Chapter Nineteen
1239 Words
Chapter Nineteen
Adalia charged down the stairs, n***d feet slapping on the marble. She didn’t care about the cold, or her n***d body wobbling around for anyone to see.
“Trent!” she yelled louder this time, and heard a noise from the living room.
She walked in then stopped dead. Trent was there all right, but he wasn’t alone. An old man in a suit and lurid tie, with a pair of specs perched atop his bald head sat with him, staring at her as if she’d lost her mind.
Maybe she had.
“Adalia,” Trent said, coloring blood red. “What the hell are you doing?”
She searched the room for her dress and found it lying folded neatly atop the bar. She dumped her bag on the floor, pulled it on and half-zipped it up without his help. He tried to do the rest, but she smacked him away.
The old dude rose from the sofa with a warm smile. “I’m Withnail Harrington,” he said in a heavy British accent, and extended his pale wrinkled hand. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“Yeah, whatever,” she snapped back and ignored his friendly gesture. She wasn’t a rude person, but her anger had destroyed the need for niceties.
“Adalia,” Trent growled, “greet my guest properly.” He wore a loose shirt and slacks, and he’d obviously not showered yet. This guy was probably the tycoon he’d phoned the night before.
So what!
“I can’t believe you.” The rage bubbled over into a low shriek.
Withnail Harrington faltered, taking several steps backward. “I could come back another time, Mr. Dawson, if you have more pressing matters to attend to.”
Trent studied her expression. “No, that’s fine, Mr. Harrington, please stay and make yourself comfortable. It’s clear that Adalia wants to make a scene, so let’s let her have one.”
“I really think I should go.” The old man edged further away.
“Actually, it’s not that I can’t believe you, I just can’t believe I was stupid enough to allow this to happen.” Adalia’s eyes burned with hatred, and she stared at the man she’d fallen for, the goddamn billionaire player, so hard that strain set in at her temples. She didn’t bother massage the pressure away... it fueled her fury at him.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Harrington hovered in the doorway, torn between leaving and fetching a bowl of popcorn, apparently. He wore a mixed expression of horror and fascination like a wrinkly mask.
“I found the messages, Trent. I know you’re sleeping with her.”
“That’s my cue,” Harrington said, then waved to them both. “I’ll call you sometime, Trent. Let me know when you’ve got a minute.” Then he disappeared, whisking off into the distance.
“You might have lost me the deal of a lifetime right now.” Trent clapped once.
“I don’t care.”
“Of course you don’t. You only care about yourself, Adalia Montclair,” he spat, then kicked the coffee table in the first true expression of anger she’d ever seen from him.
“Stop deflecting, you bastard.”
“You realize you chased off one of the most influential men in the world, and definitely one of the richest. If I lose this deal because of you, I’ll –”
“You’ll what, Trent? Cheat on me? I would be scared, but it looks like you’ve already done that. Man, I can’t believe I was so stupid to trust you.” She yelled the last sentence.
“Seriously, have you gone mad? What the f**k are you talking about?” Trent strolled to the bar and brought out a bottle of water. He opened it and tossed some back, a fine line of fluid trickled out of the corner of his mouth and down his tan neck.
“I know about Michelle, Trent. I saw all the messages on your phone.”
“And you assume that I’m cheating on you? God, we have to be dating before you can even assume that.”
“We’re not dating,” Adalia said in a monotone then cracked out laughing. “Of course we’re not. You wouldn’t date the likes of me. You prefer tight little Valley girls with minimal brains and maximum cleavage.”
“You need to calm down. You’re jumping to conclusions.”
But she was on a roll, and she wouldn’t be placated.
“I should’ve known, but I went against my instincts.” She paced back and forth in front of him, barefoot, but at least her body was concealed. “Typical Adalia luck... the day I find out that the bank is liquidating my bakery is the day I discover your f*****g infidelity.”
“You lost the bakery?” Trent’s brow furrowed, but he didn’t move toward her. And it was better that way – she was two seconds away from physically accosting him.
“You’ve humiliated me! No wonder that Michelle cow is insistent on getting you into bed. It’s because she’s already had you and knows that you’re making a fool of me, too.”
“I have never slept with Michelle Van Heerden. Not once in my f*****g life, so can we move past that point and discuss the real issue here?”
Adalia stopped pacing, and leaned on the back of his couch, shaking her head and losing steam for a second.
“You can say what you want to me, Trent, but I know that it’s all lies. You can’t tell me the truth now, even after I’ve caught you. Sickening,” she said. “I should’ve left without confronting you about this, but I couldn’t bring myself to give you the satisfaction of an easy lay.”
He smacked himself on the forehead and pointed at her. “You’re starting to make me angry now. I’m gonna red line, Adalia. Don’t make me f*****g red line, you will regret it.”
She hopped over the couch, as nimble as a ballerina, and charged up to him. She forced her face right up into his and growled, “What are you going to do, Trent? Hit me?”
“You’re f*****g crazy. You’re forcing my hand, pushing me over the edge.”
“Come on, big man, what are you going to do? You wanna beat on a woman? I’ve had worse in my life. I’ve had worse than you and worse than this embarrassment.”
“Get out of my way.” He turned and slammed his hand into the coffee table. There was a tremendous ‘c***k’ and it split clean down the middle.
“What are you doing? You’ll injure yourself.”
“I don’t care,” he replied, and straightened. There was blood dripping from the hand he’d used and his knuckles were a mangled mess.
“I don’t have time for this drama. I’ve lost my dream and you’ve humiliated me to the core. That’s enough for one day.” Adalia marched to the door, the back of her dress still flapping open, but she didn’t bother trying to close it herself.
“Where are you going?” He glared at her, trembling with both hands balled into fists.
“Away. I can’t go home... I’m going to lose it pretty soon. So, away, not that it’s any of your business.”
“You haven’t given me a chance to explain.”
She paused, swept up her handbag and shouldered it. “I don’t need your explanations. This is over.”
“I’ll call you when you’ve cooled down,” he replied, but Adalia shook her head. He just didn’t get it, and he never would.
“Don’t bother calling me ever again. I’m not interested.”
“You can’t give up this easily.” His tone dripped with disappointment, but that made no difference. He didn’t know what disappointment was. She did... finding out the man of her dreams was sleeping with someone else and had used her as a pawn for s*x.
She laughed at herself.
“I’m not giving up. I’m just done.”
“With what?”
Adalia turned back one last time and skewered his soul with a hateful gaze. “You.”
- Writer
