7. Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Stella
H e had a woman on his arm.
Hell, she was spilling all over him and was way beyond draped on his arm. She was one of those tall, leggy blondes, with big tits and a tiny waist. I couldn't see her face, but then again, I didn't want to.
I hadn't wanted to come to the Savannah in Spring party that the mayor sponsored annually, but my father had been adamant that I show up. However, I had been excused from having a date. After all, I was now damaged goods.
"He releases that videotape, and no one will marry you, so let's save that embarrassment," my father snapped at me over the phone when he called to order me to show up for the party. "The Hunt family will be expected to be there."
That was a saving grace. At least now he didn't want me to get married. Right now, I couldn't imagine a situation where—forget marriage—I'd ever even date . My sex life was dead to the point that I couldn't even use my vibrator. Of all the damage that Noah had done, taking my sexuality away when I'd just found it with him, had been the worst. On the other hand, I was an experienced celibate. I knew my way around being unloved and untouched.
"Hey, sis." Gage, my half-brother slid an arm around my waist and kissed my cheek. He was the nice brother, his older sibling, Baron Junior, who went by JR, was the not-so-nice brother, probably because he was modeling himself after my father.
Gage was home for his end-of-the-quarter break from Princeton. I didn’t spend a lot of time with him when he was little as I was nearly ten years his senior, so we weren't close, but we were friendly, which was more than I could say about JR.
"Who's your date tonight?" he asked.
"I am date free."
" Wow ! And Dad allowed that?" he teased.
"Of course, he did; no one wants spoiled goods, do they?" JR barked from behind us.
As I suspected, my father had told him something about the video and Noah's revenge scheme. My father and JR were cut from the same ruthless cloth, in fact, JR was being groomed for a career in politics. He was careful about who he dated and how he behaved in public, because all of that could come to bite him in the ass when he was running for office. He had a long-term goal. More power to him, I thought sanguinely.
"Can we just be pleasant to one another? Please ," Gage pleaded.
"We need to talk." JR grabbed my arm and all but hauled me out of the ballroom. Gage just watched helplessly, and gave me a wan, apologetic smile. He couldn't protect me from his brother. He didn't even want to.
"What?" I demanded, trying to remove his grip on me as he dragged me into a room that looked a lot like a library. The mayor had a sprawling home designed to easily entertain a couple hundred guests in the ballroom and gardens. On more than one occasion, I'd seen people find their way into rooms for a private moment.
"What the fuck were you thinking?" He squeezed my arm hard.
"Stop it," I whimpered.
He let go of me. I rubbed my arm. The fingerprints were already showing where he held me. I had a stole, and I would have to use that to hide them. He looked guilty for a short moment, and then brushed it aside, giving way to his indignation.
"You need to stop being such a slut, Stella," he crowed. "This could cost Dad his re-election. The primaries are already hard enough, no need to fuck it up some more."
I crossed my arms in an effort to keep my stomach from roiling. I had nothing to say, and, really, what was there to say? That Noah had been a mistake? That I was in the wrong? We all already knew that.
"Can you at least try to keep your legs closed until next November?" he ordered.
I cocked an eyebrow. "So says the guy who has slept with every eligible heiress in the county?"
"I have the better sense to be discreet," he snapped.
"JR, you know I think our little chats are lovely, but I'd like for you to fuck off now."
I wasn't the woman who swore, but then, I also used to be a woman without a scandalous sex tape hanging over her like the Sword of Damocles.
"Stella," he growled in warning, and I raised a hand to silence him, which he miraculously did.
"After what happened, do you really think I'd ever be able to have sex again?" I asked him seriously. "Didn't you stop to think how damaging this was for me or were you only thinking about Senator Baron Hunt?"
He looked sheepish. "You brought this upon yourself."
"Yeah, JR, I'm a slut, what can I say? I'm all about the cock."
He gasped. So, I didn't use the C word usually, either. Well, he'd have to learn to get comfortable with it, ‘cause I was out of fucks.
He turned on his heel, and marched out of the mayor's library.
I waited for a long minute, and then followed him out. I went straight to the ladies' room to see the damage to my arm; my skin bruised easily.
The morning after we’d had sex, there’d been Noah's fingermarks all over my body. I had felt proud to have had a passionate night with my man. I had smilingly traced each one I could see. Back then, the fingermarks hadn't seemed like a violation.
"No, no, Kitty, I'm tellin' you, he's been dating Eden Rutledge for like a year," the biggest gossip in Savannah, Chastity Benedict, said as she fixed her lipstick.
"But I thought he was from New York or somethin'," Kitty, second biggest gossip, wondered.
Eden Rutledge had been Miss Georgia ten or so years ago, and since then, had had a thriving career as a model and now had her own jewelry design business—sorry, it wasn't a business , it was art, and her shop was not a mere store, it was an atelier . Eden was Savannah royalty.
"They've been friends for many years, and she told me Noah is going to announce their engagement soon." Chastity looked at herself in the mirror and gave me a short smile. "How are you, Stella?"
"I'm well, Chastity."
"Oh, Stella, I heard that Noah Carter is now a partner at Savannah Lace." Kitty's eyes were bright with curiosity. "And you are not ? What happened?"
"Just business." I walked into one of the bathroom stalls and locked the door. I leaned my back against it. Not only had he recorded me fucking him, but now I found out that I was the other woman . He had been in a relationship with Eden for a year, which definitely overlapped with whatever it was that we had. No wonder he wasn't interested in me for more than a video he could use to embarrass my father and ruin my life.
The tears I'd been holding back for months were ready to flow out, but I had to resist. I needed to be at this party for another half hour, until the mayor's speech, and then I could leave. Then I could break down.
By the time I came back to the ballroom, I was composed. I was relieved to see Luna, who was talking to a tall man, who, on closer inspection, was her brother Lev.
"Stella Bella." He gave me a hug and kissed my cheek. "How're you doin', gorgeous?"
"Lev, it's been a minute."
He sighed. "Not long enough, according to my sister."
"What's goin' on?" I asked because I knew that Luna and Lev were close.
"Dom's here." Lev rolled his eyes.
"I don't care that he's here," Luna quipped defensively.
"Yes, you do," Lev muttered. "Which is why I'm giving you fair warning. He's here. He has a date, and you need to figure out how you want to handle it."
"I don't care if he has a date. I have one, too."
Lev sighed. "Baby girl, I'm your date."
"What-the-fuck-ever."
Lev kissed her forehead. "You want him, you got to go get him."
" I don't want him ," Luna rage whispered, and glared at me when I laughed softly. "What's so fuckin' funny?"
"Your brother just gave you the green light to go after his best friend." I grinned, feeling less burdened by my life for a moment. Someone else's drama was so much more preferable to mine.
"Christ, I did, didn't I?" Lev ran a hand through his hair. "His date is Arthur Channing's daughter, the blonde with the big teeth."
" And big tits," Luna muttered, her eyes looking around, searching for Dom.
"He's not boning her," Lev assured her.
"Like I care who he's—"
"Luna, darlin'," Camy Channing's saccharine sweet voice cut in. "It is you. My God, you clean up nice. I hardly ever see you in a dress."
"And I always see you almost out of yours," Luna commented, eyeing her double D tits that were all but spilling over the low-cut red dress.
"Some of us are better endowed and are not tomboys." Cammy thrust her bosom out for effect.
"Some of us have real, good, plastic—"
"Luna," Dom growled, and leaned to brush his lips against her cheek. He whispered something in her ear that appeared to make her more irritable.
Dom gave me a hug.
He was not your classic good looks like Lev, who was a pretty boy. Dom was big, muscular, and had bad boy written all over him. Even in a suit, he looked like he was in a mafia movie.
The mayor took the podium, and we all stopped to listen to him. Silence fell across the ballroom. Lev put his arm around me and whispered, "You okay?"
"Yeah, why?"
"You look sad, and you've lost weight."
"Aren't all women supposed to lose weight?" I prevaricated.
"And Luna told me what your father did. Why didn't you come to any of us?"
"Shh," I mumbled when the mayor began to speak.
Lev pulled me closer and kissed my forehead.
He'd always been like a big brother to me, as well as Luna. He probably thought we were a lot closer than I did. He would have helped me with money, I knew that. But I couldn't ask. How could I? My only family wasn't ready to care for me, how could I ask others? They'd soon enough realize that I wasn't worth it, and I'd be in the same predicament with them as I was with my father. The better option was to just get the hell out from under that debt, both financially and emotionally, and build my life back up again.
I knew I would. I knew I could.