The runway affair, p.15
The runway affair, page 15
“My love,” I whisper, kissing Addie’s forehead. Her eyes flutter open, and she tries to move, but I stop her. “You can stay here, baby. I need to run to the studio. I’ll be back in a little while.”
She mumbles that she loves me before snuggling with Remi.
Claire is very cryptic. All she could get out was getting to the studio, but she didn’t tell me what happened, crying and hyperventilating. I was scared to pull up to the scene, because I didn’t know what I’d be walking into.
When I pull up to the studio, red and blue lights dance down the street, and I see Claire sitting in an ambulance with a grey blanket on her shoulders, a medic cleaning a wound on her head. I run out of my car to her side.
“What happened? Are you okay?”
She winces at the medic but nods. “For the most part. I don’t remember what happened.”
I look at the medic with an arched brow.
The medic shakes his head. “Her head was slammed into the mirror you have in your studio.”
Claire shrugs. “I’m fine. It’s not that serious.”
I cross my arms across my chest. “If I didn’t know Addie, I’d say you are the most stubborn person I know. You have glass in your skull, Claire. Someone attacked you. You’re not fine.” She shrugs. “Take her to the hospital.”
Claire grumbles but agrees anyway. I ask her to call me when she’s discharged before I walk into my studio. Instantly, I see shattered glass and torn fabric, and I feel my heart drop, knowing that the material on the floor is from my fashion week collection.
Someone was angry, but I didn’t get a notification from the alarm company about a breach.
“Ma’am, you can’t be in here,” a young officer says to me. He must be new to the force, because everyone else knows me by name.
“I’m Scarlett Moreau. This is my studio. My assistant was the one attacked.”
His eyes grow wide with realization as he steps away as a different detective, one with kinder eyes and a less brooding attitude, walks towards me. “Mrs. Moreau, I’m Detective Blake. I believe you know my sister, Zoey?”
“Oh yes. Nice to meet you. Why do they have a homicide detective here?”
“Zoey asked me to investigate your case, so I figured it would be a good place to start. There was no forced entry into your studio. Someone deactivated the alarm system. Who all knows the alarm code?”
My mouth opens, but I snap my lips closed. The alarm code is the day me and Addie started dating the first time, back in middle school. To this day, I still don’t know why I chose it. I told Camilla it was my grandmother’s death date, and she never questioned it.
“The only people who knew were me and my assistant. My wife knew the code, but unless it’s her spirit, I don’t think she’d be behind this.”
“Any clients? Or people from magazines? Family friends?”
I shake my head. “The only two people who know the code are me and Claire. I don’t trust anyone beside her to be in my studio without me.”
“Do you know why she was here tonight?”
I shake my head. I haven’t heard from Claire since she went psycho on me, but she hasn’t texted me or showed up at my house. “I have no clue.”
“Do you have any enemies, Scarlett?”
I narrow my eyes on him. “If Zoey told you my story, or even if you looked at the news or read the paper, I have a lot of enemies or people who think I should be in jail for my wife’s murder.”
“I don’t see why that would be an issue to other people.”
I shrug. “Camilla was hot, successful, and I gave her my last name. She left a string of broken-hearted people behind when we got married. Our marriage was rocky, but I wouldn’t hurt her. We were working on our marriage to stay with our twins. Regardless of what people think, I didn’t kill her or pay someone to do it for me.”
“Any strange activity? My sister mentioned a note?”
I nod, pulling out my phone as well. “My girlfriend received flowers a week ago with a note: ‘what flowers will be on your grave?’ Then, she had an allergy scare at a bakery with another note that said, ‘Next time, you won’t survive.’ I received this picture. It’s very exposing, so don’t look too hard at my girlfriend. I know she’s hot.” I lift my phone and show him the picture. “I got that the night after she got the flowers. She got a few text messages she pushed off as a joke.”
“So how many women do you think it could be? It sounds like you broke someone's heart too.”
“I went through a rough patch before Camilla and I got married. I thought the woman I loved used me and never loved me, so I fucked a lot of women out of heartbreak. A lot of them were one-night stands, but I did sleep with my assistant and three of my close friends. We all agreed there were no feelings involved. They were all at my wedding. None of them showed any disdain towards me… wait.”
“What is it?”
“Uhm, Claire had a bad reaction when I told her me and Addie rekindled our relationship. I’ve never seen her that mad before. When I slept with her, it was a drunken mistake on both of our parts. Claire isn’t into women much; she just wanted to a quick screw. We hooked up, and she woke up in my bed, but we both agreed it was a mistake.”
“People change over the years. I’ll look into it and let you know what I find. If you get any more information, just let me know, okay?”
I nod, thanking him before I head back to my car. Addie texted me that she put the twins to bed in their rooms.
Addie’s been back in my life for almost a month, and it’s been the greatest month of my life. This woman really has my entire heart once again, and I wish I could go back in time and punch my father in the face for making us miss out on this wonderful life, but there’s no need to linger on the past when we have our future ahead of us.
34
ADDIE
I suck in my bottom lip, watching Scarlett pace around her bedroom, yelling at the person on the opposite end of the receiver. She’s on the phone with one of the coordinators for fashion week, trying to get an idea of what she needs to do since her work was destroyed. It’s close to midnight, and I can hear how tired she is, but I knew she isn’t going to rest until she has this handled. I’m not sure what she’ll be able to do, but I know she’ll figure it out.
She’s angry. The vein in her forehead is on the verge of rupturing, but boy oh boy, does she look hot as hell when she’s screaming. Right now may not be the best time to think about sex, but when she looks this good, it's impossible to control my body's reaction to her.
I lean back, arching my hips and dragging my thong down my legs before throwing the damp lace towards her. She looks at me with a cocked brow as the material lands on her shoulder. I spread my legs, giving her the perfect view of my drenched pussy, and her eyes dilate as she speaks to the other person on the line.
She looks at me, covering the mic of her phone. “Play with your pretty pussy and don’t come until I tell you to.”
I spread my legs wide, running my middle finger through my slick center, swirling my arousal up and down my pussy. I am dripping. Scarlett smirks as she watches me; she can see how wet she makes me, and I’m almost certain my arousal is dripping onto the sheets. My eyes stay locked with Scarlett as I thrust two fingers inside my wet cunt.
I moan—loudly. There’s no faking how turned on I am or how badly I wish my fingers were replaced with Scar’s wicked tongue. It’s hot and intense playing with myself while she’s on the phone. Am I being quiet enough? Does her phone pick up more background noise than it should? Can that person hear me?
I arch my back as a gasp falls from my lips. “Oh, God, Scar,” I cry out, quickly slamming my free hand over my mouth to silence myself before I actually expose us.
“I’m gonna call you back.” She hangs up and tosses her phone onto her dresser before walking to me. I want her mouth on me, more than I want the very air in my lungs. My fingers slow down, but she smacks my tee-shirt covered chest, hitting my tits. “Fuck your cunt while I watch.”
“Fuck.” I pick up my pace, gripping the bedding. I pull my wet fingers from my pussy and rub my clit, feeling shockwaves of pleasure shoot through my body. “Oh God.”
She lifts my tee shirt up, the material scrunching around my neck as she takes one of my nipples into her mouth, biting my sensitive bud. A low growl bubbles in my lungs as I squeeze my eyes shut, my orgasm wavering on the edge as Scarlett removes her mouth from my nipple, gripping my jaw firmly.
“Si Dieu pouvait vous voir maintenant, pensez-vous qu'il serait heureux de la pute dans le besoin que vous êtes avérée être.” Her thumb brushes my bottom lip. “If god could see you now do you think he’d be pleased at what a needy whore you turned out to be?”
God, fucking damnit.
“Scar, please.”
She wraps her fingers around my throat, her lips hovering over mine. “Be my good girl and make yourself come.” She slams her lips to mine, forcing her tongue into my mouth as I zealously massage my clit, feeling my orgasm crest. My legs shake, but she forces one of my thighs down with her knee, keeping me spread wide. As my orgasm assaults my body, she captures my scream between her lips as I ride out my pleasure.
She pulls away from me, grabbing my wrist gently and bringing my fingers to her mouth. Her tongue dances across my middle and ring finger as her eyes stay trained on mine, cleaning every crevice until my taste is gone. “You are beautiful when you come, Addie.”
“When my girlfriend is this hot and dominating, it’s impossible not to. I’ve never been this horny or turned on in my life.”
She smiles, kissing my cheek. “My face has been buried between your legs many times, and your cunt was dripping back then too, my love.”
“Back then, you didn’t call me a dirty whore or fuck me senseless. That was mediocre compared to our sex life now.”
I run my hands through her hair at the memories. We experimented and touched each other for months before deciding we wanted more. Virginity is a social construct, but she took mine. She was my first everything, and now, hopefully, she’ll be my last too.
I frown, dropping my head and touching my arm. “I’m sorry. I wish we didn’t have eight
years to make up for.”
“Hey,” she puts her hand under my chin and lifts my head back to meet her eyes, “none of that. Do you wanna take a bath together?”
“Sitting naked on your lap with soapy kisses? Yes please.” She pulls me up, and I run into the bathroom like a kid in a candy store.
I rip my tee shirt off, leaving me naked as I reach for the hem of her blouse, pulling it over her head. I move to the gold button of her black slacks, pulling them down her long legs before doing the same with her panties and kicking them to the side. It doesn’t matter how many times I see her naked; I will feel like I’m getting a reward every time.
Once the bathtub is filled with water and suds, she sinks down, and I follow behind her. I sit until the hot water swallows my sore muscles, my head resting gently on her chest as Scarlett runs her fingers softly up and down my arms.
I lift my head slightly, leaving small kisses on her neck before resting my head. “I really missed you,” I whisper against her throat. “I felt so alone all these years.”
“I missed you, Addie. There’s no amount of ‘I’m sorry’ can say to prove to you how sorry I really am for not being there when your dad died.”
I kiss her neck. “It was hard without you, but let's not linger. We keep going back, but there is nothing we can do. I have you now. We can’t fix what your father did, but we can build a better future for us. I love you and those kids so much.”
“And we love you. I’m scared, Addie. The flowers. The notes. Someone watching us have sex. My shop being vandalized, my work ruined out of spite. Someone can’t be this angry that I didn't go to jail, or this obsessed with me because I slept with them.”
“I don’t know, Scar, your head game is top notch,” I giggle. I lift my hand, wrapping it around her neck and pushing her into me. “They don’t know the real you. You may have changed your name, but you are still Scarlett Sumrall, the beautiful, compassionate woman I fell in love with. You cried when you hit a bunny because you didn’t see it.”
She sniffles dramatically. “That bunny had a family.”
“That’s why I know you didn’t kill your wife. Your heart is pure.”
She smiles softly, kissing my cheek, but I turn my head and capture her lips in a sweltering kiss. The kiss deepens, and our mouths battle for dominance as she pulls me into her lap. I rip my lips from hers, causing her to growl in frustration as I kick my legs over her lap and straddle her hips as she grabs my ass.
“Think we can scissor in the bathtub?” she smirks against my lips.
“In a normal bathtub? Hell no, but in this one? Maybe.”
She sinks lower, and I cover her pussy with mine, moving my hips in slow circles on top of hers. Scarlett grabs the back of my neck and pulls me forward, slamming her lips to mine as the water sloshes against the side of the bathtub. The position is a little awkward, but we are getting the job done.
My name falls from her lips as her head falls back. I use this opportunity to roll my hips faster, making the friction more intense. We’re both close, but it doesn’t come when we hear a sob at the door.
We both jump, and Scarlett covers my body as Remi stands at the door crying, gripping her teddy bear to her chest. Scar grabs a towel, wrapping it around her body as she rushes over to her daughter.
“What’s wrong, my love?”
She hiccups. “The bad man came back.” Her little body shakes from the sob that rip through her, and Scarlett pulls her to her chest and hugs her tight.
“My sweet girl, he won’t come back.”
“The bad man hurt Addie. I love Addie, Mommy. I don’t want her to go away like Mama did.” I reach for my own towel and step out of the bath, covering myself as I kneel down in front of them. I run my hands through her hair, and she looks up at me with teary eyes.
“I’m not going anywhere, kid. You and your mommy are stuck with me.”
She lets go of Scarlett and throws herself at me. “I love you, Addie.”
I press my lips together holding back my own tears as Scarlett looks at me with a soft smile on her lips. “I love you too, Remington.”
“Can I sleep with you?”
“Of course, kiddo.”
“Let Mommy and Addie get dressed, okay? Go sit in my bed. We’ll be there in just a second.” She nods as she walks out of the bathroom.
“I’m sorry.”
I pull her into my arms and kiss her cheek. “Don’t be sorry. Your babies come first. Now come on, Mama. Let's get dressed so we can all snuggle together.”
35
SCARLETT
Remi ended up having another nightmare after she fell asleep in Addie’s arms. Seeing Addie’s allergic reaction at the bakery triggered her. When Cami died, Remi was and still is plagued with nightmares of her mama’s body. I never should have screamed or let them come downstairs, but I was in shock.
We had our annual fundraiser gala for the children’s hospital, so I brought the twins with me, since Cami wanted to stay home. Last time I left the twins alone with her, Rhyder almost drowned in the bathtub, so I refused to put my son in danger again, even if she was his mother. When we got home, it was around eleven, and the twins were knocked out. Once I put them upstairs, I went to look for Cami. I thought she would be drunk in the den, but she wasn’t there. When I walked into the kitchen, I screamed, falling to my knees at her side. There was nothing I could do to save her. She was dead, the spark in her eyes gone.
The twins came downstairs, but I couldn’t process anything until Remi screamed for her mama. I grabbed them, shielding their faces, but the damage was already done. In Paris, I had her talk with someone who specializes in childhood trauma and PTSD, but the damage is irreversible.
I wake up Remi and take her downstairs. She clings to me like someone is trying to take her from me as I walk us into the kitchen and set her down on the counter. “Remington, you remember Miss Louise from Paris and what she said about talking about your nightmares?” She nods slowly, her lip trembling slightly. “I need you to tell me what you saw, my little love.”
Her big doe eyes filled with tears. “I saw Addie, Mommy. She was like Mama on the floor. She was hurt, and the monster came back. He hurt you. You left us like Mama did.” Her lip wobbles more as her little body shakes with sobs. “I don’t want you to leave me, Mommy.”
I pull her back into my arms, pressing her face into my neck. Hearing her sobs break my heart. I need to get her back into therapy.
“I’m not leaving you, Remi, and neither is Addie. We both love you so much.”
“I love you,” she whispers against my throat as her tears soak into my skin.
“How about we cook breakfast for Addie and your brother?” Her face lights up, and we get to work.
Thirty minutes later, the smell of bacon and pancakes fills the air, and not long after, Rhyder runs downstairs to grab a piece of bacon and does a happy dance.
Not long after breakfast is done, Addie joins us, her hair a disheveled mess and her t-shirt hanging off one shoulder. She always looks so beautiful when she just wakes up, sleep still in her eyes. I extend my arm, and she takes my hand as I pull her into me and lightly kiss her lips.
She doesn’t react at first until she realizes the twins are right there. She pushes away slightly, but I have a firm grip on her. “Remi. Rhyder. How do you feel about Addie being a part of our family?”
“She is?” Rhyder questions.
“Not as your nanny. Mommy loves Addie, like how I love Mama.”
“Is that why you take baths together? And have mommy and mama time?” Remi asks, and I see Addie's face turn five shades darker.
I refuse to shelter my children. The first chance I got, I taught them the proper name for
