by Brenda Ford
We thrust against one another hard and fast letting out the frustrations of our lives on one another. All the jealousy that I know I shouldn’t be feeling erupt within me and all her rage towards me explodes. We are wild and passionate, full of emotions that I don’t know if either of us can understand, but it doesn’t matter. This needs to happen, it’s an addiction for the pair of us that neither of us can give up on, even when we probably should.
We come together, loudly considering we probably should be trying to keep things a secret at the professional event we are attending, but with Gemma I manage to easily block out the rest of the world. She is the only person who matters to me, the only one that I care about, and I the only person I need to make happy.
“Fuck.” Once she pulls away from me, Gemma instantly becomes the ice queen once more. “Again.”
“We can’t seem to keep our hands off of one another, can we?” I laugh, knowing that the best thing I can do is make a joke out of this to dispel the awkwardness. “It’s silly. But in the best way.”
She glares at me once more, but I can see the shine of rage that she had covering her before is long gone. Now she is just mildly irritated which is good. That is something I can work with.
“The event was shit anyway, wasn’t it?” I shrug my shoulders and smile. “Plus, the wines that they had on offer were shit. Should we go out and get a real drink somewhere?”
“I suppose so,” she sighs wearily. “But I’m going to warn you that if I do lose any potential work with Zachary whatever his name was then you are going to have to pay. I won’t let you get away with it.”
I smile and nod. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you. And I will deserve it as well.”
“You don’t sound like you have any guilt,” Gemma notes as we leave the building. “It seems like you don’t even care that you let your weird unnecessary jealousy get in the way.” She rolls her eyes. “Like I said before, you have no right to feel that way. It’s very irritating to see from you. Do you feel silly?”
“No, I don’t,” I tell her honestly. “I just go along with what I am feeling at the time and right at that moment I didn’t like the way that you were flirting. It made me feel all weird inside…”
I don’t know if I am being too honest here, if I am opening up a little too much, but I’m just going along with it anyway. Just seeing where it leads me. Maybe tonight after we have one too many drinks, we will both express ourselves that little bit more. Then there is no telling where that will lead then. It could be awesome. All I know for sure is that me and Gemma are bound to end up in bed together tonight because even if we can’t agree on anything else, there is no denying our sexual chemistry, No hiding away from it either.
Chapter 12 – Gemma
“Urgh, I have got to stop drinking do much?” I groan as I finally let the morning come for me and wake me up. “I hate hang overs. They really don’t suit me, and they make it so much harder to be productive.”
“But we did have fun last night, right?” Daniel declares in the bed beside me, not looking like a man who is suffering the after effects of too much alcohol which is very irritating. “It was great once we left the event.”
“Once you had me all to yourself you mean?” I roll my eyes. “You are so predictable.”
Since this is only supposed to be a hooking up type of deal, it should annoy me that he was possessive about me and that he acted like a jealous boyfriend, but it doesn’t. I weirdly kind of like it. It feels nice to be the center of someone’s focus, to have this man devoted to me in a way that I really wasn’t expecting. I don’t know what it means about my feelings for this man, but I just don’t want to delve in to that right now.
“Oh, whatever.” He pulls me across the bed until I am lying on top of him. “Just kiss me.”
I do for a while, but eventually the sounds of both of our cell phones blasting out over and over again grabs our focus and demands our attention. With a deep sigh I roll off of Daniel and dig around down the side of his bed to see if I can find my hand bag with my cell phone inside. I am groaning so loudly with irritation that I barely even notice the gasps coming out of Daniel’s mouth. I don’t even think to ask him what’s wrong.
“What the hell?” I have loads of messages, it’s absolutely crazy. Once I manage to get my hands on my phone, I push myself up in to a sitting position to see properly, just in case this is an emergency…
My heart stops beating. Once I see what everyone is messaging me about, what people want me to see, my world turns upside down and I don’t know what to think. I blink a few times, trying to make all of this go away or maybe to wake up since this has to be a nightmare, but nothing changes. Everything remains exactly as awful as it is right now. I just know that my whole world is about to be flipped upside down in the worst way possible. I know how these things work and I know that everything that I have spent my life working towards is about to crash and burn underneath this. This right here might well be the end of me.
A single tear drips down cheek and my hand claps over my mouth as I stare at this video, an image that gets increasingly worse by the second, and I can see how I look in it as well. Like a maniac.
“You leaked a sex tape of us online?” I hiss without turning around to face Daniel. “Why?”
“I didn’t do this!” he exclaims sounding as shocked as me. “It’s the CCTV footage inside the elevator. I didn’t even know that there was a camera in there, did you? And why would I want to be seen this way?”
But he doesn’t seem to understand or acknowledge that the world is an unfair place with massive double standards where he will only confirm his status as a play boy and I will look like a slut. It doesn’t help that I clearly initiate the interaction between us. I look like I am desperate for him.
“Was this your plan all along?” I drop my cell phone and grab my clothing to dress myself as quickly as I can. “Have you wanted to sabotage me this whole time? Has this all been some business scheme?” I am shaking from head to foot. “I wouldn’t put anything passed you, Daniel, you are ruthless. You don’t care who you take down along the way. Even me and I am the God damn fool who fell for it.”
“No, no way.” I can see out the corner of my eye that he has lost all the color from his face as he watches the video again, but I don’t care. I don’t intend to fall for his bullshit. “I didn’t do this to you, I wouldn’t. I am the one who has been trying to show you how much I actually like you and care for you, Gemma. You are the one who has kept your distance and been cold with me. I wouldn’t do this to you…”
“But you did,” I yell so loudly that it shuts him up instantly. “You did do this to me. You set it up somehow.”
“But that isn’t even logical, Gemma. You are the one who stormed in to the elevator…”
“Don’t try and pin this on me.” I edge towards the door, needing to escape from Daniel before he can do anything else to hurt me. “Don’t blame me for what happened. I’m not some bimbo that you can just manipulate, Daniel. I’m not the usual standard of woman that you go for, so just shut the fuck up.”
“Gemma, please…” he calls after me, but I am done with him. I stomp in to the bathroom and slam it hard. I don’t even want to shower inside of Daniel’s house now for fear that he has a camera in there as well. All I want to do is get dressed and get the fuck out of here before anything else can happen.
“Fuck.” I shake my head hard, willing the tears away, but they aren’t going anywhere. My emotions are all over the place. I’m hurt and upset because I thought that I was starting to see a different and better side to Daniel, but I’m also angry and annoyed at myself for being that idiot, for feeling things that I shouldn’t for that man. “Fucking hell. Daniel, why do you have to be such a prick? Why be so cruel?”
My business is on my mind as well, I keep thinking about what is going to happen next. I don’t know if people are going to want to stop working with me because I have a fucking sex tape online for the
world to see. It isn’t exactly the done thing for a professional business woman to do, is it? It isn’t how people behave at networking events. Or even if they do, it sure as hell doesn’t end up on the Internet for the world to see.
Once I’m dressed, I run out of the bathroom and smack in to a still very naked Daniel. He’s blocking my way which only makes me a million times more hurt and angrier. He holds on to me and won’t let me go.
“What are you doing?” I cry out. “Leave me alone, Daniel. I need to get away from you.”
“We can work it out together,” he tries to reassure me. “We can get out of this mess with one another. We don’t need to fall out about this. It doesn’t need to be this way. I didn’t do this to you, I promise…”
“I don’t believe a word that you say to me.” I shake him off hard. “I don’t trust anything about you. You are a liar, Daniel Wilson, and a real piece of work. And we can’t get through anything together. We aren’t even friends, never mind anything more. We have just been having sex, that’s all. Sex that is about to haunt me…”
“It affects me as well,” he declares as if I should actually feel some kind of sympathy for him or something. What a prize tool. I am honestly shocked that he would even suggest that. “This is going to be a problem for me too and I don’t want to go through it alone. I want to face it together; we can shut it down…”
“Shut down a video?” I exclaim in dismay. “There is no denying any of this. It is there for everyone to see. Plus, once a video is online there is no getting rid of it. It could be fucking anywhere.”
He looks horrified, like this is just occurring to him, but I honestly have no sympathy for him. I am still convinced that he has caused all of this, so I need to get the hell out of here before this explodes in to anything worse than it already is. I take advantage of him being stunned in to silence for a moment and I push passed him towards the front door, knowing that this will be the last time I ever seen him.
With my cell phone in my hand, the object that has become my worst enemy but that I need to call Eve to help me out as soon as I get out of here, I make it to the front door. Once I leave this place, all I want to do is collapse but I have so much that I have to face, that I have to deal with before it escalates even worse than it already is.
“Gemma, don’t leave,” he whines, still coming towards me even though it’s clear that I don’t want him to. “Once you walk out of here it’s going to be different to get things back on track like they were.”
I spin around and let the flames in my eyes show him how serious I am. “Daniel, I don’t ever want to see you again. There is no going back to how things were. We are done here. You have fucked things up, don’t you realize that? This…” I wave my cell phone angrily at him. “This has pushed things over the edge.”
He says some more, I can hear him, but I storm out of his front door and smash it behind me with every bit of force that I have. It’s probably a bit childish but I need him to understand this time that it’s done, that me and him truly are over. There are some things that I can forgive and move passed but lots that I can’t, and this is one of them. He has absolutely trashed my life and there is no way to recover from that.
“Eve.” I’m weeping hard by the time that my friend picks up the phone. “I need you.”
“Where are you?” She doesn’t sound surprised. She must have seen the video as well which is embarrassing as all hell but also means that I don’t have to explain myself which I suppose is a plus.
“I have just left Daniel’s house. We were together last night. I didn’t know…”
My voice is raspy, my chest aching, I feel like I am falling apart at the seams. I can’t hold myself together for another second longer. If my friend doesn’t hold me up then I am going to lose my shit.
“Don’t worry, I am on my way. You just hang tight and I will see you in a moment.”
I let her know the name of the street that I am on but that’s about all I can get out before the sobs get to me. Eve stays on the phone as she drives towards me and keeps talking to me even though I am saying nothing back. I’m sure that she is going to have a lot to say about my secret hook ups with the enemy, but for now I know that she will be a good enough friend to just take care of me. To make sure that I am okay. I just hope that she has some advice for me with regards to the video as well because I have no idea what to do about that. I don’t know how I will stop it from ruining my life, so I pray that Eve does. I need her more than I have ever needed anyone before.
Chapter 13 – Daniel
“Boss.” Rebecca knocks on my office door looking anxious as hell. Mind you she has had that expression on her face ever since the video was released online earlier in the week. Everyone in the office has which only makes me feel worse about everything. I feel like I have really fucked things up here. “Sorry to interrupt again but I just want to let you know that we have had another call about ending a contract…”
My head hits the desk hard as I feel like my life is crumbling around me. A sex tape is never fun, especially when it isn’t one that you have published yourself, but I never thought that it would end up like this. With me losing contracts left, right, and center. It leaves me wondering what is happening with Gemma, but I can’t find out because she has completely blocked me from her life totally. It must be a mess though.
“Okay, and are there any more articles being published? The business media are feral about this.”
I know why as well, because it’s a good story of enemies being sneaky and screwing around behind everyone’s back. It’s a ridiculous, sordid tale that they have turned in to something massive. I suppose it’s more interesting to the reader than the rise and fall of interest rates, but I hate the fact that it’s all about me.
“Er, I don’t think that’s something you want to know, Boss. Best to just leave it.”
“What do you mean?” I rise my eyes to look at her, but she won’t meet my gaze. “How bad?”
“Just keep away from it, that’s all. Don’t worry about it. We have enough to do around here. In fact, I should probably get back to it now because my phone is ringing off the hook. I have to…”
“Yeah, sure.” I smile thinly. “Thank you, Rebecca. I appreciate everything that you are doing.”
“Just… keep off the Internet.” She slides out of the room. “Keep focused on work.”
But of course, as soon as she goes, I am online looking up what’s next. It’s awful, as usual, dreadful about both me and Gemma which is upsetting, but I mostly worry about her. Even though my life is messy and crumbling apart, I am worried about how this is impacting on her as well. How sad she must be. She was gutted as she walked out of my house on that day when the video was first leaked, angry at me, and hating the world, and I can only imagine that has grown and expanded by the moment. Since it hasn’t immediately died, it must be hard.
Almost as an automatic reaction, I grab my cell phone and call Gemma just to hear the sound of her phone cutting me off. My number must be blocked because I don’t even get a ringing sound these days. She is too filled with hatred for me. Still. She isn’t backing down when it comes to that emotion.
Only this time, I don’t want to back down either, so I look up her company online and I call her office. I might be able to get her to her to talk to me on her cell phone, but the company phone…
“Hello, Dove Corporation?” a friendly sounding receptionist answers. It’s a voice that I don’t recognize which is almost funny. How can I not know the people in Gemma’s life when we have been through so much?
“Hi, I’m wondering if I could speak to Gemma, please?” I remain professional so no one suspects that it’s me. Not that I’m sure anyone else would have any idea who I am at her company. Plus, if they are going through a similar thing to what we are here then they must be used to strangers contacting them by now.
“And what media out let are you calling from?” Her tone becomes cold. “Because I’m pretty sure
that I have told all of you by now to stop calling because she doesn’t want to speak to any of you.”
“No, I am a… friend,” Shit, that sounded like a lie. “It’s erm… actually Daniel Wilson.”
I cringe at the sound of my own name, knowing that I must be hated by everyone there, but the woman remains professional and acts like she doesn’t have a clue who I am. “Hold on for a moment, please.”
I tap my fingers on the desk and end up pacing up and down the office while I wait for the answer. The more that time passes, the more my heart sinks. I almost know that this isn’t going to end well for me. I can just imagine that Gemma is scoffing at the idea of me, making disparaging comments to anyone who will listen about me, talking about me in ways that I would never want to be spoken about by her.
“Sorry.” Yep, I’m right. The woman sounds immediately regretful as she talks once more. “Gemma isn’t able to come to the phone right now. Her schedule is very full as I’m sure you can imagine…”
“Right, so she doesn’t want to talk to me.” I might as well be honest. “Thank you anyway.”
I hang up the phone and fall back in to my chair feeling defeated. I don’t know if I can handle this anymore. I really do feel like I’m losing grip of my life here, like everything is falling apart. I don’t know who I am anymore and what I want to do. I want to solve everything that’s happening, but I can’t. I’m hopeless, useless, stuck and I don’t see a way out. I don’t know how I can make my way out of here, how I can dig my way out of this hole. I need someone to talk to, someone who will give me advice, someone to tell me straight to stop fucking around and to just sort it out and right now there is only one person who I can imagine speaking to…
I grab my cell phone and call my brother. I have been speaking to Tim on and off about this the whole time anyway, so I won’t have to fill him in on all the details as we talk which is useful. I just want to get on with it and have his advice. Tim has always been honest to a fault with me, which I need right now.
