“Oh, shit! Are you blind?!”
Payton cussed through the loud noise from the speaker as she glanced down at her white shirt that was now stained with red wine and then raised her head to look at the man who had bumped into her.
He definitely was not paying attention to where he was going. His head buried in his phone was proof on its own.
“I… I am sorry. I was not looking,” he smacked his tongue and glanced at the screen of his phone again.
“You definitely were not looking,” Payton hissed as she threw the man a cold stare.
She does not know what was making her more angry tonight. The man not looking exactly sorry as his eyes were still on his phone, or her step sister… hosting a birthday party for her fiancé.
When the man did not say anything anymore and only looked around like he was looking for someone while he took quick glances at his phone, she hissed and pushed past him.
As she arrived at the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror, the words her stepsister Ava had said to her flashed through her head again and she grunted.
“It’s not that deep. I just thought it was nice that I did this for him.”
She was at work when Max had called her to come to the club and she had come hurriedly hoping it was just a ‘us’ time.
What she was not expecting was meeting Ava and a few of Max’s friends here.
She had really not paid attention to it, but knowing the kind of person her sister was. It did not really sit well with her that Ava had hosted her fiancé’s birthday bash without telling her first.
She had excused herself from the party to get air when her fiancé was too busy partying with his friend than sparing her a glance.
She did not doubt that he would be knocked out by the time she returned there. He was a light drinker, and still, he would not stop taking the mixed alcohol that his friends were handing over to him.
Payton began to clean her shirt which was awfully stained and then shook her head at it again.
This stain might actually never leave again.
~~~
She made her way to the gathering where the party was being held and then creased her brows when she arrived there and met no one but Ava and two other guys.
“Where is Max?” She looked around as she moved over to Ava.
“Ah, Max? He left.”
“What?”
“He blacked out so his friends said they were going to help him home,” she answered with a smile.
Payton sighed and nodded her head. She knew she had nothing left to do there, so she just moved over to the side she was sitting before and prepared to pick up her bag.
“I should get goi-”
“Come on, don’t tell me you’re leaving too!” Ava stood up and hurried to Payton.
She collected the bag from her and pushed her gently back to the chair.
Leave?
The real party had not even started yet!
Ava twitched her lips upward rather menacingly.
“I should get going. I need to get out of this shirt,” she frowned distastefully as she glanced down at her shirt again.
The thought that she just got it and was just wearing it for the first time annoyed her more.
“Have a drink with me, come on. Are you still mad at me?” Ava pouted and leaned to the table to pick a glass of drink and carried a bottle of wine.
“I’m fine, Ava. I need to leave,” Payton protested and tried to stand up again.
“Tch,” Ava smacked her tongue and gently pushed Payton back to her seat again.
“Don’t be stubborn. Have a drink with me. Then, I’ll believe that you are not mad at me anymore.”
Payton groaned and then leaned her back against the chair.
A glass of drink wouldn’t hurt, anyway.
“Just one glass.”
“Just one glass,” Ava repeated with a smile.
Payton glanced at the two men who sat side by side, discussing gently among each other before she turned to collect the glass of wine from Ava.
“They are my friends,” as if she could read Payton’s mind, she said and Payton nodded her head.
Ava picked up her drink, settled on the chair beside Payton, and then turned to look at her step-sister who gulped down her drink in a go.
“I’m done,” Payton said and dropped the glass.
“Goodness, Payton, take it easy,” Ava dropped her drink and then prepared to pour Payton another drink.
“Just one glass, remember Ava?” Payton squinted her brows.
“That is not classified as a glass, Payton. Who gulps down wine like a shot?” Ava hissed and handed another glass to her.
“Ava.”
“Drink this while you savor the taste,” Ava winked at her.
“Last one,” Payton frowned.
“Last one… only if you did not gulp it at a go again.”
As Payton sipped the wine gently, a knowing smile tugged on Ava’s lips gently and she twitched her mouth upward.
~~~
“It’s kicking in,” Ava squealed in excitement as she stared at Payton who tilted her head backward and she leaned closer to her to collect the empty glass of wine.
“Told ya that was a strong narcotic!” One of the two men burst into laughter and Ava clapped her hands in excitement.
“What do we do next?” The other guy asked.
“Can we get started already? I thought she needed to pass out first,” she raised a brow.
“No, we can carry on now. She’s not going to remember a dime when she wakes up tomorrow,” the first guy assured.
Ava intertwined her fingers and then stood from where she sat.
Happiness fully written on her face, she turned to face the guys again.
“Is that guy ready too?” she asked too.
“I've just confirmed that a drunken man has been kept in the room, so we just have to take her there,” he answered.
“This is going to work, right?” Ava breathed out nervously.
“Of course! You would be surprised by the outcome!”
“I got the room number!” the other guy said as he stared at his phone.
Ava pressed her lips together as she stared down at Payton who muttered incoherently and then chuckled darkly.
“I'm sorry, but not sorry, sister.”
===
As one of the men entered the room with Payton thrown over his arm, the other followed suit and instantly began to set up the hidden camera they had planned.
They had been hired by Ava to get the narcotic that was spiked in Payton’s drink and then place her in the room where they had readied a drunk man.
The man who carried Payton stared at the man who sat on a chair in the corner of the room, obviously drunk, and then dropped Payton on the bed.
Afterward, he moved over to the man, helped him up, and then moved him over to the bed too.
“I'm done,” the man setting up the camera said.
“Me too,” the other man said with a grin and then moved back.
“It's going to work, yeah?” he asked and then the other man nodded his head.
As they moved out of the room, turning to take a final glance at the people in the room, their eyes widened as they saw the man grab Payton and then crash his lips down on hers.
The harsh rays of sun that glimmered through the window made Payton squint her brows and then roll on her stomach.Her head banged so terribly that she felt like it was going to come off from her neck.Groaning and moaning gently, her phone rang, giving a loud sound and she hissed again.She stretched her hand and dropped it on the bed beside her to search for the phone that was usually beside her on the bed.However, it did not take long before she realized that she was not touching the bed… but a skin and that that was not her phone’s ringing tone.Hold on… her hand was on a skin. A person’s body………“Dariel.”When the sound finally stopped and the voice of the raspy man came up, Payton snapped her eyes open and then sat up.Realizing that she was stark naked, she laid in the bed back and pulled the cover on her body before she let out a scream.King let out a grunt as he did not get what Dariel had just said. The woman’s sudden scream would not let him.Waking up, naked with a w
Payton felt her legs weaken as she watched the video and she fell to the ground instantly.Her eyes dilated and she dropped her phone.She was trending with this unknown man on the internet. Their obscene videos were on the internet.“You are a disgraceful woman…”Max’s voice rang in her ear and tears dropped from her eyes.She had no idea what was going on and she could swear that she had not gotten into this man's bed on her own.The bell rang and she watched the man move over to the door.She didn’t know who he was talking to, but when he returned to the room, he walked past her and headed to the bathroom again.“There is another bathroom over there. Use it, and get your clothes on. We’re leaving here. The paparazzi is here.”That was all she heard before she heard the loud bang of the door.She did not see his face, but she could feel the anger that was oozing from his voice.It was definitely not a coincidence that this man and she had a bit of a clash the previous night and had
CHAPTER 4. KING THORN.“Why did you do that?!” Payton shouted the moment she settled in the back seat with the man whose name she still did not know yet.King.King?Those reporters called him that!His name was King!King, my ass.She hissed.“It’s you,” she turned around as she heard King say to the driver.“Man, I had to come out here myself,” the other man said.“How did it…” he stopped talking as his eyes landed on the woman beside her King.Instead, he ignited the engine and then drove away.“Where do we go?” He asked.“Where do you stay?” King turned to ask Payton.“Why?“Where?”Payton turned her head to look out of the mirror and then closed her eyes as she heard her phone ring from her bag.“If you think it would be okay to go home alone, then, talk so that he would stop the car. You probably don’t know the amount of people that have your face imprinted in their memory already,” he said, not sparing her a glance.Payton spaced out for a while, wondering
===In the car, before King showed up at Payton’s house.===“Stop the car, Dariel,” King gave off a loud hiss and slapped his forehead.“What’s going on?” Dariel asked as he looked around for a perfect spot to park the car.After a while, he pulled the car, and King came out from the back where he sat.Moving over to the front beside Dariel, he hissed again and turned the iPad in his hand to him.“What is this?” Dariel asked as he stared at the screen.“These idiots are coming up with things that I’ve not even done before. Why am I being termed as a womanizer?” King frowned.Dariel parted his lips as he browsed through the tons of podcasts that were being aired and he shook his head.“What the fuck?” Dariel burst out in laughter as he saw the clearly edited picture of King coming out of the hotel with another woman.“Is this a comedy show?” King snapped his brows together as he stared at Dariel.“Your head is edited on another person’s body. Damn, lies are spreading already,” Dariel
“Yes, Payton Vass. You will marry me.”Payton did not know what was more surprising. This man showing up at her house… or knowing her name.She was sure she did not tell him that.Seeing the expression on her father’s face, she shifted uncomfortably and moved over to Max who had a betrayed look on his face.“Max…” she called him in a whisper as tears dropped from her eyes.“Mr. Thorn,” came her father’s voice.“Hi, Mr. Vass.”“You all must have seen the video and must have been disturbed by it…” he said as his face dropped on Payton who was torn between pleading with her boyfriend or rushing over to him.“I… we were not expecting you.”Payton frowned as her father fidgeted in front of the man and she moved over to him instantly.“Dad, you can’t welcome him in. He did this to me!” She hollered.No one answered her, instead, King kept his eyes pinned on Will, Payton's father.“How may I help you?”“I am sure you heard me. You saw the news. You know what is going on, and I am going to ma
“Our mess?” Payton scoffed and moved over to the man who didn’t move one bit.“Our mess! And… pay for it? You are so crazy. Trust me. Damn you if you think I plan on getting married to a person like you. You disgust me!” She snapped.King’s face clouded in anger. He had been trying to keep it in. He wanted to, really.He believed that there was still a lot of time to find out who had sent the woman to do what she had done to him.No way he would believe her facade and trust that she had no idea how they had gotten into this situation also.He covered the space between them, “It was you who put us in this mess, Payton, and you will do as I've told you!” his eyes blazed in anger as he grabbed her arm.“It was you who did this to me! You better get us out of this mess!” she snapped back as she yanked her arm away.“Then we are going to get married. You think I want to marry you too?” He let out a mocking smile and shook his head.King dipped his hand in his pocket, removed his card, and
“Did you check the hotel?” King asked Dariel over the phone as he pulled the car to a stop.“Yes, there is no camera.”“Are you sure? I am certain something is there.”“Maybe someone got there first? I checked the angle you described. And… your drink…”“Yeah. Did you take it for a test also?”“The room has been cleaned so there is nothing there. I checked with the staff and they had already poured it away.”King twitched his lips upward and nodded his head. “Okay.”“Where are you?” Dariel asked.“I’m at Sasha’s.”“You are going to see her? At a time like this?!” King imagined the frown that must have gathered on Dariel’s face and shook his head.“Still, I gotta see her. I will talk to you later.”“Sure. Be careful to evade the reporters.”===“How dare you show your face here?!” King stopped abruptly as the pillow flew in his direction.He exhaled and stared at the woman who sat on her bed, crying profusely, and then looked around the room that was scattered.As he slowly walked to
“A bigger smile, please!” Payton exhaled gently as the photographer said and she breathed in again.She raised her head, clenched her teeth together, and widened her fake smile.It must have been evident.She thought.That this marriage was just of convenience and nothing more, because right now, without being told, she knew that she had the fakest smile ever.“Can the bride's father and mother move closer to the bride?”He demanded again.“Jesus, can we just get this done with?!” She burst out unconsciously and then swallowed hard.She dared to not let it show.Why was she letting her emotions get the best out of her?“Ohhhh, I see that the bride can’t wait to walk down the aisle,” he joked and Payton forced a smile again.After a while of taking pictures in different styles with her family, they moved away from her while she sat ‘pretty’ on the chair, a bouquet held tightly in her hands“Sister!” Came the loud pitched voice from Ava who rushed to her and then pulled her in a quick