Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>
“I’m getting the painting for you.”
“I don’t need it,” I replied, shaking my head. “That’s a lot of money. Please stop.”
“The money goes to charity, Becca. It’s my donation.”
“Sold, for one-hundred and fifty thousand to Mr. Neal Saville,” the auctioneer said, catching both mine and James’ attention.
We had been so caught up in our argument, we hadn’t noticed Neal had rebid on the painting and won it. For a moment, I thought James was going to lose it, but instead, he stared at Neal with a tight-lipped smile. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you, James. It feels good to buy the item knowing that the money is going to a good cause. It’s something close to my heart.”
Looking at Neal and Allegra, I watched her take his hand in a comforting notion, her eyes slowly meeting mine, giving me a small smile. “Our mother passed away from breast cancer.”
Nodding my head, I tried to hold back my emotions. “I know how you feel. So did mine.”
There was an awkward silence at the table for a moment as James took my hand and squeezed it lightly. I wasn’t sure how to feel, but knowing someone else understood the pain I felt over losing my mother made me feel not so alone in the moment.
“Enough with this grimness. We need more drinks,” Allison interjected, breaking the silence.
“Mom, enough,” Tally finally said after a moment. “Can you just stop talking for now? You’re embarrassing me with the way you’re acting. They lost their mother to this disease.”
Shock filled me as my eyes widened in surprise at what she said. Even her own mother looked at her, trying to see if she had just heard her correctly.
“Excuse me—” Allison gasped.
“You’re excused,” Tally interrupted before her eyes turned back to Neal. “I’m so sorry about that. She forgets sometimes how reality can be. Perhaps, we can have coffee sometime. I’d love to know more about your business.”
Tally was something else. One moment she is eye-f*cking Neal from across the table, and the next, she is rudely shutting down her mother—which I was proud of her for—but then she was also trying to hook up with Neal.
She never ceases to amaze me. There is always a form of desperation in her eyes.
She sought attention from any rich man who would give it to her.
Neal, however, chuckled and shook his head. “As lovely as I am sure that sounds, I think I will have to pass on that.”
“What—” Tally said softly, looking at her mother, who narrowed her eyes at Neal.
“So, how is everyone enjoying the night?” I blurted, not wanting the conversation to get any more tense than it was.
“Oh, it’s been interesting,” Allegra replied, sipping on her wine.
“That’s for sure,” James commented, drinking his whiskey.
Shaking my head, I placed my napkin down upon the table. I was done with the evening. I came to enjoy myself, and with the way everyone was acting, I couldn’t do it.
All I wanted to do was go back to the apartment, grab a glass of wine, and get into my pajamas. “I think I should go.”
“What?” James said, looking at me confused. “Becca—”
“No, she’s right. She should go,” Allison snapped. “At least for once she is paying attention. She isn’t where she is meant to be. Perhaps you need to go back up north.”
I was done with her attitude. Anger boiled inside me at her words.
“F*ck you, Allison. You think you’re hot shit, and you don’t even belong here. You’re broke, and trying to get your daughter to hook up with Neal for his money. Every man here should be wary of the two of you. Why can’t you leave me the f*ck alone?”
Standing, she seethed in anger, her fists clenched and eyes bulging.
“How dare you?” she screamed. “You have no right to speak to me like that, you little home-wrecker. He was a married man.”
“What are you talking about?” James looked at her with confusion. “We aren’t married and my seeing her was recent—”
James paused for a moment and scoffed before laughter escaped him. “Have you been telling people I was sleeping with her while we were married?”
I should have known she would tell people that. There were rumors, and I had hoped they weren’t true, but now that James mentioned it, I couldn’t believe it.
“You’re pathetic, Allison. James hates you because you were a horrible mother and a horrible wife. You deserve the life you have created for yourself, and you will die alone one day because of it.”
Turning on my heels, I stormed away from the table. Allegra’s voice called to me as I passed through the ballroom again and made my way towards the front door.
The thought of spending another moment in there with them was exhausting. To think I had actually thought this night would be memorable. The kind of memories this night would bring were not ones I wanted to remember.
“Becca—” James’ voice called as the sound of his footsteps quickly came up behind me. “Rebecca! Would you stop?”
Spinning around, I stared at him, shaking my head. “Why? I’m not staying here for another moment. I thought tonight was going to be amazing for us, and instead it turned into a shit show.”
Running his hand over his face, he sighed at me. “Can we not act like this here?”
“Seriously? That’s your comment? I’m sorry if you don’t want to be embarrassed by me being upset. Perhaps you shouldn’t have brought me here then.”
“Perhaps I shouldn’t have.” His words were like a slap in the face, and as I stared at him, I saw the guilt quickly build. “Becca, that’s not what I meant.”
“No, that’s exactly what you meant, James,” I said, feeling the strain at the back of my throat. I didn’t want to cry, but I had every right to.
“Becca—” he said again, stepping closer to me. “Don’t be like this.”
“No, please. It’s okay I get it.”
Turning away from him, I headed down the steps and kept walking until I arrived at the valet and asked them to call a car for me.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that my situation was anything but great, and as the car pulled away, I watched James turn around and go back into the building.
I wasn’t sure why I thought he would chase after me, but I was also glad he hadn’t. What I needed was a break from everything, and in reality, I just wanted time to consider what I was really doing.
I was in too far over my head, and even though it felt great to put Allison in her place, I had made a fool of myself in front of everyone close to her. Their lifestyle wasn’t something made for me. I was nothing but an outsider, and I don’t know why I thought I could fit in.
Perhaps it was time for me to go home and stop pretending.
“Becca!” The sound of banging woke me up in the middle of the night, and with much reluctance, I climbed from my bed and made my way towards the front door. At 2:00 in the morning, there had better be a good reason for someone to wake me, but when I looked through the peephole, I was shocked.
Allison stood on the other side, beating her fist against the door as if she owned the place and wanted in. I was done with her bullshit, and more than anything, I just wanted to be left alone.
Yanking the door open, I stared at her with narrowed brows and clenched fists. “What the f*ck do you want?”
“What do I want?! What the f*ck are you doing in my apartment?” she scoffed, trying to push past me.
The feeling of anger boiled over in me, and I had finally had enough.
Shoving her back, I watched her stumble. “You assaulted me!” she shrieked. “I’m—”
“Shut the f*ck up, Allison. I want you to think about this for a moment because you’re really getting on my last f*cking nerve. This isn’t your apartment. It’s James’ apartment, and you are not married and haven’t been in years… you’re trespassing. Want to continue?”
She stood, opening and closing her mouth before stomping her foot. “You’re ruining everything. I don’t understand why you won’t just f*cking leave. You’re not welcome here.”
“Leave?!” I screamed at her. “I f*cking tried, and he made me stay! So if you have a f*cking problem, take it up with him, and leave me alone, damnit.”
My outburst seemed to catch her off guard because there was nothing but a stunned expression on her face as she seemed to take everything I said into account.
“That’s not true—”
“Just stop it,” I said, cutting her off. “How you’re acting is pathetic, and honestly, you need to take shit up with him because none of this, from the beginning, was me. It was all him.”
“I don’t believe you—” she laughed. “There is no way..”
“You don’t have to believe it, but it’s still the truth. You need to leave me alone.”
She stepped towards me, but I held my grip on the door, prepared for whatever she was about to do. I wasn’t a fighter; I had only been in one physical fight in my entire life, but if this woman wanted to go, then we could go.
“I’m going to let you in on something, Becca,” she spat with a smirk on her face. “If you don’t stay away from him, and find yourself on the next flight home, I will destroy your entire future… starting with Yale.”
Fear ran through me with her words. It was the one thing I was worried about her doing from the beginning, and James had kept reassuring me that nothing like that would happen. He told me I had nothing to worry about.
“F*ck you, Allison. You can’t scare me,” I replied through gritted teeth.
“Oh, no? The thing is, I can… especially with all the information I recently found out about you. Do you think they would want to be affiliated with a student who was caught in such a scandal if it made the news?” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
She was right, though. They wouldn’t want to be part of anything like this, and if she wanted to, she could ruin my life. Just as I told James could happen.
“If that is something you want, then perhaps you should convince your ex-husband to stay away from me because he is the one who is chasing me. Not the other way around.”
With my grip on the door, I slammed it in her face and locked it.
The tears that poured down my face were uncontrollable as I slid to the floor and cried. There was no way I could allow myself to lose everything I had worked so hard for because of a man. Even if I was in love with him, was all of this honestly worth it?
“Becca…” A soft voice said from the other side of the door. “It’s Allegra, sweetie. Please open up.”
As much as I didn’t want to, I didn’t want to be left alone. Slowly moving aside, I reached up, unlocking the door so she could come inside.
“Oh, sweetie—” she said when she took in the sight of me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked her. “Don’t you have a full night of fun?”