Secret Relations: Women in Hollywood, Book 1 (12 page)

Chapter Thirty-One

Charlotte eased her way through the crowded Houston club. She looked around until she saw the VIP area. She ran into a few people she knew along the way. She spoke to them and took a few pictures.

“You must be looking for my boy,” Rocky, the rapper said, as she made her way towards the VIP section of the club.

“Hey, Rocky.”

They greeted each other with a hug.

“Sean’s on the other side of the club. People keep hounding him for pics.” He pointed to the right side of the club.

“Thanks. I’ll find him.”

Charlotte went in the direction Rocky pointed. Her eyes locked in on Sean. Several women surrounded him. Some were very close to Sean. One was practically in his lap. Charlotte watched him laugh. He didn’t seem to mind the attention, in fact, he looked to be enjoying it. One woman whispered in Sean’s ear and he tilted his head back and let out a hearty laugh.

Charlotte walked closer to get Sean’s attention but before she could get near him, Pandora brushed past her. She walked up to Sean as if she had a right to be with him, grabbed his head and kissed him. Sean didn’t appear to resist her. In fact, it looked as if he was enjoying the kiss. Charlotte stood nearby and watched the exchange. Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks before she could control them. Sean looked up and his intense gaze landed on Charlotte. Charlotte, feeling hurt, that she’d come to Houston prepared to apologize and make things right with Sean, couldn’t run through the club fast enough. She rushed outside and called for her driver.

“Charlotte!”

She heard Sean calling her name but jumped in the back of the limousine as soon as it pulled up.

“Please hurry!” Charlotte yelled as she closed and locked the door behind her. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

Sean made it to the passenger door while the driver was getting behind the wheel. Charlotte watched him pull on the handle.

“I said hurry,” Charlotte yelled at the limousine driver.

He pulled away from the curb almost knocking Sean over, but she didn’t care.

Charlotte cried the entire drive to her hotel and ignored Sean’s phone calls as she searched online for flights back to Los Angeles.

The driver pulled in front of the hotel, parked and opened her door.

“Wait here.”

Charlotte rushed and packed in a hurry, practically falling over herself in her mad dash from the hotel. The driver remained out front as requested. He helped her with her bags and drove her to the airport.

Charlotte checked in and made it to her gate just in time to board her flight. She didn’t exhale until she was tucked safely under the covers of her own bed. Exhausted and hurt, Charlotte fell into a fitful sleep.

The sound of someone banging on her door woke her. Glancing at the clock, she realized she’d slept for ten hours.

She dragged herself out of bed and into her robe before answering the door. She peeked out of the curtain. Mona and Kem were standing outside.

“Open up. We know you’re in there. Your neighbor told us,” she heard Mona say.

Charlotte opened the door. “That’s what I get for having such a nosy neighbor.”

They greeted her with a hug. Kem burst out, “You look a mess.”

Mona grabbed her arm. “But that’s not why we’re here. You’ve been working hard and deserve a day of pampering.”

Kem looked down at the luggage near the front door. “Going somewhere?”

“Let me shower and put some clothes on and I’ll tell you everything,” Charlotte countered.

“We’ll be here when you get out,” Mona said. “And after you dress, we’re going to the spa. We can talk while getting our massages.”

An hour later, they lay side-by-side as Charlotte told them what happened.

“You can’t be mad at Sean,” Kem said, being the voice of reason.

“She’s right. In fact, you overreacted,” Mona surmised.

Charlotte turned in their direction. “Whose friends are you? You’re supposed to be on my side.”

Kem spoke out. “When you’re right, I will back you. But, Char, dear, you handled that situation all wrong.”

Mona said, “To me, it looked like a misunderstanding. You should have stayed around to see what was going on. You can’t be mad at him for socializing.”

“But you didn’t see all those women on him and the kiss.” The thought of seeing Sean kiss another woman made her cringe.

“You said yourself that Pandora walked over to him. It wasn’t like he initiated it,” Kem pointed out.

“He didn’t push her away either,” Charlotte noted.

“If he was so into Pandora, he wouldn’t have left her to run after you,” Kem theorized.

“He’s tried to do things the right way, but you turned him down. So, Charlotte, deal with it,” Mona said, matter of factly.

Charlotte let their words marinate. She closed her eyes, trying to tune them out. Maybe she did overreact. Maybe she should have stayed and talked to him. Instead of being here with her friends, she could be enjoying time with Sean.

“I love Sean. I have to figure out a way to make things work,” Charlotte said.

“If there’s something you need us to do, we’ve got you,” Kem assured her.

“I’m going to figure this out,” Charlotte insisted.

“Now that your problem is semi-solved, let me tell y’all about my egotistical boss. He’s a womanizer. He’s a workaholic and he gets on my nerves,” Mona said.

“Then find you another job,” came from Kem.

“If you hired me as a writer on your show, I could do that,” Mona responded.

“Mona, we’ve had this conversation before. The last time I hired a friend, I got burned. I like to keep my personal life separate from business. You know I like your writing and will give you glowing recommendations but we can’t work together.”

“One day, you’re going to regret those words,” Mona said.

“Ladies, where’s the love?” Charlotte asked.

Mona pointed at herself, then at Kem and back at herself. “Love don’t live here anymore.”

“Stop playing. I love you like a sister,” Kem said.

“Like Cinderella’s step sister,” Mona added, and then laughed. She looked at Kem. “I’m just kidding with you. I understand your rules, I just don’t like them.”

Charlotte and Kem listened to Mona’s long rant about the struggles of being a screenwriter.

Later on that night, Charlotte lay in bed thinking about her conversation with her besties. Maybe, they were right. Maybe the kiss was just one big misunderstanding. Maybe she was overreacting and needed to give Sean a chance to explain himself. Her hand flew up to her head as it pounded. She didn’t know what to believe.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Sean tried his best to enjoy the rest of the weekend with his sister, Marie. But he couldn’t help but think about Charlotte. He had no idea she was in Houston. Priscilla informed him after the fact that Charlotte had been at the concert. She claimed she forgot to tell him Charlotte would be meeting him at the club later.

Pandora kissing him caught him off guard. He didn’t even know Pandora was in Houston. By the time he’d realized what was happening, he’d seen Charlotte standing there. He thought she was a mirage. He tried going after her but couldn’t catch her before she got into the limousine.

His calls to Charlotte had been rejected so he decided to stop calling and wait until he got back to Los Angeles to see her face to face.

Marie walked Sean to the door of the large three-bedroom home he’d bought her when he signed his first record deal.

“Do I need to come out there and talk to this Charlotte?” Marie asked.

“Sis, I got this.”

“I don’t like seeing you hurt.”

Sean shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll put this southern charm on her when I get back. She’ll come around.”

He hugged and kissed Marie on the cheek. “Love you,” she said, holding him in a tight embrace.

“Love you too, baby girl.”

Leaving Marie behind was hard. He wished he could talk her into moving to Los Angeles. He really needed his family around.

Ten hours later, Sean was back in his Los Angeles home. It was too late to go to Charlotte’s, so he decided to reach out to her the next day.

Sean got up early the next morning fully refreshed and on a mission. He dressed in one of his custom-made, gray Italian suits. He slipped on a pair of black socks and tied his black, leather dress shoes.

He met Priscilla in the hallway. “Where are you going this morning?” Priscilla asked.

“Out. If something comes up, text me; otherwise, I’ll be busy,” Sean responded.

He grabbed the keys to his Maybach.

As he neared his destination, he made a quick call. “Thank you for making the appointment for me. I’m pulling into the parking lot now.”

Sean parked his car and less than ten minutes later, he was walking into the waiting area of Charlotte’s office.

Felicia greeted him with a smile. “She doesn’t know it’s you, but she’s ready for you.”

Sean responded, “Thanks for doing this for me.”

“I knew there was something going on between y’all. I’ll do anything for love. Go get your woman,” Felicia said, as she stood smiling from ear to ear.

“I hope you don’t get into any trouble on my account.”

“Don’t worry about me. I keep this office running like a well oiled machine. Charlotte’s not going to get rid of me. In fact, later, she’ll be thanking me.”

Sean crossed his fingers. “Let’s hope.”

“Good luck,” Felicia said, as Sean walked away.

Sean knocked on Charlotte’s door.

“Come in,” Charlotte responded.

Sean took a deep breath and entered Charlotte’s office.

Charlotte’s mouth dropped open when she laid eyes on him. “What are you doing here? You can’t be here. I have a meeting in a few minutes.”

“I know. I’m your eleven o’clock appointment.” Sean walked in and closed the door.

“Wait until I get my hands on Felicia.” Charlotte stood and walked from behind her desk.

“It’s not her fault. I asked her to do it.” Sean walked towards Charlotte bringing them within inches of each other.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Charlotte said, as she bit her bottom lip.

Sean reached down and grabbed Charlotte’s hand. “You came to Houston for a reason. Why?”

“Houston was a big mistake,” Charlotte said, as she looked into his eyes.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you there,” Sean confessed.

“Obviously not. I guess you forgot you’d asked me to come.” Charlotte jerked her hand away. She walked to the other side of her office and stood by the window with her back facing Sean.

“I don’t forget anything I tell you. I didn’t expect you to be there because you pushed me away. There’s only so much a man can take.”

Charlotte turned to face him. Sean wanted to wipe her tear-filled eyes, but refrained from doing so. Instead, he kept his hands at his sides.

“I tried reaching out to you after that night, but you wouldn’t talk to me,” Charlotte said.

“I didn’t want to hear any more of your excuses,” Sean replied.

Charlotte walked to her desk and took a seat. Sean sat across from her.

Charlotte would barely look at him. “So is that why you hooked up with Pandora?”

“There’s nothing going on between me and Pandora.”

“Obviously she thinks so otherwise she wouldn’t be kissing you.” Charlotte folded her arms.

“Pandora’s still upset I turned down all of her advances. And you want to know why? Because I don’t care about her. I care about you. I want to be with
you
.”

Charlotte uncrossed her arms. “You sure about that?”

“She caught me off-guard. If you would have stuck around you would have seen me push her away.”

“Maybe you did. I don’t know. All I know is I saw her put her tongue down your throat.”

“Read my lips. I do not want Pandora. That kiss you saw wasn’t what it looked like. She kissed me. I didn’t kiss her.”

“Well, what about the photos of you with all those women.”

Sean threw his hands in the air. “Most of my fans are women. I know you’re not tripping over something like that.”

Charlotte grabbed her iPad, tapped the screen a few times, and then held it up. “Chicago, you were there with Miss luscious lips Pandora. Miami, you were seen cuddled up with some stripper. New York, you were with Monet, who you swore nothing was going on with. And of course, you and Ms. Pandora were seen again in Houston. I guess the celebrity bloggers didn’t catch the kiss you two shared, but I sure did. Should I go on?”

Sean leaned his head back and laughed. “You are so jealous. Don’t you know none of those women hold a candle to you? You are it for me. I don’t know what else I have to say or do to prove it to you.”

“I came to Houston because I wanted to make things right between us,” Charlotte said.

“So are you saying you’re willing to give me what I want?”

Charlotte looked away. “Maybe we should talk about this later.”

“Your schedule’s cleared for the next two hours. So I’m sitting here until you give me an answer.” Sean leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and stared at Charlotte without blinking an eye.

Charlotte got out of her seat and went to the door.

“Don’t leave,” Sean begged.

“I’m not.” Charlotte clicked the door, locking it.

She began unbuttoning her blouse as she walked back to where Sean sat. She stood before him as he looked at her with his mouth open. “I want you.” She straddled him. “I missed you.”

Charlotte planted kisses on Sean’s face. Sean pulled away. “I want a full commitment from you. I want to be able to claim you as mine and me, yours. I’m tired of this merry go round. I want to merge our lives together and love you the way you deserved to be loved.”

Charlotte rubbed his face. “I know now it’s also what I want.”

“There are going to be times I want to take you out.”

“No problem. We just can’t show any public display of affection. No need to draw attention to ourselves,” Charlotte responded.

Sean picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. “I shouldn’t agree to this, but I want you in my life so bad that I’m willing to compromise.”

“Oh and another thing, you have to make it known to all your scandalous female admirers that you are no longer on the market.”

“Anything for you, my dear. How do you want to celebrate?” Sean asked, right before kissing Charlotte on the neck. “Like this.” His kisses trailed down her chest. “Like this.” He freed one of her breasts from her bra, brought her stiff nipple to his lips, and sucked on it.

Charlotte leaned her head back and moaned. “Don’t stop.”

Sean lifted her out of the chair and placed her on the love seat located on the other side of the room in her office. He removed her clothes. “I just want to look at you,” he said, as he watched her while taking off his expensive suit and discarding it on the floor.

Charlotte looked at Sean’s stiff erection and got moist in between her legs.

He leaned over her and Charlotte used her hand and helped push him inside of her. She wrapped her legs around him and they made love. She closed her eyes and the mental orgasm turned into a physical one as her whole body shook with pleasure. They sealed the deal. Sean and Charlotte were now officially a couple.