by Maya Hughes
Heading to the lobby, Jess got them to call a taxi for her and asked about hotels in the area. They were able to call and book a reservation for her right then and there. Perks of being the guest of a big celebrity. Thankfully, there weren’t any photographers outside at the moment and Jess was able to hand over her luggage to the driver, who put it in the trunk.
Jess stared out the windows as they passed the streets of London on the way to her hotel for the night—at least she hoped it was just for the night. She knew that leaving wasn’t exactly the most mature avenue, but sitting there knowing he was hiding things from her and not telling the whole truth was going to make her go crazy in the apartment. Giving them both some space was the best option for now. They could speak in the morning and everything would be better—she hoped.
33
Jess woke in the morning feeling emotionally drained and just wanted to curl up in a ball and pull the covers over her head. She picked up the hotel phone and ordered breakfast before she leaned back and thought about what she was going to do next. Jess was looking forward to some pancakes with syrup and bacon to drown her sorrows in. Jess was talking to her parents about her trip when an envelope was slid under the door. She was reassuring them that she hadn’t in fact lost her mind and was just on a little vacation,
She bent down and picked up the envelope. Jess turned it over and saw her name written on the outside. Jess continued talking to her parents, distracted while she opened the envelope. Out slid one of her worst nightmares.
“Mom, dad, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later, love you, bye,” she said as she ended the call and sat down on her bed, staring at the contents of the envelope. It was a copy of one of the biggest tabloids in the UK. On the cover was Aedan in his tux with Kate tucked under his arm at a black-tie event. Hoping that this was an old picture, Jess took it all in, he looked just like he had last night for the charity dinner.
The caption under it read, Aedan O’Connell and Kate Worthington back together St. Andrews Charity Gala after the footballer’s fling with American, Jess Montgomery. Exclusive interview with the happy couple.
An inset picture of Jess eating a slice of pizza in her hoodie while they had been shopping in Camden Market. It was a striking contrast to the perfectly paired couple in the larger photo. The paper had today’s date on it. Jess felt the tears spilling down her cheeks as she sat down on the bed, unable to catch her breath.
What the fuck?!
Jess threw on her shoes as she vowed that she would figure out what the hell was going on. She grabbed her purse, hotel room key card, and the paper, then headed down to the lobby. There were only a few photographers there as she got the hotel doorman to hail her a taxi. She hopped in and gave him Aedan’s address. He smirked at her in the rearview mirror as she put her head down and sent off a quick message to Sam and Meg.
J to M&S: I’ve made a huge mistake.
The crowd outside of Aedan’s building was a lot more substantial. Reaching the front of the building in the taxi, she hesitated before paying the driver and hopping out. Thankfully, the doorman came out, flanked by Steven, and helped her make it through the crush.
“Is your romance with Aedan over?” “How does it feel knowing you’re the other woman?” “Come to beg Aedan to take you back?” “Did you know Kate Worthington is here right now?” That one caused Jess’s heart to skip a beat and almost made her turn around. No, if he wanted to end this, he was going to have to do it to my face!
Those were some of the nicer things that photogs were shouting at her as she made her way into the lobby. Steven was even more tense than he usually was as he swiped her into the elevator and up to Aedan’s apartment. The door opened and out stepped Kate Worthington looking more spectacular in her casual wear than Jess looked when dressed up for a black-tie dinner.
One of Kate’s people came out after her and they made their way past Jess without even sparing her a first glance, let alone a second. Jess stood and watched them exit the lobby as Steven attempted to corral her into the apartment. Kate turned as she stood in the lobby door and watched Jess as the doors closed with a slight smirk on her face.
The bell chimed for the elevator door and Aedan pushed the button to allow the visitor to come up. He hoped that it was Jess. He knew the front desk wouldn’t just let anyone up, but he really hoped that it was her. The doors opened and his heart sank. It was Kate, flanked by one of her people. Shit, he hadn’t removed her from the approved visitors list. The thin blonde in a tailored suit was carrying a leather folder and looked all business. Manager? Stylist? Publicist? Aedan couldn’t be sure.
She walked over to him like they were best friends, attempting to pull him into a hug. Aedan put his arms up to block her hands and backed away. Putting himself on the other side of the couch so she wouldn’t advance again, he pulled out his phone and sent James a message.
A: Kate is here.
J: OK, no problem. I’ll be there shortly to assist.
He finished up his text and put the phone on the coffee table, then took a deep breath and looked up to see Kate staring at his impatiently.
“What do you want Kate?” Aedan seethed.
“Is that any way to greet me after how you acted last night?”
“I didn’t do anything last night. We were supposed to have a deal and you went back on it.”
“I did no such thing. I was told you would be amenable to the deal I proposed last night. I was told that you were willing to cooperate and this Jess woman wouldn’t be an issue.”
“What are you talking about? Told by whom?” Aedan ground out as he clenched his fists at his sides. Kate evaded his eyes and turned to her helper.
“It doesn’t matter now. What matters is that we cannot allow you to jeopardize Kate’s career with your dalliances.” The helper chimed in.
“Dalliances? Jess is not a dalliance. And it sure as hell does matter who told you I would go along with your little plot. I’ll be sure to tell that to every press outlet out there what you’ve done. You are not going to try to ruin things between me and Jess.”
“I’ll do more than ruin things. I’ll make sure that woman isn’t able to leave her house once I’m through with her.” Kate sneered.
Aedan had to hold himself back from vaulting over the back of the couch to throttle them both.
“You should have just gone along with the plan, Aedan,” she continued.
“It’s my life, it’s not a plan. You just decided that I was much more useful as a tool than as someone you cared about.”
“Like you weren’t doing the same.”
“I wasn’t trying to destroy a person you cared about just for a chance at a shitty reality TV show!” Aedan shouted. His heart was racing and he could barely contain the rage that was building inside him. She was doing this on purpose; purposefully trying to destroy his life because she wanted to be on some reality TV show.
“Don’t worry, once the story comes out in the press, I won’t have to worry about being Aedan’s girlfriend anymore. I’ll spill all the dirty details and make some up for good measure. I’ll be the poor victim of another round of Aedan’s wild ride.” Kate sneered at him.
“Oh, and I thought you should see this.” She snapped her fingers and her lackey placed a folded paper in her hands. She threw it in Aedan’s direction and it landed on the coffee table in front of him.
The ugly headline made Aedan’s blood run ice cold.
Aedan Leaves Pregnant Kate after Affair with Yank
“It’ll run tomorrow morning, so you should be prepared.”
Aedan looked up at Kate and her hanger-on and he couldn’t even form words for a second.
“This isn’t true,” he roared.
“No, it isn’t, but it doesn’t need to be. Not one bit. It will sell a shitload of papers though. I’ll conveniently lose the ‘baby’ with all the stress and it will fully cement my destroyed love interest persona. It will be my great transformation.” Kate said triumphantly.
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“It’s all lies and it will ruin my career!”
“Like I care. You had your chance to play nice Aedan. I didn’t care if you had your little tart on the side and kept it quiet, but you had to go out and show her off, making me look bad in the process. I don’t like being made to look bad.” She snapped.
Completely frozen in shock at what was going on, Aedan couldn’t move a muscle. He knew if he did make a move, there would be even more trouble because he didn’t think he could have contained himself from murdering them both with his bare hands. Shaking from the rage building inside of him, he watched helplessly as the duo entered the elevator and Kate had the nerve to give him a small wave as the doors closed.
The minute the doors closed Aedan grabbed the closest thing to him, the coffee table and launched it into the bar. The crashing sound of bottles and broken glass were all that could be heard over the primal scream that ripped from Aedan’s throat.
34
As the elevator doors opened Jess could barely contain herself. The tears she had been holding back were there in full force.
“I trusted you, Aedan.” Jess accused as tears streamed down her face, he was a blur through the veil of tears. Jess took in the destroyed bar in the living room as Aedan moved toward her and she flinched as he tried to place his hands on her arms.
“Don’t you touch me. Don’t you dare.” Jess was shaking with anger and hurt. “You told me you would handle this, that you were broken up. You said you two made that decision before you even came to the States and it was no big deal. You went to that dinner and pretended to be together.”
Aedan was pulling on his hair with both hands.
“I thought that showing up to the event was the best way to handle things. Just a friendly show for the press to put all of the acrimonious break up stories out of the press and appease her to stop her from trying to do all of the underhanded things they were working on.”
“What types of things?”
“Jess, you don’t want to know. Leave it alone.”
“I won’t leave it alone Aedan. Do you have any idea what this is all doing to me? Why won’t you just tell the truth to the press? Are you embarrassed by me?”
“I have never been embarrassed by you Jess, never. I just wanted you here with me and I knew the WaG lifestyle wasn’t one you wanted. I was trying to protect you. And it’s all blowing up in my face now.”
He moved to her to pull her to him and she moved out of the way again, crossing her arms over her chest.
“So, you made sure you had a woman like Kate to be on your arm out in public. God I’m so stupid.”
“Stop it, just stop, it wasn’t that kind of thing at all. She ordered me to go to the charity event or she was going to have her people release some screwed up things to the press about her and me and ... about you,” Aedan whispered that last bit. That caught Jess’s attention.
“Things about me? You mean things like this?” Jess threw down the paper she’d stuffed in her bag.
Aedan glanced at the paper and his eyes darted away.
“Yes, headlines like that,” he said, shoulders slumped as he sat in a chair.
“So, all your secret keeping didn’t do much good, did it? Because I was completely blindsided by all of this.” Her voice broke as tears streaked down her face.
“Not that it matters now, but I was trying to protect you,” Aedan choked out. “I was trying, but Kate got her way.” he said, his voice cracking. Jess needed him to be straight with her. She couldn’t be blindsided again.
“What were the other headlines, Aedan?” Standing from his crouch, he walked into his office. Coming back out with a manila envelope he handed it to her. “James delivered these this yesterday.”
Jess took the envelope with shaky hands and pulled out the papers inside. The headlines were bold and ugly.
Aedan’s Homely American Jaunt
Footballer’s WaG
O’Connell’s Big Downgrade
All over pictures of Jess in the worst light possible. Turning, half in shadow. Hell, looking at the pictures, she barely recognized herself. They picked every picture to make her look like the worst troll to ever escape from under a bridge. She let the papers fall from her hands.
"We had a deal. I do the charity event and they get the shots from the approved charity photographer and wouldn’t publish this shite. I don’t regret it. I was trying to protect you.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” she wheezed out.
“You were already so skittish about coming to the UK with me. I promised I would protect you and then this happens. I should have told you, I should have, but I don’t regret trying to protect you.”
“You should have told me, instead of letting me be blindsided. This can’t work, if you don’t trust me. If you don’t think I can handle it, then maybe you’re right,” Jess said as she let her shoulders drop. “Maybe you were right to keep it all from me. I’m not cut out to be able to handle this.”
“That’s not true. I was wrong, I was. I should have told you straight out and we could have handled it together. And Kate was here to drop off the last piece in her evil plan.” Aedan picked up the paper off the floor and handed it to Jess. Jess stared at it like a snake that might bite her. Pulling the paper from his hands she felt it fall to the floor again as she read it.
“Is she?” Jess asked looking down at the paper sprawled out on the floor.
“Is she what?”
“Is she pregnant?” Jess looked up at him to see his reaction.
“No, Jess it’s all lies. She’s not pregnant. I told you that I’d never been with anyone else without protection.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve lied to me.” Jess bit out.
“I know Jess, but I was trying to stop all of this from getting too ugly.”
“But you didn’t, and I get to be the whore that stole Aedan O’Connell away from his pregnant model girlfriend. I can’t handle this. It’s not even the pictures or the headlines that hurt—and trust me they really freaking hurt—but it’s the fact that you lied to me again. You could have told me about this. I wouldn’t have cared. I had you and we were together and we know the truth.
But seeing those pictures of you with her, knowing you knew she had a devious plan and then you lied to me about it? That’s making me doubt everything. It’s making it all that much harder. I could have dealt with the gossip rags with you by my side. But I refuse to be lied to, even if you think it’s for my own good. Because I think as you can see, the lies have a way of coming out and in the most spectacular fashion.”
Jess pushed off the wall and walked past Aedan. “I’m going to go back to my hotel. I need some time to think and I need to pack.”
“Jess, please don’t. Don’t leave.” Aedan pleaded.
“I regret ever coming. I should have listened to that little voice in the back of my head telling me that this would only end in disaster.” She choked back tears. Would they ever stop?
“Jess, don’t regret it. I don’t regret it. I regret the lies I used to try to protect you, but I don’t regret you coming here because I got to be with you,” he said his voice breaking as tears streamed down his face. Jess was determined not to be persuaded by his pain; it only amplified hers, making her feel like her heart was breaking into a million pieces.
“I got to really be with you, even if it was just for a while. I know we can make this work. I know we can. I’m sorry, tell me what I can do to show you how sorry I am.”
She turned to him with eyes blazing, “you can leave me alone. I can’t deal with all of this and you, do you understand?”
“Jess, please don’t do this. I love you.” Aedan made a move to pull her to him, but at her flinch dropped his arms and stepped back. Jess pushed the elevator button.
“If you care about me, if you love me like you say you do,” she said her, voice breaking, “then leave me alone and let me be. When that’s published, everything is going to come cr
ashing down on my head. I didn’t ask for this circus. I didn’t ask for your lies. And I don’t want it anymore. I don’t want it and I can’t want you anymore.”
The doors to the elevator opened and Jess turned to escape running straight into the hulking mass of Steven.
“Is there something I can help you with Ms. Montgomery?”
“Steven, please just get me out of here. I need to get out of here,” she pleaded. Jess saw him look over her shoulder, but she refused to turn around. Steven nodded.
“No problem, please come right with me.” He stepped back into the elevator and the door closed behind them. The elevator reached the lobby and they exited the building into an alleyway. There was a car waiting for them. Steven bundled her into the back of the car and sat in the front. She stared out of the windows aimlessly, hiccupping as the tears finally ran dry, as they pulled around the back of her hotel.
Steven opened the door for her and Jess climbed out. From behind the door, he cleared his throat.
“I wanted you to know that he really does care about you. I know I’m overstepping, but I wanted you to know that. I’ve been with him a long time and I’ve never seen him act like this with a woman.”
“Thanks Steven, but sometimes it’s just not enough.”
35
“FUCK!” Aedan shouted in his apartment as he slammed his head against the door. Every cell in his body was telling him to run after her. To run after Jess and tell her he could fix everything, but he knew that he couldn’t. He had agreed to go along with Kate’s little plan as a way to appease her and the tabloids and keep those terrible headlines about Jess off the newsstands. He didn’t realize that Kate was a conniving as she was beautiful, on the outside at least. On the inside, she was a shriveled up little troll.