now, Gia! I need to get this off now!” Okay, I’m really panicking now.

  The fact that his dress fit so perfectly, like it was made just for my body--almost as if he told the person making it not only my size but every curve of my body, every mound, ever dip, just everything. It scared me to death that he could know my body so well after one night. Reaching behind me, I tried to grip the zipper and pull it.

  “Hold still, I’ll unzip it,” Gia said, making quick work of it.

  I hurried, taking my arms out, and pushed it down my hips so I could finally step out of it. Dropping to my knees in relief that I was out of it, I covered my bare chest and tried to steady my panicked breathing.

  Taking a towel from the hook, Gia wrapped it around me and knelt next to me on the floor. “Shh, Beth, it’s okay. It’s just a dress.”

  Holding the towel tightly, I looked up at her. “It’s not just a dress. He’s never going to stop, he’s never going to stop having an effect on me.”

  We sat there as I calmed down, not speaking and just sitting in the silence.

  “What no show?” Charles asked, smugly from his chair as we came back out.

  “No, it fit fine,” Gia answered for me. “You all just have to wait until the opening of the club to see it.”

  Staring at her as she took the heat off of me for a second time, I reflected on how much I appreciated her being here. When I first met her that freshman year when we ended up being roommates, I thought for sure it was joke. We were complete opposites, to say the least. But we worked on it and now I couldn’t imagine her not being a part of my life, my family.

  ***

  “Come for me, Elizabeth.”

  I opened my eyes wearily as the sound of Spencer’s voice lingered all around me. I noticed the beads of sweat on my upper lip. My heart rate was accelerated and I could feel it pounding as I placed a hand over my chest. Rotating quickly, I saw Simon sleeping peacefully, both his hands under the pillow. A faint snore was coming from his mouth. Closing my eyes, I sighed in relief that he was sleeping so soundly.

  It was no use. It had been over two weeks of me being Spencer free, so free that I didn’t even think about him. I rubbed my eyes harshly to get the image of his blue ones out of my mind. Somehow, he had gotten me caught up in his twisted web again.

  I need a drink, a stiff one.

  Wrapped in a blanket, I made my way downstairs, tiptoeing, so I wouldn’t wake anyone up. Cautiously, I made my way around the corner. I was shocked to see Teddy sitting at the island counter with what looked like a glass of whiskey in his hand.

  The floor creaked as I went to take a step, gaining his attention. He looked up to see me walk in.

  “Can’t sleep?” I asked, striding over closer.

  “Yeah something like that,” he said, swirling the liquid in his glass.

  I held my hand out for the glass. “Do you mind?”

  He let me take it from him. Downing the rest, I turned to where the bottle sat just next to him. Twisting the cap off, I filled it up again and finished that off, too. Again, I set the glass down to fill it up for a third shot.

  “Whoa, slow down, sis,” he said, taking the glass from me just as I went to finish it off.

  “Hey!” I said, trying to grab it back. He just stared at me with disappointment on his face. “Sorry,” I said. “I just wanted to clear my head.”

  “Salvatore have anything to do with that?”

  Shit! How the hell did he know?

  “Gia told me.”

  That little traitor.

  “I had a feeling that present wasn’t from her to begin with, so I questioned her and she let me in on everything.”

  Ah, hell, cat’s out of the bag now. “So, what do you think about it all? About him?” I asked, hoping that he would give me some sort of guidance, anything to help m
e out.

  “Honestly?” he asked, turning to catch my eye.

  “Yes, honestly,” I replied.

  “I have no clue. I want to believe him, because he’s great at what he does but then he goes off the rail and--he’s one fucked up man. Don’t get me wrong. He’s a genius at business but everything he’s telling me about his private research and developments, I just can’t wrap my head around.”

  What the hell is he talking about? Are we even talking about the same thing here?

  “Teddy, you totally lost me,” I said, taking the drink from him and sipping.

  “The day we came back from our weekend getaway, Spencer contacted me. He was ranting about Simon and how he was lying to you, to me, to everyone. He was trying to tell me to do my job and protect you from scum like Simon. He demanded that I come see him. So I gave in. He is the best at getting information. This all happened last week,” he said, taking the glass from me and finishing it off.

  “Well, what did he say about Simon? Did he actually find something?” I thought back to our last conversation--or argument was a better fit, I fell. “Spencer had told me he didn’t trust Simon and that he was going to hurt me.”

  Could there be any real truth to it all?

  “That’s what he told me, too. So I checked him out and found nothing. When I finally met with Spencer again, he flipped out when I let him know my findings. Thankfully, we were in his office, because he was tossing everything he could get his hands on at the wall. His office looked like a tornado had come through. He’s off the deep end, Beth. He told me he was going to keep searching until he found out the truth and proved us all wrong.” Teddy shrugged his shoulders, as if it was nothing.

  “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” I asked, feeling the anger build up.

  “Tell you what? That Spencer was going insane? You didn’t need to know that after everything. You were happy with Simon. I couldn’t find anything bad on him. Why would I even bring it up? You know how I feel about you and Spencer in the first place. I figured it’d be best for everyone to just forget about it.”

  There was just one small problem there. Spencer hadn’t forgotten and neither had I.

  He was determined to prove that Simon was wrong for me, but he wasn’t any better. His temper and whatever dirt Teddy had on him sure didn’t make him look like Prince Charming.

  “What were you blacking mailing Spencer with?” I asked in all seriousness.

  He lowered his head and I could see him struggling with whether to tell me or not. “Beth, Spencer comes from a very wealthy family.”

  Really? So do we. That’s a little hypocritical.

  “I found out that they had paid a lot of money to have his slate wiped clean. I don’t know what was so bad that his family went to such lengths to cover it up. I kind of bluffed. Just do me a favor and stay away from him. I’m sure they didn’t seal all his files because he didn’t return his library books. It must have been pretty substantial for his father to get involved.”

  He was bluffing. Teddy didn’t even know for sure what Spencer had done, if anything. Well, I guessed he did do something. Spencer seemed to believe Teddy and backed off before. Maybe Teddy was right. I needed to just stay away and tell him to back the fuck off. In one week that was going to happen, I was going to be Spencer free for the rest of my life.

  “So Gia’s in love with Chuck?” he asked.

  Whoa, that came out of left field. I almost want to go back to talking about Spencer. Almost. “I don’t know. But I do know that she is falling in love with you. She cares about you, and I think she’s willing to let her crush for Charles fade away, and that’s all because of you.”

  I filled the glass again making sure to take a sip before I handed it to him.

  “Did she sleep with him? She won’t tell me.”

  I felt my eyes grow larger, and I was thankful I was looking at the ground. Damn, I have to tell him. If roles were reversed, I’d want to know. I looked up at him and knew that my face said it all.

  “I should have guessed,” he said, downing the drink in his hand and placing it face down next to him. “If she really cares for him, then I’m not going to keep pushing myself on her. If she doesn’t care for me--”

  “I do care for you.”

  We both turned to see Gia standing in the doorway behind us. Oh shit. I need another drink. Is there something stronger than whiskey?

  “Teddy, how could you even think that? I care about you so much. I did sleep with Chuck, but it was before you, before us. I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I was embarrassed.” She took another step toward him. “Theodor Monroe, I’m falling in love with you, and that’s way better than any school girl crush I might have had on Chuck.”

  She took his hands in hers, holding them close to her chest.

  “Gia, don’t say what you think I want to hear. I’ll be fine. If you and Chuck want to--”

  She hushed him by a finger to his lips and shook her head. “I don’t want anyone but you.”

  She only had to reach up a little to meet his lips. Barbie and Ken, that’s what they looked like together. Now let’s all just pray that GI Joe Chuck doesn’t get too jealous and ruin it all.

  “Can you come back up to bed now?” she said, tugging at the hem of his shirt seductively.

  Gross, don’t do it. Ah hell, now I’ve got a mental picture. “Please get out of here. I’m about to be sick with all the mushiness in this kitchen.”

  “Are you okay now?” Teddy asked

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” I said, fiddling with the glass in my hand.

  “Beth, be careful with Salvatore,” he said before taking Gia’s hand and leading them up the back staircase.

  “Salvatore who?” I called behind them.

  Chapter 27

  “Simon, do you have your camera with you?” Gran asked as we were saying our goodbyes to Charles and Danielle.

  Go figure. His first time dating a girl and Danielle had him flying all the way to Main to spend the rest of the holiday weekend with her family. The look on Charles face, as he told us all they were leaving, was priceless.

  “Yeah, I have it upstairs, why?” he asked.

  “Would you mind taking a photo of me with all my grandbabies? I have them all here with me and I don’t want to let the opportunity go to waste.”

  Pictures? Really? I quickly looked down at my yoga pants and oversized sweat shirt. It was ripped along the cuffs, the writing on the front was illegible, and I had cut the neck hole. Not really what I wanted to have a family photo taken in.

  Fifteen minutes later, Simon had us all posed in front of the tree. Gran and I were in the middle with Teddy by my side and Charles on hers.

  “Okay, ready? One...two...three.”

  Dashing from the tree, I made my way to Simon. “I blinked. I know I did. Let me look.”

  Of course, I hadn’t blinked, I just wanted to make sure I didn’t look like shit next to my gorgeous grandmother and the freaking male models.

  “Eww, take it again,” I said, glancing at it quickly.

  “It looks great. What’s the problem?” he said, confused.

  “Just take it again, will ya?” I said, turning from him.

  Thirty minutes and about six different poses later, I still wasn’t happy.

  “Beth, its fine. I have to go,” Charles said.

  “Just one more,” I said, falling back in place behind my now sitting grandmother. I stood behind her chair as the boys stood on either side.

  “I’ve taken over fifty shots, babe, one of them has to be good enough,” Simon said

  I smiled innocently. “Last one, promise.”

  “You said that twenty minutes ago,” Gia called, looking up from her phone.

  “Hey--” But I couldn’t finish because a flash blinded me. “You did not just take that, did you?”

  I’d been in the middle of pointing at Gia with a God only knew what kind of expression on my face. I reached for Simon’s camera
but he held it above his head so I couldn’t get it.

  “Are you kidding me?” Placing my hands on my hips, I shot daggers at him. I went to grab the camera as he lowered it. Holding it up again, he started snapping away. Immediately, I held up my hands. The bastard was using his camera as a weapon.

  “Stop it, Simon.” Snap. “Come on.” Snap. “Okay, enough.” Snap. “It’s not funny anymore.”

  It sure as hell wasn’t funny to me but that didn’t stop everyone else from rolling on the floor, laughing.

  Backing away from him as he moved closer and continued taking pictures of me, I turned and made a mad dash around the first floor of the house. No use. He was still chasing me with that damn camera. I headed up the steps, pausing half way when he reached the bottom.

  “Simon, I swear to you. You’d better stop taking pictures of me.” I tried not to smile. I tried really hard not to laugh, but I couldn’t help the warm fuzzy feelings.

  “Not a chance, Belle. That pretty little ass is mine and I’m not going to stop snapping until I get exactly what I want,” he said with a cocky air.

  Squealing, I turned and took the steps two at a time. He was hot on my ass. I ran down the hall and turned into my room. Closing the door behind me, I barricaded myself in my closet. Thank God, it was huge. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to find me.

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

  The door to the closet opened as he walked in, letting a sliver of light in with him. It didn’t last long, as he closed it behind him.

  “I do have night vision on this thing, just come out so I can get one picture. I promise,” he called sweetly.

  “Fine just one picture then you’re going to put it away, right?” I asked, still huddled in the back of the closet.

  “Sure,” he said.

  I smiled inwardly because I knew he had that smug expression on his face, even if I couldn’t see it. I knew him all too well.