Chapter 6

elsie was caught off guard. she was not expecting lewis to show up flunked by joe due to his stubbornness. the fact that he agreed to be patronized by joe meant he really wanted her back. which made her teeny tiny guilt worse than it was. for close to a minute or two joe had said nothing to her. he was looking through the window and the silence was having a toll on elsie. she respected him, everyone in the family did, apart from lewis of course but joe was among the few individuals she could talk to openly. they clicked the moment she moved in.

"it's a beautiful neighborhood isn't it?" he asked turning around to face elsie. she was fidgeting with curiosity.

"yeah, it's good"

"you know why am here elsie please, make it easier for me" that was his opening line, joe would have been a successful politician if he ever ran for office, "my brother is a hard nut to crack, he is inconsiderate, doesn't trust anyone, thinks he is better than everyone and an egomaniac but behind all that insecurities he is a good person and you love him despite all those weaknesses"

"he told you what he did?"

"stood you up? that one was wrong i risked being snubbed for another month to tell him that"

"and he still brought you along? doesn't sound like lewis"

"am also surprised he did, so we going home or what?"

"yes but because of you not him, it's going to take some time to forgive him"

"take as long as you need but please be with us"

to the surprise of bella and lewis it had only taken sweet tongue- joe less than five minutes to convince elsie. she was behind him when he entered the living room.

"that was quick" bella said looking at elsie just be sure she was not being held at gunpoint.

"am good with people, that's why am the woodley’s chief marketing and communication officer, you know branding..."

"we know that already joe, hi elsie" lewis said, "look, am sorry i stood you up..."

"let's talk in the car, bye bitch i'll miss you elsie hugged bella before she left.

the woodley brothers and tom followed behind her. joe had to drive the bentley as lewis chose to ride with his bride. they were both quiet, lewis waiting for the right time to talk about the heat they had between them. elsie was staring outside the window of the car while lewis still had his eyes fixed on the prize.

"what you did was stupid" lewis said.

one look at him, his face had changed. he was back to default settings.

"ooh so this is my fault now?"

"whose fault is it? because am not the one who didn't come home last night"

"you are not even sorry for what you did"

"people get stood up, you're not the first and the last one sweetheart, what you did was stupid admit it!"

the entire speech of forgiveness she had prepared disappeared. she threw it all to the gutter and she was not guilty anymore. lewis had met his waterloo.

"you're not going to talk?"

"what do you want me to say?"

"apologize to me and the family, you do realize you're not an average person anymore. you're a woodley and that name comes with a lot of privileges which means everyone is watching..."

"where are you going with this?"

"what the fuck were you doing dancing at scorpion? now social media and paparazzi are buzzing about it. why are you tainting my family's name?"

"am not a woodley yet am i?"

"is that what you consider yourself? a stranger? is this short term to you?"

"don't put words in my mouth lewis! it's not like am the first person from your family to cause a fuss you're rich anything you do gets attention so please give me some peace!" she shouted getting out of the car, they were home.

the family was outside by the pool. it was book club, others like steve and his wife were taking a walk in the woods and the garden. they were in charge of the fresh fruit and veggies in the family. joe went straight to update their parents while lewis followed his angry wife.

"how did it go son?" george asked.

"well, at least she agreed to come with us but i bet lewis has managed to prove her again"

"well done son" beth said, "am proud of you whatever they do to each other now is beyond us"

"you should however talk to her about her conduct yester night i've been getting a lot of calls" george said keeping his newspaper away for some time, that was a clear indication of a serious talk coming up, "your mother and i have worked so hard to rebuild this name we won’t let those who joins us along the way to tarnish it, that includes all that of you. be warned" he said and went back to reading.

silence graced the entire book club session. it was arguably the worst week for the woodley’s in terms of social media scandals. to begin with ted, he had typed some racist comments online that got the social media on flames some accusing him of being a member of an racist and extremist group. lewis had sexually assaulted a model with a mean comment on i*******m, no surprise here and steve gave a poor review about a restaurant the next day they were out of business, no customer showed up. this shows how powerful the woodley family was in westbrook. now it was elsie dancing with the stars in a night club all on her own.

"it's been bad dad but..."

"don't give me that bullshit" warned george concentrating on his paper.

"but he didn't say anything" beth came to joe's rescue.

"i already know what he wants to say, something to do with controversies are good for business, g****e and bloggers don't pay me enough joe"

"okay dad you win, i'll talk to her"

"not you, i will do it myself"

elsie was in for it. everyone in the family and i mean everyone including beth was scared of being summoned by george. the man was a lion when provoked and the nicest human being on earth when things are done the right way.

in their room elsie and lewis were exchanging verbal flames with the former locked in the bathroom as the latter turned their room into a mess, breaking anything he could get his hands on. the vase, their pictures, mirrors and any breakable thing.

"get out of that bathroom this instant!" lewis screamed kicking the door.

"am not coming out until you apologize!"

"i don't owe you an apology elsie it's the other way round"

"then am not opening this door, break it if you want but am not!"

the more she spoke the angrier he became. and yet he did not know the truth. did he even care in the first place? how was he going to react if he found out? inside the bathroom elsie was seated on the toilet seat texting with bella. she was backsliding with all the confidence bella had pumped into her, there was a porous border letting guilt in.

"elsie" he called out changing his tone to a remorseful one, "hey am sorry just open the door and let's talk about this like grown-ups, i promise"

she was thinking maybe someone had a gun on his head and they were forcing him to utter those words. they were rare, especially coming out of his mouth not to mention she had just made him angrier by locking herself in the bathroom. lewis was violent but not to her, never to her whenever he felt angry he broke things not put his hands on her and elsie had tremendous respect for that, top ten on the list of things she loved about him.

"are you for real?"

"yes, i'll make it up to you on a date today in the garden just the two of us, candles and wine baby come on" he begged.

his words did some magic, the door clicked open and she came out. lewis hugged her immediately as though he was seeing her after a decade of absentia. one thing she couldn't explain about him was how quickly he changed from one emotion to another. she knew how impulsive he was, the mystery was how quick he recovered from it.

"hey" she said still surprised. she didn't hug him back, "you're okay?"

"am okay if you are"

"am okay, and sorry about yesterday. i should have come home but i didn't that's on me not you and then dancing in the club i got drank and just lost it. it won't happen again"

"apology accepted, let's join the family" lewis said making for the door but she stopped him.

he turned around to look at her. tears had left a solid glass like path from her eyes to her cheeks tainting her beautiful face. naturally beautifully, to prove my point he licked them. elsie shut her eyes as his warm tongue did one of those things she had never imagined. it gave her a tingling sensation all over her body, her knees were weak and her heart melted with mixture of joy and guilt. she thought about telling him her big secret those few seconds her eyes were shut.

"open your eyes sunshine" he whispered him her ear.

she opened her eyes and they met his. they had that glow she had missed. the glow she had longed for. lewis held her face concavely with both his hands like an egg, something precious. her heart started beating first, in her mind she was hoping he wasn't going for one of his asphyxiating kisses, the body wanted it though. it was now a battle of superiority between the two distinctive components of self.

"from now on" he said his guess fixed on her, "i promise to try and never make you cry again"

her lips parted but she had no words to say. it was as though her mind went blank and for a few seconds she was blinking yet lewis looked curious as though the words were worth more than anything on the planet.

"it's okay if you have nothing to say, can we go now?" he finally bailed her out of the awkward situation, the guy was being super nice perhaps he needed to miss her more to realize the value of what he had. a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

"we can't leave this room looking all messy" elsie said breaking free from his grasp.

"come on, you know someone is paid to do that right? i'll just send a maid to clean up"

"they will know we were fighting and your dad won't be happy"

"ooh yeah i didn't think of that let's clean up then"

"huh! as if i helped in the destruction, you'll be cleaning as i watch hunnie, sorry" she said seating on the bed.

the door was knocked interrupting their conversation. it was lewis who went to get it.

"what do you want tom?"

"your dad has requested the presence of elsie in his office sir" tom said his hands behind his back. he was in a suit like all staffs.

elsie heard him loud and clear, lewis did not have to call her. when he turned around she was standing behind him looking scared. she was already guilty even without appearing before the one man jury.

"now?"

"affirmative sir"

"okay, hunnie don't worry you'll be fine it's not like he will beat you, he is my dad, your father-in-law..."

"hey, you're panicking" she said holding his right hand in hers, "like you said i'll be fine, wish me luck" she kissed him on the cheek and walked out.

"tom!" lewis called out.

both tom and elsie stopped elsie looked at tom and picked up her pace. she was in trouble with both the father and the son. hopefully tom was going to honor their deal, even though he had no reason to.