Blasphemous (Torn #3)(40)
I felt for her. I could only imagine the crap she went through, but never fully understood the entire capacity of how hard it truly was because a woman wouldn’t and couldn’t comprehend the situation unless one had gone through the same ordeal.
“I started coming here after Greece. It was right after I met this kind priest while I was out jogging in the morning, staring at the sunrise, crying, but I didn’t realize I was until he handed me a handkerchief.” She paused, still not breaking contact with the newborns. “I was that empty inside that crying became second nature to me, but I think, that morning I was crying for everything I had lost—Tristan, the baby, my wasted love on Harry and Taylor.
“I barely exchanged words with him that morning, but after he left, I felt like something had lifted off me, like as if his words helped me come to terms with my past.” Trista started to move again towards the elevator and took us to another floor. “The next day, I found myself in this very spot. It was my way of healing, I guess.” She glanced at me, dewy-eyed, but with a real smile on her face. “The past can’t be unchanged. Your life might seem useless to you right now, but others are fighting to keep theirs. So, I thought, why not help each other and try to keep both?”
That was when I understood what she was talking about. The Children’s Cancer Ward. “Come on, I believe they are in need of volunteers to read and spend time with the kids.”
An hour and half later, I felt lighthearted. I left the hospital with a smile on my face.
Forward, I was finally in the present.
Chapter 16
A week later…
“There are some things you’ll never get over, but if you use all of your strength, there’s nothing that you can’t get through.”
- Sonya Parker
Emma
“Excuse me?” I looked at my agent, Barbara, to repeat what she just told me.
“I pulled some strings and got you a spread for GQ Magazine. The shoot will be on Monday at ten in the morning at a house in Pacific Palisades. Will that do?” she said as she took a bite of her seared, spicy Tuna.
Hell, that’s a major mag. My brain was suffused with all kinds of thoughts, trying to digest the news. “I’m guessing it’s going to be a risqué shoot then?”
Barbara paused and eyed me for a second, possibly thinking how stupid I was because I should know what the magazine was known for—hot women and hotter than hot poses. “Sweetie, it’s GQ. It makes sense when you’re going to be debuting yourself in such a provocative movie. Besides, people are curious to get to know you. There’ll be an article along with it, so it’s a fantastic opportunity.”
I wasn’t sure if I was good enough to pose for them, but if Barbara thought it was a great idea, then I would pursue this opportunity. “Yeah, you’re right. Monday sounds perfect.”
“Excellent!” Barbara exclaimed, smiling as she took hold of her phone and started an email.
I had a week to figure out how to do sultry looks without looking like a hardcore wannabe.
E
“How do you think that went?” I eyed Carter since he looked weird, a pained expression on his face. The snacks that the staff gave him left untouched.
The man barely glanced at me before whispering, “Good.”
“Good? That’s it? No, ‘you could work on your hair flipping or sultry looks’?”
He pulled me close to him and whispered against my ear, “I’m hard, Emma. That’s why I’m sitting down. That should tell you how it went.”
Bingo. I forgot how Carter loved lingerie—on and off me—and how he would make me do a little striptease while he watched. How in the world had I forgotten about that? Bass on the other hand, liked to rip my clothes off. Bass just loved to consume me without warning.
“Oh. Ouch.” I pouted at my blue-balled ex. “You did persist to come here, so that’s what you get. Why don’t you go to the bathroom to, um… take care of it?”
“Are you offering to help out?” Those dark eyes were playful, but I knew he’d hoist me over his shoulder if I told him that he could.
“Pft! Dude, work on your lines, maybe I might just consider it the next time you ask,” I said sweetly, shutting him down with a smile.
He groaned like a baby. “You’re not helping.”
Giving him an eye roll, I waved him a goodbye. “Not my problem, Mason. Now, I’m off to change again. A couple more, then it’ll be over.”
Almost an hour later, I came out of the room, pulling the sides of the tiny squares of my black mesh bra, unsure about this last piece of outfit. “I can clearly see my nipples.”
Tanya, the stylist, simply brushed me off with an amused smile. “You’ll be posing without exposing them. A hand or a strand of your hair will cover it, unless, you request it, but I think you’re contract stated that those aren’t allowed, so we have to keep it sexy with a borderline of tame, but pushing that limit.”
Cool. That was nice of Barbara to look out for me. “Thanks, Tanya,” I said as I gave my chests another quick glance.
“When you’re ready, we’ll need you in the living room, Emma,” someone said somewhere before leaving in haste.
“Okay, thank you,” I called out, breathing a few times before I strutted out in my six-inch gladiator heels and black, mesh, Brazilian-cut underwear with matching mesh bralette-top.