~5~

~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Laurel~

I waited.

Slowly his eyes fluttered open and the first thing he did was push me and I fell to the ground, hitting my head to the floor.

"You had dust under that table, didn't you?" He asked, getting up to his feet.

I got up to my feet, holding my hand to my head. "Is that a way to say thank you, Kurt?"

"Don't you dare call me that."

"At least I got to know what I wanted to know." I said with a smirk.

"You'd stoop this low?"

"I'd stoop lower to get anything I want. You said my name didn't ring a bell. But I can tell that you even remember the very first day we met."

"You made the biggest mistake by doing this, Laurel. You could have killed me."

"Then you would have died. Men like you die, Kurt Kenton." I moved closer to him. "What are you so afraid of? Why don't you admit that you still have those feelings for me?"

"Feelings? What feelings?"

"You remember me very well, Kurt. And it's no coincidence that you bought an organization that has a partnership with me. It is no coincidence that you were at that club that day. Neither was it a coincidence that we saw each other again at that hotel. You're spying on me aren't you?"

"Spying?"

"Spying on me? To know how I've been?" I gave out a sinister laugh. "You're forgetting something, Kurt. I am a lie detective. And I can tell you, you're lying."

"Let's just say that I remember you, Laurel. What has that got me? What are you to me?"

"That's what I don't understand. What am I to you?"

"An irrelevant, selfish and inconsequential liability. You're not even a necessity. You're doing this all for yourself. You think you're some hot shot celebrity? Allow me to break it down for you, you're not. You're just a shadow of your friends, tailing along them with their bags all on your shoulders."

"You're wrong Kurt, you're the one tailing behind your old self. You're the liability! And you know the best part? I hate you with every fiber of my being." Tears welled up in my eyes. "You used me and you didn't even care. You dumped me and then you locked me off your life, just like that." I let the tears roll down my eyes freely.

"You told me to trust you. And I even though I didn't want to, I blindly did. Because you, Kurt, you mattered more to me than anyone ever did back then. And all I wanted to bring you out of the dark. Out of your own misery. When your mother died, I wanted to reach out to you and maybe find a way for you to be happy again."

"I can never be happy Laurel, I'm doomed to be this type of man forever."

"You're wrong. Everyone deserves a chance to be happy. Everyone deserves happiness in life. You're the one not embracing it. Because you've found shelter in this shell of yours. Locking out everyone and commanding everyone as you please."

"I was born this way."

"Yes but you changed! You changed so much!" I said in sobs. "You think you're the only one who feels this way? What about me? I may wear a happy face everyday but underneath, you could see the sadness slowly tearing me apart."

He stared at me for a few seconds before turning and walking to the door. I slumped on the floor as more tears clouded my eyes. He halted and stared at me again and before I could even register what was happening, Kurt lifted me from the ground harshly and crashed his lips against mine.

It was unexpected but it was fire. I pressed my body into him and snaked my arms around his neck, taking control of the kiss. I had wanted to kiss him ever since the very first day I saw him again. I wanted to know what his lips tasted like. If they tasted like they used to taste. Although I missed his taste but he was nothing like the boyish Kurt I used to know. This one was a fine male specimen that tasted so addictive and so alluring. So sweet and at the same time, he tasted more like mayhem. Disrupted mayhem.

Kurt pushed me hard against the wall and I wrapped my legs around his torso as he grinded his hardness into me. I gasped when he bit my lip and soothed it with his tongue at the same time. He tore his mouth away from me, and feasted on my neck, nipping my sensitive skin and that even made me moan louder. I quickly got hold of his jacket and tried shoving it off him but he got hold of my hands and placed them above my head, driving me into crazy pleasure.

When he brought his gaze back on mine, I saw the fire in his eyes. A hidden monster?

His lips were swollen and his hair were all sticking out from different places. This was something more than sexual chemistry. It was too raw, too primitive to be called sexual lust.

He trailed his thumb along my bottom lip and I gasped when I felt the sharp sting on my lips.

"You know one thing I hate, Laurel?"

I shook my head, incapable of forming a coherent sentence.

"You." He dropped me hardly on the floor. "You taste just like them."

I frowned at the harshness of his words. Who the fuck was them? Was Kurt lying? Has he been keeping himself with other women in these past years?

"A woman incapable of keeping herself wholly, is a woman incapable of feeling a man's touch. Almost like a bird without its wings, and women like you aren't worthy of it. At least you got what you wanted now. Stay the hell away from me." He said and walked out of my apartment.

I sat down numbly on the ground.

Once again, I've been used. And you know the funny part of it, the fact that I enjoyed every little bit of it.

What are you doing to me, Kurt Kenton?"

~

A month later...

"Laurel Hyde! Laurel Hyde! An autograph please! Laurel! Laurel! A smile for the camera please! Laurel! Laurel! Laurel! Laurel! Laurel Hyde! Miss Hyde..... please!...." All their shouts faded into thin air as I got into the awaiting car and it zoomed off.

"Good thing for you to pick up." I said, turning to face Liam who was seated beside me. He had willingly volunteer to pick me up from the airport after the completion of my movie.

"No thank you?" He said, grinning widely. When I made a face he brushed it aside, "Keep it."

I smiled, squeezing his hand tightly. "Do you think I did well?"

"You did. But you kinda appeared lost during some of the lines."

Kurt.

He was to blame for everything. I couldn't stop thinking about the kiss we shared weeks ago. How terrific and chaotic it was. And every time I think about, I would feel a pool of heat between my thighs. Even now, the feeling was there.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh?"

"You're making that face that you usually make whenever you're thinking about one of those kisses you made with some of the men you find, quite appealing."

I laughed. "You know me too much."

"And you should be lucky that you have a best friend like me. Come on," He took hold of my hand as the suddenly pulled off by the road.

"Are you crazy?! Where the hell are we going?" I said as he led me out of the car.

"Shopping, bills all on me."

~

"So how was one month in Paris?" Liam asked me as we were seated in the living room of one of his numerous mansions, here in Seattle.

I threw a popcorn into my mouth." Boring. As usual."

"Hmm, acting has never been boring to you. It's making me wonder what's changed. So aren't you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

"Kurt."

"Wait a second. You mean that Kenton guy from years ago?"

"Yeah. He's back. And I think he might be making everything more worse than I imagined."

"You didn't see for him ten whole years and now he's back? And worse, he's making an appearance in your life?"

"Yeah, he own LAGS now."

"Kurt fucking Kenton?! Bought LAGS?"

"You aren't the only one who's surprised. Even till this day, I still am. He's even buying more expensive buildings than LAGS."

"Shocking I see. So..what does he want?"

"I don't know. I don't care." I said munching my food slowly.

"Then why do you look as if he's on your mind right now?"

"We kissed."

We were always that way with each other. Straight to the point. Liam kind of understood me better than Wesley. If it were to be Wesley, I wouldn't have admitted it so easily.

"Wait...you and Kurt kissed? After all those years?" He said amusedly.

"Yeah."

"How is that even possible? When you're done with a man, you're done with the man. You never go back to him, so how is that even possible?"

"Maybe because we did share something similar together, then."

"So you two kissed? That man that doesn't have any joking bone in his body. That man that's always so grumpy?"

I glared at him. " Yeah."

"Did you tell him? Did you tell him tha--"

"Are you crazy Liam?! There's no fucking way I'm telling him that. I didn't tell him when I had her, what makes you think I'll tell him now that's she's no longer with me?"

"Yeah you're right." He got up from the sofa and stood in front of me. "Word of advice?"

I rolled my eyes. "Keep it."

"But I'll still say it either way." He said and squatted, rubbing my kneels in circles. "Fate has a dangerous way of playing games Laurel. You just may never know."

"Shut up."

"I said it anyway. I'll go take my bath now." He said, as he stood up to his feet.

"Yeah do that."

Liam was right. Somehow, I'll still have to limit my visits to Midvale. I can't risk getting caught. Not now, not ever.

~

Midvale, Utah. California.

I knew she heard me because the moment I got out of the car and handed my sunglasses to my driver, the door flung open and she ran out, running straight into my arms. Sometimes I'll tell myself not to hug her, not to get too close to her, but at the end of the day, it's the opposite.

"I missed you, godmother." She said as soon as I dropped her on the ground and squatted beneath her."Did you get me that story book you promised?"

I made a sad face. "I'm sorry, Mira, I couldn't find that book of yours."

She lowered her head and played with her fingers then bit them. "Mama's never going to get me that story book. She'll say it's an unnecessary thing for me in school. She'll say it's a fairytale thing and tales aren't real."

"She'll say that?"

"Yes, godmother."

I smiled then signaled to my driver. In less than ten seconds, he had gotten the package out of my car and handed it over to Mirabelle. She tore the package open and squeaked up excitedly, her long brown hair with blond streaks, flying in the air as she danced. She crashed her body on mine and murmured out something.

"I love you godmother, thank you for this gift."

Actually she deserved it. Just when she withdrew herself again and concentrated on her book, I saw some faint purple bruises on her face. My heart skipped a beat when I saw some other bruises down her arms.

"Belle, what happened to you?"

Her blue eyes immediately went pale. She didn't reply so I had to ask again. "Belle! What happened to you?"

Just then the door creaked open and Vivian Benoist, her adoptive mother came out.

I got up to my feet immediately. "Vivian, what the hell happened to Belle? Why are there so many bruises on her body?" I asked, worried beyond words. Just then again, I caught slight bruises on her face too. "What the hell happened to the both of you?! Can you just tell me what the hell happened?"

"It's getting worse, Laurel."

"What's getting worse?"

"Andre. He's been drinking non-stop ever since he gambled his ranch away. After that, he'll come home and make Mirabelle do a lot of hard work. Work that are too hard for her age. And when she sometimes hesitate or do it slowly and gradually, he'll hit her hard. Hit her so hard that I always had to interfere and stop him from hurting her. But then, he'll hurt me too."

"What?" I creaked out.

How dare Andre?

I sighed, trying to keep my anger at Bay. "How long has this been going on?"

"Four months now."

"Four months?!" I nearly screamed. "He had been hurting her for four months and you didn't even bother to tell me about it?"

"Godmother, please don't be mad at mama." Mirabelle said softly. I lowered my gaze to hers. "She's only doing this to protect papa. And don't be mad at papa too, he's only upset that he lost his ranch. He didn't mean to hurt me on purpose. Infact papa didn't mean to hurt us. Please don't be mad at him. Don't send him to prison, godmother."

"What?"

"I heard that's where they keep bad people that go against the law and sometimes hurt other people. But papa isn't bad. He didn't mean to hurt me... please godmother."

Oh my God. Why didn't I notice this  before? When she become so attached to that monster? When did she start defending him like this?

"Mira, I think you should go play. Or rather go check out your book." I pointed to a tree shade just in front of their house. "Go sit there. I'll have a talk with your mother."

"Promise you won't scold her? Pinkie swear?" She held out her pinkie finger for me.

Goodness. I sighed, taking her small finger into mine. " Pinkie swear. Now go play."

"Yes godmother." She said and ran off.

I turned to face Vivian. "I think I might need an explanation."

"Sure. I'll tell you everything. You have a right to know. After all, she's your daughter too."

 

    ~~~~~~

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