Like clockwork.
That is why he is standing in my dining room at five-thirty in the morning, pointing out a particular marriage announcement.
“Connor & Hazel Bradford…” I trail off as I read the marriage announcement.
It’s quite cruel to have it run on the day he was supposed to be getting married to someone else.
Not that they had a lick of feeling for each other, but still.
“Bloody hell,” I say.
“It’s fucked up, for sure,” Lucius says as he sits down to top off his coffee, removing the lid and pouring more into the paper cup.
“He was cheating on her?” I am stunned.
Why any man would cheat on Tinsley is beyond me.
Yes, Tinsley and I did in fact run away together.
We’ve been together several times since she got engaged.
However, to me, this is different.
This is shocking, especially seeing it’s the woman who was going to be her maid of honor.
“You’re right,” I sigh. “I’d better tell her myself.”
Without thinking, I call the Whittaker residence, even at an early hour, figuring someone will pick up the phone.
I don’t want her to see this without someone having prepared her for it first.
“Hello, Noah,” Tinsley’s voice verges on excited when she picks up the phone.
“I was just about to call you for a run. Meet me?” she asks.
Her request is simple, and quite honestly, refreshing.
“I’ll meet you in fifteen,” I tell her calmly.
“Just do me a favor, and don’t look at the paper before I see you,” I warn her.
“Okay,” she replies.
I can tell she finds this a weird request, from the tone of her voice, but she relents.
“I’ll see you soon, without looking at the New York Times. Anything else I should avoid? Diamond rings, maybe?” she teases.
“Cracks on the sidewalk,” I instruct. “That’s bad luck,”
“Oh shoot, no wonder my engagement fell apart,” she says, laughing.
Lucius follows me down the elevator and towards the usual meeting place.
I don’t change out of my suit.
Instead, I show up with two coffees, both of them black.
Tinsley is standing by the pedestrian path, waiting in a black skirt, white blouse and a black wrap around her shoulders.
She has no intention of running.
“We had the same idea, I see” I chuckle as she accepts my offer of coffee, sipping it slowly.
“I thought about it, and I realized maybe my head isn’t on straight today. Probably a bad idea to go running when you can’t focus,” she confesses.
“Or, maybe you now have too much energy, from being freed of your obligation,” I suggest.
“Freedom,” she marvels.
She spreads her arms wide, sloshing coffee over the sidewalk.
“Can you believe it?”
“Yes,” I nod.
She notices my stiffness, my posture.
“What’s wrong Noah?”
“Connor and Hazel have a marriage announcement in this paper,” I hold it up, folded so she can’t see it.
“I wanted to be the one to tell you,” I say, quietly.
It’s sometimes easiest to rip the band-aid off quickly.
Or so I’ve been told.
Tinsley’s expression changes from complete elation to horrified.
“Seriously?” she looks dumbfounded. “Give me that!” she yells as she drops the coffee in a trash bin, no longer needing a caffeine fix.
“Tinsley, remember how you feel…” I caution.
“Alright” she keeps her voice even, sitting down as she reads through the paper. “Noah this better be a joke! I don’t…” then she stops talking, and I know she’s seen it.
I watch her eyes scan the paper twice.
Then, another two times before I rip it out of her hands.
“Hey!” she yells at me, screaming at the top of her lungs, and a couple stares at us as they run by.
“Reading it over and over again, isn’t going to make it go away,” I tell her.
“My parents had to know about this,” she tells me with a sigh.
“I don’t think, either of them would’ve suspected-” I try to finish my sentence.
“It’s okay,” Tinsley shrugs. “It’s… I’m strangely fine with this.”
“I don’t blame you.” I tell her with relief.
“We need to tell my parents,” Tinsley says quietly.
Maybe she’s in shock?
“Noah,” She nudges me as she gets up. “Come on, before they find out through someone else.”
We walk towards her parents’ Columbus Circle apartment at a hurried pace.
“What is my mother going to say Noah?” she asks. “This whole thing it’s… it’s humiliating but I really can’t bring myself to care all that much.”
Jamesen and Gianna Whittaker are having breakfast when we walk in.
Jamesen looks a little shocked to see me.
“Noah?” He raises an eyebrow.
“Look at this.” Tinsley brings the paper to her father.
How is she so calm?
I admit, I expected a worse reaction than this, but it just goes to show how much she truly didn’t care about Connor.
Jamesen looks up at me.
“Noah what’s this about?” he looks beyond his glasses at me.
“Connor and Hazel.” Tinsley explains, almost ignoring her father.
“Who dear?” Her mother looks exhausted, probably from the hours spent cancelling a wedding that easily would’ve cost them in the half a million dollar range.
Probably more.
“Connor married Hazel. They’re expecting.” Tinsley says.
Then I hear Gianna.
“Oh, that messy bit,” she says.
This makes Tinsley pause.
“Did you just call it messy?” she asks her mother.
“Tinsley, you’re innocent here. You did nothing wrong, he’s the one who ended it, married someone else less than a week later, and then announced in the newspaper,” her mother points out. “I would understand if you were a bit more humiliated…”
It’s a hint if anything.
I raise an eyebrow at Tinsley to suggest she play along, but she’s having none of it.
“Tinsley,” I warn her in a whisper. “Pretend to at least be angry.”
“She was my best friend,” Tinsley says with barely any emotion.
“How am I going to face everyone?” she continues, trying to hide the smile on her face.
Even if I am a man, I know what she’s talking about.
The Manhattan Elite are very particular.
Everyone knows everyone, and they will all be whispering about this scandal, for a long time.
Especially, if Connor and Hazel show up anywhere Tinsley is.
“It’s not that bad,” I offer, hiding my own smile.
This is ridiculous.
“Tinsley, are you really upset?” her father asks, rolling his eyes in the process.
“No.” Tinsley admits.
There’s a long silence between the four of us as Jamesen reads the announcement.
“Noah, aren’t you going to Tahiti soon?” Gianna pipes up.
“Hawaii,” I correct her.
“Well, why don’t you just take Tinsley with you?” she smiles. “You wouldn’t mind?” she asks, looking like a cat who ate a canary.
She knows.
“Of course,” I don’t hesitate. “It would be good for you. I don’t mind. I’m going on business anyway; you’d barely notice me,” I say.
“Really?” Tinsley juts out her lower lip, looking impossibly sexy for a moment.
Now, I recognize the outfit she is wearing.
From years ago, when she showed up at my place and we were mad for each other.
It makes me want to take back whatever I
say next.
“Tinsley we’ve always been good friends. You need friends around you at a time like this, not the prying eyes of Manhattan socialites and their would-be husbands,” I advise.
“Noah’s correct,” her father adds. “Go with him.”
It’s not an order.
Have Jamesen’s interactions with his daughter had changed?
I suddenly think maybe he knows, as well.
I believe he may have seen the error of his ways.
“Dad,” Tinsley sounds as though she’s protesting.
Why!
“What if-” she starts to say.
My eyes widen.
She’s going to tell her father.
“Go with him,” Jamesen barks out, turning to his wife. “We’re right, aren’t we? She shouldn’t have to endure what they’ve brought upon on us. I have a mind to get away myself. Where should we go?” he asks her.
“Madrid,” Gianna tells him. “Madrid, or maybe the Amalfi coast for a few months. What do you think of that?” she says.
“I quite like that idea. We can leave tomorrow,” Jamesen nods, and Gianna rises from the table.
“I’m going to get set some things up. Tinsley, you would do wise to listen to your father,” she admonishes.
I stare at them both for a long moment.
Tinsley doesn’t say anything.
This is her secret to tell, I’ve a mind to mention this to Jamesen now, but he’s as good as sending us away together.
“Yes, yes,” her father nods. “Thank you, Noah, for helping me out in a pinch,” he adds.
“It’s not a problem,” I reply, trying to hide my delight.
I can see a smile creeping onto Tinsley’s face, as her father picks up his cellphone and starts barking orders to some functionary.
With both her parents otherwise occupied, we have a moment to ourselves, something we may have been avoiding since she ended her engagement.
“We’re going away together,” I explain carefully.
“Yes,” Tinsley lowers her voice, she looks down at what she’s wearing, then back up at me.
She knows the memory I’m thinking of.
“We should probably take it slow,” I say, but my words are meaningless.
“Probably,” Tinsley replies, reading my thoughts, “Or maybe not.”
She smiles seductively.
Her father sent us away.
Together.
Nothing can stop us now.
40
Tinsley
April 26, 2017
Preparing for this trip is no simple task.
Going away with Noah calls for new dresses, new bikinis, and all sorts of lingerie I’ve always wanted to buy.
I want him to remember every single second of this trip together.
Of course, all that requires new shoes, to accent every single dress that drapes perfectly off my frame.
I’m in one particular shoe store trying to decide between two pairs of heels.
Oh, hell.
I’ll probably end up taking them both.
Suddenly, I hear a familiar voice.
“Tinsley?” Hazel is behind me, a pair of last season sale Jimmy Choo’s in her hand.
“Those are so over,” is all I tell her, before returning my attention to my shoes.
I should be angrier with her.
“Tinsley…” Hazel approaches me cautiously. “I wanted to tell you…”
“It’s alright,” I tell her honestly. “I should probably be a little more upset with you, but I’m just not. I didn’t want anything with Connor and if that’s what you wanted, you should’ve told me.
“Tinsley, I’m sorry,” Hazel weeps. “I had no choice. We’re having a baby.”
“Did you want to marry him?” I ask, calmly.
“I don’t know,” she answers. “One second I was just comforting him, the next he was kissing me and everything got so… so messed up so quickly. I didn’t want anything to do with him, I didn’t want to hurt you, but he was so persuasive.”
The desperation in her voice as she sits beside me on the bench is obvious.
That part, at least, I can believe.
I still say nothing.
“Tinsley please, help me,” she begs, putting a hand on my arm.
“I get it,” I tell her with a sigh. “I know what he’s like. But there’s nothing I can do,” I admit to her.
I feel sorry for Hazel, who’s married a man whom I loathe.
That’s an understatement.
I hate Connor Bradford.
“Please, I can’t handle the thought of you being mad at me for this! It was beyond my control!” she begs.
“I already told you, I should probably be upset, but I’m just not.” I wrap an arm around her.
“It wasn’t my idea, I didn’t even know they were going to do that.” she sniffs
“Well, it’s done. That family, except for Alex, is conniving and petty, always have been,” I remark.
I stand up to address the sales girl.
“I’ll take both pairs,” I smile at Hazel.
With confidence, I march to the desk and slide my card forward, taking the bag from the sales girl.
“It’s going to be okay,” I tell her confidently. “I wish I could stay, have lunch, but I’m going away for a bit.”
Hazel joins me at the counter. “Where are you going?”
We fall easily into our regular friendship.
Without the strain of Hazel and Connor between us, I know I need my best friend.
It’s easy to tell her where I am going.
“Hawaii,” I smirk.
“Alone?” She raises an eyebrow at me.
“With Noah,” I admit.
Hazel grins. “I always knew that British bastard had a thing for you.”
41
Noah
May 2, 2017
“How the fuck is my son engaged! Did you know about this!” Olivia screams into the phone as Tinsley, and I stare at each other. “Did you know!”
Her voice, on speaker, fills the penthouse.
“Corban is engaged?” I sigh, pinching my nose.
This better not be some prank on her part.
“Page Six!” Olivia’s voice is shrill, and when I turn through the newspaper, there it is, and I’m stunned at what I’m seeing.
It’s Ava and Corban, wrapped around each other like a pair of lovers!
The ring I gave Olivia is on Ava’s finger.
“What?” I stare at the color photo, the various pictures of the two of them going through the airport.
“What’s going on?” Tinsley yawns as she pours herself a cup of coffee and stares at the clock. “We have to leave soon,” she says, absently.
“Noah explain this!” Olivia demands. “This is your fault isn’t it!” her shriek fills the room again.
She doesn’t say anything about the ring; she just finds a way to make this all about me messing up her son's life.
“Olivia I can assure you, I didn’t know anything,” I tell her. “I’m going to Fiji anyway today; I’ll find out from him myself,” I promise her.
Tinsley’s eyes widen at our change of travel plans.
“Well, you’d better!” Olivia screams so loud I cover my ears.
Then she hangs up.
“We going to Fiji now?” Tinsley raises an eyebrow at me.
“Corban is engaged…” I show her the picture.
“Oh, she looks pretty. Wait, did you say he’s engaged?” she stares at me. “How did that happen?”
“I’m assuming this is some mistake. Because of that woman, in the picture? That’s my daughter, that’s Ava,” I reply.
Tinsley’s eyes widen, and she sits back down.
“Holy shit! How does Corban know Ava?” she asks.
“I’m not even sure. But I have a feeling that Elizabeth, is behind all of this,” I tell her slowly. “It doesn’t make sense that she would suddenly do this,” I say.
&n
bsp; “Okay, you’ve lost me.” she admits.
I take a deep breath.
“Elizabeth is posing as a madam. She’s running a high-class brothel, and she used our daughter as one of those escorts,” I reply.
“Noah! How could you let that happen!” Tinsley screams at me.
“Tinsley, please. I went to Elizabeth to get Ava, and it backfired because she’s got all those pictures of us…” I explain.
“You put me before her?” she cries.
Her eyes are wide.
“Oh, Noah! No! Do not tell me you did that! You go, you march right down there and tell her the fuck off! If I had known that Ava had anything to do with a brothel I would’ve told you to fucking broadcast those videos if it meant she would’ve been safe with you!” she says.
“That’s why I didn’t tell you that part,” I admit.
“Noah!” Tinsley shakes her head. “I can’t believe you!”
“Well, be mad at me on the plane, now we’ve got to go to Fiji,” I reply.
“I don’t even want to look at you right now,” Tinsley shakes her head as walks away from me.
“You should’ve told me!”
“Tinsley please, just listen. I couldn’t let Elizabeth ruin you just so that I could find Ava. I needed a way around that,” I say.
“And in the process, Ava is going to get hurt. Because of you, Noah, because of you!” she says, accusingly.
Tinsley’s face is serious; her eyes focus on me like lasers as she holds the cup of coffee in her hands.
“I had no idea you could be so selfish,” she says with a sigh.
“Tinsley, I did this for us,” I say, tying to reason with her, and not understanding where this is coming from.
“Us? What about your daughter, who’s been tricked by her mother her entire life? Did she do this because of me? Because of that one night, when she walked in on us together?” Tinsley cries.
It’s apparent that Tinsley is ridden with guilt over Ava.
“Elizabeth would’ve done whatever she wanted anyway; one has nothing to do with the other,” I tell her simply.
“For such an astute businessman, you can be pretty dense,” she tosses back at me.
Tinsley’s angry voice is not something I’m used.
“Go to Fiji alone; I’m not coming with you,” she says, with finality.
Torrid Page 29
