Blair Monore
Blair didn’t know it was possible to cry this much. She didn’t know that she had this many tears left inside of her. She didn’t know that it was possible to feel this much pain from just one lie and deception.
He had kissed another woman and not just any woman. His ex.
He definitely didn’t love her.
She was obviously nothing to him.
Damn it, she had fucking hoped she was so much more to him but too bad she was wrong.
She sat on her couch in her old apartment, mindlessly eating a pint of ice cream, she haven't been able to swallow a thing since the hour of the Morning after the whole fiasco but she knew she had to eat something because of her baby..
So she stocked her stomach with some dry biscuits and ice cream.
She had thought Zeke could actually fight his demons and finally allowed himself to love but she had been wrong, the worst part of all this was she knew she didn’t even have the right to cry. There relationship was never real, she was just the dummy that couldn't stick to the contract. Their relationship was never meant to be about love. They were a business relationship. It was always supposed to be a way to keep the bad boy’s business happy. She was only ever supposed to be the good girl image.
Yet, it still hurt. It hurts more than she ever thought possible.
He had cheated on her. Just because she had suspected this day might come didn’t make it easier. When they had first started this arrangement, she thought she could handle it. She had thought she would be okay with knowing that he married her for money and not for love.
But then she fell for him. And, worse, she thought he had fallen for her too. She thought that he cared. Even though he never said the words, she thought that he loved her at least enough to give them a chance.
But, the photo proved that he was back to his old ways. She wasn’t enough for him. Their child wasn’t enough for him. He still needed more.
She wished she could quit the contract. She wished she could just disappear to another state and never see him again. But even that idea made her want to sob into her ice cream just as hard.
She loved him. Even after this, even after knowing that he didn’t love her back, she still loved him. Perhaps that was the part that hurt the most. She was an idiot.
She wished she could dull the pain with wine. Or a full bottle of whiskey. Heartache wasn’t nearly as bad when she could pass out and pretend it didn’t exist.
But she wouldn’t do that to her baby. Even if it was his. The baby was innocent in all of this. She wasn’t sure how she would raise the child with the father being a total lair and a jerk. What hurts is that he would do this not only to her, but to their child. The man had no moral decency.
She had literally been hurling her stomach that night and he was just kissing somewhere. A soft knock on her door drew her attention. She checked her watch and saw that the food she’d ordered was due. She carefully set the half-eaten ice cream to the side and got up. She wasn’t in the mood to see anyone but the pizza man tonight.
She went to the door and checked the peephole. The delivery guy was holding the pizza up to the door so she could see it. There was no way she was opening this door to anyone who didn’t have her food. If a reporter wanted to talk to her, they would at least have to give her a pizza to do it.
She undid the lock and pulled the door open.
She promptly slammed it shut.
The pizza man wasn’t there. It was zeke, holding up the pizza. He must have caught the delivery guy on the way up and taken the pizza. Sneaky bastard.
"Please just leave” Blair yelled through the door. She was willing to give up her pizza not to have to see him. She had enough ice cream that she could make it through the night.
“Please,” zeke called back. “I just want to explain.”
Fury lit up inside of her as she boiled in anger. What was there to explain? “No.”
“Please, Blair” he begged. His voice was low and full of hurt. For a moment, Blair almost felt bad for him. Then she remembered that he was an expert in getting women to do what he wanted.
“Go away,” she repeated.
"I didn’t kiss her,” he said through the door. “It was a set up.”
Blair tried to see reason with him but doubted him way more instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt.t. It could be true. She’d seen enough to know that people were willing to lie, cheat, and have babies for a company just like him so It wouldn’t be crazy to pay a woman to kiss him.
But that didn’t change the fact that this caught her completely unprepared. He should have told her immediately but he kept it from her, hoping she’d never find out. He had lied by omission. It was just the first step down the path to him actually kissing another woman.
He didn’t trust her. She told him everything, yet he thought it was okay to keep secrets like this from her. What kind of relationship could they have without trust?
She had been trying to get him to talk about the incident from 3 years ago, if Zoey could know about something so personal and she was his ex girlfriend then why the hell is it so hard for him to just come clean and tell her the truth...
Zeke still pleaded even with the door slammed on his face, she threw open the door, daggers shooting from her red, teary ears. “A set up?” She glared at him. “A strange woman kissed you, but you didn’t think it was important to tell me. Well thanks for the heads up.”
She reached over, grabbed the pizza from his surprised hands, and slammed the door again.
“Blair"
She put the pizza on the counter and locked the door. Her hands shook and tears ran down her face. She peeked through the peephole and saw him still standing there, his hand on the door like he was trying to reach out to her.
"I didn’ want to distress you, me and Zoey are ancient history. he said softly. “I didn’t want to upset you.”
“How brilliant of you. If only you had just answered my question weeks ago. I clearly asked you who Zoey was didn't I?Blair calls out to him...
"You think I Don't know she's your ex, so tell me if you two are ancient history then why the hell hasn't your tongues gotten the message. How did she set you up or rather who sat who up"She says sternly...
“Can I please come in?” he asked again, looking around the hallway.
She chewed her bottom lip. She didn’t want to see him, but she knew this needed to be done. They needed a conversation and shouting through the door wasn’t the best way to do that. Who knew what the neighbors would tell the reporters.
She undid the lock and opened the door. “You have five minutes,” she informed him. “Then you leave or I call the cops.”
“Thank you,” he said, stepping quickly inside.
She slammed the door behind him and crossed her arms. “Four minutes and thirty seconds,” she reminded him. His shoulders slumped.
“Here, I brought you these,” he said, holding out his hands. He had a bouquet of red roses and a large velvet box. She assumed there was some kind of jewelry inside, but she didn’t really care. She kept her arms crossed.
“Four minutes,” she said coldly.
He set the box and the flowers down on the counter and ran his hand through his hair. The soft blond hair stuck up at funny angles.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“You should have led with that.” She tapped her watch.
“I didn’t kiss her infacf I wouldn't kiss her if offered a million"he told her. Her heart squeezed a little, but she wasn’t about to let him know that. “It was a setup. I went out on the balcony to call you and she came to me. I had no idea she was attending the party, if I had knew then I wouldn't even be in attendance"He says...
He looked at her, his beautiful green eyes pleading for her to understand.
And she did understand. She just wasn’t ready to forgive him for this. The fact that he had kept this a secret hurt almost as much as him kissing someone else. It was still a betrayal.
“Look I'll believe you only if you're ready to answer my question. You owe me that and do not try to keep it a secret anymore"She says to him...
"Blair I can't! There's a reason nobody knows of the incident of three years ago and I would love it to stay that way"He says as his expression suddenly changed into one she couldn't recognize..
Her heart felt like it had been stabbed yet again and it hurt so bad. That was definitely not the answer she was expecting to hear from him but this was typical Zeke. "Fine keep your secrets, and I'll keep mine." she told him.
"I'll believe you" She says and she could see relief flooding his features and he took a step toward her, his arms outstretched. She moved away from him. “But I'll never trust you ever.”She says with such determination that made him stagger
“What?” A confused hurt filled his face that made her heart ache.
“You didn’t tell me about the kiss. You didn’t tell me who Zuri was to you when I asked! You didn't tell me who Zoey was to you when I asked. You took it upon yourself to stay with your secrets she says sternly with her voice going cold..
"Now I can't be 100% with a man who keeps his own secrets, let's keep on lying to herself. You see this web of destruction you've created make sure you stay on the path” Her voice felt cold. It hurt to talk after all the crying.
“Blair please stop sounding this way, of course I trust you. There are just some things I want no one to know about” he assured her.
“Emma, I trust you more than anyone.”He says gritting his teeth as he tried to convince her but Blair already had her walls drawn up.
“You have a strange way of showing it,” she remarked. Her chest felt like it was go ing to explode. She hated seeing him like this, but he had hurt her too badly. If she gave in and let this go, he would walk all over her for the rest of their relationship.
“I will do whatever the contract requires,” she informed him. “You don’t have to worry about that. I will smile for the cameras, tell them all that I forgive you and it was a simple mistake. I will hold your hand in public and tell everyone what an amazing father you are. I won’t reveal our contract or act out in spite. But I won’t ever trust you again.”
“What do you mean?” His voice caught at the end of the question, implying that he knew what she meant.
“As far as the public is concerned, we are a happy, loving couple.” Her voice shook on the word loving. “But we are done. I can’t trust you and you obviously don’t trust me. It’s not the kiss that did this. It was you.”
“Please don’t do this,” he begged. “Please. I care about you ”
“But you don't really love me or do you??” Anger flared again. “You tell me that now? You only say it when it gets you something or it's for the cameras. I'm not going to believe anything you say Zeke Armani”
"The public was right, you really are any asshole"She says with a disgusted look on her face.
“Blair am sorry, just believe me this once. I know have messed up but believe me there are reasons I avoided your questions,” he told her, his eyes shining.
She wanted to believe him. She wanted to have him wrap his arms around her and tell her that everything was fine now. She wanted him to kiss her and make her feel special again..
“Your time’s up,” she whispered. “You need to leave now.”
“Please. Please believe me.” His tone bordered on frantic and it tore at her heart. She held firm.
“Please leave, zeke,” she said, pointing to the door. “If you need me to do anything, have your secretary contact me. Or Diane. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
She walked over and opened the door to the apartment, holding it open for him to leave.
He stood in her kitchen for a moment, completely lost.
“What can I do?” he asked. “What can I do to fix this? What do I need to say?”
Blair looked up at him, hardening her heart. “That was something you should have said but it's a little too late.”
He closed his eyes and nodded. His steps from the apartment were slow and measured, as if he were forcing himself to move and using every inch of his willpower to do it. He stepped out into the hallway.
“I’m sorry.”
"Zeke if only you are ready to come clean and give me answers to my question, only then will I listen to you. But you're so adamant to keep your secrets so to hell with you"she says and with that she shut the door right in his face..
She closed the door and walked away.