by Amy Brent
“I knew you’d clean me out and I knew Ella was in better hands with her mother. We were going to be together when I got clean, and then you ended up pregnant. Layla told me to stay.”
“Oh, and that makes it better?” Nola swung her arms around dramatically.
“Well, I wish I hadn’t listened,” he said as I stepped up beside him with Millie as she presented him with the papers. “What’s this?”
“It’s the original deed to Layla’s house. You were the original buyer.”
“Yes, so what? I wanted my daughter to have a place to live. I didn’t know that Layla would get herself in so much debt though, not enough to lose it. If I had known she’d borrowed against it.” He stopped talking and stared off into space as if the thought of it was all too much. But he’d said enough. He’d been told the same lie.
“Nola took the house, not the bank. She had Ella sign some papers under distress knowing that if she didn’t get her to sign it over, Ella would inherit it.”
“Nola?” Scott looked at her to deny it, but instead, she lifted her chin.
“Layla had the audacity to ask me to take care of Ella, to admit that she was yours. Her deathbed confession she called it. She slipped into her coma right after, and since I couldn’t get back at her, I decided that little Miss Ella could pay. I gave your mother the best years of my life being her friend and the whole time, the whole fucking time, she was in love with my husband, and you were their dirty little lie. She’d told me that he was afraid I’d clean him out. Do you know how much it hurts to find out the only reason someone sticks around is because they don’t want to lose their precious fortune? So yeah, I took your fucking house.”
“Wrong. The house was always hers. Your papers didn’t hold up, so the house had always been Ella’s. Instead, you stole from me. You stole the money that I bought the house with, and I have a feeling if I dig a little deeper, I’ll find what you did with Ella’s inheritance.”
“It doesn’t matter, I’m going to clean out Scotty Blue here, and he can pay for it.” Nola curled her lip and gave a menacing grin.
“No, you’re not,” said Halle. “We’re not going to let you.” Sadie stepped up beside her mother. In a gesture of solidarity they walked across the room and stood next to their father.
“How could you take his side after all I’ve done for you?”
“Don’t worry, mother, you’ll continue to do it,” said Sadie. “It’s part of your job, remember? And you’ll also remember who pays your salary.”
“Your father is the one who lied, and this is the treatment I get?” Nola folded her arms in front of her.
“You could have confronted him at any time, but instead you lied.”
“Those lies provided well for you.”
Halle shook her head and curled her lip. “Like the sex tape lies you spread about me? What else have you orchestrated for ratings at our expense? I suggest if you want to remain our manager, you let Sadie and me start making our decisions.”
I couldn’t believe the twins had actually stepped up against their mother, but something told me they’d simply been waiting for the perfect opportunity.
“I’m sorry, Ella.” Scott Blue crossed the room and sat next to his daughter who was sitting with tears streaming down her face.
“Well, I guess if that’s it, I’ll be going to my room.” Nola held her chin up high and turned to head up the stairs, but Millie stepped in her way.
“I’d like for you to pack your things. You’re no longer welcome in my house.” The woman must have had the authority to declare that because Nola didn’t fight her on it. Instead, she cocked her brow upward and tucked her chin as she took the first few steps.
“No, Mama Blue,” said Scott. “I’d like for her to stay.” Nola’s eyes softened as she turned to Scott and for a moment I thought he was about to declare his love and desire to mend things. “I think it won’t hurt anything for her to take Ella’s place in the guest room for a while. After all, she’ll want to be close to the girls and her job.”
Nola’s lip curled, but she didn’t protest. She went up the stairs, and the twins hooked their arms with their father’s and led him out onto the patio.
Millie went upstairs soon after leaving Ella and me alone.
After a few minutes of silence and her staring at the floor, I decided to make my exit. “Well, it turns out the house was yours all along. So, enjoy it, Ella.”
I hoped she’d stop me, but as I walked out the door, she let me go.
Chapter 29
Ella
I spent the next week moving back home. I’d stored most of my things in a storage unit not far from the place, so I hired a moving company to get the heavy things and spent the time alone without much help, aside from Millie.
“Where do you want these?” Millie held up a box that had mason jars full of sea glass I’d found through the years, and I smiled thinking about my mother. She’d had me collect the pieces in hopes that one day she’d do something with it.
“On the table is fine. I think I’ll take that out to the workshop later. Mom always wanted to make a special piece with it, but you know, I think I might have just found my inspiration for a new collection.” There was enough glass there to do some repurposed art pieces that would hopefully launch my name into the stratosphere.
“You should. Now that you have your mother’s contacts, you’re on your way, kid.” Nola had tried to keep me from anyone that could have helped me in the industry, and like a fool, I’d believed every lie she fed me.
“I still can’t believe the lengths she went to. All because of something my mother did. I mean, I’ve known Nola my entire life, and she was like an aunt to me in many ways.” I shook my head, still not understanding the level of hate, but then again, my mother had betrayed her.
“Have you talked to him?” Millie treaded lightly around the subject over the past weeks. She knew that I needed some time to think.
“No.”
“Have you decided what you’re going to do?”
“I’m going to call him over I think, let him see the place, ask if we can talk about us.”
“He loves you, Ella.”
“I think he does. I’m just not sure I’ll ever be enough for him or his mother, at least not for the right reasons.” The headlines on all the tabloids were already screaming about Scott Blue’s love child, and I knew that Nola had probably leaked the shocker herself for a profit.
The twins standing by their father had been the shock of my life, but I wasn’t stupid enough to think that their kindness extended to me. We might be sisters, and I didn’t have to work for them, but they’d never see me as their equal and I wasn’t planning on being a part of any family portraits any time soon.
Having Millie around, though, it made me feel like I had a family again.
“That’s all for me for the day, kid. I’m far too old for all of this manual labor.” I followed as she went to the kitchen to get her handbag and phone from the countertop. “Call him.” I had a feeling her sudden urge to leave was Aiden related. She’d been pressing the issue, telling me how he’s the one who begged her to stop me from leaving until he returned.
He had helped me and saved my life in many ways, and even though I missed him like crazy, he hadn’t called. I’d gotten one message that simply said: When you’re ready. I wasn’t sure he was still waiting. It had been long enough for him to move on or find someone new with less drama and scandal. I doubted his mother had been too happy to see that his name had been mentioned in the tabloids as my lover.
I walked to the dining room table and found my phone next to the box of mason jars. I dialed Aiden and picked one up that was full of amber glass and rolled it on the table listening to the sound as the phone rang. Something about it was soothing, and I took a deep breath as I heard his voice. “Ella?”
“Aiden.” I closed my eyes and savored the word on my lips.
“I’ve missed you, Ella. Can I see you?”
/> “Yes, I’m at my house if you want to come over. I’m still unpacking.”
“I’d love to help.” I heard his keys rattle on the other end of the phone and then a moment later his door closing.
“You don’t have to help.” He cranked up his car, and I shook my head wondering if he was going to insist.
“I want to help. If you want me around.” The words broke my heart, and I hated that he thought I didn’t want him around. I had missed him so much it hurt.
“You know I do, don’t you? I’ve only needed a little space to realize how much.”
“I hope you mean it because I’m pulling into your drive.” He’d been at his beach house down the road, and I hurried to meet him out front with a smile as he pulled in and parked. He opened his car door, and I was there to greet him.
“You were down the street.” I put my hands on my hips, and he got to his feet.
“At the risk of sounding like a total loser, I’ve been there the whole time. I wanted to be as close as possible.”
“You’re not a loser. I’ve missed you too.” He pulled me in and instead of a long hot kiss, he cradled my head against his chest.
“I’ve missed you so much.” He released a long breath and let me loose.
“Come inside. I want you to see my progress. It’s all coming together again.” I led him by the hand into the front room where he put his hands on my hips and stayed close behind as I walked him through to the kitchen.
“It’s beautiful. I’m so happy it’s all working out for you, Ella. You deserve it.”
“I’m not sure everything is working. I mean, there is that tabloid mess. I wanted to apologize about what they said.”
“Why apologize? I mean, unless it’s not true? I mean the part about me, of course.” He lifted his shoulders and gave me a boyish grin. “I don’t mind being known as your lover.”
I giggled, and he stepped behind me and pulled me close, whispering in my ear. “Do you mind it?”
Chills went down my spine as the tingles pulsed through me, and I felt myself grow with desire, my nipples hardening, my core aching. It had been much too long since I’d been this close. His arm snaked around my front, hitching me closer as his stiff cock pressed into my back.
I reached back and stroked it, and he hissed in my ear before spinning me around and walking me back to the table. As my ass found a place to rest, I lifted my legs and brought them around him.
“Is this too fast, Ella? We can talk if you want? Talk about the two of us and where you want it to go. You do want this, don’t you?” He searched my eyes, and I smiled, pulling his mouth back to mine.
I’d let my body do the talking. I ground my hips forward, standing higher on my toes rub against his cock, and then, to show him how much I missed him, how much I still desired him. I reached for his zipper and worked his pants down around his ass, enough to spring his cock free. It was hard for me, veiny and shiny at the tip. His red head looked like it must be throbbing, so I leaned over and took it into my mouth.
Aiden’s hips bucked forward, and soon he was rocking his hips gently against me, letting me take him inch by precious inch until he hit the back of my throat. It had been a while since I tackled his broad girth and long length. I tried to relax, and myself take it, but before I could get too deep, he pulled me off.
“Mm. I’ve really missed you. I want inside you, Ella.” He rubbed me through my clothes, pressing firmly against my mound, and then he lay me back on the table and peeled my clothes away. I loved being naked for him, especially when I could feel his eyes on me, trailing down my body, stopping to take in the swells of my breasts, which he squeezed a bit tighter and all the way down to my little slit, which he rubbed his swollen cock against. He reached down and scooted me closer to the edge, and then I watched as he slowly inched inside me, his cock splitting me open, taking me to my limits as always. I settled around him and then he slowly ground himself against me, rolling his hips with the slightest movement.
It wasn’t his usual fucking. He was making love to me, caressing my channel with his cock. I tilted my hips, and he stroked against my spot, the most tender one where all the nerves in my body seemed to connect, and it kicked my pleasure into overdrive. I writhed beneath him, my own pace going wild and he matched it long enough for me to come all over his cock.
“That’s my girl.” Aiden’s words swelled my heart with pride. I had missed being his.
Chapter 30
Aiden
I pumped into her, filling her tight, juicy channel with my cock, and worked it nice and deep as she moaned. I’d missed being with her, not only sexually, but day to day and I vowed as she looked up at me from that table, the look of pleasure on her pretty face, her mouth parted in ecstasy, that I’d never be without her again. “Tell me you want this, Ella. For us to always be together.” I slowed my pace so she could catch her breath and collect her thoughts. I wanted her to be absolutely sure. “I want you to be with me, Ella. We’ll take it slow, we’ll figure it all out, but I want you, I want to be everything for you.”
“I want that, too,” she said as she looked deep into my eyes, her pleasure still in her expression as she milked my cock. “I’m so close again.” She threw her head back, and I felt a sense of pride as I brought her over the edge again.
“Fuck yes.” I picked her up and held her against me, her little slit working me so good. That I thought I’d melt right into her. I walked her to the counter, and she pushed away some things behind her as I thrust deep.
“Fill me, please.” The words were strangled on her breath, and I knew that in moments I’d oblige. I didn’t want it any other way. “I want it, Aiden. I want it all.”
My head went light as my balls tightened and then my head swelled as I shot my come deep, grinding it in with hard thrusts. I rocked my hips, pounding it deeper, splashing it out onto the counter beneath her ass as it coated my balls and her thighs.
“I love you.” It seemed like the right time to say it. She kissed my bare chest, and I rested still inside her, now and then twitching involuntarily.
“I love you, Aiden.”
“I’ve got to do things right, though, Ella. So, I want us to get cleaned up. I’m taking you to meet my mother.”
Her eyes widened, and her hand shot straight to her hair which had pulled up into a messy bun and was now even messier. Her flushed face and swollen lips were beautiful, but a tale-tell sign of what we’d been up to.
“Now?” I stepped down offering my hand with a nod, and she hopped down and crossed the room so fast that I nearly tripped over my pants that were still around my ankles.
“It’ll be fine, Ella. She’ll love you too.” I caught up with her in her bathroom where she turned on the shower and was already letting down her hair.
She stepped up into the shower and pulled the curtain closed, keeping her face visible as she peeked out. “I’ll invite you in, but if you don’t behave, we’ll never get ready.”
“I can behave,” I said pulling the curtain open from the other side and stepping in under the warm spray with her.
Another hour passed and we finally got out and dressed and made our way to my family estate where mother was on the patio having lunch.
When she saw me walk in with Ella, her expression faded from carefree smiles to ones of concern. She was on edge, and for the first time, I think she was intimidated. I wasn’t sure that was a good thing or not, but I knew Ella could handle anything she dished out. If she didn’t like us together because of who Ella was and all of the recent scandal, which she’d already informed me bothered her to no end, then she could deal with it. Ella was my life and my future, and that wasn’t going to change based on Patricia’s opinions.
“Well, Aiden sweetheart, it’s good to see you this morning, I’d thought you’d lost your way home.” She spoke to me, but her eyes never left Ella. Ella held on to my arm nice and firm, but she walked toward mother with her head up high and her posture as stiff as a board.
I wanted to tell her to relax, not to let mother see that she was stiff with nerves, but then, as if reading my mind, she let out a long-held breath and gave me a nudge.
“I’ve brought someone here to meet you,” I knew that Ella had seen my mother on a few occasions, but they had never been introduced formally and certainly not since I’d started seeing her.
“Ella Ford, it’s so good to meet you. I was wondering when Aiden was going to bring you around. I was beginning to think the tabloids would have to tell me everything I wanted to know about the two of you.” I gave Patricia a hard glare, but Ella took it in stride.
“I’m so sorry about that. I can only think that Nola hoped to gain something from spilling that tea.”
“I think you’re right,” I said, pulling out a seat for Ella across from my mother. I sat beside her and motioned to Oliver, who worked on our staff to bring more of what mother was having.
“It’s a good thing that we’re not weaker people who would let something like that bother them. Especially knowing the truth.” Ella’s words caused my mother to smile even though it was a direct dig at her.
“I like her,” said Patricia leaning in close to me and pouring Ella a cup of juice. “You’re a lot like your mother. She never put up with anyone’s bullshit either. A hell of a woman.”
“A hell of a mother.” Ella lifted the glass Patricia offered and drank as if toasting Layla’s memory.
I thought it was the perfect time to drop the bomb on my mother, and hoped that Ella had lightened her mood enough that she wouldn’t protest. “I’m going to be staying at the beach house for a while. I’d like to be a bit closer to Ella, and I’m hoping that things work out to where I will be selling it, maybe finding Ella and I a more permanent place together.”
Ella’s eyes lit with a smile. “You’re more than welcome to stay at my house, Aiden.”
“Oh, I plan on it, and vice versa of course.” I flashed her a wink, and my mother covered her mouth not wanting me to see her smile.
