Chapter One

Elisabeth

Present time....

I groaned as the music I was listening to suddenly stopped playing and the ringtone I set for he-who-shall-not-be-named began to echo in my car making me more irritated.

It's been... a year since the fool fucked up and despite me calling him all sorts of derogatory names that I'd never heard of, he was relentless. He wanted me back but I wanted him to back the fuck off.

I put on my bluetooth earbud and tapped it to answer his call but silence filled my ear.

"What?". I snapped. "Is it until I block your number or change my sim that you'll get the memo?".

"It's been a year El. Don't tell me you're still mad." He's shocked.

"Are you for real right now Ben?". I almost screamed. "I have every right to be mad for the next millennium you motherfucker."

"I was drugged! I didn't..."

"Save that for the whore you were seen coming out of El Dorado with last night Ben." I cut him off harshly. "You must think I'm stupid. Well, newsflash... I'm not!".

Ben sighed. "She wasn't mine. Ephraim wanted me to..."

"Goodbye Ben." I yanked the earbud out of my ear then proceeded to block his number but I should have known better than to drive angry so when I hit the car in front of me with such force that I lurched forward in my seat only to slam back against the seat knocking the breath out of me, I was irritated before but I was now pissed off. "Damn it." 

I watched as the owner of the car alighted from the car, came around to check the damage then looked over at me. He was wearing very sexy aviator sunglasses so I couldn't exactly tell if he was angry or not.

"Get out and apologize dum dum." My subconscious mind scolded me.

I sat still in my car wondering why I wasn't making any move but I needn't have bothered as the guy walked up to my car and tapped on my window with a knuckle and I pressed the button for the window to roll down but just a little. I was speechless when I saw him up close and personal but thankfully I still had my wits with me so I probably wasn't drooling over his gorgeousness. 

You'd think hating all men would stop me from admiring this beauty but no! I looked, checked him out and possibly even undressed him with my eyes until he opened his mouth and said,

"If I wanted to shoot you, I wouldn't need your window rolled down." The guy's voice was sexy and had this American accent but it was heavily laced with sarcasm.

"If this is about your car..." I began shooting him a saccharine smile. He was still beautiful but not to me. Not after what he just said.

"Why else would I be standing here Duchess Rowena?". He snapped. "To chat you up and ask for your number?".

I blew out my breath to calm myself. I didn't want to rain on this man's parade just because I thought all men were complete idiots who thought with the head between their legs and not the one on their fucking necks. I'd hit him and all I could do was apologize and send him on his merry way with some cash to repair his car.

"It's not like you wouldn't if I wanted you to." I scoffed.

"You're not my type duchess." He snorted derisively.

That would have hurt if I wasn't already so angry but I held my tongue so as not to aggravate him further. For all I know, he could be a put together beautiful psychopath. They never had those written on their foreheads.

"You're causing unwanted traffic here sir." A police woman appeared beside the man. "What's going on here?".

"Duchess Rowena here hit my car and would've gotten away with it if I'd not stepped out and confronted her." He said.

"Excuse me?!". I unfastened my seatbelt, opened the door and got out of the car. "I wouldn't have gotten away with it because I was about to..." I let my voice trail off.

"About to?". He arched his brow.

I pursed my lips and glared at him. "How much do I owe you?". I spat.

"You don't have enough to pay me." He said looking nonchalant.

I balled my fists when I heard that. "Who do you think you are? Do you know who I am?". I fumed.

He eyed me over through his stupid but sexy sunglasses and he smirked at me. "Someone who still doesn't have enough to pay me." He replied glibly.

"My name is..."

"Forget it. I have more important things to attend to than to argue with you all day." He waved me off. "Be careful next time." He turned and walked back to his car, got in and drove off.

"You really destroyed that car." The police woman told me. "I should have you arrested and fined for reckless driving. Were you texting while driving?".

"No. I didn't see the stop sign on time so when I applied the brakes, it was too late." I mumbled.

"I'll let you go because of who you are but don't let this happen again." She warned me.

"Of course." I mumbled. "Thank you." I got into my car, yanked my phone from the wheel and dumped it on the passenger seat then I put the car in drive and continued on my way cursing all men - except my dad -for all they were worth.

~~~~

"Hey girl, what's up?". Jules greeted me when I walked into the living room. "Why do you look like someone who's trying desperately not to go back out and punch someone's throat?".

"Because I am." I hurled my clutch purse at the wall. "Men are so... Grrrr!".

"Did 'you know who' do something again?". She arched her brow.

"He called me! Then he had the nerve to ask me why I'm still mad after a year!".

"What? Is he cray cray?." Jules questioned. "I thought you'd blocked him already?".

"I did. He called me with another number." I sighed. "After I ended the call, I was so mad that I hit another car in front of me." I plopped down on the sofa beside her.

"What? Are you okay?". She searched my body for injuries.

"I'm fine." I said. "The man was so rude though. Okay, maybe I didn't get down from my car when he did but I was going to apologize and pay for the damages. Can you imagine that sack of wine, told the police woman that I wanted to run away without paying for the damage I did to his car?".

"He said that?." Jules' eyes widened. "Didn't he recognize you?".

I huffed. "He told me I didn't have enough to pay him for his car."

"What an insult!". Jules exclaimed. "That guy is an idiot."

"I really wanted to throw wads of cash in his face for humiliating me like that but then he told me to forget about it and left."

"Just like that?".

"He also said I should be careful next time like I don't know how to drive." I rolled my eyes.

"What was his car like?".

"Well, it looked quite expensive." I shrugged. "But I'm sure it wouldn't have been so expensive that I couldn't pay for it." I glowered at the TV screen.

Jules rubbed my arm to pacify me and I slowly calmed down.

"It doesn't matter when I'll see him again though, I'm going to give him the money for the damages and I'm going to tell him where I think he should take his overconfident self to." I spat.

"This guy really hurt your ego." Jules looked amused.

"He called me Duchess Rowena!". I hissed. "And I know he didn't mean that in a nice way either."

Jules burst out laughing, annoying me further but since I couldn't and didn't want to get mad at her, I shot up from the sofa, grabbed my stuff and stormed upstairs. 

Later that night, I was checking the pictures on my laptop when I came across the ones I'd been too emotional to delete after that wedding fiasco. In my mind, I'd wondered if I'd pushed Ben to his limit which was why he'd done what he did to us.

I'd refused to sleep with him until after marriage so I'd made him wait for seven years. Four years of university, two years for my master's degree and then the wedding preparations but then I'd wondered why he couldn't wait for just two days until I realized that maybe he'd been cheating on me behind my back so he'd been fine with my no sex until marriage rule.

"Bastard." I selected all the photos of the two of us, I clicked the delete button and when it asked me if I wanted to continue with the action, I deleted us finally without thinking twice.

My mom once told me that time heals all wounds but I wasn't sure mine would ever heal. I'd been in love with an illusion. I'd made Ben seem like the most perfect man in the world when he was the worst of the worst out there and it hurt to finally have the scales fall from my eyes but I was glad my eyes were opened now because I'd know not to make such a mistake a second time.

Once bitten, twice shy and all that.