Chapter 19

Julie

The church was packed with sharply dressed people, she even saw a few bodyguards outside, pretending to be regular Joes hanging around, having a smoke… outside the big double doors of a Catholic church.

You got to be kidding me.

Trey leaned on a big column, wearing a bright blue suit, with a yellow shirt underneath.

He took a last puff of his cigarette and threw it away, not caring about littering or anything but himself.

He combed his hair with his fingers, and took off his Versace shades. He tried too hard to impress her.

Trey smiled and raised his hand, expecting her to take it, as if they were a couple, but she only smiled back.

"Good morning," she said.

He twisted his lips, realizing she wasn't going to go arm in arm with him inside.

"They've already started," he said.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Let's go," he replied curtly.

Her parents sat on the second row, her dad saved them a seat next to him. Everyone was quiet, the priest was giving mass.

They brought the baby out front for his baptism. All in all, it was better than she thought it would be.

The parents looked genuinely happy and down to Earth. Who are these people? The mother was beaming and the baby was one of the cutest she'd seen.

"You're late," her Dad whispered, looking at his watch.

The ceremony was over. Everyone clapped and, of course, the couple announced they would be waiting for everyone at the reception.

"Traffic."

Charles Crawford, her father, just sighed deeply, without looking at her, visibly disappointed.

***

The reception was a big, big event. They rented the main hall on the Chicago Dumont Hotel, one of the oldest and most expensive venues in the city.

It looked almost like a wedding. Hundreds of guests, all of them laughing, eating and generally having a good time.

"This is my daughter, Julie," her Dad said.

"Jules, this are Elton and Sarah Harrington; Elton will be working with us in the future."

"Congratulations," Julie said, "what a beautiful baby you have."

She was perfectly okay on the outside, smiling and pretending to have a good time. Why the hell is he doing this? What does he mean with that?

"Good morning," Trey said, shaking their hands too, "John Philips the third."

"The third?" The woman asked, smiling.

He didn't smile.

"People just call me Trey."

"Oh, okay.”

"Nice to meet you, Trey," Elton said shaking his hand, then hers, "you make a wonderful couple."

Her stomach churned. This is exactly what she wanted to avoid. She didn't want to give him any more ideas.

"That's what I tell her," he joked, and embraced her, his hand going low on her waist, his little finger just barely grazing the upper part of the butt.

She pressed her lips and walked forward pretending to admire the baby, holding back her anger. She wasn't going to make a scene here.

"Send her the papers, Elton, you'll find how great it is to become part of our family."

The man looked at her and nodded, she did the same.

"Can't wait to start," she replied, pretending —very successfully— to know what was going on.

***

"He's going to help with our numbers. He's good at that."

"Dad, we don't need help," she whispered, red with anger.

"Darling, please. Just have fun. Enjoy the party. Last time I checked, you still work for me. So that's that."

He walked to her mother, who talked to Trey a bit too amicably. Since when did that ass became so close to her?

He turned to Julie.

"Do you need to talk?"

"About what?"

"You seem angry."

She took a deep breath. Yes, she might have preferred to go alone than with Trey, but it wasn't his fault. Her parents invited him, she shouldn't act like an ass to him just because she was angry at her parent's business decisions.

"Sorry, it's been a weird morning."

"Don't worry, babe," he said, combing his hair again.

Her insides twisted and turned.

"Babe?"

He looked at her and faked a laugh, "I'm kidding."

Yeah, right. He was testing the waters.

"Listen, Trey, let's get one thing out, right now. I know your father and my dad were friends, but that doesn't give you any right—"

"Hey, hey, hey," he said, his voice a bit more tense, grabbing her by the shoulder.

"This is a business meeting for me too, okay? Besides, you don't know how many girls would die for me to call them babe, so stop it with the hard-to-get bullshit. Calm down."

He was pushing her over the edge. She had to use all of her willpower to refrain from telling him to fuck off.

"You don't like me, that's okay. I'm going to get you, anyway. I always get what I want."

Her knuckles were white.

"You've got to be kidding me," Julie said.

He smiled.

"You don't have to like it. You know that's the best thing for your family. Together, we could build an empire."

So, that's what it is, he wants to use me as a stepping stone to become head of the family.

She smiled, Trey got a little surprised for that, then smiled too.

"Don't tell me you don't like what you see. We could—"

"Listen," she said quietly, still all smiles. No one could noticed they were arguing, "forget about that. We're not going to be together, ever."

"That's what everyone says, but sooner or later, they all crawl back to me."

He put his hand on her chin and she swiftly moved back.

"Now, lose the attitude, we could get along nicely if you wanted to. We still have an hour left in here."

She couldn't stand him. And of course, if she told her dad what he just said, he would just laugh and downplay it. They kept him in the organization because of his father, he had been instrumental in their rise to power. The Morgan’s killed him and there was no way Charles would not help his family.

"I'm going to get some snacks, do you want some?"

"Yes, please," she replied, "I'm starving."

He nodded and walked to the food table.

That lie would get him away from her, even if for a little bit.

She took her cell phone out of her pocket.

She had a text waiting for her. It was Remy. Her bad mood almost, almost, faded away. But the sight of Trey in the back of the room made the feat impossible.

"So, how's it going?" the text said.

"Hey there, OMG just get me out of here," she texted.

"On my way," he replied.

Her heart skipped a beat.

"Hey, no! It's just a figure of speech."

"Oh, that sucks I was gonna ask for your location and kidnap you."

She laughed. She made sure no one was watching.

"Don't tempt me."

"Just say the words."

"I can't leave."

"Are you sure? I'll bring you coffee."

"Mocha frappe, large?"

"Anything for you."

He was making it too hard to—

Trey, in the distance, flirting with a couple of girls. Maybe he thought she'd be jealous, and she actually didn't mind. But it was an insult to her parents.

She turned to see her mom looking at him, indignation in her eyes. She knew people would comment on his behavior.

"You know what, fuck it, come get me."

"LOL great."

"Here's my location."

"I'll be there in twenty."

"Please, save me!"

Her mom would understand, she was sure of that. She nodded at her, and she nodded back.

Julie stood up and went out the main door.

This would anger Trey, but he didn't deserve another minute of her time. Her dad, on the other hand, would get furious, probably. But she'd done what she had to do.

And now she was leaving.

***

"I feel like an asshole!" She said as she closed the door and Remy drove away from the hotel.

"Why?"

"I'm not like this, I promise, I was going to get a cab—"

"Honey," he said, his hand on her leg, "it's fine, I'm glad I came."

"Yeah, but you're busy and—"

"Don't worry about that. Seriously."

"Really? It'll never happen again."

"Here's your mocha."

"Oh God…"

"You don't like it?"

"You're too good, I thought you were joking!"

He shrugged, "you seemed stressed, I figured this would help."

It was delicious, "thank you, thank you, thank you."

She kissed him on the cheek and sighed.

"Where have you been my whole life?"

A shiver ran down her spine. She said it out loud. He didn't reply, just looked at her briefly, with a smile in his face.

"I mean—"

"I know, just a figure of speech."

She was so embarrassed. She couldn't say things like that. Not this early in the relationship, anyway.

"Do you want me to drop you off at work?"

She smiled, “sure, we can finish off our drinks there.”

It was a much better day than she thought it would be.