“Thank you everyone,” Gary said into the mic. “I thank you all for coming.” Then he launched into a speech about how glad he was to serve the people of our state as our governor. I zoned him out and continued to eat my meal until he started talking about Terry.
“I’ve known Terry for a very long time, back when we went to high school together, and he is nothing but the consummate professional. When I first envisioned a new theater for our capital city, Terry was the first man who came to mind who I thought could make it happen. So, without further ado, I proudly present to you, The Gary Rich Theater!” The room burst into applause as the screen behind Gary dimmed. “My son, Cory, will do the honors of showing you all the video of our spectacular new center.” Gary gestured to Cory, who was standing somewhere off-stage, out of view. “Cory.”
There was movement around the side of the stage, and everyone waited for something to come on the screen. Time ticked by and people began muttering to each other.
Gary leaned away from the mic to speak to his son, but his voice was still picked up. “What’s taking so long?” he whispered loudly.
I heard the muffled sound of Cory’s voice, but couldn’t understand what he was saying, and it looked like Gary grew agitated by whatever his response was.
“Got it!” Cory called out quickly after several moments. He ran up on stage and casually wrapped his arm around his father’s shoulders. “See, Dad? I’m useful for something after all.”
The whole room burst out into light laughter but quickly quieted down as video came on the screen.
I was in the middle of eating an oyster, not paying attention or looking at the screen, when I heard someone say, “What the hell is that?”
I looked up and my heart nearly stopped. Beside me, Stefan stiffened.
Oh, no. God, no.
The familiar scene of me being led by hand into a room by a half-naked gladiator was on the screen.
“What is this?” Gary demanded of his son, away from the mic again but still being heard.
Cory stared at the screen, looking perplexed. His response was faint, but I still managed to hear it. “I don’t know, Dad. This is not the footage I put into the player.”
“Take care of this.”
“Yes, sir.”
As the scene on the screen became more risqué, people around the room began muttering among themselves and looked uncomfortable.
Suddenly, a scream pierced the air.
A second later, I knew why. On the screen, there was Stefan, still masked, going down on me.
“Eat that pussy!” My pleasured moan rolled out over the entire room.
“My God.” I saw an older man cover his young daughter’s eyes with his hand.
“Cory!” The governor roared, no longer caring about decorum. “Get that God damn video off the screen now!”
Cory’s voice was filled with panic as he frantically pressed buttons on the player. ‘I’m trying, Dad, I’m trying.”
“Turn the fucking thing off!” The governor yelled again, his face red with rage.
A sudden, high-pitched laugh suddenly drew my gaze away from the damning video and shock rolled through me. There, sitting several tables away, was Veronica George, dressed in finery, smiling at me with devious pleasure.
You bitch, I thought. Stefan was right, it was a Kappa. It was you this whole time.
“Surprise, surprise, Bella,” Veronica called sweetly.
Stefan turned and looked at me as my mother turned and stared at us both in horror. “Well,” he said in solemn tones that said he already accepted his impending doom, “This is not going to end well.”
Chapter 26
Stefan
Our sex tape was still playing out on the large-screen TV before the shocked audience. In it, Bella and I still wore our masks as I fucked her like a wild beast, my ass flexing with each powerful thrust, but it was fast approaching the moment where Bella recognized me and tore my mask off.
To me, it didn’t matter if my face was revealed in the video. Our parents had probably already recognized us from the moment we appeared on-screen, elaborate costumes or not.
I was just waiting for their shock to wear off and for the shit to hit the fan.
Thankfully, the screen abruptly went blank, silencing Bella’s moans and my feral grunts just as I was about to blow my load, and just before Bella tore off my mask, revealing my identity. For the party guests, I felt some small consolation that the mysterious couple on screen having sex would remain a mystery . . . at least for now.
“I got it off!” Cory, the governor’s son, shouted with triumph from where he had been furiously hammering on a laptop that had been feeding our sex tape to the large screen before just yanking out the cord connecting it to the video system. Cory studied the laptop like it was defective, flipping it over on its side before setting it back down on a small stand. “I don’t know why the hell it wouldn’t shut off before. It was like the whole system froze when I tried to close the video.”
“Finally!” Gary, the governor, snapped. He stomped across the stage and over to his son. “You would have thought you were a damn imbecile with computers with how long it took you.” The governor tried to be quiet with his next words, but his furious whisper was still clearly audible over the outraged chatter in the room. “What the hell was that all about, Cory? Was that one of your damned pornos?”
The young man looked appalled. “No! Of course not, Father. I would never keep a file like that on my work laptop. You know me better than that.”
The governor looked unconvinced and gave him a stare.
Cory scowled. “I swear. Someone must have tampered with my laptop while we were going around greeting everyone.” Cory pointed sharply at the CD that he pulled from the laptop. “See here, the CD is named Gary Rich Theater Presentation.”
“Wait,” Cory added. “This isn't my handwriting. Someone must've replaced it somehow. Someone got on my laptop and put this CD in instead—I just assumed it was the same CD. I'm so sorry, Father.”
The next few words of their conversation were lost in the loud chatter of the outraged guests, but I could tell by the look on both of their faces that they were discussing what to do about the culprit.
After a moment, the governor turned and walked back onto the stage.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the governor spoke into the microphone in an apologetic tone, “I am very sorry about what you just saw. I can assure you that this wasn’t intentional in any way. My son, Cory, is a young man of integrity and would never conspire to pull off something so offensive—even in jest. It is our belief that someone with an agenda has tried to sabotage this party and tarnish my reputation. I’m sure you are all aware that as governor, I have no shortage of political enemies who wish me out of office. Rest assured, we'll find whoever did this. They're not going to be laughing when we find out who's responsible. In the meantime, I implore you all to remain seated so my son can locate the real video file and we can continue on with our evening.”
But the outraged crowd wasn’t buying the governor’s explanation and people began filing out of the ballroom in droves.
“Sick bastard!” a woman yelled as she swept from the room with her husband and two children in tow.
“I’ll never vote for him again,” someone else added.
The governor raised his hands imploringly. “People, please calm down and remain seated. This is all one big misunderstanding.” But his pleading went unanswered as people continued to file out of the room.
Beside me, Bella tensed as she prepared for the explosion that was about to be unleashed on our heads by our parents. Underneath the table, her hand grabbed a portion of my right thigh and squeezed, her nails almost piercing the expensive material of my pants and digging into my flesh.
I gritted my teeth and ignored the sharp pain her nails caused. If digging her claws into my flesh helped her retain her calm before the storm, then so be it. I was going to be her rock through whatever bullshit
that was about to go down.
Evelyn still seemed to be numb from shock, her eyes darting to the blank screen behind the stage and then back to us. My father looked disgusted, his face filled with disbelief as he watched people flee the ballroom.
I braced myself for the barrage that was coming at any moment, summoning the energy I was going to need to defend our relationship.
Before anyone could say anything, a peal of high-pitched laughter assaulted my ears.
It was Veronica George, strutting her way to our table, dressed in an evening gown that showed off her big fake tits and hugged her thin body in all the right places.
“Hi, Bella,” Veronica purred in a cheery tone that made me want to jump up and throttle her. “Hey, Stefan! That was such a great show, wasn’t it?”
Bella dug in harder and I winced. Bella had sharp nails. I was sure she’d made a hole in my pants by now.
Veronica grinned at Bella. “Didn’t think your past would catch up to you, did ya?”
I swallowed back the rage that rose from the pits from my stomach. The only thing that saved Veronica from needing a plastic surgeon was the fact that I’d been raised to never put my hands on a female.
But I was tempted.
God, I was tempted.
I sucked in my breath to send a scathing reply her way. I wasn't going to hold anything back now since I had absolutely nothing to lose, but then Veronica turned her gaze on my father.
“Hello, Terry,” she said in a low, sultry voice, placing her hands on our table and bending forward so that her cleavage was on maximum display. “You haven’t been texting me as much lately. Why’s that?” Tossing a triumphant glance at Evelyn, Veronica strutted away from the table, leaving hysterical laughter in her wake.
Much to my surprise, Evelyn snapped her gaze around on my father like a hawk. My dad looked like he’d just seen a ghost, his face pale, his hands trembling.
“What the hell was she talking about?” Evelyn demanded.
Bella and I traded surprised glances. We’d been expecting Evelyn to erupt on us, demanding to know why we were on that video having sex while dressed in costumes.
My father remained silent for many moments as everyone in the ballroom continued to file out before finally letting out an explosive breath. “I have a confession to make.”
Chapter 27
Bella
I couldn’t believe it. The whole party had seen Stefan and me having sex on tape, including our parents. Yet, for some miraculous reason, neither of our parents had recognized that it was us on the screen. Yes, we had on costumes and masks, but they still should have been able to identify their own children.
The only logical explanation I could come up with was that, given the situation, the last thing they would've expected was a sex tape involving their children to be shown in front of everyone.
In other words, it simply hadn’t registered to them that those two young people on the screen fucking each other’s brains out were me and Stefan.
Whatever the case, I wasn’t going to waste time pondering the issue.
We had been granted a temporary reprieve, and I intended to make the most of it. It was funny, actually, that I had Veronica to thank for saving my ass.
Had she not come along when she did, providing the perfect distraction with her comment to Terry, I’m sure my mother’s shocked mind would have eventually put two and two together.
But it was only a matter of time before she did.
And it wouldn’t be long.
“Now, would you like to explain what the hell that girl was talking about?” demanded my mom when we were all back home from the governor’s party, spread across the living room.
My mom stood in the middle of the floor, her arms crossed across her chest, while Terry sat on the couch, his head in between his hands.
She looked like some enraged ice queen in her magnificent ball gown as she scowled expectantly at Terry.
Stefan and I were seated opposite of Terry on the other couch in the living room, Stefan on one end and me on the other.
Stefan still looked like he had stepped straight out of a GQ magazine, with his overcoat resting on the arm of the couch and his dress shirt open at the collar, giving a peek at his sexy chest underneath.
His eyes on his father, he sat with his legs spread wide like he owned the place. Even with everything going on, it was hard not to stare at him. He practically oozed confidence in the face of our shaky predicament, which turned me on even more.
In fact, he’d handled the whole situation at the party way better than I did. While I’d been about to pass out, Stefan seemed like he’d been ready to fight.
Fortunately, it hadn’t come to that . . . yet.
Terry brought his head up out of his hands and glanced at the glass of red wine sitting on the coffee table in front of him.
As soon as we’d gotten back home, Terry offered to pour all of us a glass to help prepare us for whatever secret he was about to reveal. Obviously, my mother had immediately declined, and though I could have used a sip to calm my nerves, there was no way I was drinking alcohol while I was pregnant. Stefan had surprised me when he had accepted. He was one who usually shunned alcohol, claiming that it made him unfocused, and as an athlete, he always wanted to perform with a clear mind.
But now he was on his second glass.
Terry picked up the glass in front of him and took a sip. “Please don’t go crazy when I tell you this, Evelyn,” he said quietly, setting the glass back down on the table.
“I’ll make no promises,” my mom replied stiffly.
Terry sighed and glanced over at us. “I’ve been unhappy in our marriage for a while now. I'm sure I'm not alone.”
Shocked silence descended over the room like a dark blanket, and Stefan and I exchanged worried glances.
“But that gives me no excuse for what I’ve done,” Terry said quickly when my mother’s features twisted with outrage. Terry proceeded to tell us all about his online fling with Sororitybabe95, A.K.A Veronica George, going into very explicit detail. How it had started with just a random invite to his social media, and how it had progressed from there, trading pictures, texting, sexting . . . and while Mom didn’t quite get it, I did. Veronica had somehow planned all of this. I don’t know when she started it. It must have been before the Sacrifice, for some reason, but the more I heard, the more I felt like I’d been a fly in her trap for months.
I listened to Terry’s account, feeling an array of emotions—disbelief, shock, horror, and then, finally, outrage. Sure, I was mad at Terry, but I was even more pissed at Veronica. How could she do something like that? What had I done that was so awful to made her want to seduce my stepfather and cause trouble in our family?
As far as I knew, sleeping with my stepbrother wasn't against the law. And by accident, I might add. What gave that slutty tramp the right to judge me?
And if she called this revenge because of the sorority facing a shut-down, then she was wrong about that, too. Alpha and Kappa had been engaging in questionable practices since their inception. So, even without what happened during my Sacrifice, it would’ve only been a matter of time before their unscrupulous actions caught up with them.
Fuck her, I thought angrily. Fuck her and all those crazy Kappa bitches.
My mom’s next words pulled me out of my reverie with a jolt.
“I want a divorce.”
Terry jumped to his feet, his arms outstretched as he moved toward my mother. “Now, now, come on, Evelyn, I want to work on things. There is still counseling and—”
“Don’t fucking touch me!” Mom screamed, swiping Terry’s hands away. “Don’t you ever fucking touch me!”
Sobbing, my mom pulled up the edges of her gown, hiking them above her ankles, and fled the living room. I moved to go after her, but Stefan made an imperceptible gesture and I sat back down on the couch.
This is between Dad and Evelyn, his eyes seemed to say to me.
Terry turned
to look at us. “I’ve really screwed things up, haven’t I?”
“Just go talk to her, Dad,” Stefan bade. “I’m sure she’ll listen when she calms down.”
Terry cringed and glanced down the hallway. “Wish me luck, guys.” Shaking his head, he left the room.
“Whatever you do, don’t faint on me,” Stefan was quick to say to me when Terry was gone. He picked up his glass and downed the wine in one gulp. “I’ve had enough shocks for one night.”
“We came so very close to being found out,” I said, ignoring his attempt to make light of the situation. “I thought for sure that Mom was about to jump our shit.”
Stefan nodded. “I did too.”
I stared at the space between us. I badly wanted to move across the couch and into his arms, but I knew I couldn’t. We’d already taken too many liberties, and we were now sitting on a ticking time bomb.
It was just the matter of when before it exploded.
“We're still screwed, though, as soon as the Governor or his son looks at the end of that video.”
“You mean the video on this CD?” Stefan held out a broken CD entitled Gary Rich Theater Presentation. “Nope, I handled that during all the commotion when everyone started leaving.”
“Oh, I never even saw you do that! But why do you think they didn’t recognize us? I mean, even with our costumes on, they could hear our voices. How would my mom not have recognized me?”
“Well, that's an easy one. We only recognized ourselves because we knew already. The video was pretty dark, and think about it from their perspective. They would've never in a million years thought it was us unless they actually saw our faces. Hell, even then, they probably wouldn't believe it. I'm sure everyone there just assumed it was an attempt to embarrass the Governor.”
“I guess,” I admitted. I had already reasoned as much myself. The fact that Stefan had come to the same conclusion made me feel a little bit more secure about the situation.
Alpha's Baby: A Secret Baby Romance Page 16
