by Mia Ford
I’m so damn nervous. My paintings are on display at the art gallery. My old ones that I used to do as a teen is on display too, but the big one. The one that I worked day and night on is on display, and I can’t get it out of my mind.
My parents and Aunt Betty will see it for the first time. When I told my dad that I was painting, he said that he’s not coming to see splash pieces of paint on a sheet of paper. He has my collection from when I was five, and he’s sure that it’s no different from that.
Then Aunt Betty said something to him, and he changed his mind. I don’t know what she said, but she told me that it would really be the last time that she interferes in my life.
“God, everyone’s here,” Gretchen whispers as she stands by my side. I told her parts of my childhood, and she knows that today, I’m going to tell everyone about it. I don’t know who’s more nervous? Her or I?
“You look beautiful Gretchen.”
I smile at her dark hair and matching shift dress. She has on red heels, and I have the opposite color of hers. I have a red dress and black heels; I think that she went all out to support me tonight and she knows that it’s a big deal. She was trying to lighten the mood, by coming up with something to make us seem cool on the night. I think that it’s worked because I do feel better having her with me as support. Aunt Betty’s too busy being loved up by Daniel and it seems that Wendy has a drinking problem or her husband left her? She’s spending too much time chasing the waiters around for flutes of champagne.
“Well, I’m hoping that I can get myself a Mr. Moore.”
She sees the frown on my face and then says, “Sorry bad joke.”
I walk up to a photo, that isn’t mine. I didn’t notice it when I came here earlier. I wonder who put this up. I see the owner of the gallery, Fiona and ask, “What’s this?”
She smiles, “Oh Mr. Moore asked to put it up. He said to call it…”
I read about it, “Home.”
“Wow, that’s weird, why has he put a picture of his living room and bedroom in your art gallery? Gretchen asks, and I know exactly the reason why. It has photos, maybe his childhood pictures and his parents all over the walls. A secret message to me, but that doesn't change the way that he tried to dismiss me as a piece of trash.
“Scarlett,” Fiona whispers, “If it bothers you then I’ll take it down. He insisted and paid way too much money to have it up.”
I shake my head, thinking that I thought that he’d given up. The first week, every single day he was sending roses. Notes of apology. He even told Aunt Betty not to sell the land, and he tore up the contract. Aunt Betty said that I should give him a chance. She changed her tune; she said maybe I touched him the same way that he’d touched me.
Either way, I’m not ready to settle down now. I hear my name being called, but a tear falls as I think about him putting up the pictures. I wonder what other changes he’s made, and I’m lost in my thoughts as I think about him.
“Scarlett it’s time,” Fiona whispers as all lights are on the centerpiece. The main reason that we’re all here tonight.
My eyes dart around the room, and then they land on both mom and dad. She’s standing next to him. She came with a broken arm and said that she hurt herself while skiing. I think that she forgot her excuses because it’s not even ski-ing season yet.
I close my eyes as I hold Gretchen’s hand one more time and head to the painting. The one that’ll break my family for good.
Fiona gives me the mic as I take it I hold my breath, and there I see him standing. Joshua Moore, he looks completely different from the last time I saw him. He’s in red polo shirt and jeans with a jacket. He seems more relaxed with his subtle stubble. He doesn’t smile or even change the expression on his face. He just nods at me. As if he’s giving me permission to go ahead.
Either way, I start my speech. The one that I’ve been practicing all week as I start to do the unveiling.
“Thank you for coming tonight. I know that most of all you know me from hanging here as a kid in Rowtons. I was lost for the best part of my teens for one reason or another. But coming back here…”
I clear my throat as I stare at Aunt Betty. I know that this will break her heart, but I want her to understand my heartache and the reasons that I made bad choices. Which began and ended with Sam.
“And opening my eyes for the first time. Has helped me express how I feel about my past. The torment and danger that I used to escape from every time I came here. The reason why as an adult, I never go to my family home and the reason why I hate the man in the picture.”
I nod to Fiona so that she can remove the sheet.
“I want you to see my masterpiece. It’s called the man in the dark.”
As it's removed, I see my mom faint and Daniel by her side catching her and stopping her from tumbling to the ground. My dad muttering something and then leaving. Aunt Betty gasps and I turn to Gretchen and see the tears uncontrollably leaving her eye and as for everyone else. They’re clapping, pointing to the picture and the man in the light and the child at the back.
The woman on the floor in a pool of blood and the man, his face smiling as the light only focuses on his face. The paintings black with only light on the woman in black but in a pool of red signifying blood and the child, who’s in a corner witnessing it all, but then she has a zip over her mouth implying that she’ll never tell a soul.
Fiona is nodding as she’s the only person that’s seen the picture and said that it would sell for thousands. I’ve put my heart and soul into the piece and as much as not everyone understands exactly what it means to me.
I start to look for him. The man that made me go from hiding the darkness that was in me, to bringing it out into the light.
He’s by my side, I don’t see him, but I know his woody scent.
He kisses me on the cheek, he says, “That's beautiful.”
I don’t hesitate in wrapping my arms around him. I know that I shouldn’t. I should hate him for how he treated me and made me feel, but how can I despise someone who helped me face my past. He's made me express exactly how I feel about my childhood. Something that I’ve kept hidden for so long?
“The piece is beautiful. Just like the artist.”
I push him back; he whispers, “Wait, I know that I don’t deserve another chance, but I would like to try.”
“By fucking me all weekend?”
I say as I wipe the tears from my eyes.
He shakes his head, “No. I want us to go on a date. Maybe a weekend. Maybe a week and then in time…”
“You want to fuck me all weekend?”
He shakes his head and says, “No, maybe if you’ll let me I’ll like to fuck you for life.”
I stop and stare at him. I don’t know if he’s serious, but as my dad ends up by my side he lifts up his hand and Joshua blocks him.
“You ungrateful spoiled bitch!” Dad yells as Joshua wrestles with his hand. The one that was just about to hit me.
Aunt Betty’s hand comes beside me as dad runs off, probably to avoid her.
“I never knew,” she whispers and then Daniel comes holding mom and they all leave together. I’ve set mom free, she can now do whatever she wants and I know that Aunt Betty will help her.
I turn to Joshua and say, “One more try. But if you hurt me again..”
He lifts me up and says, “I wouldn’t dare!”
Epilogue
Scarlett
I never thought that I would make Rowtons my home. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it as a kid and even a teenager, but to think that this the place that I’m going to call home feels as if it’s too surreal.
I hated my aunt for making the one man that’s made me ever feel like a woman part of a business contract. She apologized so many times with the explanation, “I don’t have long dear, and I wanted you to be happy.”
Mom's in therapy and officially divorced from dad. She’s living with Aunt Betty and trying to get on the road to recovery. Something that sh
e should have done a long time ago, part of me feels guilty about it. Maybe if I’d told Aunt Betty or someone else, what was going on earlier then it would have stopped a lot sooner?
I try not to think of the past and just concentrate on the future these days. I’ve never been happier in my life, and I didn’t even think that it was possible. Joshua respects me, but then I feel the same way about him.
“A penny for your thoughts,” he growls as he creeps up next to me.
“You need to stop doing that!” I snap back as I sit with my notebook thinking about my next painting.
“Maybe painting’s not for you. Maybe your masterpiece is what you needed to set you free.”
He sits at the end of the chair, and I feel as if there’s a cloud on him. He doesn’t seem his normal self, but then again I’m not exactly in the right frame of mind, at the best of times.
“Why do you think that? You’ve been supporting me all this time. Don’t tell me that you’re having second thoughts now? I moved here for you…”
He’s covering my mouth and saying, “Take deep breaths.”
I start to do that, as my yoga instructor has taught me to do so many times. I take deep breaths as I gaze into his emerald eyes thinking why does he even put up with me. I seem to be in this emotional stage at the moment.
“Sorry,” I sigh as I wrap my arms around him.
“Can you stop apologizing for once in your life?”
I shake my head, thinking that I’m a successful artist, but I still think of myself as that broken woman. The one that he’d repaired and my life started to begin. I’ve been on safari, a wild weekend with Gretchen and the girls, all the things that I couldn’t do when I was in a relationship with Sam.
He's been so distant lately, and part of me thought that maybe it had something to do with my success. But, I still earn a fraction of what he’s made to date, so it’s not that. There’s something bugging him and one thing I know about Joshua. He hates me asking him what’s up?
He despises it.
“Did I miss something?”
Shit, I said it, and I automatically regret it the moment I blurt it out. I’m holding him, and he has his back to me. He can’t see that I’ve closed my eyes and the fact that I’m crossing my feet.
“Sorry?”
“Well, it’s just that you’ve been distant lately, so I thought that there was something on your mind.”
He moves away from me and turns to face me, but this time not sitting down which makes me feel even more nervous.
“I’ve just had a lot on my mind.”
“Tell me about it. I get that. You don’t even want to play in your room anymore.”
He sighs, “That’s because you seem to think that’s the only thing that will make everything better, but it doesn’t work like that.”
Are you going to tell me what it works like?”
He shakes his head, “I didn’t come home for a fight. I just came to get ready and for us to go to the gallery, that’s why you said I should come home early today right?”
I nod my head and then it dawns on me that in the year that we’ve been dating and living together we’ve never had a fight. Like never and now we’re having a fight like a real couple, and I don’t know what to do with myself.
“Wait. What’s going on?”
He shakes his head, “Scarlett, I’m not Sam so please for once stop treating me as if I am.”
And then he walks away, and I wonder where all that came from.
He spins around and says, “This is the reason I’ve been nervous. We were supposed to go to the gallery and then I was going to get on one knee in front of all those people and propose to you. You happy now?”
He sighs, “That’s because you seem to think that’s the only thing that will make everything better, but it doesn’t work like that.”
Are you going to tell me what it works like?”
He shakes his head, “I didn’t come home for a fight. I just came to get ready and for us to go to the gallery, that’s why you said I should come home early today right?”
I nod my head and then it dawns on me that in the year that we’ve been dating and living together we’ve never had a fight. Like never and now we’re having a fight like a real couple, and I don’t know what to do with myself.
“Wait. What’s going on?”
He shakes his head, “Scarlett, I’m not Sam so please for once stop treating me as if I am.”
And then he walks away, and I wonder where all that came from.
He spins around and says, “This is the reason I’ve been nervous. We were supposed to go to the gallery and then I was going to get on one knee in front of all those people and propose to you. You happy now?”
I gasp as I see the box. The jewelry box which obviously has a ring in it. For me.
“Well, it’s not too late!” I squeal thinking that he was bored and that he’d had enough of me. When all along, he wanted us to be official.
He takes a deep breath and says, “I’m so shit at this type of thing.”
I laugh, “You are!”
“Thanks, Scarlett.”
“Are you going to propose or what?”
He smiles as he gets on one knee and the diamond ring in the box is finally opened, “Will you Scarlett…”
I don’t even get him to finish the rest of the sentence as I jump on him and he falls onto the green. I kiss him so many times. He pulls back and says, “Is that a yes?”
We’re on the grass, and I say, “What do you think it is?”
And then this time he’s the one pulling me in for a kiss, and I think about living my life with him forever and all of sudden I don’t even feel like going to the gallery. I feel like going up to his playroom so that we can play.
The Billionaire’s Toy
After one weekend in Vegas, nothing will ever be the same again.
I wanted her from the day I saw her body blossom from a sweet innocent teenager to a wide-hip, succulent bust woman.
I have a plan to take her to Vegas. I want to give her a taste of how I can make her feel.
Sexy.
Wanted.
Loved.
From her head, right down to her toe and after I’ve finished I know that she’ll be begging me for more.
Once I take her, her alluring lips will be begging me for more.
I want her to be my submissive.
I want her to be mine.
There’s just one problem; she’s my best friend’s daughter. Not only will it break a friendship, but it could also break something so dear to me.
It’s a risk that I’m willing to take.
For the one girl that I need on her knees begging me to take her.
I need to make her mine.
Chapter One
Emily
I’m looking at all the checks that I have to write and compare it to what needs paying immediately. There’s just one problem, they all need paying now.
Fuck!
They don’t add up to what I could pay now and what I have to pay. I give up! I throw my head back and sink into my leather chair. The one item that I haven’t had to sell in the last six weeks to make ends meet.
“Emily I thought that you left?”
Katie, my secretary, says as she’s about to turn the light off. Her hands are hovering over the switch, and I think about maybe just continuing in the dark. If I do that, at least I’ll cut one cost. Even if it’s just a few cents. The way things are going, every cent counts.
I thought that she’d left, I was hoping not to have a talk with her. Maybe I’ll do it tomorrow, then again I’ve been saying that every single day for the past week.
“No,” I whisper as I stand up and decide to be brave.
“Katie, I’m going to have to shut up shop.”
She nods as she enters the room. I should have sat her down, maybe talked to her for a bit and then said it, but there was no need to beat around the bush. Especially when the written was on the
wall. It has been for a while.
“I expanded too quickly, and it was crazy, because before when I used to sell to department stores, everyone was telling me to start my line. The moment I do that…”
I’m rambling, the thing that I do whenever I’m nervous like right now and waving my hands up in the air and then playing with the ends of my shoulder-length blonde hair.
Katie’s watching me as if I’m on something, but I can’t help it.
“I asked my parents for a loan, but I never knew that dad’s business was suffering and…”
She moves closer towards me and does the one thing that I never expected, she hugs me and makes me feel the way that I so need to feel right now.
Loved.
By a friend that can’t financially help me, but being that voice of reason goes a long way especially the way that things have been going lately.
I wrap my hands around her and close my eyes. I remember doing this every time we struck a deal. We would have a bit too much to drink, hug and congratulate each other for a new deal with a different store. My company, Glimmer & Dazzle was on the tip of everyone’s tongue when I had created a new design. That was back then, now I’m not even mentioned, and the store that I opened is empty most of the time.
Katie sighs, “I’m not an idiot. I can see what’s going on here. You don’t need to apologize to me. I know that you tried, but sometimes things are not as easy as they seem. My company, Glimmer & Dazzle ran away, and everything looked as if it was going in the right direction. I was shocked when other companies started up, and you got high big time. Not only because of the design but the prices too.”
“I still don’t understand how Silk Box have managed to sell their designs at double the price. Their designs are not that great.”
She laughs, “You would think that because you’re competing with them.”
I break away from her, “No! Seriously they’re not that great.”
I motion to show her their latest designs and the star that has made them sell out from the moment that it was launched.
“Do you see who’s wearing it?”
