Page 30 of Once Upon a Beast

I turned away from him, tears stung my eyes. Now, the man didn’t even want to have a friendship with me when this was all over. I had thought he hadn’t been playing me when we were alone, I could see that he had. I hadn’t mattered to him at all. I was just a means to an end to get what he wanted.

He had done a wonderful job making everyone think he had changed, that he was a good man. He might have been once but he wasn’t anymore. The boy I had grown up with and thought was still inside him was truly gone. I wanted to yell at him, I wanted to tell him how much he had hurt me, I wanted to say he was the beast that everyone said he was, but I didn’t.

I had no one to blame for this than myself. I was the one who had read more than was there. Just because I thought he liked me didn’t mean that he did. I was the one who had pushed the kiss. I was the one who wanted it to mean something more. I was the one who let my imagination get the better of me. This was nothing more than a business arrangement between two old acquaintances. I couldn’t even call us friends, because he didn’t want that either.

“Sounds like you have it all figured out. You’re right, we just have to get through this next month. I’m sure we can find a way to work together.” The tears that had been stinging my eyes threatened to spill. I didn’t want Nic to see me like that. I really didn’t want to cry at all but it looked like nothing was going my way. Thankfully, we pulled in front of my apartment complex. Before the driver had even stopped the car, I was opening the door.

“Thank you for a lovely evening,” I said as I got out. It was curt and my upbringing was telling me I should say more, but I couldn’t.

“Wait. I’ll walk you up,” Nic said and made like he was going to get out of the car.

“There is no need. I know the way.” I didn’t wait for him to answer but got out of the car and closed the door before he had a chance to get out. I didn’t turn around as I walked toward the front door but I knew that Nic was watching me. It wasn’t until I opened the door that I heard the car pull away. I turned around and watched as the car and Nic left. I let the tears fall then and allowed myself to wallow in the thought that the fairytale I had hoped to have with Nic, no matter how short lived, had only been a dream and was never ever going to become a reality.

Chapter 17

Nicodemus

“Yes! Yes Nic! Just like that. You feel so good. Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop,” Layla cried.

Her hands were on my shoulders as she worked her way over me. My hands on her hips helped to guide her. My eyes gazed at the beautiful site of the woman I loved in my arms. Her body glistened with the lightest sheen of sweat as she moved up and down on top of me. Her breasts bounced slightly making my whole body react at how incredible she looked and felt.

“I won’t, Layla. I’ll never stop. I’ll never let go.” My hands reached up to cup her breasts only to have them disappear as my alarm went off and woke me from my dream.

I rolled over and buried my face into my pillow. Layla was not my bed. Considering how things went the night before, I wasn’t even sure if she would ever talk to me again, much less sleep with me.

She had been angry about the kiss and how I had reacted. I couldn’t blame her. She had asked me to kiss her, to give the paparazzi a show. She was only doing what I had asked her to do, to make everyone believe that we were in love. It was my fault that the kiss had turned into so much more. I had imagined having her in my arms countless times, once I had her there, I wasn’t going to let the chance pass me by.

I had kissed her with everything that I had felt for her and everything that I wanted for us. Having Layla in my arms had been the single best moment in my life. She melted into me as if she was born to be there. Her mouth had moved around mine as if she already knew what I wanted, even before I did. The moan in the back of her throat had been music to my ears.

Except, it had all been a lie. It was just an act she was putting on for others to see. I had wanted to kiss Layla forever, but I didn’t want to kiss her like that. It hadn’t been right and that was why I had stopped it. If we were going to have anything, I wasn’t going to have it start on a lie.

She hadn’t been able to look at me on the ride home. She had hardly been able to talk to me. I had killed our renewed friendship as soon as it had started. I wanted to take it back but I couldn’t. The only kindness I could give her was to allow her to be done with me as soon as possible. I couldn’t let her go completely. There were appearances we needed to keep up. I vowed that as soon as she could, I would let her leave me. I wasn’t going to make her stay, no matter how much I wished she would stay.

“You’re late,” I growled at Steve when he showed up at my apartment later that morning.

“That was not the response I was expecting from you,” Steve said as he walked into my kitchen.

“It is when you’re late,” I snapped.

“I’m actually early, and come bearing gifts so get your head out of your ass and come over here. Maybe eating will get you in a better mood.” I could smell the bacon egg and cheese on a wrap in the bag he carried. I was sure it was from the corner bodega, and my favorite breakfast. His kind gesture made me feel bad that I had snapped at him. I wasn’t mad at him; I was mad at myself.

With my head slightly down, I walked over and got myself another cup of coffee, poured one for Steve and went and sat across from him at the kitchen table. We didn’t say anything while we ate. When mine was done, I took a drink of my coffee and leaned back in my chair. It was then that I noticed the newspapers that Steve had brought in.

They all had pictures of Layla and me on their front pages. I was impressed at how many different pictures they had. A few had us as we got out of the car and walked into the gala, there were a few more that had us as we danced, but even more had our kiss.

I reached for the one closest to me that had the picture of us kissing. The passion, the desire, the heat felt like it could come off the paper and into the room. Seeing the picture, how Layla looked in my arms, I was reminded again of how good it felt to have her there, and that she would never be there again.

Frustrated, I threw the paper down and slammed my coffee cup down.

Steve didn’t say anything but lifted his cup and took a drink. He kept his eyes on me as he drank and then slowly brought the cup down. He placed his hands on top of the counter and asked innocently, “Did something happen last night?”

“You can see from the pictures that something definitely happened last night. I thought I hired you for your intelligence.”

Steve shook his head at me. “Lashing out, not in a good mood. Though I can’t understand why. You wanted people to think that you and Layla were a couple. Even better if they thought you two were in love. Look at the pictures, read the articles, you have more than accomplished your goal. You two were the belles of the ball.”

“It wasn’t a ball; it was a charity event.” I stood up and cleaned up our trash, put my cup in the dishwasher, and slammed it closed.

“I thought you wanted people to like you and Layla together? From the pictures, you should be ecstatic, why aren’t you?”