by Alison Ryan
He had the driver take him to the Bellagio. On his way he called Nancy.
“Hey,” he said when he heard her voice. “Did you know Scarlet was here?”
Nancy paused on the other end and finally said, “I had no clue. She’s here?”
“Yes,” he said flatly. “She showed up at Elixir today to surprise Michelle. You had no idea?”
“You know I didn’t. I would have nipped that in the bud right away.” Nancy didn’t know everything, but she knew enough to know that Barrett and Scarlet didn’t need to be bumping into one another randomly. It wasn’t good for either of them.
“Well, now you know,” he said, agitated.
“I’ll make sure she stays away,” Nancy assured him. “So will Michelle. I’m sorry, Barrett.”
“No, Nance,” he said. “It’s not your fault. I’m just- I’m just shaken up by it. I haven’t seen her in five years.”
“I know,” Nancy said. “What did you think?”
“That she’s still Scarlet but different,” he confessed. “I’m torn. Part of me wants to talk to her and part of me wants to run.”
“Well, for now just eat. I’ll take care of the rest,” Nancy said. And with that, they hung up.
********
The Bellagio was uncharacteristically crowded for a weekday and Barrett had second thoughts about grabbing lunch. He wasn’t even hungry. So he decided to take a walk outside. Think for a bit.
Barrett knew Scarlet avoided him. It was harder for him, being that he worked with both her mother and her aunt. Michelle’s employment in Las Vegas was the major reason he’d avoided Elixir’s offices there for a year. Nancy travelled with him everywhere. She visited her sister and family on holidays but he’d never worried about seeing Scarlet through her- though sometimes he secretly wanted to so badly.
He stopped at the fountains. This was really all Durham’s fault. Durham Evers was the Vegas brother, not Barrett. But Durham was building a soccer stadium in Conyers, Georgia at the moment and was freshly in love himself. He didn’t want much to do with Vegas which had forced Barrett to take over. And on his first day back he runs into Scarlet. Of all the luck.
God, she was still gorgeous. Maybe even more so, though there was a darkness in her eyes. Her sunny spirit was gone and he still had no idea why.
Was that why she was here? Had fate somehow decided it was time for this to be resolved? Even if he couldn’t love her anymore, he could at least find out what went wrong in the first place.
He needed to find out why she left him.
Chapter Nine
Scarlet left her mother’s office shortly after their talk. Before leaving, Michelle had peeked out into the lobby to see where Barrett was.
“Arista,” Michelle called. “Where’s Mr. Evers?”
“He left for lunch. Said he’d be back at two.”
“Thanks, Arista.”
Scarlet sighed with relief. She could make a clean getaway. She leaned over, kissing her mom goodbye for now.
“I’ll see you after work?” she asked.
“I’m going to dinner with Aunt Nancy,” Michelle said. “I think you should join us.”
Scarlet sucked in a breath. She’d done her best to see Nancy as little as possible being that she was Barrett’s right hand everything. The topic of him was almost impossible to avoid since Barrett was pretty much Nancy’s whole life. But it wasn’t fair to put anyone in any sort of awkward position.
“Sure,” Scarlet said. “I’ll just go home and unpack. Take a shower and wash the airplane stench off of me.”
“Sounds good. Daddy will be happy to see you,” her mother smiled. “I love you, sweet girl.”
“Me too,” Scarlet said.
As she walked into the reception lobby again, she smiled and gave a small wave to Arista. She was met with a cool glare. Scarlet shrugged and headed to the elevator.
She held her breath until she got to her rental. She’d been worried she’d run into him coming back up but Barrett was nowhere to be seen.
********
Scarlet had loved him from the moment she saw him. She was nine years old and Barrett was thirteen. Most of her brother’s friends annoyed the shit out of her. They brushed her off as an annoying little kid, but Barrett had always been different. Barrett said hello, would ask her how the fourth grade was. Ben would roll his eyes and ask Barrett to come on, hurry up, let’s go play. But Barrett was never rushed. He was a kid who was used to never having to wait so what was the need in rushing?
Scarlet’s Aunt Nancy had been the Evers’ nanny since Barrett was four, his young brother Durham was 2, and his sister Clementine was just a baby. But once they were all a little older each child had their own nanny (rich people) and Barrett got Nancy all to himself. Which meant she often brought him with her when she was visiting her niece and nephew. Ben and Barrett hit it off right away. They appreciated different things in one another. Ben was somewhat of a nerd at school, with few friends. Barrett was an Evers and most people only seemed to want to know him because of his name, not because of who he was. Ben was Barrett’s first genuine friend, someone who didn’t care about his pedigree, only that he liked geeking out over Star Wars as much as Ben did.
Scarlet thought about that as she pulled the rental car out of Elixir’s parking garage. She wondered if the 15 was packed with traffic or if she should take Trop down to Eastern and head south to get to the Henderson house her parents lived in.
Suddenly the car in front of her slammed on its brakes, which made Scarlet have to slam hers as well. She barely missed rear ending the luxury vehicle in front of her. She wanted to scream but she was just grateful for not smashing into them. Her heart thumped against her chest. She waited for the car to move forward but instead the driver got out of his car and walked back to see her.
“I’m so sorry, Miss Bloom,” he said. “Mr. Evers noticed you behind us and asked me to stop but I know it was sudden-“
Scarlet’s heart sank. Barrett was in front of her.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I’m fine. Y’all can go. No harm done.”
“He was wondering if he could join you.”
Scarlet swallowed.
“In my car? Join me? I’m heading home-“
“He said it would just be a few moments.”
Scarlet sat there frozen behind the wheel. She wanted to peel out of there but she was trapped behind Barrett’s Maybach and the walls of the parking garage next to her.
“Tell him I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she finally said, shaking her head so he could see her refusal. She knew he was watching.
“Okay, Miss Bloom. I understand. Again, I am so sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
As he walked back to the car, the back door opened and there was Barrett. He stood, all six foot and three inches of him, buttoning his jacket as he looked at her. He motioned for the driver to go and walked back towards her car.
“Scarlet,” he said. “I’m coming in.”
Her face flushed with anger, “No!”
He looked at her again, his face pleading.
“I just want to talk for five minutes. It doesn’t have to be about anything from before. Scarlet, please.”
The Maybach had pulled away now and onto the traffic of Industrial Road. She looked at him, tempted to drive past him, leaving him stranded. Something she was positive he had never been in his entire privileged life.
But then she thought about her mom. Her aunt. She didn’t want to fuck things up for them at work. And part of her desperately wanted to be near him again, she hated to admit.
“Fine.” She unlocked the passenger side door.
Chapter Ten
Barrett couldn’t believe it when she said yes. Or fine. Or at least acquiesced, something she rarely did when pressured for anything.
“Thank you,” he said as he sat down in the seat next to her. “Have you eaten?”
“I’m not hungry,” she said flatly. “I’m trying to
get home so I can rest and decompress from the flight.”
“Well, can I ride with you? You can drop me off at Green Valley Ranch, I’ll catch a town car back,” he smiled. “You can stand twenty minutes with me, at least?”
“I guess,” she said, putting the car into drive.
They pulled forward and were greeted by backed up traffic on Industrial heading towards Tropicana.
“Just my luck,” she muttered. She leaned her head against her window, hoping he wouldn’t talk. She could feel his staring which was uncomfortable enough.
“Are you just visiting?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “Not for very long.”
“That’s too bad, I know Michelle and your dad must be thrilled you’re here,” Barrett said, looking forward again. It was hard to look at her.
“I don’t know if they are this time,” she answered. “Thrilled, that is.”
Barrett looked at her, confused. She sighed.
“I quit my job in Atlanta,” she confessed, not really knowing why. “Which disappoints them. And coming here was a surprise gone bad I guess.” She glanced over at him.
Ah. Bad because of his presence he supposed, something that hurt him.
“Not because of you,” she said, like she was reading his mind. “I just should have told them. I shouldn’t have dropped in on her at work.”
Barrett didn’t say anything for a moment. He’d decided to leap back into her life (and her car) in a spontaneous burst of bravado and confidence but now he wasn’t sure what to say. Nothing quite got to him like Scarlet Bloom. He was calm and collected in heated board room meetings, in litigation, and even on television. But in front of her, he was completely lost. Just hearing her voice again almost brought him to his knees. He was both angry with her and completely drunk in her presence with the feelings he still harbored inside. He hated himself for it.
“Well, I’m sure she’s happy to see you. She talks about you all the time. Much to my dismay, admittedly,” he confessed. He glimpsed a smile, just briefly.
“She really needs to stop that,” Scarlet said. “There’s not much to say about me, really.”
“I think we both know that’s not true,” he said.
“I don’t want to talk about the past,” she said. “Seriously. I’m willing to let you ride with me for whatever reason you need to but I swear to God I will kick you out of my car if you talk about anything-“
“Relax,” he said, touching her hand that was shaking on the steering wheel. As soon as he did, the warmth of her skin went right to his crotch and he pulled away quickly.
“Sorry,” he said. “Habit.”
“It’s fine,” she said, clearly shaken. “I get it. I’m sorry, Barrett, I just can’t get into anything with you. I don’t mean to be cold. I don’t want to be like this with you.”
Then don’t be he thought. But he didn’t say it.
They drove the rest of the way in silence and Barrett suddenly wasn’t sure what he expected from this drive. Just that he didn’t want it to end at Green Valley Ranch. He might not have a chance again.
“Scarlet,” he said, as they pulled into the front entrance. “Please. Have lunch with me. It doesn’t have to be about the past. Fuck, Scarlet, I haven’t seen you in five years. I just want to know what life has been like. Is that so terrible?”
Scarlet shook her head, “Please, Barrett. I can’t. It’s been hard enough driving this far with you.”
“What the hell?” he was angry now. “Why am I a bad guy? You act like you just had to drive a serial killer across town and not someone you claimed to love at one time.”
“You’re not a bad guy, Barrett,” she said, tears in her eyes and a catch in her voice. “I’m just not ready to see you. Can’t you tell?”
Barrett was so frustrated. Here was Scarlet, finally in front of him, and she was sobbing in a rental car asking him to go away. All he wanted to do was sweep her up in his arms and somehow make everything okay again. Another part of him wanted to shake her, yell at her to tell him what the fuck happened between them, ask her why she was being this way when she was the one that smashed his heart into a million pieces five years ago.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I know,” she said, calming down for a moment. “I just wasn’t expecting to see you. If I had known… Well, shit, I at least would have looked better.”
He smiled, “You look fucking amazing.”
She caught his eyes for a moment. Her eyes were still as breathtaking as ever but there was a sadness to them now. All he wanted to know was what put that sadness there. Why wouldn’t she let him see it?
“Barrett,” she sighed. “Don’t lie.”
“I’m not,” he said, turning to her. “You look as beautiful as ever, Scarlet. And since when do you have to look a certain way for me? You fucking stopped me in my tracks the second you got off that elevator. And now you want me to go in and pretend I didn’t see you. Scarlet, I just can’t.”
“Please try to,” she said, looking away from him.
He shook his head, “I can’t. I’ll let you go for now, but I have to see you again. When we’ve both calmed down a bit. Please.”
She looked straight ahead and he was sure she was going to say no.
“Okay,” she agreed. “One dinner. I don’t leave until at least next Monday. So it can be whatever night works best for you.”
“How about tomorrow night?” he asked, trying not to show his enthusiasm.
She shook her head, “I need more time. Thursday night at the earliest.”
“Okay,” he said, not wanting to push his luck. “Thursday night. Dinner. And drinks.”
“Dinner,” she said, looking at him knowingly. “Don’t push it.”
He nodded and stepped out of the car. She drove away without another word. Not even a wave goodbye.
Five Years Earlier…
“Yes!”
Barrett was fucking Scarlet for the eighth time in two days. They’d escaped to Asheville for the weekend and holed themselves up in a cabin that overlooked the Smoky Mountains. The house was massive, with a wraparound porch that he was currently bending Scarlet over, thrusting into her mercilessly from behind.
“Please,” she said breathlessly. “Come inside me. I can’t take much more. It feels so fucking good but I’m so sore, Barrett. You’ve been taking me all day. How do you not come?”
“It isn’t easy,” he said, panting a bit. “But I don’t want it to end. Ever.”
She turned around to face him, a grin on her face.
“Me either,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Take me back to the living room and have me on that ridiculous bear skin rug.”
He laughed, kissing her on the nose, “It’s pretty fucking ridiculous, right?”
“Seriously. I didn’t know those were actually real,” she giggled, wrapping her legs around his naked and chiseled torso. “But fuck me on it anyway.”
He carried her back inside at her request, kissing her deeply as he slowly walked with her in his arms into the living room. He gently laid her down on the rug, staring at her glorious body for a moment.
“God, you’re fucking perfect,” he said. “I can’t believe you’re mine.”
She smiled, “I can’t believe you’re mine, Barrett Evers. This has been the best summer of my life.”
He laid down next to her and they didn’t say anything for a moment, just stared at one another, taking in whatever it was that was happening. The air was thick with the smell of their lovemaking. But Barrett still felt like he could never get enough of Scarlet. She was a never ending need, something he couldn’t imagine ever having lived without. He wanted to go back in time and start this sooner. Get as much of her as he could. He’d never loved anyone so much. He doubted anyone had ever loved someone as much as he loved her.
“Go down on me,” she whispered. “You’re so good at it.”
He raise
d an eyebrow, making her laugh.
“How good?” he asked, slowly kissing his way down her breasts.
“The very best,” she said. Goosebumps raised on her perfect skin. He kissed his way down her taut stomach, smelling her need.
“I’ll only do it if you come for me many, many times,” he said. He licked her then and she moaned loudly, her hips bucking.
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” she said breathlessly.
He spread her open and took in her scent. His cock hardened just from the smell. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Scarlet’s pussy was something that wars would be fought over if it had been a different time period. He devoured her slowly, sucking her clit as she came almost violently under his mouth.
“Fuck,” she said. “God. Please don’t stop.”
And he didn’t. For an hour.
********
They fell asleep in the last place he had her, the bed in the loft on the second floor. He’d finally come, deep inside her as she’d ridden him, her bouncing breasts being the stuff his dreams would be made of that night.
He woke around 5 am and watched her sleep. He kissed her softly on her shoulder and her eyes fluttered open.
“Barrett,” she whispered. “I love you.”
“Scarlet, I’ll love you forever.”
She smiled, pulling him towards her, spreading her perfect legs.
“Fuck me again,” she said. “But slower this time.”
He entered her and she gasped, something he never got tired of. She was truly so tight, so snug around his cock, like they were built for this very action. He thrusted slowly and they were quiet as they made love, the only sounds were Scarlet’s moans and her begging for more of him, whispering how close she was. He said nothing, only kissed her harder as the thrusts quickened, his pace matching her hips’ rising.