The car let me out in front of the building I had made home away from home. Rushing into the loft with tears welling in my eyes, I felt safe within its walls. I sank on Chris’s large comfortable sofa. In between a loud exhale, the door buzzer rang, “What now?” I lumbered to the door, my mind still focused on Brandon and my traitor friend Spencer. I opened it without looking, and before me stood a man in a white coat and a chef’s hat.
“Compliments of Mr. Charles.” Before I could say get away from here, he had his feet in the door. He wheeled in a cart and pulled out plates with fancy designs and sat it on the ornate dining table in the loft. The huge table appeared to never have been used because I can’t remember ever discussing dinner parties with Chris or being invited to one. Dinner parties just wasn’t her style. The table had been a present from her mother.
After the plates were placed on the table, and glasses and silverware were laid out I said, “I can’t eat all this food.” The chef turned around as if he didn’t speak English and headed for the open door.
“I can. I can eat that and more,” a familiar voice stated. The chef hurried along with his cart.
“When will you learn that you can’t buy your way in my life?”
“I told you before that I wanted to experience everything with you,” Brandon said standing in front of the closed door.
“Well, you have, now get out,” I said trying not to show excitement and delight at his sheer presence. Brandon appeared more handsome in the candlelight. The chef placed the candles on the table and lit them. He had turned off all the lights in the loft when he exited, and the lights from the skyline of Manhattan made Brandon’s sexy face more exotic.
His perfect suit which hugged his taut tanned body made me hungry for what was beneath.
“I’m not leaving until you let me explain,” Brandon said inching his way closer to the table and raising the steel covers to show me that lobsters lay underneath. The smell wafted through the apartment. Hungry, and because I acquired a taste for lobster, my mouth salivating was too mild a term. Drooling would best describe how my mouth looked. My eyes wavered to the lobster and up to Brandon. The gleam in my eyes told a simple story. I was back in Maine with him.
I smiled and my face revealed the wonderful loving experience we shared at his estate. “Why don’t we forget everything that happened tonight and enjoy this?” he said. After all, YOLO. You only live once is his mantra. A small smile wandered around his face, and then broke into a wide grin with a wink, and because I was hungry as well, I gave in, and let him seduce me with lobster.
When it comes to a price, they say everyone can be bought for a price. Some girls can be bought by money, some girls can be bought by love, but my price was a hot, sexy, handsome Brandon Charles holding a Maine lobster.
Chapter 12
After the meal, Brandon opened a bottle of Champaign delivered later with two wine flutes. He poured me a glass and then him one. “Are you going to talk to me Tyler? Or are you going to ignore me like you did during dinner?”
“Do you think that a lobster dinner and a bottle of wine will ease the pain I’m feeling?” I said staring into his eyes. He tried to divert his glance and realizing that he had some explaining, he raised his eyes to meet my gaze.
“Nothing that I could say will make our pain go away,” he added.
I was incensed by his reply. What did he mean our pain? “What are you referring to by our pain? What pain have you endured? I have been humiliated, and felt as if I didn’t mean anything to you and when I saw you, you didn’t acknowledged that you knew me.”
“This afternoon can be explained.” I sat with my hands crossed waiting for something. I would have settled for a lie or any lame excuse that he had tucked away.
He took a hard breath as if he was stalling for time. And sure enough as the time gods would have it, they smiled on Brandon.
Hearing a key in the door, we turned to see Chris and her boyfriend Patrick walk in hand and hand, laughing. “Oh, I didn’t realize you were staying over with company. No problem. We can go back to Patrick’s apartment.”
“But Chris, your loft has all this wonderful light. I’m starting on a new canvas tomorrow. I need to be here,” Patrick said kissing Chris’s cheek, and Chris acting like a school girl, grinning and nudging him.
Patrick’s apartment was one step from being a hovel. I wouldn’t stay there if I had another place to go.
Brandon stood and Chris introduced him to Patrick. Chris whispered and pulled me out on the terrace and left Patrick and Brandon to get acquainted.
“I’m sorry Tyler. I didn’t know you were going to be here and with Brandon,” she said to me.
“I know, but it’s a long story. I’m going to take the next train home,” I said.
“It’s late, we can make arrangements,” Chris said, “where did you find Brandon? I haven’t seen him since…”
I interrupted, “Since his wedding. I know. We better go inside and I’ll take a cab to Pen Station.”
We walked inside and Chris turned to Brandon, “I’ve tried talking to Tyler and she’s insisting on taking a cab to the train station. If you can’t convince her to stay here, at least drop her to the station.”
“I don’t want…”
“You have no wants…let’s go princess,” Brandon said to me. Before I could say a word, Brandon had me by the arm and out the door.
“But I forgot my purse and bag.” I ran back and rang the bell but Chris didn’t answer. “They’re on the terrace. You can’t hear a thing out there,” I said giving out a long sigh. “What am I going to do?”
“You’re going with me,” Brandon said.
“That was a rhetorical question Brandon. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He picked me up in his arms and I made a fist and punched his shoulders, “Put me down. I hate you.”
“You’re going to tell me you love me otherwise I will carry you to my car and take you home with me.”
“I’ll never tell you I love you.” He threw me over his shoulders like I was a side of beef with me screaming, and Brandon laughing. An elderly man entered the elevator and Brandon said, “We’re eloping.”
The old man smiled and said, “That must be a new way of doing things. Everything old is new again. It’s a much better way.” And Brandon shook his head in agreement. “I wish I was a young man again,” he said with a sigh.
I remained silent because I didn’t want to get Brandon in trouble. He didn’t need the cops and newspapers involved, and I didn’t need to give my dad anymore to worry about.
I remained quiet until we were outside. “Are you going to put me down?” I said glowering at him.
Spencer finally exited the car. “Are you all right,” he said half-heartedly.
“What do you care you traitor,” I said emphasizing each word.
“Tyler, get in the car. We can talk inside,” Brandon said in a commanding voice. I shot a killer glance at Spencer. My eyes narrowed and my brow furrowed. My expression said watch your back. But nonetheless I did as I was told.
Spencer started the limo and drove around for ten minutes with no words passing between us. I looked at Brandon in a huff. “Where are you taking me?”
“It’s too late for you to be walking around Pen Station.”
“You haven’t answered my question,” I stated.
He turned his body to me and said, “To my apartment.”
“I’m not going. And how many do you have?”
“In Manhattan or throughout the US or are you interested in seeing my apartment in Paris. I can make arrangements to have us flown there tonight.”
“In Manhattan,” I said out of breath from the anger building inside of me at his every word. Each time he spoke of an apartment, my mind thought of the women he must have slept with and where. I only got a chance to see the one in Manhattan and his family home in Maine. I hate him. I love him, I thought.
“What do you want with me?”
&n
bsp; “I want you,” he said with darkened eyes that frightened me.
“Well you can’t have me. That day is long gone.” I tried to sound convincing. He moved his hand and placed it on mine. Then he brought it to his mouth and placed a soft kiss on it.
“Give me another chance,” he said kneeling in front of me.
“I think you forgot one little thing. You’re married,” I said with coldness dripping with every word emphasizing married.
“You said you would be with me no matter what. You knew I was engaged and due to marry that Saturday when you stayed with me.”
“Now you’re blaming me for falling prey to your lies?” I queried.
“I’m saying I fell in love with you. I couldn’t help myself. You’re the first woman I wanted to wake up with in the morning and see your face. I wanted to take care of you, take away your problems. You were innocent and you didn’t know the world. I wanted to show it to you and give you an experience that you would never forget.”
“Well, you did give me an experience I will never forget. I never thought I would sleep with a married man. I never wanted that for myself and my parents never wanted that for me. So when tomorrow comes, I’m saying goodbye to you.”
“You don’t mean that,” he said moving closer to me and reaching for my hand. I clasped my hands together.
“We shall see.” The car stopped in front of the hotel.
“Here’s my key. Stay in the apartment. I won’t bother you. I have another one in the city.”
“Is that the apartment you share with your wife, or is it with the girl I saw you with earlier?”
“What do you care?” He said his face sad. “Spencer, see Tyler up to the penthouse, I’ll remain in the car.” I exited the limo expecting him to follow but he didn’t. I knew my words were harsh but I saw no other way.
My change of clothes and purse remained in Chris’s loft. I looked at Spencer and then I turned back and ran to the limo, “I have no clothes and underwear. I can’t wear the same clothes,” I said to Brandon. I didn’t want anything from him but I needed help and I wasn’t too proud to ask. “Can you send Spencer to get my suitcase from Christina?”
“I’ll see to your needs.” This was all Brandon said and he returned to his conversation on his smartphone.
Speaking to Spencer was the last thing I wanted to do. He kept chatting into the air as if he thought I had forgotten him. He placed the key into the lock, and I said, “Traitor.” And I shut the door in his face.
I paced around his bed wondering whether I would have to call Chris if Brandon didn’t come through with the things I needed. I planned to get up early and take a cab and bang on her door. There’s no way I would stay another night at his place.
I pulled my dress over my head and kicked my shoes off, then sitting on his bed swinging my legs I glanced around Brandon’s apartment. Beautiful couldn’t describe it. I wondered who had furnished it. Not a wife. It screamed bachelor pad. A large sturdy king bed, no frills. A leather headboard. Heavy dressers. I wandered into the restroom, looked in the cabinet. No women things. Only rows of tooth brushes and shaving stuff. I wondered if his wife knew he had this pad stashed away. Did she care? I know I would. It must be wonderful to have money and be a young man I thought as I slipped into the shower.
Turning on the shower, my thoughts endlessly on Brandon. I wished he were mine. I wished for so many things. I wished I didn’t stay in the shower as long as I did. Wrapping a towel around me, I fell across the bed on top of the satin covers and closed my eyes.
Chapter 13
The sun rose behind the tall buildings casting a light into my eyes blinding me for a second. I refused to open my eyes. I craved a strong cup of coffee to face the day. It was Sunday morning and I rolled on my left and right side. Then I stretched my arms over my head, I exhaled. It felt great. The smell of the room different from my bedroom in New Jersey. The air filled with the smell of roses with a flavor of coffee. Ah, there’s the scent I hoped for. My eyes still closed and my brain shut off, for a moment I didn’t realize that I was sleeping in another bed. It should have occurred to me that I wouldn’t smell coffee if I hadn’t fixed it. I placed my hand on the sheets feeling around, and then I knew I wasn’t in my bed, and I wasn’t lying lazily on the futon in Chris’s loft, where the sounds of car horns and fire engines force me out of a peaceful sleep.
A sudden breeze passed over the room and I felt a coolness and it was then I opened my eyes.
Across from the bed set a dark blue wingback chair with a pattern of blue birds and flowers. In that comfortable chair sat a young woman about thirty more or less. She sat peering down at me with her dark brown eyes. Her auburn hair with natural highlights were the products of an exclusive salon that specialized in making unnatural colors appear natural.
Wearing a beautiful cream pant suit probably of silk and wool, it appeared so expensive that she could sleep and eat and drop coffee on it and the coffee would roll off, and nothing could affect its beauty and texture. At the time I wasn’t into designers and I had no need for them because I couldn’t afford their ridiculous prices. She made a science of crossing her legs. Her legs were aligned in a perfect vertical slant, no doubt from some finishing school where she spent her summers learning the manners of a well-bred girl. However, her smile reminded me of King Joffrey, the mad young king on the television movie, The Game of Thrones.
When she saw that I acknowledged her presence with my eyes wide and expressing surprise, she said, “This is indeed a first.” Her expression remained the same. “I’ve never known Brandon to have a woman in his bed and not catch him lying there beside him,” she said with her thin nose pointed upward and her posture perfect.
My mouth fell open and I felt I had to say something. “I’m just a friend,” I managed to squeeze that sentence out without my voice shaking. If I had said more she would have gain some leverage over me because she hadn’t revealed herself.
“Sure you are,” she said with a turned up smile leaning forward with her fist to her chin. She didn’t act like a wife, so I thought that she was one of his girlfriends checking on him. If I had been his wife, I probably would have pounced on me and pulled every strand of hair from my head. But that was me and I was crazy about Brandon.
After all it was eight o’clock in the morning and she appeared to be calm. That’s why I couldn’t imagine that she would be his wife. I thought that a wife would be hysterical if she had found a woman in her husband’s bed. I straightened up and gain my composure, “Who are you?” I inquired wondering whether I would appear in the Sunday Post’s headlines: Girlfriend of the Notorious Bad Boy, Brandon Charles, Caught Naked in his Hotel bed. But if the newspapers wanted to get down and dirty, the headlines could read: Tyler Burns, the girlfriend of Bad Boy Womanizer, Brandon Charles, Naked and Bound by her wrists in his bed.
My job prospects would be trashed and I could never meet my father’s gaze without tears flowing like an open faucet from the shame.
“I’m his wife. And who are you?” She said forcing a smile.
“I don’t believe you. No wife would be as calm as you,” I said pulling up the towel that had disappeared under the covers sometime during the night.
“I’m calm because it excites me to catch a woman in Brandon’s bed. I know he’s never serious about them, and besides, I can blackmail him into giving me whatever I want to keep her name out of the papers.” She tilted her head in a satisfactory manner and a large smile broke showing perfect white teeth. This was a game. Looking at her wide mouth I thought—shark.
I didn’t want to play the sick game that this rich bitch had devised to keep their sex life interesting.
“I told you that I was only a friend and as you can well see Brandon is not with me.” Her eyes darkened and her brow furrowed.
“I can see that, but it will not prevent me from getting what I want from him. As you slept so soundly I took pictures of you lying there. All I have to do is Photoshop Brandon’s p
icture in the nude and there you have it. He’s lying in the bed next to you. Now if I were you, I would get out of here.” She stood and picked up her expensive red alligator bag, slung it over her shoulder and marched to the door.
Before she could reach for the handle, the door opened and Brandon stood in surprise with a suite bag and behind him a man dressed in a gray and gold hotel uniform carrying boxes of women’s shoes and a suitcase.
Brandon’s eyes small slits, his mouth turned downward. “What do you want Angela?” He passed in front of her and laid the items on the sofa and directed the man to place the rest in the closet. Brandon gave him a tip and he rushed from the room.
Angela walked in his direction and passed her hand across his face. “Why I came for my husband,” she said with a forced smile.
“This is not the time,” Brandon said brushing Angela’s hand away.
She opened one shoe box, examined the shoe and said, “Are these for me?” She met Brandon’s eyes. “If so, they are the wrong size.” And she dropped the shoe on the floor.
“Then what time is a good time to discuss this latest betrayal with my husband? Do I have to make an appointment?” she said looking at me with contempt. Her hands clinched tightly.
I listened and decided that I couldn’t take anymore. This was a marriage made in hell and I didn’t want to be in the middle of it. “If you give me a minute to get dress, I’ll be out of your way,” I said to Angela. “This is not my business.”
“Oh, but it is,” she said standing at the foot of the bed. “I find a little cunt in my bed…”
Brandon interrupted, “Don’t call Tyler that word, and this has never been your bed.”
I wrapped the towel around me tightly and stepped out. Brandon’s eyes followed me in a hungry sex-starved gaze. Angela’s eyes followed his eyes. “So this is the one you like. I thought it was the others. I was just wasting my time coming between you and them. Where did you hide her for five years?”
I closed the door and tried to listen. Brandon cursed and said, “I haven’t been hiding her anywhere. She’s just another girl I picked up.” I felt shitty. I didn’t want to hear that I was just another fuck for him.
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