Regency Romance: A Duchess in Disguise (Historical 19th Century Victorian Romance) (Duke Fantasy Billionaire Romance) (52 page)

“Lela, you’re not a distraction, but if you need to go then that’s fine.”

I couldn’t stay
there;
I needed to be home.  I needed something normal in my life to
hold onto
.

6.

“So, what did he say?” asked Liddy.

I just shrugged, and she knew what that meant.  Being friends for so long
meant
that she could decipher just about all my odd quirks.

“I don’t know if I can do
it,
though,” I said.

“Aren’t you used to it,” she asked, “I mean, you’ve always pulled yourself out of the crowd.  I never tried to change
you,
and I can’t think of anyone who could.”

“I know,” I replied, “but this is different. 
This is
an
acknowledgment
that we’re something more.  I like him, I
really
do.  I might not know him all that long, but I was hoping that he
would, at least,
call me his girlfriend.”

“Lela, Aiden is a good guy, but can’t you understand that this isn’t something he can do so easily?”

I nodded.

“He has worked his entire life to get to the top, and he gets there by being the single and attractive man that he is.  Men want to be him, and women want to be with him. 

“If you take away his image, then you’re stuck with something that he can’t be, and that’s
a normal
person.”

She was right, and I knew it as well, Aiden couldn’t say anything because it could cost him the love of many of his fans.  I didn’t want to hear it, but I
really
wanted to be special. 

“I don’t know if I can do this anymore,” I said.

Liddy came over and sat down beside me.

“You can’t force something to happen; the best you can do is sit by and wait.”

I looked her back in the
eye,
and she could see how sad I
really
was.

“I’m tired of waiting, Liddy.”

She knew I was going to do something that I might
regret,
but there was no way she was stopping it.

I picked up my phone and dialed Aiden.  It
had taken
a while before he picked up.

“Hey, Lela, just finished our show tonight, good to hear from you.”

I was silent for a moment, trying
not to give
in to emotion as best I could.

“Aiden, I can’t do this anymore.  I
really
do love you.  But, I can’t do this.  I want more than to be a backstage booty call before a show.  I want to feel like your girlfriend and tell people that you mean a lot to me.”

I could already feel some tears starting to flow.

“I won’t hold this baby over your head; you don’t have to worry about us.  But, I need to find someone that isn’t ashamed to have their arm around me.”

I was about to hang
up,
but he jumped in.

“Lela, wait!  You can’t leave, not yet.  I just can’t let people know about you right now.  Come on, Hun, I love you too.  I want to talk about this with the
band,
but I don’t think they want to hear it.”

“Aiden, do what you need to do.  I’ll always be here to talk, but it’s pointless for me to sit around and wait for you to be ready.  Goodbye, Aiden.”

The other end of the line was
silent
as I hung up.  Liddy sat
nearby;
a bit flustered from having listened to me break off any real connection I had with Aiden.

“It hasn’t been that long, Hun.  Maybe something will change.”

7.

The weeks flew by in almost no time, Aiden and I barely talked, and
before long
I got word that Aiden was playing at a venue nearby.  I received a
couple of
tickets in the
mail,
but I wasn’t incredibly interested in going.

“Lela, you better not blow that boy off.  He sent you tickets to his most recent show and you
better, at least,
make an appearance.”

I sighed.

“Liddy, I know you still want to see Aiden and me together
again,
but it’s just not going to happen, not as long as he wants to keep me stuck under the rug.”

“You can’t deny that this is going to be the show of the year.  The stadium
is packed,
and these tickets are front row!”

She was right, again, I might not be incredibly interested in seeing Aiden, but his band was
really good,
and these were excellent seats.

“Alright, I’ll go.  But, for obvious reason, I can’t drink.”

Liddy
nodded
and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to put together an outfit for me.  I was surprised when the outfit she liked most was a little less revealing than usual.  I guess I didn’t have any reason to show off anymore.

Liddy was more ready than
usual;
she was wearing the least amount of clothing I had ever seen.

“Bruce has kept in touch.  I thought I’d give him something good to look at tonight while he’s on stage,” she said while beaming a smile.

I hadn’t ever really thought about Liddy and Bruce.  She was spending an awful lot of time on her phone with him lately.  At least one of us was happy, and I felt
happy
for her.

Once we got to the show, I found myself wondering what Aiden was up to before the show.  I hadn’t seen him nervous before, and I doubted I ever really would.

The doors
opened,
and we pushed our way to the front of the crowd.  While we walked
up,
I could tell we were getting a lot of
foul
looks from people further back. 

I had never seen the stadium this packed.  It must have been around 35,000 seats all filled
up
and I was in the best seats in the house.  I stood up and screamed along with the crowd for the band.

I
really
was hoping that everything was okay.

Then, the lights went down, and the cheering grew louder.
  Glow sticks and cell phones illuminated the arena.  Then a single
spotlight
hit center stage.

Aiden walked
out;
he looked a little nervous as he did so.  Even though he wasn’t looking my direction I could feel his gaze. 

“Hey everyone,” he said as the crowd erupted, “Before we start tonight, I need to do something special.”

I had a feeling I knew what he was about to
do,
and I felt both nervous and embarrassed.

“There’s someone here tonight that means a lot to me.  I’ve been doing a lot of
soul-searching
and I need to get this off my chest.”

He looked right at me.

“Lela, would you come up on stage for just a second.”

The crowd cheered, still.  I looked around, and all the fans around me kept pointing me towards the staircase to go up on stage.  I wearily took step after step, pushed on by Liddy standing behind me.

Aiden came over and helped me up the stairs.  My heart was beating strongly in my chest.  I stepped up on the stage and looked out into the blinding light and the ocean of
fans
screaming. 
This truly
was intimidating.

“This is Lela. Would you like to say hello, Lela?” he asked.

I shook my
head
and pushed the mic away.

“She’s a bit shy, so I’ll do the talking.”

He leaned in and whispered in my ear.

“Please don’t hate me after this.”

Then he turned back to the crowd.

“I’m in love with this beautiful woman, right here.  Not a day has gone by that she hasn’t been in my thoughts and not a day goes by that I don’t think about our baby.”

The crowd seemed especially surprised, as was I.  I was trying my best not to faint under the scrutiny of so many people.  But, after only a moment of silent
chatter,
they started yelling again.

“Lela is my heart and my soul, and I hope that she’ll be able to forgive me for being such a terrible person.  I tried to hide this
wonderful
woman from the world, but I couldn’t keep doing it.  I wanted you all to know the truth.”

I couldn’t hold back my tears anymore.  I kept trying to leave the stage, but I wanted to be close to Aiden.  I didn’t
want
to leave his side.

Aiden pulled me in close again to whisper in my ear.

“Lela, I want you to stay out here for the show, but I think you’d be more comfortable sitting in the box upstairs.”

I nodded.

“I’m going to be right back, but in the meantime here’s the opening act!” 

Another band came out and took the stage, but I didn’t pay them much attention.  As soon as we were off stage and out of earshot of many people Aiden pulled me aside.

“Lela, I didn’t believe in love at first sight before.  I think things need to
be tested
and
worked through
.  Then I met you.  I couldn’t keep my eyes off you while you were standing on the balcony when we first met.  I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t
want
to sound like some
sort of
creep.

“After you decided to break it off, I felt something leave me.  It was like losing a part of me, and I couldn’t bear it.  The shows I did, between then and now, were terrible, and I just haven’t
really
been myself.

“I want you and this baby in my life.  It means a lot to me, Lela.  Please stay with me.”

I couldn’t say no to his face, I just nodded.

He smiled and gave me the roughest hug I had ever felt. 

“Aiden, you’re on in ten, get ready,” I heard Greg say from behind while sneering at me.

“Liddy should be here to take you backstage in a moment or two.”

He was right, Liddy was already waiting nearby, and she snapped a photo of the two of us mid-kiss.

“I guess I have my first news story,” I said.

“Surely not
your
last,” he replied. 

Then he left, to get made up for the show.  Liddy and I
walked slowly
up the stairs and through the back halls of the stadium. 

“I talked to Bruce about the whole thing.  He said that Aiden was in a slump.  Then I told Bruce what you had said to
Aiden
and Bruce took it upon himself to talk to the rest of the group.  They all wanted him to be happy.”

I wiped a tear off my cheek.

“You’re a good friend, Liddy.”

“Hey, you set me up with the greatest bassist in history.  A girl’s
gotta
watch out for her own.”

I laughed, as did Liddy.  I was lucky to have such a great friend. 

*****

THE END

1

Viola Turner couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She was going to be late for work, but she couldn’t move from the doorway to her bedroom.
She
was in her small one bedroom apartment, half dressed. She wore
her
black skirt that was a part of her uniform, but the white shirt hung over her shoulder. Her toothbrush was in her mouth, and white foam leaked from the corner of her lips, contrasting with her dark chocolate colored skin. She had been multitasking when her boyfriend, Jerome, had decided to break up with her.

“Are you kidding me?” Viola asked.

Jerome was tall, but he was slumped down, sitting on the edge of her bed, looking at the floor. “No,” he said. “I wouldn’t joke.”

“You’re breaking up with me?”

“I just don’t think it’s going anywhere, Vi.”

“Don’t call me Vi. People who are breaking up with me don’t get to call me Vi. It’s Viola. Or Miss. Turner, for you. Yeah, Miss Turner is
fine
.”

Jerome sighed and stood up. He still didn’t look at her, he stared at the back of his hands instead, which
he
held up under his
chin,
as if he had never noticed them before.

“Look at me,” Viola said.

Jerome did.

“What happened?”

“It just isn’t working.”

“You aren’t working. I’ve been paying for everything while you keep screwing up job interviews.”

“I knew you’d bring that up,” Jerome said, sighing.

Viola rolled her eyes. “Just get out, I have to go to work.”

“Get out?” Jerome asked. “Where am I supposed to go?”

“You thought you would break up with me, and then stay here? Jerome, get real. Get your stuff packed up, be gone before I get off tonight.”

“Fine,” Jerome said, and Viola didn’t waste another second on the man. She turned and headed for the bathroom, so she could finish brushing her teeth.

Viola worked downtown, at a restaurant called Vine, which was very posh, and very expensive. Viola would have never been able to eat there if she didn’t work there. The clientele was some of the most powerful and richest men and women in New York, and it was
a rare
week that Viola didn’t serve a famous actor or musician.

She lived in Brooklyn, and caught the bus to Manhattan, leaving her apartment without a word to her now
ex-boyfriend
. On the
bus,
she
sat and seethed, trying to keep her anger in check, but failing to do so. As she neared
work,
she tried
not to think
of Jerome at all, but that was nearly impossible as well.

She and Jerome had been dating for almost two years, and she had begun to wonder if he was the man she would be spending the rest of her
life with
. When they had started dating he had been working at a good
job
and had been making much more than she did with her waitressing work. And then he had been laid off, and since then, nothing.

It was just before two when the bus pulled to a stop a block or so from Vine, and Viola climbed off and started walking. It was Saturday, and a few people were there as she walked in, having a late lunch, but it wouldn’t get busy until around seven or so. Most days of the week you couldn’t get in for dinner without a reservation, and you couldn’t get a reservation unless you had a certain
reputation
or enough money to grease the palms of the
maitre
d’s
and get yourself that reputation.

The restaurant was sparsely furnished, with small tables and delicate looking chairs, the
pain
on the wall a soft cream color. Viola walked through the front door and to the back, something that her boss hated, but not enough to deter her from doing so and walking all the way around the block to reach the alley
that
ran behind the restaurant, and led to the employee entrance.

“Come on Vi,” Stephen, her boss said.

“Sorry, Stevie,” Viola said with a smile. The old man was sitting on a stool in the small area that
lay
between the large state of the art kitchen and the dining room. He was short, with big ears and a bald head. He wore glasses as thick as any Viola had ever seen, and they made his eyes look gigantic.

“You’re late too,” Stephen said.

“I don’t drive the bus,” Viola
retorted
. She went to the far wall, where a few lockers sat, and stashed her purse in hers before shutting the door. Then she went and clocked in before heading to the dining room.

The first part of her day passed slowly, as she busied herself with the work wait staff so often did when there weren’t many customers. Vine was
a popular
spot, but it had a reputation for being cool, and
cool
people
simply
didn’t show up to anything until the Sun had fallen from the sky.

Finally,
the light outside indeed dimmed, and the dining room began filling up. Viola was offloading a few plates to one of her tables when she glanced at the door and smiled. There stood James Denning, one of her favorite customers. He was a bit older than her twenty-three, by a decade at least, and he always requested that she be his waitress whenever he came. She knew it was because he liked staring at her curvaceous body, but the man was friendly and funny, and he tipped
incredibly
well. She could deal with the
stares
and the flirting. Besides, he was rather attractive himself. He was white, with a strong jaw and sandy blonde hair
that
he always kept short, and it looked as though he got a haircut every couple of days.

James was the CEO of a company
that
owned and operated some of the most popular websites in the world. He always had his phone out, texting people, responding to emails, but when Viola would swing
by his table
to check on him he would set his phone
down,
and all of his attention would be on her. It embarrassed Viola a bit, but it excited her at the same time. She knew he wanted her. It was obvious, the way he would speak to her, the way he would flirt. His eyes traveled up and down her body, and he didn’t attempt to hide it. He was a powerful man, and she knew he
was used
to getting what he wanted. The fact that she had never accepted one of his invitations to go somewhere with him drove him wild, and she could tell.

Viola waited until he
was seated
, which of course he was without having to wait in line, and then she made her way over to his table. He was sitting with another man, an older man with silver hair and a pointed chin.

James looked
towards
the black woman and smiled.

“Vi,” he said. “I’m glad you’re working tonight.”

“I bet you are,” Violet said teasingly. She stood at the man’s elbow, and she watched as his eyes flashed downwards to her exposed thighs. He might as well have licked his
lips;
the desire on his face was unmistakable.

“This is Frank Geller,” James said, introducing the other man. Frank shook her hand.

“I own Meet a Lover dot com, and this swindler is trying to get me to part with it.”

Viola smiled and nodded. Rich people always loved talking about their
business;
it was as if they needed everyone to know exactly how and why they were rich. Still, they tipped her well, so she feigned interest.

The night wore
on,
and the restaurant continued to seat as many people as they could. James and Frank stayed for a long while, having a few drinks before they ordered food, and then taking their time and discussing business over steaming cups of coffee after they had eaten.

Near
ten,
they rose to leave, and Viola went
to the table
to get the check. James reached out as she did, and he took her hand in his.

“You alright tonight?” he asked her, looking into her eyes.

Viola nodded softly. She was looking at the man, really looking at him, and she realized just how handsome he was. She had never been with a white man before, but she certainly wouldn’t mind if he
were
her first. If he had any slight blemish on his looks, it was the fact that his nose looked just a bit crooked, but it
actually
suited him somewhat.

“My boyfriend broke up with me tonight,” Viola blurted
out
before she could stop herself.

“Well, I don’t know the guy, but I’m going to guess that he’s an idiot,” James said with an easy grin.

“He is,” Viola agreed, and she laughed, but she felt a stinging pain in her eyes as tears formed there.

“What time do you get off tonight?” James asked her, still holding her hand.

“Soon. Around midnight.”

“Perfect,” James said, nodding as though it made sense to her.

“Perfect for what?” she asked tentatively.

“I’ll pick you
up. W
e’ll go to The Ice Room.”

The Ice Room was a very popular, and very elite night club in New York. Tables cost fifteen thousand dollars to reserve, and that was before you even ordered a drink. Viola had never been there, and she didn’t think she ever would go.

“I can’t. I don’t have anything to wear,” Viola said.

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll bring something when I pick you up.”

Viola opened her mouth to tell the man no, as she always did when he asked her out, but when she spoke another word came out instead.
“Okay,
” she said.

James grinned,
a wide
smile where his lips pulled apart and showed off his sparkling white teeth. “Great,” he said. “Out front, midnight, alright?”

“Okay,” Viola said, unsure of what she had just gotten
herself into
. James bent and pressed his lips to her cheeks, and then he turned and left with Frank. Viola watched him go.