DDD 72
Two weeks and there was still no word from Deloise. Aaron was losing his mind, worried about her well-being. Stella on the other hand was losing it, trying to get Aaron to care about her.
Ever since the scandal, and Deloise disappearance from their lives, all efforts to get close to him failed miserably. She felt him slipping from her hands and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. They were irreparably out of sync and she made her mission to get back the former closeness and friendship they’d once shared.
To follow up her determination, Stella prepared herself in the sluttiest outfit and made her way to Aaron’s house. She didn’t call him, believing it would only doom her mission to failure.
She got to his house and it was locked. Knowing him, she looked into a plant beside his door and found a copy of his key hidden inside. Her face brightened as she unlocked the door and made her way inside the house.
As expected, the house looked prim and bare. It was hard to tell it was lived in other than the warmness of the apartment. An idea suddenly gripped her, and with a mischievous smile, she headed into his room and shut the door behind her.
Few hours later, Aaron gets home and feels surprised to see his lights on. Wary, he walked into his house, ready to take a swing at whatever burglar invading his property. The first thing that caught his sight was an awfully pink bag and coat hung in his living room.
Deloise?
He thought, and hastened towards his bedroom, half-expecting to see her. One push, and the door opened, the first thing he saw were clothes laid on the floor. His eyes followed the trail to meet the eyes of an unclad Stella, curled on his bed and reading what was supposed to be his next project.
“You’re back.” She said and sat up. “I’ve been waiting for so long.”
Her nakedness ate at his eyes, “What the hell has gotten over you?” he roared and she pouted,
“I’m sorry. I felt a little puffy and took some clothes off.”
“Get up, and get lost.” Aaron answered with a glance at the air conditioning.
Stella was unfazed. She took slow steps towards him with a mouthwatering smile, “Ron…” she called, reaching out to him. “Look at me, you know you want me. We are so perfect for each other, I’m perfect for you. Give me a chance to prove it, I could make you feel better than she ever did.”
He held her arm in a tight grip, “Don’t even think about it. I can’t believe you stooped so low… Get out.”
“I can’t… Can’t you see? Can’t you see how crazy I am about you..” She breathed and latched onto him, “tell me you don’t feel the same, tell me you don’t feel this too.”
“All I see is a crazy woman who can’t seem to take a hint.” he gritted, “I won’t repeat myself- pack up your shit and leave.”
He pushed her aside and she lost it.
“What is wrong with you? Huh?! What the hell is your problem?!” she caught his arm, “Is it about that wench? Is it about that slut?”
Aaron saw red, “Talk about her in a disrespectful way one more time and you’ll be doing the walk of shame out of my apartment.”
“What’s going on here?” A feminine voice said from the door.
Stella’s eyes narrowed, and shame clouded her face, “E-Ellen?” she stuttered and grabbed her clothes from the floor.
Aaron held his head in exhaustion, “Just great..” he muttered, unable to find the nerve to be nice, “how did you get here? Is there some get together I wasn’t invited to or-”
“I see you are busy.” Ellen said with a frown, “I’ll be outside while you sort yourselves out.”
“No need for that, I was on my way out.” Stella gritted, now dressed, but Ellen was already out. “You are such a whore,” she said to Aaron, scorned. “Didn’t wait a second before you hopped on the next woman, did you?”
Aaron slipped his hands into his pockets, “Get out.”
“Get over yourself.” she hissed. ”You will regret this. I promise.”
Stella stomped out of the house without a look at Ellen who sat on the cushion, playing on her phone. She gritted at the thought of another woman having eyes on what’s hers and vowed to ruin him for everyone else if she couldn’t have him.
Aaron comes out of his room, and meets Ellen in his living room. “I thought we agreed never to see each other again?” His tone was hard and clear.
“I’m sorry.”
He didn’t see that coming.
“I apologize for the last time. I admit to being a little bit… snarky.” she finished, “I’ll get out of your hair now. Have a great day.”
Ellen leaves without a glance back, while he watches her with curiosity on what she had up her sleeves.
*****
“I want them up before nighttime.” Stella ordered over the phone.
“Are you sure you want to do this ma’am? Your face is well in view.”
“The more reason you need to do it. Don’t keep me waiting.” She hung up after speaking and let her phone drop to her lap.
Three seconds later, she got notified of an article published by a top grossed celebrity gossip site. She smirked at the pictures of her and Aaron cuddled up in bed and the accompanying news of his identity as an illegitimate son.
She knew it was a bit too far but she meant it when she decided to ruin him for every other person if she couldn’t have him. This move was smart as well as devious.
It was an open show of the relationship they shared, aimed at warding off any bimbo who had eyes on her man- alongside a card to get back at him for making her go through this lengths.
Before the close of the day, Aaron took the spotlight in the news. His identity as the illegitimate son of Mr. Steele took the stage as people threw their opinions on the revelation.
Much more than that, the subject of the identity of his mother kicked off, and everyone wanted to know the woman who shared a child with his billionaire father outside wedlock.
The days following were hell to Aaron. With his business out in the open, he couldn’t leave his house and continually subjected himself to reading, hearing and watching out for what the world had to say about him and his family.
Whoever did this had it out for him. Linking him to the very people he avoided in such a scandalous way didn’t go down well with him. In his days of isolation, he pondered on who could have hated him so much to do such damage to his person.
Two people- Deloise and Stella.
With Stella’s nudity making the frontpage, he leaned more towards Deloise- who refused to pick his call, or reach out to him in well over a month. She also happened to be the only person he slipped up to about his identity.
It was clear how stupid it was to have done that now.
Aaron prepared himself for Mr. Austin’s arrival. They were supposed to discuss ‘matters’ and he was planted in front of his television when the knocks came. He got up with a sigh and opened the door.
“Welcome.” He said in a bored tone.
“I feel very welcomed, Aaron.” Mr Austin walked in with a smile. “And you look like shit.”
“Great to know I look exactly the way I feel.” he returned to his seat, “How do we fix this? I want my name off the net.”
“Slow down. It’s been what? Three days?”
“It feels like years. I can be on the news for everything else, everything but this.”
“I can understand that, but we don’t get to pick on what they talk about.”
“Then let me be the first.”NôvelDrama.Org: text © owner.
“What are you talking about?”
“Give them something else to talk about. Something more interesting than my fucked up family tree.” he pointed, “Anything- anything but this will be fine.”
“Let’s get this straight. You are willing to offer yourself on a platter of gold to get the public to stop talking about this. Like, willingly giving yourself to another scandal to get this over with?”
“Damn right.”
“Okay. Weird, but reasonable.” Mr. Austin chuckled, “You have perfect timing.”
“What do you mean?”
“Coincidentally, I got an offer that would do just that.” He explained, “Ellen Parker wants a contract relationship with you for two years. Her people reached out to me a few days back. I didn’t bother telling you, seeing it isn’t on your list of taking over the world, but in retrospect, I don’t see a more perfect distraction.”
“How about Deloise?”
“What about her?”
“We signed a contract.” He reminded pointedly,
“That ended with the scandal. You are free to do whatever.”
“Where do I sign