"Now get out of here; I have canceled all your meetings for the next two days so bring her home so we can all get back to business as usual."
"Things will never be the same, Bianca. I am going to want to spend more time with Em and less time working."
"Good thing I'm getting a raise then." She smiles, and I grab my jacket and leave, riding the elevator down to the car park. When I jump into my car, I check the address."Why do you have to be so far away, Em? I'm coming for you and won't take no for an answer."
CHAPTER 8
Emily
It's beenfive days of hell. I believed Alex when he told me that once he had me, I was going to be his, but I didn't realize he was going to pay me for sex. I know he can be standoffish with people, but I didn't get that feeling from him at all. I really thought we were going to make it as a team. Oh, how wrong I was. Mom was awake when I arrived, and she made me a hot cocoa. She listened to me complaining about men and that maybe I should be celibate. I slept in her bed with her that night, and she told me I was crying the whole night long.
I've had time to think about it now, and I should have known better. I could see how Alex reacted when the other men talked to me; he's jealous, he's alpha, and he always gets what he wants. He didn't want me to be with anyone else, but he wanted to use me for himself. I can do better than that, but why does my heart hurt so much?
After the first two days of wallowing in my own self-pity, I looked through the camera to see what the photos looked like. I was shocked by what I saw. There were intimate pictures of me andAlex against the glass. The thing that shocked me was my face. I was in pure ecstasy, and we looked perfect together.
My mom has a barn, and I set up a small workshop out there when I lived at home, so I went into town on the third day and bought easels, canvases, paints, and I have been holed up out here ever since. I have so many pictures that I've painted. Some are of the spectacular view from the roof, some are of the view from his office at night when the sky is completely black, and the lights are on in the city beneath us. There are pictures of me and Alex together. I'll probably burn them as part of my therapy, or I might even send one to him so that he can see what he's missing out on.
"Emily, you need to come and eat, you've been in there for three days. Please, I'm worried about you." Mom shouts from the barn door. She hasn't been in my little studio, but I can hear her walking ever closer. She steps inside. "Oh Em," she says with her hands over her mouth. "These are beautiful. You are so talented, but I can see how tortured you are painting the ones of the two of you together."
I turn to her, and she has her arms out for me to step into them. "Come and have dinner; we need to talk about what is going to happen and whether you are staying or going back to the city."
She guides me to the house, and dinner is waiting for me on the table. I love the comfort of being with mom but know that I need to go back to the city and rebuild my life.
Dinner is quiet, but it's not a painful silence. "Mom, thanks, I need to go back to the city. I need to work out what I am going to do going forward. I was happy not knowing and just taking each moment at a time. I sold a lot of paintings that night, so I have the money to keep me going for months now."
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?"
"Yeah. He was only in my life for a few hours, so it's not like he was the love of my life or anything." I laugh. It felt like he was the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with, but I'm not going to tell her that.
"I'll wrap up my paintings, and I might get them shipped to me in New York. I won't be selling them, but I will send him the one of the city he wanted. I don't want anything from him after that."
"Okay, if you are sure. Then go to bed, and you can pack up in the morning."
"Good idea." I climb the stairs into my old room and hug my teddy bear that I had when I lived at home. It doesn't take long for sleep to take me away.
The next morning, day six, I go out to the barn and put the paintings into boxes so that mom can ship them to me when I'm ready. I walk back to the house and then see that mom is in the car waiting for me. "Come on Em, you don't want to miss the train."
I jog to the car and jump in the front. "Thanks, mom. I'll be home again soon, and I won't be so miserable. I promise."
"You are welcome here anytime."
She drives me to the station, and I jump out and grab my bag with my camera and tripod. I didn't have time to pack to come down here, so I didn't have anything else with me.
"See you soon, mom." I hug her and walk toward the platform.
Great, there's a delay.I move into the cafe on the platform, grab a coffee, and sit down, waiting for the train.
CHAPTER 9
Alexander
I've beenin the car for hours, and I can't wait to get there. I just hope she wants to see me. As I turn into the long driveway of her family home, I look around me. There are fields, a barn, and a house. There is no one at home when I knock on the door, so I take some time to walk over to the barn. The door is open, and I walk inside, calling her name. "Em, are you here?" No answer.
I find a door which opens into what looks like an artist's studio, and I see boxes leaning against the wall. I open one and pull out one of the canvases. It's the picture of the view from my window, and I gasp. It's spectacular, better than I could ever have thought.
Then I take another one out, it's the view from the roof when the sun was setting. It's beautiful. I take a third one, and that makes me stop. It's a painting of the two of us against the window in a very compromising position. It's unbelievably beautiful, sexy, and erotic. I look at her face and see the pure love that's there. How did she go from feeling like that one minute to hating me the next?
As I take out each painting, I hear a car pull up. Then I hear steps coming into the barn.
