The Virgin Duet(27)
“Thank you.”
“I’m sorry, I should’ve told you Chelsea was coming but I forgot that too. You seem to distract me.”
With that, she gives me a small smile, and I feel some of the ice between us chip away.
“Please don’t be upset with me. I can’t stand the thought of hurting you.”
She touches my cheek and gives me a little nod, telling me she’s okay. She might not be over it completely, but I can sense she’s trying to forgive me.
I look at Rebecca and I can’t help but hate the way she’s dressed up. She doesn’t look like my Tink. She’s wearing too much makeup, and her hair is all wrong. She took out the colors I love so much and I miss them already. Her clothes are too formal and the heels look uncomfortable on her little feet. I want to take them off and rub her toes. My chest gets tight and I can’t get over the weird feeling inside me right now.
I take a deep breath and realize my anxiety is back. I go through my mental checklist and realize it’s because I’m taking Rebecca into the snake pit tonight. There will be so many people who will judge her, and I’m a nervous ball of energy. I never want her around some of these people and I’ve tried to protect her as long as possible. I’ve avoided taking her out in public to keep her out of the press. There’s always some paparazzi stalking me, trying to get the next big scoop, so I’ve hidden her to try to keep that part of my life away from her. It’s not that I haven’t wanted her out in the world with me, it’s just that I want to shelter her from everything bad in my life, including these *s with more money than decency at this function tonight. These snobs love to gossip and I don’t like giving them a new subject. My Tinkerbell is more precious to me than that.
After a moment of holding her hands and looking into her eyes, I notice Chelsea has stopped talking. I glance over to see she’s playing Candy Crush on her phone, so she must have realized no one was listening. I look back at my Tink, and she reaches out to touch my face again. I lean into her hand, absorbing the comfort she’s offering and my anxiety slows a little. I’m not ready to do this, but knowing that I can keep her by my side and as protected as possible assures me I’ll be able to get through this without incident.
A few minutes later Hank is pulling the limo up to the front of the venue and the valet opens our door. I step out first and offer a hand to Chelsea, helping her out of the car. Once she’s on her feet, I reach in to help Rebecca out and turn just in time to see her snag her heel on her dress.
“Oh, shit.”
I grab her just in time, so she doesn’t face plant on the concrete, but not before her knee hits the curb.
“Fuck!” she shouts and it echoes around the entrance of the museum. I look up to see a group of people have stopped and turned to stare, whispering to each other as Rebecca tries to untangle her feet from her dress. I see flashes out of the corner of my eye and realize a group of photographers are taking pictures of the incident. Anger floods my body and I start to shake. How dare they look at her like she’s an accident on the highway.
I turn my attention back to my little fairy and try to help her up. Chelsea is there just as fast as I am and is gets Rebecca’s dress untangled.
“There we go,” Chelsea says, and helps Rebecca to her feet.
“Let’s get you inside,” I clip, and put Rebecca’s arm around mine to help her steady herself as we walk in.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, and I hear the shame in her voice.
“Don’t be sorry, accidents happen,” I say, and I can still feel my anger moving through me. I want to erase that moment from the memories of everyone who saw it, and I want to delete every picture taken that I know will be all over the internet before the night is over. No one deserves to lay eyes on my beautiful fairy. They don’t deserve to see her vulnerable and needing help. I try to breathe, relax, and hope that tonight goes well and as few people as possible saw it.
“It’s totally fine, Becs. One time I tucked my dress into my Spanx and spent three hours talking to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom before someone told me. You’ll live,” Chelsea says, and gives her other hand a little squeeze.
After about an hour of walking around the huge ballroom and mingling with as few people as possible, I feel Rebecca relax a little. I haven’t let her leave my side and I hold her hand and wrist close to me. Whenever I feel my anxiety peaking, I rub the bracelet on her arm and remind myself of who she truly is. She isn’t this made-up doll on my arm, she’s my Tinkerbell. My stolen fairy I’ve captured, and I won’t ever let her go.
“Well, well, this must be the foul-mouthed child Bray brought along tonight.”
I feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up and I clench my jaw. I turn around to see my former partner Charles and his wife Dedra sneering at Rebecca.
Charles was my partner when I first started in business, but then he met Dedra and our partnership dissolved. I ended up buying him out and he went to start his own investment company. Dedra is the reason we don’t work together anymore, and she’s also the one trying to make Rebecca look bad. Dedra is the type of woman who loves gossip, stirs the pot any chance she gets, and is overall a terrible human being. If my partner is willing to bed and marry someone like that, I can no longer trust his judgement.