“Trent?” I asked.
Cali stiffened. “What?”
“You did this.”
“You were going to marry him. And he didn’t know about you.”
“Screw you, Cali,” I said.
“No,” she said. “You listen to me. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?”
“You’re my little sister. I didn’t know… what did you do?”
We were both ready to cry.
I wanted to hit her.
But I wanted to hug her too.
“Okay… it was fake. Okay, Cali? It was all fake.”
“Fake?”
“Dex wanted to stay out of jail. I needed to show Trent I didn’t love him anymore.”
“What?”
“And you fucking ruined it!” I yelled.
“Candice…”
“You told Dex about Trent. That was my job to do. My job.”
“You said it was fake…”
“It was fake,” I said. “Then it turned into something else for me. I fell in love with Dex. Real love. Not your kind of love, Cali. But my kind of love. Don’t I deserve that?”
Cali lowered her head. “Oh… shit…”
“Shit? That’s it? You told Dex about Trent and he called him.”
“What?”
“He called Trent. Tracked him down. Set up a date for me and him. I have to go see Trent now.”
“I didn’t mean for it… I just…”
“You wanted to control the story,” I said. “Like you always fucking do. You can’t just stay away. Just stay out of my life.”
Cali started to cry. “I’m sorry. I saw it with her. You were too young to see it. She would ruin relationships out of fear. And every time I thought we were going to be a family she did it again. And again.”
“I’m not her…”
“You lost the business and just left everything behind.”
“Because I needed to. Trent wasn’t good for me. Or the business. He was…” I swallowed hard. “He used the business for other things. I don’t understand the terms but he used my business to make himself look good. And he tied my business to some of his stuff and when that fell through, so did my business.”
“Candice, I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t,” I said. “You never let me talk about it. You just jump in and judge. Now look what you did.”
“I’ll call him…”
“Who?”
“Dex.”
“How do…”
You went through my phone. Got his number. Called or texted him to meet. And he did. And you told him about Trent. And then he tracked down Trent…
I moved toward Cali and hugged her.
She stiffened again.
“You’re the only family I have,” I whispered. “I’m moving out of your house. And you have to stay the fuck out of my life.”
I broke the hug and Cali grabbed my arms. “You really love him?”
“Yeah,” I said. “And I don’t need a diamond ring. And a house on a quiet street. And three guest rooms and a finished basement…”
“You don’t need my life,” Cali said. “I see that now.”
“You fucking suck,” I said. “You’re my sister. I love you. We’ll get through this. We’ll laugh about it… maybe. But you fucking suck. You don’t even know everything about your own husband. Or your son. He wants to play guitar? Let him. And you… sit there and think you’re high and mighty but secretly reading trashy, gossip sites. Figure yourself out, Cali. I know who I am. Don’t fuck with that.”
I walked out of the kitchen and I heard Cali chasing after me.
She grabbed my arm and turned me around to hug me.
“Did Trent really do that to you?” she asked.
“Yes. And he made it seem that he could come after me personally. So I left. I wasn’t sure what it meant…”
“He’ll never do that,” Cali said. “Keith knows lawyers. Dex has lawyers.”
“This is personal,” I said.
“What are you going to do?”
I swallowed hard. “Give both Dex and Trent exactly what they want from me.”
* * *
As I walked toward the restaurant there were people taking my picture.
Just regular looking men and women.
They wore their cameras like weapons, slinging the cameras forward and taking picture after picture as I opened the door.
Of course it was a fancy and romantic restaurant.
And of course Trent sat at the window.
This was what Toby meant by the ending.
It was me meeting another man for dinner. To pump up the Filthy Line drama. And to… what? Make me look like a whore? Like I was cheating on Dex? Or maybe it was my chance to have a say. To tell everyone that Dex and I were done because of the paparazzi and the stories and all the stuff on social media.
Trent looked the same as always.
He wore nice pants and nice sweaters and had the exact same hair. That meant he would get his hair cut twice a week. Not a lie either. That way he could keep the same look. The appearance was just that. Appearance. Everything he said and did was some sort of manipulation on some other deal he was working on.
There were moments though when he was real.
When I had a bad day and started to cry. And he plucked a rose from the flower shop I owned and gave it to me to make me smile. When he told me about some of the deals he had that went really bad. That realness made us connect. But that was the only real connection we had.
And I figured that out after meeting Dex.
Everything I did with Trent was wrong.
“Look at you,” Trent said. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Why are you here?” I asked him.
“What? I got a call from your fiancé. He told me everything.”
“Oh yeah? What did he tell you?”
“He said you were still in love with me,” Trent said. “Which we already knew, Candice. I give the guy credit. A big shot like him admitting what he did. That’s pretty amazing. You can tell he cares for you. He could have just bought his way into your heart but he didn’t. Hell, I might become a rock ‘n’ roll fan now. How about that?”
Trent moved toward me, arms open, like nothing happened between us.
Like I didn’t get a letter and a call that my building was being foreclosed on and that my business was so far in debt I was just as fucked as the building. Or that Trent screwed me over by tying everything to his deals… and that he was able to walk away without getting hurt even though I was losing my business. I had no choice but to walk away. To get away from him. To run to Cali. Because she was my big sister. And even in this situation she did mean well.
But…
But…
It was my life.
From the corner of my eye I saw the people with their cameras outside the windows.
And with Trent just a handful of inches from touching me, I made a fist and swung.
I hit him in the cheek.
Which didn’t do much of anything.
Other than wake his ass up.
He stepped back and touched his face. “What in the hell?”
“Get the fuck out of here, Trent,” I said. “We were never anything real. And we never will be.”
“What?”
“You think you can scare me? Here’s how this works now… everyone out there taking our picture? They’re looking for a story. They thought it was going to be me breaking off my engagement to Dex for you. That’s not going to happen. What’s going to happen is this… if you fuck with me ever again I’ll tell them the truth about you. You fucking scumbag. And if you think for a second you can come near me with lawyers… personally or whatever… I’ll have my rock star fiancé come after you with his lawyers. And believe me, Trent, you don’t want to know the shit Dex has done and gotten out of because of his lawyers.”
Trent was shocked. Rubbing his cheek. Shocked.
&nb
sp; “Candice…”
“Talking. Texting. If you even think my name, I will destroy you, Trent. So don’t fuck with me, my fiancé, or these asshole paparazzi, because I will tell whatever story I want and everyone will believe me over you.”
From our left, a tall, young man approached carrying what looked like a cherry cheesecake. One hand behind his back, balancing the cake with his other hand as it sat so peacefully on a round tray.
“Got you your favorite dessert,” Trent said. “Thought we were celebrating…”
“We are celebrating,” I said.
I took the tray from the waiter and didn’t hesitate for a second as I threw it at Trent.
It was like right out of a movie… the cheesecake smashing against his jackass face.
The cherries dripped all over his face and clothes.
“And for the record… fuck cherry cheesecakes. Give me something with chocolate.”
I showed Trent my middle finger and walked away.
Even then, the moron had the nerve to keep talking to me.
“Where are you going now?” he asked.
I looked back at him as he wiped dessert off his face.
I swallowed hard.
I knew what I wanted.
“I’m going to where I belong right now… a strip club.”
21
Dex
Bethany sat on the arm of the giant leather chair, her legs across to the other side. Her legs were like a table to me as I helped myself to another drink. She sat wearing nothing but a black pair of panties with the Filthy Line logo in a very important spot.
“How many of those are you going to drink?” she asked.
“All of them.”
“I’m going to have to call Toby, Dex.”
“Go ahead. I don’t give a fuck.”
“Or I’ll just call Nash.”
“Hey, B, call anyone you want,” I said. “I’m staying in here so I don’t start a fight.”
“Who are you going to fight?”
“How about that asshole that tried giving you a wedgie?”
Bethany swung her legs off the chair. She inched down to my lap and hugged me. Her perfectly positioned paid for tits were like two warm, glittery pillows for my face.
And it did nothing to or for me.
I hated my cock.
Bethany hugged me like she cared. “I told you that you had met your match. And she’s gone and ripped you apart, Dex.”
“But I still have you, right?”
Bethany looked down at me. “You owe me for all this time in here.”
“You didn’t do anything.”
“Oh, I did plenty,” she said. “Sitting here listening to you talk. I’d rather deal with the wedgie guy than this bullshit.”
“Wow,” I said.
She slithered off me and stood up. “Also for the record, you’re an idiot. But that’s a whole other conversation.”
“We can have that one later. Go get me another drink. And make it quick or else I won’t tip you.”
“Fuck yourself, Dex,” Bethany said.
She walked out of the private room and I curled my lip.
The dark purple velvet room was all mine. Like it always was. Shit, the things we did in this room…
I shook my head.
It would all go away soon enough.
Time always moved forward and this too would chase itself away.
Truthfully I didn’t need Bethany. Or Ana.
I needed Destiny. A no name beauty that would share the sheets with me for a night and then disappear. Rinse and repeat until the memory of Candice was gone.
Better yet… I needed the road.
I grabbed my phone.
I needed to call Toby and tell him to get fucking moving on that.
A tour bus. The road. Unlimited booze. Other stuff. New women in each city.
I saw the curtain open from the corner of my eye as I found Toby’s texts.
“You better have a fucking drink for me,” I said.
“I have something.”
I dropped my phone and looked forward.
Candice was here.
* * *
The curtain opened again and in walked Bethany and Ana.
One on each side of Candice.
“What the hell is this?” I asked. I curled my lip again. “Don’t bother me unless you’re naked.” I reached into my pocket and took out money. I put it on the table next to me. “Come here, Bethany and Ana. You can take care of me.”
They both folded their arms.
Candice stepped forward.
I laughed. “What the fuck is this supposed to be?”
Without a word, Bethany and Ana left the room.
Candice stood in front of me and stared down.
“You going to get naked or what?” I asked.
“You’re in love with me,” she said. “You actually love me, Dex.”
“Fuck that. I don’t.”
“Yes, you do. You tracked down Trent for me. You let my sister get into your heart and you got all twisted up because of me.”
“You’re out of your damn mind, sweetie,” I said. “We did our thing. I’m out of jail. You’re free to do what you want.”
Candice nodded. She looked over her shoulder for a second and then grabbed the bottom of her shirt.
My hands tightened to the arms of the chair.
She lifted her shirt and took it off, throwing it to the floor.
“Tell me you love me, Dex,” she said.
I laughed. “Is this a game now?”
She unbuttoned her jeans. And she leaned forward and pushed them down her legs.
My cock was back alive again.
Twisting and throbbing inside my jeans.
I gritted my teeth. “Why don’t you tell me you love me, sweetie… we both know you fell for me…”
Candice stepped out of her shoes and her jeans. “That’s right, Dex. I fell in love with you. Just like you fell in love with me. Right?”
“What else do you have for me? Keep telling stories.”
When she reached back and unsnapped her bra, I looked to my left.
My whiskey glass was empty.
I needed a drink.
This was fucking crazy…
Her bra hit the floor and Candice stood in front of me, topless.
Those perfect tits of hers. The right size for my hands.
My mouth watered.
“You’ve got everything wrong, Dex,” she said. “What you know. What you think you know. And I’m not leaving until I have your… full attention…”
I curled my lip even higher. “This is what you want to be, sweetie?”
Her hands slid down the sides of her thighs and off came her panties.
She was bent forward when she looked at me with her eyes devouring my entire fucking soul.
“I love you, Dex,” she whispered. “And I know what I want.”
I jumped up from the chair and moved toward Candice.
My hands had plenty of places to touch but I cupped her face.
“Are you fucking serious right now?” I growled. “Of course I fucking love you, sweetie. From the second I saw you in the cafe… I could have had anyone play that fake game with me. And it would have been easier. But I wanted you. I craved you. I needed you. And I knew you had a story that I had to hear.”
“Told you so… I knew you loved me.”
I put my mouth to hers and her hands touched between my legs.
She unzipped my jeans and I stepped back and sat back down in the chair.
Candice was then on top of me.
Our eyes locked tight together as she hovered over me.
“It was all a lie,” she whispered.
“What?”
“What Cali told you. I never wanted that. And what you did… for me…”
My hands grabbed her ass and pulled her down.
No more fucking talking, sweetie.
* * *
We ended up on the floo
r.
I wasn’t even sure how it happened.
The only time Candice left my arms was to get dressed.
I sat with my back to the big chair and held her.
We listened to the sound of the music pounding out in the main part of the strip club.
I laughed.
She shook her head.
“So we finally had that make up sex, huh?” I asked.
“I guess so,” she said. “In a fucking strip club.”
“You must really love me,” I said.
She looked back at me. “I really do. And everything that happened…”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Dex, I used you.”
“I used you too, sweetie.”
“I didn’t want any money because I wanted Trent to go away. I thought if he saw me engaged he would believe it and stay away.”
“And you never loved him?”
“Not like the way I love you,” she said to me. “I’ll tell you the whole story someday. But we don’t have to worry about him.”
“You sure?”
“I punched him in the face and then threw a cherry cheesecake in his face.”
“Damn,” I said. “Hope I never piss you off.”
“Dex, you always piss me off.”
“But you don’t hit me.”
“I need to work on that then.”
I held her tighter. I looked around the room. “How much do I owe you?”
“What?”
“For the striptease and… you know… the other part.”
“How about your life?” she asked.
I grabbed her left hand and hated that it was bare.
I took the same lizard and skull ring I had already given her once and slid it back on her finger.
“Dex…”
“We’re not engaged, sweetie,” I said. “Just together.”
“Just together,” she said.
Candice moved away from me and turned to face me, on her knees.
I reached for her face and she touched my shoulders.
We leaned toward each other and kissed.
“This is fucking crazy, Dex,” she whispered.
“It’s all I can give you,” I said.
She looked at her left hand. “Just together…”
A FILTHY Engagement: a filthy line novel Page 19