Society Girls: Kalila

by Crystal Perkins

“I am being civil, Donnie.”

  “Bitch.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “There’s no excuse for you, but you should be nicer by now.”

  “I’m going to leave you to your workout instead of having you thrown out, but stay away from me.”

  Before I know it, he’s grabbed my arm, and turned me to him. He tries to kiss me, but I punch him. As he reels back in shock and pain, his eyes grow cold.

  “I don’t know why it isn’t working as fast this time, but it will. We have some new pics to take, Kali.”

  “Did you drug me?” I ask, feeling a little out of it, but not so much that I don’t know what’s going on.

  “Maybe it’s better that you notice this time.”

  This time? What is he talking about? I want to ask him, but I sway a little.

  “You’ve drugged me before?”

  He laughs, and I cringe, knowing he has. I’m thankful I have a little of the new serum Kendrick and Audrey are testing in my system, but I also wish I had the standard one everyone else has; that one would completely stop whatever he’s given me, while this experimental one is still allowing me to feel some effects of the drug.

  “We had so much fun with you, Kali, and you don’t remember any of it. Theo can show you the pictures I took for my sister.”

  “Meg had you do this to me?” I ask, already knowing it’s true.

  “Theo is hers.”

  “I think that’s up to Theo to decide.”

  I didn’t see Nate enter the room, but I’m so thankful he’s here. I think I could’ve still fought Donnie off, but my mind’s too foggy to know for sure.

  “We’re just working out here,” Donnie tells him as he advances on him.

  “There are cameras and microphones in here, Asshat, and I happened to have been monitoring them. You drugged her at your sister’s request, and now I’m going to hurt you a little before I take you upstairs. I can’t promise the women up there won’t end you, so start praying.”

  Theo

  I’m doing my best to keep calm as Reina and Audrey basically call Meg a liar. I know they’ve found no evidence of a threat, but this is too much.

  “We’ve wasted valuable resources on you, and you don’t seem to have any remorse over it,” Reina tells her in an icy voice.

  “Come on, Rei.”

  “You are only here, Theo, because you’re our friend as well as hers, but if you can’t be objective, you’ll need to leave.”

  “You’re talking to him about being objective? Everyone here is all about Kali.”

  “If you’re going to even suggest again that we haven’t given your situation what we would anyone else asking for help, I will throw you out of the building myself,” Audrey tells her.

  “She’s not. We both appreciate everything you’ve done.”

  “Nothing is what they’ve done.”

  “Meg, stop.”

  Before she can say anything else, the door to the conference room slams open, and Donnie’s flying through the air. He lands on the table, bloody and battered, with Nate not far behind. Jade’s holding up a dazed looking Kali, and I have to stop myself from rushing over to her.

  “Donnie! What have you done to my brother?”

  Nate ignores Meg, and turns to me. “This piece of shit drugged Kali. I was watching the room, since you gave him access to my space without asking me, and I saw and heard what was going on. He said it’s not the first time, and he needed more pictures for his sister. Pictures, Theo.”

  My heart starts to race as I get his meaning. “Why?”

  “He said you belong to Meg,” Kali whispers.

  “No. There’s some mistake,” I say, still hoping there is.

  “Stop trying to turn him against me, Kali. I can’t believe you haven’t learned that no matter what, he’s always on my side. I’m always first. I could hold a gun to your head, and he’d still pick me over you. I win.”

  “You can only win if there’s a competition, and in regards to Theo, there isn’t. I’ve already determined that I deserve a man who will put me first, and who will trust me. He isn’t that man, so you’ve won nothing.”

  I look between them, and see them both for the first time. I see the woman I’ve always loved, and who’s always loved me back, no matter what. And I see the woman who’s always demanded me to be the boy I once was, and who has only supported me when it helped her, or when I did what she wanted. I’ve been so damn blind, and it’s cost me everything.

  I turn to Meg, and ask her what I need to know. “My homecoming. Kali said she wasn’t on the list at the gate.”

  “You didn’t need her.”

  “She was all I needed. You kept her off that list, you showed me those pictures, and then you pretended to comfort me.”

  “What pictures?” Kali asks. “I keep hearing about pictures, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.

  Meg laughs, and I lose it. My gun is in my hand, and pointing at her head, before I even register it happening. “I hate you. Because of you, I’ve lost the woman I love. Again.”

  “You did that yourself,” Kali says, walking out the door.

  I know she’s right, but I also know Meg shares the blame. “Please wipe her mind, Reina. I don’t want her to remember me. Keep all her memories, except for the ones of me.”

  “What about him?” Nate asks.

  “He’s going to live, but he’s going to be hurting before I’m done with him. Then, wipe him too. Please.”

  “Of course,” Reina tells me.

  “Theo, what is this place?”

  “A place you should’ve never come to,” I tell Meg, holstering my gun, and walking out the door.

  Nate will bring Donnie to me, but I’ve got to find Kali first. I need her to forgive me, even though I don’t know if I can forgive myself. What I’ve done to her, what I’ve believed…I dishonored her, and her love. Somehow, I’ll make it right.

  Chapter 7

  Kali

  “Wait,” I hear Theo yelling from behind me. I don’t want to talk to him, but I’m going to have to sometime, so I might as well get it over with. I turn, and glare at him as he catches up.

  “Show me the pictures,” I tell him when he stops in front of me.

  “I…they…you don’t want to see them.”

  “But I do.”

  He looks like he wants to argue some more, but he takes out his phone instead. Thumbing through a few screens, he stops, takes a deep breath, and hands it over to me.

  I can’t believe what I’m seeing, although after today, I know it’s real. I’m looking flirty and happy as I kiss Donnie and his friends. There are pictures of them with their hands on me, but thankfully none of my hands on them, or of anything being taken further. I still feel violated, and disgusted as I throw Theo’s phone back at him.

  “You thought I would do that to you? To us?”

  “What was I supposed to think?”

  “That I loved you, that I was marrying you, that I gave myself to you. All of that. Any of that.”

  “You weren’t there when I got back, and then there were these pictures. I was hurt, Kal.”

  “So, you just slept with Meg?” And then something dawns on me. “These damn pictures are why you made that comment in my apartment, aren’t they? You thought I was sleeping around on you.”

  “I didn’t want to believe it.”

  “But your precious Meg said it was true, and she was always first.”

  “Yes. I hate it, and I wish I could go back and change things, because I see it all clearly now, but I can’t. I can only change the way things are now.”

  “There’s nothing now.”

  “Please don’t say that.”

  “I already told you it was over.”

  “But now this happened.”

  “Which changes nothing for me. No, scratch that. What happened makes me realize just how right I was in my decision. I was going to fucking marry you, Theo, and you believed I was unfaithful. Me.
The little nerd, who practically worshipped the ground you walked on. You thought I would cheat on you!”

  My voice is raised, and I know I look crazed right now, but I don’t care. We can both blame Meg, but this is about Theo. He didn’t trust me, and he didn’t love me enough to fight for us.

  “I’m sorry, Kal. So sorry.”

  “That apology is for you alone, because I am beyond being able to just accept it, and move on. I can’t. I won’t. I deserve someone who loves me enough to know I’m an honorable person.”

  “I believe it. I promise.”

  “You’ve promised me a lot of things over the years, and you’ve kept none of them.”

  “I love you. I promised you that, and I kept that promise.”

  “No. You said the words, and bought the ring, but that promise was shattered along with my heart when you left me. Nothing you can say or do will change what you did.”

  “I want a life with you; the life that was stolen from us.”

  “No.”

  “Kali, please.”

  “I said no.”

  “I don’t accept that.”

  “Consent is non-negotiable.”

  Sean Phillips is there behind me, and his presence right now isn’t unwelcome. I need to get away from Theo. “Hi Sean.”

  “This is a private conversation,” Theo growls.

  Surprisingly, Sean doesn’t back down. With his short blond hair, slight build, and glasses, he looks like someone who’d be scared of Theo, but he’s not. “I don’t like to see women being bothered by overbearing men.”

  “Mind your business.”

  “I’d like to make Kali my business,” he replies, and my mouth drops open.

  “I’m not in the market for a relationship right now.”

  “How about a friend? Everyone needs friends, right?”

  “She has plenty of friends.”

  I look at Theo, and swallow hard before speaking. This will be my first step in moving on. “You can never have enough, though.”

  Sean holds out his hand, and I place mine in it, letting him lead me away. I don’t look back, because this is really the end, and I’m not brave enough to face it right now. I’m shaken, and sad, and holding someone else’s hand is just what I need.

  Theo

  “She walked off with Sean fucking Phillips! I mean, seriously? The guy’s a tool.”

  “So are you,” Aiden says, not mincing words, as usual.

  “At least I’m admitting it.”

  “Now, but you didn’t over the many years you were hurting Kali. Hell, you didn’t even admit it when Meg got here, and we all tried to tell you how bad it was,” Matt adds.

  “I was stupid, okay? Stupid and naïve, and just…stupid.”

  Nate is the one who responds this time. “You’ll get no arguments from us, but feel free to get it all out. I mean, whatever’s left after you went and beat the shit out of Donnie.”

  I won’t apologize for what I did, and I’d do it again; I just wish I’d done it earlier. The guys—and Kali—are right, though. I can’t pass off the blame for everything to Meg and Donnie. I chose to believe their lies, and I let my past with them dictate how I behaved.

  “I thought I could juggle everyone, that I could keep everyone happy. I loved Meg and Donnie like family, and Kali, God, I love her like she’s the only thing keeping me breathing. I didn’t want to have to choose, but I’m seeing now that Kali was right—by not choosing her, I was choosing against her.”

  “What are you going to do now that you’ve removed your head from your ass?” Aiden asks me.

  “I don’t know. A part of me wants to go all out, and give her every big gesture I can think of, but the other part is saying I should leave her alone for now. I see how much I’ve hurt her, and I’m afraid if I push her, she’s going to shut me down for good.”

  “I say you need to give her space,” Matt says.

  “I agree,” Nate adds.

  “I want to tell you to go big, but I think she needs space, too,” Aiden tells me.

  “Time, it is.”

  I’m set on this, feeling it’s the right thing, and then I see them. Kali and Sean are in the lobby, and they’re hugging. It could be a friendly hug, but all I know is he has his hands on her, and all I want to do is kill him. He catches my eye over her shoulder and smirks. The little motherfucker smirks at me, like his life’s not in danger.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kali,” he says, still smirking.

  “Yes, and thanks for just hanging out with me.”

  “Anytime.”

  He walks out the door, and I stay rooted to the spot. I can’t let my inner caveman out, because I did this. Even before today, she told me we were over, and I know I’m not going to change her mind by what I say. I have to do things to let her know I’m there for her, even if it’s while she’s with the douchenozzle who just left. She deserves everything, and while I don’t believe he can give it to her, I have to let her find that out for herself.

  She turns, and sees me, and I see how red her eyes are. “Theo.”

  “Hi.”

  “How long have you been standing there?”

  “A few minutes.”

  “You were just watching me?” she asks, hugging her arms to her chest.

  She’s acting like I’m the big, bad wolf she has to be protected from, and I hate it. “I was leaving, and I saw you…with him, and I had to watch.”

  Her eyes widen, because she didn’t expect me to admit it. I didn’t expect it, either, but there it is. I won’t push her, but I won’t lie, either.

  “I can hug whoever I want.”

  “I know.”

  “You can’t threaten him.”

  “I know.”

  “I mean it.”

  “I want you to be happy, Kal. If he makes you happy, I’ll leave him alone.”

  “And me.”

  “I’ll always be here if you need me, but yeah, I’ll stay away if that’s what you want.”

  “That’s what I want, so thank you for understanding.”

  I want so badly to pull her into my arms, and hold her. Or even just hug her like Phillips did. I want it, but I can’t have it. She turns her back on me, and walks out, without another word.

  “That went well,” Matt says from behind me.

  I flip him off before turning around. Reina is with him, looking at me with pity in her eyes. “Don’t feel sorry for me, Rei. I did this to myself, but I promise you I’m going to fix it.”

  She rubs her very pregnant belly, and her gaze goes from pitying to resolved. “I wish you luck, Theo. I’ll help you to a certain extent, but as I’ve told you before, Kali has to be my priority.”

  “Yes, she does. Take care of her, Rei.”

  “You know I will.”

  Yeah, I do. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, but I know Reina will make sure Kali’s okay. Once, that was a job I was more than happy to have, but I lost that privilege. For now. I won’t allow myself to believe things are beyond repair, even though I know I broke her. I’m a smart guy, a SEAL—a Studkateer, even—and I’m going to figure out a way to put her back together. It’s the least I can do.

  Chapter 8

  Kali

  I’m looking forward to the fashion show meeting today, because I need something to take my mind off everything that’s happened. It’s only been two days, and I don’t feel like any of it is real. I’m still freaked out by those pictures, even though Jade assured me nothing more than kissing and groping happened. It’s still a violation, and I hate it. I want to hate Theo, too, but I can’t and that’s my other problem.

  He’s everywhere. When I walk in the caf, he’s there. When I went for a swim in the indoor pool last night, he was there. He’s just there when I turn around, like he’s watching over me, even though he shouldn’t be. He hasn’t spoken to me, and he leaves when he sees me, but it doesn’t matter, because I see him.

  I see him looking oh-so-sexy in his tailored work sui
t, and even sexier when he’s half naked with water running over his perfect pecs and abs. And yeah, I’ve checked out his ass as he walks away, because I’m a hot-blooded female, and he’s just beautiful. God, is he beautiful.

  “Kalila, there you are,” Vanessa Phillips, says when I walk in. I know I’m not late, so I’m not sure what she means.

  “Hello.”

  “I saved you a seat next to me.”

  I frantically search the table for Melinda, but the seats on both sides of her are already taken. “Thank you.”

  “Sean told me you had coffee together yesterday at work.”

  Kill me now. “Yes, we did.”

  “My son is a very handsome man.”

  “He is.”

  “Any woman would be lucky to date him.”

  “I’m sure they would.”

  “He seems to be smitten with you.”

  Is she just going to keep making these statements, or is there a question in there somewhere? I want to ask, but I don’t want to make her angry, since I have to work with her, so I just nod. The meeting starts, so I’m thankfully spared any more of this awkward conversation for the moment.

  We choose a theme, colors, and styles during this meeting. I’m surprised when they listen to my input, and vote to include a section inspired by all the geeky things I love. There will be superheroes, video games, stylish lab coats, and star things—both Wars, and Trek. I get to be in charge of all of it, and I can’t wait to get started.

  “I was hoping we’d be on the same committee,” Vanessa tells me, with a slight sneer on her face.

  “Sorry, but I love what I’m doing.”

  “It’s ridiculous.” Did I mention the vote wasn’t unanimous?

  “It’s current, and we need something new to bring in more attendees and donors,” Melinda tells her, coming to my defense.

  I shoot her a grateful smile, which seems to only make Vanessa even angrier. “You are going to make us a laughingstock.”

  “Is everything okay over here?” Sean asks, coming out of nowhere to join our group.

  “Your friend and I are just having a difference of opinion.”

  “As it was already voted on, there should be nothing more to discuss,” Melinda tells her.