Chapter 42: Chapter 42

Bianca

It’d been days since the scandal broke—days since Bianca had last seen Gio and an eternity since she’d last kissed his lips. She hadn’t even been able to say goodbye properly. What was worse was that this could go on for much longer.

Both Bianca and Gio had assumed that the story would die down soon enough. Not only had it not calmed down but they were turning it into a full-blown soap opera. The paparazzi were relentless in their pursuit of a statement from any of the three parties involved in the, now internationally talked about, love triangle. Because they were all Hispanic, even the Spanish tabloids had gotten in on it.

Bianca dropped the only class she’d taken on campus that spring because the once respectful photographers and sleazy journalists were on her now, as Nana so nicely put it, “like flies on shit.”

Gio had since been fined for flinging one photographer’s camera across the 5th Street gym parking lot. They were forced to lay low for now. The media wanted nothing more than to get more of the story that had everyone talking. At first, Bianca didn’t understand why it was such a huge deal, but then she remembered Andy. Felix’s publicist always said any publicity was good publicity. Felix’s fight was just weeks away, and Andy was probably loving the media circus surrounding Felix. If she didn’t know any better, Andy was probably working around the clock to keep refueling the story himself. If she was right, this wouldn’t die down at least until after Felix’s fight two weeks from today. Bianca groaned at the thought that it might be that long until they could be together again.

Nana and her mother who’d, as expected, been upset about the dangerous situation she’d put herself in, were over it now. She knew they’d understand that she would’ve never even considered doing something like this unless she was crazy in love. Her mother even offered up her theory on why this had happened. It was simply meant to be. Bianca thought about that a lot. It made perfect sense—all the unlikely circumstances that led them to one another.

As usual, Nana had managed to shock her into silence when she told her she’d seen the twinkle in that boy’s eyes way back when he’d first been in the shop. Nana said that was the reason she made her comment about Felix being a fool to leave Bianca alone with such a good looking boy. Needless to say, neither her mom nor her grandmother were too surprised about how things turned out.

Having already been forced to drop her only class that semester, and most infuriatingly being forced to stay away from Gio, Bianca refused to let the media frenzy dictate any other part of her life. So when Nana suggested she take some time off and stay home so she wouldn’t have to be hounded as much, Bianca adamantly refused.

She drove up the street toward the shop. Her grandmother had since made sure the paparazzi knew they weren’t welcome anywhere near her property, which included the parking lot, but they knew the law. As long as they stayed out of the parking lot, they could still stake out the place from the street.

On top of the usual photographers’ parked cars she’d become familiar with, there was a news van today. A reporter stood facing the camera, speaking into the microphone as if she were covering some important news story. “Oh, give me a break,” Bianca muttered as she drove past the reporter and into the shop’s parking lot.

Both she and Gio had agreed to stop reading or watching any of the ridiculous tabloids. Each day they came up with another twist to the story that as far as she was concerned was over. She wasn’t even able to see him now. How could there be any more to add? She’d made Toni promise again to keep anything new she heard to herself. Bianca didn’t need to know even one more stupid unfounded detail of what they were saying.

She heard the cameras as the photographers stood in the street, blatantly snapping away. Why the hell they wanted more photos of her walking into her grandmother’s shop was beyond her. As she had all week, and unlike Gio, she refrained from flipping them off.

To her complete surprise, Felix was waiting for her inside. The last time she’d heard from him was the morning he found out. He’d obviously been furious, because both texts were utter filth—the F bomb among other outrageous accusations. When Toni had gone to pick up Bianca’s things from Felix’s place, she hadn’t even been allowed on the property. Felix had one of the drivers meet her at the gate with a trunk full of Bianca’s belongings. The media had a field day, posting pictures of the very van from the incriminating “caught red-handed” photos driving up to Felix’s gate.

She stared at him speechless. No words, none at all, came to mind. She hadn’t bothered to prepare anything to say to him if she ever spoke to him again because she honestly thought she never would.

“Can we talk?”

Bianca glanced at her mother and Nana who stood behind the counter. He’d obviously already spoken to them because they didn’t seem to have an issue with walking into the back room and leaving her alone with him in the otherwise empty shop.

Curious about what he could possibly have to say to her, Bianca nodded. She walked around behind the counter and waited.

“I wanted to apologize to you.”

Bianca kept her jaw from dropping open as she stared into Felix’s genuinely remorseful eyes. She shook her head unable to find the words.

“I was mad when I found out—real mad and hurt like hell—but I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I’m just glad I was too proud to call you. I didn’t want you to hear the hurt in my voice. I probably wouldn’t have even made it through the call the way I was feeling. You probably think I’m the biggest hypocrite in the world now. I should be . . . ” He took a deep breath and glanced away. “I should be the last person on earth who’d buy into the media crap, and maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I have to know. Is there any truth to what they’re saying?”

Bianca blinked, not understanding exactly what he was asking. “What they’re saying? They’re saying a lot of things, Felix. Most of it is all made up or assumptions, but those pictures . . . ” she gulped back the wave of guilt that threatened to drown her. No regrets. “The pictures were not doctored or anything if that’s what you’re asking me.”

“No, I know that. But I know I wasn’t completely honest with you before about Shelley, and now that she did the interview, I got to thinking maybe there is some truth to it. Maybe you did already know, and that’s what drove you to—”

“What are you talking about? Because just so you know, I haven’t watched or read any of it for days.”

His eyes went wide for a second before he recovered and stepped forward. “So you don’t know?”

Now she was getting annoyed. She’d gone out of her way to avoid hearing anymore of the madness, and now here was Felix, of all people, forcing her to hear what the latest stupid story was. But she had to admit she was curious. It was big enough to have him come see her. “No, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Shelley.” He scratched his head. “When I told you about having seen her again even after me and you had become exclusive, I didn’t tell you everything. You were so mad already, I was afraid to.”

Just like he had the day he confessed the first time, his eyes bounced all over the room before coming to rest on her. A few customers walked in, forcing them to pause their conversation.

Bianca smiled at them. “Someone will be right with you.”

Having heard the bells on the door, Nana was already out from the back. The customers stared at Felix, obviously recognizing him, and then their wide-eyed stares were on Bianca. Bianca motioned for Felix to follow her in the back. “Where did you park? I didn’t see any of your cars out front.”

“I came in through the back. They still saw me but didn’t have as good an angle as they would’ve had if I came in through the front.”

Bianca walked through the small storage room all the way to the back door and stuck her head out. If there were any photographers out there, they hid well, because she didn’t see any. But then there’d been plenty of photos of her where she’d clearly been oblivious to the photographers because she didn’t remember seeing any of them when those particular photos were taken. Those were the ones that crept her out the most.

She turned back to Felix. “You think any of them are out here?”

“If they are, don’t worry. My bodyguard is out there. They already know him. He does the same thing I saw Gio do to one of their cameras.”

Bianca had to laugh as she stepped outside, remembering the image Gio had downloaded and texted her of him hurling the guy’s camera clear across the parking lot. That was one of the last times either of them had checked or read any of the stories.

She turned back to Felix, ready to hear the rest of his story. It was odd that they both stood there smiling even if for just a fleeting moment. She crossed her arms, ready to finish this and cleared her throat. “So, you were saying?”

His wandering eyes started up again, wearing her patience thin. She didn’t want to be out here all day. “Shelley’s pregnant—with my kid.” Again Bianca held her jaw up, but it was harder this time. “I didn’t tell her she should have an abortion. I just said that at that time in my life I wasn’t ready for a kid. But that’s what the headlines everywhere are saying. And the only reason I didn’t tell her about you was because by the time I found out she was pregnant I’d already fallen for you hard. I was afraid she’d keep the baby just to spite me, and I treated her pretty badly—said some really nasty shit to her in hopes that she wouldn’t wanna have my kid, because I was scared to death of losing you. I broke it off completely, Bianca, I swear to you. You changed everything. You changed me. Everything was different with you—”

Bianca raised her hand. She’d heard enough. “Okay, you can spare me all the bullshit, Felix. None of that matters anymore now, does it? I honestly don’t care if you’ve changed or not. Just explain to me why you felt the need to come here and tell me all this now.”

He looked down at his feet and moved the snow around with the tip of his boot. Just another way to keep his eyes off hers. “You really didn’t know any of that?”

Bianca crossed her arms again and shook her head exasperated. “No, I didn’t Felix. What difference does it make now anyway?”

“Well, now that Shelley sold her story to the tabloids, they’re saying maybe you did this to get back at me. That maybe that’s why you and him aren’t even together anymore: you just wanted to hurt me like I hurt you.”

“What?” she gasped.

“And, and . . . ” he added quickly, his previously wandering eyes now fixed on hers. “If that’s true, then I deserve it, Bianca. I understand why you did it. It makes sense now why you stopped sleeping with me. I suspected you might know—even suspected you might be having some kind of flirtation with someone because of it, but I never imagined that you and Gio—”

“That is not why I did it,” she huffed. “Believe it or not, Felix, I never set out to deliberately hurt you. I can’t believe you would even think such a thing. It just happened.”

“Okay, okay.” Now he held out his hands. “Maybe it was just karma then. Maybe I just deserved to be hurt, which is what I was really thinking this whole time. I was a total dick with Shelley, but now that’s all out in the open.” He tilted his head. “And now that we’re even, maybe we can still work something out.” His eyes went all sad on her, and Bianca could barely believe what she was hearing. “I know after what I just told you, you probably don’t believe this anymore, but I really am in love with you. I would’ve never even considered trying to work something out with any other girl after something like this, but I’m telling you, with you, it’s different.”