Chapter 50
Calvin
After getting Nikita out of the dress I ruined, she jumped in the shower and I moved outside to stand on the balcony. Stars scatter across the dark sky, the full moon settling against the glistening ocean water.
I take a deep breath in, the cold nighttime breeze filling my lungs. There’s a stark contrast in how I felt at the strip club versus here with Nikita. I rushed back to find her and when I did, I couldn’t stop myself from touching her. I barely had any choice in the matter since my dick seemed to be making its own decisions. The desperation I felt had us fucking each other raw and that was it for me. Stretching Nikita around me with nothing separating us is my new addiction, I can feel it.
I still trusted my pullout game, just in case, but all logic had left my mind and Nikita’s dress paid the price for it. It is a good thing she isn’t too phased by that as both of us came (no pun intended) out with mind blowing orgasms. We are in no position to complain.
I am wrapped around Nikita’s finger. There isn’t anything she can ask of me that I will not do. I am hers. The thought of her excites me. I am almost consumed by her and it fucking scares me.
The sound of my stomach growling shifts my attention to the fact I still haven’t eaten. We were meant to have gone for dinner, but thanks to Kenneth’s shit mood when we left the hotel, he opted to head straight to the strip club. I’m not a strip club buffet kind of guy, so I definitely did not help myself to the spread. Glancing down at my watch, I see it’s just past four in the morning which is the perfect time to be reminded by my body that I have been depriving it.
I walk back inside, grabbing my shirt on the way in, pulling it over my torso as I go through the fridge and cupboards just to come up empty. We didn’t stock up on anything, so I can’t really be surprised by the unfortunate outcome of my search, but wishful thinking had me checking anyway.
Making my way back into the room, I knock on the door of the bathroom, the sound of Nikita’s voice shouting over the water from her shower “Yeah?”
“I’m grabbing a snack from the vending machine downstairs, do you want anything?” I shout and wait for her response.
“What are you getting?”
“I don’t know what they have yet so I’m not sure.”
I hear movement from the shower before Nikita sticks her head out, her wet hair dripping onto the floor, “Can I get a couple bags of those mixed nuts?”
“Are you trying to kill me?”
“Why?” She looks confused, “Wait, are you allergic to nuts?”
“I am.”
“Okay, scratch that. I’d still like to kiss you, and I’d rather you not end up in the emergency room.”
“Good call,” I respond with a chuckle, “I’ll bring back some options.”
With one last smile in her direction, I turn to make my way out the hotel room, making sure to grab my wallet on the way out. The hallways are deserted and when I make it downstairs into the lobby, there’s nothing but the faint sound of a sitcom in the distance coming from the security desk.
Hell, I’d also sit and catch up on my series if I had to sit around like that.
I grab loose change from my wallet as I come to a stop in front of the vending machine. I’m not usually one for processed junk, but why not live life on the edge? A shiver comes through me at the thought that is so far from what I’m used to. I shake that from my mind and scan through the options in front of me. Crisps, cookies, chocolates - the list goes on. I pause when I see the packet of mini chocolate filled croissants. Nikita ate them a couple of days ago so I figure that will be a good place to start. I move to drop coins into the machine, ready to make my selection, but the sound of the elevator doors opening catches my attention. I turn to find Violet walking into the lobby and clocking me immediately.
“Hey Cal,” she speaks as she walks over to me.
“Hi.”
I make my selection before turning back to her as she continues talking, “I’m actually glad I found you. I really need to speak to you about something.”
Underneath her arm rests her clutch bag and she looks more like she’s headed to a club rather than returning from one. The vending machine awakens as it moves to drop the packet of croissants. Bending down, I grab it as Violet moves in front of me.
“I understand that you must be mad, but Cal, love, Nikita doesn’t have all the facts, alright?” Her voice lowers into a hushed tone, “I wanted you to hear it from me first, not from your girlfriend who can’t keep her nose out of other people’s business. I’m sorry, but it’s true.”
My face pulls with confusion. What the hell is she going on about? “Vi, what-”
She shakes her head as she rests her hand on my arm. “Please let me get this out because it’s been eating me up inside. I didn’t mean for it to happen with him the way it did, but that’s the thing, you don’t plan these things you know? I’m not proud of it…”
If I thought I was confused before, her next sentence sends my confusion spiraling. Who is she talking about? And why is Nikita involved?
“We just…” she sighs, running her fingers through her hair. “Calvin, I just fell in love with him, alright? Those are the facts. We hooked up first, a total drunken night, but it snowballed from there into… this. And it had nothing to do with you.” Her hand rests on my arm, “I didn’t mean for it to overlap the way it did, but sometimes these things hap-”
“What did you just say?”
She shakes her head, “I know that sounds bad, but Ken and I, we just ha-”
“Ken?” I pause, looking at her - really looking at her for the first time as the guilt settles across her face, adding further confirmation to her words, “Violet, what the hell are you talking about?”
Her lips part before she pauses, pressing them shut as her eyes widen, “W-what do you mean? Haven’t you seen Nikita yet?”
Now I am getting antsy. “I have. What does that have to do with anything?”
Her hand moves to cover her mouth, “Oh, no. No, no, no.” She continues shaking her head, realization in her eyes. My mind runs rampant with her words. Ken? Is Violet in love with Kenneth?
“What’s going on?” I ask, this time with less patience in my tone.
“I-I’m sorry. I thought she would have told you.”
“Clearly, she didn’t, so I suggest you do.”
Her bottom lip pulls between her teeth, her eyes wide with a swarm of worry, guilt and sheer surprise in them, “Kenneth and I. We… we’re in love.”
I remain still as I comprehend her words. My eyebrow raises shortly after that as my eyes widen with shock over her confession. “Yo-you’re in love?” I repeat slowly, “You and Kenneth?”
She nods, her eyes bugging out as her gaze turns to concern over me. I swear that look is borderline pity which irks me. Shaking my head, I say, “Wait, let me get this straight.” I take a deep breath in, willing my patience to make an appearance right now when I need it most. “You’re fucking Kenneth?”
“Don’t say it like that, it sounds… dirty.”
A humorless laugh comes next as a response. “Oh, I’m sorry, do you want me to refer to the activity of ‘fucking’ as ‘making love’ in this scenario?” Another wave of laughter comes from me at the audacity of this woman. She clenches her jaw, straightening up as she attempts to regain her composure. I wait for her to speak, but she remains silent so I take the opportunity to try and wrap my head around this. “So, this entire time that we’ve been here celebrating your ‘best-friend’s’ upcoming wedding, you’ve been fucking her fiancé?”
Her eyes dart around the empty lobby, “Calvin, please. Can we continue speaking about this in my room? Someone can he-”
“Hear us?” I finish her sentence, “What did you think was going to happen, Violet? You’re the one who started the conversation in the first place. One, I might add that took me by total fucking surprise.”
Her head is shaking. “I thought your girlfriend would have told you!” She argues, “She was incredibly vocal about that all night. She threatened to out me, Calvin. You had to hear it from me before she twisted it up a-”
“Stop talking.” Each word from her forces a realization to settle inside of me. Her mouth snaps shut as I continue, “That’s why you broke up with me, isn’t it? We weren’t in different places in our lives. You were too busy fucking my friend.” I laugh, shaking my head. “No, even worse - your best friend’s fiancé. Fiancé, Violet.”
“Cal, it isn’t-”
“I gave my everything to make you happy, to give you the life you wanted. I followed your blueprint to success, doing whatever you needed of me. I gave you my all, and you were fucking me around the whole time.”
Stepping closer to me, she objects to my words, “Cal, that’s not true. It wasn’t the whole time. I loved you, I did-”.
“You expect me to believe that?” I retort, “Why now, Vi? Why did you decide to come clean about this now and not before?”
The sound of the automatic doors at the entrance of the hotel opening sends both of our attention in that direction.
Kenneth. Fucking perfect. “Great timing!” I exclaim, clasping my hands together before gesturing towards him, “Kenneth, please, join us.”
“What the hell are you shouting for, Rhode-kill?” He mutters, approaching us,bringing the smell of the strip club and alcohol along with him. His hair is in disarray and his shirt has the buttons done incorrectly. His eyes land on Violet, “Vi, what’s going on?”
I turn back to her, “Why don’t you fill in Kenneth over here on what’s going on?”
Her eyes send daggers in my direction before she turns to Kenneth, “Ken, look, I was trying to tell Calvin here tha-”
This time the elevator doors open, switching all our attention to a freshly-showered Nikita stepping out of the elevator. “Cal?” She shouts before turning in our direction, the realization dawning on her instantly, “Fuck.”
“Join us, Nikita.” I gesture her over with my hand, “Since I believe you’re already aware of what’s happening here.”
“You told him?” Kenneth mutters, shooting a look in Violet’s direction.
“I thought he already knew!” She pointed to Nikita, “She threatened to tell him!”
Nikita’s eyebrows jump as she gets closer. “Threatened?” A scoff follows, “Good God, Violet, have you always had a flair for the dramatic?”
My attention moves to Nikita, my insides brewing with an overwhelming amount of emotion at everything that has been revealed. Violet had been cheating on me with Kenneth. The betrayal seeps beneath my skin, shooting through every vein possible. I feel so fucking stupid right now for not knowing. For being so desperate for someone like Violet when all this time, she was never right for me. People around me could see she wasn’t - Nikita knew. She is incredibly vocal about her feelings towards Violet, but she can’t be vocal about what she knows?
“You knew?” I ask her.
Her face falls, her eyes apologizing without words, “Cal, I did, bu-”
“You knew and you didn’t tell me? Why?” I can feel the emotion rising inside of me.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?” I snap at her, “You didn’t think to tell me when you saw me?”
She jerks her head back, her eyes narrowing as she approaches her response with caution, “Woah, wait a minute. Don’t you think you’re taking all this out on the wrong person right now?” She gestures to Violet and Kenneth. “They literally fucked behind your back and you’re angry that I didn’t say anything?”
She’s right and that pisses me off even more, “Just go back upstairs, Nikita. I will deal with this.”
“No. I’m not going anywhere.”
I feel a hand on my shoulder and I turn back to find that Kenneth’s the one who grabbed me, “Rhodes, let’s talk about this.”
I shrug his hand off and press my hands up against his chest, pushing him backwards as my ability to think straight hands itself over to my emotions. “Don’t touch me, Kenneth,” I caution.
“Calvin, please!” Violet steps towards me, entering my eye line, “I wanted to speak to you about this in a civil manner.”
I lift my hands up. “I’m being civil. I’m asking questions and getting no answers.” I snap my attention between them, “How long has this been going on?”
They look at each other, a look passing between them that people will only have from developing a certain level of intimacy. I can see it right before my eyes. Kenneth and Violet.
What about Britney? Fuck, does she know?
“I don’t think that information is going to make any of this easier for you,” Kenneth says, “Let’s just move past this, alright?”
“Move past this?” I repeat, my eyes narrowing as I glance between them. The delusion between them is reaching heights I’ve never seen in reality. “Ken, you’re getting married in two fucking days.” I snap my head towards Violet. “He’s getting married to your best-friend.”
She speaks through her teeth, “I’m well-aware of the facts, Calvin, thank you very much.”
I try to rack my brain for a sign, any sign that I may have missed over the years, that this was going on behind my back, but there is nothing which just irritates me more. Was I really that oblivious? How fucking pathetic of me.
“Britney still doesn’t know,” Nikita interjects. Her eyes catch mine - the same eyes that are filled with a silent apology for the bomb that has just been dropped. I spent months hung up over Violet, trying to rack my brain on what I could have done better in our relationship. Hell, the whole reason I brought Nikita here in the first place was because I was desperate to save face around her. I was blindsided by her decision to end our relationship. Never did I think that it would have been because she was fucking someone I considered to be a friend.
And that isn’t even the worst part.
What she - they - are doing to Britney is so much worse.
Kenneth steps closer to Nikita, “This has nothing to do with you, so stay out of this.”
“What about me?” I move closer to him, stopping between him and Nikita, “This has everything to do with me so I suggest you come clean about this to Britney. Now.”
“Rhodes, let’s talk about this.” His arms are lifted as if to caution me, “Calmly, alright?”
“Am I shouting?” I ask calmly, “Am I throwing punches? Or am I asking you a question that I’d like an answer to?”
Kenneth shakes his head, “There you go again with that condescending way of speaking. Do you realize how much of an asshole that makes you?”
“I’m the asshole?” I repeat, my voice slightly raising in volume from the shock at his choice of words. “You fucked my girlfriend behind my back and I’m the asshole?” I hadn’t expected to step closer to him, but with the anger and betrayal turning inside of me, my body is moving before I can stop it.
“Calvin, please,” Violet says, trying to calm the situation but that only pisses me off more.
I snap my head towards her/ “Please what? This is your fault.” I look back at Kenneth. “Both of you. Britney deserves so much better than both of you.” I shake my head, disbelief settling in, “She deserves to know what you’ve done, what you’re still doing.”
Kenneth grabs my shoulder again, my jaw clenches at the contact as betrayal pumps through my veins. “I told you not to touch me,” I say through my teeth.
“So, what if I do?” Kenneth turns defensive. He will never back down from what he considers to be a challenge. “What are you going to do?”
“Kenneth!” Violet exclaims in a hushed tone, “What the hell are you doing?”
“He’s drunk again.” I shrug out of Kenneth’s touch, pushing against his chest but not expecting him to stumble back.
“The fuck you-” Kenneth tries to step forward but both Violet and Nikita move between us. I hate how I’m acting right now, but I can’t stop.
“Have you lost your mind, Rhode-kill?” He pushes closer to me, knocking Nikita in my direction. Moving my hands to rest on either of Nikita’s arms, I move her out of the way. Kenneth has some fucking nerve. I lift my finger to him, “If you don’t tell Britney, I will.”
His gaze turns cold, “Stay the fuck out of my business!”
“This isn’t just about you, Kenneth, but that’s exactly the problem. You don’t give a shit about anyone else.”
Violet extends her hand towards me, stopping against my chest, “Calvin, that’s enough.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.” I snap my eyes to her. “How could you do this, Vi?”
“That’s enough from you.” Kenneth pulls Violet back, moving towards me.
“Cal, let’s go, please.” Nikita’s voice comes from behind me.
“Listen when your bitch speaks, Rhode-kill.” Kenneth pushes against my shoulders with more force than I expect, but my feet remain planted on the ground, only the top of my body reacting.
Yep - that’ll do it.
I swing for Kenneth.