by Nicola Jane
When he releases me, I stumble backwards, putting some distance between us, “I lost my self-control,” he smirks, “Forgive me.”
“You can’t do that again, I have a boyfriend. I love him.” Tag winces slightly but then nods his head once. “Sorry, it’s just I’ve been with him a while now. We have a place together.”
“But he hits you, he’s never home and I bet that right now, he’s fucking his secretary or whoever works for smarmy lawyers these days.”
I feel the tears rush to my eyes and I inwardly curse for the show of emotion, “Who said that, who said he hits me?” I demand.
“The finger bruises on your upper arms, the same type of bruises on your ankles. The fact you asked for techniques while we were sparring. You don’t love him Lucy but you’re afraid to leave him.”
“That’s bullshit,” I snap angrily, “You don’t even know me. You’ve spent a few hours around me and now you suddenly know me inside out,” I laugh sarcastically, “Please. You’re pissed off because I haven’t dived into your bed and begged you to fuck me. I’m not one of those cheap whores you go around with.”
“No?” he sneers, “Then why are you here when you have a boyfriend.”
I slam my mouth shut, his words hurt me and I take a few steps towards the elevator. “Goodbye Tag.”
“Lucy, look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.” He rushes towards me. “I don’t want you to leave like this.”
“This was a mistake,” I say. I press for the elevator and wait patiently while it makes its way up. The doors open and I’m surprised to see a petite girl standing there. She has black mascara streaks down her cheeks but apart from that, she’s beautiful. Her long dark hair falls in waves down her back and she looks trendy in a tight pair of jeans and a lace top that clings to her perfectly perky breasts. She pays no attention to me and throws herself at Tag who looks just as surprised as me.
“Ella,” he whispers, catching her tiny frame in his arms. She wraps her legs around his waist and buries her face into his neck. Until that moment I had no idea just how badly I wanted to do that same thing and jealousy courses through me as I watch the pair wrapped together. He gently rubs her back, “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t take it anymore Tag, I just needed to be in your arms, I’m sick of waiting.”
Tag’s eyes meet mine and I shake my head. He avoided all talk of a girlfriend and now I feel like a fool. “Lucy, I’ll get you a cab,” he offers. The girl glances back over her shoulder like she’s just realized I’m in the room.
“Who the fuck is Lucy?” she snaps.
“I’m a wedding planner,” I smile, “Are you his lucky lady?” Her face changes and she looks back to Tag with a wide smile on her face.
“Baby, you’re really serious about us?” she asks, failing to notice the late hour. Does she really believe that wedding planners work these kinds of hours, I wouldn’t be surprised, rich bitches think staff should work around them, I know because my mother is one.
Tag gives an awkward smile and she squeals before stuffing her tongue down his throat and grinding herself against him.
I step into the elevator, Tag opens his eyes, even though his girlfriend is still kissing him passionately, and gives me an apologetic stare. Whatever, I’m just glad I didn’t do anything with him. She could have walked in on us.
Once outside, I pull out my cell phone and call Tyra, I’m not ready to go home and sit alone. I need my girls. When she doesn’t answer I send her a text message asking where she is because I know that she’ll be in a night club somewhere. while I wait for her reply, I flag a black cab down. “Where to love?” he asks, his London accent thick.
“Head for Cargo,” I say, reading the text from Tyra.
Tag
I disentangle myself from Ella. She’s never turned up here before. “How did you get here, where’s your security?”
Ella rolls her eyes and she suddenly reminds me of a stroppy teenager. “Don’t you start, you sound just like my father.”
“For a good reason El, you know you can’t just leave the house on your own.” I pull out my cell. If I don’t tell Anton or Conner that she’s here then they’ll start getting suspicious.
“What are you doing?” she snaps, snatching my cell from my hand.
“I’m calling your brother, he’ll be going nuts not knowing where you are. How did you even get out of that place without being spotted?” Their house is more secure than a prison. “And why the hell did you come here; your father will stick a bullet in me.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. I wanted to see you. I’m so sick of sneaking around. I’m supposed to be sleeping at Katie's house,” she says. That makes more sense. “And I gave security the slip. Nobody knows I’m here. I got out the back and Katie won’t tell.”
“Ella that isn’t the point. We need to be careful.” We’ve never been alone like this before, I’m not sure how much control I have now that no one can interrupt us. She runs her hand along my chest and peeks up at me with those baby blue eyes.
“You finally have me alone and you’re worried about my brother and my father. We have a few hours together, let’s make the most of it.” Ella doesn’t mean sex, she means other stuff, like kissing, touching, stuff I did when I was a teenager. Not that I mind, I love her and I respect her decision to wait but with no one around, it’s going to be hard to control myself.
She stands up on her tip toes and kisses me gently on the mouth. Taking the kiss deeper, her hands run through my already messy hair. I close my eyes and see Lucy, her bright blue eyes piercing me. My eyes shoot open in surprise, Lucy is the last person I should be thinking about, even if her kiss was amazing. I remind myself that Lucy is part of the game, collateral damage for the thing I want more than anything. When Ella pulls away, I’m hard. She smirks and rubs her hand over the bulge in my pants. “Who was the girl?”
“I told you. She plans weddings,” I say, tucking her soft hair away from her eyes.
“I’m not stupid Tag, who the fuck was she.”
I sigh, Ella plays a good version of a dumb blond but she’s exactly like her father, you can’t get fuck all past her. “She’s part of my plan to get you.”
“Explain.”
“She came to an after-fight party. She was as cold as ice, a real bitch. The deal is, I get her to fall for me and in return your brother supports me when I talk to your father about us.”
Ella steps back from me, “And if you lose?”
“Then your brother gets my apartment.”
“But you love this place,” says Ella, looking around.
“I know but I love you more. Once its official that I’m head of my family I’ll be a step closer to earning your fathers respect. With Anton on our side, he’ll be more likely to let it happen.”
“How do you plan to make this ice queen fall for you then?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t figured that part out yet. I’m just gonna be my charming self.”
Ella laughs, “Start with flowers, maybe a meal at somewhere up town?”
“No, she’s not like that. Money won’t impress her.” Ella screws up her face like she doesn’t understand the concept of someone not being impressed by the cash. “She’s from money, it doesn’t impress her. I thought it would be easy and then I found that out. Plus, she’s got a boyfriend.”
“So,” Ella shrugs, “She can still fall for you while she has a boyfriend. Sneaky is your middle name. Invite them to your fight tomorrow night.”
“She won’t come. He’s a lawyer, always busy.”
“Then send VIP tickets to his office. If he’s rich then he’ll be used to being invited to events. You need to excite her, what better way to do that than invite them there and flirt with her under his nose?”
I think it over, it sounds like a plan and after tonight’s fuck up she won’t willingly come, inviting her boyfriend would be a great plan and I could blame it on marketing sending tickets out if she bothers to question it.
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“That could work. I’ve asked Cruise to find out more about her. Hopefully he will come up with this guy’s firm.” My cell buzzes. Ella still has a hold of it. She glances down and rolls her eyes, holding it out for me. I take it and accept the call. “Conner,” I say in greeting. Ella rubs her hand over my crotch and I scowl at her, trying to move away. She follows, smirking and then jumps onto my back and kisses along my neck. “Yes boss, she’s just turned up here. I was about to call Anton.”
Ella climbs around my body until she’s clinging to my front like a baby monkey. I wrap one arm around her and she snuggles into my neck. “Yeah I’ll drive her back now.” She pouts at me but if I’m honest, I’m pleased, I won’t have to worry about my self-control now.
I drive her home in silence. She hates this part of her life, she’d prefer to be freer. “You need to stop sulking like a kid,” I sigh, stopping at a red traffic light.
“Shut up Tag, you don’t know what it’s like.”
“Don’t tell me to shut up,” I snap, “We are trying to keep you safe.”
“I don’t need you to, I can look after myself.”
“Grow up El, walking around London alone puts you in danger. You know how many people would like to get at us?”
“I can’t wait to leave home and marry you. I need to be free,” she sighs. The light changes to green and I pull off.
“You think all this will stop when we get married?” I laugh and glance at her. “Baby, you won’t be going anywhere without me or security.”
“So I’m leaving one prison for another?” she huffs, “Fuck that.”
“Watch your mouth,” I hiss, “What the fucks gotten in to you? And what does that even mean, fuck that?”
“I might be your wife but I’ll be an independent woman, I’ll be doing what I want.”
“Yeah, with me or security watching over you.”
“What if I want to meet my friends for a drink?”
“Jesus Ella, you sound like a miserable nagging wife already. Let’s just take one day at a time, your father might not allow it anyway.”
“Will you have sex with that girl?” she asks. I wasn’t expecting the question and I falter, not answering straight away.
“No, of course not,” I lie.
“Bullshit.” It’s not like Ella thinks I’m saving myself for our wedding night. She knows I have sex with other women, we aren’t officially together and we’ve never really set up any rules, I just knew that I was gonna marry her one day and made that clear to her. Other than that, we’ve just been living separate lives apart from the odd sneaky kiss and fondle.
“What do you want me to say Ella, you’re acting weird all of a sudden, turning up at my apartment, asking questions. I’m not used to it.”
“Well get used to it if we’re getting married because once that’s done, you won’t be having sex with other women.” We reach her house and I press the key fob to open the security gates.
I stop the car and she practically dives from the vehicle and takes the steps two at a time to get away from me. My head is spinning and I follow at a slower pace trying to work out what tonight was all about.
Conner is standing at the bottom of the stairs yelling up at Ella when I step inside. She’s almost at the top step before he commands her to come back down to him. As she reaches the bottom, he backhands her and she falls into the wall, clutching her cheek. “You sneak out, you ignore your cell, you walk back into my house with the attitude of an ungrateful little cunt and then you walk away when I’m talking to you.” My hands curl into fists, I can’t step in, it’ll cost me my life but every cell in my body is screaming at me to help her. “Where did you go?”
“Just to see Tag. I was bored and wanted some air.” Conner hits her again and this time she cries out, tears rolling down her cheeks. “You’re a liar.”
“I’m not lying,” she protests, “I’m not.”
“Why would you go to see Tag?” He turns to me for an explanation and I open my mouth to tell him the truth, fuck the consequences, but Ella stands again, gripping the wall for support.
“It’s not his fault. I went to meet a man but he didn’t turn up and Tag’s place was near-by so I went there for a lift back to Nat’s.”
“A man?” repeats Conner, his attention back on his daughter. She begins to cry harder and I glare at her, why would she get herself into more trouble. “How have you met a man?”
“On Tinder,” she mutters and I wonder if Conner's head will explode when he growls aloud and makes a move towards her.
“Conner,” comes Alison’s voice. His wife enters with such grace that we all turn to her. “Stop.”
“Get her out of my sight Tag before I fucking kill her,” growls Conner, walking towards his wife.
I take Ella by the arm and pull her up the stairs towards her room. Once inside I slam the door, “Why the fuck did you say that?” I hiss.
“Because if you tell him about us he’ll ruin it and I can’t handle that.”
“But now he thinks you’re a whore,” I snap.
“Good, let him think that for a while. Plus, it might help when you offer to take me on.”
I wipe a thumb over her wet cheek and place a gentle kiss on her forehead. “I hate it when he acts like that,” I sigh.
“Then hurry up and get me away from here,” she says with a smile.
CHAPTER NINE
Lucy
I roll onto my back to find Noah looking down at me. He smiles and I stretch out, looking at the clock for the time. It’s ten in the morning and my head is pounding. Meeting the girls wasn’t the best idea now that I have a hangover from hell. “You stink like a bar,” says Noah, screwing his face up.
“You worked all night?” I ask and he shakes his head.
“Nah, I got home around five this morning but you were so out of it I left you to sleep.”
“Yeah I met with the girls, bad idea,” I mutter and he laughs.
“Well, to make up for last night, I got us tickets to go somewhere tonight.”
“Aw, you didn’t have to do that,” I smile. “But I’m excited to spend time with you. Where are we going?”
Noah kisses me on the cheek. “It’s a surprise. I have to go and run some errands. There’s money on the side, go get a new outfit, something sexy. We’ll be leaving here at six tonight.”
I wait until he’s gone before I go and take a shower. I have a million outfits and I really don’t want another so I decide to go into work for a few hours and catch up on emails.
Almost an hour later, I’m at my desk sketching a center piece idea when the shop door opens. Lucille breezes in, her arms full of shopping bags. She dumps them near my desk and flops down on the nearby chair. “Oh my god, I never thought I’d hate shopping but today, I’ve seriously had enough.”
I peek into one of the bags and spot a black lace bra, “Are you treating Wyatt?”
“No I am not!” she huffs, “I’m treating myself. Francesca is meeting us here. She’s bringing lunch.”
“Fran is up before mid-day on a Saturday, wow,” I joke. Francesca is the single one in our group and she’s always out partying. She works in promotion and some of her work takes her to some great night-clubs.
“Anyway, going back to Wyatt, we aren’t talking.”
“That’s not like you two.” Lucille and Wyatt never really argue. Lucille is very chilled and she tries to avoid confrontation. Not because she’s shy and quiet but because if you piss her off, she turns into a psycho.
“I have hardly seen him this week. He doesn’t give any real excuse, he says I’m nagging,” she scoffs, “Me, nag!”
“That doesn’t sound like you,” I say, “Is he stressed?”
“Stressed, the man doesn’t know the meaning of the word stressed.” The door opens again and Fran enters holding a large brown paper bag.
“Ladies,” she smiles. I stand and we kiss cheeks. I haven’t seen Fran for a few weeks. The smells from the paper bag
fill the office and my stomach grumbles. “What are we talking about?” she asks, opening the bag and setting out sandwiches.
“Lucille was just saying how she hasn’t seen Wyatt this week. He accused her of being a nag.” Fran raises her eyebrow. “I just asked her if he’s stressed but she doesn’t seem to think it’s that.”
“He has a lot of responsibility Lucille, don’t be so harsh,” says Fran.
“What do you know of his responsibilities?” huffs Lucille, “You can’t comment when you don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Lucille,” I admonish.
“What?” she shrieks, “It’s true.”
“You’re being a bitch,” I mutter, opening a grilled cheese sandwich. Lucille’s older than the rest of us, only by a few months, but she’s always taken on the role of big sister. She will often say whatever she’s thinking and expect us to be okay with it.
“I think he’s having an affair,” Lucille blurts out I stop mid chew and lock eyes with Fran, both of us too shocked to speak. I swallow what’s in my mouth.
“Lucille, I’m sure it’s nothing like that,” I reassure her.
“Oh please, he hasn’t come near me. He talks to me like shit and he’s never home.”
“Neither is Noah but I don’t think he’s having an affair,” I sigh.
“Well he probably is, with that whore that’s fucking his father,” she snaps and I gasp. She winces and then sighs, “Sorry, I didn’t mean that. I’m just upset.”