“I’m not lying, Elizabeth. Ask him yourself. See what he tells you, then you can make your own judgment. It’s going to come to light. The world will know what he’s done. Do you want to be by his side when they do?” he threatened me.
I took an aggressive step toward him, getting up in his face. I was tired of being pushed around and taken advantage of.
“What would you have me do, Nick, run from his arms and into yours?”
“I didn’t say that. I know you like your privacy, and you’re never going to get it if you’re with him. Just remember that I warned you. I promised you that I’d be there for you when he fucks it all up. You need me, you find me,” he said, holding out a piece of paper between our bodies.
I looked down at it in disgust.
Click.
Click. Flashes of light went off at the corner of my eye. I turned to them, and that’s when Nick moved closer, whispering in my ear.
“Take it, don’t take it. I love you, Elizabeth, and I won’t stop. I’ll be there for you when you need me, because you will need me.”
His warm breath circled my ear, taking the cold February chill and turning it into a warm tropical heat around my face. I moved toward it and found myself face to face with him. The warm caring brown eyes I’d come to rely on were fixed on me.
“I’ll see you around,” he said softly before kissing my cheek and turning to leave.
Just like that, the cold February air chilled me to the bone as flashes of light went off in every direction. I came out of it and saw the swarm of people with cameras. I pushed past them, and jumped into a cab that had been waiting by the curb.
“Drive,” I lashed at the cabbie.
I must have taken him off guard. He put the car in drive and zoomed away from the curb. “Where am I going?” he asked.
“Salvatore’s,” I said through a clenched jaw.
Chapter 13
Nickolas
I had said my peace. I’d told her everything, and it was up to her whether she wanted to believe me or not. The moment my lips got to touch that soft skin upon her cheek, I wanted them to linger there. I wanted to move an inch over and feel her lips against mine. Instead, I walked away from her. I left her standing there, cameras and eager men only looking for their next big photo break. I handed it to them on silver platter. I should have just left her, but I would have always regretted it if I’d walked away and never, at the very least, kissed her cheek. I strode off down the sidewalk. Pulling my phone out, I made one final call. Comfortably sitting in the back of the car that had been waiting for me, I let the driver know to take me to the airport.
“Nickolas my love!” Natasha sing-songed from the other end.
“It’s done. You can do whatever you want with the information,” I said flatly.
“Oh dear, I guess it didn’t go as you planned did it?” Natasha asked.
“I expect to see my money in my account in the next hour.” I was done playing around, and I was definitely done being Natasha’s errand boy.
“I still think you’re a fool for leaving me.”
“Maybe I am, but at least I’ll be able to sleep at night. What about you, still having nightmares?”
Natasha had let it slip long before all the Salvatore/Beth stuff happened that she had a disturbing upbringing. I never asked, she never told me more than that. But I could tell when things got to her, when her past crept back into her present, and it seemed it all started with Salvatore. I had no clue what tied the two of them together, but I sure as hell knew you didn’t want to mess with Natasha.
“Don’t push your luck, Nickolas, I made you and I sure as hell can destroy you,” she threatened.
“Calm down, don’t get your panties in a twist.”
“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Natasha had a way of switching from bitch, to normal, to psycho in seconds. Another thing to add to the list of shit I wasn’t going to miss about working for Natasha.
“I’m not even going there with you. Do you want anything else, Natasha, my soul, my first born, a kidney maybe?”
“Your money is being transferred as we speak, so don’t worry your sweet little ass off. Where are you headed anyway, Nicky? Somewhere far away from our wicked, two-timing, little vixen I’m sure. Oh, maybe I shouldn’t say little. I still don’t get the draw to her. She’s plane Jane and what, a plus-sized-want-to-be model now? Oh, I’m sorry, she’s a boring librarian, right?”
I took a deep breath before I spoke. I wanted to tell Natasha to fuck off, but I didn’t trust her. I needed the money that was supposedly in route to my account. Without it, I wasn’t going to be able to get my gallery up and running as fast as I would have liked. Rent wasn’t cheap in New York, and that check was going to supply me with enough money to solely work on my craft for as long as I wanted to. I might not have been a billionaire bachelor like Salvatore, but I was set up to live comfortably from there on out.
“You’ll never know, Natasha, because you promised to stay away from her, remember? Did you ever think that people like her because she’s real and not fake, like most of the celebrities out there?”
“Oh you’re so funny, Nickolas,” she cackled from the other end. It sent shivers down my spine and a loud thump against my chest. “You honestly think I’m just going to walk away from the whole situation? Darling, she’s quite possibly the biggest news story out there, in more ways than one.”
“You promised!” I yelled into the phone. “You promised me you’d leave her out of it if I did you this one last thing to bring Salvatore down.”
“I lied,” she said, as if it was clear all along and I should have known from the beginning.
“Natasha, what is your deal with Salvatore? You’ve turned into an even nastier, heartless, bitch than usual. What the hell did he ever do to you?”
“Nicky baby, if I told you, I’d ruin the big finale, now wouldn’t I?” she said with an eerie tone to her voice.
She was officially off her meds. “Tell me what’s going on.” I waited but only heard silence on the other end. “Natasha! Tell me what you’re going to do!” I insisted again.
“Oh, I’m sorry. You don’t work for me anymore so it looks like you’re just going to have to wait, like the rest of the world.” There was silence followed by her cackling laugh. “Okay, fine, I’ll give you a bit of a sneak peek. You see, after I let it be known that he’s got quite a temper, and that his daddy covered a lot of things up, I plan on going after the one thing he cares the most about--you guessed it, your precious, plus-sized vixen. Which, by the way, I have you to thank for. I wouldn’t have even had the idea to go after her, if it weren’t for you--”
“You stay away from her, Natasha!”
“Sorry, I can’t. She’s just everywhere, like on my screen right now. Oh, and look, you’re on there too! Kissing her cheek? Oh, the jealous, violent boyfriend is going to love seeing that.”
She was wicked. There wasn’t a better word than wicked to describe her.
“I swear to god--”
“What, Nickolas? What are you going to do stop me? You can’t. You can’t do a damn thing, and you’d be smart to remember that,” she hissed.
“Don’t do this.”
“Too late.” I heard a click of keys coming from the computer I knew was in front of her. “It’s out in that glorious cyber world, and there ain’t a damn thing you can do about it. Goodbye, Nickolas, it really was a pleasure doing business with you.”
Click.”
“Natasha--Natasha!” I yelled into the phone.
It was dead on the other end and, if I knew Natasha, she’d already had the number changed. I had no way of getting in contact with her unless I went all the way to LA and stormed into her office, but I even had a feeling that she might have moved that too. I had one number to call her on and that was her home number. She didn’t know that I had it, and I didn’t want to give that one piece of information to her just yet. She was known for her secrecy. No one knew who ra
n Fame, and no one dared to betray Natasha. And that included me.
I didn’t like it but there was nothing I could do to stop her. I told Elizabeth everything that I knew, I warned her about Spencer, I came clean to everything and she still walked away and back to his side. Did I hope that he’d get upset about seeing a photo of her with me? Hell yes! But on the flip side to that, I was worried about Salvatore’s temper and Natasha’s unyielding need to make Salvatore pay for some act that I had no clue about.
Chapter 14
Elizabeth
I slammed the door to the cab after tossing some money in the front. I stormed into 21, knowing Spencer was there. I strode past the bar where one of the head bartenders was training someone.
“Hey, Beth,” Taylor called as I walked by.
I changed my course and headed for the bar, instead. Clutching the counter, I glanced around. “Salvatore here?” I asked.
“Yeah, he’s been up in the office all day. You want me to call him and tell him you’re here?” Taylor asked.
“Nope, but I will take a shot of whatever you’re making there,” I said, pointing to the many bottles on bar.
“Sure, no problem.”
He had the new guy test out his skills on me. The amount of alcohol that the new guy used made more than one shot, so I took all three of them.
“Thank you for the courage,” I said, before tipping my invisible hat and heading toward the stairs that would lead me to Spencer’s office.
The three drinks had warmed my insides and given me the added courage for what I was about to do next. I grabbed the handle of the door and threw it open. It crashed the wall behind it, the noise echoing throughout the office.
Spencer’s chair hit the back wall as he stood abruptly. “Jesus Christ, Elizabeth! What the hell’s going on?” he asked, placing his hands on his hips.
He was in a white button down shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A black and gray tie was loosed around his neck and the top button that should have rested perfectly against his Adams-apple was undone. His dark gray dress pants hugged his thick hips, and the black leather belt shimmered from the light bouncing off it.
I lingered in the door way a moment more, drinking in his good looks, because I had a feeling that after the chat that I was going to have with him, we weren’t going to be on the best of terms. I wanted to remember him just like this, sexy, a cocky smile, and all mine.
“Elizabeth,” he called again, taking me from a delicious fantasy that involved me bent over the desk, screaming his name in delight.
“You need to tell me everything that happened--now,” I demanded.
“What are you talking about? Tell you what?” he asked, standing there all sexy and oblivious.
“I just had a conversation with--” I stopped there, catching myself from saying Simon--Nick--whatever his name was that particular day. “You need to tell me what happened when you were in Vegas ‘taking care of things.’” I air quoted while stepping into the room. The door closed behind me with a bang. I waited and watched as his demeanor changed. The smile on his face fell and his body stiffened up.
“Who did you talk to?” he asked, fixing his sleeves.
“Doesn’t matter. What happened in Vegas, Spencer? What were you trying to cover up?” I demanded again.
“I told you--” He paused as the phone on his desk rang. He looked up at me from the phone. His sea blue eyes were clear but unreadable. “Hello,” he answered, never taking his eyes off of me. “I got it,” he said, glancing down at his computer screen for a split second. He hung up the phone then rubbed his temples with his fingertips. His eyes closed and he exhaled a sigh.
He then turned his lap top around, and there on the screen was an image of me and Nick, leaving the café. Nicks lips barely touched the corner of mine. I stared at the picture and, as I did, I felt the warmth of Nick’s lips on me, as if I was still standing in the cold, February air. The only problem was it wasn’t the warm breath of the deceiver Nick. It was embarrassment and nervousness that kept my cheek flush.
“You were with him,” Spencer roared, slamming his lap top closed so harshly it bounced on the table.
I jumped at the noise. “Don’t turn this around on me,” I shouted back.
It was official--our honeymoon period was over. Gone were the looks of desire and sweet-nothing talk. We were back to fighting, yelling, arguing.
He shoved his hands through his hair. “What did he tell you?”
“He told me to talk to you--so start talking, Salvatore.”
“You realize he’s a parasite. He’s using you like he’s been doing since the beginning.”
“And what are you doing? Are you using me? Don’t think I haven’t noticed the amount of attention we’re getting. It’s kind of hard not to. I’m sure it’s not hurting any of your businesses. Are you just stringing me along to keep up appearances? What would the public think if they knew you threatened someone to keep one of your hundreds of secrets? You sure as hell don’t tell me anything.” I threw my hands in air, all dramatically. “What, do you not trust me? Or am I right in thinking I’m just a publicity stunt? I mean let’s be totally honest here. Someone like you would never be caught dead with someone like me unless they benefitted financially from it.”
I was beyond pissed. I was ranting and raving about everything that had ever crossed my mind about why Spencer was interested in me. It would hurt like a bitch to know it was all a lie.
But I got over Nick, and I was sure I’d be able to get over Spencer, if that was the case.
“You don’t tell me anything!” I yelled in frustration. “We’ve been together for over a month now and I still don’t know anything new about you? Why are you keeping so many secrets from me?”
He just stood there, his hands shoved into his pockets. I wanted to run over to him and slap him. I wanted to shake him. I wanted him to tell me I was wrong, that I was over reacting, but he didn’t. He just stood there.
“I’m not going to let you use me,” I said quietly.
“I’m not using you, Elizabeth. I’ve never used you to benefit my businesses. My personal life, yes, I’ve used you. I used you to clear my head, to reward myself, even though I don’t deserve you.”
“Then tell me what happened in Vegas,” I begged, walking over to the desk he was standing behind.
He shook his head and clenched his jaw tightly. “I don’t want to tell you, because I don’t want to lose you,” he said, sitting back down in his chair.
“You’re going to lose me if you don’t start talking, Spencer. You promised me no secrets, no lies.”
“Fine!” he growled from the desk. “I’ll tell you about Vegas.”
I stood behind one of the large chairs in front of his desk waiting to hear the worst.
“I wasn’t patient then,” he began.
I rolled my eyes at that. He wasn’t patient now either--jumping to conclusions and freaking out over small stuff.
“I’ve learned to control things. I’ve learned how to handle my temper.”
Again I rolled my eyes.
“Elizabeth, stop rolling your eyes. I know that you and I have had our differences and our share of arguments, but it was only because I’ve worked every day at controlling myself.”
I immediately thought back to what Teddy use to say when he tried to get me away from Spencer. If he was worse in the past and learned to control his temper, I’d have hated to be the one on the other side of Spencer Salvatore in the past.
“When I was a teenager, I fell in love.” He began to walk around the desk as he continued to speak.
I’d never felt threatened by Spencer and that included this conversation. He could be intimidating, with his dark hair, sea-blue eyes, and large stature, but I was never afraid.
“I loved her with all my heart, and maybe that was my problem. I was young and thought the world revolved around her. You remember when I told you I gave my family a run for their money when I was younger?�
� he asked.
I thought back to our brief conversation about his past outside of my building, months and months ago. It was one of the few things I knew about Spencer, other than him telling me he was born in New York. Besides those two facts, all that I knew about him was also public knowledge. That wasn’t totally true. I mean I did know him. I knew how he liked his coffee and I knew what kind of music he liked to listen to while working out in the mornings and relaxing in the evenings. I knew the small stuff, like what kind of deodorant he used and what brand of toilet paper he preferred to wipe that fine ass of his with.
But I wanted more. I wanted to know what he was like as a child, where he came from, what made Spencer, Spencer.
I nodded for him to go on. “I’m listening.”
“I was a hot head, got into fights easily. My girlfriend wasn’t as in love with me as I was in love with her. I caught her in bed with someone else at a party for our high school graduation.”
It felt weird hearing him tell me about a past love. But I listened and felt the pain right along with him. I’d been cheated on, lead on, used. It wasn’t a good feeling back then and having been on the other side of it as an adult, it sucked even more.
“What did you do?” I asked, expecting to hear the worst.
“I pulled him off of her and almost killed him. I lost my temper with the girl I was in love with. I was betrayed, hurt, and angry. I shoved her and hurt her,” he said with a straight face.
I felt my mouth go slack. I’d expected him to beat the guy, but to hear that he almost beat him to within inches of his life, and that he hurt a girl--I didn’t know how to react.
“Nick, as he likes to be called now, is trying to sell the information to Fame. I went to Vegas to stop him,” Spencer said, leaning against this desk in front of me. He sat there as if it was common to cover such things up.
“So no one knows about this?” I asked. “What happened to the guy and the girl?”
Mended-Hearts Page 9