My heart catches, her eyes are rimmed in red. She’s crying.
Unless it’s the pool water.
I watch her for a moment. She’s definitely crying. The air in my lungs vanishes and a massive weight crushes against my heart.
Pulling out of her, I cradle her in my arms and in a gentle voice ask, “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Elsie slides her arms around my neck and buries her head in my chest, weeping. I’m paralyzed. All I can do is cup her head.
After what seems like an eternity, she wipes her eyes and says, “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m crying. It was just so intense, I don’t know what came over me. I am not usually much of a crier.”
My shoulders relax at her words. For a minute I thought I done something to hurt her, but it seems like it’s the opposite. I can’t say I’ve ever made a woman cry during sex before but in this case I’m kind of glad I did. It proves I’m having the same effect on her that she’s having on me.
I’m not about to cry but she certainly rocked me to my core.
I smooth my hand down the back of her head, pulling it back to see her eyes. I drag my thumb across them, drying her tears.
The corners of her mouth start to curve up in a smile, but her eyes widen and her mouth falls open. “Drone,” she says, her eyes fixed above my head.
I grit my teeth and look up. A drone is hovering above us. Fire pumps through my veins as I rush to the edge of the pool and hop out. I grab one of the towels and cover myself with it and scream, “Fuck you,” at the drone.
It flies higher, moving over the top of the house and I run through the back door and out the front door as fast as I can. I’m vaguely aware of Elsie following me. I hope she’s covered herself. Though God knows what it’s already seen and filmed.
I carry on running down the tree-lined driveway, my bare feet slapping against the rough surface. Sharp pebbles dig into my soles, but I ignore the pain. All I care about is finding the owner of that goddamn drone.
It swoops alongside the trees, still filming me. I swear to God I’m going to find the guy and tear him a new asshole.
I reach the end of the driveway and twist my head left and right, searching for any sign of which way to go.
“Xander, left!” Elsie shouts, “There’s a black SUV. I can see its roof.”
Without hesitating, I run left at full speed. A few hundred yards down the road, the SUV is parked awkwardly behind a rhododendron. Seeing it urges my legs faster, and I’m closing in on it fast.
The drone drops down onto the hood of the SUV and a man steps out of the vehicle and picks it up. He’s heavy and wears baggy gray shorts and an oversized T-shirt.
“Motherfucker,” I yell as I near him.
He moves to pick up the drone, but I lunge, knocking it from his hands and onto the ground. I pause for a moment, considering whether to pick up the drone or go for the guy. I choose the drone.
The man jumps back into the driver’s seat and I swing the drone against his door, denting the car and sending a piece of the drone pinging into the branches of the bush.
Elsie reaches me, a towel draped around herself and shoes to protect her feet from the gravel and breathing heavy. I take another swing and the driver’s window shatters into a million little pieces of safety glass. I fling the drone on the ground and grab the guy by the collar of his shirt.
“Stop,” the man says in a high-pitched plea, pulling at my hands.
“I got the phone out of the remote control,” Elsie says, holding it triumphantly over her head.
“Smash it to pieces,” I say, snarling at the man.
Elsie takes off one of her pumps, sets the phone on the hood and bashes in the screen with her heel. I momentarily loosen my grip on the man’s collar as I watch her in admiration.
“You people are psychos, you’re just as bad as they say,” the man says and starts his engine.
I tighten my grip again, almost lifting his hefty weight from the seat in the process.
“We aren’t the psychos. You’re the one invading our privacy for the sake of a buck. What kind of dickhead are you?” I fling my arms forward, slamming his head against the seat’s headrest.
He guns the engine and the car lurches forward, I fling myself back and grab Elsie, pulling us both away from the SUV. He stops a few dozen yards away, hangs his head out the window and says, “By the way, the footage goes straight to my laptop, so it doesn’t matter that you idiots destroyed my drone and phone, I still have everything.”
The wheels squeal and he drives off.
“My heart is pounding,” Elsie says.
“So is mine. We have to get the hell out of here now, because he’ll be back with another drone or else will bring his friends or whatever. In any case, our little sanctuary is ruined,” I say and take her hand in mine.
She slips her shoe back on and we half jog back to the house.
“This sucks. I wish we could just stay here and lock all the doors,” she says.
“Me too but I think it’s better if we get out of here. Otherwise who knows how long we would be trapped inside by a mob of paparazzi.”
We enter the house and I grab my suitcase, ready to fling it in the car. We both pick our shirts up off the floor but neither of us bothers to button them. Elsie steps into her work skirt and does it up while I pull on my jeans. I can’t be bothered to get my boxers from the kitchen.
I turn back to the door and say, “Get in the passenger seat.”
“We can’t leave the house like this, it’s a mess,” Elsie says, scrunching up her mouth.
“Tell you what, I’ll run and lock the back door and grab your thong for you.”
“That’s not exactly what I meant.”
“We did the dishes. We haven’t left any other mess.”
Elsie quirks an eyebrow at me and says, “What about the sofa area?”
I laugh and say, “Don’t worry, it’ll dry before the Shaftesburys get home from their cruise.” Before I can finish my sentence, she runs off into the house. “I’m getting the used condom from the living room. Please get the one from the pool.”
The drone incident happened so quickly that I don’t even know what happened to that used condom. Most likely it’s sitting at the bottom of the pool. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it.”
I sprint to the back of the house and lock the back door. As I pass the kitchen, I realize I’d put a strip of condoms on the island and detour inside the room to get them.
Elsie is waiting for me at the front door and I say, “Now get in the passenger seat, I’m driving.”
Driving slowly might not have been important getting here but now that one paparazzi knows where we are, he’ll tell all his buddies and we need to get out of here fast.
Chapter 25
Elsie
What the hell just happened? My entire body is shaking as the adrenaline courses through me.
“That was great when you smashed his phone in,” Xander says and throws his suitcase in the trunk.
“It didn’t do much good since he said he has the video on his computer already,” I say and sigh. Although it did feel damn good.
“Doesn’t matter, that was good teamwork,” Xander says with his megawatt smile.
“I guess it was.” His smile is almost enough to calm my nerves. Almost. But he’s right, we worked together as a perfect team.
I slam the passenger door shut and frantically do up the buttons of my shirt, but my hands are still trembling and I struggle to get the buttons through the holes. I don’t know what happened to my bra. It must be in the house but I’m not sure where.
Xander starts the car and peels down the driveway. I abandon the remaining buttons to do up my seatbelt and hold on to the door handle.
“Where are we going to go?” I ask. I keep trying to block the drone from my mind. I thought the photograph was bad enough but the idea of a sex video starring me being shown to the world is too overwhelming to contemplate.
“
Somewhere they won’t find us. Which means nowhere Luna knows. What about your family?” Xander turns left out of the driveway and retraces our earlier route.
“My family? You really want to meet my family right now? Why, hello, Mom, this is Xander, you may recognize him from the sex tape of your daughter that’s circulating on the internet.”
Xander chuckles and says, “Fair enough. What about one of your friends?”
“There’s always Isabel, she only has a small apartment, but she lives for this sort of thing.”
I could ask her for anything and she’d say yes, and I love her for it. Rummaging through my purse, I pull out my phone and text Isabel.
Hey, Xander and I need a place to hide out for a few days. On our way to your place, see you in a couple of hours.
My little car flies around a corner, sending my body against the door. “Easy,” I say.
“This car is actually fun to drive, like I’m driving on the edge whereas my Aston Martin rides along effortlessly.”
“It’s good you can have fun at a time like this.”
“Gotta take every chance you can to enjoy yourself,” Xander says and pats the wheel.
Don’t I know it.
My phone beeps. Isabel has texted back.
Of course, babe, anything I can do for my famous sex goddess friend.
My heart sinks, famous? Sex goddess? I flick into my phone’s browser and Google “Xander Whitman.”
“Grab my phone and call my lawyer, we need to stop the drone footage from coming out,” Xander says, his eyes narrowed at the road.
“I’m trying to find out what happened with the photo.”
“Tell him about that, too. I think that photographer’s about to have a very big lawsuit on her hands.”
I retrieve Xander’s phone from the central console and follow his instructions to dial his lawyer’s number. I put the phone on speaker and hold it up in my left hand while I go back to my own phone with my right hand.
The lawyer answers and I tune them out in my desperate attempt to find out what’s happened in the news.
I click on the top search result, TMZ. The boudoir photo fills half my screen, underneath the title, “Who is Elsie Cushing?”
My heart completely stops as I stare at my name. Xander said they would know who I was but it didn’t seem real until now. I scroll down and I meet with several photographs that I recognize from my Facebook account. I really should’ve paid more attention to the security settings.
It goes on to give a biography about me, complete with my parents’ names and jobs and some details about my brother, the school I went to and how long I’ve been working at the Good Rest Inn.
At the bottom in bold is the question: Why did Xander cheat on Luna for this girl?
Cheat? My shoulders sink. Of course people think he cheated with me. All of a sudden I’m the homewrecker, the other woman.
I stupidly start reading the comments.
I always loved Xander but now I know he’s a cheating scumbag.
What was Xander thinking? He had the most beautiful woman in the world and then he goes and cheats on her with that ugly whore.
I hope she pegged him, the douchebag deserves it.
What a bitch, I hope she rots in hell for doing this to Luna.
Xander’s phone falls out of my hand and crashes around the center console and I startle.
“You still there, Xander?” the lawyer asks.
“Call you back, Brent.”
“Sorry, I was reading the comments about us on the TMZ website,” I say and swallow.
“I told you not to look. People are cruel and evil and it’s better if you pretend it isn’t going on, otherwise it’ll eat you up inside.” His voice is gentle, and he looks over at me and takes my hand in his.
“You are right, I wish we were still in that house and closed off from the world.”
“It was good when it was just the two of us, wasn’t it?”
“It was better than good. I wish we could freeze that time and relive it over and over,” I say, my voice wavering.
“You know what? This is going to pass, and it will be long forgotten and then every day can be a day like today,” Xander says, squeezing my hand.
A lump forms in my throat. Until today I never thought I’d have an issue with not wanting a boyfriend, but with Xander I have no choice. My heart is demanding that I cling to his words and make them come true.
And why wouldn’t they come true? We fit too well together. It’s like the universe threw us together and who am I to deny what’s meant to be?
“How long can it go on? I get the feeling that I will always be known as the woman who broke up Xander and Luna.”
“Until everyone gets bored or a bigger story comes along. Let’s hope that’s soon.” Xander lets go of my hand and grips the steering wheel as we merge onto the I-95. He floors the gas pedal and maneuvers my little car straight into the inside lane.
“Or we die in a car crash.”
“You’re so cute.”
“Maybe the coroner will think so too,” I say, stopping myself from looking at the speedometer.
“Baby, wait till I get you in my car then I’ll show you what fast really is.”
“Remind me never to go in your car.” I pause for a second and add, “Or let you drive my car again.”
“You need to get used to life in the fast lane.”
“You’re getting real, remember? You need to get used to life in the slow lane.”
“Right now, slow would mean that paparazzi asshole would be able to follow us.”
“I know, which is why I’m not demanding that we pull over.” Although I feel completely safe going this fast with Xander at the wheel. I trust him completely. And we do have a very good reason for having to speed.
We pass a line of three transport trucks as if they are standing still and Xander asks, “Did Luna do her retraction?”
“Didn’t see any mention of one.”
Chapter 26
Xander
Elsie directs me to her friend’s apartment, and I pull the car into a free parking spot.
My teeth gritted, I slam the car into park. The fact that Luna hasn’t issued her retraction has weighed heavily on me for most of the drive.
Right now, I only care about two things — keeping the drone footage from ever seeing the light of day and getting Luna to do her retraction so that this story hurries up and goes away.
I am confident my lawyer has the drone situation under control, at least with mainstream American media. There’s not much anyone can do about a website in some foreign country from posting the video, but he said we should be to suppress it and stop it from going viral at least.
Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.
“Just to warn you now, her place isn’t very big,” Elsie says.
“It doesn’t matter, she’s kind enough to let me stay I’m hardly about to be picky.”
“Well, it’ll be real life for you,” Elsie says, laughing.
“Perfect, that’s what I’m after.” I actually am curious to see her apartment and how the other half live. The more I can understand the better I’ll be able to relate to Elsie. And figure out my own life.
Hand in hand, we walk across the crowded parking lot and into a three-story building.
My big issue now is Luna. As much as I don’t want to speak to her, I’m going to have to phone her. I need her to issue the retraction to restore my own reputation and make the story fizzle out.
During the drive, I also decided that everything has to come out. At least the parts about us never being a couple.
Elsie was crushed by the comments those idiots on the internet made and I need them to stop. She doesn’t need to be called a bitch or a whore or any other names and she certainly doesn’t need threats made against her.
If the whole story about Luna and I coming out is what it takes to make those stop then so be it.
I’ve also decided to tell Elsie
everything, no holds barred, as soon as I have the chance. I probably should’ve told her while we were driving, but talking about it at high speeds wouldn’t have been wise.
Especially the parts about cutting my family out of my life. Elsie suggested only seeing my parents on Christmas and birthdays, but I think that’s probably too good for them, especially my father.
Plus, I was really enjoying talking with her about normal stuff. Things that aren’t related in any way to Luna or the media scandal. She makes me laugh, even with all the issues churning through the back of my mind.
The more time I spend with her, the more time I want to spend with her.
Elsie knocks on the door of her friend’s apartment and the door instantly flings open. The woman I recognize from the hotel flies through the door and throws her arms around Elsie.
“Oh my God, what the hell happened today?” she asks, ushering us into the apartment.
“Becca, obviously,” Elsie says.
I walk in and close the door. I don’t think anyone followed us, but you never know.
“I’ve already decided I’m not buying any of her photos, no matter how much I love them,” she says.
“Anyway, this is Xander,” Elsie says, planting herself at my side. “And Xander, this is Isabel.”
“Thanks for letting us stay here,” I say, looking around. The entire apartment is visible from where we stand, with a kitchen the size of a closet and an open door to a cramped bedroom on the far side of the room.
The room itself has a worn leather sofa and matching armchair that face a TV, along with a small white dining table pushed into a corner and four chairs, although two of the chairs are lined up against the wall, presumably to save space.
Elsie did warn me it was small and part of me is fascinated to see how an entire apartment can be smaller than my living room.
Isabel smacks my chest playfully and says, “Are you kidding me? Hiding the world’s sexiest man and his current illicit lover, who happens to be my best friend? This is totally the most exciting thing that’s ever happened in my boring life.”
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