Breathe Again (8 page)

“So I can’t punch her in the face?”

“Let me check with our lawyers.” Mr. Davenport winked at me and ushered me back into the boardroom without answering my question.

Tate looked up the moment I walked into boardroom and rushed across to me with pleading eyes. His hand grabbed mine and pulled me close enough that my senses were overcome by his scent. My eyes closed briefly as I became lost in delight and memories of only a mere few hours ago. An obnoxious scoff from the other side of the room ripped me back and my mood soured instantly.

“Don’t go back there, Sav. Remember you and me, only ever you and me. Remember this morning.” He dropped his face to my neck, and the feeling of his breathing and lips on my skin as he whispered made me forget everything that was happening in this room. “I can still feel my cock so deep in you that I saw stars. Remember the way your body felt as you came undone around me. Every time with you is perfection. Forget her.”

“Are we going to get on with this?” Chelsea bitched. “Or are you two going to keep pretending everything is perfect in your little made-up world?”

That was it. Professionalism could get screwed. I spun around out of Tate’s arms with fire roaring through my body. “Wanna know what perfect is, Chelsea? Perfect is the fact that Tate and I are talking about how we made love this morning and how we are probably going to again at lunchtime and probably again tonight. That is perfection, Chelsea, and if it is made up, then I’m living the best fucking fairytale I could have ever created.”

As a standoff of epic proportions began between Chelsea and me. My hackles rose, and I knew I would never back down from her. I wasn’t a revengeful person, but as soon as someone starts hurting the people I care about and throwing around half-arsed accusations, they will see the wrath of Savannah. This could be the very reason I chose to have limited female friends. It was easier than having to deal with the bullshit games girls were notorious for starting, and clearly this was why I never hid my intentions when it came to men in the past. Be clear as day and no feelings came to the surface. I felt Mr. Davenport sigh beside me and I swallowed hard.
Professional, Savannah. For him.

I still didn’t back down as I spoke. “So I am assuming the—”

“Um, excuse me? I was told that I needed to be here.”

Our heads snapped to the door opening slowly, and I couldn’t believe who I was looking at, could this day get any weirder? Blake freaking Ryan had just walked through the door looking all rock star-ish. This was the first time we had seen each other since he had left New York for London.

His eyes widened to the size of saucers as he took everything in. Dressed head to toe in black, he was wearing a shirt that sat snug against his body, and his tattoos were glistening under the boardroom lights. He was born to be a rock star.

His eyes bounced between Tate and me and dropped to my hand gripped tightly in Tate’s and a smile tugged at his lips. Tate’s body stiffened against mine and his hand squeezed mine to the point of hurt like he was making his claim on me.

“Stop it,” I hissed and shot him a pleading look.

“Sorry, just habit,” he whispered then peppered my jaw with a kiss.

“Thanks for coming in, Blake.” Mr. Davenport shuffled papers on the large conference table and looked towards Blake, holding out a pen and what looked to be a contract. “So you have been booked for the shoot next week and we are now just finalizing details. Savannah will be running the shoot on behalf of Beautify and Chelsea will be the female model for the campaign. If you can just sign here, we are good to go.”

Blake shook his head and shot a disgusted look at Chelsea. “Are you serious? I can’t work with her.”

“See? I told you, Savannah. Even Blake doesn’t want to work with you in your pathetic little fairytale world you are supposedly living in,” Chelsea spat before she threw her straw-looking hair over her shoulder and strutted towards Blake. I watched Blake closely; the look sweeping over his face was priceless.

“I wasn’t talking about Savannah, you idiot. I cannot work with you, Chelsea. I tend to not want to associate with fucked-up, conniving bitches.”

I couldn’t hide the smile of victory tugging on my lips.
Blake Ryan, you genius.
The look of utter devastation Chelsea was wearing made me feel like a million bucks. I still had no clue of the history that Chelsea and Blake shared.

“Well isn’t this going to be a fun shoot,” Mr. Davenport mumbled under his breath.

“Since when did you become a model?” Tate suddenly asked Blake.

“My band got signed. The record company believes I have a certain look and decided to book me for this shoot. Believe me, I am not impressed. This is the first and last shoot I’ll be doing. Sucks that it has to be with her.”

Mr. Davenport walked towards the door and closed it loudly, causing me to jump. I suddenly felt like I was fifteen and getting in trouble for the one and only time I smoked a cigarette. My laughter filled the air as I tried to pull myself together. Yep. Here I was, laughing at the most inappropriate of times. Four sets of eyes turned to me, which only caused my laughter to grow louder.

“And what is so funny, Sav?” Mr. Davenport asked with a chuckle in his pathetic attempt to hold some authority in the boardroom.

I glanced around at everyone again, swallowed my laughter, and wiped the tear that had escaped my eye. “This whole situation is hilarious. Fine, I will run this shoot but under my terms. I am assuming the shoot is at Red Velvet and that’s why you are here?” I turned to Tate, who nodded in agreement. “Chelsea, this is my shoot. You fuck up once and you will never work with Beautify again. Blake, if I am going to do this, you are too. Tate, I want Jack working on this shoot, and Mr. Davenport, Tanzi is working with me.”

Silence filled the room before they all agreed.

“I’m done. I’ll be at my desk.”

I walked out of the boardroom and strutted through the office with determination in my step. My emotions simmered just below the surface but I refused to show how I was truly feeling. Being near her, seeing her looking at Tate like she was fucking him in her thoughts caused my heart to twist and literally ache. I needed to forget that video, but every time I thought of it, I was taken back to that moment in New York. I knew I needed to forget or at least push it aside. I dropped my head in my hands and sighed deeply as I slumped into my office chair. The air around me shifted as someone stood by my desk.

“You okay?” Tate’s deep voice questioned. I raised my head from my hands and looked at him. Painfully beautiful he was. His eyes begged for truth, but this wasn’t the time or place, especially knowing that Maureen, Beautify’s main office gossip, had her ears pricking up at the desk across the room desperate for the scent of fresh scandal.

“Yep. I’m great.”

“You are a terrible liar.”

“Tate, I just want to get my work done, forget about her, and try and stop thinking about what is filling my head.”

He swung my chair around so I was facing him and he crouched down so his face was opposite mine. We were in the middle of the Beautify Office and I know our hushed voices were drawing people’s attention. Next thing I knew, I’d be getting accused of cheating on Mr. Davenport.

“You and me. Not her. I know, no matter what I say, it won’t get those images out of your head, and I wish I could climb in your head and tear them to shreds, but I need you to tell me that we can get past this, that you and I are stronger than her. I need that, Sav. You are the strongest thing in my life. I can’t let that strength be destroyed.”

I leaned forward and placed my lips on his. His hands grabbed hold of the chair and pulled me closer to him before his hand moved to the back of my head and hauled me deeper into the kiss. My tongue ran the length of his bottom lip before I tugged on it with my teeth. Tate’s tongue ploughed into my mouth with ownership. If I could kiss him for the rest of my life, I would die a happy woman.

“Remember where you two are.” Mr. Davenport’s voice hovered around us and I pulled away quickly as my cheeks flushed. My eyes bounded around the office, but thankfully no one was looking.

“Well, blushy, I’ve gotta get back to work. Seriously, your blushing is the cutest fucking thing ever.” He kissed me hastily one last time before taking off through the office, his laughter heard until he disappeared into the elevator.

T
HE WORLD
was a miraculous place, sometimes beautiful and sometimes utterly fucked up. The fact that I was about to run a shoot with Chelsea made my anxiety soar to a whole new level. It made me question why the world had decided to fuck me over. All I wanted was for her to disappear into the deep black pit of a hole she came from and never return, but here I was, on this cold and rainy Tuesday night, sitting on my living room floor with my peanut butter and banana sandwich and looking through promo photos of her. If I was able to drink, I’d be pissed off my tits right about now.

My mood was as dark as the thunder rumbling outside my windows and my anger intensified with every photo that I held in my hands. I wondered how long it would be until I tore her photos in half and set them alight with the candles burning around the room.

Tate was at work and I knew he wouldn’t be home until well after midnight, so I had hours of solitude on my own, hours of time for my mind to play games with me. My eyes moved down my body and landed on my stomach just as Jellybean decided to kick and remind me of he or she’s existence.

As I flipped through photo after photo of Chelsea in lingerie I knew I couldn’t be on my own. I tossed the photos I was holding out of my hand and found my phone hidden under one photo in particular of Chelsea in some skimpy black lingerie, boobs and arse hanging out everywhere. I could swear I tasted vomit just looking at it.

“Tanzi, can you come to my place and bring Chinese food and chocolate?” I begged on the phone.

“You okay?”

“I need my best friend and greasy food.”

“Be there in ten.”

I smiled down at the cell in my hand and thanked my lucky stars that Tanzi Connors had decided to email a stranger on the other side of the world all those months ago. What had started as a random email from a girl who I thought had the coolest name ever now had turned into a friendship that I’d always wanted and never thought I’d get. I was never one of those girls who had a lot of female friends but Tanzi was refreshing, crazy, and hilarious. Our first email was the generic ‘congratulations, I look forward to meeting you, blah blah blah’ but the second email was when it all started. The moment she mentioned tequila and the beach, I knew I had found my first friend in Los Angeles, and as they say the rest is history. The fact that my child is going to have her as an aunt and that the love of my life is her brother just made it so much more special.

The door of my apartment swung open with a thud. “Savannah, where are you?”

“Down here,” I replied.

Tanzi came into my vision and waved the chocolate I had demanded in the air with a smile. She stood before me and looked at the photos splashed over my floor, her eyes wide as she worked out what she was looking at, her smile instantly dropped.

“Why the fuck are you looking at photos of slut face? Seriously, Savannah, you need to stop torturing yourself. This is not going to help. You are a masochistic bitch.” Tanzi’s face went stiff, her eyes narrowing at the particular photo of Chelsea that I was holding.

“It’s for work.”

“Look, Mr. Davenport may be the man I fantasize about meeting in the mailroom at work and fucking his brains out while stamps stick to my ass.” She winked at me as my face screwed up. “But he has no fucking clue if he is making you do this. Seriously, what the hell is going through his head?”

I swallowed the bile that rose from the pits of my stomach and shook my head, desperate for the images Tanzi had just painted so vividly to leave my brain. “Firstly, please do not ever talk about fucking Mr. Davenport and secondly before you joke about becoming my stepmother again, I would never allow it.

Tanzi took a place on the floor beside me and leaned back on the couch, her legs out in front of her. As she ripped the picture out of my hand, I watched as her eyes scanned over the photo before looking at me and rolling her eyes. “She doesn’t even have good tits, Sav.”

“Look at my girls. They are so much better. At least I didn’t have to spend thousands of dollars to get these bad boys.” I grabbed my boobs softly and squeezed them together, almost choking on my double D’s. “You’re thinking of motorboating them right now, aren’t you?”

“Don’t tempt me, woman.” Tanzi smirked.

“Nuzzle right in there, Tanzi. I won’t tell Tate. It can be our little secret.”

Tate

T
ELL
S
AV
you love her

A random message was waiting on my phone when I got back to my office after doing my final before-close check of Red Velvet. What the fuck was Tanzi talking about? Shoving my wallet and phone deep into my pockets, I walked through the now empty bar, switched off the main lights, and exited the front door. My thoughts jumped over different scenarios about what the hell could have happened in the eight hours since I’d left Sav at Beautify.