Chapter 1 – Erin
I don’t know why, but as I watched Mary leave, I knew that she had found far too much pleasure in telling me the news. I had always been warned to stay away from people like her, and now I knew why. She was the vicious sort, and it made me think that she had something for Drake. She wouldn’t have had so much venom if there wasn’t something extra.
After I called Bishop, I opened the contract and looked it over. I just wanted to see for myself that Drake had actually gone through with it. I don’t know why I actually needed to see it, but I figured that if I saw it in black and white, I would finally get it through my head. It had all been a game to him, and I had fallen for it. I had fallen for him, and I should have known better. It was silly of me to think that he actually wanted me for anything more than a little entertainment.
Seeing it was worse than hearing it from that vile woman who worked with Drake. Of course he had sold it, and I knew then that he had no intention of keeping it as it was. He was going ahead with his original plan. I’d been stupid to think that he would keep his part of the agreement. People like Drake may have inherited most of their wealth, but they also knew a lot about how to keep it. His ways and his family’s ways were not exactly moral.
I set the papers down and was thankful that it was almost time to leave. I knew that I was supposed to be worried about other things, but I wasn’t. I didn’t care that I was still going to lose my job and my place to live. I was just bummed out that he had lied to me. I felt used, and I knew then that whatever I had felt for him was based on a lie. He had gotten what he wanted, and now that the sale was final he wouldn’t have any use of me. It was all just a game, and I felt like the real loser.
The only good part about all of it was the fact that it was almost time to go for the day. It was Friday and I didn’t have to worry about coming to work the next day. The way I was feeling, with the sinking thoughts in my head, I wouldn’t have made it in anyways. Why was I killing myself for a sinking ship? I was ready to just call it quits right there, but I knew that I would feel better by Monday. I just needed to get away from it all, and living above my work wasn’t helping.
I called the only person I ever wanted to be around when I felt like this. Luckily enough, Rose was home. I didn’t know when she was leaving again for work, but I knew it would be soon. When she answered, I felt a rush of relief. I just needed to get away, and she was the one person who could make me feel better about it all.
When she told me to just come down, I packed a few things and made my way to the south side of the city. I tried to think of anything else but Drake. It was hard, though. I had spent every single day of the last couple of weeks with him, and the last few nights he had made love to me like no one else ever had before. My body wanted him badly, although my mind rejected the whole idea of it. I was never going to see him again, and if I did, I was sure that it would be too soon. I wasn’t going to be an idiot for him again. I knew that my heart couldn’t take another blow like that. It had barely managed to heal from the first time I realized that he had played me. Now that I knew for sure, and I had fallen for him, the reality of it was so much harsher.
Pulling up to Rose’s apartment, I turned off the car and sat there for several moments trying to regain my composure. I was sure that there were things going on that I didn’t understand, but I did know that he had lied, and that seemed to be the most important part of it all. I pushed the tears out of the corners of my eyes and tried to straighten myself up. I pinched my cheeks a little to make my eyes look less red. It didn’t help much, but I knew that Rose would see right through me anyways.
When I got upstairs to her apartment, I could smell some kind of foreign food being cooked. I knew that she had her boyfriend there, and while I was eager to meet the one who made Rose so happy, I wished for a few moments that it was just her up there and we could have the talk that I needed to have. I was in a situation that I had never been in before, and I truly did not know what to do.
I saw her and she just looked at me with her lips out. “Honey, come here.”
I don’t know how she knew this, but she knew that I was a wreck. It was one of those times that I needed her. After a while I got myself together and made sure that I was not crying anymore. It turned out that her boyfriend was gone, and she just kind of waved him off when he came in later. It was good to know that for the time being, I still had my friend.
“So do you want to talk about it, Erin?”
I told her that I did, but I didn’t really know how to start. How was I going to tell her that I had fallen in way over my head, my life was in tatters and all I could think about was the few nights that I had spent with Drake? It was all just too much, and I was the one living it. I knew that it wasn’t going to be any easier for her to take it all. So I just told her everything that was going on. It was a lot, and her eyes widened several times during my little tale. I didn’t know what else to tell her to make it all better. It was a mess, and I could really feel that now.
“Wow, Erin. Why didn’t you tell me about all of this?”
I kind of shrugged. Rose was always busy. There was really nothing that I could do but just give out a big sigh. “I just couldn’t. I didn’t even know what was going on, really. I knew that it wasn’t going to last long, but then in the end there I kind of thought there was something there. I guess there wasn’t, is all. It was all just to get into my pants. Now I still have no job and no place to live in a couple of weeks, so I am just hiding out for the weekend. You don’t mind, do you?”
“I don’t mind, but maybe it isn’t as bad as it seems. You should try to call him and see what is really going on. That Mary lady doesn’t sound like the nicest person. She could have just been jealous or something.”
I wanted to believe her, but I was almost certain that it wasn’t like that at all. I was sure that he had just used the museum to get what he wanted. I had fallen for it too, hook, line and sinker, but that was a little harder to admit than all of the rest. I had fallen so hard, so fast for a man who was just using me for amusement. That really was the worst of it, and the hardest part to get over.
***
Drake made it even harder, because he wouldn’t leave me alone. I don’t know what his problem was. I sent him one text congratulating him on the deal. I may have been a little snippy about everything, and the congratulation was not heartfelt, but at least I had said something to end it. It was a little bit of closure for me, but Drake took it as an invitation to keep contacting me. He wouldn’t stop calling and texting for a whole week. I finally just turned my phone off all together and got a new number. I got rid of everything that reminded me of Drake on my phone and tried to get on with it all.
Rose was about to go back down to South America for another magazine shoot, and while she had told me that I could stay there, I didn’t have long to get back home and start packing everything up. I had already dropped the ball at work in so many ways. I just didn’t care, and I was sick of being the only one who seemed to. Since Bishop couldn’t be bothered and Drake was just going demolish most of it, why was I supposed to care?
I tried to run off of that feeling as I made my way back home. I was finally getting some peace because Drake didn’t have a number to call, and I kept telling myself that I had all of the time in the world to chill out. As long as I didn’t see him, I was sure everything was going to be okay.