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If my girlfriends knew about my plans to elope with Jonathan they wouldn’t be too surprised. However, if they knew my other secret, they’d be pissed and would stop speaking to me. It’s my secret, and I’d be pissed if one of my best friends had kept something like that hidden from me for over twenty years.
What’s my secret? All I’ll say is, I have the power to destroy one of the wealthiest families on the West Coast. That power could also cost me my life. But if pushed, that’s a risk I might be willing to take.
CHLOE
SO YOU WANT TO KNOW who I am. I like my privacy and inviting strangers into my personal space isn’t something I normally do. However, my friends talked me into doing this, so I’ll acquiesce. I’m Chloe Jacobs. I’d like to say my marriage to an idiot head is my secret, but it’s not. In fact, I’m looking for a support group for women like me. Smart women who have fallen prey to a tight behind, carved chest and a tongue and lips that…yes, I was weak. But in my defense, he caught me at a weak moment, at least that’s what I keep telling myself.
As I was saying, I know my husband’s an idiot head, and I think I’ve done a good job of keeping it a secret. However, there are days when I want to hire the Goodyear blimp or buy a commercial during the Super Bowl, and share it with the world.
I have no one but myself to blame for my situation. There have been a couple of men in my life that I truly loved. The first was my college sweetheart, Benny. I still get tingles when I think about him.
Benny and I had a strange relationship. We only dated during the summer. He was not what my parents wanted for me, but he was what I wanted. You know the story, rich girl sees the not rich boy and they fall in love. I spent two months every summer at my grandfather’s place in North Carolina. Benny’s family sent him down to help his grandparents with their farm. I met him in town and that was it.
We made a pact to spend two months together every summer. We agreed there would be no questions about relationships that happened while we were apart. The summer after my senior year, when I went to visit my grandfather, Benny wasn’t there. His grandfather had died and his grandmother sold the farm and moved away. So I never knew what happened to him. He was my first and no, that’s not my secret. I also believe he was my great love, and I’ve been trying to find what I had with him in every man since. I often wonder what happened to Benny.
In a poor attempt to get over my broken heart, I spent the next couple of years goofing off and being a typical rich kid. My father got tired of my behavior and threatened to cut me off. I settled down, got involved in the family business and started dating someone from my childhood, Xavier Randall.
After a few years of dating, Xavier and I got engaged. On paper he was perfect...model good looks, an affluent family, and good upbringing. He had an excellent career as an attorney in his father’s law firm. His mother chaired all the prestigious committees and was very well-connected socially. Among those in our circle, it had always been assumed we were the “perfect” couple, destined for marriage. Honestly though, we were the most perfect imperfect couple. Only one of us was in the relationship for love and it wasn’t Xavier.
It’s sad when you’re in love with someone and they aren’t in love with you. It always makes you feel like you’re less than competent. Like you’re incapable of making good decisions. At least that’s how I felt. Xavier always said he loved me, and I foolishly took him at his word. Why wouldn’t I? It’s not like he had given me any reason not to believe him. That is, until March 28th, six and a half years ago.
We were at a dinner party for one of Xavier’s biggest clients when a woman walked over and introduced herself to me as the mother of his three-year-old twin boys. Who would have thought this white bread, safe man, had a side piece? I know I didn’t.
When I confronted him, he admitted he was only involved with me because his father said it would be good for business. The line in the sand had been drawn. You only get one shot at making a fool out of me. I went back to the party and made a toast announcing the end of our engagement. I gave the ring back and left. My friend Taylor said I should have kept the ring. I considered it, but I didn’t want a lasting reminder of my incompetence lying around. Besides, the way his parents looked at him when I made my announcement, gave me the impression, he was going to need every cent he could get his hands on.
So I did what most broken-hearted people do. I threw myself into my work. I went to Vegas to view some properties, meet with investors and celebrated my new found freedom. And, that’s where I made an even bigger mistake.
Once I had completed my business, I decided to indulge a little…enjoy my single status. Instead of going to the spa like I should have, I went shopping at the Forum Shops at Caesar’s. I really should have gone home. I bumped into the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. Average height, with skin like caramel, a tight behind, goatee, and the most beautiful dark brown eyes I’d ever seen. When he smiled, I forgot all about my lying, cheating ex-fiancé.
Mr. Caramel Delight was there with his friends for a bachelor party weekend. I smiled, he smiled, and less than forty-eight hours later we were standing at a chapel saying, “I Do", but to who? All I knew about this man was his name was Orlando I wasn’t too sure about his last name...Jones, Martin, Williams…oh yeah, Kingston. That’s right, my new name, if I choose to use it, is Kingston.
Orlando Kingston is my trifling, gold digging, idiot head husband. What the crap was I thinking? Unlike my ex-fiancé, he’s horrible on paper. If I didn’t love him, I would have left a long time ago.
I’m not sure what happened, but things changed ,and not for the better. Instead of the loving, compassionate, impulsive and sensitive man I married, he’s become selfish, trifling, lazy and inconsiderate. Coupled with an unhealthy jealousy toward my ex-fiancé, he’s getting on my nerves.
Considering the commitment both our families have to local charity work, it’s to be expected we’d run into Xavier.. I don’t need to be constantly questioned about my past relationship and asked if I’m happy I married him. The more he asks, the more I know he doesn’t want me to answer that question.
Yes, Xavier was a lying, cheating, son of a…I digress. When I see Xavier, I don’t remember the lies he told or that he cheated on me. I don’t think about his side piece and children, or his scheming family. All I remember is the first time we kissed. Even now, I still get chills when I remember the first time he kissed me. He may have been a liar, not much for public displays of affection, and once we got engaged he stopped going to church, but he sure knew how to kiss. He knew where that sweet spot is that makes my toes curl.
Looking back, I think I knew something was wrong with Xavier, but I was caught up in the excitement of being engaged. I didn’t want to see what was really going on. So when I met Orlando...and in that brief period he said and did all the things Xavier didn’t, I thought...I mean who goes to church while they’re on vacation in Vegas, unless they’re getting married. He held my hand during the service and didn’t flinch, and when he wasn’t ashamed to kiss in public, I thought he was the one.
Now I’m right back in the same game but with a different opponent. I should have known there was a problem when Orlando missed my father’s birthday party. He and my father get along, which already gave him an edge over Xavier. But when he didn’t show up and gave no reason, I was a little suspicious. I blew it off because I knew I had the power in the relationship, and whatever he may have been up to would go away, like a yeast infection.
Well, I was wrong. This time it’s more like hives always popping up at the most inappropriate time. He thinks because I haven’t said or done anything, that I’m fine with his behavior. Well, he needs to ask somebody, because that’s not so. I’m trying to figure out my next move. I have thought about poisoning him, but that could get messy. I’m seriously thinking about asking my cousin, Butch, for a little assistance. He’s the one I call when I need special help...and Orlando is very special.
In a perfect world, I would go back in time to the day before I met Orlando, and take myself to the spa or better yet, I’d come home. Either option would have prevented me from meeting Orlando. At least that’s what I like to think. Who knows, maybe meeting him was my destiny. Maybe I was supposed to spend the past six and a half years of my life tied to this man.
It all sounds logical, but the reality is, this relationship was my fault. God, how could I have been such an idiot head? The next time, I see a good-looking man with eyes like coal, a carved chest, a tight behind and an en
ticing smile, I’m running in the other direction…after I stare at him a little while.
Now I’m faced with the results of my lust-filled actions and I haven’t got a clue about what to do.
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Most people say they regret their high school days or barely remember their college years. I think that all depends on what school you went to. I didn’t go to a party school. I went to a conservative college in the South…that I made work for me. I made sure all of my professors and teachers were men, and I always flirted…subtly. I also made it a point to get on the VIP list at every happening spot in town.
