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“My keys?” She holds out her hand as we descend the stairs.
“You won’t be needing them.”
“Are you making that decision for me?”
“You look beautiful,” I say, ignoring her question.
“Even with my tits not out?”
I open the door to her building, ushering her outside and into the back of the car. I don’t want to concern Oliver with our issues so the ride is quiet. “Give us just a moment,” I say to Oliver as he steps out of the car to open my door.
I turn to face Stella, reaching out to cup her cheek. “I’m sorry about how I handled things at the department store earlier, but tonight is important. It’s our first outing together so can we agree to smile and we can talk about our issues later?”
“Fine, but I want you to know we have a lot more to talk about than just earlier. I read the contract.” Her lips are set in a rigid line. “You want me to obey and submit and literally do everything you say?”
“So that’s what this is about?” I straighten my cuff link. “Well, first of all, you should have read the contract before you signed it; that’s on you, not me. Second, yes, that is exactly what I want you to do and what you will do.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Didn’t we have this conversation already, Stella?” There’s frustration in my voice and I do little to hide it. “If you don’t cooperate, the deal is off. You get no money, end of story.”
“That doesn’t seem fair. I signed because I’m agreeing to marry you and I fully plan to fulfill that duty and you can just what? Cancel the contract and dump me at any point if I’m not behaving how you prefer?”
I rub my forehead. “Jesus Christ. No, that’s not what I’m saying. If you want to play games and threaten me with acting out, then the deal is off; that’s what I’m saying. If you can obey me and for fuck’s sake not make something difficult, then this will work just fine. It’s not that hard, Stella.” Her mouth pops open, her eyes narrow but I grab her hand and lower my voice. “Now, put on a smile and fucking behave so we can go inside.”
I slide my arm around Stella’s waist once we exit the car, the material gliding beneath my fingers as I drag them around her hip to grip her as we walk inside. Her tits bounce with each step and she catches me looking.
“Something you want to say, Mr. Knight?” She keeps her gaze forward as we make our way through the lobby and into the large ballroom of The Peninsula Hotel downtown Chicago.
“Yeah, I was wrong about your tits looking better in the other dress.” I pull her against me tighter as we approach someone I want her to meet.
“Good evening, Tom, Mary.” I nod to the Jacobsons. Tom has been on the board at Knight Enterprises for over two decades and Mary was a close friend of my mother’s. “I wanted to introduce you to my girlfriend, Stella Porter.” I don’t give a rat’s ass about Tom or Mary’s opinions of me or Stella, but they’re exactly the kind of people who need to know that they’re important. Tom has a lot of sway with the board and Mary is known for running her mouth in our circles. So the sooner she gets to know Stella, the better.
“So wonderful to meet you both, I’ve heard so many great things.” Stella grabs Tom’s hand with both of hers, smiling sincerely. I haven’t told her a damn thing about anyone here. I look at her out of the corner of my eye. She turns to Mary and gives her a warm hug, complimenting her shoes. Instantly, they launch into small talk, Stella’s energy radiating from her. She’s the kind of person who immediately puts you at ease. I relax. Maybe convincing everyone this is legit won’t be so hard after all. With the way she already has Tom and Mary eating out of her hand, I don’t think it will take much convincing of people to understand why I married her so quickly.
“She’s something else,” Tom says with a chuckle as he steps away from his wife. “A spitfire.” He practically leers at her and I’m about to tell him to keep his eyes on his own fucking wife when he continues. “Don’t wait too long with a woman like that.” He nudges me and I smile, a shit-eating, fake-as-fuck smile.
Bingo, he put the thought in his own head.
“Trust me, I won’t.” I watch as Stella laughs and smiles with a few other women who have gathered around them. Mary introduces her to them; they too are instantly smitten with her charm. It isn’t just the people she’s speaking with that are enamored with her. I noticed the men standing at the door stare at her, the woman at coat check complimented her, every single straight man in this room has stolen more than one lingering glance at her tonight. I watch in jealousy, flagging a waiter down and ordering a scotch.
An ache forms in my chest as I watch her. These people don’t deserve to know her. Part of me wishes I could keep her locked away from people like them but then again, I’m like them. I stare down into my glass, swirling the scotch around a few times and taking another large gulp to finish it. When I look back at Stella, everyone has left but a woman is approaching her quickly. My ex, Eleanor. I almost trip over a waiter as I rush across the room. When I reach her, she’s just introducing herself.
“Hi, Eleanor. It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Stella, Atlas Knight’s girlfriend.” I practically bump into her as I grab her and pull her toward me. “Oh.” She laughs, giving me a confused look. “Here he is right now. Atlas, this is?—”
“Eleanor,” she interrupts Stella, delicately holding her hand out toward me. “So nice to meet you, Atlas.” She cocks her head to the side, a coy grin tugging at the corner of her lips. She looks a touch thinner than the last time I saw her, her eyes duller than normal too. I want to ask her if she’s okay, but I simply nod and take her hand. I glance at Stella out of the corner of my eye, her focus on how Eleanor is looking at me. I debate on clearing the air right now on who Eleanor is but figure it will only add to the stress of Stella’s and my situation for no reason. Eleanor and I are in the past.
“Pleasure’s all mine.” I turn to Stella. “Shall we?” I don’t wait for her to answer and usher her toward a far corner of the room away from everyone else.
“What was that about?”
“Nothing.” I shrug. “I just wanted to get away from everyone for a moment and see how you were doing.”
“I’m okay. Hey, do you know her or something?”
“Who?”
“That lady, Eleanor. She came up out of nowhere before you came over and introduced herself to me like she knew who I was or something.”
