FanFic: BB The Camera - Ch 7 - Mayhem
Title: BB The Camera
Chapter 7: Mayhem
Pairing: Catherine/Vincent
Genre: AU/Ship
Rating: R
Warning: Language and Emotional Mayhem
Spoiler Alert: S1 E15
Summary: The Sexy Beast and the Beauty are interrupted, and mayhem ensues.
A/N: I have to add in the angsty mayhem after seeing 1x12-1x15. I think we need some kind of misunderstanding so they can make up. I give you…the misunderstanding mayhem. Don't let this chapter tick you off to the point you skip chapter eight because eight is the one that explains and fixed it. :)
Click if you need to go back to Ch6.
Catherine allowed Vincent to move her back against the wall as he scanned the Conservatory with is enhanced eyes and hearing abilities.
Catherine whispered, “Who is it?”
Vincent transformed back into his full human self. He took a deep breath as if he were aggravated. “I’ll take care of it. Get dressed and I’ll meet you at your vehicle. Take the side exit.”
“Is is a Muirfield agent?” Catherine tried to piece things together because he was not being forthcoming.
“No.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“For you yes maybe.” Vincent turned to Catherine and lightly pressed his lips to hers before dressing and leaving the area going toward the front. “I’ll be fine.”
Catherine put her own clothing back on and fought back her inner curiosity to follow him. As she approached the side door, she heard a feminine voice behind her. That stopped her hand from pressing on the door.
Her mind fired off questions wondering who the woman was. It seemed her mind was racing on its own with no help from her. She shifted to lean on the door again and noticed she did not have her camera.
“Damn it.” Catherine knew now that she would have to go back for it, and it might look like she was disregarding Vincent’s warning.
Catherine approached where she thought the camera was, and kept glancing in the direction where Vincent had gone. She never even caught one glance of him or the woman.
She turned in a circle looking for the camera knowing it must be close. After taking a few steps toward the upraised planter bed that had the ferns on it she heard a clicking sound.
Off to the side, she saw the camera pointed at the planter where they had rolled around naked. It was clicking taking photo after photo without any flash. “Seriously?”
Catherine retrieved the camera and turned it off the setting that was causing it to take pictures.
She tapped her foot thinking about how the camera must have picked up everything they had done. Her shoe stopped thumping on the floor when she had the idea to look over the photos of them…together.
Heat rushed over her skin, but this time it was not from being nervous. The rush of adrenalin was from remembering how his body felt moving against her.
Catherine’s lips parted and she took in a deep breath. She turned on the viewer to look over the photographic evidence of the hotness that was earlier.
Catherine started at the beginning and kept pressing the button over and over. The photos flashed on the viewer like some type of animation. Her heart thundered as she watched him move over her tasting her skin under the blue light of the lantern.
Her body throbbed with need again as her eyes ate up each photo that depicted what had just happened not too long ago in that very room.
Catherine lost all sense of time as she continued. She eventually stopped pressing the button when she landed on the photo of the moment she strained against Vincent while she screamed out her release.
Her eyes flickered to Vincent’s face in the photo, and she zoomed in needing more detail.
She saw a light trace of blue vein on his neck as he stretched growling and a light golden glow to his eyes was evident. Hunger, desire, triumph were also present in his expression.
Catherine pressed the button again to see water splashing. A giggle escaped her lips as she remembered sinking in the water as he sank inside of her finding his own release.
That snapped her out of her trance, and she turned the camera off before putting it away. She was almost proud she had the presence of mind to turn it off first.
When she exited the side of the building, she glanced at her vehicle thinking that Vincent should already be there.
He was not.
Catherine tipped her head to the side and decided to walk around to the front of the building and see if he perhaps was on his way back inside to find her. With a nod, she strode toward the corner of the building while walking on the grass.
She moved in and out of shadows in the darkness of night wishing they were holding hands walking together.
She smiled as she caught a glimpse of the moon peeking out from behind cloud cover. To her, it was a perfect night where she had finally received all the things she had longed for over the years. She found someone that kept her safe, truly listened to her and who she loved and was loved in return. It was a plus that he got her jokes and movie references.
She finally found her true love, and they could now continue their lives together. She never remembered feeling such a concentration of happiness and optimism for the future. They were together now. They were one.
Catherine murmured to herself thinking of the Beauty and the Beast book she read when she was young and mixed it with her own real life fairy tale. “Danger. Intrigue…” She stopped walking just as she reached the corner, “Kissing.”
Catherine’s heart stopped beating and all of the air in her lungs rushed out as if she were in the vacuum of space.
From a few yards away, she watched her dreams shatter like a broken mirror…reflecting all of the things that could have been then smashed into thousands of different sized pieces falling to the ground.
Catherine watched as a tall leggy redhead pressed her lips for the second time against the man who had been part of her dream come to life. The woman’s arms wrapped around him as he made no attempt to get away or to even persuade her against her course of action. They turned in a half circle and it appeared as if he were leaning down to her to deepen the kiss.
Catherine’s mind told her there must be an explanation as to why he was kissing another woman. Another beautiful woman…only minutes after they were naked together in the Conservatory.
Her mind kept offering that there must have been reasons why he sent her out the side door so that she would not see the redhead.
Catherine gasped as tears dropped from her eyes. No. She decided she could not listen to the half of her mind that offered false hope.
Happiness was gone. All that remained was an emptiness that was once filled with thoughts of the future. It was not a complete void as there remained a flicker of hope that was being buffeted on all sides by the harsh reality of what she saw.
Vincent’s hands moved up as if to hold the woman around the waist, and Catherine found the strength to move backwards. Her eyes were locked on them and the only way she could stop watching was when she went backwards around the corner again.
She trembled once she was out of eyesight. Her back pressed to the wall as one hand gripped her stomach that threatened to heave up its contents as waves of nausea broke against her system. What once was joy was now pain as she gave in to the familiar sense of loneliness and desolation.
Her trembling voice managed between muffled sobs. “I’m one of many.”
Catherine’s mind now finished for her telling her she was one of many women who allowed themselves to believe the lie that true love exists, to believe the lie that they are special to one man and to think that the man they slept with and gave themselves to gives a damn about them.
The ruin of her heart was complete as the pieces that were from Vincent ripped out leaving gaping holes that bled with all the sputtering spray like the fountain they had fallen into.
Catherine felt the life draining out of her as if the wound was real. She was almost huddled on the ground against the building when she heard a woman’s voice.
“I told you I heard something. I really did. I know it.”
Adrenaline coursed in her veins filling the holes and allowed her to stand to her feet again.
She wiped violently at the tears on her face and neck to remove them before that woman came around the corner.
“See I told you.” A soft and fluidly feminine voice offered.
Catherine was thankful where she stood was in shadow, so the woman could not see the bright redness and puffiness of her face. “Hello.”
“Who are you?” The redhead inquired while holding onto Vincent’s arm.
Catherine saw a flicker of gold, and she knew that Vincent’s senses allowed him to know exactly what state she was in at the moment. She now knew he understood that she saw what happened between him and the other woman and how hard it hit her.
She was too mortified to speak, and only gripped her and camera bag closer.
Vincent opened his mouth to say Catherine, but it did not come out right. “Caaaaamera woman…”
“The photographer?” The redhead questioned him.
Vincent nodded. “Photo shoot…for…the book.”
“Oh that makes sense. Hi. I’m Alex. The fiancé.”
Catherine’s voice managed to sound calm. “Fiancé?”
“Yes, I guess you haven’t heard about me. He had to keep it secret because of Muirfield and all. But he is back and they are not a threat anymore, so hey…do you want photos of us together?”
Catherine didn’t even listen to Vincent’s rebuttal that it would not be appropriate for the book nor did she see Vincent’s expressions trying to explain what was happening. She kept hearing the words photos of us together.
All Catherine could think was that she was just the camera woman, and she had just kissed and had sex with a taken man. She believed it made her a cheater. It was something she had never been before. She had helped someone cheat on their future spouse. Somehow that made it all the more worse. It made what she thought they had an even bigger slap in the face.
She berated herself in her mind calling herself a tramp. It was one of Heather’s favorite words for women like that…like her.
Her mind ran over all the reasons she gave herself before as reasons why she should have kept her hands to herself. If this was even a possibility, it would have worked in a second. She would never willingly touch a man that was in a committed relationship. Their magical moment in the Conservatory now felt cheep, sleazy and wrong.
Her stomach clenched again as dizziness floated over her causing her vision to waver.
Vincent knew what was happening and shifted to step closer to Catherine.
Alex gripped his arm tighter, so he stayed in place and watched helplessly as Catherine battled alone.
Catherine managed to keep herself upright as it subsided.
She didn’t want him to see how upset she was. She hated it that he could detect what was happening even if the Alex woman was oblivious.
Her mind said the word together. Together. A picture of them together.
Catherine’s hand clenched tighter on the camera bag as her mind offered images she had just looked over minutes ago of her with Vincent…together.
The images that brought lust and remembered desire were now a sickness of shame and degradation.
Catherine thought that she obviously meant nothing to him but a slab of meat. Her mind offered slutty tramp in Heather’s voice.
It was a phrase Heather used a lot when she broke up with Joe’s younger brother. He had cheated on her with a woman who gave him money to open a club. Heather was delighted when the club went under and Evan asked her out.
Catherine lost the battle with her stomach as she fell to her knees releasing the sparse contents.
Alex shrieked when fluid sprinkled her black and red shoes.
Vincent moved forward taking Catherine’s arm.
Alex let him as she fussed with her matching purse to get out a tissue. “This is the reason I stopped nursing clinicals and became a paralegal.”
“Don’t touch me.” Catherine almost fell back trying to stop him from gripping her. “Don’t ever touch me again.”
Vincent was only able to hear the whisper that was Catherine’s voice because his Beast self was close to the surface.
He released her and whispered back. “I can explain.”
Catherine had heard that before. She had watched this scene play out in her office and in court many times. Then the naive female who wanted the nightmare to stop believed what was offered even if it was something so outlandish it would not even be believable on a SciFi original movie.
Catherine felt the tide change and her world moved back to her allowing her boundaries that once protected her to snap back into place.
Vincent watched it happen and mourned unknowing to Catherine as she would not look him in the eye.
Catherine rose to her feet. “You have explained. I’m the camera woman and she is the fiancé.”
Vincent stood speechless between the women. He knew his actions would threaten one woman’s sanity or the other. He had to side with helping the side that was weakest. He kept his distance from Catherine.
Catherine glanced at Alex and felt shamed guilt knowing that Alex seemed to be unaware that her man had just cheated on her.
She opened her mouth to confess believing that the other woman deserved to know what manner of man she was with, but different words came out. “I’m sorry about…the shoes. I’m not feeling well today, and should have canceled the photo shoot. But you see. We have deadlines. I really must be going.”
Alex nodded and took Catherine’s arm. “I’m sorry too. You’re sick, and I yelled. Here. I’ll help you to your car. Get the camera for her.”
Vincent obeyed and picked up the discarded camera off the grass.
“I can manage.” Catherine didn’t want Alex touching her or being nice to her because it made the guilt worse.
“Don’t be silly. I don’t mind. It’s just that some things make me remember my nursing clinicals. It makes me think of the towers falling. That is where I was the day it happened. I was taking care of other people when I needed to take care of myself. Now I work to afford to help pay for a small clinic. One of the perks of where I work is I get Christian Louboutin hand me down shoes from the attorneys. They wear them to a couple of events then give them to me. Can you believe she paid over eight hundred for these?”
Alex continued in a different path when Catherine didn’t speak.
“I talk about frivolous things to stop myself from talking about serious things. I thought he died there when the tower well you know. I don’t really like talking about it. I don’t know why I am now. It’s just that I thought he was dead you see, but now he’s alive. I didn’t know he survived then went off to war to defend the country. We’ve been together since we were just kids. I’m just so glad he is back and alive.”
Catherine glanced up and saw tears of joy trace down Alex’s face.
Catherine looked back down and let the other woman guide her to the parking area knowing that she could not shatter Alex’s world the way her own had just been torn apart.
Based on what Alex had just spoken, Catherine understood that Alex and Vincent had a long term relationship that spanned decades.
Catherine pointed out her vehicle as she absently wondered how many times Vincent had cheated on Alex. “Stop it.”
“What?” Alex patted on Catherine’s arm.
“I mean I stopped right here. This is where I stopped and parked. I should have gone around back, but silly me. I parked here. Thank you. It was nice to meet you. Both of you.”
“Let us know how the photos turn out.” Alex beamed and took the camera from Vincent to give it to Catherine who was already getting in her car.
“Oh yes. I will pass them on to Evan. He will get back with you.” Alex nodded and forced herself to smile as she started her vehicle and pulled away.
Her mind offered that Evan had tried to keep them apart. Maybe Evan was trying to protect her.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Catherine screamed alone in her car.
She made it out of the Conservatory parking and pulled into a gas station. She barged in and went straight for the ladies room before she lost it again.
There was nothing left in her stomach as her body jerked dry heaving. She washed her hands and fumbled with her cell phone.
Catherine knew she could not call Heather, so she dialed the only other person who might understand how she felt.
“I need you.” Catherine’s voice hitched.
“Are you hurt? Where are you?” The strong female voice demanded.
“I’m not hurt. Not physically anyway. I can’t drive right now. Can you come to me?”
“You still at the plant place?”
“No. The gas station just next to it.”
“Joe took me there once.”
“To a gas station?” Catherine’s voice didn’t sound as desperate as earlier.
“Don’t be a dork. I was his plus one. It was some give us your money thing that happened after his divorce. We filled up at the station when we left. What are you doing right now? Pretending to shop?”
Catherine almost smiled as she heard a car door close on the other end of the line. “No. I’m hiding in the restroom with the door locked trying not to touch anything.”
“I’m in my car.” Tess floored it into the busy New York night traffic.
Catherine heard Tess turn on her sirens and finally smiled.
“Be there soon.” Tess continued.
“Sirens are supposed to be for emergencies Tess.” The familiar conversation settled Catherine’s stomach.
“My BFF’s having serious guy mayhem. What could be more of an emergency?” Tess’ voice held a hint of amusement.
“No one says that anymore.” Catherine washed her hands again. “I feel better now. I’m going to get a drink and wait in my car.”
“Copy that.” Tess hung up her phone and cussed a taxi cab that attempted to cut her off.
AN: This is not the way I saw this chapter going. I made some changes as I typed it. I needed total destruction. Somehow Heather became the proclaimer of all things cheating, Joe is divorced from his wife and Tess is riding to the rescue. I was going to resolve the issue by the end of the chapter, but nope that is not how it went down. Don’t worry. It will be all right in the end. Promise. I’m not even editing this chapter…I’m moving on to the next because the dialogue is already talking to me. I will edit this after.
Click for Ch8! Remember, don't let this chapter make you too mad or then again let it then read the next one and see how it is all fixed. :)
~~
Chapter 7: Mayhem
Pairing: Catherine/Vincent
Genre: AU/Ship
Rating: R
Warning: Language and Emotional Mayhem
Spoiler Alert: S1 E15
Summary: The Sexy Beast and the Beauty are interrupted, and mayhem ensues.
A/N: I have to add in the angsty mayhem after seeing 1x12-1x15. I think we need some kind of misunderstanding so they can make up. I give you…the misunderstanding mayhem. Don't let this chapter tick you off to the point you skip chapter eight because eight is the one that explains and fixed it. :)
Click if you need to go back to Ch6.
Catherine allowed Vincent to move her back against the wall as he scanned the Conservatory with is enhanced eyes and hearing abilities.
Catherine whispered, “Who is it?”
Vincent transformed back into his full human self. He took a deep breath as if he were aggravated. “I’ll take care of it. Get dressed and I’ll meet you at your vehicle. Take the side exit.”
“Is is a Muirfield agent?” Catherine tried to piece things together because he was not being forthcoming.
“No.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“For you yes maybe.” Vincent turned to Catherine and lightly pressed his lips to hers before dressing and leaving the area going toward the front. “I’ll be fine.”
Catherine put her own clothing back on and fought back her inner curiosity to follow him. As she approached the side door, she heard a feminine voice behind her. That stopped her hand from pressing on the door.
Her mind fired off questions wondering who the woman was. It seemed her mind was racing on its own with no help from her. She shifted to lean on the door again and noticed she did not have her camera.
“Damn it.” Catherine knew now that she would have to go back for it, and it might look like she was disregarding Vincent’s warning.
Catherine approached where she thought the camera was, and kept glancing in the direction where Vincent had gone. She never even caught one glance of him or the woman.
She turned in a circle looking for the camera knowing it must be close. After taking a few steps toward the upraised planter bed that had the ferns on it she heard a clicking sound.
Off to the side, she saw the camera pointed at the planter where they had rolled around naked. It was clicking taking photo after photo without any flash. “Seriously?”
Catherine retrieved the camera and turned it off the setting that was causing it to take pictures.
She tapped her foot thinking about how the camera must have picked up everything they had done. Her shoe stopped thumping on the floor when she had the idea to look over the photos of them…together.
Heat rushed over her skin, but this time it was not from being nervous. The rush of adrenalin was from remembering how his body felt moving against her.
Catherine’s lips parted and she took in a deep breath. She turned on the viewer to look over the photographic evidence of the hotness that was earlier.
Catherine started at the beginning and kept pressing the button over and over. The photos flashed on the viewer like some type of animation. Her heart thundered as she watched him move over her tasting her skin under the blue light of the lantern.
Her body throbbed with need again as her eyes ate up each photo that depicted what had just happened not too long ago in that very room.
Catherine lost all sense of time as she continued. She eventually stopped pressing the button when she landed on the photo of the moment she strained against Vincent while she screamed out her release.
Her eyes flickered to Vincent’s face in the photo, and she zoomed in needing more detail.
She saw a light trace of blue vein on his neck as he stretched growling and a light golden glow to his eyes was evident. Hunger, desire, triumph were also present in his expression.
Catherine pressed the button again to see water splashing. A giggle escaped her lips as she remembered sinking in the water as he sank inside of her finding his own release.
That snapped her out of her trance, and she turned the camera off before putting it away. She was almost proud she had the presence of mind to turn it off first.
When she exited the side of the building, she glanced at her vehicle thinking that Vincent should already be there.
He was not.
Catherine tipped her head to the side and decided to walk around to the front of the building and see if he perhaps was on his way back inside to find her. With a nod, she strode toward the corner of the building while walking on the grass.
She moved in and out of shadows in the darkness of night wishing they were holding hands walking together.
She smiled as she caught a glimpse of the moon peeking out from behind cloud cover. To her, it was a perfect night where she had finally received all the things she had longed for over the years. She found someone that kept her safe, truly listened to her and who she loved and was loved in return. It was a plus that he got her jokes and movie references.
She finally found her true love, and they could now continue their lives together. She never remembered feeling such a concentration of happiness and optimism for the future. They were together now. They were one.
Catherine murmured to herself thinking of the Beauty and the Beast book she read when she was young and mixed it with her own real life fairy tale. “Danger. Intrigue…” She stopped walking just as she reached the corner, “Kissing.”
Catherine’s heart stopped beating and all of the air in her lungs rushed out as if she were in the vacuum of space.
From a few yards away, she watched her dreams shatter like a broken mirror…reflecting all of the things that could have been then smashed into thousands of different sized pieces falling to the ground.
Catherine watched as a tall leggy redhead pressed her lips for the second time against the man who had been part of her dream come to life. The woman’s arms wrapped around him as he made no attempt to get away or to even persuade her against her course of action. They turned in a half circle and it appeared as if he were leaning down to her to deepen the kiss.
Catherine’s mind told her there must be an explanation as to why he was kissing another woman. Another beautiful woman…only minutes after they were naked together in the Conservatory.
Her mind kept offering that there must have been reasons why he sent her out the side door so that she would not see the redhead.
Catherine gasped as tears dropped from her eyes. No. She decided she could not listen to the half of her mind that offered false hope.
Happiness was gone. All that remained was an emptiness that was once filled with thoughts of the future. It was not a complete void as there remained a flicker of hope that was being buffeted on all sides by the harsh reality of what she saw.
Vincent’s hands moved up as if to hold the woman around the waist, and Catherine found the strength to move backwards. Her eyes were locked on them and the only way she could stop watching was when she went backwards around the corner again.
She trembled once she was out of eyesight. Her back pressed to the wall as one hand gripped her stomach that threatened to heave up its contents as waves of nausea broke against her system. What once was joy was now pain as she gave in to the familiar sense of loneliness and desolation.
Her trembling voice managed between muffled sobs. “I’m one of many.”
Catherine’s mind now finished for her telling her she was one of many women who allowed themselves to believe the lie that true love exists, to believe the lie that they are special to one man and to think that the man they slept with and gave themselves to gives a damn about them.
The ruin of her heart was complete as the pieces that were from Vincent ripped out leaving gaping holes that bled with all the sputtering spray like the fountain they had fallen into.
Catherine felt the life draining out of her as if the wound was real. She was almost huddled on the ground against the building when she heard a woman’s voice.
“I told you I heard something. I really did. I know it.”
Adrenaline coursed in her veins filling the holes and allowed her to stand to her feet again.
She wiped violently at the tears on her face and neck to remove them before that woman came around the corner.
“See I told you.” A soft and fluidly feminine voice offered.
Catherine was thankful where she stood was in shadow, so the woman could not see the bright redness and puffiness of her face. “Hello.”
“Who are you?” The redhead inquired while holding onto Vincent’s arm.
Catherine saw a flicker of gold, and she knew that Vincent’s senses allowed him to know exactly what state she was in at the moment. She now knew he understood that she saw what happened between him and the other woman and how hard it hit her.
She was too mortified to speak, and only gripped her and camera bag closer.
Vincent opened his mouth to say Catherine, but it did not come out right. “Caaaaamera woman…”
“The photographer?” The redhead questioned him.
Vincent nodded. “Photo shoot…for…the book.”
“Oh that makes sense. Hi. I’m Alex. The fiancé.”
Catherine’s voice managed to sound calm. “Fiancé?”
“Yes, I guess you haven’t heard about me. He had to keep it secret because of Muirfield and all. But he is back and they are not a threat anymore, so hey…do you want photos of us together?”
Catherine didn’t even listen to Vincent’s rebuttal that it would not be appropriate for the book nor did she see Vincent’s expressions trying to explain what was happening. She kept hearing the words photos of us together.
All Catherine could think was that she was just the camera woman, and she had just kissed and had sex with a taken man. She believed it made her a cheater. It was something she had never been before. She had helped someone cheat on their future spouse. Somehow that made it all the more worse. It made what she thought they had an even bigger slap in the face.
She berated herself in her mind calling herself a tramp. It was one of Heather’s favorite words for women like that…like her.
Her mind ran over all the reasons she gave herself before as reasons why she should have kept her hands to herself. If this was even a possibility, it would have worked in a second. She would never willingly touch a man that was in a committed relationship. Their magical moment in the Conservatory now felt cheep, sleazy and wrong.
Her stomach clenched again as dizziness floated over her causing her vision to waver.
Vincent knew what was happening and shifted to step closer to Catherine.
Alex gripped his arm tighter, so he stayed in place and watched helplessly as Catherine battled alone.
Catherine managed to keep herself upright as it subsided.
She didn’t want him to see how upset she was. She hated it that he could detect what was happening even if the Alex woman was oblivious.
Her mind said the word together. Together. A picture of them together.
Catherine’s hand clenched tighter on the camera bag as her mind offered images she had just looked over minutes ago of her with Vincent…together.
The images that brought lust and remembered desire were now a sickness of shame and degradation.
Catherine thought that she obviously meant nothing to him but a slab of meat. Her mind offered slutty tramp in Heather’s voice.
It was a phrase Heather used a lot when she broke up with Joe’s younger brother. He had cheated on her with a woman who gave him money to open a club. Heather was delighted when the club went under and Evan asked her out.
Catherine lost the battle with her stomach as she fell to her knees releasing the sparse contents.
Alex shrieked when fluid sprinkled her black and red shoes.
Vincent moved forward taking Catherine’s arm.
Alex let him as she fussed with her matching purse to get out a tissue. “This is the reason I stopped nursing clinicals and became a paralegal.”
“Don’t touch me.” Catherine almost fell back trying to stop him from gripping her. “Don’t ever touch me again.”
Vincent was only able to hear the whisper that was Catherine’s voice because his Beast self was close to the surface.
He released her and whispered back. “I can explain.”
Catherine had heard that before. She had watched this scene play out in her office and in court many times. Then the naive female who wanted the nightmare to stop believed what was offered even if it was something so outlandish it would not even be believable on a SciFi original movie.
Catherine felt the tide change and her world moved back to her allowing her boundaries that once protected her to snap back into place.
Vincent watched it happen and mourned unknowing to Catherine as she would not look him in the eye.
Catherine rose to her feet. “You have explained. I’m the camera woman and she is the fiancé.”
Vincent stood speechless between the women. He knew his actions would threaten one woman’s sanity or the other. He had to side with helping the side that was weakest. He kept his distance from Catherine.
Catherine glanced at Alex and felt shamed guilt knowing that Alex seemed to be unaware that her man had just cheated on her.
She opened her mouth to confess believing that the other woman deserved to know what manner of man she was with, but different words came out. “I’m sorry about…the shoes. I’m not feeling well today, and should have canceled the photo shoot. But you see. We have deadlines. I really must be going.”
Alex nodded and took Catherine’s arm. “I’m sorry too. You’re sick, and I yelled. Here. I’ll help you to your car. Get the camera for her.”
Vincent obeyed and picked up the discarded camera off the grass.
“I can manage.” Catherine didn’t want Alex touching her or being nice to her because it made the guilt worse.
“Don’t be silly. I don’t mind. It’s just that some things make me remember my nursing clinicals. It makes me think of the towers falling. That is where I was the day it happened. I was taking care of other people when I needed to take care of myself. Now I work to afford to help pay for a small clinic. One of the perks of where I work is I get Christian Louboutin hand me down shoes from the attorneys. They wear them to a couple of events then give them to me. Can you believe she paid over eight hundred for these?”
Alex continued in a different path when Catherine didn’t speak.
“I talk about frivolous things to stop myself from talking about serious things. I thought he died there when the tower well you know. I don’t really like talking about it. I don’t know why I am now. It’s just that I thought he was dead you see, but now he’s alive. I didn’t know he survived then went off to war to defend the country. We’ve been together since we were just kids. I’m just so glad he is back and alive.”
Catherine glanced up and saw tears of joy trace down Alex’s face.
Catherine looked back down and let the other woman guide her to the parking area knowing that she could not shatter Alex’s world the way her own had just been torn apart.
Based on what Alex had just spoken, Catherine understood that Alex and Vincent had a long term relationship that spanned decades.
Catherine pointed out her vehicle as she absently wondered how many times Vincent had cheated on Alex. “Stop it.”
“What?” Alex patted on Catherine’s arm.
“I mean I stopped right here. This is where I stopped and parked. I should have gone around back, but silly me. I parked here. Thank you. It was nice to meet you. Both of you.”
“Let us know how the photos turn out.” Alex beamed and took the camera from Vincent to give it to Catherine who was already getting in her car.
“Oh yes. I will pass them on to Evan. He will get back with you.” Alex nodded and forced herself to smile as she started her vehicle and pulled away.
Her mind offered that Evan had tried to keep them apart. Maybe Evan was trying to protect her.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Catherine screamed alone in her car.
She made it out of the Conservatory parking and pulled into a gas station. She barged in and went straight for the ladies room before she lost it again.
There was nothing left in her stomach as her body jerked dry heaving. She washed her hands and fumbled with her cell phone.
Catherine knew she could not call Heather, so she dialed the only other person who might understand how she felt.
“I need you.” Catherine’s voice hitched.
“Are you hurt? Where are you?” The strong female voice demanded.
“I’m not hurt. Not physically anyway. I can’t drive right now. Can you come to me?”
“You still at the plant place?”
“No. The gas station just next to it.”
“Joe took me there once.”
“To a gas station?” Catherine’s voice didn’t sound as desperate as earlier.
“Don’t be a dork. I was his plus one. It was some give us your money thing that happened after his divorce. We filled up at the station when we left. What are you doing right now? Pretending to shop?”
Catherine almost smiled as she heard a car door close on the other end of the line. “No. I’m hiding in the restroom with the door locked trying not to touch anything.”
“I’m in my car.” Tess floored it into the busy New York night traffic.
Catherine heard Tess turn on her sirens and finally smiled.
“Be there soon.” Tess continued.
“Sirens are supposed to be for emergencies Tess.” The familiar conversation settled Catherine’s stomach.
“My BFF’s having serious guy mayhem. What could be more of an emergency?” Tess’ voice held a hint of amusement.
“No one says that anymore.” Catherine washed her hands again. “I feel better now. I’m going to get a drink and wait in my car.”
“Copy that.” Tess hung up her phone and cussed a taxi cab that attempted to cut her off.
AN: This is not the way I saw this chapter going. I made some changes as I typed it. I needed total destruction. Somehow Heather became the proclaimer of all things cheating, Joe is divorced from his wife and Tess is riding to the rescue. I was going to resolve the issue by the end of the chapter, but nope that is not how it went down. Don’t worry. It will be all right in the end. Promise. I’m not even editing this chapter…I’m moving on to the next because the dialogue is already talking to me. I will edit this after.
Click for Ch8! Remember, don't let this chapter make you too mad or then again let it then read the next one and see how it is all fixed. :)
~~