Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken

by Michelle Hardin

  No.

  The person responsible for putting her in a seriously bad mood on this fine Thursday afternoon was none other than the gorgeous man—who Reanna just may have been in … strong like with—Kyle Valente.

  Once again the man had called her, not to see how she was doing, not to ask her to maybe … hangout, and not to tell her exactly what all of his flirtatious advances, and ‘you’re so sexy’ comments meant either. No! He’d never do that! It’d be unthinkable, right? Instead of clearing up her confusion, he’d called to ask for a damn babysitter.

  A babysitter? So he could take out Aniyah again!

  God she hated him; she swore to God she hated that man!

  “Almost done, Reanna!” Ronaldo announced.

  Reanna nodded. In all honesty, she didn’t care. They could take fifteen more minutes if they wanted to—she’d probably be done with the shoot in less than thirty minutes. That was just how good she was.

  Still standing in the middle of her set, her thoughts, as always, drifted back to Kyle, regardless of whether she wanted them to or not.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t like watching Sofia, because she did, immensely. It never even felt like she was babysitting the child. They were so close, Reanna just loved spending time with her. She loved her as if she were her own daughter … oddly, sometimes it felt like Sofia was her daughter. That was how close their relationship was. She had known her since she was a baby, and she’d seen Kyle a few times before their formal meeting as well. Of course he hadn’t remembered her, men like him—excessively gorgeous for no reason—never really did. She wasn’t a super flashy, super attractive model type that men like Kyle flocked to. Reanna was … plain to say the least. Full-figured, and very plain. So Kyle hadn’t really noticed her until Sofia was around two years old.

  Ugh! This was stupid! Why was she thinking about him? It shouldn’t be bothering her this much; she did, after all, think about Kyle and her little baby Sofia more times throughout the day than she cared to admit. It was crippling, the connection she felt, not just to Kyle, but to both of them. She felt like they were hers to care for, like they needed her, and she’d felt this way ever since she’d met Sofia, and even more so when she’d finally gotten the chance to formally introduce herself to Kyle.

  Reanna remembered the day like it was yesterday. She’d been so nervous to finally speak to him. Having heard so much about what a good father and man he was from his two number one fans—Carter and Sofia—Reanna had pretty much already had a little crush on Kyle even before she met him. But although he’d been nice to her after he started talking to her regularly, Reanna had never really entertained the idea of them … dating because, come on, she was far from his type. But then he’d started acting … interested in her.

  The excessive touching, the flirting, the kisses on her dimpled cheeks, and the, you know, falling asleep in each other’s arms stuff was beginning to make her wonder. Does he have feelings for me, too? It was ridiculous, the amount of mixed signals this man sent her on a daily basis. Reanna was beginning to think she was going crazy. She’d for sure thought that last weekend, after they’d stayed up all night talking about his past, and eating, and laughing, and cuddling that he was interested, but then this weekend he called asking her to babysit so that he could go out with his girlfriend again.

  And yes, his girlfriend happened to be one of Reanna’s good friends, and yes again, Reanna felt bad for wanting Kyle to love her and ditch Aniyah, but these feelings were ones that couldn’t be helped. Kyle was an amazing man. Incredibly smart and strong, and so intense. Everything about him just … called to her. She wanted him so bad that she would've jumped at any damn relationship he offered her, even if she’d been stuck in the friend zone for the better part of three years. It was highly pathetic. Reanna couldn’t even remember the last time she’d been on a date—

  “All done!”

  With a jerk, Reanna snapped out of her thoughts, startled by her friend’s abrupt announcement.

  Jeez. She’d gotten so lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t even noticed the crew and models were all standing on and around set, waiting for her instruction so that they could begin.

  “Oh,” she said softly, grabbing her camera. She hated when Kyle stole her thoughts like that. She shouldn’t be thinking about him so much. He was Aniyah’s boyfriend, not hers. He is not my boyfriend. Resolving herself to focus on work, Reanna turned to her crew with a wide smile. “All right, lovely people. Let us begin then, shall we?”

  “Yes we shall,” Ronaldo voiced over everyone else who agreed with Reanna, too.

  Reanna chuckled at her friends. “Let’s get the models in place please,” she instructed. “I wanna get this in one shoot.”

  “One shoot?” one of her set designers asked, looking at her in both amazement and disbelief. “Isn’t that a little ambitious?”

  The rest of the crew chuckled at the young man.

  “He must be new, y’all,” Ronaldo said through soft laughter, walking over to Reanna and placing his hands on her shoulders. “Young man, this is Reanna Pierce … her nailing this shoot in one day ain’t no ambition, baby, it’s an expectation.”

  This time, the agreement was voiced with loud cheers and laughter, as they all praised her talent and prepared the set and positioned the models for Reanna to begin working her ‘magic’.

  Reanna rolled her eyes and smiled, watching her equally talented staff go about their duties. God she really loved her crew, and apparently, they loved her back.

  ~*~

  “Damn, mama. You’re good, Rea. This is better than what I imagined it’d be.”

  Reanna smiled proudly as she sat back in her desk chair, clicking through the pictures she’d taken at all three photo-shoots she’d had scheduled today. She was very proud of herself; she’d broken a record for photos accepted by a magazine editor before they were even processed today. It had been her own record, but a record broken nonetheless …

  “Not bad for a couple of orphans from Harlem, huh?”

  “Not bad at all, love,” Reanna agreed. “We make a good team, you and I, don’t we?”

  “Mmmhmm.” He nodded in agreement. “According to the New York Starlet, we’re the fashion world’s dynamic duo.”

  She chuckled softly. “Yeah, I read that yesterday,” she said, scrunching her face in playful disgust. “Folks can be so corny sometimes.”

  Ronaldo gave a wave of his hand. “Girl, please. Corny, but damn right.”

  Reanna laughed, watching his exaggerated movements as he smiled smugly, running his hands through his silky, black hair, and posing for invisible cameras.

  “We are the dynamic duo of the fashion world, Rea,” he reaffirmed through slight laughter, then stopped his dramatics and placed a quick kiss on her smiling lips. “Did you think this would be us, Bubbles? All those nights when we didn’t know how we were going to pay our rent… put food on the table? Did you ever think that we’d be living like this?” He giggled, squeezing her cheeks together. “We’re famous, chica … and rich as hell.”

  Reanna lightly hit his arm as she squirmed out of his grasp, and sat back in her seat, crossing her legs. He was right, they were indeed rich, and pretty famous in the fashion world. And to answer his question, no. Reanna had no idea her life would turn out the way it had. Photography had just been a hobby when she’d first started out. One of her psychiatrists suggested it to help her capture the beauty of life.

  Lowering her eyes in thought, Reanna smiled faintly. Life really had a way of surprising folks. Once a poor, broken girl, striving to pull the pieces of her and her sister’s lives back together after tragedy; now, a successful, wealthy photographer, with a business of her own, a beautiful home, and a good life.

  She’d come so far. Though she still suffered from minor issues every now and then, she was far better than she used to be.

  “What are you thinking about?” Ronaldo asked, gaining her attention.

  Reanna lifted her eyes to his,
quickly replacing the smile on her face. “You,” she answered. It was a bit of a lie, but it was better than telling him what she’d really been thinking about. Those were very dark memories. Ones she didn’t really feel like drudging up tonight.

  His brows rose at her response. “Me?” he asked, seemingly flattered. “What about me?”

  Amused by his reaction, Reanna rolled her eyes. “You’re so arrogant, Ron.”

  He snorted. “Girl, I already know that. Now tell me what you were thinking about me.” He glared playfully. “And it better not be that I’m ‘arrogant’.”

  “It’s not,” she chuckled. “It’s just that …” Her words died off as she shrugged her shoulders and looked into his gorgeous grey, hazel eyes. “I’m just glad you’re my best friend. I’m grateful for you, and for this business we started together.”

  Ronaldo smiled widely. “Aww, Rea …” Leaning forward, he pulled her to him and hugged her tightly.

  Ronaldo was so silly, very flamboyant, and extremely eccentric, but he’d been Reanna’s best friend for the past fifteen years, and she loved him like a brother.

  They met when they were just thirteen years old, back when Reanna and Tamara had been put in their first foster home after their parents were assassinated in Harlem, and he’d helped them, sort of, adjust to being orphans. He was their best friend, the only kid in the foster home that didn’t treat Reanna and Tamara like they were less than human just because of who their parents were. The three of them were best friends, the three amigos. And for three years they had been inseparable, until one day, Reanna and Tamara were removed from the foster home where he’d been with them, and taken to one that was less … kind.

  For four years after that, they’d been separated from Ronaldo. It hadn’t been until Reanna was about twenty, and Tamara was eighteen, that they went back to Harlem, and reunited with Ronaldo once again. They got an apartment together, and hadn’t been apart since. They were a family … all each other had.

  “I adore you, my gorgeous best friend,” Reanna whispered, hugging him tighter. “We did good.” It wasn’t rare that she and Ronaldo would take a second to reflect on all that they’d accomplished, despite a host of obstacles that tried to knock them off track. They did it every night after work. It was their way of staying humble, grateful, and remembering their journey from poverty to wealth.

  “We’ve done amazing, Rea,” he agreed, giving her cheek a smooch before pulling back and sitting in his seat. “Best part about it is we did it by ourselves.”

  Reanna mirrored the smile that spread across his face. “I agree,” she said softly, sitting back in her seat. “That is the best part.” Especially considering she hated her parents, may they rest in peace … or in hell. That was up to God, not her. Personally, she preferred that her parents rot in hell. “You ready to get home?”

  “Ugh …” Ronaldo stretched his limbs dramatically and he stood up from the chair with an old man grunt. This was funny to Reanna. The man was only twenty-eight, yet every time he stood, he sounded like he was sixty-eight. “Yass, girl. Let’s go home. Long drive from Manhattan to Pleasant View.”

  Reanna closed down her computer, packed it in her bag, and stood from her seat. It would indeed be a long drive, but one well worth it. Their home in Pleasant View was everything dreams were made of. So much so that when she, Ronaldo, and her sister had first laid eyes on the stunning two-story, mini mansion, they’d bought it without hesitation.

  “Man, I can’t wait to get home, eat, take a warm bath …” Mmm, just thinking about relaxing back in her beautiful tub surrounded by bubbles, with a giant glass of champagne had her feeling relaxed already. “It’ll be nice to get tonight to relax a bit before tomorrow night.”

  “What’s tomorrow night?” Ronaldo asked, a frown covering his face. “We don’t work tomorrow night, do we?”

  When Ronaldo asked her the question, Reanna glanced up from her desk, momentarily confused about what he was talking about. However, after remembering she’d been thinking out loud, she nodded.

  “Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, didn’t I?” She hadn’t planned on telling him either. For some odd reason, Ronaldo had a problem with Kyle. And every time Reanna told him that she was doing something with, or for the man, Ronaldo threw a fit. “It’s nothing really, Ronaldo.”

  The look he gave her indicated that he immediately knew what she was about to say. Of course he did. He always knew.

  Rolling her eyes, she quickly grabbed her purse and headed out of the office. “Don’t start, Ron. We had a good day.”

  Ronaldo was right on her tail, already yelling. “Tell me you are not about to give up your whole damn weekend to play babysitter’s club for that asshole again, Rea! What is wrong with you?”

  “Nothing,” she answered through clenched teeth.

  There was nothing wrong with her. Why would there be? She was just a friend, doing a favor for her friend. Why did something have to be wrong with her because of that?

  “Don’t ‘nothing’ me, Rea, I ain’t dumb.”

  “Yes, you are,” she shot over her shoulder.

  He snorted. “Oh really? That’s how we’re acting now?”

  She shrugged, refusing to talk to him about it. He wouldn’t understand anyway. In order to truly understand what she had with Kyle, one would have to fully understand the man that Kyle was, and that wasn’t an easy task. Kyle was too complex to be completely understood; even she still struggled with that, understanding him, understanding their … relationship. Where it was going, or where it wasn’t going. And until she figured it out, she would just keep doing whatever she could to be around him. If that meant being his babysitter, then dammit, she’d be his damn babysitter.

  “I can’t believe you, Rea!” Ronaldo persisted. “He’s been doing this to you ever since he started dating that bitch.”

  With a gasp, Reanna whipped around to face Ronaldo. “Ron!” she yelled in outrage. “That was uncalled for. Aniyah is a good friend of mine—”

  “A good friend of yours and a bitch,” he shot. “She’s even bitchier now that she’s dropped some of the weight.”

  Reanna’s mouth fell open. Even though she’d known him for a good chunk of her life now, she would never get used to how nasty Ronaldo could be at times.

  “Ron, that’s just mean,” she said softly, shaking her head in disapproval. “Aniyah has never been anything but kind to me, or you.”

  “What?” he exclaimed in a high-pitched scream. “Bitch, please! That whore is as rude as they come.”

  Reanna frowned in confusion. “No she isn’t …” For as long as Reanna had known Aniyah Clark, the woman had been nothing but nice. She’d met her through one of her best friends, Carter, and they’d hit it off instantly. This was the reason why Reanna felt guilty for feeling so strongly for Kyle; the reason why she would never confess to Kyle how she really felt … the reason why she’d chosen to accept living solely off of stolen moments with him instead of having all him. Yes, she still got frustrated at times about her relationship with Kyle, but every time she took a moment or two to reflect, she realized that she and Kyle remaining apart could be for the best … maybe. She didn’t know. She just knew she didn’t want to hurt Aniyah. “Aniyah’s a good friend,” she said, a slight sadness in her tone. “She’s never said a mean word to me, not even once, Ron. So stop it.”

  Ronaldo didn’t respond. He just stood for the longest moment, staring at her, before bringing his arms up and crossing them over his chest. “Sooo, she’s never said anything mean to you, huh?”

  The look in his eye indicated that he knew something she didn’t, but she didn’t believe him. Aniyah would never talk about her behind her back, especially not while Ronaldo was present. She would have just been asking for word to get back to Reanna.

  So, confidently, Reanna lifted her chin in defiance, and answered, “No, she has not.” Because she hadn’t.

  Ronaldo blinked. “Oh my goodness, Reanna,” he said excitedly, obvi
ously imitating a female voice. “I just started with my new personal trainer. He’s fantastic. You should come with!”

  Reanna’s frown deepened as she watched the confusing, silly man.

  “He’s really changed my life. I’ve already lost so much weight. Have you thought about getting into fitness?”

  “Okay, would you stop!” Reanna snapped. “So what? She’s enthused about her trainer, and invited me to workout with her.” Reanna remembered the assorted times when Aniyah would bring up her new ‘health kick’ very clearly, but she still didn’t understand why Ronaldo felt it was insulting for her to invite her to the gym with her. Was that not a nice gesture? “So because she wants to hang out with me, she’s rude, Ron?”

  He threw his arms up in frustration. “Come on, Rea!” he yelled. “Leave it to you to always see the good in people even when they’re insulting you.”

  “How is she insulting me?” Reanna yelled, now frustrated with Ronaldo’s argument. “She invited me to the gym—”

  “Only you, Rea!” he shouted. “She always only invites you.”

  Reanna shook her head, still not understanding. “And she’s rude because she didn’t invite anyone else—”

  “No!” he cut her off. “Damn, Rea. Do you ever just sit back and wonder why it is that both Tamara and Carterina want to kick Aniyah’s ass every time she talks to you?”

  “Because Carter and Aniyah got into a—”

  “It’s because the bitch is sitting at a damn table with fifty different fucking people, and every time she talks about how much weight she’s lost she makes it a point to direct all of her statements to you.”

  “Okay stop!” she said sharply. “I get it.” She got it, and her cheeks burned with a fierce, fiery embarrassment when she finally did.

  Ronaldo didn’t respond to her and she was glad he hadn’t. Was she seriously that busy looking for the good in folks that it completely goes over her head when she’s being called a fat ass?