"This is a bad idea" Alice mumbled to Chloe. Alice Parker wasn't the type who would go out to clubs. She was the type of girl who would spend her nights buried in books. She didn't wear silk, exposing, tight fitting dresses like the one Chloe Blackwell had forced her to wear that night.
The bass from the club's speaker throbbed her chest like a second heartbeat. Lights pulsed like strobes in a dream. She hadn't worn heels that high in years. Her lipstick was too red. And her pink gown stood out as it was too tight and too exposed. Her confidence? Borrowed.
"Live a little," Chloe said. "Just for one night Give it your all. Feel free". While tugging her up the VIP line of the club through her connections. The VIP was the hottest rooftop of the club, It was where most celebrity scandals occurred , It had the hottest and richest men. " Trust me Alice, you got this," Chloe said.
Alice should've known better than to trust Chloe– her best friend from secondary school now her enemy. But after the week she had, all she wanted to do was forget about it.
Forget how her ex-boyfriend, Grey, had dumped her and was now dating her best friend, Chloe. Forget how a scholarship had passed her by. Forget the gnawing pain in her chest that made everything taste like ash.
She didn't want closure
She wanted Chaos
Alice tries to recall where everything went wrong and it goes back to the club.
Recalling the moments from the club;
Alice was still trying to fit in with everything and Chloe handed a shot of tequila to her, "Give it a shot, you'll like it" she said. Her face twisted as she felt the shot go down her throat very hot.
"I'll be right back I need some air", Chloe said while ordering a few more shots for Alice knowing fully well she doesn't do well with alcohol.
Alice reached out instinctively."Wait, don't–"
But Chloe had already made her way out through the crowd and smoke. So Alice sat there alone.
One tequila shot became two and then three and then four
As her vision became blurry, that was when he appeared. Tall, with broad shoulders, Beautiful in the type of way that made people stare without even realizing they were staring.
He smelled so amazing but the strong smell of whiskey and trouble followed.
He leaned in, in a low and laced voice and then asked " Hello pretty, what's a girl like you doing here… alone"?
Alice blinked at him, while staring at his lips slightly. She didn't know his name and she didn't care. She smiled slowly, " I came with a friend but she stepped out and here I am getting drunk apparently."
He laughed. Deep. Low. " Mind some company?"
She should've said No
But something inside her, a fire she had buried for too long said yes.
They talked about nothing and everything. He teased her about her being serious. She challenged him when he flirted too smoothly. He was older, way older but he never once made her feel small.
They didn't ask about last names or schools or futures. They only talked about Now.
One moment she was laughing, the next his fingers brushed her knee, then her jawline and then her lower back.
Then… they went into a cab, into the city, into each other.
The hotel suite smelled like expensive cologne and something pretty, something heady. Something tempting.
They kissed like the world was ending. Touched like they had a few hours to live and stripped each other down like secrets . One after the other.
His nails memorized her curvy skin and her hands marked his skin. When they made love, it wasn't sweet. It was desperate. It was a collision of two strangers who wanted to forget about the world.
The night had gone by and morning was here. Sunlight sliced through the sheer curtains. Alice woke up in silk sheets she didn't recognize. The tequila, the bar, the man all came flashing back to her like blurred memories.
Her mouth was dry.
Her body ached .
Her heart pounded.
She looked around, his scent was still heavy in the room, but he was gone. All that remained were rumpled clothes on the floor.
No note .
No name.
No trace of the man who had turned her world upside down.
She clutched the sheet around her chest and whispered to herself, " What did I just do?"
She went back to her dorm disappointed about everything but tried not to hold a grudge on Chloe for leaving her back there.
Few days went by as she tried to forget about everything that had happened and continue her daily life of a model student unknown to her as the beginning of a very challenging life.
Alice stood In Front of the mirror holding her breath. The stick in her hand said it all.
Pregnant.
She sank to the floor of the bathroom.
She had no one to talk to. Chloe had been distant after that night– dodging questions, changing the subject. Her boyfriend had not been around for a while, so definitely the baby wasn't his.
Her stomach twisted.
But her heart twisted more.
That night wasn't just a mistake. It was a nightmare.
She decided to tell Chloe everything after all, she was her best friend.
Across town, was David Thompson who stood at the head of a long mahogany table, giving orders in that voice that was always obeyed.
At twenty-nine, he was the CEO of Thompson & Co. One of the biggest fashion empires in the world. A genius in strategy. A god in tailored suits.
But today, he felt…. Off.
He hadn't been able to get her out of his head.
His one night stand.
She'd made him feel like a person again. She made him feel a mixture of emotions he couldn't explain and he hadn't felt in a while.
But he left her.
Because his reputation mattered.
Because falling for a stranger wasn't in the plan and because the guilt had shown up late.
On the other hand, Chloe paced her room, chewing her lips as she spoke on the phone. "She doesn't remember anything, she was so drunk and barely remembers his face." She whispered
A pause
"I told you she was a cheat. She never loved you." Chloe continues to Grey whom she's speaking to on the phone. Chloe had explained everything that happened to Grey. He was so devastated and felt lost. Chloe had told Alice's family about it too.
Chloe had always wanted Grey.
She saw him first
She fell in love first.
But he was in love with Alice, he had courted Alice and they had started dating for a while. But during that period he was out of town. And Chloe found the perfect opportunity to take everything she wanted from Alive.
Chloe always came second place to Alice even in school.
She was brilliant.
But not as brilliant as Alice was.
Alice received a call from her parents and decided to go home. She had no idea Chloe had exposed her. She arrived home but the atmosphere was more like that in a mortuary.
" Where did I go wrong, what did I not do right?. Tell me she's lying. Tell me she's just trying to defame you"! Alice's mother exclaimed as tears ran down her cheeks.
" It's true mother. I'm pregnant. I'm sorry . I-I-I—- can explain" Alice stuttered while moving towards her mother.
Her mother continued crying, but her father immediately went upstairs, parked her bags and threw them at her.
" You're not our only child. I'll make sure your brother is nothing like you. Leave this house. I do not have a whore for a daughter. I sent you to school to study and at nineteen years old the best you can bring for me is a baby"!. Alice's father exclaimed.
" You were so brilliant. What went wrong?" He continued.
He gave Alice her bags and sent her away. Devastated she took the bags and left .
It was a brand new day. Alice sat in the campus library, fingers trembling as she scrolled through a Forbes article title:
"The fashion King: David Thompson's Billion Dollar Empire"
The photo hit her like a truck .
Dark brown eyes.
Dark brown messy hair.
That same magnetic stare.
She gasped, lips parting.
It was him.
The man she slept with.
The father of her baby.
She dropped her phone as her vision swam.
She was so shocked she felt something liquid move down her legs.
She bent her head and saw a long line of blood go down her leg.
In awe she fainted.
It was only a few minutes and she regained consciousness. Next to her was a college transfer student who had just come that year- Nora.
Nora had found her bleeding on the floor and rushed her to the school hospital.
Nora explained she was about to leave the library and saw her lying there unconscious and had to help.
Nora told her, the doctor said her baby was okay but she had to be cautious and not stress a lot.
She was discharged and Nora helped her out. On her way back to class to get her things and go home, she saw a luxury car parked outside and a
man who came out of it.
He looked up– like he felt something shift in the air.
Like he knew she was near.
Like fate had just whispered:
Everything is about to change