Deadly Temptation (Book 3)

Deadly Temptation (4)

It took him a good two hours to wrap his head around the situation before he told Tori.

She took it well, he thought. Keith had expected her to at least shed a tear but Tori only nodded once the shock wore off. It's not like Aileen was mother of the year but heck—she was still their mother.

Within days, he had arranged her funeral and held it at a small church near their old home. Not many people came because Aileen's house was known to be the community brothel but some persons showed up to show their respects for the person they heard of.

A few friends of Tori attended, including Janessa. She didn't make any move to go to Keith and he didn't either. She was here for Tori-- not for him. The service was short as not much people had good things to say and they were by the burial site in less than an hour.

As they laid her to rest, that was when Keith saw Tori tear up a bit. He held her close to his chest so that he could shield her from the public as she gripped his jacket tighter and cried.

"I hate her, Keith. I hate her so much."

He didn't know how to respond to that so he just held her close until her sobs were no more. Tori pulled away from him and walked towards the parked cars along with the small crowd that dispersed.

It was then that Janessa walked up to him in a fitting black dress with flowers in her hand. She threw them on top of the wooden box and just stood there as Keith stared down to where the box descended.

"How are you?"

He was glad she didn't start with an 'I'm sorry'. There had been too much of that today. "Fine."

"Tori never talked about her, you know."

"Yeah, well there wasn't much to talk about. She was a bad mother."

"But a mother nonetheless." Janessa mumbled. She wasn't sure what happened to the relationship with their mother but she still felt as if she deserved some amount of mourning.

Keith scoffed. "As soon as I hit eighteen, I moved out. Didn't take a thing from her and made my own way." He muttered. "She didn't even notice I was gone til I came back years later; wanting to take care of Tori."

Suddenly, his hand was held between hers and he stared into a pair of the lightest blue eyes. "And you've done a great job of that." She told him sincerely.

"Not at first."

"Hey, no one said it would be easy. Take James for example. After years of wrongs he's finally doing something right."

He looked away just then, reminded of the events that had caused James to change. Keith was glad he did change though, he was happy for his friend.

"I guess." He told her, trying to understand how he could even begin to forgive James for what he had done to his family.

"Take care." She told him before letting go and walking away from him.

Keith stared after her—watching her figure get smaller the further away she went. Just then, the sun went behind the clouds and a shade swept across the cemetery.

"Goodbye, Aileen." He said before turning his back and walking away.

_________________

"Johnny..." She gasped as they were pressed up against the wall of the parking lot.

"Say my name again." He told her before they met in a heated kiss.

"Cut!" Charlie yelled at the pair and they broke apart.

Janessa ran a hand through her hair and took a deep breath. She wasn't mentally here but she had to hurry and finish this movie. Romance wasn't her thing, really. She now prefered the drama where there wasn't as much love and kissing involved.

"Great scene, guys! I could really feel the chemistry." He complimented them.

"She can't get enough of me." Henry grinned as he sent a wink her way.

"In your dreams, pretty boy." She rolled her eyes while walking away.

"At least you think I'm pretty!" He yelled after her.

Once inside her makeshift dressing room on site, she saw a small gift box neatly wrapped and set right on her makeup table. Frowning, she edged closer and picked it up. It literally fit right in her hand and she pulled at the red ribbon that wrapped around the white box.

Inside was a silver necklace with a single diamond pendant. It was simple and absolutely beautiful. A grin formed on her face as she thought of who it could be.

Maybe it was Priscilla. Her birthday was coming and she knew Priscilla liked to do some early shopping. Then again, it could have been Henry since he's been relentless in trying to pursue her.

—then she saw the note.

Did you enjoy my pictures? At least now I know you will be thinking of me.

Your secret admirer. 

"Fuck," she cursed aloud while looking around her dressing room. 

She tried really hard to think of who it could be. There wasn't a lot of people on her list anyway, so it was easy to cross off a few suspects. She would die before she let this guy scare her; there was no way she would allow him to play his sick little games on her. Since he liked to watch her, she was going to give him a show. 

____________________

Bolting upright in his bed, he couldn't shake the feeling that washed over him once again. Keith glanced around his room to find his bed empty and the room door slightly open. Rubbing his eyes, he made his way to Tori's room to see her sleeping soundly under the covers.

He breathed a sigh of relief and ventured out to the kitchen to find it void of anybody. Where the hell was Kimmy?

Because he could no longer go back to sleep, he switched the TV on to find it on one of those gossip news stations. Keith rolled his eyes; so this was the shit Kimmy kept watching everyday?

As soon as he was about to change the station, he saw pictures of Janessa plastered all over the screen with some boy. Keith squinted his eyes and saw that he was the same boy she was at the restaurant with.

"Looks like romance is in the air for these two co-stars. They were spotted more than once coming out of clubs and restaurants. Do I smell a rebound happening for our leading lady?"

Keith frowned. He didn't like the idea of her latching onto the closest guy— to make matters worse, this said guy was her co-star; someone she had to be semi intimate with because of her career.

A weird feeling spread across his chest. He really didn't like it.

At all.

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I wonder what that feeling might be?

Thanks for reading ;)

Xoxo