The Billionaire's Getaway Tryst

~Chapter 25~

Once the party was at its full fledged state, I strongly suggested to Skye that we split up to find the Rick hyena guy. He wasn't ready to oblige but I stood rooted to the ground, not budging with my decision either.

Skye must have gotten the hint that I needed my space because he went the other way. It was true. I needed this space. I needed to stay away from him for the time being.

The revelation inside my brain gave me the jitters and I just wanted to close my eyes to forget everything. All of it.

Finding a lone wall, I leaned against it and looked up at the sparkling chandelier on the ceiling. It was really attractive and I found myself studying it absent-mindedly. Its precision, intricacy and all the stuff dangling on it.

After gazing upwards for a really long time, I averted my vision and looked ahead. When I did, I saw Skye waving at me frantically. It was then that I noticed him with another man. His protruding belly gave me an idea of who he was.

I quickly walked toward them, fisting my huge dress and faced Rick just as I reached them. "He's telling me that our guy's not here," Skye informed me, not beating around the bush. "He bailed out at the last minute."

"But why?!" I all but shouted. When I received some odd looks, I sent them all an apologetic smile. "Why?" I whispered angrily this time.

Rick, who seemed like he managed to assemble all different types of clothing to wear for this event, looked almost frustrated. He stood out like a sore thumb.

"Because he got the whiff that you'll be attending. Wait a minute. If you're Valerie then why are your pictures on the internet captioned as "April Glow"?" Rick asked dubiously.

I stilled because I forgot to pretend like April at that moment. What was even more agitating was that my pictures as April were already being circulated everywhere. I can already imagine the newspapers with our pictures together as well.

I started breathing normally again when I felt Skye's hand wrapping around mine comfortingly. "That's because she is April Glow. I told her everything about what happened."

"Seriously?" Rick scrunched his nose as if disgusted. "You really want me to believe that? I am a journalist. We are professional liars. You gotta be a better liar than that. Besides, I'd seen you staring at your ladylove the other day-" He smirked at me. "-and that's the same way you've been staring at her," he finished, satisfied before pointing at me.

"What way?"

"Stop with your nonsense!"

Skye soon followed after me and we both glanced at each other.

"Ooh, this is gonna be something juicy for me again," Rick spoke up, drumming his fingers together and giving us a nasty look.

"Go ahead, Rick. I bet you'd want the whole world to know about your pervy fantasies and the types of pictures you click," Skye gritted and I stared at him with wide eyes.

Eww, I thought and took a few steps away to keep my distance from the disgusting hyena and clung more onto Skye.

"Wh-what?" He stuttered, all the color draining from his face.

"You heard me." Skye smirked and fished something out from inside his suit jacket and flashed it in front of his face. He was about to sneakily snatch it but Skye was quicker and pocketed it again. "Ah-ah, not so fast."

"What the hell, man?! Please!" Rick looked frantic now with the way his huge, bulbous eyes shifted back and forth from Skye to me.

"No and if you reveal the truth to anyone that she's Valerie," Skye said before pausing for a second. Wrapping an arm around my waist, he pulled me to his side and continued, "Then I won't hesitate to put you behind the bars. Remember, it'll even squash your Pulitzer dreams."