Mended-Hearts

by Gordon, M. E.

  “I’m moving back to New York,” he said out of the blue.

  Immediately I turned back to him almost choking on my drink. “You’re what?” I asked with my jaw practically on the table.

  “I’m moving back.”

  “You can’t do that. What about your work here? What about the club? It just opened. You can’t leave.”

  I knew what he was thinking. He thought that if he could get Gia alone, then maybe he could rekindle whatever little spark they might have had.

  “Someone needs to be at the other office. Shit’s falling apart up there, so I volunteered. Teddy is going to stay here and run the club and look after you--that, in itself, is a full time job, and one that I don’t want. We both decided that I should go. I was going long before Gia ever decided to leave. We just wanted to wait till after the club opening to tell you.”

  “I’m not that bad, Charles,” I grumbled, sitting back and crossing my arms.

  He chuckled. “Really, you’re like a toddler, let’s not pretend any differently.”

  “Well, when are you leaving?” I asked.

  “I’m heading out later this week. I’ll let you know before I go. I know how you can’t function without your cool brother around.” Tapping the top of my hand, he made a pouty face at me.

  “You’re so funny. It might be nice with just Teddy and me. We’re the perfect children.”

  He sat back, laughing. “Yeah, perfectly dull.”

  My phone was sitting on the table, and we both turned to it as it began ringing. It was Simon, again.

  “Why’s he calling you?” Charles asked, strangely nervous.

  “I don’t know. He’s been calling every day for the past two weeks. I just can’t talk to him yet.”

  Charles relaxed in his chair, and I’d swear I heard him sigh with relief.

  “Besides, if Spencer found out I was talking to him, he might strangle me.” I said it only in jest, but Charles was seeing red.

  “What do you mean by that?” he asked, sitting up in his seat getting serious.

  “Nothing, I was just being sarcastic. Come on, you’re telling me you wouldn’t be mad if your girlfriend was talking to their ex?” I asked.

  He relaxed back into his chair and nodded in agreement.

  “Excuse me, can I have a picture?”

  We both turned in unison to a girl in her late teens, holding her cell phone out in front of her. Charles gave her a disgusted look and then turned back to me. She was short and clearly nervous. Her face was round and spattered with freckles. She wasn’t ugly, but I’m sure like most people they only saw her figure. I knew exactly how she felt, as she covered her stomach with her bag. I smiled up at her and she relaxed with a warm smile.

  “Sure,” I said standing from the table. I adjusted my clothing and ran my hand through my hair.

  “Beth--are you kidding me?” Charles deadpanned.

  I stood next to the girl, a good head or more taller than her. “No, now stand up and smile.”

  Reluctantly, my brother got up from his chair and stood next to me. She held up her phone up, and we all smiled for the picture.

  “Thank you so much, Elizabeth, you’re such an inspiration.”

  I knew my cheeks were red. I could feel the heat coming off them. “Oh, I’m really not. But thank you,” I said, shaking the compliment off.

  The girl kept staring at me as if I was a grade-A celebrity. “You are, to a lot of people,” she said, before turning to leave.

  “Does this mean we’re going to have to have autographed signings now?” Charles asked from next to me.

  I hit him in the ribs before grabbing my bag. “You don’t have to be so nasty. She just wanted a picture.”

  “Yeah, well, you know how that works. One picture leads to more--look,” he said, pointing down the long corridor.

  “You know, I really hate it when you’re right.”

  There, coming down the corridor were at least fifteen grown-ass men with cameras.

  Chapter 12

  “Spencer, I can’t be late again,” I said, pathetically. He was lying on top of me, kissing up and down neck. “Spencer please, I’m already on probation for being late.”

  I had managed to get myself on probation the first three weeks of work, and it was all Spencer’s fault. The first time I was late, he wouldn’t let me get out of the car, the second time, he held me captive on the kitchen table. The third time, he told me he was taking me to lunch and we somehow ended up in a hotel room. Other than him making me late for work, things were great.

  Thirty minutes. I had thirty minutes to get my ass in gear if I wanted to make it in on time. I tried my best to wiggle free and push him off of me.

  “Spencer, I’m not playing around anymore. If you don’t get off me right now, I’m going to--to--Oh, God!” I yelled as I gripped the pillow to my left.

  As he came up from under the covers, I was greeted by his devilish smile. “What were you saying? I missed that last part,” he asked from hooded eyes.

  I hit his shoulders and managed to push him off of me. I jumped out of the bed, grabbed a loose cover, wrapped it around my body, and backed away from the bed. I made sure to walk backward so I could keep an eye on him.

  “I said, I have to get ready to leave. You know I can’t be late again.”

  “But I wasn’t finished.”

  His cocky grin made my knees buckle a little. Luckily, I was at the door to the bathroom. “You can finish all you want tonight, playboy.” I winked at him before stepping in the bathroom and locking the door behind me so I could get ready.

  Six minutes, I can do this! I was running up the stairs two at a time. I’d rushed through the back entrance of the library and was racing down the hall. I took the corner hard, almost falling on my ass as my dress shoes slipped on the slick tile floor. I ran right in to the locker room and threw my bag in my locker. Next, I ran to the time clock. Shit, standing at the time clock was Carmen, my supervisor.

  “Elizabeth, you just made it,” she said, looking up at the clock.

  “I’m so sorry.” I chewed on the inside of my cheek nervously.

  “I can’t keep turning a blind eye. There are hundreds of other people who wanted this position. If you’re not ready or uninterested, then we can always let you go and give it to someone else,” she threatened.

  “I know, Carmen, I’ll do better.”

  I moved to walk around her, but she stopped me by placing a hand on my shoulder. “Another thing, Elizabeth. The department and building managers are concerned about all the traffic that’s coming through. We’re a library, not a nightclub.”

  What did she want me to do about that? I couldn’t make those people go away. I’d tried, and it only made things worse. “Carmen, I can’t make those people leave,” I said, turning back to her.

  “We know that, but we can make you.”

  I stood there, boiling on the inside, as she patted my shoulder like a child. This was my dream, to be here working and learning everything that I could. It took all I had not to say something back to her but I held it in and kept my cool.

  “Well, get to work, don’t just stand there,” she said, shooing me off.

  I was at a loss for words. Well, that wasn’t technically true. I had a lot of words. I just didn’t want to get fired for saying them. I smiled the fakest smile I could before I turned and went off to paper-cut hell.

  Hunkering down at my desk, I started the task of entering data into the computer. I’d swear they had me doing all the brunt work. Then again, I guess that was what happened where you were at the bottom of the food chain and not on the payroll. Twelve-thirty finally hit and, to be honest, I thought lunch would never get here. I needed to get out of the building before I ran into Carmen and said something that I’d most likely regret.

  I grabbed my bag and snuck out the back. I wanted to call Spencer and tell him everything but that would only lead to more problems. When I had let him know all the issues that I was ha
ving with Carmen, he flipped out. He tried to convince me to let him talk to her, like that would do any good. I wanted to confide in him, but he would just take it one step too far. I just wanted him to listen and agree with me, but I knew that was never going to happen.

  I walked to a small café and got a sandwich. Sitting at one of the tables, I settled in and tried to enjoy my hour break.

  Looking up from my phone, I watched a man walk inside the café. I’d have known that frame anywhere. It was Simon. My heart sank in my chest. He stood in the middle of the café for a moment then turned right to me. Part of me wanted to get up and run, but the other wanted to stay and see what he had to say for himself.

  “Hey,” he said, walking up to my table.

  “Hi, Simon.”

  He looked around the café then back at me. “Can I join you?”

  “I--umm--oh--whatever, have a seat,” I said, gesturing to the seat across from me.

  Spencer was going to kill me if he found out, but I couldn’t keep on avoiding this. I had questions, and I wanted to close that chapter of my life.

  Sitting down, he leaned back in the booth and examined me. “How are you?” he asked, placing his hands in his lap.

  “I’m--I’m good.”

  Cocking his head, he gave me a skeptical look. “That’s good. I’m sorry for surprising you like this, but I needed to talk to you. I need to get some things off my chest.”

  I simply nodded. I needed to hear it all, from the beginning.

  “First thing I want to say is that I’m sorry--” He messed with the table, and his breathing was all uneven. “Okay--man, this is harder than I thought it was going to be,” he said, adjusting himself in the seat again.

  “Simon, just start at the beginning. I’d like to know everything.” Catching his eyes, I saw the fear in them. Maybe I said it a little too harshly.

  “Well, first off, my name’s not Simon, It’s Nick.”

  Holy hell, maybe I don’t need to hear all of this. It hit me then as he sat across from me that I had been in love with a complete stranger all along.

  “My name’s Nick Holsen. I’m twenty-seven, like I told you. I did grow up in California. My parents disowned me, and that’s how I got involved with Fame. I needed money, and they paid really well. Other than my job, everything I told you was true,” he said, leaning over the small table.

  “No, no it’s not. You lied to me. You’re name isn’t even Simon. You used me, for what? Money?” I asked. I was getting more and more upset with every word that came out of his mouth.

  “Elizabeth, it’s not like that.”

  “Yes, Nick, I think it is.” I should have gotten up or walked away, left him, and never looked back, but I held my ground, sat there, and tortured myself.

  “All right, fine. I was using you--in the beginning. That first night at Mood--yes, I blatantly used you to get to Spencer. I saw the way he was acting toward you, and I took advantage.”

  “Jesus, Sim--I mean, Nick. How many times have you done this to people. How can you live with yourself?”

  “Look, I’m not proud of my past. I had to do what I did to get by, but I never let my feelings get involved. That is until you came along. Elizabeth, you changed me. After that first day we spent at the café talking, I knew this was different, you were different. You didn’t make it easy for me at all, and I really liked that about you.

  “That first date, I told my boss that I didn’t want to do it, that it felt wrong. I should have walked away, then and there, but I didn’t. The more time I spent with you the deeper my feelings grew.

  “Soon my boss found out and used it against me. She was blackmailing me. If I didn’t get the info and pictures she desired, then she was going to tell you exactly who I was. I tried so many times to tell you, but I was sacred you’d leave, and I didn’t want to ruin what we had.”

  “What we had? What we had was fake! It wasn’t real,” I clarified for him.

  “Yes, it was real. Don’t sit there and tell me you felt nothing. The only thing that changed is my name and my job, everything else is the same.” He seemed desperate for me to understand, and to forgive him. He reached across the table and held my hand. “Elizabeth, please believe me. I might have been portrayed as the bad guy, but I’m not. I’m in love with you, the kind of love that doesn’t go away.”

  Taking my hand from his, I placed it safely on my own lap. That simple act of him touching my hand brought back a flood of memories.

  Sadly I knew how he felt. I still cared about him. I thought back to all the fun times we had, how easy going our lives had been that last month and the first. It was simple back then, now it wasn’t. He had a hand in changing my life. I never wanted to be like my brothers and be in the spotlight, but there I was, the talk of the town, the latest “it” girl. Just when I thought that they were going to leave me alone, something always happened, and I was being thrown right back into it.

  “Si--Nick, ugh, sorry it’s going to take a few to get that right,” I said snidely. I studied his face. Nick. I kind of saw it now. He did resemble a Nick more than Simon, the longer I stared at him. He was still well built, his shoulders broad. The long dark stubble on his face told me he was stressed and preoccupied. He’d always been so clean shaven before. It was a new look for him, and it suited him better, gave him a more rustic, harder look. The hair that I used to love running my fingers through was growing back. Although he kept it very short on the sides the top was longer and brushed back off his face.

  There was a different-named person sitting across from me, but every time he spoke and every time my eyes were drawn to his, he was the Simon that I fell in love with, the Simon that I kept coming back to. With almost a month between us, I still had a soft spot for him. I still sometimes wanted it all to be a dream. The back and forth between Spencer and Simon, the media, the fact that my life was upside down and from the outside didn’t resemble who I was at all. I wasn’t a socialite. I wasn’t a supermodel.

  But the fact was it did happen. Simon wasn’t Simon. Spencer did love me, and the media was everywhere, whether I liked it or not. I was done being mad and sorry for myself. The best way that I knew to start anew, was to become a person I could be proud of. I had to hold my head up, accept my fate, and forgive those who had hurt me.

  I glanced up at and saw Nick, not Simon. Simon was gone, but Nick was here on his behalf. “I accept your apology.”

  His eyes sparkled as he smiled across the table at me. “Thank you, Elizabeth, you have no clue what that means to me.”

  “You do understand that I’m with Spencer now, right?” I asked.

  “Elizabeth, I don’t think--”

  “Nick, I’m with Spencer,” I said as sternly as I could.

  “He’s not--you need to stay away from him.” The sternness in his voice reminded me of how Teddy talked to me when he was trying to keep me away from Spencer, or anything bad, for that matter.

  “Why?” I snapped back. I was so tired of people telling me who to be with and what to do. “If you want me to stay away from him so badly, please enlighten me.”

  “Why? I want you to stay away from him because I don’t want to see you get hurt!” Nick spat back.

  “Not good enough. You hurt me. Should I stay away from you too? Should I be screaming at the top of my lungs right now and running for a nunnery?”

  I was dead serious. I was a few choice words and actions away from giving up on everyone and running for a freaking hilltop nunnery. No boy trouble there, if I’m not allowed to sleep with any!

  “He almost beat a man to death!” Nick shot back in a whisper across the table.

  The words took a moment to sink in. Beat a man to death? I searched Nick’s face for any signs of joking, but there were none. I knew Spencer had a temper, I’d seen it firsthand, but his record was clean. Teddy couldn’t find anything on him.

  “This is really sad, Nick. I’m not going to sit here and listen to lies.”

  I stood from t
he table, grabbing my jacket that lay over the back of the booth. I slipped my arms through the sleeves and, as I was about to zip it up, Nick stood.

  His hand wrapped around my wrist, stopping me from zipping my jacked up all the way. I should have snatched it away, but, as always, his touch had a calming effect on me. His eyes urged me to sit back down and, as if by telekinetic powers, I slumped back down in the booth.

  “You know I’m not lying, that’s why you haven’t left.”

  “I don’t believe you,” I hissed back.

  “Would you believe me if I told you I saw him in his hometown, trying to frighten a poor girl into keeping her mouth shut?”

  “When?” I demanded. I wanted him to say the wrong date, but he didn’t.

  “Three weeks ago,” he said, knowing that I knew he wasn’t lying. “I’ve been trying to call you. I’ve been doing my damnedest to get you alone, and I swore to myself that when I did, I’d tell you everything, and that includes what I found out about Spencer.”

  “So he got into a fight, big deal,” I said, trying to brush it off.

  But as much as I tried to tell my head otherwise, my mind was racing back and forth, fighting with itself. I knew he went to his hometown to deal with something from his past, something that could hurt him, me, us. I just didn’t want to believe it.

  “I was sent there to--”

  I held my hand up. “Wait a fucking minute! You were sent there? You’re still working for Fame?” I was shocked. After all, the shit that had happened, he was still working for the enemy.

  “No--listen, I’m just trying to prove that Salvatore is a fake, abusive man who shouldn’t be trusted. You shouldn’t trust him!” Nick went on raving about how bad Spencer was, but all I heard was that he was still working for Fame.

  “Seems like I can’t trust anyone these days.” I stood from the table, disgusted by everything. “Goodbye, Nick.”

  I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. I stood on the side walk drinking in the warmth of the sun through the brisk cool air. Hearing the door behind me close, I turned to see Nick standing behind me, his hands by his side, his eyes begged for me to stay and not run.