Dirty Little Love Story (4 page)

We arrive at our address 20 minutes later, Rowan and I still giddy with what we had done. I look at him, grinning widely as the driver opens the door for us. Sometimes I wonder if Mr. Williams really is clueless, or maybe he really is protecting our secret.

One of the few who knows.

Very few
, if I can have anything to do with it.

Getting out of the car, I keep my eyes down until we’re in the house. Rowan’s hand is on the small of my back, protectively guiding me towards the entrance. I want nothing more than to touch him, feel him again, but I know I can’t right now. Not until we’re safe inside.

As he closes the front door behind us and sets the alarm, I wait. I crave his touch, need his closeness.

When those doors close, my arms wrap around his lean body and I lean into him. I need reassurance today.

“Something the matter?” he asks softly, stroking my red hair while he gives me a peck on the forehead.

I silently shake my head, but clutch him closer.
Need. Want. Can’t have.

He lets me stay in that position for a little while, but then gently guides me to the couch in the vast living space and sits me down. I follow obediently, watching him as he takes off his suit jacket, rubbing his wrists where his shirts’ buttons are cutting into the skin.

I watch him undress, my eyes roaming over his sculpted body, and I feel so sad in that moment, I pull my legs up under me, burying my face in my lap.

He doesn’t notice at first, but finally approaches me, gently prying my hands away from my face, which is now full of tears sliding through my perfectly done makeup.

“I did something bad,” I say softly, whimpering when he touches me.

Rowan looks at me, but I feel like he’s not there. His mind is racing, I can tell.

He strokes my hair again and looks at me thoughtfully.

“We all do bad things,” he replies finally, and I’m too weak to say anything. I start crying harder now, sobbing.

This happens a lot. I get carried away; get too frustrated with having to hide our love. Because it isn’t just sex – I do love this man, with my heart and soul. I can’t take it sometimes.

He finally tilts my chin up with one of his strong fingers and looks deep into my hazel eyes.

“You’ll be okay, Reina,” he says softly. “You and
I
will be okay. Remember?”

And I do remember. I remember the promise we made to my mother. Remember why we need to keep it a secret. Remember everyone’s counting on us.

I nod.

I would do everything for this man.

As my insides throb with the pain of having been invaded twice in the past two hours, I look lovingly at the man I love.

The man I cheat on, the man I lie to.

The man who is, despite it all, my one and only.

It’s a new day, and I’m a woman with a plan.

I’m in the city now, safely guarded by a pair of enormous sunglasses, so no one can recognize me. I’m standing close to our apartment, the one Rowan and I use for our meetings. But I’m on the other side now, staring at the doorbells for the opposing building.

I’m here to make sure Crystal keeps her mouth shut.

Problem is, I don’t know her last name.

I stand there pondering which name to ring until I can’t make any sense of the words written next to the bells. Finally, I press a random button, crossing my fingers for a good outcome.

After what seems like ages, the creaky line connects me to a cranky lady. “Hello?” she demands.

“Hola , soy de la construcción , pero logré encerrarme fuera , ¿sería tan amable …« I start speaking in the fastest Spanish, my mother’s language, to distract her. I hear a sigh on the other end.

Before I can finish, the door starts a satisfying buzz and I rush to open it. I’m in!

I step into the lobby and look around. Definitely shabbier than our building, since there isn’t even a doorman. Instead, the vast space is empty, old fashioned, but clean.

I do some math in my head, trying to figure out which floor she’s on. I figure it’s the same as ours, so that’s the button I press in the elevator, which is playing that stereotypical tune.

As the doors open with a ping, I take a deep breath and step outside.

There seem to be four apartments in each floor, and I walk from one to the other. As I reach the third one, I spot the most stupid doormat I’ve seen in my life. It says
All are welcome here
in the most ridiculous cursive and I roll my eyes, figuring it’s exactly something
she
would have.

I knock on the door immediately, twisting my hands as I wait for her answer.

What will I say? What will she do?

And then the door opens, and there she is. Tall, lithe, beautiful blonde with those perfect pearly whites.

She’s got nothing on me.

Her lips widen in an o-shape as she spots me and I grin my sweet, wicked smile. She has no idea what’s coming.

“Hi, Crystal,” I say in that trademark sugary sweet voice of mine, and I can feel her blood curdling from where I’m standing.

What the hell is she doing here?
I think guiltily, as a succession of images flood my brain.

Watching her and her stepfather kiss tenderly, obscured by my billowing silk curtains.

Watching him push his cock inside her as she groans softly, planting soft kisses along his chest.

And then yesterday. Realizing they were kin. Realizing they were doing something so wrong. His hands between my legs, giving me the most intense orgasm I've ever had
.

And now she's standing here, and I don't think she knows what Rowan did to me last night ... or does she? Is this just some sick game they're playing?

“Can I help you?” I ask her politely, tilting my head sideways and giving her a fleeting glance. I’m trying to appear nonchalant, but all she does is give a hearty laugh as she surveys me with what sure seems like pure hatred.

“You’re about to,” she tells me, like I have no choice in the matter. I’m about to argue when she pushes me aside and barges into my apartment, while I stare at her dumbfoundedly.

Finally, I sigh quietly and follow her inside. She seems pretty at home in my living room, picking up my book from the coffee table and flipping it open.

This is so surreal.

This is the woman I’ve wanted to be. The woman whose hair I wanted to yank out for having a man like Rowan. And now she’s standing in my living room, inspecting my knick knacks.

And I know something about her that could potentially harm her.

As soon as that thought makes its way into my mind, I know I have an ace up my sleeve. She may act like she owns the world, but in this moment, I own
her
.

“Can I offer you a drink?” I offer with a sweet smile to match her own, and she looks at me over her shoulder, looking suspicious.

“No,” she says adamantly. “Sit down, we need to talk.”

With that, she forcefully closes my novel and sits down on my pristine white leather couch. I’m already imagining what kind of stain her purple dress will leave on it and cringing inwardly, but I’m not brave enough to say anything, so I just let it slide.

I don’t want to sit next to her, so I settle in my reading nook as Reina examines me thoroughly, her eyes traveling from me to the window.

“So, that’s where you do your peeping?” she asks coyly and I cringe inwardly. So she
does
know.

I don’t know whether Rowan told her or if she figured it out herself, so I just decide to play dumb for the time being. After all, she’s the one who came here looking for trouble. I would have stayed away.

Would I, though?

I remember Rowan’s strong fingers roughing me up, his other hand holding me tightly in place. I blush and fake a cough so I can hide my face with my hand.

Reina smiles knowingly and I feel so dirty, I want to jump in the shower immediately. I settle for brushing invisible dust off my lap, then focus an innocent gaze on Reina, still not saying a word.

Her eyes narrow. There it is again, that hatred.

“You had something to say?” I offer finally. She doesn’t respond, still glaring at me, so I decide to throw in my own dagger. “Maybe something along the lines of, ‘Please don’t tell anyone I’m fucking my Daddy?’”

As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I realize I’ve made a mistake. She’s off the couch in a split second, and the next moment, her hard white hand is colliding with my left cheek.

She slaps me so hard I don’t even have the time to register it, because she’s already snarling in my face as I raise a hand to my burning cheekbone.

“You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into, do you, Crystal?” she sneers and for a moment I think she might spit at me. I recoil from her and refuse to meet her eye, but she won’t stop.

“If you say one fucking word,” she whispers into my ear. “I’m going to destroy you. You don’t think I’ve already started?”

I look up in surprise and wonder what she could have done. We’d only met yesterday, if you don’t count all the times I’d looked on as she fucked Rowan.

And then, it dawns on me.

I realize she and Jacob weren’t sitting at the desk when I got back to the restaurant.

I realize Jacob couldn’t quite meet my eye yesterday, and didn’t even want to sleep over.

I realize what she has done.

“Yes, Crystal-doll,” she says softly in my ear. “I was a doll too yesterday, you see?”

I imagine him saying it. Imagine him calling her doll.
I’m
doll. I’ve been doll for seven years.

Tears spring into my eyes as her words taunt me.

“Want to know the worst part, Crystal-doll?” she keeps on going. “Your boyfriend isn’t even a good fuck. My stepfather fucks me better than your
boy
ever will you …”

I hear a key in the door opening in that moment and I jump up, as does Reina. We look at each other in horror, realizing it must be Jacob. Speak of the wolf …

Suddenly united, we look for a way for Reina to escape. He mustn’t question why Reina is here, and while I want to strangle him, I have to pretend all is well. What else can I do? She fucked my boyfriend the first night she met us, and she’s only just getting started.

I rush to the entrance and she hides behind a door.

Genius.

I’m just in time to see the door open and grin widely at Jacob, while my blood is boiling under my skin. I want to him him so hard he’ll fall back on the floor, twist his hand behind his back until he cries out in pain, and yank his hair out by the handful.

But I swallow my pride and I shut up. I just smile.

He did always love my smile.

“Hello, Jacob darling,” I say sweetly. Well, I’ve obviously picked something up from Reina, if my syrupy voice is anything to go by. Now I can only hope he won’t notice the thunderous beating of my heart.

His hands are full of bags and he’s grinning like a lunatic as he sets them down on the kitchen counter. I’m trying my hardest not to look into the living room, and seriously hoping I can make it out of this somehow.

“I got us a bunch of stuff,” he says excitedly as he starts unpacking again. This is a habit of his I’m finding more and more irritating – he keeps going grocery shopping for me. Like I’m a child who can’t do it herself.

Let’s ignore the fact that my fridge was previously filled with a moldy rind of cheese and a half drunken bottle of wine.

He spins around after putting a few things in the fridge and presents me with a pretty robin’s egg box. White bow. Tiffany’s.

“You shouldn’t have,” I say unenthusiastically, as I unwrap the present. All the while, one sentence is running through my head,
You fucked someone else and you feel guilty.

But then another one joins in.

Bet you don’t know I also had some fun last night.

I blush violently and turn my head to the side. He’s beaming at me though as he slips the necklace from the box and wraps it around my neck. “You like it that much?” he asks excitedly.

Sure. Love that you’ve buried your guilty conscience in expensive jewelry.

I wonder for a split second if this has happened before.
Has he cheated on me more than once?

Before I can dwell on the thought, a sound comes from the living room, just a small shuffle, but it roots me to the spot.
Shit. Did he hear that?

He’s looking over there. Heading into the living room.

“Jacob!” I call out desperately, and he stops. “I love it,” I say lamely, and his face erupts into a wild, almost manic smile. So easy to fool.

And then that stupid bitch makes a noise
again
.

Only now she’s moving too, and in a split second, she’s standing in front of a shocked and very red-faced Jacob and a completely worn out me.

“Hate to interrupt your little reunion,” she says coldly. “Got to dash now.”

She steps closer to Jacob and pushes her tongue down his throat as I stand there, watching. The little bitch even grabs his crotch through his jeans, grabbing him possessively.

I look on, too stunned to speak.

She finishes when she wants to, blows Jacob a kiss and glares at me. “Have fun dealing with this!” she adds nonchalantly on her way out, and then the door’s slamming and she’s gone.

Jacob and I refuse to look at each other. We just stand there amidst the ruins of our relationship, not saying a fucking thing.

I hate her.

She will pay for this.