POVMillie I step outside of the hotel and right in front is what I’m assuming is Nick's gray car. He rolls down the window, “hey em,” he says with a smile and my nerves are in overdrive. I get in and we lightly converse about our days as we drive for what seems to be only about five minutes when we pull into a restaurant, Blue Lagoon the sign on the building reads. We step out of the car and I’m thankful when we walk in and the atmosphere seems casual. There are sharks and other sea life creatures hanging on the walls. A hostess greets us and then guides us to a table alongside a window that has a view of the ocean. The sun is starting to set giving the sky an orangey hue. The scene brings me back to all of the nights spent with X and the deep conversation we’ve had that made us fall in love in the first place. Sitting here with Nick is feeling off-kilter but I need to make new memories even if it hurts in the process. A waitress walks over to our table introducing herself as As
POVMillie I’m briskly walking around the parking lot trying to locate Penelope’s car, pressing the panic button, I’m not sure what is panicking more, me or the red Ford Fusion a few rows away. This girl and red I swear..Never mind that, I need to get to X. It takes me way too long to get there, a place I never wanted to return to ever again in my existence can’t come into view soon enough. I have no nerves, I just need answers and I need them now. I pull up onto Sunset Avenue and drive a hundred feet until the house comes into view. I type in the gate’s passcode as fast as my fingers can manage and it takes an eternity for the tall black wrought iron to open, once it finally does, I speed to any parking spot available. I run out of the car as fast as I can and run into the front door, getting looks from some of the nearly naked girls sitting around with drinks in hand. It’s Saturday night so he could be at the club, god I hope he’s not there and with some girl on top of him.
POVXDamn, this woman is fucking abusive lately. The faster we have our little pointless talk on the beach the faster she’ll leave. I can’t even look at her, she looks fucking beautiful right now, but it’s not for me it’s for whoever she transferred feelings for. I keep my head down following her out of the bedroom where I let all my frustrations out the other night. We walk through the living room where Steph is crying and Julian is consoling her, I hate them right now. They’re moving in together and here I am alone as always and always will be. Millie ignores the couple on the couch, as do I as I follow her out of the penthouse. We take the stairs rather than the elevator and If I just play by the rules it’ll all be over fast enough. We make it outside and I can smell the smoke from my balcony from out here. Luckily I didn’t lose my joint, after I stood up from my comfortable spot on my chair, I placed the joint behind my ear. I’m gonna need this shit before, during and afte
POVMillie I don’t know why I do it but I push his hug away and straddle him. He’s clearly surprised by my shift in behavior. He looks up at me, and although it’s dark out now, the reflection of the moon and polluted Los Angeles sky glistens on his green eyes. He’s searching my face trying to figure out what’s going on in my mind, I spare him the thoughts and take both of my hands on either side of his face and bring my lips to his. He accepts them with ease, our kiss starts off with closed lips and continues on with our tongues entangled, making up for lost time. This is the happiest I’ve felt all week and even though I can’t actually read his mind, I know the same is true for him. He pulls me in closer wrapping an arm around my waist and the other still behind him supporting us. He breaks from the kiss only for a second, “fuck baby, I miss these lips,” he says so seductively. “I’ve missed yours,” I say bringing my lips back to his full soft ones. He sits us forward, taking b
POV XThis was not how I was expecting this night to go in any way. Wasn’t expecting to see Millie, wasn’t expecting to have a heart to heart and sure as fuck wasn’t expecting her to kiss me. Fuck that kiss was hot. Of course I had to be a dumbass and take it too far but I just couldn’t help myself at the time. I haven’t had any sexual encounters in a week which is a long ass time for me, unfortunately my last sexual experience was with the wrong person or I guess people…I walk back into the house, making my way up to my place and smiling to myself like a little girl but I don’t care how stupid I look, she wants to see me tomorrow, she used my words I used on her when we first met. Man, I love this girl. I can tell she’s trying to forgive me, she’s fighting within herself for me but she’s losing the battle and I couldn’t be an happier. We have a long way to go until we can go back to where we once were but I’m okay with that, I’m okay with taking baby steps even if it takes the
POV Millie I’m driving back to the hotel in Penelope’s car with thoughts of X taking over my mind in every way until they whither away with other thoughts from the night. Tonight was unexpected, I feel slightly guilty for blowing off Nick in the middle of our date but he was no saint at the same time. And Penelope? She works as a bartender now? That’s all due to the shit that went down a week ago. I’m stunned she apologized for her actions towards me but it’s Penelope..I pull into the parking lot having no idea how I’ll get this car back to Penelope, but right now I don’t care either. As I’m walking into the hotel lobby, I see Nick sitting on a couch, what is he doing here? “Nick?” I ask out to him. “Em,” he says standing up off of the couch. “What are you doing here?” I ask confused. “I came here to see why you left, what happened?” He asks curiously. “A lot?” I more or less say than ask. “Care to share?” He asks while looking me dead in the eye. I scratch the back of my
POV XI texted Millie but she must be sleeping by now. I want to make tomorrow special, we’ve never been on a real date before so I want to make the beach into a date setting. My mind is filling with ideas of what to do for her, how can I make this special for her? I’ve never actually been on a real date so I have no idea what I’m doing. I know a few things that I want to do to make things as personal as they can be, but when it comes to the setup, I’m lost.Who better to ask than her best friend?I get out of bed and put some sweatpants on. I leave the penthouse and go down to the third floor walking to Julian’s place. I’m briskly walking down the hallway when..Oh great…I keep my head down not wanting to make eye contact. “So I just don’t even exist anymore?” Adria asks. “Told you not to talk to me,” I say coldly keeping my head down. “Heard Emily is having quite a night with some guy.” She says snakily. “Shut the fuck up, Adria,” I say and walk past her not wanting to hear
POV Millie As I walk back into the lobby alone this time, guilt washes over me. I couldn’t help myself from kissing Nick. The spark in the kiss when our lips met didn’t even come close to what X’s did to me earlier but there still was something there. I unlock my hotel room door that X has paid for and when I get in, I go straight to the bed to get my head in order. I love X and that is undeniable but what he did to me, was unforgivable, no matter how many pennies I throw into fountains trying to obtain that wish. And Nick.. oh Nick. He does not deserve this, he does not deserve half of my attention, half of my heart, half of me, while the other half belongs to someone else. I feel awful for giving X the wrong impression tonight, I came on to him giving him false hope but he just has some sort of effect on me no matter what he does. When I’m with him I don’t think straight, but when I’m with him I feel alive. I look at my phone rereading the text he sent me an hour ago one too ma
POV Millie 6 months later “Ow!” I screech out. “Well if you’d just hold still!” X says looking up at me. “Are you sure you’ve tattooed someone before and I’m not the first?” I ask starting to regret my decision. He keeps his gaze on me and shakes his head in disbelief, “I’ve done this before baby, I’ve tattooed Julian plenty of times.”“Seriously? Julian? That’s not making me feel any better,” I say shaking my head back at him. He laughs, “I’m hurt you don’t trust me.” “Oh, whatever,” I roll my eyes at him and he gets back to work on my arm. The past six months have been quite life-changing but also in a good way. Julian proposed to Steph last month. I swear I question his mindset sometimes. He pulled another psychopath role-play scenario scaring her to death. “Marry me or I’ll kill you” I mean c’mon Julian…she’s been traumatized after walking in on me drenched in blood that day. My mind goes back to that day. It was a beautiful disaster. Stone worked overtime cleaning the
POVMillie & X XAs soon as the words fall from Stephanie’s mouth that Millie is in trouble I book it out of the door. I practically fly down the stairs, holding onto the railing for support but jumping four stairs at a time. Time is of the essence, every second that passes is a second closer to Millie’s death. I don’t know Dani’s motive here but I can only assume the worst. I’m finally on the third level of the house, sprinting through the hall. I hear Stephanie and Julian behind me, gasping for air as they try to keep up for Millie’s sake. A thunderous bang fills my ears and my heart plummets immediately. A gunshot. I want to fall to my fucking knees and die. “No!” Stephanie cries out but continues running behind. “309! It’s 309!” Stephanie sobs breathlessly. 312, 311, 310, 309! I instantaneously slide my master keycard in the door. “Fuck, hurry up!” I scream out kicking the door. Fucks sake an eternity later the green light appears. I hastily open the door barging thro
POVMillie I tell Steph I need some pain relievers for an oncoming headache but really, my nervousness has gotten the better of me. In the past two weeks, X has been a madman in his office for more hours than not. I’m not entirely sure what is going on or if it’s just investigating the incident from two weeks prior. Sure, I told him I thought it was Dani that one day but I chose not to press the issue after, for now at least. I roam the hall for a few minutes, something in my gut is feeling…off? I feel the presence of someone behind me, I go to turn around but I’m pushed against the wall, hard. “Don’t. say. A. Word” a husky voice from behind me demands. Fear strikes me within. Could this be X role-playing the way Julian and Steph did? Something tells me no though. I know X’s touch, his scent, his body and this is not it, it’s not him. The fear creeps over every inch of my body and into terror. I’m forced to move my legs to a black door and I’m slammed against it facing forward
POVX“Ah, what the fuck man,” Julian complains as I hit yet another solid ball into the pocket. I smirk his way taking all the glory as I’m currently kicking his ass in pool. “Gimme the lighter,” I say with my hand open towards his way. He hands me the red Bic lighter. I spark it up and light up my joint, take a hard hit, and hand the joint to Julian. “Good shit,” I say and then blow the smoke out in his face. “Fuck you, bro,” he says as it goes straight into his eyes. Oops. “Shoot your shot already,” I badger him.I sit on the crocodile brown leather bar stool and lean forward to watch him miss the shot. “Calm your tits,” he says concentrating on the yellow-striped ball. “Fuck yeah!” He yells out, dammit he got it. My phone vibrates in my pocket and I lean myself backward to reach inside the pocket of my black jeans to retrieve it. My spine stiffen from the text from an unknown number. +34 85601-1337You fucked up X. Now you’re going to pay. Blood will be shed Who the
POV Stephanie I bring my computer to life, type in my password, and open up the browser to search for morning flights. “Do you think everything is okay?” Millie asks me laced with suspicion. “Yeah mills, don’t worry this isn’t unusual,” I remark calmly. “Okay,” she balls her hands into a fist on her lap. She notably looks uncomfortable as I go to work and it’s distracting me. “I think I’m getting a bit of a headache, do you mind if I grab some ibuprofen from your room?” She asks rubbing her head. “Oh yeah for sure,” I say handing her my keycard and she gets up stepping out of the office. Okay, now I can actually concentrate. I click on various flights, Julian didn’t say anything about a return flight so I choose a one-way ticket until advised otherwise. I book them their usual hotel rooms for three nights, once again, I can adjust it at any time. I text Julian that they have a flight booked for 9:30 tomorrow morning. I close my computer down, turn off my office light, and
POV Millie It’s been an extremely interesting last couple of days. I sit on X’s lap wrapped in a light blanket on the balcony while we watch Julian and Slim risk their lives lighting off fireworks, the real Fourth of July. Although I hold my breath every time they bring a flame to the firecracker, the beauty of the lights over the ocean almost makes it worth one of them losing an arm. I snuggle into X’s hard warm body, wishing to be cocooned into him forever. I’m a lot more at peace now, X sat me down and explained his talk with Dani which I appreciate him doing. She’s still on my shit list though and I promise she’ll pay. …It’s Friday evening and It’s been two weeks since the Fourth of July. I’m physically and mentally in a better place but I of course still have my moments. X and I have been in a much better place as well since our brawl that one night. “Oh my gosh, you guys! We need to discuss chapter 23!” Mia says fanning her face. Oh yeah, somehow in the past two week
POVXI pull Dani outside of the door and close it behind me. I run my fingers through my hair in frustration towards Millie. I don’t know what that shit was but this is obviously not working out right now. “Dani, look,” I start off as she looks up at me expectantly. “Millie is not okay right now and I apologize,” I say trying to be nice. “Look, X, it’s fine. She’s hurting right now and she needs someone to blame, it’s okay, I understand it and I’m not taking it personally,” she says being mature about the whole situation. “Thank you, but like I said, she’s not okay. Something about you is triggering her. She may be out of line right now but she is my main priority. I’m not firing you but I need you to stay away from me. As for work goes, I need you to go to Julian for everything. As for a friend, I like you as a person I really do but I need you to not text me anymore or come here unannounced or at all for that matter. Millie is my main focus and I need to respect her feelings,
POVMillie I’m awoken by a knock at X’s door. X is still sleeping, miles away from me may I add. He was incredibly sweet to take care of me, holding me in the shower, dressing me, and sleeping next to me when I knew he didn’t really want to do any of it but he still did. For me. “X” I gently shake him awake. “What?” He grumbles out. “Someone is at the door,” I say. “Ugh!” He grunts, “stay here I’ll be right back.”He yawns and sleepily sits on the edge of the bed running his fingers through his hair and walks out of the bedroom. I rub my eyes and grab my phone from the nightstand, five o’clock?! My god that’s the longest I’ve slept in days, I really needed that. I have a text from Steph How are you feeling? Let me know if I can bring anything up for you. Do you need a spicy novel? Also, how’d the conversation with X go? That was two hours ago. Hey! Sorry I fell asleep. I’m feeling fine. We haven’t talked yet because we fell asleep. I might need some new yoga pants in a bit
POVXI’m on my tenth set of pull-ups, sweat glistening my entire body. My hair is drenched and pissing me off as it falls to my eyebrows, constantly needing to be pushed back. I’m trying to channel my rage without alcohol and working out is the only way I know how. I’ve been in my gym for two hours now, Julian joined for forty five minutes and then dipped like a weakling. I’m on my sixth rep when my phone vibrates and lights up with a notification. I finish my pull-ups, wipe myself off with a towel, gulp down some water and check my phone. Millie. I can’t do this right now. I do fifty push ups before I decide to text Millie back so I don’t lose my shit on her. She wants to talk tomorrow, I just don’t think I have it in me to face her yet. I don’t respond to her requests because it’s something I need to sleep on. We’ll see how I feel about it later. I do a few sets of Russian twists before I decide to end my workout for the night. I leave the gym dripping sweating, patting mys