Torn Series: A Bundle Set 1 - 10

by Pamela Ann

  The picture showed him sitting on a hotel balcony, his head thrown back while a head bobbed in between his legs. It didn’t take a genius to figure that shit out. Bass was clearly in seventh heaven while the woman was sucking him dry. I pressed pause and stared at it for a long time, ingraining the image of him in my mind. I hadn’t heard from him, but I wasn’t going to lie and say that I hadn’t been tempted a few times to just pick up my phone and call him or send a text saying hello.

  My eyes glanced back at the photo and I suddenly felt sick. Bass Cole, I miss you. I wish you were here to soothe and calm me like you used to do.

  It didn’t take him long to find a girl after what happened with us on our last night together. Did he even remember me? I was sure after the endless list of women, things could get muddy. I mean, how many Brookes, Shannons and Emmas in the world had he hooked up with? Could he still remember? I was just one of many. The thought made me even more depressed.

  Feeling blue, I strode back to my room after I turned the damned television off. The thought of Bass on that hotel balcony made me want to hurl. Curled up and feeling lonelier than ever, I willed myself not to shed a tear. Surely this loneliness was the outcome of the pregnancy scare and Carter’s immediate take off?

  Would Bass have reacted like Carter did? I told myself that Bass would, but somewhere, deep down, I knew that Bass would’ve acted differently.

  Thinking about Bass wouldn’t help anything. It was best that I shove my thoughts of him somewhere in the back of my mind.

  I closed my eyes and kept them closed until I fell asleep.

  ~E~

  It was his voicemail again. “Stop bugging me. Thanks!”

  That was my fifteenth call to Carter that went straight to voicemail. I sent a few text messages and, they, too, went unanswered.

  Where was he? Was he mad at me? More than twenty-four hours had passed since the false alarm and I still hadn’t heard from him.

  A knock on the door made me look up and I found a smiling Lindsey. “Are you sure you don’t want to go and party with us on Main Street?”

  Positive. “No, I’m good.”

  Before she left I asked, “Do you know where your brother is? I can’t reach him.”

  “I think Brody mentioned that they’d be at Amanda’s house party. See you later, Emma!”

  “Laters, Linds,” I murmured once she closed the door.

  So, Carter was out and about, partying, while I stared at the ceiling. Well, that would have to change. He couldn’t just leave and not speak to me again after the pregnancy fiasco yesterday.

  In haste, I grabbed the first skinny jeans I saw and fetched my nude leather jacket. I checked Facebook because I was ninety-nine point nine percent sure that her party would be blasted all over our common friends’ pages and I was right; people from our campus were going to her shindig. After tying my lace booties on, I headed out the door. I’d been to Amanda’s house once or twice and I luckily remembered where it was.

  Amanda’s house was a massive sprawling mansion in Carpinteria. Her parents were apparently well connected to politicians and they held a lot of shares in one of the most popular hotel chains in the country. Once her palace came into view, I had to park a bit further down the road since it was jammed with cars. I got out of the car and walked towards the house. I wondered how she could pull off having a party this loud in this type of neighborhood. I shook my head when I saw a girl puking her guts out on the pavement with her friends trying to soothe her.

  As expected, the house was a tsunami of madness; people were making out everywhere, topless girls were making out with each other for some guys that were hollering on the sidelines, lit-up joints were being passed around a large group of people, a DJ was playing hip-hop and, of course, thong-clad women were dancing and singing their hearts out. Now, where the hell was Carter?

  Once I saw Cooper weeding through the crowd, I tugged at his shirt. His eyes bugged out when he saw me.

  “Hey, pretty little thing. What can I do for you?” Cooper slurred his words.

  “Where’s Carter? I can’t find him anywhere.”

  “Carter… right…” Cooper shook his head. “Oh, he’s around here… somewhere.” My heart started to palpitate. Why was Cooper being so cryptic?

  “Where is he specifically, Cooper? Don’t lie because I know you know where he is.”

  Cooper contemplated for a bit and finally shrugged. “Listen, Em, I like you, but don’t tell Carter that it was me who told you. He’ll chop my dick off if he found out. Got it?” WTF? How serious was this? Was Carter cheating on me?

  “I promise I won’t tell.” And I wouldn’t. This was between Carter and me.

  “Is Lindsey here?” Cooper hesitantly asked. Was he still hung up on Lindsey after all the Cece craziness?

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  Cooper nodded and squeezed my shoulder. Okay, spill already! “Try the boathouse. That’s where I last saw him.”

  FUCK!

  “Thanks, Coop!” I gave him a sad smile and weaved through the throng of people to get outside.

  The backyard was massive. It had a sprawling lush lawn that spread out until it hit the sandy beach. Palm trees were scattered everywhere with torches surrounding the trunks. There was a DJ playing trance and techno music out here.

  I looked around for the damn boathouse. It was about a quarter mile from the house to my left. Was Carter really in there? It looked too dark for anyone to be in there.

  “Come dance with me, hot stuff!” Some sleazebag tried to pull me towards him. Ugh! No thank you.

  “Not interested, bubba. Maybe you should try a few breath mints before you open that mouth of yours? It reeks of garbage.”

  “Jeez, I only wanted to dance!” the stinker muttered under his breath and left me to my own devices.

  With my four-inch heels, I strutted towards the boathouse. I stopped right outside the door to listen for any indication that someone was inside. I could hear giggles and laughter from women, but I didn’t hear Carter.

  Should I just open it? Was I ready to see what was going on in there?

  Curious, antsy, angry and confused, I finally decided to open the damn door. It took a few blinks and I squinted until my eyes adjusted to the candle-laden feast that brightened the entire place. I froze and stared horrified as I took in the entire scene before me.

  In the middle of some copper silk sheets, overflowing with embroidered pillows that were thrown on the floor, Carter was lying naked with one hand behind his head, looking like a fucking emperor having his usual night-time delights with his concubines. He was watching two nameless women—I recognized as friends of Amanda—make out while Amanda was sucking his cock. His other hand was busy finger fucking Cece while yet another nameless woman was licking his nipples.

  “MOTHER FUCKER!” I screamed like a banshee, halting their movements. My eyes misted and I saw red. How long had this been going on?

  I sprinted towards the indulgent sexual six-some and stood before Carter who immediately pushed Amanda off his cheating dick. Bastard!

  “Emma, baby!” Carter started.

  Baby, my ass! I thought before I stomped on his crown jewels with good force. “FUCK YOU! Now you won’t be fucking anyone tonight! We are through!” I bellowed at him.

  “What the fuck, Emma!” Carter yelled before he curled up, cupping his balls. Good, he deserved it!

  I spun towards Cece. “Do you need to fuck the entire campus, Cece? Didn’t it matter to you that he was with me? You’re such a low-life skank!” I looked at the rest of the girls who started to scamper. “By the way, I’m Emma Anderson and you just fucked and screwed with my life, but I won’t have the likes of skanks and tramps affect and ruin me. You can go and fuck yourselves now.” With those final words, I left Amanda’s house.

  I didn’t let my guard down until I got inside my car. Tears were streaming continuously down my cheeks as the scene I just witnessed flashed in my mind. Carter was such a woma
nizer! He would never change. Well, he did for a month or two, but that didn’t last long.

  Wiping my tears, I drove off. Not towards Santa Barbara, but towards Los Angeles.

  “If you are going through hell, keep going.”

  ~Winston Churchill

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Once I exited the freeway, I had no clue where I wanted to go. After thirty minutes of mindless driving, I found myself parking at the Chateau Marmont. With my purse in hand, I walked to the reception desk. Old Hollywood glamour greeted me. The design was retro chic with a hint of old charm. Most of the people that worked here, it seemed, were all hot. Whatever worked for their image, I guess.

  There were a lot of celebrities there; this was, after all, a local celebrity stomping ground.

  I didn’t know why I chose this hotel. Since Lindsey and I were supposed to stay here the last time, it was the only hotel that popped into my brain. There was only one thing I was here for and that was to mend my broken heart and find solace.

  I finally managed to get a room without shedding a tear. The woman at the registration desk was a fucking chatterbox and she asked way too many questions. I smiled and pretended to listen to her, but in reality, I was holding my temper before I completely lost it and snapped her head off.

  “Here you go, Ms. Anderson. Have a pleasant stay.” She finally handed me my keycard. I murmured my thanks before I headed towards the bank of elevators.

  Once I got to my floor, I inserted the keycard and let myself in the one-bedroom suite. I felt like I just walked in on an old school TV set, circa 1940’s. Mustard colored couch, beige walls, the style of the rug and the lamps were quite fashionably; period-themed? The room was homey and charming and made me feel right at home. Although, I felt like Lucy and Ricky Riccardo would walk through the door at any moment.

  I walked over to the bar and got myself a chilled bottle of water. I grabbed the wine bottle along with the wine opener and strode towards the bedroom. Sighing, I took my jeans off and jumped into bed. I decided to text Lindsey and Trista.

  Me: Hey. I just checked in at Chateau M. for the night. Carter and I broke up. Be back on Sunday.

  FML!

  What the hell just happened? Carter and I were doing well before the incident happened. Well, I guess that was that.

  Groaning, I sat up and opened the bottle of wine. Since I would be getting drunk alone there was no need for a wine glass. I grabbed the remote from the side table and turned the TV on. I immediately went to check out the movie section. Maybe I should watch The Notebook, or something really depressing like A Walk to Remember? Scrolling and browsing, my thumb stilled when I found one of Bass’s films—Knights of Cimmerian. Should I? Since I really hadn’t paid attention to any of his movies before, maybe I should start now? Oh, fuck it. I pressed play.

  Lucian, the vampire, was definitely something. I got excited when I remembered Bass had a blatantly hot sex scene in this film. I supposed you could say that I was doing some ‘research’ for Blasphemous.

  I took another gulp of my wine and almost choked on it when I saw that Carter was calling me. WTF!

  “Leave me the fuck alone, manwhore,” I muttered aloud as my heart pounded at the thought of him.

  Why was he calling, to apologize and give me some reasonable explanation as to why he cheated on me with not just one woman but with five? I chastised myself for getting back with him. I shouldn’t have, especially when I wasn’t a hundred percent sure about it at the time.

  You lived and you learned. Well, lesson learned. I was not going to rock that cheating boat again because being betrayed like that is not the greatest feeling in the world. My phone started ringing again and I hit ignore.

  “Fucker!”

  I willed myself to ignore the phone calls and concentrated on watching the movie. I melted when I heard Bass’s voice. How pathetic and idiotic was I, right?

  I was so engrossed with the movie that I didn’t hear the door open. I jumped out of my skin when I heard someone yelling, “Dooooll!”

  Within seconds, Lindsey and Trista walked into the bedroom. I stared at them like they had come from outer space. “How did you guys get in here?”

  Lindsey Mason gave me a grin and waved a keycard in the air. “Well, since our doll face is moping, Trista and I decided to drive up here and chill with you.”

  I was touched by their sweet gesture. “Thank you, guys, but how did you two manage to get in?”

  Trista laughed as they both joined me in bed. “Lindsey had to dish out some heavy boob seduction to get the guy at the reception desk to hand us a keycard.”

  I barked out a laugh. The image Trista painted was just too funny not to.

  “Hey! I had to. You weren’t picking up your phone and we were thinking crazy things. I was desperate to get to you quickly. Who cares? It was just a nice peek-a-boo to make the poor guy’s shift memorable.”

  Oh, I just bet.

  My easy mood got squashed when Trista spoke, “What happened with Carter, Em?”

  Where did I even begin? Shit. “I had a pregnancy scare a couple of days ago and I think Carter just lost it after that. I hadn’t spoken to him since then. He wouldn’t pick up my calls or return my messages so I was really frustrated with him, but at the same time, I understood why he freaked out because I did as well. Anyway, I went over to Amanda’s party to look for him and I found him in the boat house with Amanda, Cece and three other girls, having an orgy.”

  “Fucking Carter! I told you my brother was not good enough for you!” Lindsey was upset. She scooted upwards and sat next to me as did Trista. Both of their heads were on my shoulders.

  “Men are such horn-dogs! I’m sorry, Emma.” Trista looked at me and rubbed my arm gently.

  “Thank you, guys, for being here. It means a lot to me.” I held both of my arms out and hugged my friends.

  “Well, look at the bright side, sunshine; you can finally go for Bass Cole without anything holding you back.” Lindsey pointed at the screen where Bass was kissing a woman.

  The camera focused and zeroed in on their locked lips. My eyes took in how he kissed her. The sight alone of him kissing made me nauseous. I shook my head. “Bass and I are dunzo in that department, Linds. He probably doesn’t even remember me.”

  Lindsey huffed. “Nah, that’s wishful thinking, my friend. That man liked you. I mean really, really liked you and you dropped him like a hot potato. Bass Cole, dumped? That’s unheard of. Trust me, doll, that guy will forever remember you. Guys don’t take rejection kindly. Although, he might just hate your guts a wee bit.”

  Trista got all hyped up. “I think you should go see him, Em. You know, make a whole grand gesture thing?”

  Uh, how about not? “That would be terrifying. Let’s just drop the subject about Bass, please? I just got cheated on,” I reminded them, but they seemed to be busy thinking about Bass and me.

  “Bass wants you, doll. I say, give him a call,” Trista insisted.

  I bit my bottom lip. “I—he probably doesn’t like me much. It’s fine, really. Bass and I didn’t happen. It’s best to just leave it at that.”

  “Wait until Greece, you’ll see.” Lindsey was quite persistent.

  “Greece? Who’s going to Greece?” Trista looked at us both.

  Crap. I hadn’t mentioned it to Trista and Lindsey had promised not to speak to anyone about it, so she was clueless. “I’m actually going to star in Martin Lombardo’s film as the female lead, with Bass.”

  Trista stood up and started jumping on the bed. After her small acrobatic routine, she landed back to earth. After catching her breath, she screamed excitedly, “Oh. My. God. You are so banging Bass there! And fuck, you’re going to be an actress! How cool is that? I can’t wait for Cece to hear this one. She’s going to hate you even more.”

  I was sure of that. “Well, she already got my boyfriend. That should suffice her, don’t you think?”

  I hated thinking about what I witnessed in the boathouse. The
images kept flashing in my head. I just wanted to throw something or scream my anger out, but that wasn’t going to happen. So, I just opted to simmer.

  “Ah, forget Carter Mason. You should, like, have a seduction plan ready when you get to Greece.” Trista clapped her hands together. Well, it was great that she was all in high spirits again.

  “Better yet, I have the grandest idea! We should visit you in Greece and watch you guys film. Is that possible, Em? I would love to see it all happen!” Lindsey and Trista were both looking at me.

  “I totally agree that you both should come and visit me. We can go island hopping! I have no idea if you’re allowed to watch us film, but I’ll let you know,” I suggested while they got excited.

  “All those hot Greek men!” Trista shrieked.

  I thought she might have been a little drunk.

  Lindsey threw the wine cork at her. “Before you get all excited and start gushing about Greek men, what are you going to do about Harry, Tris?

  Trista lowered her head and fidgeted with her big toe. “I don’t know about Harry anymore. My cousin’s two months pregnant.”

  Fuck.

  “What do you plan to do? You can’t keep being the other woman. He’s obviously having the time of his life while you’re stuck being miserable!” What was with all these men? Ugh!

  Tears started falling down Trista’s face. I reached out and gathered her in my arms. Trista sobbed, “I love him. I don’t know how I can move on. I know it’s wrong and I want to just leave him, but I don’t think I have it in me. I don’t know if I can survive without him.”

  Lindsey stroked her hair. “I know this must be very painful and difficult to do, but you have to let him go. He has a baby on the way, a little boy or girl. You don’t want to be that person that takes him away from the little one, doll. I don’t think your conscience could handle it. You’re strong and your strength is in there somewhere. It’s high time you really let Harry go.”