Deceived - Part 1 New York (12 page)

“
Perfect! I love road
trips. Where are we staying, by the way?” I queried.

“
I booked a cottage for us.
It’s a very nice little inn. I‘ve stayed there a couple of times
before. It’s in East Hamptons and brags of being very
romantic.”

“
Sounds
wonderful. I’m so excited. Our first road trip,” I said with a big
smile trying to hide the cloudy thought that just crept into my
mind.
Hmm, very romantic
place
... I wondered how many girls he’d
brought there before me. Oh well, the past is the past. I brushed
the thought away like dust in the wind. We all have skeletons in
our closet, and I’m sure that with Patrick‘s good looks and fine
physique, he’s had more flings than most guys.

“
I was thinking; let’s have
an early dinner at the inn. They have a Scandinavian salmon on the
menu that is to die for. It’s called Gravlax which is a cured
salmon. It’s delicious.”

“
Quite frankly, I am
starving,” I said. “Can’t we just pull over for a Big Mac
instead?”

Patrick gave me one of
those, “
Are you kidding
me
?” kind of looks and I couldn’t help but
burst into laughter.

“
I’m
joking, Babe. Everything sounds wonderful and you are wonderful,” I
said leaning my head onto his broad shoulder as the scenery flipped
by us like pages of a book.
I
inhaled his scent; a slightly sweet, but fresh cologne. It was
intoxicating. Every moment with Patrick made me feel wonderful. He
was perfect and so was this trip. Slowly, I slid my hand over,
resting it in his lap when I suddenly felt a small reaction rising
up from inside his pants.

“
Ooh, what do we have
here?” I snickered, teasingly rubbing my hand against his inner
thigh and crotch.

Startled, Patrick recoiled
with a jump, glancing over at me with a lighthearted glint in his
eyes. “Careful baby, let’s make sure we get to the Hamptons in one
piece.”

“
If we pull over for a
moment I will show you how much I appreciate you inviting me here
this weekend,” I said enchantingly.

Patrick hissed a breath
through his clenched teeth, “Oh baby, that’s a very tempting offer
and extremely hard to resist. There’s nothing that I'd rather do,
but hold that thought for later.”

“
Awe.” I mockingly stuck
out my lower lip and pouted.

“
Besides, I have a surprise
for you. Our cottage has a luxurious private spa and I know a trick
or two when it comes to giving a sensual, bubbly
massage.”

I pulled my hand back from
his crotch and gave him the, “I’ll behave for now” look.

“
But let’s keep moving,
okay? he suggested. We’re already a little behind
schedule.”

As we drove along Route 27
I turned and looked out the window. The scenery had changed. We
were getting closer to our destination when I was reminded of
something that Patrick had once told me; that the Baroness owned
one of the largest mansions here in the Hamptons. As my mind
wandered, I speculated about what had ever happened with her and
the retail account?
Did our agency get the
bid?
Secretly, I hoped not. That woman
gave me the chills. Actually, it would be no sweat of my back if I
never saw that bitch again.

As if Patrick could read my
mind he suddenly blurted out, “Oh, by the way, guess who sent me an
email this morning?”

“
Who?” I tried to sound
perky.

“
The Baroness, Anna Von
Lamberg. She wants to move forward with the account if a couple of
conditions could be met. That’s why I had to go into the office
before I picked you up. I had to revise the proposal. She’ll be at
the event tonight.”

My heart fell out of my
chest like a bomb had been dropped.
Damn!
I really hoped she was history.
Crestfallen, I turned my head and looked out the window so
Patrick couldn’t see the bitter disappointment on my
face.

“
Are you okay?” he
probed.

Doing my best to hide my
utter distaste for the Baroness, I looked him in the eyes and
proclaimed with a frown, “I’m fine. It’s just that.... I’ m getting
a strange vibe from that woman. I’m not sure she likes me very
much.”

“
Don’t worry so much about
that. I already told you, that she can be peculiar and demanding.
She's so egotistical that she treats most people like dirt. She'll
warm up to you eventually I’m sure.” He shifted his driving
position, placing both of his hands on the steering wheel in a
manner that seemed to punctuate his sentence.

Crap!
I nodded in implied agreement, knowing in my heart that it
would be a cold day in hell before that would ever
happen.

“
Chloe!” A familiar voice
rang out in my ears. I turned and saw Ryan striding towards me in
the main foyer of the Crestwood mansion in the Hamptons.

“
What a breath of fresh air
it is to see you my darling, in this over pretentious crowd,” he
proclaimed.

My eyes lit up with
surprise. “Ryan. So good to see you too.

I didn’t know you would be
here tonight, I thought Patrick was bringing his niece, but I’m so
glad you are here,” he continued.

 “
And... may I add,
you look stunning. Oh My God! That dress suits you to a
T.”

“
Awe, thank you Ryan” I
said demurely.

“
Are you as bored as I am?”
he grinned. “Where have you stashed my buddy? You know, you two
really make a nice couple.”

My heart lightened with the
thought that Patrick’s best friend, not only approved of us, but
referenced us as “a couple”.

“
He’s around,” I said
sweeping my drink glass in a half circle to my right. “He’s talking
and hobnobbing with the VIPs and, to answer your question, yes,
these people are rather dull. But I don’t mind, this mansion is
gorgeous and I’m thrilled to be here to support the charity.
Patrick said he'd be back in a few minutes. He had some business to
discuss with Mr. Graywell from the Betsey Johnson
account.”

“
I love Betsey Johnson
designs; you should be in that meeting with him. I’m sure you know
more about Betsey Johnson than he does.”

“
It was more about some
contractual issues, not like a creative meeting,” I
added.

“
Are you sure he’s not in
search of some glass topped desk,” he chided with a
smile.

“
Oh my God, you noticed?”
The thought of Patrick’s friend touching my ass print on his glass
desk made me red with embarrassment.

“
Yea, like a kid with his
hand in the proverbial cookie jar,” he laughed. ” I had to invest
heavily in Windex just to get it clean! It nearly broke my heart to
erase such a great work of art.” He smiled back at me.

“
Err, sorry about messing
up your office Ryan,” I added, “I don’t know what’s come over me
lately. It seems that Patrick has a hypnotic effect on me.
Normally, I wouldn’t do never do that, but hey, you only live
once.....” I giggled. The bubbles of my peach Bellini were having
their way with my inhibitions once again.

An astute waiter appeared
at my elbow holding a tray with a small cream colored envelope on
it.

“
Excuse me Miss. Are you
Chloe Swanson?” he asked with perfect enunciation.

“
Yes, I am.” I perked up.
What could this be? Does this have anything to do with Patrick? The
waiter handed me the envelope and turning on his heels, floated off
ubiquitously, into the mix of people. Ryan’s eyebrows raised and I
had a funny feeling that I shouldn’t read this in front of
anyone.

“
Excuse me Ryan,” I said
politely and stepped over to a small ante room near the entryway.
My nerves began to jitter like a box of Mexican jumping beans.
Tentatively, I slipped my finger under the sealed flap and ripped
it open. The note inside read:

Chloe:

Meet me in the library in
5 minutes.

I have another little
surprise for you.

A huge smile spread across
my face. I felt sure that, even though all the people were in the
other room, they could see me blushing. Surely, this was Patrick’s
way of teasing me about the Gallery incident. Apparently Ryan was
right about Patrick. He must have been scouting out a new desk top
to defile. Giddy as a schoolgirl, I slipped the note into the
envelope and headed back to politely excuse myself, but Ryan had
been absorbed into the crowd and I couldn't see him
anywhere.

Weaving a path through the
elegantly dressed couples, a waiter directed me towards the
library. I worked my way up the plush red carpeted stairs to the
second floor. As I approached, I noticed the dark oak door to the
library was opened a crack. The muffled murmur of a male voice was
drifting from the room. Was Patrick talking on the phone? Why is he
talking to himself? What could it be? My heart was pounding, my
mouth felt dry. I practically tip toed up and gently pushed open
the door. I could see a familiar figure in the room. Patrick? As
the door swung open farther, I recognized the silhouette. It was
Patrick but my heart dropped like a bomb to the bottom of my
stomach. What I saw made my eyes open wide and my jaw drop in
disbelief.

What the hell!!
Patrick was in a deep lip lock with none other
than the Baroness.

His back was to me and he
hadn’t seen me enter the room, but as soon as they felt my presence
in the room, they broke apart.

“
Chloe,” the Baroness said
cunningly. I see you got my little note.

“
Patrick. What is this?” I
said with surprise and hurt in my voice.

Patrick wheeled around and
started walking towards me. “Chloe, this is not what it looks
like,” he stuttered.

The Baroness smoothed her
hair back in place like a disheveled teenager in a recent make out
session and before Patrick had a chance to say anything further,
she cut in, ”Chloe, I was trying to tell you all about it last week
but you refused to listen. Patrick and I are together again. We
have been seeing each other for almost a year now...”

“
I...I can’t believe you
would do this Patrick,” I said shaking my head in disbelief,
fighting back the urge to give in to the tears welling up in my
eyes. A huge knot rose up in my throat, choking me and making me
sputter out the words.

“
Why? WHY?? “

As he sprang towards me
with an outstretched arm, in a feeble attempt to explain, I backed
up towards the door. My emotions were exploding inside of me like a
volcano. My breathing was shallow and I couldn’t get enough air in
my lungs. I stumbled and backed into the door twisting out of
Patrick’s outstretched hand, as he was about to grab my
arm.

“
Chloe. Wait! Let me
explain,“ he pleaded desperately.

I couldn’t see clearly
through the tears, my mind was whirling with thoughts, the emotions
of betrayal and hurt fighting to have their place in my mind. My
head was conscious of nothing but feelings and feelings were
torment. Encompassed in a luminous cloud of which I was merely the
fiery heart, my emotions swung through unthinkable arcs of
oscillation, like a pendulum. I had to get out of there, I couldn’t
breathe. I didn’t want to hear some fallacious explanation. I had
been used and abused. I knew it all had been too good to be true. A
handsome, rich guy like Patrick wouldn’t really want me, small town
Iowa girl when he could have a Baroness billionaire. Who was I
kidding? What a fool I had been.

I had been fucking played
- big time!!

All I wanted to do was run
away, and run I did. My feet just kept moving, my physical body
making decisions for me when my intellect had been effaced. I
rushed out of the room unaccompanied by thought. I ran out of the
library, down the stairs and straight out the door of the most
beautiful mansion in the Hamptons. Before I knew it, I had run all
the way down to the beach and the sound of the crashing waves,
broke the haze of confusion, which was congesting the thoughts in
my mind. My lungs engulfed a great draft of air, which was
instantly expelled as a shrieking sob. My chest convulsed and the
tears raced down my cheeks.

Just like a cheesy soap
opera on reruns, I played back the scene with Patrick kissing the
Baroness over and over again. In an attempt to connect the dots and
make sense of it all, I searched the recesses of my mind to find
the clues as to why this had happened. Could I have been so
oblivious as to have missed important signs that revealed that they
were lovers all along? Was I so blinded by my love for Patrick that
I made myself vulnerable to the crushing heartache I was now
feeling? Could I even blame Patrick for playing the field and
looking out for his own interest and the interest of the
company?

Damn right I
could!!

How dare he use me this
way. He had no right to play with my emotions, hurting me, like I
was merely a chess piece in his slimy scheme to take over the
Baroness’ account and further his career, at my hearts
expense.