Book 3: Revenge
Moving past the man that I’d put all of my faith into, the man that had betrayed me, wasn’t easy. In fact it was damn near impossible, but I didn’t have any choice. I couldn’t go back there, not after what he’d done to me, and I didn’t want to circle home with my tail between my legs either. I had to put up and shut up… after all it was my own fault that I found myself in this position.
I had come to New York with one dream in mind: to be a model. I started my modeling career late, and absolutely against the wishes of my father. With my red hair and my slightly curvy figure, I didn’t know that I had a chance really. But I held my head high and did my best to go for it and make it happen anyway. I loved it. I was determined.
I really thought that I’d made it when I landed the job at KM Styles, working alongside the most notorious man in the fashion industry. I thought that I’d gotten lucky and hit the big time. Sure, I had an awkward attraction to Kyle Mercer, the notorious bad boy fashion designer that I had to work with, but I could get past that… surely?
But then he helped me too many times. He saved me from a pushy male model who wanted to spike my drink. He helped me deal with a creepy paparazzi photographer who seemed to be stalking me. Among all that we became friends. Then we became more than friends. The chemistry between us got the better of me, and I eventually caved, giving in to temptation.
His ex-wife Heather warned me not to trust him, and it seemed might be right. He was a cheat who couldn’t remain faithful to anyone, and he also cut me from the photo shoot without telling me. I found out at the reveal party. I was humiliated, completely shocked, and I ran from it all, never wanting to hear about KM Styles again.
Unfortunately, escape was never going to be that easy.
I was at another fashion modeling go-see. A fashion mogul there saw me and asked, “So, you’re the one who hooked up with Kyle Mercer, right?”
I nodded, immediately wishing I hadn’t.
“Didn’t you work with him for a while?” said the mogul. “What happened there? How come I haven’t seen your pictures anywhere other than online?” he glanced at the pinched face woman who was sitting next to him, not even bothering to crack a smile. “Except for in the tabloids though of course.”
“I… it didn’t work out…” I stammered, hating the fact that I had to explain myself yet again. Why couldn’t anyone just see me for who I was, not the one stupid mistake that I’d made? I’d been better off as a complete unknown, at least that way I could be ignored rather than judged.
“Ah… he met someone else,” the mogul said. “Of course, men like him always do. They are heartbreakers and that’s all they will ever be.”
“I’m not really here to talk about my past,” I said, trying to sound firm. Unfortunately there was an undeniable wobble in my voice that wasn’t going anywhere, no matter how hard I tried. “I want to move on. If that’s okay with you?”
“I don’t know if there’s much we can do with you,” he said. He waved his hand dismissively at me, shattering my heart all over again. “You’re not the right look for the foreground girl, but you’ll be too distracting as a background girl. What with your reputation.” He shuffled through some papers, but I already knew that it was far too late for me now. My past had ruined me yet again. “Maybe for the runway later in the year.”
“Thank you,” I snapped, standing upright and grabbing my bag. “Thank you for your time, I will speak to you later.”
With that I stalked from the room with tears streaming down my face. Why couldn’t I get another shot? Why did no one else want to know me? It just wasn’t fair. This was all that I wanted, and it didn’t feel right that it had been taken from me just because I’d fallen for someone that I shouldn’t have. In any other career, I would have been able to move on much quicker. It wouldn’t have been quite the same problem.
Suddenly, my phone rang.
For a split second I allowed my heart to lift, thinking that maybe someone had changed their mind about me and wanted to give me a shot. Then I saw the name plastered across my screen. It was the last name that I wanted to see.
Well, maybe the second to last name. Kyle had given up on me ages ago. It was his ex, Heather, who was calling. Again.
“Don’t say a word, Heather,” I said coldly into the phone, feeling totally done with the whole day. “I don’t want to have anything to do with Kyle or KM Styles anymore. Please leave me out of it.”
Heather had a revenge plan to take Kyle down, and she wanted me to be a part of it. I could have gotten involved in it, if I wasn’t so hurt.
“But…” she interjected, but I hung up before she could get the chance. I couldn’t deal with any of that, not right now. What I needed to do was buck myself up, dust myself down, and keep on trying. As painful as it was, as much as it continued to hurt me, staying the course now was preferable to going back to my parents. That would be the end of it for me. I would never be able to leave them again. Being sad and dejected for the time being was better than going home in defeat, my dreams crushed forever.
***
Kyle
“Oh God,” I groaned, tossing my head back in ecstasy as the blonde chick whose name I couldn’t remember ran her lips up and down my cock. “Fucking hell, El… Emma,” I corrected myself quickly, almost giving away the one name that I never wanted to say aloud anymore. Ellie was constantly on my mind, no matter how hard I tried to get rid of her. The last thing I wanted was for this girl to realize that. Everyone knew about us. Everyone knew that we’d been together.
I missed Ellie so much, but what could I do? She didn’t want to know me anymore. Ever since that horrible party where the doctored photo was revealed – all without my permission, I might add – she was dodging my calls and refusing to respond to my texts. She was blanking me. I’d tried, I really had, but she didn’t want to know me anymore. She had made that very clear.
I’d tried my best to move on in the only way that I knew how, by returning to the guy I once was – the one who would sleep with any girl with a pretty face – but it wasn’t quite working. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get Ellie out of my head.
“It’s Marie,” the woman snapped quickly, moving away from me. “Emma is in the bathroom.” Phew, lucky guess! “I’m sure she will be back for round two in a minute.” I was doing all that I could, but even having multiple women in my bed wasn’t ridding my mind of the redhead who had changed absolutely everything for me.
Ellie was the one for me. I’d known it the second that she walked into that modeling audition looking totally different to everyone else. She was innocent, sweet, but she had a fiery side that I’d managed to unlock. I really thought that things were headed somewhere, that we were about to become something real. But then Heather swooped in and fucked things up.
I couldn’t prove that it was her of course, no one was admitting to getting the orders from her, but her last words were constantly swimming around in my ears, affecting every damn second of my life.
“I want what you didn’t allow me to have last time. I want in on the business, and you might as well know now that I will not stop until I get it.”
I was starting to understand that I should have taken her threat seriously from the beginning. I should have understood that she meant it. Greed would always be Heather’s downfall, she’d proven that to me more than once. Now, she was outwitting me at every turn, and it drove me damn near insane. I hated other people having any sort of control over me and my destiny. It didn’t feel right. Unfortunately I didn’t see what I could do about it.
“You know what,” I said sharply, sitting up on the bed. “I don’t think that there’s going to be a round two. I think we might be done here.” It certainly wasn’t like me to turn down sex, but at the same time, I wasn’t in the mood right now. Not with all of my failures floating through my mind.
I glanced up at the gorgeous woman in front of me, with an angry expression on her face and her hands on her sexy, curvaceous hips… and I felt nothing. Even when her brunette friend wandered back into the room with her blow job lips pouted out just for me. This was never going to work, it wouldn’t ever feel the same.
“Kyle is kicking us out,” Emma or Melanie or whatever the hell she was called. “How boring is that?”
“But we were just about to get started!” the other one teased, but I wasn’t about to be swayed. I was seriously not in the mood. Even if they started kissing and touching each other, I doubted I could get back into it.
“I’m sorry, girls, I’m just not in the mood.” I stood up and walked towards the bathroom, needing some time alone. As I clicked the door shut behind me I could hear them whispering to each other, bitching about me. I knew that their gossip about me would float around the fashion world like wildfire. I just didn’t care. What the point in having any kind of reputation when the only woman that I’d ever really cared about didn’t want to know me?
I was depressed. My eyes slid shut. I imagined her smile and her laugh, and her body shuddering against mine as the orgasm consumed her. It wasn’t just the intense chemistry we had that kept me hooked. It was the fact that she wasn’t like anyone that I’d ever met before, and I knew for a fact that I wouldn’t find anyone like her again.
I picked up my phone and found her number on my screen. I ran my fingers lightly across it, wondering if I should break my own heart all over again by trying to call. It was pointless. I was already aware of that. But I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to try.
I heard the front door moving, so I knew the girls were finally leaving. That would give me the space that I needed. I didn’t want random sex with women anymore. I wanted to organize my thoughts, to work out where I was going to go next.
What a mess, I thought to myself as temper coursed through my veins. What a total fucking mess.
***
Ellie
I ducked my head down as I saw him again. It was that paparazzo, the one who was doing his best to wreck my life. Even as all the other gossip rag photographers and columnists started to slowly move on, even as others found other stories to report, he didn’t lose any interest in me. Wherever I went, his stout, sweaty presence was there, slowly driving me to the brink of distraction.
Over and over again I found myself wanting to scream at him, to beg him to leave me alone. However, I got the distinct impression that it wouldn’t do any good whatsoever. He never stuck around for long enough for me to ask anyhow.
“Hey, Katya,” I said glumly into my phone. “How are you?”
“Oh, the audition didn’t go very well then?” she replied, empathizing. Things were a little strained in my friendship group these days. The other girl that we used to spend our time with and who was still friends with Katya, Talia, was one of the many, many women whom Heather had photographed with Kyle during the time that he and I were dating.
Of course, I should have forgiven Talia, because there was no way that she could have known that I was sleeping with him, or even about my true feelings for Kyle. But I found it hard to let it go. It was all still so painful, what Kyle had done to me.
“That audition didn’t go well, but there will be others,” I sighed, trying to remain positive despite everything. “I just have to keep trying, right?”
“It took me a while to get steady work too,” she said. “You’ll get there.”
I knew that she was only trying to make me feel better, but really she was simply reminding me of the truth of things. Soon enough I would have to become a cliché waitress slash model, just to make ends meet.
“Anyway…” she started in the tone of voice that I knew could only mean that she was about to bring up the dangerous subject. “I spoke to Talia last night… she misses you.”
I didn’t reply, mostly because I couldn’t think of anything to say. “I know that she should have told you about her one night with Kyle right away, but she told me that it happened ages ago, and that she just felt awkward… what with you being such a new friend, and all.”
It all felt like excuses to me. Why would Heather say that it happened just a short time ago? Sure she wanted me to join her crazy revenge mission, but as soon she realized that I had no intention of doing that, then surely she would have told me everything?
“I just feel weird about it,” I said.
“Do you think you might want to meet up with her sometime? All three of us together? Then we can discuss it all properly? Get it all out in the open so we can move on.” I knew that both Talia and Katya were desperate for this to happen, but I wasn’t quite ready for it. Not yet.
“Maybe soon,” I half promised. “And as always, if you hear of any work, let me know…” I stopped dead in my tracks, spotting him again. I knew that I should have told Katya what was going on, just to get her moral support, but I didn’t. I simply clicked my phone shut and I started to slowly walk towards him.
He snapped images of me, probably with a dumb, blank looking face in every single one, but in all honesty having my photo in the papers was the least of my worries by this point… even if I did look like crap.
Plus, weirdly enough I didn’t think that I’d particularly seen any of his pictures anywhere anyway. Maybe he ran some creepy blog. Maybe he’d decided to stalk the next new model to walk the streets, just for his own sick enjoyment. Or maybe he was a part of something else, something I didn’t yet understand.
“What are you doing?” I mouthed at him, despite knowing that it was pointless. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
Of course, as to be expected, he jumped up and raced away. He was old, chubby and slow, so if I really wanted to, I probably could have caught up with him… but I didn’t have the heart to follow through with that, I didn’t think that it would do me any good.
Just then, my phone started ringing again.
I didn’t need to look at the screen to know that it would be Heather. She wouldn’t leave me alone. But still I had no interest in speaking to her. She could do whatever the hell she wanted to. All I wanted was to leave all of this behind.
As my phone rang out, I felt a pang in my heart, and an overwhelming desire to ring Mom. I’d purposely not been calling her because I didn’t want her to confirm my idiocy and for her to tell me that I was wrong for leaving in the first place, but for once my pride needed to get to one side.
“Hello?” she answered, in the tentative manner that already told me Dad was by her side. He’d brought me up in such a strict manner. Me running off to become a model was his worst nightmare. Maybe he was right.
“Hi Mom. Don’t worry, I know that you can’t talk,” I replied glumly, already regretting giving in to this urge. “I just wanted to say that I love you, and I’ll speak to you soon. Whenever you’re alone, please give me a call.”
“I will,” she said, far too stiffly for my liking. Why the hell couldn’t my family just be normal? “Goodbye.”
As she hung up I felt lonelier than I’d ever done so before. I didn’t really have any real support. I was simply here in New York, doing my best and getting nowhere.
How long would I have to keep this up before I could finally accept defeat? How long until I could give up on my dream? However long it was, in that moment it felt far too long.
***
Kyle
“What is this?” I snapped at Greg as I stared at the image in a fashion magazine. The image was there, the photograph from the campaign that I’d been a part of with Ellie, but she was nowhere to be seen. They had actually gone ahead and used the image of just me. You could see Ellie’s hand and leg, but that was it. I wouldn’t have it.
“Well, as you already know, market research suggested…” he started diplomatically, giving me the line I’d already heard and dismissed a hundred times.
“I don’t care what market research suggested!” I threw the magazine onto the ground and watched it slide along the floor. “I didn’t agree to be a part of any of this, not on my own!”
“Well unfortunately that’s just the way it’s going now,” he shrugged, angering me further.
“You did this,” I screamed in anger, needing to have someone to blame. “You must have approved this. I’ve been blaming Heather all this time, but now I’m starting to think that you are far more involved than you seem.”
I was acting crazy, staring at Greg wide eyed and manic, walking him backwards until he hit the wall. Everything in my mind was swirling like crazy. I needed someone to take the hit for that. I needed something to make sense. I didn’t approve these pictures. I’d argued furiously against using them. Yet somehow they had happened anyway. It had to be Greg, there wasn’t anyone else.
“Kyle, I don’t know why you’re acting like this,” he started, holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I don’t know what’s making you take such offence to this. I don’t know why you care so much about Ellie… she’s just another…”
“She isn’t just another anything,” I all but shouted in his face. “Don’t you dare say that.” I didn’t want anyone to assume that Ellie was just like all the others, because she really wasn’t. “Ellie is nothing like the other women.”
“Okay, okay, so you love her?” he asked me in an overly calm tone of voice, as if he was trying to work out where my head was at. He held onto my shoulders, but I shook him off quickly.
“No, of course not, I… I…” I hadn't known this woman long enough to love her. That was ridiculous. She was just very special. “Don’t try and turn this around, Greg.” I shook my head and did my best to get back on track. “You have been trying to undermine this business for years now. Why? Is it because of my fame? If so, please take it. I don’t want it anymore, that isn’t why I got into any of it…”
“Of course it is!” he exploded back, finally losing his temper with me. “Of course it is, all you’ve ever wanted is to be the most famous person in your very successful family. Maybe you don’t realize it, maybe that much is genuine, but it’s been your driving force since day one.”
“No… no…” I stammered, trying to sound confident, but I couldn’t keep the wobble out of my voice no matter what. Was he right? Had that been my driving force? Sure, there was always a competitive element there, and yes it had felt good to finally be the most successful out of everyone, but that had nothing to do with why I was angry now.
The photographs with me and Ellie in them were magnetic. The chemistry, the connection, it was obvious and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that they would have been successful. They would have brought the KM Styles fashion line back up to where it needed to be. That was why I was in charge of the visual side of things. Greg’s forte was the business and management side.
“Plus, why would I want to undermine the business that I am a major part in? KM Styles might be named after you, but it’s my future too.”
His arguments were solid, but I didn’t want to hear them. I didn’t want him to try and make me see sense because right now I was like a bull with a red rag in front of me. All I wanted to do was charge at him.
“I’m going to get you out of the company,” I promised him, squeezing my fists by my side, hoping that I wouldn’t lash out and punch him. “Whatever it takes. It’s my name, it should be my company.”
“Don’t be so silly…” he started, finally showing fear in his face. That pleased me, it meant that I was getting under his skin. That was exactly where I wanted to be. I wanted him to feel bad for what he’d done. It had to be him who’d doctored the photo. He had to be involved one way or another. And if that was the case, then he was no longer my friend. Before long he wouldn’t be my business partner either.
Greg said, “Let’s just talk about this calmly and sensibly.”
“No,” I finally snapped, before stomping out of the room. I just wanted to be alone, in the way that I always seemed to want to these days. The only way I could get that quiet was to get the hell away from Greg.
Greg was an asshole. I was sure that he was a part of it. I just needed proof. Once I could get that I would be able to get him out of my business without any troubles. I’d seen firsthand how money could change people. Now it seemed like it had happened to my best friend too.
In that moment, with that revelation, I felt lonelier than I ever had done before. It was as if my entire life was slipping through my fingers, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I could feel the sand flowing through my fingers, but I couldn’t grip onto any of it, however hard I tried.
***
Ellie
Today would be the day I would land a modeling job. I was sure of it. All that I needed to do was keep my head held high and the go sees that I had planned for the day would pay off. I decided to take on a positive attitude in the hope that I could finally overcome the ghost of Kyle. I wanted to be known for myself and my own talent. If I kept that at the forefront of my mind, I would be fine.
I was trying my darnedest to keep a positive attitude throughout the day because failure and depression was nipping at my heels. I feared that I would eventually succumb to one or both.
I heard a very unwelcome female voice call out behind me as I stood in line at the coffee shop.
“Hello there,” she said.
As I turned to face her, she took my breath away a little bit all over again. She was just so classy and glamorous. She really made me feel like a bag of crap every single time. I had what had been described as an ‘interesting’ look; red wavy hair, big green eyes, and cheeks that felt slightly too big for my face. Unless I was made up, I looked like a normal girl off the streets, whereas Heather looked incredibly, like she’d just stepped from the pages of a fashion magazine.
“Fancy seeing you here,” she said.
“What do you want, Heather?” I sighed wearily, really not wanting my positive mood to be shot down by her right now. “I have a busy day ahead of me.”
“Well, luckily this won’t take a moment then!” she shot back gleefully, all the while placing her hand firmly on my shoulder. “I have the plan in place now, I know exactly what I want to do.”
“I don’t want any part of it…” I tried, but she wasn’t about to let me get away with that one.
“Now, I’m sure by now that enough time has passed for all the hurt to have gone away. Now I’m sure all you want is revenge.” The hurt hadn’t gone away, but I didn’t say so. Heather said, “I have taken the time out to come up with the perfect plan, and the best thing is it barely needs any effort from you! All you need to do is sign one piece of paper.”
“What paper?” I asked her curiously, narrowing my eyes at her. Even though Heather had been the one to show me the truth about Kyle, even though I wasn’t sure that I wanted to hear it at the time, I still wasn’t totally sure if I could trust her or not.
“Oh, just a small form,” she continued innocently. “Stating that Kyle was abusive and cruel to you while you were working for him. That is all I need to take him down.”
“Abusive?” I gasped in shock. “Cruel?”
“Was it not cruel to treat you as he did and then kick you out of the advertising campaign?” My mind spun at that, wondering if maybe she was just a little bit right. She went on. “Was it not abusive of him to seduce you, fully knowing that he was seeing other women at the same time?” She grabbed onto my hands and gazed imploringly into my eyes. “Do you not want him to feel some of your pain? Don’t you think he deserves it? This isn’t just about me, and what Kyle owes me. This is about you too. I already know that you aren’t used to this world and how awful it can be. He took advantage of you.”
My ears buzzed and my blood ran hot at that. She was making far too much sense for my liking. Maybe it wouldn’t be exactly as Heather was trying to make out, but he had treated treat me poorly. He deserved to pay for that, in some way or another.
I glanced around the coffee shop, just looking for some sort of sign, an answer to all of my problems. I spotted a woman holding up a fashion magazine. When I spotted the image on the back of the magazine, my heart stopped dead in my chest. It was him. Kyle, in the photo shoot that we did together. Of course the picture that they’d used was the one that I should have been expecting, the one from the reveal party. I guess a small part of me had hoped that he would see how hurt I was, and that he would change it. But of course emotion held no place in the fashion industry. I should have learned that by now.
“So?” Heather asked me, dragging my attention right back to her. “What do think? One little signature and Kyle gets everything that he deserves. It will bring you some positive media coverage too – the sort that will have people clawing at you, wanting to hire you.”
If I wasn’t so desperate for work, I might not have even considered it. I might have turned her away and left it well alone. But I was desperate for work, and I did want Kyle to suffer too in the way that I had. It felt only fair.
“Okay,” I said quickly, allowing the emotion to get the better of me. “Okay sure, I’ll sign anything you want.”
“Meet me here tomorrow, at 11 AM,” she smiled happily at me, while patting me on the shoulder. “Then you can finally put this whole mess behind you.”
To be honest, that was all I wanted really. Right then in that coffee shop, Heather’s plan seemed to be the only way to get that done.
***
Kyle
I spent the rest of the day watching Greg like a hawk, not that he knew it. After I stomped out from the building and I paced around outside, I finally calmed down enough to realize that I couldn’t just throw accusations like that around, especially not when it came to my best friend and business partner.
I needed proof. I decided I was going to do whatever it took to get it.
I watched him closely. Much to my disappointment, I didn’t observe him doing anything suspicious looking. I decided to take matters into my own hands. I sent one of the receptionists rushing into his office, acting as if there were an emergency. The aim was to get him out without giving him time to shut down his computer, giving me a chance to look at it. He was always very private about his emails, and now I was starting to wonder why. I was curious to what he was hiding in there.
I ducked out of sight as he raced from the room looking bewildered and shocked, and jumped into his office at the first opportunity I got. At first I scrolled all through the messages in my inbox, without any luck. I started to delve deeper and deeper, checking folders that were labeled very boring names. ‘Money’, ‘Orders’, ‘Invoices’. I was almost about ready to give up hope, before I spotted the last name in the world that I expected to see.
Heather Powell.
It had taken a lot to persuade Heather to go back to her maiden name, and it seemed like she’d finally applied it to everything, maybe in another attempt to hide herself away from me, but I’d found her regardless.
As I clicked on the email, my heart raced in my chest, my emotions zig zagged across my body in fear, making it very difficult for me to control myself. I read it apprehensively.
‘The plan is in place. Soon, the company will be ours.’
“What the fuck?” I yelled out, scraping my chair backwards. “What the fuck is this?” I knew that Heather was willing to betray me, and of course I suspected Greg, but I never thought that he would team up with her over me. I thought that he and I went much further back than that. I thought that we had a real, solid friendship.
At that exact moment, the door swung open, and Greg strolled back in. As I turned to face him my entire body ran cold with terror, and I felt sick to my stomach. Everything that I’d ever thought about my life and the people in it was all wrong.
“Why?” I asked him simply as his eyes moved slowly towards the computer. “Why her? Why Heather?”
“I… I…” he started to shake and sweat as he ran his hands through his hair, proving to me that it was all true. Deep down I probably hoped that it wasn’t going to be, but that was all gone now. “I think that she’s been manipulating me for months, trying to get under my skin, trying to make me do her bidding, I don’t know…”
Of course, there was only one way that Heather would be able to hook this man. She used her best asset, her womanly charms. “Did you sleep with her?”
“I… I’m sorry,” Greg shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry I know I shouldn’t have, but she made it impossible.”
“Greg…” I said. I didn’t want to accept what he was saying. It was never impossible to resist someone, he was being an idiot. I shook my head at him.
“And now she’s after Ellie…” he said.
“Ellie?” Of course, it was all finally starting to come together. The pictures, the photos of me kissing random girls, this was all to get what Heather thought that she deserved from me. “What is she going to do to Ellie? Isn’t she done with her already?”
“Heather is never done,” he told me with tears filling his eyes. “She will stop at nothing to get what she wants.”
I was overcome with a sudden, desperate need to call Ellie and check up on her. But I knew for a fact that she wouldn’t answer me. If Heather could turn Greg totally around on me, and we’d known one another forever, then poor, sweet, naïve Ellie stood no chance.
“Well, what can I do?” I asked Greg, pacing the room. “How can I stop her? I mean, you don’t really want her to destroy this business do you? She can’t really be that good… so good that you would throw away your future?”
“N… no,” Greg stammered. “No I don’t, I don’t know how I managed to get so caught up in this… I’m not sure what happened. I... I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I told him seriously. “I can’t even think about what you’ve done right now. All I can focus on is making it right. That’s how you can make it up to me. We need to come up with a plan, we need to put a stop the Heather before she goes too far.” Greg didn’t look convinced, but I didn’t care. He would damn well do whatever I told him now, after all he was a massive part of the problem. If he ever cared about me at all, he would at least stick around for long enough to make it right. I felt like he owed me that much. “What can we do? Do you have any ideas?”
“I… I… well, I suppose there is one thing,” he stuttered, filling my heart with hope. “But it won’t be easy.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” I told him determinedly, anticipation coursing through my veins. “Anything to make this right.”
***
Ellie
I sat stiffly at the table in the coffee shop, feeling incredibly awkward. I hadn't even touched my coffee. It was just sitting there for show. This wasn’t exactly a normal meeting with friends. This was Heather coming to get me to sign the papers that would ruin Kyle’s life. It was like something out of a crazy movie, yet here I was living it in real life.
I had thought long and hard about Heather’s offer. For a long time I did not know what to do. But I had now made up my mind. My course was clear.
As I heard the door fly open, I could sense Heather’s presence before I even glanced up to see her there. She had an aura surrounding her, one that caused you to look at her even if you didn’t want to.
“Hi Heather,” I said. I drank in her pristine appearance, feeling self-conscious about my own. Because I didn’t have any work planned, I had simply come out in a sweater and jeans, with my hair scraped back and no makeup on. It was impossible not to feel self-conscious next to the goddess wearing a skintight bodycon dress and looking as if she’d just been at the salon. “How are you feeling today?”
“Oh, I’m just peachy,” she replied, giggling like a schoolgirl and taking the seat next to me, making me feel even stranger than I did before. “This is the first day of the rest of my life. Now, can I get you a drink or anything? This is a big day for you too, right?”
“No,” I shot back quickly… possibly a little too quickly. “No, I have a drink, thank you. Do you have the papers with you?” The sooner this was done, the better as far as I was concerned.
“I do,” she clicked open her bright pink briefcase and started sorting through things.
“So, I just want to say thank you,” I told her, looking at her out of the corner of my eye. “For showing me those photographs. I don’t think that I ever would have been able to see the truth about Kyle without them. That really was something else.”
“Oh of course,” she said. “Anything to help.”
“I just never would have believed that he was such a cheating scumbag if you hadn't proven it to me. I mean, all those women in such a short time…”
“Oh well, maybe they weren’t all from when you were with him. Maybe some of them were during the time I was married to him, maybe some of them afterwards…” she stated. My skin prickled. She had confirmed my biggest fear. Had I just been suckered? “But it allowed you to see what sort of man he is… the type that can never be trusted.”
“Hmmm…” I muttered, unable to form a better reply as my mind spun like crazy. There were so many expletives running through my mind, but I forced them all to stay inside. This wasn’t the time or place for that. “Sure.”
As Heather placed the papers in front of me, and handed me a pen, there was a self-satisfied smirk playing on her lips.
“This is so awesome, I’m so glad that you’re finally doing this for me, you don’t know how long that I’ve been working on this plan. It’s like you’re an angel, dropped from the sky.”
“Yeah?” I asked distractedly, scanning my eyes over the words in her document.
“Yeah… I mean, I thought that I was going to have to do it all through Greg – the massive idiot that he is – but then you came along and answered all of my prayers. Now I can finally get what I’ve deserved all along. Kyle tried to stitch me up in the divorce, blaming the failure of our marriage all on me, but now I’m about to rectify that.”
“He blamed you?” I couldn’t help but gasp. “But I thought he cheated?”
“Oh, well I suppose that the pictures came from the time that we were separated… but we were still married. It counts.”
I actually sensed a bit of guilt emanating from her, which piqued my interest that little bit more.
“So… why did you get divorced?”
“That’s neither here nor there,” she bristled angrily. “Now come on, get these papers signed. I haven’t got all day, and I know that you haven’t either.”
I pressed the pen to the paper, and listened intently as she held her breath in anticipation. It seemed like she had been working towards this for a very long time, which meant her life had been focused on one bitter goal for far too long. I saw Heather more clearly. I even felt a little sorry for her. She’d become poisoned by her need for revenge.
I didn’t want that for me. I didn’t want to turn out like Heather. Mainly, I just wanted this to be over. I certainly didn’t want to be still thinking about this years down the line.
“Okay fine, I will sign this,” I told her. “And you can go and do whatever you want.”
“Which is the business. I need Kyle to hand it over,” she replied smugly, smirking to herself.
“Yeah, whatever, after that I don’t want to ever hear from you again. I want this to be it.” If today could spell the end for this, then it would be worth it, but I didn’t need Heather to answer me. Not really. I already knew what the outcome was going to be, and that was about to be revealed. “I don’t want to ever hear from you again.”
As she answered me, I barely listened, my eyes were starting to move towards the door, where someone familiar was entering.
***
Kyle
“Hello there, darling,” I called out sarcastically to my ex-wife as I entered the coffee shop. She turned around to face me with shock plastered all across her face.
“You?!” she said.
“What’s wrong?” I said. “Did you not expect to see me here?”
Last night, Greg called Ellie and convinced her to speak to me. She was hesitant, which was to be expected after all that time. But eventually she gave me a chance. After a while, after I explained everything to her, we concocted this plan together. She had spent the morning convincing everyone, including herself, that she intended to sign the papers, just to ensure that she could play the role well when the time came, but she never planned to, not really. Not now that she knew it was all a lie.
I told her everything, I told her about the business, the fame, my marriage, the reason it all fell apart, and my behavior afterwards. I laid my soul bare, and it seemed to work. I was absolutely terrified, and that was still there just a little bit, but Ellie was a great girl, willing to give me a chance.
Behind Heather, Ellie was grinning at me, looking at me with the same happiness that she used to. I knew that it would take a long time for that rift to be finally healed, but it was starting to feel like we might actually be able to manage it. I had to be the luckiest guy on the planet, and I wasn’t quite sure what I’d done to deserve that.
“What… what are you doing here?” Heather gasped, totally blindsided by this, which meant that Ellie had played her part well. She’d managed to convince her that she was going to sign the papers. “What the fuck is going on?”
Heather’s eyes flickered between me and Ellie, which gave my lawyer a chance to enter the coffee shop too. I had wanted Greg to come along as well, to prove his solidarity, but he refused. He said that it would be too hard to be around Heather after all that she’d done to him.
I still felt suspicious of him, but that was a problem for another day. Right now I only had one thing on my mind.
“Well, my dear Heather,” I replied, taking great pleasure in this. “In case you didn’t notice, Ellie has a recording device attached to her.” On cue, Ellie lifted up the bottom of her top, showing Heather everything. I watched in joy as she went pale, but I could tell that she wasn’t quite ready to accept it yet, so I hit rewind on the recorder and played just a little bit of it for her. A little part of her nasty, vicious speech.
“Yeah… I mean, I thought that I was going to have to do it all through Greg – the massive idiot that he is – but then you came along and answered all of my prayers.”
The venom in her voice was almost unbearable to listen to, but I forced myself to do so just for the satisfaction of winning the battle.
I walked over to Ellie, and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “Now, with this I am going to file a restraining order against you, and if you break it I will take you to court once and for all. I will not have you coming after me, not when our divorce agreement has already been settled. You will leave me alone, do you understand?”
“But I…” she stammered, finally looking terrified, but I didn’t want to hear it. Not now, not ever, I just wanted her gone.
“Also,” I jumped in quickly, wanting to get one last point dealt with. “You will stop that photographer from following Ellie.”
“Photographer? No, I haven’t…”
“No more lies,” I snapped firmly, banging my fist down on the table. “Now back off. None of us want you around anymore, and the sooner you understand that, the better.”
I went to move, but Ellie remained where she was, as if she wanted to give Heather a chance to explain herself. Heather was not inclined to say anything. She simply sat there in silence with her head hanging low, feeling very sorry for herself. There wasn’t anything that she could say by this point. I finally had her beat.
“Come on, Ellie,” I whispered into her ear, wanting to get the hell away at last. “Let’s get out of here, this is pointless.”
She nodded slowly and stood up. As our gazes met I felt my heart flutter excitedly, and that feeling of completeness rock through me all over again. This was it, where I needed to be, and I was glad that I’d finally managed to achieve that. It hadn't been easy, but Ellie was finally starting to remember the good person that I was, and the better person that she made me want to be.
“Now,” I said. “Why don’t we go to my place? Really talk things through? I’m sure that we still have a lot to say.”
“To be honest,” Ellie replied huskily. “I think that we’ve done enough talking, don’t you?”
My cock immediately stood to attention at those words, and as I turned to face her, seeing the desire behind her eyes sparked that even more. I needed her so badly. If she wanted me too, then I was more than happy to comply.
“I have a car waiting. Come on let’s go!” If Ellie was really going to give me a second chance, then I wanted to get started on that right away.
“Sounds good to me!” she agreed, making me smile to myself. “Let’s go.”
***
Ellie
As we crashed through Kyle’s front door, kissing frantically, I knew for sure that I’d made the right decision. We’d done so much talking the night before, that I felt like we’d covered every damn subject. I didn’t have anything left to say, now all I wanted was to have some fun.
“Come on, I need to get you to the bedroom right away,” Kyle growled, slipping his fingers through mine. “It already feels like it’s been far too long.”
I knew what he meant. I felt the same way. I was sad for all the time that we’d wasted because of Heather, but I was glad that at least we could get some of it back.
Once we were inside his room, Kyle pushed me back against the wall and kissed me with even more vigor. As his lips moved against mine, his hands began to snake up my top making my heart beat a whole lot faster. No longer did it matter that I was all natural looking and not in the least bit glamorous. Kyle liked me just the way I was.
To prove just how sexy I felt, I tugged my top up over my head, revealing my plain cotton underwear to him. Gone were any nerves, all I felt was excitement instead.
“Oh wow, you really are beautiful,” he gasped, making me even happier. “I’m so lucky to have you here with me.”
As his kisses started to rain over my neck, I ran my fingers through his hair, the passion starting to take over me. I felt bolts of desire coursing through my veins, right down into my panties, sending me wild. How had I even considered walking away from this, even when I knew that it was bad for me? It was so addictive, so intoxicating, it was all that I ever wanted for the rest of my damn life.
He stepped me backwards until I fell onto the bed, where he gazed down at me for a few seconds with an intense fire behind his gaze. He’s missed me too. I could see that clearly. That excited me like nothing else ever could.
Kyle tugged his top off, and moved to hover above me, before grinding his hips into mine for a few seconds, allowing me to feel just how badly he wanted me.
“Oh God,” I groaned loudly, pushing my pulsating core back against him. “Kyle, you feel so good.”
Kyle slid my jeans down, tracing his fingers lightly over my skin as he went, sending shivers racing up and down my spine. He was taking his time, being slow and seductive, but I couldn’t take that right now. I was desperate, needy, and I wanted more from him, so as soon as all I was wearing was my panties, I took control of the situation and I flipped him over until I was sitting on top of him.
Before I could take control of the situation, Kyle’s hand slid up my thigh, getting tantalizingly close to where I was now aching for him. My wet, hot desire was crying out to be explored, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep it all in.
I couldn’t take it. I needed him and I needed him now, so I tried to work past the fog of lust in my brain. I slid further down his body until I was faced with a part of him that I haven’t yet tasted yet. My heart pounded with excitement, my back arched with desire. I started to unbuckle Kyle’s trousers.
As I pulled his thick, pulsating erection free, an involuntary moan escaped his throat. It made me feel incredible. I loved turning him on, even more so after all that we’d been through. I couldn’t wait for more.
I moved my mouth closer to him, my fingers trembling as I gripped onto his length. As I got nearer I pushed out my lips until they were pressed against him, allowing me to inhale his inherently manly scent. He shuddered and rocked as I teased him, pushing me forwards.
I pushed out my tongue and licked him lightly, relishing his taste. As he moaned with joy, I moved in for more, eventually wrapping my lips right around him. I glanced up at him, watching his face contort in pleasure, which left me wanting more. I took him in, as far as I could to the back of my throat, clearly sending him wild. His entire body filling with tension.
“Holy shit!” he cried out, tugging at my hair. “Fuck, Ellie, you are amazing.”
I ran my mouth up and down him, flickering my tongue as I went, causing his entire body to shake with pleasure. The tension and pressure was building within him, almost causing me to get carried away.
But I couldn’t, not when I needed him so badly.
I moved my mouth back up to meet his. We kissed a little while longer. He grabbed hold of my bra strap and unhooked it, then worked on pulling my panties down. It seemed that he wanted me to be just as naked as he was. That made me grin.
“I need you,” I told him honestly. “It’s been far too long.” My breaths were coming out short and ragged, showing how close I was to the edge already.
Kyle flipped me over gently. He moved close enough to me so that I could feel his breath tickling my lips. He was teasing my entrance, getting close enough for me to feel him without actually giving me any satisfaction, which had me clawing at his back in frustration. I wanted him to drive into me, to make me feel amazing, but he was holding off for long enough to drive me insane.
“I like you,” he told me seriously, causing me to pause for just a moment. “I like you more than I’ve ever liked anyone before, I just want you to know that.”
And with that, he didn’t even give me the chance to respond, he plunged into me, rocking me backwards. I yelled out in joy as a whole load of wonderful sensations flew through my body. With both moaned in unison as our bodies thrashed against one another, clinging on to each other for dear life.
In that moment I felt like he was the only thing that I wanted, that I needed, and with that nothing else mattered. All of our issues, they simply floated away, and all I could feel was happiness. Things would be alright, somehow they would work out. I just knew it.
As the waves of pleasure shattered through me, and I shuddered and buckled under Kyle, he held me close to him, reminding me of how much I really liked him too. As the orgasm consumed me entirely, he pressed his lips up against mine, bringing back that bond, and in a flash of reality I realized that I loved him. It might have been crazy, it might not have made any sense, but it truly felt right.
I love Kyle Mercer… but of course I can’t tell him yet, not if I don’t want to freak him out.
When the pleasure took Kyle too, I watched him look at me with the same emotions in his eyes. He felt the same way about me, so it seemed, but I still wouldn’t vocalize it. I would wait for him to be ready to accept it all.
As we collapsed, side by side, panting heavily, I felt like everything was right with the world again. Kyle and I were back on track, Heather was in retreat, and nothing else could go wrong.
***
Kyle
“I’ll see you soon, okay,” I said.
I smiled at Ellie and kissed her lightly on the lips. She had another go see to attend. I half wanted her to get it, but I also really wanted her to come back to work for KM Styles again too. We wanted her, and the original photographs, and I would do whatever it took to rectify that.
“Yeah, I’ll see you in a while.”
The way that she looked at me now, with love in her eyes, it made me feel incredible. I couldn’t believe how much had changed in twenty four hours. It was amazing. I had gone from being alone and not knowing who was against me, to having Ellie back in my arms and back in my bed, and also finally knowing that Heather and Greg were behind the attacks on the company. What I was going to do with that information was yet to be decided. I was pretty sure that I would still get the restraining order against Heather… I really needed her out of my life, but Greg… I would get to him.
He had been manipulated, but he’d also betrayed me. That couldn’t be forgotten, although with all of this happiness swirling through my veins, maybe I could find myself persuaded.
I padded back into my kitchen to get myself some breakfast. In the kitchen, I flicked my laptop on. Not only did I need to check my emails and ensure that everything was running smoothly with the company, I also wanted to check the Internet. I just needed to be sure that Heather hadn't done anything stupid. I wouldn’t put it past her to take a last minute stab at getting revenge on me. She was damn crazy enough. Before I could get online to check, I heard my phone ringing out.
As I grabbed my handset and I saw the name on the screen, I couldn’t help but grin to myself.
“Could you not keep away?” I asked Ellie playfully. “I know that I’m a good lover, but really, it’s only been about five minutes…”
“Kyle,” she said in a panicked tone of voice. “Kyle, this is bad, this is really bad…”
My heart pounded, my mind whirred. A million and one possible horrible scenarios rushed through my mind.
“What’s going on? Where are you? Do you need me?” I scrabbled around, trying to find a top, something to wear, but my brain wasn’t letting me focus enough to do it properly.
“No, no, it isn’t that. It’s just… she still has him following me, Kyle. That photographer. He just pounced on me and took more pictures. I… I’m shaking. I don’t know what to do. I thought that this would end. I thought that this was over now…”
Heather, I thought angrily to myself. What a damn crazy bitch.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “You just wait where you are, I’m coming for you.” My focus was laser sharp now, making it much easier for me to do what needed to be done. “And I promise you now that I will put an end to this, no matter what it takes!”
If Heather wanted a dirty fight, then she would get one. If she didn’t want to let this drop, then neither would I. And she would soon learn that I had no intension of losing… ever.