Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Rochelle
Standing in the corner of a very elaborate Hollywood mansion, I grasp my club soda tighter as people waltz past me without a care in the world.
Occasionally, their eyes drop on me, and I cower closer to the wall, hide in the shadows, pray Hunter hurries up his private meeting with Edward.
A man I still haven’t met, and someone who makes me nervous just thinking about having to shake his hand.
My eyes dart around the room, quickly taking in a sight I have only seen on the big screen, and that includes many famous faces that turn and look at me, silently judging the wallflower in the corner and wondering who I am and what right I have to be standing in their presence.
Bringing my glass to my lips, I turn from the last pair of judgmental eyes, and bump into a woman who’s suddenly standing very close to me. I let out a slight gasp as I try and steady myself.
“You must be Rochelle?” The girl, who can’t be much older than myself, questions. She stares back at me with the first genuinely nice smile I have seen tonight.
“My name is Victoria,” she says, extending her hand. I hesitate for a moment before actually accepting it. “But everyone calls me Vickie. Just between you and I,” she whispers, pulling me closer and winking, “I hate it!”
I smile softly before pulling back. “Yes, I’m Rochelle. Nice to meet you, Victoria.”
Seeing that she said she hates her nickname, I use her full one in the hopes that I may be making my first friend this evening. She turns and surveys the crowd in front of us and I take that moment to admire the way she carries herself with a confidence I only wish was my own.
Her hair is brown like mine, and her eyes, although they have a hint of blue like mine, are more hazel in color.
She is dressed in clothes I could never even dream of affording, and her face is flawless from the years of expert care from expensive products someone like myself would never own.
Still, there is a familiarity about her, an ease that makes me feel like I can be myself, and so I open up for the first time with someone besides Hunter or Momma.
“I’m not used to these kinds of gatherings,” I confess. “I don’t mean to be rude standing in the corner, but I don’t really belong out there in the spotlight either.”
She sighs next to me and I worry I have said too much. “Girl, you and me both. I’m used to this sort of thing, but most of the time, I wish I’d never known what it feels like to be ‘in the spotlight,’ as you say.”
Surprised that she would say such a thing when she looks like a woman who would shine so bright if ever given the chance, I laugh, “Trust me, it isn’t all that better on the other side.”
“Oh, but I dream of it,” she sighs. “Which is why I don’t mind taking to the shadows,” she says, gesturing to the small space we have both escaped to. “Hope you don’t mind company.”
“Not at all,” I whisper, as our eyes both land back on the people in front of us. She lifts her glass of water to her lips and I instantly feel a connection to her, seeing as we’re both at a party and chose to forgo the expected alcoholic drink in our hands.
“So, where are you from, Rochelle?” She asks.
I look back her way and lock eyes with someone over her shoulder that I never wanted to see again.
Victoria must see the frantic look in my stare because she turns and locks eyes with the blonde walking our way.
Quickly, she turns back to me and rolls her eyes.
“Oh hell, and here I was actually thinking I could avoid the bimbo for one night.”
My heart eases slightly from her comment right before my anxiety ticks up another notch when Tiffany stops in front of us.
Hands on her hips, hateful stare directed only at me, she taps her heel a few times, her brow furrows, she viciously dissects me, making me wish I could run back to the safety of Hunter’s arms.
Speaking of which…
I look around her trying to find him. Her presence makes me wish more than before that he’d finally make an appearance, put me out of my misery, put Tiffany in her place, save me from her hateful looks, her awful comments, and the way just standing in the same room as her reminds me of everything I am not.
“What do you want, Tiff?” Victoria sighs annoyed.
“Hi, Vickie,” Tiffany says as my eyes survey the room, hopeful I’ll spot Hunter.
My new friend lets out a groan at the mention of her hated nickname, before putting her hands on her hips like the woman in front of me.
“Didn’t know your parents were now letting just anyone through the gates?
This little one must be lost. We should throw her back with the strays that hang around just waiting for a glimpse of the rest of us. You know, people who actually matter.”
“The only people that actually matter here, Tiffany, are your father and mine, because hell if the tabloids haven’t had their fill of Paris Hilton wannabes.
” Victoria sasses making me giggle. Tiffany actually looks shocked for a moment before turning her attention back to the business at hand.
Which is getting me the furthest away from the family as possible.
“What?” Tiffany glares at me. “And you think that the world needs more Vivian Wards? Honey, men up here don’t just come down off their white horse for just any whore.”
“If you don’t…” Victoria begins to shout as she sets her drink down on a nearby table. She takes a fighting stance but is cut off as the loud roar of someone to our side stops her.
“That’s enough,” Hunter shouts, causing everyone around us to look and stare.
Victoria softens, but still stands alert as Tiffany refuses to leave. Time drags as the woman before us refuses to tear her hateful stare from my eyes. Hunter takes a few steps forward making her finally snap out of her spiteful trance and turn his way.
“Huntie, I am just trying to look out for you, lover,” Her affectionate name for him makes me sick. Apparently it has the same effect on him, because Hunter shutters. Tiffany grabs a hold of his arm, but he tears her from his side and pulls me into him.
“Have more respect, Tiffany,” he says sternly, as he plants a kiss on my temple. “I was never your lover. Not then, and sure as hell not now.”
She huffs in annoyance, but doesn’t tear her eyes off him, or how he’s clutching me close.
I start to pull away, but Hunter maintains his firm grip on my side and tugs me closer.
Glancing up, he affectionately looks into my eyes.
I melt knowing that she can say all she wants, but he is mine, and there is nothing she can do about it. He only has eyes for me.
“But Huntie,” she whines.
“Save it,” Victoria yells. “You might be here as a guest, Tiffany, but that doesn’t mean your presence is wanted. By me, or Hunter!”
Tiffany stomps her foot, as if her mini temper tantrum would change any of our minds. She waits, for what seems like almost an eternity, before huffing off the way she came.
Forcibly turning me around, Hunter searches my face. Worry fills his eyes.
“Are you okay, Angel?” He questions, before pulling me back into his arms. “Thanks, V,” he says over my shoulder when I still have yet to respond.
“I didn’t think that I would be gone that long and wasn’t expecting Tiffany to bee-line it for her the second she stepped foot in the house.
I only saw her coming up the steps a few minutes ago from the office. ”
A foreign feeling, that feels a lot like anger, makes me pull back from his embrace.
Maybe it’s due to the way I feel like he is talking over me as if I am not even here.
Maybe it’s due to the way I saw Victoria stand up to Tiffany and wish I could have some more courage of my own.
But something inside me snaps, and I waste no time making my sudden irritation known.
“I’m not a porcelain doll that you need to protect,” I say harshly.
He looks at me stunned and backs away momentarily before a small smile graces his face.
“I know that, Angel.”
“I can stand up for myself, Hunter.”
“I know that, too,” he stutters, as he drops me from his arms. “But I also know if I can protect you in any way, any way at all, I am going to do it. Regardless of if you like it or not. That’s a promise, Rochelle.”
His statement softens me for a moment, but the feeling of self-hatred starts to bubble up again. I always hide. Always find the back corner to shield myself away from the world.
I don’t know if it is Hunter’s confidence in me, or a newfound confidence in myself, but I don’t want to hide anymore.
“My step-brother, Hunter Alexander, always so demanding,” Victoria teases. I look back over my shoulder at her and smile. I like this girl. I can see her and me becoming friends. That’s maybe a first for me, ever.
“Watch it V, you might be like the little sister I never had, but that won’t stop me from shutting you up,” Hunter laughs, as he pulls me flush against him.
Hesitance hangs in his stare, and I know I was the one that put it there.
My stance softens. I melt into him and let him take over my world.
His gaze changes to one of admiration and love, and I can’t help but blush.
“Watch it, that mouth got you into a lot of trouble throughout the years,” Victoria sasses, “Especially when I’d join in, we’d give my parents hell, and enjoyed every damn minute of it. Even the punishments.”
“Now, that’s the truth,” Hunter laughs.
“Especially since you were always the one I could blame everything on,” Victoria continues. “It was perfect seeing as your ass was always getting into trouble and they’d never suspect little ol’ me.”
Hunter laughs. A slight giggle escapes my lips. I look between him and Victoria and grow envious, wishing I had someone that I could have grown up with, got into trouble with, been able to talk to when the kids at school threw their lunches at me, spit at me, and called me rotten names.
“But now,” Victoria says, looking at me and smiling. “I see who is causing you all the trouble, Hunt.”
Normally, I would feel ashamed by her comment. Like what I was doing was wrong, and I needed to stop. Change. But her reassuring look makes me stand tall, and so I suck up the newfound confidence and smile back.
She walks a few steps toward Hunter. “I like her,” she says as she pats him on the shoulder. “Don’t screw it up, or you’ll have more than just her making you regret it for the rest of your life.”
She gives me a soft smile before taking her leave.
Hunter wastes no time before pulling me into the shadows. “I see you met just one of many pains in my ass residing in this house,” he teases, as his lips find mine and he steals a kiss. “I’m sorry I took so long, Angel.”
His hands tightly grip my waist as he holds me hostage against the wall.
“I’m sorry I made you feel like you can’t protect me,” I whisper.
He shakes his head. “I will always be there for you. For us. You’re my number one priority, Rochelle. Just know, if I step on your toes, I can’t help it. I just want to give you the world, and take away any pain it may cause you.”
I lift my hands and run them through his hair as his eyes search mine.
“I know,” I whisper. “But I want… No, I need… to stand up for myself too, Hunter. That is something you’ve shown me. That I am worthy. That I am loved. That I shouldn’t worry. And I like that feeling.”
He smiles softly before whispering, “I like that too, Angel. You are worthy,” he says, as his face lowers and he kisses my neck.
“So fucking loved,” he growls as his mouth takes my ear in between his teeth.
I let out a whimper and he pulls me closer.
“You are strong,” he says, clasping my arms at my side.
I teasingly fight against him, trying to escape, which makes him laugh low into the crook in my neck.
“Beautiful,” he says as his tongue licks across my collarbone and his teeth tenderly bite into my shoulder.
“Sexy,” he growls as his pelvis rocks forward and I feel him hardening against my thigh.
His face rises, he looks me in the eyes. “And the best part is you’re all mine.”
His mouth crashes against mine. His tongue gently parts my lips, making wetness pool between my thighs as he releases his grip on my wrists.
Instinctively, I pull him towards me and moan as his hard body pins me against the wall.
His thickening length makes my legs shake.
His hands rise. He pulls on my hair as he turns my face and deepens our kiss.
“Hunter!” A male voice shouts behind us, forcing me to stop. But Hunter has no plans to relent. He smiles against my lips, kisses me deeply one last time, and pulls back only slightly. His breath lightly feathers against my lips as he responds.
“What is it, Edward?”
Edward?
Throwing me for a loop, making me wish I could disappear, I hide behind Hunter’s towering frame. My body stills. My breathing stops. Being caught like this, when I haven’t even shaken the man’s hand yet, has fear stealing my next breath.
“Pull yourself together and bring your date to my office.” Edward sternly says. “I’d like to have a word with you both.”
I try and glance over Hunter’s shoulder, but he keeps me pinned between him and anything that could come between us.
He gives me a sexy wink before leaning in and taking my bottom lip between his lips.
Sucking my mouth open, he parts my lips and quickly takes my kiss one last time before releasing me.
“Duty calls,” he sighs. “Come on, Angel. It’s time you meet the old man.”