Sorry for not spell-checking :D I'm kinda in school right now soo yeah...Math sucks, people!
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CHAPTER 29
I managed to sneak out of the Riviera mansion without anyone noticing which was quite a surprise as I had half-expected an angry crowd of people waiting to throw stones at me. Just as I tried to open the door as quietly as possible, the impatient cab driver honked for the third time. I flinched, trying to hush him up as I hurried down the entrance stairs. I was very aware of how my hair was messy, my make-up smudged and my clothes wrinkled, making it incredibly obvious to everyone what I had been up to but there were more important things for me to think about.
For example I could start with considering whether I was the worst person in the world for creeping out of my boyfriends bed to arrive punctually at my job as a stripper. Or whether it was justifiable that I still couldn't get myself to even imagine telling him the truth.
"I was just about to drive off" The cab driver grumbled, frowning at me. I simply shrugged my shoulders, staring at my fingernails as I told him the address of the club.
"I think I saw you on TV a couple of hours ago. You're Blake Riviera's new girlfriend right?" He continued, making me flinch once again. It was going to be a pain in the ass to hide my job with everyone recognizing me.
"No, I'm not." I mumbled coldly as I inconspicuously tried to hide my face behind my messy hair. I couldn't help but think about Blake, who was still sleeping, unaware of the fact that I was gone. I had left him a simple note but I knew that he'd call me right away. I knew that he would ask me what the emergency I had written about was and I knew that I couldn't answer his phone calls until I got off work at 4 a.m. I knew that sooner or later, he would find out about everything.
There was just no way this relationship was going to end well and I knew it but thinking about how his eyes lit up every time he saw me, thinking about how he'd smile at me as if I had just saved his day merely by rambling about idiotic stuff, I also knew that I would never be able to leave him even for his own sake.
"Kyle, we gotta talk" I began, entering his office without bothering to knock.
"Yeah, you're right. Let's start with your manners" He replied, briefly looking up from a pile of documents.
"I don't think I can do this anymore" I said pointing at my skimpy fairy costume. I could already hear those disgusting men cheering as Charity took her turn on the pole. I had fifteen minutes until I had to be up there and even the thought of it was suffocating.
"Because of Blake?" He asked calmly, motioning for me to sit down next to him.
"Yeah" I mumbled, feeling a knot in my stomach. I took a seat next to him, suddenly feeling grateful for having him as my boss."I feel like I'm cheating on him and I just ..."
"You're not only a stripper for me Hope" Kyle interrupted as he stroked my head. "You're my friend and I will not hold you back if you want to go. But how are you going to support yourself? I could always help you out..."
"No, I can't accept that" I whispered, closing my eyes. "I can't loose the last bit of dignity that I have"
"But how are you going to make this work?"
"I don't know, I'm just so confused" I replied, pressing my palm against my forehead. Kyle had always been way more tolerant with Annie and me than with anyone else and I was endlessly thankful for that. "I'm sorry for letting you down. You were always there for me..."
"You're not letting me down, don't you ever think something like that again. But I do think that it's too late for you to back down right now. Even if you quit and never come back here again, he's going to find out somehow. Whether it's going to be Dylan who tells him or some kind of magazine." He whispered and I knew that he was right.
"I have to tell him, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so"
There was a long moment of silence before I quickly wiped my face.
"You're right. I'm going to tell him and until then I'm going to continue working here. Maybe he's going to understand...Maybe he will accept it" I muttered but I knew that he wouldn't. Of course he wouldn't. How could a man ever accept the fact that his girlfriend was presenting her barely dressed body to everybody?
"It's going to be alright"
"Thanks for being such a good friend" I whispered, hugging him tightly and just as I turned towards the door I realized something.
"Kyle?" I mumbled curiously.
"Yeah?"
"How did you know about Dylan? I never told you"
"Uhh...well I...Annie sort of told me" He stuttered, blushing a deep red.
"I'm happy for the both of you" I smiled weakly, walking out of the door before he could reply.
I rushed past the bodyguards standing in front of the wooden door, determined to keep my cool as the clickering sound of my heels echoed through the hall. It was only a matter of seconds before it was my turn. With a burning feeling in my stomach, I climbed up the stairs towards the stage.
It had always been rough to perform up there by myself but it was like walking through hell this time. I kept the seductive smile on my lips, hoping that the wig and the amount of make-up would help to hide my identity.
By the time that I got home, I was a big nervous wreck. The battery of my phone had died so that I didn't even know if he had called or texted me, I was constantly waiting for Dylan to show up somehow and I had half-expected Blake's car in front of our house. Of course, Dylan was still in police custody and Blake wasn't the type of guy to panic because of a few unanswered calls but there was just this part of me that was constantly paranoid about everything.
I cautiously opened the door but everything seemed incredibly normal. April and Annie were still dead asleep which meant that the house was dark and silent and I was eternally thankful for that.
Sighing in relief I quickly made my way to my room, immediately plugging my phone into the charger before changing into a pair of shorts and an old shirt. There were still quite a lot of bruises on my body and face which would have been kind of a problem for my job, but thankfully concealer and the dim light had helped a lot.
The only one who had seen the whole extent of my injuries was Blake. I blushed furiously, hiding my face in my pillows as I remembered how embarassed I had been and how he had told me that nothing could ever make me look less beautiful to him.
"Gosh, I'm such a teengirl" I mumbled, smiling to myself as I turned on my phone.
Surely enough, my smile vanished when I saw that Blake had called me nine times and left four messages.
"Where are you? I hope everything's okay"
"Hope? Why won't you answer my calls?"
"Something happened to you. I'm gonna kill Dylan. I'm gonna kill him."
"I'm coming over"
Just as I finished reading the last message the door bell rang. I flinched as the phone slipped out of my hands.
"Oh my God. Shit." I mumbled as I hastily tried to think of an excuse. I could hear Annie or April making their way downstairs, to open the door. The bell rang again, this time longer.
I ran into the bathrom, putting my hair up into a bun before I turned my phone off and threw it into a corner. After that I jumped into my bed, throwing some blankets over me just as I heard Blake scream at what turned out to be April.
"Blake wait - She's not...She's"
"She's what? Something's happened to her and you're trying to keep me out of it!"
"No, just listen. She's..."
That's when the door opened and in came a furious and anxious looking Blake with April clining onto his arm.
I blinked, rubbing my eyes as I slightly turned towards them.
"What is going on?" I mumbled, blinking in fake-confusion as I dramatically threw an arm over my eyes to cover them from the light.
"For god's sake, where the hell is your phone?" Blake growled, glaring daggers at me.
"I don't know I didn't really take a look at it after I came home...Why?" I mumbled trying to look as innocent as possible.
"Are you f*cking kidding me? Do you even know how worried I was?"
"Well, I left you a note"
"I'm sorry, there's an emergency at home. I'll call you." He mockingly quoted my message, crossing his arms in front of his chest as April simply shook her head at my lame excuse.
"She couldn't tell you more about the emergency Blake...It was all my fault, I'm so sorry!" Annie interfered, entering the room in a rush.
"What-" I began but she interrupted me by breaking down in tears.
"My boyfriend cheated on me! It's just too embarassing, I thought he actually loved me!" She whined, sobbing dramatically as she stared at me for a few seconds, signaling me to play along.
"It's okay, he wasn't worth your time anyways" April interfered, patting her sisters' shoulder lightly as she lead her to my bed.
"B-but he w-was my everything! How could he do that to me!"
At that point even I almost believed her story, feeling anger for the fake boyfriend who abandoned her.
"I'm going to kick his ass, even if it's the last thing I'll do" I mumbled darkly, hugging her tightly.
"What the - I'm sorry...I didn't know" Blake mumbled, his face showing pity aside from confusement and anger now.
"It's okay. Just please don't be mad at her, she never left my side until an hour ago" April whispered weakly.
"I'm not..."
"Well, now that that's sorted out, we'll leave the two of you alone" April said as she pulled Annie out of the room, who mumbled something like "How am I supposed to live without him?" as they closed the door.
After a long moment of awkward silence I finally spoke up.
"C'mon let's sleep" I mumbled, jumoing back into bed without even looking at him once. I knew that he believed the story but it was the guilt in my eyes that I was trying to hide.
"I'm sorry. I just jumped into conclusions without hearing you out. I was just so worried and...Why won't you look at me?"
"It's fine, I understand but - Please just let's go to sleep" I repeated weakly, fighting the tears.
He looked at me for a moment before simply nodding and taking off his shoes as he lay down next to me.
"I love you so much" I mumbled, inhaling his scent as he wrapped his arms around me.
"I know...I love you too"
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So the last two chapters ended in bed - Why, you ask? Well, I'm TIRED AS HELL and I'm currently in school (as I've told you before) and I could've slept an whole hour longer but I totally forgot that I had a free lesson and now I'm just so angry with myself for forgetting that I could've extended my sleeping session! Ghaaaaaah!
So, I know it's been a long time but yeah :D I had a tough time writing this Chapter as my own laptop is STILL getting done and I had to argue for like a whole week with the guy from the repair service before getting to borrow another laptop and let me tell you something - This fucking laptop is SHIT! It's slow, it's old, it doesn't even have word on it! I had to write this chapter on fucking Wordpad!
First world problems aside :D Don't forget to vote & comment & follow me!
Love you guys <3