Bird

xxix

"Are you sure about this?I must love you a lot to be in on this stupidity", Ash complained as we parked down the street from William's nightclub,he owns a bunch of them but Blue Ice was his favorite. It is exclusive and not everyone can get in.

"Trust me if it were up to me I wouldn't be here",I said and took a deep breath. I'm doing this for Merce,who knows maybe if he knows about his daughter the anger and resentment he has towards me will disappear.

It has to, I'm sure there is still love for me somewhere within him. This is the last chance I'm giving myself,if at the end of today if William and I don't sort out the misunderstanding between us, then I'll just accept that this is a type of love one experiences once in a lifetime. But for the sake of our daughter I hope we can work things out.

A friend I used to work with works as security at the nightclub and he was going to let us in.

We walked to the front of the line, ignoring other people's remarks of displeasure and some cat calls from some guys.

"Hey Frank",I called and he lifted the red rope for us to get in.

"Ladies. You certainly look gorgeous tonight",he complimented and gave me a hug.
He escorted us all the way to the VIP area and we began looking for William.
As my eyes searched through the people,I suddenly locked eyes with Kate who had just walked up the stairs. She squinted her eyes and stormed towards me.

"Are you stalking me!", she demanded.

"Don't flatter yourself sweetie", Ash said.

"I'm calling security to throw you out, you just don't give up do you? I won't let you anywhere near William you little bitch!",she spat.

" Why? because you're scared he'll come running back to me",I said in a taunting tone.

She grabbed a glass and splashed the contents on me.I reached for her hair but before I could drag her across the floor, someone held my arms and shook them off her "that's enough!", William warned.

"William call security and throw her out!", Kate screamed and launched for me.
William acted fast and put me behind him.
"Enough or I'll throw the both of you out",he warned.

" But William she's the one that attacked me",Kate complained " I'm your fiance you should side with me and protect me not this woman that cheated on you!",

The music had been cut off and now everyone was looking at us.
William's face changed and I could see his jaw tick as he turned to look at me " what are you doing here Bird?",

"I came to speak to you. Can we talk?", I asked.

I thought he was going to say no and have security send us out but instead he said to the other handsome man he came with that was watching Kate "Ryan send Kate out and have the driver send her home",

" What the hell are you doing William! You're picking this bitch over me?", She screamed and tried to attack me.
" Wait till Carolyn hears about this",she screamed as Ryan pulled her away.
William didn't say anything and just walked off but because he didn't have me thrown out I guessed that was my que to follow him. Ash and I followed him up a flight of stairs to another floor.

"If he says anything nasty just call for me and I'll tase his arse", she said showing me her lipstick taser as we stood in front of the door William had just entered.

I entered what seemed to be his office but not a typical office. It had a stripping pole and a mini bar .

"You really have no shame at all Raven, when will you understand that I will never forgive you ",he says and lights a cigarette, taking a long drag of it and filling the air with smoke.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and took a step closer.

"A few years ago… ..",

"A few years ago you cheated on me. What is there to explain? Is this why you wanted to talk to reminisce about the time you tumbled in the shits with another man?", He scoffed.

" No I …",I tried to explain

" No, what? Why are you here Raven? What the fuck do you want from me",

" William if you can only let me finish",

" Finish spitting out lies? There is nothing in this world that you can tell me that will explain why you slept with another man",

" William I love I would never do that to you, please you have to believe, it's Kate she must have drugged me",

" She would never do something like that,we all know what you want and it's money",he says and reaches behind him taking a stash of pounds and throwing them in my face. "Stopping wasting my time and take",

"I don't want your money much less money that I didn't work for",

" So you want to put a dignified name to it", he laughed " alright,strip",he said.

Why is it turning out this way,it is not going how I planned it nor the way I thought it would turn out.

"What are you? Surprised? isn't your body what you use to get what you want, using your body to entice rich men? Tell me Raven has Scott already had a taste of what is in between your legs? So,go on strip and if I still like it after all these years I'll double the amount", he said with ridicule in his eyes,I thought I was dreaming I couldn't believe these words were coming out of his mouth my ears must have been deceiving me. I suddenly snapped and I raised my hand, slapping him across the face, turning his head to the side.

"Why are you doing this? Let's say I did cheat on you. Does that warrant such treatment and hate from you?",I asked, ignoring the tingling in the palm of my hand and the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes.

" So you're finally accepting that you cheated on me"he says

" William I'm really tired of lying to myself", I sighed "it  hurts to know this is really how you feel and if Kate is the woman you want to be with then fine. But I hope when you come to regret how shitty you've treated me it won't be too late",I said and walked out of the door. I leaned there for some time trying to hold my tears back.

"How did it go?", Ash asked. I didn't have the strength to give her an answer so I just dejectedly shook my head and we walked out of the club while Ash threw profanities at William.