Not Friends

Promise.

"Bethany." I fold my arms over my chest.
"I must be one lucky woman to get a visitation from Bethany Palmer herself." I smile sarcastically.

She doesn't smile back. She actually looks...vulnerable?

"I'm sorry this was...this was a bad idea." She starts walking out but I stop her.

"Wait Beth. What's wrong?" I frown at her.

She looks up at me with sad, teary eyes.
"It's Mark..." She sobs and I embrace her, rubbing my hand on her back to soothe her.

"Let's head inside." I say and we head up to my penthouse.

Once we get inside, I ask for Valentino to her a bottle of water in the fridge which he gracefully does.

I lead her to the living and we take a seat on the couch.
"Okay now, Beth. What's going on?" I softly ask.

"He's cheating on me." She sniffs as the tears continue flowing.

Honestly this is hard for me because I always knew that Mark was a cheater. I even know who he's cheating with but I won't tell her.

"Oh honey." I try to sympathize with her. "I'm so sorry. What are you going to do now." I hand her the bottle of water and she takes it.

"I don't know. I have nothing. I don't work because he never wanted me to work and my family disowned me because they didn't approve of him and I went on and married him like the idiot I am..." She sobs further.

I honestly feel sad for her.
I don't know what it's like to be in her position but I have an idea.

"I'm so stupid..." She takes a sip of her water. "You know he's done this multiple times and each time I forgave...but...I can o-only ta-take so much." I pull her into a hug and let her tears dampen my shirt.

"Oh Bethany. You weren't supposed to keep up with that shit the first time."

"I was just so blinded by love that...I kept staying. And now...he's the one who wants...a divorce." She cries harder.

"Then you divorce him. You take nothing but your kids and what's left of dignity." She pulls from the hug and looks at me with swollen eyes.

"And where do I go? I have no money with me and the people I thought were my friends are nowhere to be found."

"You come here to New York. I have a new hotel opening up in Toronto in a few months and I need a manager. The job is yours if you're willing to move over there. You get a penthouse suite to live in with your children." I find myself offering.

It's true that I don't have a manager yet but I don't even know if she's experienced or why I even want to help her because all she's done was be a bitch towards me.

"Why would you help me like that. You're basically saving me from my broken world." She looks at me with her red puffy eyes.

"Because I don't feel it's fair for the people you trusted to turn their backs on you when you're at your most vulnerable times-"

"But all I've done is be a bitch towards you." She debates.

"Yeah but you can't fix a wrong with a wrong. I mean...your pregnant and going through this shit. I don't think it's fair for me to leave like this all because high school shit." She pulls me into a tight hug.

"Thank you so much. I thought I had friends until now...until you." She mumbles into my shoulder.

Bethany stays for a while before I accommodate her in a guestroom in my penthouse.

Tino and I head to down to the restaurant downstairs to have a meal to ourselves in silence.

"What you did back there for Beth-"

"It's nothing. I just...she's pregnant and I can't let go through such with her condition." I explain.

"You're amazing, you know that." He says with so much seriousness and I blush.

I clear my throat. "How about we discuss our schedules so that we never have a stupid arguement over work and traveling again." I say and he nods.

"How many times will you have to travel in the next two months?"

"A lot. I have to meet up with chefs, interior designers for the restuarant and a couple of investors for my other hotels." I admit honestly and he frowns.

"Can't you like limit the traveling because I don't think it's good for you to constantly be on your feet." I now frown.

"I'm afraid that's not possible-" He cuts me off before I finish.

"Then make it possible Harley-" I then cut him off.

"The fuck you mean, make it possible? This is my job. An empire which I built, I can't put that on hold. Business does not wait for anybody and you should know that-" He cuts me off again.

"Harley you're pregnant. With not one but two babies. You have to make a plan to limit your traveling. First trimester is when you're more prone to miscarriages." He states and I stay silent.

He sighs. "Look I'm not trying to control your or anything but I just want us to be very careful at times like this." He holds my hand over the table. "I want this. I want the babies and I want them with you." My heart skips a few beats and I render speechless.

"Tino...I." I'm speechless.

"Please...please just be careful. Promise me you'll be more careful throughout this pregnancy." He stares at me with those hypnotic greens that always catch off guard.

"Promise me." He pleads.

A moment passes by and I nod my head.
"I promise."