My Sweet

LIV

I lie in the tub, relaxing. Bubbles, oils and even rose petals are floating around me.

I tried to protest against all the unnecessary stuff but Em and her sidekick, Katie, badgered me till I gave in.

Now, lying here, I’m glad I did. I’m relaxed and happy.

I have this big goofy smile on my face..

I’m actually looking forward to tonight.

There’s a knock on the door, it must be Katie. Em would just storm in.

“Liv? Your dress is here and I got some shoes for you to try out and some accessories.”

Em opens the door and shouts at me.

“What she is trying to say is. Lift you arse lassie. You still have nails, hair, and drinking to do”

“Jeez Em! I’m coming, why you so tense?”

Last night after I told her about my day, she’s been a bit off.. I wonder if me moving on affects her more than I think?

I climb out of the tub, content.

Put my robe on, here we go.

I’m gathering all my inner strength for what is waiting for me on the other side of the door.

I hear oohs and ahhs and giggling.

We all sit on the over-sized bed talking. Me in a robe and the other two with their yoga pants and too big t-shirts.

My hair is in a chignon with some loose curls on the side, what Katie did in a matter of minutes. She is really good at this beauty and styling stuff.

Em did my makeup, I have undercoats, primer, powder, concealer and you name it on. I thought a bit of mascara and lip gloss would do the trick. When I saw myself in the mirror I couldn’t believe the end result!

I look exquisite. Best of all it looks like I have the minimum makeup on..

We are waiting for our nails to dry. Katie brought us two bottles of Dom Pérignon. I never liked champagne, till I tasted the really expensive type. It really does make a difference.

“ How close did you come to sleeping with him?” Em wanted to know that since she saw me all flushed and bothered yesterday.

I roll my eyes at her. She is not going to stop.

“ Well my mother told me.. Apparently she was pinned up the door by a very excited James. It was hot! Or so I’m told..” Katie laughs at my face.

Its evident that Lizzy informed her of all the juicy details.

“ You cow! You’ve been holding out on me! You better tell me or else I'll spray you with toilet spray before you leave here” She tries to look hurt.

“OK! I’ll tell you but no details”

Em smiles and fill my glass.

“ You know we had the picnic at the zoo. Well lets just say there weren’t much eating in the beginning.”

The two smile from ear to ear..

“Oh yea, bro still have the moves” Katie tries to rap but fail miserably.

“No, that was all me.. I don’t know what came over me.. I feel safe with him and special. Even though he knows what happened to me with Chris, I’m not a victim, my past doesn’t bother him. I’m just.… Me.”

The two listens intently to me. With puppy love faces.

Katie jumps up.

“So, are you ready for this Liv? Are you moving on?” Em is suddenly serious.

I’m quiet for a moment, making sure what my answer is.

“Yes, I know it’s quick and I don’t know him for long, but Em.. I think I’m in love with him. I can say that without feeling guilty.”

“Oh Liv! I’m so happy for you! Chris would approve.. You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for you to say those words..” I get a hug and a tear in the eye.

“My mom, said to show you this.” Katie plops the newspaper in front of us.

There we are! In all our glory. Me sitting on his lap and practically licking him up! Oh no no no...

The headline read: James O'Brien's new mystery woman.

There is only the one picture of us. Its zoomed the hell out of it.

“You can’t see your face. If you are worried about that. But you are going with him tonight, so they are going to figure it out.”

Katie softens the shock.

“What do I tell them? I don’t know how to handle this stuff.”

“Liv, you only tell them what you want them to know.. Once they see you are a normal, boring person they’ll leave you alone. Relax.. James will handle them..”

“ Come on, time to get you in that sexy dress.”

My dress is beautiful. It’s a long black satin halter neck dress. It’s fits perfectly, not too tight, just comfortable. It has a very low cut open back. I love it.

To Em’s shock I opted for Katie’s red Manolo Blahnik heels with crystal detail swooping across.

~

I stand in front of the mirror. Pampered, plucked, powered, waxed, oiled and whatever you can think off. I have to admit I had a blast with the two crazies.

I’m gawking at myself.

I look stunning! The dress fits way better than I remember. Even my tattoo looks awesome. I look bad-ass with a dress and high heels.

“I have to take a pic Liv. Mom will be in awe. The kids too.”

Em is especially attentive today. She clucked around me the whole day.

“James is waiting for you outside. I have to say my brother cleans up pretty nicely. I already warned him that he’ll probably pass out when he sees you"

“Thanks you two. You made all this so much better. I feel like a goddess?”

Katie gives me the clutch filled with all the necessities, or so they tell me.

“Enjoy! And Liv? You are not allowed in this room till tomorrow morning..”

I blush and give them both a hug..

They follow me outside, because they are curious to see James' face.

Em is taking pictures of every move I make.

Breath Liv, breath!

I’m holding onto the railing by the door. Frozen in shock..

There he stands, the reason for my current state.

In his black on black tuxedo.

He looks f*****g glorious, delicious, beautiful. There is no word that will justify the way he looks.

James spots me. He takes a step back so his sporty BMW can support him.

At least he is not running for the hills. I start walking towards him.

I wink with a flirty smile. He meets me halfway and I’m greeted with a sweet kiss.

“Sweet, my Sweet. You look exquisite.”

I smile shyly.

“You look not so bad either. You look like s*x. How am I going to keep my hands off you?”

This time he is blushing.

“Hmmmmm. Later Sweet, can’t wait to taste you. That dress would look so good next to my bed, on the floor.” He growls in my ear.

~

The event is a bigger deal than I thought!

There’s a blue carpet and we are on our way to it.

There’s cameras and journalists and lots and lots of people.

“ Noooo James. What is this?” I ask distressed.

James takes my hand and kisses it.

“Sweet. You look stunning. You have nothing to worry about, trust me.. Just stay with me..”

He is so attentive, and sweet. I immediately feel calm.

On the carpet, it’s chaos. Photographers shout and people run around.

We get to a beautiful Asian woman. She must be a size zero. Kind and friendly eyes.

“Hey James. How are you? Do you mind a quick interview?”

I try to hide away behind James.

“Don’t worry. She is one of the nice ones.”

I can do this. For him, I can be the best date ever.

“Hey Min. For you, always. First meet my date. Min, this is Liv. My stunning girl.”

Min smiles and greet me with such warmth. I like her immediately. She makes me feel at ease.

“Oh gosh Liv. You look unbelievable! Who are you wearing? I love the red shoes!”

“I have no idea. Sorry.”

I answer nervously.

“Don’t worry about it. Give us a peek at the back.”

James takes my hand and turn me so my back is in full view. I catch a glimpse of his face. He is so proud. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy..

“You look gorgeous. I’m in awe.. Just look at you James. All hot and sexy and twinkling eyes. Tell me how you doing?”

As soon as the attention is off me, I try to hide behind James again. He flicks his arm out and put it around my waist. He holds on for dear life.

James and Min starts talking about musicians I don’t know about and the awards given out tonight.

“Off the record, is this the lady in this morning's newspaper?”

Should’ve expected that.

James looks at me, he’s asking for approval. I nod my head.

“Yes she is. Isn’t she gorgeous? I’m a very lucky guy.”

James boast. They finish up their chat and we are lead to the hall entrance.

“You OK Sweet?” James whispers in my ear and kiss me on my spot.

“Yea, a bit overwhelmed but I’ll live.”

~

The place is huge. It’s decorated beautifully. Deep red, black and crystals. I’ve only seen decorating like this in the movies. I’m awestruck.

Here isn't nearly as many people as outside. I’m starting to feel a bit more at ease. Every now and again someone greets James and of course, to James’ delight, I have no idea who these people are. Some looks familiar but that’s about it.

An older man greets James.

“James, how are you, son?” The man spots me, he looks.. Disappointed? Disgusted?

“Art, I’m very well thanks. I want you to meet Liv.” James introduce us. The man does not give me the time of day. I get a limp handshake and a brush off..

Well, that went well.

“I need to talk to you about a project, in private.” Old grunchy demands.

“Sure, call me tomorrow..”

“No, now.” He is really an asshole. James looks at me nervously.

“It’s fine, you go, I’ll get our seats”.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to…”

“Hey, I’m a big girl.. Go, and get back to me ASAP”

James leaves with Mr Ass. Hesitantly, I must add..

I need the bar.. Something to drink..

“Hey Sista.”

“Oh Mandla! At last, someone I know.” I’m so happy to see him.

“James said to come and find you. I see you met Art. How was he?”

“Ass like. But nothing I can’t handle.” Mandla give me a quick hug and hold his arm out so i can take it.

“You look fabulous by the way. I’ll gladly take you to our seats. I organized so we can sit at the same table.”

Mandla pulls out my chair.

“You look a bit overwhelmed.” Mandla noticed.

“I was, outside. I just need a drink. Where’s the bar?”

I need some liquid courage.

“You just signal a waiter and he’ll bring you whatever you want, here is champagne on the table.”

“No thank you. I had enough froo froo drinks for today. Whiskey, on the rocks, please”

Mandla just shakes his head and call the waiter.

“You surprise me. Don’t know a lot of women that drink whiskey clean.”

“What event is this anyway? I thought it is charity thing, not a big to-do like this!”

Mandla just laughs softly and shakes his head.

“This is the equivalent of MTV award but for the instruments. You do now the MTV awards?”

“I’m not that ignorant.” We laugh.

Suddenly I feel a kiss on my spot.

“I’m so sorry Sweet.” I’m rewarded with two more kisses on my spot. Oh the butterflies!

We sat there for two hours. It was fun. The host was very funny and witty. James touched me the whole time, or kissed me somewhere.

Mandla was a hoot! He was the victim of a couple of jokes from the host or the presenters.

When the ceremony was finished we were showed to the cocktail room while the hall is been fixed up for the party. Yep, the ceremony alone wasn’t enough. They had to party too.

I push James in a dark corner. Kiss him with lust. His one hand behind my head and his other on my naked back. I love his hand on my naked skin.

“How long?” I ask breathlessly, still holding him close.

“What?” He ask eyes closed, lips looking for mine.

“How long do we have to stay here?”

“An hour. Tops.”

I kiss him again.

“I can do an hour. Not a minute more.” I turn to freshen up.

We are ushered back in the hall, the tables are smaller and shifted to make place for a dance floor and a humongous bar. The band is playing some oldies. The atmosphere is buzzing.

The lights dim and another guy comes up and announce a new artist. It’s Alaric..

Mandla looks like a very proud papa.

The scared boy looks like a grown man, confident, smart. A little scruff, black slacks and a black jacket.

“Hey there” he starts

A couple of girls screams. The man/boy blushes. He is still boy.

“I’m gonna sing you a new one. We struggled with this one, but a very bossy but sweet lady helped me. Thanks Liv.”

I feel myself blush all over. I duck behind James. I hope the light doesn’t find me. James starts laughing.

“Sweet, it’s OK. They don’t know who you are.” he shift behind me with his arms around my waist. I get kisses. I love those kisses.

Alaric starts to sing, She’s the one. There isn’t a peep, everyone stand and watch in awe.

It wasn’t long after the song, that Mr Ass came and took James away. Again.

Mandla was happy to stand in. We dance and drink most of the time. The artists and bands are all really good.

Mandla excused himself when a really handsome man asks me to dance.

“I have to compliment you on your dress.”

“Thank you.” He looks at me like I just slapped him.

“ Aren’t you going to say anything about me?”

This guy is really arrogant. I suddenly have the impulse to leave him right there.

“Your tuxedo looks nice… Just like all the others.” I bite back, he doesn’t look nearly as good as James.

I turn to leave him there in the middle of the dance floor. I walk into James. He has a murderous look on his face.

“Come” he says briskly, take my arm.

What the frack happened? I try to look for Mandla but we are outside in ten seconds.

James is livid, he breaths deeply to calm himself. Run both his hands through his hair.

“f**k, f**k, f**k” he chants to himself

I stand there stunned. I have no idea what just happened..

He comes and stand in front of me. Rubbing my arms. He looks better but not much.

“I’m sorry. Did he say anything to you?” He asks stiffly

“Not much, pompous ass.” James laughs

“What just happened?”

“That was Aiden.. I can take a lot Liv and I trust you... Just the thought of him touching on you makes my blood boil.”

“The shitty friend.. Well, you didn’t lose much with him, I can tell you that.. I get it” I touch his face and rub my thumb over his lips.

His eyes gets dark and lustful. Every muscle clench south of my waist.

“I think it’s time to get you out of that ugly dress.” he growls. He kisses me.

He slips the keys in my hand.

“You drive, I want to play..” he winks.

We sit in the car for the past 10 minutes arguing.

“I’m not going anywhere till you put your seat-belt on!” I'm fickle when it comes to safety.

“Come on Sweet, then I can’t play. Meaning, I want to play with you.” he thinks he is going to win this one.

“Well, if you don’t then you going to play with yourself tonight!”

I get an eye roll a huff and reluctantly he puts the belt on.

I start the car with a victorious smile..

Shit, s**t, s**t … NO! Not f*****g again..

I feel the barrel of a gun against my head.

“GET OUT!!” the fucker shouts.

I look to James’ side and see another gun, against his head.

I want to cry. Not again. No!!

James is in shock.

He mouths at me, I. LOVE. YOU..

I close my eyes and see Chris’ face..

There is no way in hell I’m letting this happen, again. I say to myself determined.

I step on the gas.

Gunshot…