~ KADE ~
"Nikita, it's so nice to see you again." I said as Nikita sauntered to take a seat beside me, dropping her clutch on the counter.
"Yeah, really nice. You probably remember me from Imogen's wedding or something."
"Uh…" I scratched the back of my head. That was definitely not the only time we had met. Who could forget Nikita after so many plays we had had together in the past? "Of course not." I chuckled nervously.
She smirked. "Great! I was wondering how anyone could ever forget this nasty Nikita after so many times together. So you're simply ignoring me?" She ordered herself a bottle of drink.
"Nikita Bend, it was really long ago, okay? I wasn't ignoring you or anything, it was just supposed to be one-night stands."
She laughed out boisterously. "One-night stands that happened about a million times?" She rolled her eyes, chugging down a glass of alcohol in one drought.
"Okay, I agree with that. It has been so long, about 5 or 6 years ago. We were still in college, woman."
She chuckled. "I was so unprofessional but now I can show you pretty dirty new skills I—"
"Nikita, I have a girlfriend." I cut her off.
"Oh, you mean the same girlfriend who is cheating on you?"
I frowned at her. "Lila isn't cheating on…" I trailed off after remembering Lila wasn't my girlfriend yet. She shook her head, taking another chug of her drink. "Oh, Jovi…" I started fidgeting, avoiding the scary gaze she was darting at me.
"What's wrong with you? You're already dreaming of having Lila as your girlfriend? She's taken." I raised my head to her, catching her smirk.
I chugged another glass of my alcohol, exhaling through my mouth. The fact that she said Jovi is cheating on me just sank into my head and my eyes widened. "What?! How do you know she's cheating on me?"
"You don't believe me? Of course I expected that." She slid her phone out of her bag and pointed its screen at me.
There was a video of Jovi making out with a dude I couldn't see his face.
‘Hey, baby. How much did you receive today?’ The dude asked her. That voice was very familiar.
I took the phone from her to view the video properly.
‘Not so much, just about fifty thousand dollars but I promise I'll collect more money from that idiot. He'll give me his credit card tomorrow or next week.’ She smiled, panting.
‘That's my girl. For a moment, I thought you were starting to fall in love with him genuinely because you sounded so jealous of that Lila woman.’
‘Nah, I just need more than enough money. If he loves her and breaks up with me then it'll be a serious mess for our plans. I can assure you that he can't break up with me, my beauty has held him captive and he's scared of me and my craziness so I have him wrapped around my finger.’ They both laughed while my head exploded with smoke shooting out from it.
‘Let's forget that dummy for now, we've got serious business to do.’ He cupped her butt cheeks while she giggled.
They turned around to obviously go to wherever they were going to do their serious business and my head exploded in fury after realizing it was her fucking ex-boyfriend, Rob Kingsley.
She was still with that bastard?!!!
"How did you get this?"
"Rob is my regular customer and he had to leave me because Jovi was waiting outside so I decided to record it. I knew you were going to be here because I knew that."
"Where are they right now?" My hands were balled into tight fists.
"In Jovi's house." She simpered.
Oh no, Jovi had messed with the wrong guy.
I jerked to my feet and stormed from the bar, ignoring Nikita who was yelling words I didn't bother to listen to while laughing so hard.
I got into my car, driving really fast and like the speed of light, I got to Jovi's house. My car pulled over in front of the mansion I had recently bought for her.
I had suspected that she was cheating on me but I hadn't caught her red-handed and there was no way I could've ever imagined that she could be with Rob.
I barged into the house since I knew the passcode to unlock the door.
I didn't even need to walk up the stairs to check in her room or anything of the sort because she and Rob were making out on the couch, not even a single fabric was on either of their bodies.
They stared at me with widened eyes.
Jovi quickly jerked upwards, picking her dress from the floor to cover her chest. "K-Kade… I… I can explain." She stuttered, quickly slipping the dress on.
"There's no need for an explanation. Very simple, it's over between us."
"No way!" She exclaimed and was fidgeting.
I couldn't stand this woman anymore. Without spending another second looking at the disgusting people, I left the house and went to my car.
"Babe, wait!" She still had the guts to call me babe?
I slammed the car door, quickly started the car while she hit it unremittingly, and zoomed off.
***
~ IMOGEN ~
"I hope you won't be tired."
"Why would I be?"
"You're pregnant and I don't think you're resting enough for your baby's health. You need to eat enough and healthy food."
"I'm eating well enough. Can you just focus on driving and not make us have an accident?" I folded my arms across my chest. "I'll be in the car, how can I possibly be tired?"
"Fine, Mom." She rolled her eyes, focusing on the road.
I noticed a smile creep up her face and it seemed very suspicious. "What's with that smile?"
"It's really so funny. You're going to be a mother soon, I can't believe it, I'm so happy. I'm going to be its godmother, right?" She glanced at me.
"Yeah, I guess so." I shrugged, turning my face away.
"You don't look happy."
"I didn't say that,"
— "but your face says it. Just because your husband might or might not have a child with someone else doesn't mean you should regret having his baby and falling in love with him."
"You can't understand my grief," I sighed.
"I do. My stupid boyfriend just broke up with me, duh."
"Oh, yeah, but you didn't lose anything. I've lost everything to Hames, he has betrayed me."
"He didn't betray you. He said he was unconscious and Oliver was before you met him. Why are you being so stubborn? That dude clearly loves you and I heard he's very sick because you're not with him, yet you won't at least answer his call. And I'm very certain that Bitch isn't pregnant because I know what I saw."
"You might've not noticed her stomach well enough."
"I definitely did. I'm not a child and know what I saw. We're heading there right now and you'd see the truth for yourself. Pay Hames a visit at least."
"He lied to me, and that hurts even more. Thinking about him gives me a terrible headache, let's stop talking about him." I held up a hand.
She finally brought the car to a stop in front of where I assumed was Dash's house.
"You'll see for yourself." She positioned the camera to take a video the porch of the house which was in front of the car. "The delivery guy should be here in about…" she scrolled through her phone then raised her head to stare at the porch, "...now!"
The delivery man rang the doorbell.
"What if she's no longer there? What if Dash comes out instead of her?"
"Then we'll figure out another solution, just shut up." She zoomed the camera close to Dash's porch.
I nodded, remaining silent and stared at the porch.
In a few seconds, the door opened and my face was blessed with a smile when Samantha came out in a really short dress.
"It's her, it's her!" I tugged at Lila's shirt like a child.
"Stop being such a baby."
"Oh. My. Gosh. She isn't pregnant!" I slapped a hand to my mouth. .
"So now you believe me?" She scoffed.
"I believed you, I just wanted to be certain."
She zoomed the camera to her flat tummy. "No pregnancy. We should get going."
"This woman." I clenched my fists.
She started the car and turned it around. "I'm certain she just wants money. What if Oliver isn't Hames' child too?"
"Hopefully…"
***
~ LILA ~
"You won't talk to Hames about this?" I asked Imogen who was doing the dishes though no one asked her to.
"Mom would be visiting today, I'll talk to her first. I believe you have somewhere to be at right now?" She sniffled.
"It makes no sense. Your husband is depressed and misses you as hell. You've figured out that he didn't cheat on you, but you still want to torture him?"
"He lied to me. Please talk to Kade instead, I know when to talk to Hames."
"He has apologized for having another child with Samantha and for not telling you the truth. Do you expect him to kill Oliver just so you'd be happy?" I frowned.
She glowered at me. "Please just talk to Kade."
"Don't you miss him at least?"
"Of course I miss him more than you know. I'm trying to control my emotions here."
"Then just talk to him. He's very ill, okay?"
"He's not ill. Hames is just dramatic."
"How can you be certain if you don't see him?"
"I'm certain because he's my husband and I know he's simply making up a lie to have me back. I can't believe you've been going to him behind my back."
"I wasn't. Kade has been pleading with me to convince you."
"You should go to him already. By the way, buy more chips on your way home." She continued doing the dishes.
I heaved a sigh. "Fine, I'll do so."
I hung my bag's shoulder strap over my shoulder and left the house.
The drive to Kade's house was pretty short.
I knocked on the door three times then the door flung open after a few seconds.
Kade, who was rubbing his eyes and was shirtless, groaned grouchily. "What the fuck—" his eyes landed on me and they immediately widened. "Lila? I wasn't expecting to see you here. Please come in." He widened the door.
I walked in and he shut the door, gazing at me with admiration.
He was so close to me and the fact that he was shirtless was making me experience an uncomfortable feeling in my internals.
I had to move two steps backwards but he took a step forward, staring down at me like he had just found a free trillion dollars on the floor.
"I'm here for something important."
"You agree that you feel the same way about me?" He asked with a lopsided grin.
"Uh… it's about Imogen and Hames. Samantha isn't pregnant right now."
"Really?" His face immediately became serious.
"That woman!" He punched his palm with his fists.
"You have to talk to Hames. I really don't want him to do anything crazy to Samantha out of anger after hearing this so you should talk to him calmly, as his friend."
"Does Imogen know about this yet?"
"Yes, she does but I don't know what's going on in that head of hers."
"Hames is really very ill. He hasn't eaten well enough since Imogen left him. He's very sorry. Please continue to convince her and I'll talk to Hames about this."
"Okay." I smiled at him.
"By the way, you're kinda promoted."
"Promoted?" My eyebrow quirked.
"Yes. You're now my new secretary and personal assistant so you'll have to spend more time with me." He winked at me.
"Isn't that Jovi's job?"
His forehead creased. "She's fired. She cheated on me and was only with me for my money so I broke up with her."
My body was flooded with relief and happiness. Wait, why? I wasn't supposed to be happy that he broke up with Jovi.
"You look really happy to hear this, why?" He smirked.
"No, I'm not."
"Your face, that smile tells it all."
"It's just a funny coincidence. I also just broke up with my boyfriend because he cheated on me. He only wanted to use me then dump me."
"Then he's crazy because who can ever want to dump the most beautiful woman in the world." His voice was very different, it sounded more charming.
I flinched when his strong arm went around my waist to pull me closer to his chest while his fingers grazed my cheek to brush my hair away from my face.
The normal Lila would have pushed him away and given him a hard slap but I didn't feel the need to do that at all, I felt very comfortable with his arm around my waist, like it belonged there.
There was silence between us for a while, we were simply staring at each other, nothing else.
I wasn't sure if it was my imagination but it seemed like our faces were becoming closer to each other, his eyes were fixed on my lips while mine couldn't stop scanning the sexy piece of hotness standing in front of me.
It was definitely not an imagination when our lips brushed against each other. It was like the touch of a feather, very gentle, relaxing, sending warmth through me.
His lips pressed against mine, calling me out of my trance.
I quickly pulled apart from him, fidgeting. "I'm sorry. I have to go now. I'll send the video of Samantha to you. Ensure you discuss with Hames' at full length. He shouldn't take law into his own hands and should get her arrested for fraud or something."
"Uh… yeah." He locked his hands behind him. "We should set those two up for them to meet each other and settle their differences."
"Yes, definitely, I'll convince Imogen."
Without another word, I scurried out of his house, slamming the door. I rested against the wall to pant.
What did I just do?
This type of attraction I was feeling toward Kade didn't seem right but it felt very right. Gosh, I needed help.