EVELYN, NOW fully dressed, folded her arms and fixed an intense gaze on Jason who was wincing and massaging his forehead with an ice bag.
She'd been so startled and enraged at the same time that she'd bashed his head with a bedside flower vase the moment she realise he was the one in bed with her. Luckily for him, no serious physical damage was done. Just a swollen forehead and probably a concussion. Jason banged the ice bag on the coffee table. The coffee table was the only bridge between the both of them, separating them from murdering each other. He shoots his piercing glare at her. She was almost taken aback by the anger in his eyes. She could practically feel the heat of that laser beam gaze burning a hole through her forehead and was surprised that there was no smell of smoke or a scorch mark on the wall behind her. Wait a damn minute. He shouldn't be the one angry here. She should. He was the one who had violated her. And now he's mad? What for? Okay, so maybe she went a little far bashing his head with the vase but considering everything he's done, he deserved every single bit of it and more. She wasn't about to be intimidated by him. With her fingers clenched in her palms, she slammed her fisted hands on the table, making him flinch a bit. "You perverted swine!" She spat out fuming. "How dare you lay your filthy hands on me? Oh! Now it makes sense. Every single rumor about you. You old sexual abuser!" Now, he was taken aback way more visibly than earlier when she'd hit the tabletop. No one has probably ever said such things to him before. Evelyn was filled with satisfaction. He has no clue what he's gotten himself into. She intended to blow this out of proportion. "Old. Sexual. Abuser?!" He repeated, emphasizing each word. "Have you lost your mind? I had no idea what happened yesterday. I was under the influence of alcohol." "Oh really? If your loved one was murdered and the murderer said he was ‘under the influence of alcohol’, would you let it slide?" "This is a different matter..." "What's so different about it? What if you had killed me last night? Huh? Well, coming to think of it, no one would have the slightest clue about it. Ain't you Lyndon's so perfect at covering your dirty tracks?" His eyebrows squeezed closer together but his gaze focused laser-sharp on her face. What exactly is wrong with this lady? "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" He growled. Her reply was a little tilt of her chin, scowling down at him from under her nose. "And if I'm not mistaken, you were wasted as much as I was last night. So, this isn't entirely my fault." Evelyn was about to counter that when the hotel room door flew open and good looking guy walked in. He was dressed rather formally and carried a briefcase in one hand. He looked exactly like the guy Jason had drunk with last night. Jason gave a low shuddering sigh, looking at his friend with relieved filled eyes. "Thank God you're here." Then he flashed a look of contempt at Evelyn. "This lady is driving me crazy." He'd called Brad earlier to redeem him from the mess he'd gotten himself into. What other time would you need a friend who happens to be a lawyer if not now? Brad was good at getting him out of a lot of trouble that he's lost count. He was certain he'd get him out of this one too. Brad smiled at him, then at Evelyn. "Good Morning. Brad Bruce." He said stretching forth his right hand. Evelyn took it without hesitation. He looked more like a decent person compared to his friend. Besides, he had the most charming smile. One that could create sweet havoc on any woman's stomach. "Evelyn Rodriguez." She said returning his smile. Brad sat beside his friend, right in front of Evelyn, and placed his briefcase on the coffee table. "First off, I sincerely apologize on behalf of my friend..." "Why are you apologizing to her?!" Jason snapped at him. "I'm the one with a swollen head here." Brad jabbed his elbow into his ribs. "...I think we all should come to an agreement and settle this matter." "Settle?! There's no way I'm settling this matter!" Both of them yelled in unison. "See?" Evelyn said to Brad. "We both want the same thing." Brad shot Jason a warning look and then looked up to the ceiling taking a long-suffering breath. He reached for his briefcase and pulled out a laptop and a flash drive. "There are no CCTV cameras in the hotel rooms." He fixed the flash drive into the laptop and played the video. "So I requested for the CCTV footage of the hallway leading up to your hotel room." Evelyn stood and joined them at their sofa as they watch the video together. The video showed a drunk Jason and his driver dragging a wasted Evelyn, one of her arms over each of their shoulders, towards the hotel room door. She looked lifeless as her feet slacked behind them. The video ended when the three of them got into the hotel room. Evelyn scoffed and went back to her seat so she can face the both of them. "Well, on the contrary to what you said earlier, Mr. Lyndon. It is entirely your fault." She said with a wave of her hand. "Everyone is gonna side with me. You dragged a drunk woman with your henchman to your hotel room and took advantage of her. Anyone that sees this video will agree with me." Jason exhaled, robbing his forefinger and middle finger, in a slow circular motion on his temple trying to calm his throbbing veins. "So what is it that you want?" He said sluggishly, drained of energy. "Money? I can give you any amount just name your price" He wanted this over with. The quicker the possible. After this ordeal, he was never gonna call for a fling ever again at least not when he was drunk. In fact, he was going to delete every single female gender from his contact list. Evelyn was about to give him a snide remark, lecturing him on how everything wasn't about his money when the chime of her phone distracted her. It was a message from Doris. Goodness! Doris! She'd left her staggering towards the exit all by herself. She'd forgotten about her friend. She tapped the message.Evyyy! You're such an evil friend. I can't believe you left me all by myself at the bar yesterday. Now I'm at the hospital with a broken leg.
She ended the message with crying emojis.
Evelyn stood up abruptly, tapping out a hasty reply.Send me your location, ASAP. I'll be there shortly.
She looked up at both men who were staring at her confused. "I have got to get to an important appointment." Then she looked directly at Jason. "About what I want? We would talk about that later. This conversation is far from over."
She walked towards the door, stopping midway, then she turn and walk back towards them. "Before I forget," she stooped, pulling the flash drive out of the laptop, and with a grim look, she waved it at them. "I'd be needing this for... y'know... evidence." Evelyn could hear the muffled argument between Jason and his friend as walked away. She wasn't bothered about them right now, she was more concerned about her friend. Besides, she needed time to think carefully about what she actually needed from that Perv. Something she needed to strike him hard where it would hurt. Somewhere it would take years to recover from. She wanted him to feel the pains, every single bit of it, she's been feeling all these years since her only sister was taken away from her. "Are you seriously gonna let her walk away?!" Jason grimaced at his friend. "Without any agreement?!" "Just let her go," Brad replied dismissively. "Let her go?! She has the CCTV footage which is if you didn't notice, very incriminating. And we should just let her go? What if she does something stupid with it? I already have enough on my plate to deal with it." "So do I!" Brad snapped back. Then took a deep breath. "Look, I assessed her the moment I stepped in. She seems logical and well aware of the consequences of any rash decision. That's why she wants to think about it." He placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and added in a calmer tone. "I'm certain she's not going to do anything stupid. Give it time, she'll be back for sure." Jason looked at the sincerity in Brad's eyes and relaxed for the first time since that morning. There was no one he knew that was as smart as Brad. And there was no one he trusted as much as he trusted him. If he said it's going to be alright, then it will. He stared at Brad in silence who was gloomily packing his briefcase. "Is everything alright? How did the family emergency go?" Brad exhaled grimly. "Nora had another seizure last night." Nora was Brad's three-year-old Epileptic daughter whose mother had walked out of both her and her dad's life a year ago. Apart from his parents' ridiculous relationship, Brad's relationship with his ex-wife had destroyed what little faith he had in love or commitment to any sort of relationship. Jason changed to an upright sitting position. "What? No! She hasn't had any seizures for a quite while now." Jason cried worriedly. "Is she okay?." "Yeah. She's okay right now. Luckily, her nanny was there with her last night." Brad said forcing a smile but in an instant, his countenance changed back to gloomy at the thought of what he had to face. "I'm more distressed by the lady I hit with my car hurrying back home last night." He stood up lifted his briefcase off the table and walked towards the door. "I've got to go see her and pay for her hospital bills too. We'll talk about your girl issues later." Girls! Jason shook his head as he walked toward the refrigerator for some fresh ice for his swollen forehead. He was so going to give himself a break from them all.AFTER SPEAKING to the Doctor, Evelyn slowly opened the door to Doris' hospital room and peeked in through the gap. Doris was lying down, face up, her right leg which was wrapped in bandages was slightly lifted. She couldn't hear any snoring but she knew, from the sound of groans coming from the direction of the hospital bed, that her friend was wide awake. Slowly and quietly sneaking open the door, she stepped into the room smiling guiltily at her well-awake friend who was now glowering at her. "I hate you, Evy." She pouted, whimpering. "I can't believe you left me alone. Now I don't only have to nurse my broken heart, I also have to nurse my broken leg. My leg is destroyed." Evelyn sat on her bed. "I'm sorry, Dee. I was in some sort of situation myself." She said gently stroking her injured leg. "Anyway, your legs aren't broken. The Doctor said you only sprained your ankle." Doris sniffled. "A sprain? It feels more like a fracture." Evelyn gave a small laugh. Sh
EVELYN STRODE down the busy Los Angeles sidewalk under the scorching afternoon sun, humming along with the song she was listening to through her AirPods. Despite the cacophony of noise that seemed to come from every direction, cars, buses, taxi cabs, bikes, and people pushing and maneuvering around one another nothing could stop her from being in a good mood. Every member of her family had asked her what the occasion was that morning during breakfast because she was rarely in a good mood. She'd just smiled and said nothing. She was still skeptical about telling them what she had up her sleeves. Yesterday had been a terrible day for her, but today? Today was the day she took the very first step to accomplishing her seven-year-long plan. She'd filled Doris in on the details when they had taken off to the hospital café yesterday evening after her discharge. The plan was to live with Jason for at least six months and within that six months, she'd try to find any clue
LATER THAT evening, Jason stood at his in-house studio trying to compose the song for his next album, but his mind kept wavering, finding it difficult to get inspired. After a while, he gave up, placed his jotter down, and just sat down pondering about his day's ordeal. He couldn't believe he had actually at one point considered Evelyn's offer. That woman was bad news. He couldn't even spend an hour under the same roof with her without getting pissed out let alone six FREAKING months. Uh-uh! Not happening! Absolutely NOT! If she ever lived with him, there won't be any moment of peace in his life. His serenity would be out of the window real quick. There was no way he was risking that. He was completely clueless about what to do. Both choices he has to get himself out of this mess were horrible and the thought disturbed him to his core. At that point, he had to make a choice that seemed like the hardest thing to do. How exactly did he get in this mess in the fi
JASON WAS famished and exhausted for food and sleep. He hadn't had breakfast or lunch throughout the day and at that point, he was close to passing out from hypoglycemia. Dealing with this father had sapped what little energy he had left in him. Now, he has to deal with Kelly Davis before all this blows out of proportion. Finally, he arrived at the location Brad had sent to him the previous day. It was a small eatery in a secluded part of the city with little or no people around. Jason packed his car gingerly at the parking space. He looked around scanning the vicinity in his car checking for any suspicious-looking person. Brad had notified him that he had absolutely nothing to worry the place was reporters free and he'd even reserved the entire eatery for the whole day. He put on a black face cap, a facemask, and sunshades that were constantly in his car before stepping out of the car. Being in the middle of all those scandals and rumors had taught him a
EVELYN squinted her eyes as the blinding flashes of light— from the reporters' cameras— flickered from every angle of the conference hall. She wasn't used to this. Being in the spotlight and receiving this sort of attention was a little overwhelming for her. Jason, on the other hand, was totally unperturbed and doing his thing like the pro he was. He was no doubt in his own world. Evelyn glanced at Jason from the corner of her eyes who was seated right by her side holding her hand and at some point, he kissed the back of her hand like any lover would do. It had taken them a whole week to plan this press conference. They had to come up with a back story on how they met and how they became a couple. Something striking. Something believable that would convince the press and viewers. Evelyn had moved into his house two days before the press conference even though her family wasn't too happy about it. She finally gathered her courage and told her mother
EVELYN SAT down drumming her fingers anxiously on the tabletop one of Dionysus Bar's tables waiting anxiously for Matt to arrive. Has she arrived early? She had a habit of setting an alarm when she had any form of appointment and she'd set an alarm earlier than usual to give herself time to glam up. She found her phone in her bag and check the time. It was 07:32 pm. It was way past the time they had agreed to meet up. What was taking him so long? Could he be stuck in traffic? Evelyn looked around scanning the area. She hated this place. Not only was it too pricey here in Dionysus Bar, she still harbored some horrible memories of the last time she was here. But she couldn't think of any other safer place to have a decent conversation without being hassled by reporters and paparazzi. Being a celebrity's girlfriend was no joke. Her privacy was gone. Totally! It was rumpled and tossed right out of the universe. She couldn't move out through the front entr
JASON HAD come out for a drink to clear his head from the doldrums he felt from being home alone. He'd attempted to compose a song and as usual, he'd failed. He didn't know what was going on with him lately. He had thought his inspiration block was a result of the scandals he was in the midst of, but he had zero scandal to worry about anymore. So what the hell was the problem? Why did he feel like this was the silence before the storm? Evelyn had been right about the people believing he wasn't dating a minor if he officially introduced an actual girlfriend. Now, most of the malicious comments were directed at Kelly Davis for not speaking up against the scandal. Jason had called his only drinking buddy to have a drink with him and he'd gotten rejected. Again. For the third time this week. Brad had given him the exact excuse that he had an UNEXPECTED emergency. Something was seriously going on with his friend and he wasn't letting him in on it. Jason wasn't going t
EVELYN BOUNCED from day to day on a bubble of pure happiness. All of her problems were still out there on the horizon, but for now, she was on cloud nine. Her designs were all over the map. Lots of people were lining up to order her dresses. Over eighty-five percent of her followers were interested in her designs. At this rate, she would probably host a fashion show and it would be destined to be a smashing success. Evelyn had no idea her clothes would be out there in circulation by now. She'd planned to go big next year in Paris but it was happening earlier than expected. And she was psyched up. Doris was doing a good job as her fashion arbiter and model. With her stylishness and popularity combined, some people were eager to copy her looks. And that gave her designs even more publicity than they already had. Though Doris had her own "Jeff problems" to deal with, she'd still gone out of her way to support her with her career and plans to seek justice for her sis