Society Girls: Neveah (16 page)

“Logically, I understand what you’re saying
about my father, and I kind of get it. I even think I forgive him,
but it doesn’t make it any easier right now. Especially when all I
can think about is my mom and Matt. Mom’s feeling so hurt and
betrayed right now, and I can’t even imagine what Matt’s going
through.”

He hasn’t left his apartment since
everything was revealed. Reina’s been staying with him, and I know
she’s helping him more than I ever could, but I would still like to
see him and make sure he’s doing okay. Or at least as okay as he
can be, seeing as the act he gave up most of his life for didn’t
really occur. I’m pretty sure his guilt from “killing” my father
has now turned to guilt for pushing Reina away for so many
years—that guilt has always been there, but knowing it’s for
nothing has to be eating him up.

“Matt is trying to come to terms with
everything, according to Reina.”

“Is it bad that I find myself wishing my
father had stayed dead?”

“No Nev, that’s a natural reaction.”

“I also feel grateful to him, because I
would’ve never known Matt, or taken this path with my life if he
hadn’t done what he did. I wouldn’t know all of you…or Dylan.”

“For that, I’m grateful as well. I can
honestly say I don’t feel too charitable towards him for anything
else, but his actions brought you to us, so I have to be thankful
for that.”

“Can you ask Reina if it’s okay for me to
see Matt?”

She furrows her brow as she looks at me.
“You can ask her.”

“I don’t feel right about calling her.”

“You are not to blame for what your father
did.”

“Do you think Ellie knows that? I meant what
I said about not letting Dylan get blamed for my
disappearance.”

“Ellie knows that, and so does everyone
else. I promise you, Nev, we all know you had nothing to do with
any of this, and also that you wouldn’t have gone along with the
plan. Well, except you might have married Dylan. That part is easy
to believe.”

“I love Dylan, but I don’t know if I could
marry him. He kept so much from me, but I can understand that, too.
It’s the other things he’s keeping from me that are keeping us
apart.”

“I don’t know Dylan well, but I know he and
Ellie are very close. I won’t lie to you and say I haven’t seen him
with many women, because I have. What I can tell you is that he
seemed pretty disinterested in the ones he brought to parties and
events. They were truly ‘arm candy.’ The other day at the party he
looked at you like you mattered to him. I believe he’ll tell you
what you need to know, even if it’s hard for him, because he
doesn’t want to lose you.”

“So what you’re telling me is that I should
have faith, huh?” I ask with a smirk.

“Ugh. That was your one free pass with my
name. Everyone gets one, but only one. After that, we may have to
fight.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I tell her with a
laugh. “Thank you, Faith. I’m really glad you’re my mentor, and
friend.”

“Me too. If you’re done here, do you want to
grab some lunch?”

“Sure. Let me just clean my gun and put it
away. I’ll meet you upstairs.”

“It warms my heart to hear you saying things
like that.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

She gives me a hug and heads out while I get
to work. I never thought I’d even be able to pick up a gun, but I’m
doing it. I also never thought I’d fall so deeply in love, but I
did that, too. I’m learning that if I’m conscientious, I can
control my gun, but no matter what I do, I can’t control my heart.
I can only hope it doesn’t break too hard if Dylan can’t give me
what I need.

Dylan

I’m feeling good as I walk up to Eric’s
hotel room. He can release those old pictures all he wants, but I’m
done being his puppet. I won’t show up at any events with women who
aren’t Nev, and I won’t do anything else that doesn’t feel right to
me, either. These last few months with him may be hard, but it will
be worth it. I took back the piece of my soul that Sadiq owned, and
now it’s time to get back the part Eric has his unholy claws in as
well.

“Dyl, it’s so good to see you,” he says, as
I clench my jaw.

“We have to talk,” I tell him, brushing past
him to walk into the room.

“I didn’t think you’d flown me in for a
social visit. What is it? Did you get an offer I don’t know
about?”

“No. I got the backbone I’d somehow lost
over the last few months. I called you here to tell you that I
won’t be doing anything I’m not comfortable with from now on. No
fake romances or dates. No promotional appearances or parties I’m
not interested in. Nothing I don’t want to do, period.”

“You forget who holds all the cards
here.”

“If you’re talking about those old pictures
of me, go ahead and release them. I’m not ashamed of my past, and I
won’t let your threats ruin my future.”

“I can ruin you. All of your offers come
through me,” he says with a sneer.

“Not anymore, they don’t. I’ve contacted the
team front office, and also the companies I promote, to let them
know that I want to be copied on any correspondence they send to
you. I’ve put the word out that I need to give personal approval
for anything and everything.”

What I don’t add is that there’s no way for
him to go around me. Ellie’s asking Reina if Ainsley can have her
team monitor his email for me. I know they have more important
things to do, but Ellie told me they can just have their programs
scan for my name and any key words, so it won’t really take anyone
from their other work. If the approval comes through, I’ll get an
alert every time he emails about me, and then I can see if he’s
doing anything shady behind my back.

“I must say, I’m a little surprised to have
you standing up to me. It makes me wonder what’s the catalyst for
this new found boldness.”

“What you did at Corrigan & Co. was
unforgivable.”

“This is about that girl? I
know you like to get around, but
her
? Don’t tell me she brainwashed
you into helping her with a shooting, because your career would
never come back from that.”

I throw the punch before I can even think
about it. His head snaps back, and he starts to fall but I grab his
shirt before he hits the ground. “You don’t talk about her, or even
fucking think about her. Do you understand?”

“Oh yeah, Dyl. I think I totally understand
now.”

The smile on his face worries me a little,
but I ignore it. I got my message across, and that’s what’s
important. Besides, all he’s got on me is some old pictures. I plan
to tell Nev about them when I get back, but like Ellie said, she
shouldn’t be shocked by my past. It’s only the present and our
future that matters.

I walk out of Eric’s hotel room without
another word. As I ride down in the elevator, I send Nev a text
telling her I want to talk when I get home tomorrow. She responds
with a smiley face, and that one little emoticon has me floating on
air all the way to my car. I can’t wait to get back to my girl.

* * *

Neveah

Sometimes you can see things coming, and try
to protect yourself. Other times, you’re completely blindsided.
Obviously, my father and Dylan blindsided me. I was hoping that was
it for surprises that would hurt me, but I just turned on the TV
and got slammed once again. Dylan said he wanted to talk, and I
thought that meant he was coming clean with me. Apparently, I was
wrong.

“NBA star and league MVP,
Dylan Gallagher, has always been known as a player off the court,
but this is extreme—even for him. Photos were released today
showing him enjoying himself in the bedroom with four women. The
photos are too graphic to be shown here, but can be found all over
the internet. There is no date stamp on the photos, but two of the
women have come forward, and said that these pictures were taken
within the last two weeks. We’ll speak to them here in studio after
the break.”

Within the last two weeks? This had to have
gone down when he was in Chicago, because that’s the only time he
was physically unavailable to me. He wouldn’t have told me to stop
by his place here whenever I wanted if he was entertaining other
women. Or would he? No. My father hit him for not standing up for
me—he wouldn’t have sat by while women were coming and going. Or
maybe that was part of their arrangement. I don’t know what to
think.

There’s a knock on my door, and I open it,
knowing that it’s going to be my friends. Arms are around me before
I can even say a word. I hug them all back and step to the side as
they file in and make themselves comfortable on the couch and love
seats in my living room.

“I can’t believe he did that. I thought he
was a good guy. I mean, despite the stuff with your father,” Sierra
tells me.

“I still thought he was a good guy after
that. Honoring a vow is pretty honorable,” Kalila says.

“I can punch him for you. I’m starting to
get the hang of anatomy, so I know where to hit,” Matisse
offers.

Rhieve nudges her with her shoulder. “I’d
love to hear about your private anatomy lessons with the good
doctor.”

Matisse flips her off as Harlow pins me with
her gaze. “You need to talk to him before jumping to
conclusions.”

“Conclusions?” Jenysis practically yells.
“Those pictures are hard to misinterpret. Have you seen them
yet?”

“No,” I answer. “I don’t know if I want to.”
But I know I have to.

“Those girls came forward, too,” Jen adds.
“You could just watch the interviews.”

“I’m going to jump in and play Devil’s
Advocate for a moment,” Camari tells me. “As someone who has worked
in PR, I know how things can be spun and how people can lie. I
think you need to talk to him.”

“I agree,” Harlow says. “I’ve met some women
in my time who would do anything for a dollar. How do you know they
weren’t paid to say what they’re saying?”

“Did the pictures look altered?” I ask.

They all shake their heads, but it’s Rose
who answers. “They don’t have a date on them, so it’s really just
their word against Dylan’s. I think you should give him a chance to
explain. My sister and her husband have one of the greatest loves
I’ve ever seen, but they almost lost it all because of
misunderstandings. I’ve seen you and Dylan together, and he loves
you. I know you love him, too. So please, just talk to him.”

“He texted last night that he wanted to
talk. I’m just scared now that he’s going to admit that he cheated
with those women while he was in Chicago for his photo shoots and
appearances. I’ve forgiven him for the stuff with my father,
because I believe he thought he was doing the right thing—and
because he chose me over my father. I don’t think I could forgive
this, in fact, I know I can’t. If he cheated on me, it’s over, and
honestly, I’d rather just end it than try to listen to him make
excuses for what he did.”

“I agree with Cam—you should talk to him
before you decide,” Harlow says.

“And I think you’re right to just break
things off,” Matisse tells me. “If you talk to him, he’ll just look
at you with those sexy eyes of his and then he’ll whip out his very
nice dick, and…oh! I didn’t mean to say anything about his
dick.”

“You’ve all seen it?” I ask on a groan.

“The whole world has seen it,” Kali tells me
with a sad smile.

This day just keeps getting better and
better. Logically, I knew that with those pics out there, everyone
had seen it, but I didn’t really want to know that my friends had.
Or the people I see every day at C&C. Luckily, only the Society
knows we were dating. If all of Corrigan knew I was with him, and
he cheated, I’d have a hard time walking back into that building.
I’d do it, though, because no Society woman would ever let a little
embarrassment keep her from doing her job, or at least I don’t
believe they would. I also don’t believe a Society woman would let
a man get away with embarrassing her, and so I send the text I need
to, even as it hurts to type the words.

There’s nothing to talk about now. I know I
wanted the truth from you, but this is too much. I’ll always love
you, but I can never be with someone who cheats on me.

It’s over now. My heart is broken, but I’ll
go on with my life. What other choice do I have?

Dylan

On Corrigan jets, it’s okay to leave your
cell phone on, and they have Wi-Fi so you can make calls if you
want, but I still turned my phone off. Ellie and I had so much to
go over—Eric, Sadiq, Nev, the statement I made before we got on the
plane, telling the reporters at the airport about how I’m planning
to settle down and stop “playing” off the court, all of it. It just
felt right to give my sister the full attention she deserved. She
shut off her phone, too, saying that she could be contacted through
the plane if there was an emergency.

I turn on my phone as we walk off the plane,
and I’m afraid it may actually explode as thousands of messages,
emails, and missed calls start loading. I ignore everything when I
see Nev’s name, clicking on her message with a smile. My smile
fades as I read the words over and over again. She thinks I cheated
on her? And she’s breaking up with me.

“Shit, Dyl. You swear those pictures are
old?” Ellie says, looking down at her own phone screen.

“What? Yes! Why would you even ask
that?”

“Because two of the women are saying they
were taken very recently.”

Which is why Nev thinks I cheated on her.
“They weren’t!”

“I believe you, but it’s bad. The media is
having a field day with this, and I think I may have to rinse my
eyes out with bleach after seeing the pics.”