by Alexis Leia
“What’s this, Chris?” Mona asked with a fake smile on her face, looking falsely confused.
Forget the Grammy, the woman deserved a Golden Globe.
“This is you interrupting my Thanksgiving dinner with my girlfriend”, he said, looking calmer and sounding nonchalant as he approached Selene and put an arm over her shoulders.
“Chris, you are going to be a father. You can’t keep having different women all the time, especially when we get married”, Mona said, sounding like a scolding first grade teacher.
Selene burst laughing, shaking her head while Chris plopped on the couch, looking extremely relaxed.
“Who are you, and what’s so funny?” Mona asked, her brown eyes wide and rimmed with fake eyelashes.
“Oh, you don’t remember? That’s okay, I wouldn’t want to remember the person who knocked me on my ass, either”, Selene said and took her seat next to Chris, who hugged her almost absentmindedly.
“I’m sorry, I don’t remember. But I would like you to leave”, Mona kept acting like she had every right to kick Selene out of Chris’s house. Seriously, did people actually buy anything she said? She had the voice of an angel, but the character of a devil.
“This is my girlfriend in my house and I want her to stay. You’re the one who should leave”, Chris said.
Mona furiously walked over and sat on the opposite couch.
“I’m the mother of your child, you dumb idiot. You can’t treat me like that”, she steamed.
“You know Chris, I must agree with her on this one. You are a dumb idiot, and you know why?” Selene asked and leaned forward to put her arms on her knees.
She had asked Jackson and Emmet to do some deeper research about Mona when she found out about the supposed pregnancy. She never told Chris about it, but Selene knew there was something fishy about that woman. She got the feeling that Mona was obsessed with Chris, and not so stable in her head. Selene’s suspicions had grown tenfold when she dug out an old article where Mona said she never wanted to have children. She said that before becoming popular, so it wasn’t exactly headline-worthy, but that didn’t change the fact that she was a heartless, cold, pathological liar.
“Why?” Chris asked her, frowning suspiciously.
“Because you hadn’t thought of checking Mona’s background when she announced this fake pregnancy to the world. Fortunately, you have an awesome girlfriend, that is me, who checked it for you. Turns out, Mona had a tubectomy when she was only twenty-two, so that would be six years ago. In other words, she is completely sterile and unable to have children.”
Chris sat up straight and gave Mona such a cold stare, Selene was surprised the room didn’t freeze over.
“Is that true?” he asked in a deadly voice.
“I – no, she’s... she’s lying”, Mona whined, wearing a terrified expression on her beautiful face. It was a shame, really, how an ugly personality could diminish your beauty, Selene thought.
“How do you think the world would react if I told the press the truth about your medical condition? Your carefully constructed image would shatter into million pieces. Mona Walker, the ‘girl next door’, is actually a liar and a manipulator.”
“You wouldn’t”, Mona almost screeched.
“Chris, I can show you the copy of her medical records if you want. I just found out this morning, after Emmet sent me the pictures and a copy of the file. Now, tubectomy is reversible, but according to the file, she hasn’t done it yet”, Selene said.
“You had no right! That’s illegal!” Mona yelled, her eyes wild.
“Maybe, but I’d get away with it, you know, if I had a justified suspicion that you were committing the crime of defamation. And you were doing exactly that; claiming Chris was the father of your non-existent child, when in fact you were sleeping with other men who could’ve been the potential fathers. What exactly were you trying to do here, Mona? Make him marry you before the pregnancy was supposed to show and then trip and fall down the stairs, claiming you lost your baby?” Selene’s voice was getting colder by the second.
“You are going to pay for this!”
“Shut up, right now. I’m fighting really hard not to lose my control, and you’re not helping. Not only did you lie to the entire world, you also tried to frame Chris. In addition to that, you used the sacred condition of pregnancy, something that should be respected, and tried to turn it into something ugly. Do you know how many women are trying to get pregnant at this very moment? And you actually wanted to fake it just to trap the man who doesn’t want you in his life. It’s not only evil, it shows a deep lack of self-respect. You should be ashamed of yourself. And I’m glad you got your tubes tied; no child deserves to have such a heartless, cold, and disgusting person for a mother.”
Mona then got up, acting dignified with her head held up high, too high for a person who effectively wanted to commit a fraud.
“Chris, I didn’t want to hurt you in any way. I love you and I wanted us to be together, no matter the cause or the consequence. But now I see that you don’t feel the same, and I am forced to end our relationship right now. Goodbye, and have a good life”, Mona said and walked away.
Selene’s mouth gaped open and she simply stared at Chris.
“Leave her. She’s not right in the head”, he said.
“That’s an understatement”, Selene fumed.
“You were fucking amazing”, Chris told her and kissed her hard.
She pushed him away, laughing.
“If you hadn’t been so paranoid, then none of this would’ve happened. Turn on the TV, there’s dozens of paparazzi outside and I think Mona is having a live coverage on at least five gossip channels”, she said.
Chris turned on the TV, and there was Mona, in front of his house, sporting a fake smile on her face as she waved to the photographers.
“Miss, Walker! Over here! Did Chris finally admit he was the father of your child?” the reporter asked.
Selene leaned forward, concentrated on her lying face.
“Oh, no. Chris is not the father of my baby. We are just really good friends. He just recently came back from his trip and I came by to say hello and catch up. I’m in a relationship, and I would never cheat on my boyfriend”, Mona lied, which only earned her a thousand more questions. Chris turned off the TV and shook his head.
“Some people are seriously batshit crazy”, he commented.
“I agree. Let’s eat”, Selene said and stood up, but Chris knocked her down on the couch, climbing on top of her.
“I’m hungry for you”, he said passionately, and began kissing her, which made her breathless with desire.
But then the doorbell rang again, and Chris got off of her with an angry groan.
“I swear, I’ll beat up whoever decided to interrupt us”, he said and she sat up on the couch, fixing her clothes and hair for whoever might be dropping by.
Suddenly, a horde of people barged in, greeting Chris, slapping him on the back. Selene recognized a large number of people; A-list actors, singers, businessmen, and so on. They all crowded the space, completely ignoring Selene since she obviously wasn’t part of the scene.
She watched Chris looking surprised, but then he quickly covered it up and turned into the politest host the world had ever seen.
Surely this was the moment when he would introduce her to his friends. She stood there, a loner among the crowd, wearing a hopeful smile on her face when Chris’s gaze found her. He looked at her for a second, and just as she thought he was going to at least invite her over to stand by his side, he did nothing. With a slight frown, she stepped towards him, but he shook his head, and turned his back on her to continue chatting with his friends.
She was rooted to the spot for a second, but then reality hit her and tears pooled in her eyes. She ran up the stairs, running away from the crowd, from Chris, from herself. Her heart broke into million pieces and she finally felt this was the end. She said she would end this under her own terms, and this was it. S
he only wanted to go home, not caring about the stalker or anything else; she simply had to get away from Chris.
She paced around the bedroom, trying to calm herself as tears trickled down her cheeks. If she ever said this would be the end she expected, she’d be lying her ass off. This betrayal and hurt were definitely unexpected. She was thankful to God she hadn’t unpacked, because she quickly changed her clothes and retrieved her suitcases. She then called the airport, to book the first flight back to Denver. She was lucky; they had one seat for her, and the flight was at five a.m. So, she still had six more hours to endure. She could do this, she encouraged herself as she sat on the bed, shaking.
Her phone rang, and her tears ran harder when she saw Emmet’s name on the screen. It was a little taste of home, a little sign that she should go back.
“Hello?” she answered, trying to make her voice sound normal, because the policeman in Emmet would immediately notice her distress.
“How’s my favorite friend?” his voice was cheerful. God, she needed both him and Annie right now.
“Oh you know, conquering L.A.”
“Is it magnificent enough to steal you away from us?”
She laughed humorlessly. “Not a chance in hell. I was actually thinking about something, and please hear me out before you refuse, okay?”
“I’m not sure I like where this is going.”
“Please, just listen”, she pleaded, toying with the idea that’d appeared in her mind a few days back.
“I’ve just booked a ticket to Colorado. Now, I know it’s dangerous, Emmet. I’m not an idiot, and I’ve learned my lesson. But I think we’re approaching this the wrong way. I think I actually need to be the bait for the attacker. They need to see me to be convinced they stand a chance. I don’t think they’re stupid. After the car thing, they must know I notified the police and went into hiding. I want them to think I believe the danger has passed, to lure them out”, she elaborated, holding her breath when Emmet remained silent.
“We’ve seen a car circling around your house couple of times these past few days. We’ve put out an APB, but turns out, the plates are fake. We haven’t seen the car since then, nor have we identified the driver. So, they’re definitely exploring the possibilities.”
“All the more reason for me to come back! This might be our real shot here, Em.”
“Why are you in such a rush to do this?” the sheriff in him took over.
It was something she definitely didn’t want to discuss over the phone. However, her desperate need to distance herself from Chris wasn’t the only reason she wanted to become a living bait. She hated hiding and leaving her life behind. She had a job, people she loved, and kids to protect back in Mountainview. One sick asshole wasn’t going to take that away from her. She had dealt with a situation more dire in the past, and fear wasn’t going to control her again.
“I want my life back”, she simply said, meaning it in more ways than one.
Emmet let out a long sigh. “Fine. We’re going to do this, but under my terms. You will listen to everything I tell you, and you’ll do as I say. Are we clear?”
Relief and adrenaline pumped through her veins as she prepared for the multitude of showdowns that were going to take place in the near future.
“Yes. I trust you with my life.”
“Good. Then we’ll work together to preserve it. Now, when are you and Ledford in Denver?”
Selene swallowed hard. “I’ll be coming alone.”
“What? It isn’t safe. Does he know about this?”
“Look, Em, just let it go. I don’t want him dragged into this mess anymore. He will be informed of everything, but my return doesn’t depend on him.”
“Something’s happened, hasn’t it?”
“Yes, it has. But that’s all irrelevant now”, she insisted.
“Will you pick me up from the airport? I’m supposed to land at 7:30.”
Emmet cursed, but reluctantly agreed. “He’s going to freak out.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of everything”, she said, and her voice softened.
“Thank you, Em. I love you so much, brother”, she started crying again.
“I love you too, Sel. Don’t cry. We’ll make everything okay again.”
They hung up, with Selene still an emotional wreck. Once the tears dried out, and her face felt all bloated and blotchy, she took a deep breath and formed a plan.
Chris destroyed her like she knew he would, but she was going to make herself unforgettable to him. She loved him too much to try and hurt him, but would finally do something he was always scared of: she was going to be completely honest with him, letting him know the truth, and then she would walk out of his life, never looking back.
Leaving him would shatter her, but staying by his side after he failed to acknowledge her existence when surrounded by his friends would be humiliating. She was prone to overreacting sometimes, when she felt threatened and insecure. But she didn’t feel as if this was an overreaction. She was sick of listening to his side, and compromising just to get little pieces of his affection. It wasn’t just a matter of a broken heart, it was a matter of preserving her self-respect.
So, it was better to break it all off sooner rather than later, using the best tool in history: cold, harsh truth. She went to her suitcase and pulled out the sexy underwear she bought to surprise him. She was going to give him a goodbye he would never forget.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
When Chris finally said goodbye to the last guest of the night, he felt tired and the only thing he wanted was to curl up in bed next to Selene. She disappeared from the party earlier, and he couldn’t blame her. This chaos was an acquired taste. And if he was being honest, he didn’t want to expose her to this side of his life, didn’t want to introduce her to everyone, knowing that if he did, gossiping would immediately start.
The reporters would find out everything about her within an hour and he knew she would hate that, since she had just become the mayor, and the public eye wouldn’t benefit her. Besides, she was still in danger from the psycho who had tried to hurt her. That’s why he had kept quiet, silently telling her not to get into the crowd, and hadn’t introduced her as his girlfriend in order to protect her. He was pretty sure she’d understand.
He climbed up the stairs quietly, throwing a last glance at the living room and the house that meant nothing to him. He knew what he was going to do; he was going to sell the mansion and change his permanent address to Mountainview. He was going to make it work; he had enough money to live more than comfortably for the rest of his life, but he wasn’t going to give up on making music. He finally had a plan.
The bedroom was quiet when he entered, but Selene wasn’t in bed. The lights were muted, only yellow-ish glow illuminating it a little.
“Baby? Where are you?” he called her.
Then, the bathroom door opened and he almost passed out. Selene walked out of the bathroom, wearing only a red lace bra, a matching thong and a pair of silver sky-high heels. She walked toward him in slow motion, a seductive smile on her lips, looking like Jessica Rabbit, only ten times more gorgeous. His body reacted, almost making him drool and pant in desire. He started approaching her, but she stopped him.
“Not so fast. Today, I’m taking the lead. Are you up to it?” she said sultrily.
Fuck yeah, he was up to it.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked her, his voice deep, noticing how she devoured him with her eyes.
“Take your clothes off. All of it”, she ordered and he obeyed.
He watched her lick her lips when he slowly took his shirt off. She stared at his chest with such desire, he wanted to be inside her immediately. But he played her little game; he put his thumbs under the waistband of his sweatpants, pulling them lower but stopping midway.
“Do you like what you see?” he whispered hoarsely, quoting her in the same tone she used.
“I like it so much, I’m happy we didn’t have any p
lans tonight”, she said, sounding very aroused.
He gave her a slow, crooked grin and took all of his clothes off. He was standing in front of the bed when she walked over, her hips swaying, and pushed him to lie down on the bed. Selene then climbed on top of him and sat on his thighs, his cock safely nestled between her legs. He caressed her thighs, enjoying the feel of her creamy, soft skin under his fingertips. She lowered herself down, her lips teasing his own. He grabbed the back of her neck to pull her down for a deep kiss he wanted, desperate to taste her again. She allowed it; she kissed him hard, her tongue battling his in that already very familiar passionate way. She rubbed her core against his cock, leaving a wet trail through her panties that almost pushed him over the edge. He had to have her right then, or he was going to explode.
“I have to be inside you”, he growled when she bit his lower lip.
But then she rose up, leaving him panting on the bed. He lifted his head up to follow her as she went inside his walk-in closet and retrieved two of his ties, one black and one shiny red.
“What are you doing?” he asked her, feeling half-crazy in need.
“Have you ever been tied up?” she asked sensually.
“No”, he said, but failed to say that he was the one who usually tied women up. He wasn’t particularly keen on it, but it was an interesting way to spice up your sex life sometimes.
“Then I’ll be your first. Trust me”, she said and lifted his arms above his head to the iron headboard. After a second of hesitation, he complied and let her tie his wrists to the headboard. He wanted her so much, he would pretty much let her do anything she wanted. When she was done securing his wrists with tight, strong knots, she began placing kisses all over his chest and abdomen, causing goosebumps to jump up on his skin.
“You have such an amazing body”, she said and then licked and nipped his hipbone, making his hips involuntarily jump up.
“You’re killing me, baby”, he said in a raspy voice.
She had no idea what she was doing to him.