The next evening, Sidney sat with Valerie in her apartment. She had called her over to tell her about her date with Bradley.
"Did you kiss him?" Valerie asked, as she sat down next to Sidney and pulled on her hand.
Sidney nodded with a small smile. "Well technically, it wasn't an actual kiss. But still, it rocked my world.
Valerie squealed. " That sounds very amazing." She told Sidney.
"He was the perfect gentleman and even when I invited him up for tea, he behaved. He kept his hand to himself, and didn't try anything funny." She told Valerie.
"See what I told you!" Valerie said, hitting Sidney's shoulder playfully. "I knew he was a gentleman. Thank God you saw that for yourself."
Sidney shrugged. "Well, I've known that way before then. We spent a couple of days together at the cabin, remember." She said.
Valerie grinned. "That's true. I just know that he wants you the first time
It turned out that Stone's invitation for the weekend was to a golf resort and hotel in Huddersfield, near Bradford, called Grayson Carter. Stone had called Sidney to tell her about the details the night before, and also to tell her that he had booked two rooms for Sidney and Bradley in the hotel, and they could leave by Sunday morning.The things one would do for their jobs. No one wants to lose their jobs just because they can't be a game player. Doing your job appropriately involved playing some sort of game, or sacrificing something it doing some things one wouldn't normally do.The good thing was that Mr. Williams always appreciated her efforts and all of his employees in the company, and that was enough motivation to go beyond to get the job done.When they arrived at the resort, Bradley told Sidney that the resort was owned by his father's friend's cousin; Mr. Grayson. He told her that his family and his father's best friend's family vis
It had been a week!A whole week after the break-in happened, a week since she had the dream about her father, and a week since she and Brad started seeing each other.Sidney decided to tell Valerie about all of it. About the dating and the dream.She had been reluctant to tell anyone about her dream at first, scared that no one would believe she was the same, so she didn’t tell anybody, not even her mother.When Valerie came into her office that afternoon, she motioned for her to sit on the couch, and then she sat with her.To be sincere, she didn’t know what Valerie’s response would be, but she was sure she wouldn’t look at her as if she was crazy. If anything, she would help her find out what it was about.“What's wrong?” Valerie asked with a worried expression.Sidney sighed, thinking of the best way to tell her about Brad. She thought it was best to come out right with it. "Br
The attention of an attentive, fine, and handsome escort she would have tonight was all part of Sidney's fantasy evening and as long as she remembered that this wasn’t a date, she would be fine. She felt that the less dating, the less problem for her.Bradley had texted her when she came down from her apartment to say that he would meet her at the parking lot of the building where the event would take place. He said he had to help his friend out with some of the arrangements of the night.“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to pick you up myself. That’s why I had to send you a limo,” he told her over the phone. "I hope it's alright."“It’s alright." She chuckled. "At least, I’m riding there in style,” she said with a grin. "I should be there soon."There was a pause, then he said. “Okay, see you soon!”“Yeah, I will see you soon too. Just don’t disappear on me toni
At some point during the event, Sidney developed a massive headache and Bradley took her to his best friend's room upstairs in the hotel next door to the hall being used.Sidney laid down and tried to sleep a little. The end of the event was still two hours away, and an hour's sleep would help her head aching less than it was aching right now.The hotel was a three-star hotel and Sidney found the reason it was so soon enough. The wall of the hotel room was so thin that she could hear the couples next door having sex. She pulled the pillow over her head and pressed it down.It was a minute past eleven o’clock in the evening. While she had nothing against couples having sex, she hated the fact that they were that loud about it knowing the walls of the hotel room were that thin. The oohs and ahhs were adding to her already pounding hard head and the pillow over her head did nothing much to block the noise out. She closed her eyes in a silent
Rain fell hard against the windscreen of the car as they drove to Sidney's apartment and it prompted her to pray they get to her place soon. She shook her head and smiled softly as she remembered that it was during a rainy night like this that she and Bradley had met. She glanced at Bradley who was focused on the road ahead of them with his eyes squinted in concentration. Her head still pounded but this moment didn't allow her to feel the ache as she should, although, it was already slipping right back in. What she needed was a good distraction. Maybe she would fall right into sleep if she removed all her thoughts from her mind. She shut down and closed her eyes, but it didn't work. Maybe it was the headache she was feeling, maybe it was the atmosphere but whatever it was, she felt like something was kind of wrong. They got to her building five minutes later and they saw some police car around in the front. Sidney
Unless Bradley had guessed wrongly, Sidney was embarrassed but he wasn't sure why. He would have found her reaction endearing if he was sure that she wasn't embarrassed to be with him. It was the last thing he expected. "Well, it's been a while I kissed a man, and you've kissed me before but not in a closed-door like this." She explained, avoiding looking at his eyes. "Oh!" He said. Now he found it endearing. What she said gave him a feeling he loved. "Sidney, look at me." He said. "No!" She said and shook her head. He pulled her face up to his and said. "You shouldn't be embarrassed by what happened. You're my girlfriend, and we are still going to make love. What would you do then?" He asked. When she didn't say anything, he asked. "That shouldn't be a problem, right?" She gave a short nod. Bradley frowned, still wanting to know more. "I supposed it's been a while since you had sex?"
Early in the next morning, Sidney was already on her way to Valerie's place with the bible nestled in her bag. Throughout the night, she had worked out a plan for her to start from and she was sure her friend will be glad to help out. The drive to Valerie's house took about twenty five minutes. She had called a cab very early so that she could get there on time. When the cab finally got to her house, she paid and walked to her front door, hastily. She knocked on her door and waited for response. She knocked the door again, and heard footsteps approaching the door. Valerie opened the door with a surprised look on her face. That reaction was expected as she had never visited her that early before. Not once. "Hi, Sid." She greeted. "What's going on?" She asked. Pushing past her, she dropped the bag she was carrying on the couch in her living room and sat down. Valerie closed the door slowly, and locked it, th
The trip to the cabin was smooth with no traffic on the way, but Sidney used half of the journey there to talk with Bradley, giving another version of why she had to leave his place without telling him. He told her how scared he had been to wake up and found her gone. He had berated himself for sleeping so heavy that he didn't hear anything at all. He also asked her why she didn't leave a message or picked her call the three other times he had called her before she picked on the fourth time. When they were done talking, Sidney realised they had gotten to the road that led up to the cabin. It took them two minutes to get there. Valerie parked the car and they both got down. "Sidney, did you forget to lock the door?" She asked as looked to the door. It was closed, but it didn't looked like it was locked. Sidney frowned. "I did. I remembered that I did, very well." She said, frowning. The cabin was securely locked when she
Bradley told Claire he would be going back to his hotel after they had talked again. Rising up to his feet, he walked towards the hall as Sidney followed him to the door. When Sidney came back to the living room, her mother had gone into the bedroom upstairs, and when she came back down to the room, she was holding a piece of paper. She sat down on the couch beside Sidney, and showed her the paper. On the heading of the paper was the name of some charity or the homeless home for kids. Among those names was a name that was written in a capital letter. Claire pointed to the name across the paper. "GREAT FUTURE." Sidney frowned. "What's this, mother." She asked. "It's the name of the home that Bradley was adopted from. She said. Confused, she looked at her mother and asked her what she had just said. "What did you just say, mother?" She asked. "I said it's the name of the home Bradley was adopted." She
Sidney pushed down on the top of the french press and pour the delicious-smelling coffee into two substantial mugs. They sat close to each other and lapsed into silence. Sidney guessed that this was the moment where they were supposed to address what went down the night before, but it’s always hard to start. The world grinds to a halt around Sidney when he produced a simple black ring box. She stare at the tiny box and her mind and heart made an obvious leap in her chest. Bradley watched her jaw hit the floor and he laughed. "Yes, it's what you think. Sweetheart, will you marry me?" He asked her, looking pointedly at her. Her mouth went dry and she began to stammer. "But don't you think we should talk about this feud between our family and wait until it will be finalized?" She asked him. That was the only right thing to do. "No buts...just say yes, please." Bradley said. "Yes...ye
"You both need to get out of here before the police arrive," the man behind the bar drawled as he took in the two men still groaning on the ground. "It's just a friendly advice. They won't care that you're right. Fighting in a bar isn't allowed here." He said, explaining further. Bradley had beaten them so much that they were lying on the floor. Sidney and Bradley had both gone out to the bar to just chill and those two men had walked up to Sidney when Bradley had gone to the bathroom. They had asked her if she wanted to dance, and she had told them no, but they had stayed on to ask her annoying questions. She had told them that they should leave her the hell alone and that her boyfriend would be there soon. They had laughed at her and said that she as lying and that she was only teasing them. One of then had even said that he saw the way Sidney was looking at them with a sexual look in her eyes and that she wanted to have sex with them bot
The doorbell sounded in the hall across the sitting room. A maid went across, into the living room to see whoever had pressed the bell. She opened the door to find a stranger. “Good afternoon, I’m here to see Miss Sidney Allen.” He said. “Good afternoon, may I know your name sir?” She asked. Closing the door, she went to the sitting room to declare the stranger’s name and intentions. “Bradley Humphrey?” Puzzled. She asked the maid to let him in. She wondered how he got to be there, she couldn’t remember talking about the address to her mother’s house in Paris. When Brad appeared in the large French doorway of the sitting room, Sidney couldn’t believe her eyes. “Brad, what are you doing here?” Instead of answering her question, he went over to her mother and greeted her. “Nice to meet you too.” Claire replied. “You are most welcomed.” When he turned to Sidney, there was no longer a puzzled look on
Sidney was wearing grey trousers and a yellow top the hour she met with her mother’s husband, Parker. She had gone upstairs to change again when her mother told her that what she was wearing for dinner was not appropriate enough. She had come back dressed we'll, better than before and her mother had nodded in approval. Just then, a car had honked and they heard the car drove in. "That must be my husband." Her mother had told her, and she had rushed to the window. She drew the curtain back to confirm what she had said, and when she did, she had gone to meet him at the front door with a wide smile on her face. Sidney sat there, waiting for him to come inside so that she could meet him. It was the first time she was going to meet him physically, and she wanted to have a good chance at seeing him from a neutral perspective. Parker was a handsome man. He was tall and had a broad shoulders. He looked pretty young and good looking for his age.
Brad had woken up that morning and he had suddenly decided that he was going to Paris to be with Sidney, and he had bought his plane ticket online; a first-class ticket of course. He drove slowly, with his headlights on because it was still very much dark; considering it was very early, towards the airport. He glanced at his wristwatch to check out the time to see that it was some minutes past six. He shrugged his shoulders and focused on the road in front of him, the one that would lead him to Sidney; the woman he was crazy about, the woman of his dreams. He wasn’t going to stay in Queensbury, doing nothing when Sidney was in Paris learning about what they should both be finding out. That was not who he was. He knew she wanted to do this alone, but to be honest, it was something they should be doing together. It should be the two of them against the world, or his family in this case not her against him and his family.
Adam was the first person to see Sidney as she moved toward them. He pulled up a smile on his face and directed it to his sister. Sidney smiled back and pulled him into a small hug. He was taller than the last time she saw him. "Hello, Adam." She said in greeting. "It's so nice to see you again, Sidney. It's been such a long time since I saw you.." He said to her and he grinned when she chuckled. Sidney nodded her head and said. "That's true, Adam. It's been such a long time. But, we're seeing each other now and that's what matters." She said, but in reality, it was absorbed. Sidney had only met him once and that was when he was five years old and now he was eight years old. That meant that the last time she saw him was three years ago. It was not something that should be considered normal. Although, she had been happy for her mother when she married her stepfather and when she gave birth to Adam, but because her
Two hours later, Sidney heard a knock at her door and she sighed. She had just woken up about a minute or two ago, and she was just considering getting a quick shower before she went downstairs to meet her mother, but now someone was at the door, knocking. She wondered who it was and why they were knocking on her door. She stood up and went to the door fo open it. She had been right. It was her mother and she was smiling widely, waiting for her. Sidney sighed again and waited for her to step in before she closed the door and turned back to go sit down on the bed. "How are you feeling now, honey? Are you well related or do you need more time to yourself to do that? Her mother asked as she sat on the bed as well. Sidney gave a small shrug with her brows pulled together, and the corner of her mouth drawn down. "I was able to rest a bit for a few hours. I could still use some more but I'm fine for now."
As Claire’s limousine drew up outside the airport, a plane touched down on the runway. Her daughter was on that plane, she’d already received the information from the airport’s Chief of security. She had to pick Sidney herself from the airport.Claire didn’t want her daughter to know about her father’s death. Allen was murdered three years ago, and she had told Sidney that it had been an hunting mistake, and he had been shot during the Hunter's Hunt; a game the hunters all come together to participate in.But she knew who had shot her husband, and had kept quiet about it for all these years, and had decided not to involve the police. She decided she would do culprit on her own way, as it was better that way.Rodney Humphrey was a very dangerous man and she needed to tread carefully when dealing with him. She needed to also do everything she needed to under wraps.And now, unexpectedly, Sidney had fou