47

Elope with me.

Those words hang around me. How can he ask me such a thing in the middle of my crisis? The ride back to his penthouse didn’t do any good. I couldn’t stop thinking about his proposal, in fact it rendered my other problems as nothing.

I have never been a wedding girl, never attended one, never pictured myself as a bride. So his question was beyond me. We stayed the night at the pent house as usual he left us there to go be with his wife, the irony! The next day, Kelly orders an uber for us and I am glad to be back at my apartment. She leaves for work and I am left all alone. I sleep most of the morning and when I wake up I draft my resignation letter. I honestly don’t know what to do next but I want to hurt Andre and his mother as badly they have deceived me. I decide to read my mother’s diary. Most the entries are when she was a teenager. She seemed so in love with Wayne and Ryan’s mother didn’t lie. It is because of him that their Friendship ended the only Question I have is how this Diary ended up with Ryan’s mother. The last entry is when she met my father, Cooper, during her freshmen in college.

I am deep in my mother’s world; I feel like she is here with me when I hear the doorbell ring. I struggle to sit up and leap towards the door. I find four strange people, three women and a man. They push me aside and walk in.

The guy in the group stops and sizes me up. He shakes his head with disapproval.

“who are you people?” I ask.

“We are your dream come true honey.” He snaps. He is a lean guy who looks more of a drag queen.

I am still holding my door open, “I will call the cops.” I threaten.

“we are stylists, Quinn sent us.”

“Quinn…” I don’t get to finish my statement as one of the women takes my hand and starts to ask where my bedroom.

What is Quinn up to? Is he planning to force me to elope with him?

The woman is adamant yet considerate of my pain. “He warned you had an injury.” I nod.

When he left last night he didn’t say a thing. I can’t help but start to form scenes in my head.

I remember he was this mysterious when we started our Booty Call Agreement. I would receive red dresses from him with coded location and he made it interesting to find him. I look at my book shelf, one of those books has the Sudoku he gave me, I never solved it. Why?

She pushes the seat on my dresser and requests I sit.

“my name is Karen and this is my team, Arthur and Susan.” She points at the other lady and the mean drag Queen. “So relax, as you can see this our portfolio and have an impression of our work and a range to choose from.”

The next hour is spent with the three doing my face, hair and nails. I can agree they are professional expect for Mr. drag Queen who doesn’t hide his anger when he tries to tell my hair to speak to him and realizes I haven’t had a haircut in a long time and due to stress the crown area has thinned. They also have a red dress that Quinn bought. It is a mermaid dress, with long sleeves, shiny crystal beaded on the right side of my chest and arm and a split that goes up to my inner thigh, not my style but I like it.

“Go own that man.” Karen tells me as she assists me outside my apartment. I find Quinn’s bodyguard outside with a limousine waiting to take me to my destination. I text my Brother that I will not be able to have dinner with him as planned. He doesn’t know about my injury and I wish I can hide it.

“I am Antony and I will be your chauffer tonight.” He says, everyone is so formal with me, did Quinn asks them to?

I finally accept the offer and Anthony start to drive. There are red roses inside the limousine and a bottle of champagne. I decide to take a glass to calm my nerves. The drives last as at least forty minutes. When the chauffer finally opens the door I finally recognize where we are, it is the club i first had the guts to talk to him after following him around.

I breath in and out.

We walk in. It is empty and decorated. My eyes lustfully drink in how romantic it looks and at the furthest end there is a table set for two and a dj I didn’t I didn’t notice at first. Anthony leaves to stand by the door and I am left alone. He shouldn’t have done this, I should leave.

No sooner do I turn than I feel strong arms circle round my waist.

“You can’t run away from me, not now.” Quinn whispers.

“You can’t hold me against my will.”

“You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t want to.”

I can sense my nerves and unsettling feeling bugs me. I hate it.

“come,” he stretches his hand and I take it, he leads me to the table where a feast is laid.

I feel like a bride and I am about to develop cold feet. I am so anxious, yet I feel if I go I will miss out on something. He pulls the chair for me, this isn’t Quinn, he must be planning something sinister. I double check the chair before sitting what if I get glued to it and he kidnaps me? I am becoming too crazy. I sit down anyway. He sits opposite me.

“You look beautiful in that dress.” He says.

I have had enough; Quinn can’t be this civil to me. “Why am I here, I am not sleeping with you after?”

He gives me a devilish smile, not angered by words but amused by them, “I don’t have to go to these lengths to get to you bed, I can say that.”

Did he just insinuate I am cheap and he can sleep with me for less? I am offended but at least that is the egoistical Quinn I know, I can relax now.

He serves me a plate of rice and chicken. “I am sorry; I was inconsiderate of your situation when I asked you to elope with me.”

“it is people that are in love that elope.” I say.

“I am.” He says and I sit up to just see how serious he is.

“excuse me?” I am shocked. “you shouldn’t.” I can’t help but feel it is forbidden.

“I shouldn’t but I do. The first time I saw you in this club, I couldn’t take my eyes off you, I felt this overwhelming euphoric feeling engulf me it is like I was meant to be there though on your part you deliberately choose to be there. What wasn’t deliberate was how I felt for you, at first I thought it was attraction and would go away when you suggested a booty call agreement. I was just lying to myself when I said I was there for the free sex; the feelings grew stronger. Just like a circle I ended up where it began, with you, no matter how I tried to run away from it. I wasn’t sure of how things were going but it owned me anyway. All through I felt abject hate from your end until I later came to know why. i hated it when you betrayed my trust, but, your thirst for revenge, justice, not letting anything distract you meant a lot to me and the more reason I couldn’t stay way. It was a love hate kind of thing, I couldn’t stand your manipulation and pride. It both scared and amazed me. You are a master of surprising me with plot twist, I could never see it coming...” He runs a hand through his hair. “…. I fucking hated it but, I loved you, I do. I can no longer pretend nor lie about it. I want you to know.”

I forget how to breath. I might die.

Not even close to how i pictured the night going, sleeping with him would have been better.

His eyes meet mine with so much expression.

“I am speechless.” I say.

“I understand.” He calmly says like he expected my reaction. “Let’s leave everything behind, you, me and Theo. We can start all over.”

“I don’t know if I can be able to love.”

“I will teach you as I wait even if it takes all my eternity”

“you sound confident.”

“Because I know you do feel the same way.”

Typical of Quinn to think he knows me better than I do.

“What about your wife?” I ask.

“I filed for divorce the day Courtney asked me to choose.”

“And you chose yourself.”

“I chose whom I love and makes me happy, you.” He takes my hands into his, “come with me, let me save you.”

“I can’t leave my brother.”

“he can come with us.”

“I can’t leave my life behind.”

“What life? It is built on lies what is keeping you here?”

He is right, I have nothing to live for here.

“Will you elope with me?” he asks.

My head starts to form a new life, an honest life.

I nod, “yes, I will.”