Alisha: A dark Romance Ch. 05

"About 14 years ago," Ali said with a broad smile.

Annabeth's mouth opened in surprise; it took her a few moments to regain her composure. "Ahh, okay, Cynthia is in the VIP area, and she'd like you to join her."

Ali took my hand, and we followed Annabeth across the crowded dance floor. The crowd was a veritable whos-who of the fashion industry. Ali kept getting stopped as people recognized her, but Annabeth would draw her along.

A security guard standing at the entrance of the VIP area unhooked the rope and nodded us through. He gave me a considered look, sizing me up, and I'm sure I fell short on his exacting standards, but Ali ignored his look and pulled me through with her.

The VIP area was a lot quieter and darker. It was divided into half a dozen circular booths with a view of the main dance floor. A private bar staffed by in the corner. Only two of the booths were occupied, and Annabeth led us to the nearest. Four people were seated, three men and a woman. I recognized two of them, and I assumed the woman was Cynthia. The last man sat back in the corner, his face hidden in the shadows.

"What the fuck are these assholes doing here," I snapped. Sitting next to the woman, I assumed was Cynthia were Ricky and Jamie.

I think Ali was even less amused that I was. "Why are they here?" she snarled.

I interrupted, "Ricky, Ralph or whatever the fuck your name is. I warned you last time we met that if I ever saw you near my wife again, I'd make you regret it. Now I hear you told her a pack of lies about me and that makes me even more pissed off at you."

Turning to Jamie, I said, "Start running because after I finish with this one you are next."

Jamie took me at my word, eased out of the booth and headed out of the room. Ricky, on the other hand, started to bristle and bluster.

Ali was quick to put him in his place. "You lied your way into my life, now what new lies are you telling?"

Cynthia put her hand up to cool the tension and invited us to sit down. "This is my fault. The news that you are quitting the runway after this week has surprised the business. I asked Ricky and Jamie here for some background on you for a story the magazine wants to run for the next edition."

"Why the hell would you call them?" Ali asked.

"Because nobody close to you was talking, and you weren't taking my calls. Out of the blue, you announce you're quitting as a model, and you won't take any calls from the press. It wasn't like you gave us any notice. They were the best I could find who were willing to talk." Cynthia stopped talking and looked at me with a suspicious stare.

She asked, "Who are you, and why is Ricky looking so shit scared of you and Jamie has run away?" Then she paused and seemed to consider what I'd said earlier as she asked, "Did you just say, my wife?"

"Christ, do you want to explain the facts of life, Ali, while I have a little word with Ricky here." I'd slid into the booth and had boxed Ricky into a corner.

"Stop!" demanded Cynthia. "Nobody is going to do anything until I understand what is going on. You wanted to talk to me, Ali, so talk."

Ali started, "Cynthia, I want you to meet my husband, Benjamin MacMichael. We've been married for over 14 years, and he's Julia's father."

"Shit, this is the guy you divorced years ago!"

Ali looked a bit embarrassed. "Funny story about that, we never got divorced. People just assumed I was divorced and it seemed easier not to contradict them. We're still married, and I've been living with him over the summer."

"But if you are married to Ben why were you with..." her eyes flicked across to Ricky.

"That's one of the things I want to discuss with this sleaze bucket," I said. I think Ricky had been hoping that I'd forget about him.

"I want to know why he decided it was a good idea to fake evidence to convince Ali I had a new family. Oh yes, of course, it was so he could worm his way into Ali's affection, and stop her pulling out of Ali Mac."

"I didn't," he stated. "Well not really. The report was a case of mistaken identity. By the time I found out they weren't your family the damage had been done, and I couldn't afford for Ali to pull out. I'd sunk most of my savings into the launch of Ali Mac."

"So, you're the innocent victim here."

He shrugged, "I'll admit I'm not completely innocent. If Ali wanted a shoulder to cry on, why shouldn't it have been mine? I sure as fuck wasn't going to tell her it was all a mistake and you were still pining for her."

Ali was crying, "You knew all those years ago, and you said nothing. I don't care about the time I lost, but what about Julia? You took away the opportunity for her to connect with her father."

Cynthia and Annabeth were listening to the conversation, hardly daring to breathe in case they missed anything.

A thought crossed my mind, and I asked Ricky. "You'd been after Ali ever since that time on the island, weren't you?"

"Of course, I was; she was a beautiful woman, but she was always in love with you. I don't think she loved any of her boyfriends, including me. I guess Jamie and he were the ones who came closest." He gave a quick glance into the corner of the booth.

Ali gave me a startled glance when he made that last statement. I shrugged it off, what was one more half-truth from her in this night of revelations.

There was a stirring from the corner of the booth, and the third man moved forward into the light. I'd forgotten his presence with all that had been going on, and he startled me.

Ali was more than startled, she went white and shook.

"Hi love, miss me?" he said. He was nearly 14 years older and the intervening years hadn't been kind to him, but I recognized him immediately. Tony smiled at both of us, as he took one of Ali's hands in his. She just sat there in stunned silence.

A moment later I grabbed his hand, and in a mirror of the last time I'd held it, I started to bend his finger back until I felt the joint pop. He hissed in pain and snatched his hand back. Tony had to be in his mid-fifties, his trim figure long hidden under his middle age spread.

"What the fuck was that for?" he said as he cradled his hand.

"Just to remind you that I don't like you," I said.

Cynthia slammed her hand down on the table making all of us jump and the security guard to stick his head into the room. Cynthia waved him away and turned back to the rest of us.

"This bickering stops now," she said. "Ali, I got a message that you wanted to talk to me, and now I guess that it's something to do with Ben and the fact that you two are married. Since that is the case, the rest of you can go while Ali and I talk."

Ricky looked pleased with the suggestion and was moving before the words were out of her mouth. He was halfway towards the exit a moment later. Tony seemed reluctant to move, which was fine by me because I wanted to find out why Ali had reacted the way she had when she saw him.

I took Ali by the arm and ignoring Cynthia's glare pulled her to one side where we could talk without being overheard.

"I once asked you if anything had happened between you and Tony, and you denied it. Now I'm asking you the same question, and you better think very carefully about your answer."

"When you first asked that question, nothing had gone on with Tony or any of the others," Ali said, and she sat down at one of the empty booths. I sat down beside her, and she continued.

"But you are not going to like what happened next."

I stiffened, and she squeezed my hand, "Just remember, I never stopped loving you, but for one crazy week I was so confused."

"I've always loved you, but you're not making it easy for me. How much am I not going to like this?" She pulled me close, and we kissed.

"On a scale of one to ten, it's about a seven," she said hesitantly. "Bad enough that you're going to be right royally pissed off with me, but hopefully, not so bad that you leave me."

"Shit."

She swallowed and tried to regain some of her composure. "After you left, I managed to finish the shoot. Fortunately, it only took one more day. Tony was there, and he kept reassuring me that it was just a tiff, you still loved me, and it would blow over. I just had to give you some time. I was going to change my flight and fly back home to you as soon as we were finished."

"Why didn't you; I was still staying at the flat, I didn't leave for a week. Hell, I was calling you, but you never answered your phone. I didn't leave until you left that damn message on the answer phone."

"I couldn't find my phone; Tony must have picked it up because he gave it back to me a few days later. At the time he said one of the crew had found it and sent it to him. And yes, I know I was stupid, but I believed him."

"Christ, I left you enough messages; didn't you listen to them when he gave the phone back to you?"

"The battery was flat, I didn't have a charger and to be honest, I was scared to talk to you. Anyway, he'd told me that the agency needed me in Spain to cover an assignment. One of the models booked was sick, and they needed me there as soon as possible to replace her. He showed me a fax from the agency that confirmed the assignment. He said he'd spoken to you and you understood why I needed to go."

"Like fuck he did! The only message I got was the one you left on the answer phone."

"I know; I listened to it. I'd have left me after listing to that. I had to borrow a phone to make that call, and Tony walked in on me while I was making it. So, I rang off, I didn't want him to know I was trying to contact you. Christ, that still makes no sense to me, and I'm the idiot who made the call."

"You still haven't told me what I'm going to be pissed off about," I reminded her. She was obviously hesitating, drawing out the story.

She swallowed again, took a couple of dead breaths and launched straight in. "There's a possibility I may have slept with Tony the last night of the Spanish trip."

There was a long silence.

"What the hell do you mean, you think you slept with him. Either you did, or you didn't."

"I don't know. I was so drunk that evening, I was missing you, and I just kept on drinking. I remember waking up, feeling like death warmed over, and Tony was in my bed." She was talking fast, and her words seemed to blur into each other.

"I was out of that bed as soon as I saw him, and only just made it to the bathroom before I threw up all over the place. I staggered into the shower and curled up under the water. Tony says we fucked, but I can't remember anything at all, it's all one big blank. I wasn't even with him that night; I'd gone out to a club with the other models to celebrate the end of the shoot."

"Surely you must know if he'd fucked you."

"Christ, I felt so bad that day. What with the shower and all, by the time I felt even half human, there was no evidence that we'd fucked. There was a wet pair of my panties in the shower, so I think I was wearing them in bed. When I finally got out of the bathroom, he'd gone, but he left me a note saying how great a fuck I was."

Well if you didn't invite him in how did he get into your room?"

"I don't know, Ben; it was an old hotel with those old style locks, the ones you had to use the key to lock the door when you were in the room. I was probably so drunk that I'd forgotten to lock it behind me. I think he must have found my door open and climbed into bed with me, don't you think I've asked myself the same question repeatedly."

A sickening thought hit me, "Julia?"

"Definitely your daughter, I had the same terrible thought when I found out I was pregnant. I was scared that Tony may have taken advantage of me, so as soon as she was born, I had your DNA checked against hers. There's no chance you are not her father."

"So, what the fuck happens after that?"

"Nothing, I caught the plane home and found you'd gone and had a breakdown, all in that order. Then two months later I found out I was pregnant, and the horror started all over again."

"And him?" I nodded in Tony's direction. He had made his way over to the bar and was nursing a drink.

"I made a complaint to the agency; it wasn't just that evening, it turned out he'd lied to me about Spain. There was no sick model; he'd booked me for that shoot even though he knew we were supposed to take a few days off after the Antigua shoot. The agency moved me to another representative, and Tony wasn't happy. Not that it mattered too much, I wasn't working much because of Julia, and then within a year I was part of Ludmila's agency and free of all that hypocrisy."

It was late, and I was tired and to be honest I couldn't be assed anymore. I'd heard so many conflicting stories in the last few hours. Now I just wanted to leave the bloody place. I told Ali and suggested she get on with whatever it was that she wanted to say to Cynthia.

She considered me and then slowly nodded in agreement. She moved over to Cynthia, and they started talking. The room had slowly been filling up while we had been talking and all the booths were occupied. The noise level had increased, and I could sense the curious looks I was getting from new arrivals. I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes, not wishing to be drawn into any conversations, and I took the time to consider my next steps.

I don't think it was too much later when I heard Ali say my name and gently shake my shoulder.

"I'm done here, love, let's go," she said.

"What was it you were trying to do?" I asked as I stood up.

"I needed to dispel any rumors over my decision to retire. I can't afford people to think that I'm not still committed to Ali Mac."

"That was it? You dragged me here and put me through this fucking circus, and that's all you wanted to tell her?"

"Don't be an idiot, of course that wasn't the main reason. Telling her all about you was."

"Me?"

"Yes you, she's the biggest gossip, and if she knows we are in love and still married, the rest of the fashion industry will know tomorrow. Oh, and she knows you are Xander Morton."

"Fuck, why?"

"Well she asked, and I didn't say you weren't."

I sighed, and we left the VIP area and walked across the still crowded expanse of the nightclub to the exit. Ali used her phone to alert Jamal that we were leaving; she must have texted him because it was far too noisy to hear yourself think.

We were both reserved and quiet in the car, sitting in opposite corners of the back seat. The car hissed along the dark streets, and I stared out of the window on my side at the dark shop fronts. I felt my head would explode with the number of conflicting thoughts and emotions racing through it.

Ali stirred, a hand eased across the void between us and clutched at mine as it rested on the seat beside me.

"I'm sorry, Ben, I'm screwing everything up, aren't I. Every time you settle, I drop another bombshell on you."

"Do you know why Tony was there?"

"Yesss," she said reluctantly. "He's been spreading rumors that we had an affair and he's Julia's father. With all the interest in me now, he approached Cynthia to try and cash in on it and sell the story to the magazine. Cynthia wanted to see what happened when I saw him."

"Well, I hope she got her money's worth from him," I said sarcastically. I continued to look out of the window and noticed I saw the same dark storefronts from earlier; we seemed to be driving around in circles.

"If this is supposed to be the scenic route, I'm not in the mood for it," I said to the driver.

Jamal grunted, and the driver just gave the briefest of shrugs.

"I wanted some time to talk to you before we got back to the apartment," Ali admitted.

"I'm not sure I know what's left to discuss, love, we both have our own lives. These last couple of days have driven home to me I'm no longer part of your world. I can't live with the constant attention, to say nothing about the security."

"But I love you," she sobbed. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.

I pulled her close, and she buried her head into my chest. "I love you, too,"

I told her. "I thought loving you would be enough to let me cope with all this," and I pointed in the direction of Jamal and the driver.

Ali whimpered, and I pulled her face up so I could kiss her. She savagely returned the kiss as though her life depended on it.

She broke away and licked her lips. "What happens now?"

"I'm going home," I told her. "I'm going to grab a few hours' sleep; then I'm going to drive back to the cottage. Hopefully, Julia and my parents will join me for a few days."

"What about me, can I come, too?"

I shook my head, "No, you need to stay here and complete your commitments. There are too many people relying on you this week for you to leave now."

She started to cry again, but I took hold of her arms and made her look at me. "Ali, you know I'm right. I do love you, but you need to take your time and consider what you want. Only when you've made your decision do I want you to tell me, but you need to understand, I love my quiet life down south, and I'm not going to change it. I won't be making any compromises to fit your lifestyle again.

"I'll come down as soon as the weeks over."

"No, I don't want you to do that; you need to be completely sure it's what you want," I replied. "I want you to take at least a month. There will be no second chance if you screw up again. I'll ask for a divorce and custody of our daughter."

The car slowed and then pulled into the underground garage at the apartment building. I got out and considered my next move, the Porsche was parked in one of the bays nearby, and I headed over to it.

Ali caught my arm before I'd taken a couple of steps. "You're too tired to drive, come up to the apartment and get some sleep."

"I'm just checking to make sure the keys are in it."

Jamal coughed, and I turned to where he was standing by the car. "The security guard has the keys, and there's a gate opener in the glove box so you can come and go whenever you want."

I nodded at him and let Ali lead me towards the elevator. I glanced at my watch, Christ, it was nearly four o'clock; no wonder I was so bloody tired. Ali was squeezing my fingers so tightly as she clutched my hand that I was losing feeling in them.

The entrance lobby was lit by a single wall light that bathed the seated bodyguard in its soft glow. He stood and opened the door to the apartment, the room beyond dark, the only illumination the reflection of the street lights through the windows on the far wall.

"I can use the sofa," I suggested.

Ali slapped my face. "For fuck's sake, Ben, do you enjoy pissing me off that much? If it's to be our last time until you let me come back to you, then you'll bloody well spend it in my bed."

She kissed me savagely, her tongue forcing its way into my mouth. She took my hands and placed them on top of her breasts.

"Now stop being an idiot and make love to me; make me feel better."

"Hmm," I whispered and followed her into her bedroom. I eased the zipper on her dress down, she gave a little shake, and it pooled at her feet, leaving her only wearing a tiny black thong and lace topped stockings. I stepped behind her, wrapped my arms around and pulled her close.

She gave a little moan as I kissed the back of her neck and pushed her ass into my pelvis.

"Christ, I love you so much," she murmured. She stepped away, kicked off her shoes, and put each leg in turn on the bed and peeled off her stockings. I saw her thumbs go into the waistband of her thong.

"No, I'll do that, if I may."

She smiled and laid down on the bed, smiling up at me and holding her arms out to me. As I moved towards her, she held up a finger. "Nope, you're wearing far too many clothes to be allowed on my bed."

This was a problem I could and did solve very quickly. Sans clothes, I crawled onto the bed beside her and rolled her onto her back. I slowly kissed and caressed my way down her body until I reached that faint, almost invisible, soft line of tiny dark hairs on her lower belly that disappeared under the waistline of her panties. Hooking my fingers in the waist, I tugged; the flimsy fabric tore, and I tossed the ruined garment to one side.