Page 12 of One Last Time
I smile, “Sounds good, why don’t we get you all sorted first and changed into your swimwear, and then we can go play?”
The kids are tucked up in bed, they’ve had a busy day today. Darkness has settled over the beach, all that we can hear is where the ocean waves hit against the shore. The sound is soothing.
“While you were in Milan, I had a visitor,” Dahlia says while we’re sitting on the deck talking.
I turn to face her, “Who?”
She sighs, “I wasn’t sure if I should tell you this or not, but I’m not keeping secrets from you. We agreed we’d be honest.” My heart starts to pound at her words, is it something bad? Is someone trying to take the children away from her? “Silas came to see me.”
My heart splinters, and my breath leaves me in a whoosh.
“Pay, he was looking for you. He’s distraught, he’s worried about you.”
I scoff, “He should have thought about me before he cheated.”
“Baby, he swore that you got the wrong idea, he was pushing her away. He wants to talk to you.” Her voice is gentle, “I think for your own sake that you should talk to him. Even if it is just for closure.”
She’s right, “I’ll call him now,” I tell her as I reach for my cell phone. Dahlia gets up from her seat and walks back inside, leaving me alone. I call his number, I remember it by heart, so many times I’ve contemplated calling him but I couldn’t. I just wouldn’t let myself get hurt again. But knowing that he came to see me, that he said it was a misunderstanding gives me a glimmer of hope. I still love the guy.
“Hello?” The husky voice on the other end is definitely not Silas, in fact, it’s female.
My lungs hurt as I hold my breath, God, why is there a woman answering his phone? “Hi, is Silas there?” How the hell have I managed to make my voice sound normal.
The woman’s giggle is enough to turn my stomach, “Sorry, he’s busy. Can I take a message?”
I lick my lips, unsure whether I should hang up or ask her the question I need answering. “Um, no. Are you his girlfriend?”
She laughs, “No, Silas doesn’t do girlfriends, he just fucks us honey. But you want in, you’ll have to get in line.”
I end the call before she can hear me cry. The tears fall silently, and I leave them be.
Just fucks them? What an asshole.
Why the hell did I actually think he was serious when he said it was a misunderstanding? I should have listened to my gut. God, why do I torture myself?
It’s time to move on, he obviously has no regard for me or my feelings.
Silas Miller and I are done.
CHAPTER 7
Payton
TWO YEARS LATER
“Payton, you’re here!” Bianca screeches, and I smile. God, I’ve missed this girl. “About time you got back. How was it?”
Bianca and I live in an apartment in New York, we’ve been best friends since that photoshoot with Isabella. When I turned eighteen, Bianca said she wanted to get a place of her own, and Jerald came up with the idea of the two of us living together. Dahlia agreed with him, saying it was safety in numbers and all that. Jerald found an apartment for us that’s in a secure building and has tighter security than the White House.
I’m back from a photo shoot in the south of France and, to be honest, it was amazing. I still can’t believe that this is my life. “Fantastic,” I reply with a smile.
She glances at me, her eyes running over my body, “You’re glowing, you’ve got a tan.”
I roll my eyes, she’s worse than Dahlia. “Yes, I’ve got a tan. A month in the south of France, what did you expect? Me to come back looking like a ghost?”
She laughs, “No, I wasn’t sure what to think. I mean, Pay, I saw the article. I know you would have too.”
My heart stutters at her words, Silas. That damn man, I can’t escape him no matter how hard I try. The feelings I have for him haven’t gone away or dimmed as I had hoped. Even after two years, I still love him. Now I have to see him in the magazines and media channels. He’s the hotshot that’s sure to be drafted first tonight. Every week he’s pictured with a different woman, I hate that I care, that when I see those images, I cry.