Chapter 17 -- Dix-huit.
"He did what?" Mila yelled at her friend who almost regretted even telling her because they were practically in public and Mila loved throwing tantrums.
"It wasn't a big deal, i kept my cool." Della said remaining unfazed.
"You haven't been laid in a long time, you know." She said in an obvious tone. "If Leo wasn't there you bet he was going to fuck you on that kitchen counter." She added and Della gasped-
well Leo did help her a lot by yelling 'mom'.
All these pictures immediately started playing in her head and her clit immediately started to throb making Della squeeze her thighs together, it was just sexual tension nothing more. She imagined how it would be if he took her on that kitchen counter as much as she distasted the thought, it gave her butterflies. It wouldn't be the first time, he always satisfied her in a lot of enthralling places but she didn't want to think about it. Andre was a touchy subject. It hurt to remember how things use to be between them. "You are thinking about it, aren't you?" Mila wiggled her eyebrows making Della cringe with a sigh.
"No, I'm not." She stood her ground and put on a serious face. Mila gave me an amused look and Della couldn't help but break her lips into a smile. The two friends didn't get much time to spend together besides working. They enjoyed times like these where they had lunch together without the uniform and casually having a good time.
"Yes, you are." Mila chuckled lightly. "I know you like the back of my hand Della." She gave her flustered friend a knowing look.
"Fine, maybe a little." Della admitted. "The sex was always good, nothing more nothing less."
"I knew it, remember when his naked pictures leaked two years back. You never told me he was that big?" Mila said shaking her head in disbelief.
"Oh my word, Mila." Della sighed. "Are we seriously talking about my ex-husbands private part?" Della said clearly amused and flabbergasted.
"Oh please... Private part, you talk like the Queen of England." Mila laughed out loud. "It's dick, Cock, Shaft, Tool, Willy not Willy though because he is huge."
"Fine fine, I get it just don't use that kind of language in front of my son." Della retorted putting a strand of her hair behind her ear. This was always a habit of hers. "Ofcourse." Mila rolled her eyes.
They continued chattering back and forth about the new fuck buddy, Mila had met at her usual club until Della's phone rang. She immediately silenced it when she saw the caller ID.? It rang multiple times until Mila couldn't ignore it anymore. "Are you avoiding Andre?" Milla questioned.
"No, his name is Leith and has been on my neck for the wrong reasons." Della said rolling her eyes. She had been avoiding him for a week now.
"The publishing dude? He is some piece of meat too. Pass him over, if you don't want him..." Mila smirked.
"Annoying..."
"But he just wants to help."
"Well I don't feel like I should have to explain my feelings to anyone especially about my writings and he shouldn't try and be a therapist because I don't need one." She sighed. "I won't publish my book if this is how people will view me after reading my sappy story." "No no, I loved it and I'm still here. I don't feel any pity but I feel proud of you and I admire your writing." Mila encouraged fiercely.
"You are my friend, I guess you are supposed to say these things." Della said feeling defeated again the phone kept ringing and she put him on mute.
"I know but I really mean them." She smiled innocently.
"Thanks Mila."
"I will always be your number one supporter." Mila added making her friend smile with tears right under her eyes, she hated being this soft and vulnerable but she knew she could always let her guard down for Mila.
"I have been trying to get a hold of you for about a week, who do you think you are?" Jeanine abruptly barged into Garreth McCarthy's Penthouse. He wasn't surprised, he had actually seen her on the security footage; fighting with his security team. It was quite entertaining he thought- until he finally told them to let her in. "Oh, who am I?" Garreth chuckled. "I'm the man holding you on a leash."
"What do you want Garreth ?" She sighed feeling defeated, she slumped herself on the clear white couch. Everything in his Penthouse was white except the black suit he was wearing, it made him look like the devil. To Jeanine, he actually was and is the devil. "A lot of things." He said walked from the top of the stairs towards the small bar where he poured himself Hennessy on the rocks. He offered her a glass but she refused, she didn't trust him. She knew better-
"Just name them?" She replied a little too quickly and desperate.
"Firstly, Your son-" He paused. "Your son is becoming a bloody nuisance."
"He doesn't listen to me so you are wasting your time." She laughed wholeheartedly remembering how on their last meeting, he called her by her first name and has been avoiding her ever since.
"That's not my problem,?sucre."?Garreth let out an amused chuckle, Jeanine cringed at the French nickname he had just given her.
"Your son-" He paused taking a gulp from his glass, feeling the tingly sensation on his throat. "He needs to stay away from my daughter." He added. Jeanine scoffed at the thought. "Andre is stubborn." She sighed.
"Like mother like son..." He raised an eyebrow. "I trust you will get that done, I don't know how but I know for your own good you will get it done."
"Secondly-" He paced slowly back and forth on his white rug with his glass in hand.
"Secondly??" She rushed getting more and more nervous but at the same time she knew she could get him into bed after all she was an appealing woman.
"Close your legs, I'm not sticking my dick in a rotten jar." - Jeanine gasped at this, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, it always worked, clearly she had lost her charm or Garreth was immune.
"You are an old geyser Jeanine, I prefer my women younger and innocent." He mocked. It was the honest truth Jeanine was fifty-four and he was only forty-six. Funny enough, she looked like a thirty-year old. "Secondly, I want Levetté Holdings to ship some of my goods to various places like Mexico, Japan, Portugal, South Africa-" He spoke in a business perspective.
"No problem, what will you ship? I thought you were in the hotel business?" She grew curious.
"That's not any of your business, Jeanine." He muttered sharply.
"I always knew you were shady." She stood up from her position.
"I have the upper hand so just shut up and do as I say. My business is my business none of yours since dick is the only thing you know." He said calmly.
"That should be all for now,?sucre." He said.
"My husband shouldn't know."
"That's not my problem, get out."
"Sure." She said sardonically as she walked out.
"I will be waiting for the contract that your husband denied me of." He added.
"Sure!" She yelled.
-
Della was on her way home after having lunch with her friend when she saw someone whom she hadn't seen in years. She looked different, the lady had gained a bit of weight and she looked troubled as if she was in deep thought. She was standing near a boutique store, admiring the dress in front of her but her mind wasn't even there at that very moment.
"Amber, is that you?" Della slowly muttered. The lady with blonde locks turned around, her eyes puffy probably from crying.
"Oh Della, it's really you." Amber didn't wait any longer as she broke into laughter or rather cries while hugging an old friend that she had not seen in so long.
"Are you okay?" Della said touching her cheek that was now beetroot red.
"I don't know, Della. I have no idea!" She raised her hands dramatically trying to explain.
Amber was Daniel's wife and Daniel was Andre's childhood friend. They had their double dates together. They had so many good times before the divorce happened. They were present at the wedding, Amber was of course Della's maid of honor. That was her past life because now she only had Mila as a friend. Everyone turned their back on her and she was accustomed to feeling like a stranger. This wasn't her world, it was their world them being the Levetté and the Mossé family.
They walked to a near by bench so she could breathe and calm down. They had?been standing in the middle of the sidewalk which was very inappropriate.
"Della -l-i-i I'm going to have a baby." She muttered her voice full of fear beyond anything else.
"Oh my word that's great, congratulations. Daniel will be so happy." Della hugged her oblivious to the fact that the baby was the problem.
"Daniel will be happy but- I don't want a child, I'm not ready." She sighed fumbling with her fingers.
"I wasn't ready when I had my baby either-" Della smiled. "But look it all turned out well."
"Daniel told me that, you had Andre's son." She giggled. "When he told me, I was shocked... I thought I would be the first to know."
"Things changed fast, Amber." Della muttered.
"I know and I'm sorry, when I heard Andre kicked you out. I thought you would come to me but you didn't. Where did you go?" She asked. "I looked for you Della, I called your phone every day, I knew you would never do that. You absolutely adored Andre."
"I went to my mo- I mean I stayed at a few charity shelters until I could afford a place." Della had almost mentioned going to Marcela but it was useless considering she turned her back on her too. She had no idea Amber had been looking for her, Della had left her phone at Andre's place after all it was his. Everything was his, all the clothes she wore, down to her underwear they were all his. It was wise of her to leave it all, after being accused of laundering money and so much more.
"Charity Shelters—that's must have been horrible, I'm so sorry Della." Amber mumbled.
"It wasn't so bad! I met some really nice people who took great care of me like Nana Betty. She helped me with my pregnancy. You know with all the cravings and back pains-" Della stopped talking when Amber scrawled her face at the thought of back pains. "You have a loving husband who will massage you and spoil you so you don't need to worry about that." Della added trying to make her see the bright side.
"I feel horrible for not having been there- I hate Andre for doing what he did to you and most of all... I miss you." She giggled wiping a tear away. "We both have horrible bitch mothers in law, I had to deal with them all alone."
"I'm sorry too for not contacting you to tell you that, I was okay." Della replied knowing how horrible Jeanine and Gladys could be when they were together.
"It's okay, you are here now and I need you the most."
"You have Daniel too and trust me this will be a beautiful experience." Della assured her friend.
"So you and Andre-" Della immediately coughed feeling a bit uncomfortable.
Why did everyone feel the need to ask that? Andre did not add any value in her life! Andre was not even part of her life. It was annoying to a certain extent.
"Uhm...?I think that this was for our own good." She smiled broadly trying not to seem unfazed.
"You loved him so much, I know you did." Amber looked at her adoringly.
"It doesn't matter, Amber. What matters is you are carrying this little bundle of joy right here? Just think about how fun it will be to choose cute little clothes, choose names- oh my goodness I'm already excited for you."
"That does sound fun." Amber mumbled her lips curving upwards. "So where did you go after the shelter?" Amber wanted to know what she had missed in her friend's life but Della did not feel like going back into that because it somehow led back to Andre!
"I looked for a job and continued staying at the shelter so I could save enough for when the baby arrived so I worked until the week before my due date-"
"Whaaaaaaaaat are you kidding me?" Amber gasped. "My sister couldn't even do anything when she was five months pregnant."
"It wasn't that bad, pregnancies are different." Della shrugged.
"Della, don't act like everything was okay. This was all Andre's fault." Amber laid her hand on top of Della's.
"It doesn't matter anymore, I have a stable job at the hotel, I also found my father, I'm able to provide for my son, I don't think there is anything that could make me happier at this point and time."? Della smiled widely meaning every word except her mother being in her life would also make her happy but she scholar not to dwell on it.
"Love... maybe?" Amber wiggled her eyebrows.
"Uh, I'm always so busy, I don't have the time but when I do meet someone... I will give it a try." She said trying to be open minded about the whole situation.
"Great, you should come for dinner. We should hang out like we used to." Amber suggested. "Bring little Leo, Daniel and Andre are always talking about how smart he is. Clearly, he got that from you!" This made her laugh..?
"He is really something special."
"So do you want know how miserable Andre was?" Amber wiggled her eyebrows.
Here we go again.?Della thought.
"Uh no." She immediately said she saw every magazine cover that the guests left in their hotel suites about the countless women he had been with. Even some who claimed to be pregnant. "Andre could never-"
"Andre was miserable ask me, I know. Daniel tells me everything you know."
"I have to get going Amber but it was nice seeing you." She abruptly stood up. "Leo will be home from school anytime from now." She said in a hurry to leave.
"Uh okay, should I give you a ride?"
"No that's okay, I stay close by."
"Uhm okay, I will send you the details on the dinner." Amber said standing up as well.
"Okay." Della waved while rushing to the near by taxis, truth is- she hated talking about Andre. Couldn't she just live in peace away from the things that made her feel uncomfortable? ?? ?? ?00000000000