Instead of responding, I grabbed her hand, and we made our way down the stairs and toward the side of the pool, so I wouldn’t have to walk through the middle.
Since I’d arrived, Eve and I had stayed glued in our spot near the entrance. Before the video had been leaked, I would have walked around the room, introduced myself, and chatted with everyone I knew. But, now, all I thought about was that the people here had seen me naked. And that was enough to keep me planted away from the crowd.
Staying to the side, where hardly anyone was standing, I took us straight toward the back and up the few short steps until we were on the upper balcony and just a few feet from them.
Only a few months ago, I would have wanted to tell Abel how much I loved him, hoping he would say it in return. I would have wanted to know why he’d chosen her over me.
Not now.
As I looked at his back, at the two of them cuddling with his arms around her, I felt no love for him. In its place, I felt anger at the way he had hurt me. At the way he had treated me. I felt disgust over his cheating.
The betrayal I felt weighed so much more than any of the good times we’d shared.
Eve squeezed my hand before I took another step and mouthed, Are you sure?
I nodded and continued walking until I stood at the railing next to Sophia. “Can I talk to you?”
Her head snapped in my direction, and she gave me the same look as when she had seen me at the restaurant in LA. “What the fuck do you want?”
Slowly, my stare moved to Abel. This was the first time I’d seen him in person since the last party we were both at. It was the first time I’d felt his eyes on me. The first time I’d looked at his face, the one I’d kissed so many times and loved on and whispered all my goals and fears to.
And this was the first time I saw him for who he really was—the asshole who had lied and cheated and not given a shit about me.
I’d known the second Brett touched me outside the ladies’ room at the bar that he was the man I was supposed to be with.
I knew that even more now.
Abel was my past, and I felt nothing for him. All I wanted was to ask him a question, and then I never wanted to speak to him again.
“James,” he said softly.
It was just one word, but it was a powerful one. And it had been spoken right at me with what sounded like a little sympathy.
It was far too late for that.
After a quick glance at Eve, I shifted on my feet and moved my gaze to Sophia. “I just need to ask you both something. Then, I’ll leave you alone.”
“Why don’t you turn around and leave us alone now?” Sophia said.
“Why don’t you relax?” Eve spit back at her.
“Who the fuck are you?” Sophia snarled. “The director of the porn video or the girl who fixed James’s makeup when she was done banging him?”
“Listen, you fucking bitch—”
Abel interrupted Eve by saying, “Sophia, just let her speak.”
I took a deep breath, thinking of how I should word this. I had one chance, and if I messed it up, Sophia wasn’t going to give me another.
“There was a guy I hung out with at that party,” I started with. “We were together most of the afternoon and into the night. A few times, we passed where you guys were sitting.”
“What’s the point?” Sophia hissed.
“Do you remember him? Or what he looks like?”
“No,” Sophia said. “I barely remember you being at that party.”
That was a lie.
Every time my eyes had caught hers, she’d made sure to lay on the PDA extra thick. She’d definitely seen me; she just wouldn’t give me the satisfaction of knowing it.
“He had messy brown hair,” I added. “An extra-big smile. Larger teeth in the front. Some freckles under his eyes. He was about the same height as you, Abel.”
“You want me to recall someone who had large teeth? Is this some kind of joke?”
“No, it’s not a joke,” I said. “I need to know if you saw him there.”
“Big teeth doesn’t sound familiar,” she said, laughing.
I looked at Abel. “How about you?”
It appeared as though he was thinking about my question, his face softening the more he stared at me.
Sophia turned toward him and said, “Come on, babe. Let’s go. This is ridiculous.”
His eyes stayed on me, and eventually, he shook his head.
“Are you sure, Abel?”
I just needed to hear his voice. I needed to see the way his eyes changed when he gave me an answer. I needed to see his expression when his mouth opened.
But he gave me none of that. He just nodded, and Sophia grabbed his hand. Then, the two of them walked away.
“She’s a real piece of work,” Eve said. “He’s going to get sick of that quickly. My God, I can’t believe he hasn’t already. Her voice makes me want to stab my ears.”
I needed a second away from this party to reset my thoughts before I returned to the perch we’d been standing on for most of the night.
“I’m going to run to the restroom,” I told her. “I’ll meet you back where we were before in a couple of minutes.”
“I’ll go with you.”
I put my hand on her bare shoulder. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry. Just wait for me on the upper patio.”
She nodded, and I went inside the hotel, weaving through the short hallway and into the ladies’ room where I locked myself in a stall. I took out my phone and scrolled through my messages just to get my mind off the last few minutes.
It didn’t work.
All I could see was the hatred on Sophia’s face. I had no idea why she disliked me so much. The only thing that made sense was that she felt threatened by me. I didn’t know why since she clearly had more of Abel than I had. She had to be an extremely insecure person, obviously worried that Abel would cheat like he’d done when he was with me.
Those two assholes deserve each other.
But, now, what really sucked, besides that I’d had to go to my enemies for help, was that I still wasn’t any closer to finding out who Calvin was, and I had no one else to turn to.
Knowing I wouldn’t come up with any answers in here, I left the stall and went over to the sink to wash my hands. I barely had the water turned on when I heard the restroom door open. Quickly looking over my shoulder, I saw Sophia walk in and reach behind herself to twist the lock.
“We need to talk,” she said.
My stomach began to churn, my hands shaking so badly that I had to wrap them around my body. “What do you want?”
“I want you to leave Abel alone.” She took a couple more steps, and now, she was only a few feet away. “I’ve asked you this repeatedly, but you’re not a very good listener, are you, James?”
“I have left him alone.”
“What do you call tonight then? Coming up to us at a party to ask us the most pathetic question, which was just an excuse to talk to him. God, you’re so desperate.”
“You have it all wrong.”
“Abel is fucking disgusted that you filmed a sex tape and showed your pussy to the entire world. You repulse him. He wants nothing to do with you, and he doesn’t want to talk to you. So, what is it going to take to get you to realize that? Because I feel like I’ve tried everything. I’ve warned you, and I’ve threatened you, and you still haven’t listened to me.”
“Abel means nothing to me.”
She laughed, and it was the most obnoxious sound. “Do you expect me to believe that? I know you’re obsessed with him.”
She was goading me. Fighting back was what she wanted. And it was taking everything I had not to tell her about Brett. But she was really starting to test me.
“I think you’re the one who’s obsessed with him.” I went to step around her, and she mirrored my movement. “We’re finished here.”
“Oh no, we’re not, honey. I asked you what it was going to take. I want a fucking ans
wer.”
The sickness in my stomach was gone. Now, there was just anger, and it was running through my whole body.
“I’m telling you, I’m done,” I demanded.
“I don’t believe you.”
I heard someone at the restroom door. They were trying to pull it open, but because of the lock, it wouldn’t budge.
“Believe me,” I said, “I won’t be wasting my time talking to either of you. I’ve moved on, Sophia. You really need to, too. Dwelling on the past makes you look like a psycho, jealous girlfriend.”
“Fiancée.”
“Yikes,” I said. “That’s even worse.”
“Open this door right now, or I’ll call security,” I heard Eve say.
Eve is the person at the door?
She’s come to check on me.
God, I love her.
“Go ahead,” Sophia muttered. “Run off to your porn director. I’m done with you anyway.” She moved over to the counter and started opening her clutch, like she was going to grab a lipstick.
I rushed around her and met Eve outside in the hallway.
“Why the hell was the door locked?” she asked when I clung my arm around hers.
“Sophia locked it.”
“She’s in there?” She stopped and turned, as though she was going to go into the restroom. “I’ll kill that bitch.”
“Eve, no.” I squeezed her hand. “That’s what she wants, and I’m done pleasing her.”
She looked at me with her teeth clenched. “Then, we’re going to go tell Brett what happened because her ass needs to be kicked out.”
Oh, boy.
If this was the way Eve was reacting, I could only imagine how Brett was going to respond when I told him Sophia had locked me in the restroom.
The problem was, maybe I had asked for it by confronting them at the party.
Unfortunately, that was something I’d have to tell him, too.
Brett
Max, Eve, James, and I were on the top floor of the hotel in a suite that the party planner had reserved for the night. She’d wanted us to have it in case we needed a break or to change our clothes or hold a private meeting.
I sure as fuck hadn’t planned on using it, so my girlfriend and her best friend could tell me what had just gone down with Abel and Sophia after promising they wouldn’t go anywhere near them.
I looked at Max, my anger boiling, as James told me she’d gotten locked in the restroom and the things Sophia had said to her while they were in there. Eve picked up the rest of the story from the moment James had left the restroom until she found us on the pool deck. That was when I’d handed Eve a room key and told her I was going to find Max and that we would meet them in the suite.
“Jesus Christ,” Max groaned as soon as Eve was finished. He leaned against the back of the couch, his arms crossed, his stare on the ground. “This is what I was afraid of and why I didn’t want either of you to go anywhere near them. You poked the bear, and Sophia exploded.”
What the hell did he just say?
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing right now,” I snapped at him. “I fucking know you didn’t just stick up for that cunt.”
“Agreed,” Eve said, looking like she was about to tackle him.
“You girls had no right to talk to them.”
Before I had a chance to yell at Max, James chimed in with, “I had every right.”
The girls were sitting on the couch across from us. James was on the edge of it, fidgeting nonstop.
“The detective asked me to reach out to everyone at the party that night to see if they knew Calvin. The two of them were there, so I had to say something. You would have done the same if you were in my situation.”
“I would have called them,” Max said.
“Don’t you think I would have done that, too, if I thought they would answer my call? But let’s be real; we both know Sophia would never do that. I had one chance to confront them, and I took it.”
Max shook his head, but he knew she was right.
Hell, I wasn’t fucking happy that she’d confronted them either, but she was taking her situation by the balls, and she was trying to make it better. Given their past, it had taken some nerve for her to go up to them. And, based on how anxious she’d been over the last few days, I had a feeling it was something she’d been debating.
“Do you think you’ll be able to go back down there and ignore them? Because, if you return to the party, that’s what I need you to do,” Max said to the both of them.
“Wait one fucking second,” I snapped at Max. “You want James to go down to the party and forget about it, like nothing happened? I don’t think so.”
“What are you suggesting, Brett?”
I didn’t care if he was my best friend. He was also my business partner, and when shit happened between clients, our friendship was no longer on the table. We would hash this out the same way we would if we were negotiating a deal.
“Sophia needs to go. I want her ass sent home immediately, and I want her contract terminated as of tomorrow morning. She needs to find a new company to represent her.”
“You’re unbelievable, you know that?” Max said. He walked over to the windows and turned around, so his back was resting against the glass. “You really think that locking a restroom door warrants a termination of her fucking contract? That’s the same thing we chastised the agents in LA for doing. It’s petty, it’s childish, and it’s not who we are.”
“This is different,” I growled.
“Why? Because James is your girlfriend? Because, if this were any other client, we wouldn’t be up here, having this conversation. We would have told security to calm them down, and we wouldn’t have given it another thought. But, now, we’re up here, talking about a client I make a lot of money off of and the beef she has with your girlfriend. And none of it is relevant to The Agency. I told you I wouldn’t get involved, and I meant it.”
“That’s it?” I roared. “That’s all you have to say about this?”
He stopped and looked at me. “Brett, I understand where you’re coming from, and I know this hits you personally, so I’m excusing your reaction, but I don’t think Sophia did anything wrong. James made the first move, and Sophia made the last one. Sounds like they’re pretty even to me.”
Max was right. I was treating this situation differently because James was my girlfriend.
I didn’t give a fuck.
Sophia had threatened my girl, and I wasn’t going to tolerate it.
“Get rid of her, Max.”
He continued walking to the door and turned around as he gripped the handle. “We’ll have a meeting with Jack and Scarlett about it on Monday and get them to weigh in. In the meantime, Sophia stays.” He looked at James. “I wish this hadn’t happened, and I’m sorry it got to this. I hope you understand where I’m coming from.”
He gave James a chance to respond, and she said nothing, so he walked out.
“I’m going to murder him,” Eve said.
I agreed, but I didn’t respond, and neither did James.
Several seconds of silence passed before I said, “I’ll figure it out. I’ll talk to security and—”
“No, Brett.” James stood and moved closer to me. “I didn’t tell you what had happened to get her kicked out. I told you because Eve had forced me to.” She glanced at her best friend, who looked like she was about to become unhinged. “Max is in a shitty situation, and as much as I hate Sophia, I get where he’s coming from. We all don’t need to hold this against him. From a business standpoint, he’s doing the right thing.”
“You’re more understanding than me,” I said.
“And me,” Eve replied.
“Listen to me, I need you to go back down there and finish the party. I’m going to head home.”
I didn’t want her to fucking leave, especially because of that cunt. But I wouldn’t put her in a situation where she could be threatened again, and kicking out her enemy after my disa
greement with Max wasn’t a smart move.
I took my phone out of my pocket, and I sent a message to the front desk of our building. When I finished, I said, “I want you to go to my condo, not yours. Whoever is working the door will take you to my elevator and make sure you get in.” I typed another text, this one to her driver. He replied instantly. “The SUV is downstairs, waiting for you.”
I closed the distance between James and me, and I pressed my lips against hers. She tasted of champagne and pears, and I wanted to lick it right off her tongue. But, after a short kiss, I pulled away, knowing that, if I didn’t stop, I never would.
“Give me a few minutes to get downstairs,” I told her. Then, I looked at Eve. “I want you to walk James straight to the lobby and out the front. No stops. Make sure she gets in that car safely, and report back to me that everything went all right.”
They both nodded.
I walked toward the door, turning around right before I reached it. My eyes scanned her body one last time, and I knew exactly what I wanted. “When I get home, you’d better still be wearing that dress.” I didn’t wait for her to respond before I went into the hallway and got in the elevator.
Brett
Two weeks had passed since the party, and Sophia Sully was still a client of The Agency. Like Max had suggested, we had met with Jack and Scarlett the Monday after and discussed everything that had happened between the girls. My partners were in agreement with Max. They didn’t believe the confrontation had anything to do with the company, so there was no reason to end her contract.
That had made me fucking furious.
It had taken some time for me to cool down, but eventually, I understood where they were coming from. I just wasn’t happy about it.
And James wasn’t pleased that she’d gotten nowhere by asking them if they knew who Calvin was. So, to try to get her mind off things, I had my assistant book us a yacht that would take us to Key West for a long weekend. James had never been before, and it was just what she needed.
Key West was nothing like Miami.
It wasn’t fancy, and it certainly wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t known for its beaches or clubs or even their hotels. Most of the places on the island were a bit of a shithole, which was why we stayed on the boat. But it was a place where James could wear flip-flops and not bother with makeup and dance to the music playing in the street and watch the most incredible sunsets.
Take Me To The Beach Page 87