Thomas put his spoon down and cleared his throat. “Fine. What is it you have to say?”
“The tape,” Olivia said.
Out the corner of her eye, Sasha could see Thomas’s hands squeeze into fists. Julia, Aunty Mabel, and Gerald all focused intently on their food.
“I know you have no reason to believe me,” Olivia added, “since I’ve lied to you in the past, but I wasn’t the one who leaked it.”
Thomas and Sasha exchanged a glance.
“It couldn’t have been anyone else,” Thomas replied.
Olivia gave him a look as if to say, ‘Who else has access to all your properties?’
“You mean…?” Thomas began.
“...Pippa?” Sasha finished for him.
Thomas slammed his fist against the tabletop, making the cutlery and glasses jangle.
“Now, now,” Aunty Mabel chuckled. She was clearly more than used to Thomas’s passionate outbursts.
“Pippa was the mastermind behind everything,” Olivia said. “All I had to do was follow you around and give her the tapes every time you took a woman home. She paid me to keep tabs on you—just enough to support my habit. I got extra when I gave her a tape, which I didn’t for bloody ages, by the way, because you never took anyone home.”
Sasha felt a little swell of pride when she said that. She knew she’d been the first to see Thomas naked, but she didn’t realize she’d also been one of the few lucky women whom he took to his home.
Thomas didn’t look so pleased. “And tell me what you thought she was going to do with the tapes once you gave them to her?”
“I didn’t know, and I didn’t ask,” Olivia replied.
“It didn’t concern you that she was filming me in…”—he glanced at Aunty Mabel, who was doing her best to pretend not to be interested—“...intimate moments?”
“I didn’t care,” Olivia said. “I only cared about using the money for my next fix. I’m not proud of it, but it’s the truth.”
Thomas glanced at Sasha. “If Pippa was the one who leaked the tape, we could press charges.”
Sasha had thought it, too. “But what about the injunction? How do we press charges against her without accidentally breaking the gag order?”
“By getting a bloody good lawyer,” Aunty Mabel said.
Everyone looked at her.
“My husband had a firm,” she explained to the guests. “This was before he passed away in a terrible boating accident. Anyway, the company still exists, and they simply adore us Lloyds. I could give you the number of this feisty woman, Carla. I think she’s Italian.”
Sasha looked from Aunty Mabel to Thomas.
“It’s your call,” he said.
Sasha nodded. She wanted to see Pippa punished for what she’d done.
Aunty Mabel clapped her hands. “Oh wonderful! I do love a good court case.”
***
Up in her room that evening, Sasha heard the door to her bedroom click open. She looked over her shoulder. Thomas was standing in the doorway, illuminated by the hallway light. As he paced in, something in his hand glinted in the moonlight.
“I believe we have some unfinished business,” he said.
Sasha realized he was holding the spoon. She sat up, exposing her breasts to him, milky white in the moonlight. She felt her body swelling with anticipation as Thomas removed his clothes and stood fully naked before her, his muscular physique illuminated.
He tore back the covers. “Time to put this feud to bed, intern.”
She reached up and pulled him down. “Don’t call me that.”
Chapter Thirty Three
Thomas and Sasha spent the night re-exploring one another’s bodies, and this time, Sasha made sure that when they came, they were looking each other in the eye.
She woke up feeling content and satisfied. Sasha turned in the bed to find Thomas beside her, sleeping. He looked so beautiful when he was asleep.
Despite the cold day, the sun was shining. From somewhere outside she could hear Gertrude barking and Olivia calling to her. She went over to the window. Her mom was sitting in her wheelchair on the porch, a checkered blanket draped over her knees. She was watching Olivia as she chased the dog about the lawn. Beside her was a picnic table with coffee, orange juice, croissants, and fruit. Sasha was overjoyed to see her mom finally getting the relaxing life she’s always deserved.
Sasha picked her cell up from the bedside table. She’d received a message overnight. It was from Chris. It read: Sasha, I’m so sorry. I would never have done it if I’d known it would come to this.
‘Done it’ presumably was a reference to the video. However, she wondered what he meant by ‘if I’d known it would come to this.’ Had someone told him about Bill causing the family to flee to England?
A feeling deep in her gut told her that wasn’t what Chris meant. Somehow, she just knew that something had surfaced online.
She hadn’t Googled herself since that night she’d vowed not to, but Chris’s message compelled her to log on. She searched for her name and immediately found what he was talking about.
Photographs. Photoshopped pornographic photographs. Of her.
Heart beating, Sasha read the corresponding article, which talked of how she sold pornographic photographs to fund her studies. Supposedly, she’d taken the photos during her relationship with Chris. Of course, she’d done this behind his back and without his consent, giving the public more evidence of her deviant and duplicitous personality.
Sasha grabbed a robe and pulled it about her, then paced out into the hall. She called Chris.
“You need to put this right,” she said the second he answered.
“You’ve seen the photos,” Chris said simply.
“How did she even get hold of them?” Sasha cried, assuming immediately that Pippa was behind the whole stunt. “I’m barely eighteen in half of them! What if my mom sees them?”
Chris sighed. “I know. I know. If I could get Pippa to get rid of them, I would. But she’s got some kind of document and—”
Sasha finished his sentence for him. “...she’s gagged you, too.”
Chris sounded sheepish. “Yes.”
“Look,” Sasha said. “Thomas and I are going to take legal action against her. We have a fantastic lawyer in England who’s going to come to Chicago to work on the case. We have enough to get Pippa jailed for harassment. Do you think you’d be able to be a witness if it came to it?”
There was silence on the other end of the line. “After what I did to you?’
Sasha thought of Thomas’s power of forgiveness. He’d continued to love his sister through years of turmoil. Chris had betrayed her once, but their friendship had endured for years and that was worth something. It shouldn’t be thrown away.
“I can forgive you.”
She listened to the sound of Chris breathing on the other end of the phone. “I was just so hurt,” he said.
“You don’t have to explain.”
“I do. I thought you were going to come home with me. I thought you’d finally realized that Chicago wasn’t doing you any good. Then he turned up and spoiled it. I wanted to punish you.” His voice had an air of melancholy. “I was wrong.”
“Chris,” Sasha said as gently as she could. “You have to understand it’s over between us. Completely. Forever.” She looked back through the crack in her open door and gazed upon the sight of Thomas in the crisp white sheets, sleeping contently. “I love Thomas.”
“I know,” Chris replied from the other end of the line. “I’m just worried that he doesn’t love you in return.”
In the bedroom, Thomas rolled over.
“That’s my risk to take,” Sasha said into the cell phone. “You can’t protect me from heartbreak.”
Chapter Thirty Four
The meeting with Carla, the lawyer at Aunty Mabel’s late husband’s firm, went well. She felt they had a strong case for harassment, which would put Pippa away for a long time.
They left
the swanky office and parted ways. Sasha had promised to take her mom to London, a place she had often said she wanted to see before she died. She was just headed for her taxi when she received a call from someone she hadn’t expected to hear from ever again. Kelly.
“What do you want?” Sasha said the moment she answered.
Kelly cleared her throat. “Don’t worry, this isn’t a social call. I thought you might be interested in a piece your old friend Alicia wrote. It’s about your beloved Thomas Lloyd.”
Sasha clambered into the back of the taxi. “‘My Night of Passion with Hollywood’s Bad Boy?’ No thanks. I found out all the details for myself.”
As the taxi pulled away, Sasha heard Kelly cackle on the other end of the line. “Not that one. The other one. The recent one.”
Sasha frowned. “What recent one?”
She was waiting with anticipation as Kelly lit a cigarette and took a puff. “Oh, didn’t Thomas tell you?” she said on an exhale. “He gave an interview with Alicia after you left him.”
“What?” Sasha felt her spare hand curl into a tight fist. She shut the call off.
Thomas would never just give an interview to Alicia. She was his go-to journalist, the woman he called up when he wanted casual sex. She threw her phone into her purse.
“Turn around,” she said to the driver.
***
“You absolute fucking bastard!” Sasha cried, as she stomped across the lawn.
Olivia looked up alarmed from where she’d been playing with Gertrude. She stood and pulled the dog by the collar into the house.
“What am I supposed to have done?” Thomas said, putting down his cup of tea and looking up from the paper he’d been reading.
“Alicia,” Sasha replied.
Thomas pulled a face. “Oh. That.”
“Yes, that! How could you keep something like this from me?”
Thomas took a sip of his tea. “You and I weren’t together at the time.”
“So you slept with the next available person?”
Thomas didn’t even try to deny it. “Yes. I did. It was easy and I needed comfort.”
Sasha threw her arms up in disgust. “You don’t even like Alicia!”
“So? I don’t like you sometimes, but I still enjoy fucking you.”
“I can’t believe you!” Sasha cried. “You made such a huge deal out of Chris kissing me, but you were hiding this from me the whole time.”
“I tried to tell you,” Thomas said calmly. “Back when we were at your mother’s. You declared that you loved me, and I thought it would be a good time to mention it, but you told me not to say anything. Don’t you remember?”
She did remember. She’d thought Thomas was going to tell her whether he loved her too, and at the time, she just didn’t want to know.
“Your sense of logic is twisted,” Sasha hissed under her breath. “Mom and I are leaving.”
Thomas stood. “What about the court case? We’ve just about finalized everything.”
“What about it?” Sasha cried, flashing angry eyes at him. “Do what you want. Just do it without me.”
She started to storm into the house to look for her mom when Thomas grabbed her by the arm to stop her.
“Think of your mother,” he said sharply. “She’s unwell, and you have nowhere to go, no one to look after her.”
Sasha thought of Chris. She wrenched her arm free. “Yes, I do.”
Chapter Thirty Five
Julia was furious when she found out she had to leave England. She’d grown fond of Aunty Mabel and Gerald, and even had a soft spot for Olivia, who seemed to latch onto her like she was the mother she’d never gotten to know.
“I’m not happy about you pushing me from pillar to post, Sasha,” she’d said. “You need to make your mind up about that man. Either you love him or you don’t.”
“I don’t,” Sasha replied instantly. “I know that now.”
The only bit of Thomas Lloyd she loved was his cock. However, the man attached to it was cold-hearted. They could never have a satisfying future together.
Her mother remained angry throughout the whole flight home. It was only when Chris met them at the airport that she perked up.
“See, Mom, I knew you’d be happy once we got you home.”
Julia glared at her daughter. “We’re not going home though, are we?”
She was right. Sasha just didn’t feel safe going back to their home. She’d arranged for them to stay with Chris instead.
When she saw him, she felt so relieved. They hugged tightly. She had her best friend back.
“Don’t ever do that to me again,” she said. “I need you, Chris. I need you on my side.”
“I’m on your side,” he replied.
***
Chris had lived in the same house since the end of high school. He’d worked since a young age, saved up, and with some help from his parents, bought the little place at the age of eighteen. Five years later the place had become a home, filled to the brim with his trinkets. He’d played soccer in high school and won quite a few medals that were displayed proudly on a homemade shelf.
“You two can take my room,” Chris said. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”
As Sasha readied herself for bed, she remembered losing her virginity to Chris here. It had been a tender moment. They were in love, the best of friends, and they respected one another. There was nothing kinky about it, just a moment of amazement as they’d learned for the first time what it felt like to unite in that way. She’d never realized sex could be anything but a beautiful experience between people who loved one another—until she’d met Thomas and learned it could be a frantic, animalistic act between people who loathed and loved one another in equal measure.
Being with Thomas Lloyd had changed her irrevocably and entirely. She would never be the same again. She would never be the innocent girl who liked flowers and candlelit lovemaking. Something had awoken in her. She’d learned what her body was capable of and anything less than what Thomas gave her would never be enough for her again.
She realized then that her mom was wrong. She didn’t need to make her mind up about Thomas at all. She could love him then hate him then love him again. It was part of the thrill. It was part of what made their partnership unique. Her leaving him, him leaving her, her chasing him, him chasing her, her betraying him, him betraying her, it was just a rollercoaster that they were riding together. Without all the drama, it would be boring.
It hit Sasha then that she’d lived her whole life in the same way that she’d experienced her relationship with Chris. She’d always pretended that she was a risk-taker because she’d flown the nest and gone off to college, but really, she’d been taking the sensible route. She’d worked hard so she could get a good, stable job and a nice little income to buy a boring apartment and turn into Kelly drinking wine alone on Friday night with her cat. Every decision she’d made had been sensible, right up until the point she’d met Thomas Lloyd. He’d flipped everything on its head. Nothing would be the same again. And she didn’t want it to be.
Sasha waited for her mom to fall asleep then slipped out of the bedroom, along the corridor, and onto the porch. She took her cell phone with her. Thomas had called fifty times. She called him back.
“At last,” he said.
“You’re persistent.”
“I’m sorry. I wanted to make sure you found somewhere to go.”
“Don’t be sorry. Your persistence turns me on.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “I’m sorry?” Thomas said.
“Is this a bad line or something?” Sasha said sarcastically, repeating his words from earlier.
“Sasha, what on Earth has gotten into you?”
“Nothing. And everything.” She shook her head, trying to get her thoughts into some kind of order. “Thomas, I like what we do to each other. I like the drama. The highs and lows. It makes me feel alive.”
“Does that mean you forgive me for slee
ping with Alicia?” he said.
“No. But I like hating you as much as I like loving you.”
“That’s fucked up,” came Thomas’s reply.
“But it’s true.”
She listened to the silence of Thomas mulling it over in his mind. “You’re right. Now what?”
“Now you tell me exactly what you did to Alicia. I want a blow-by-blow account. Every lick, every suck, every thrust.”
“You’re fucking crazy,” he said, but he was laughing as he said it.
“I’m comfortable with that. So. Tell me. Take it from the top.”
She heard Thomas inhale. “Well, we were at the Atomic interview. I was pissed at you, and I needed to let off some steam. So I told Alicia to pour us both some wine. I came up from behind and slid my hand inside her blouse—”
“That was me, Thomas,” Sasha interrupted. “You’re confusing it with what happened on the plane.”
“No, I’m not. That’s how I did it with her, too.”
Revulsion coursed through Sasha. “You’re a fucking pig. Were you thinking of her while you fucked me on the plane?”
“Quite the opposite,” Thomas replied. “I was thinking of you while I fucked her. I repeated the whole experience on the plane with you because I wanted that exact experience again, but with the right person.”
Sasha’s rage calmed. “Fine,” she said, coldly. “Go on.”
“Do you need me to? Can’t you picture it now?”
Of course, Sasha could imagine it more vividly since he’d gone through almost exactly the same motions with her, but she still wanted to hear Thomas say it. She wanted to feel that intensity of emotion—the hatred, the passion, the anger. The more he made her feel, the better.
“Tell me,” she repeated.
Thomas sighed and explained how he’d made her come with his fingers then bent her forward and fucked her hard and fast from behind.
“Did you come as hard with her as you did with me?” Sasha asked, feeling a knot of anger rolling in her stomach.
There was a pause before Thomas said, “I didn’t come at all.”
Sasha sat stock still. “You didn’t?”
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