Walk Away, The Romance of Nick and Layla (Part 1) (15 page)

"Well then let’s give them something
good to write about."

I looked up just as Nick placed a small,
black velvet box in front of me. What the?

"What is this?"

"Open it."

I took a quick glance around. People were
looking at us. Wanting to know what was in the box. Wanting their glimpses.

I looked back at the
jewelry
box and couldn’t help but smile. "I hope this isn’t an
engagement ring. Because I’m already married."

Nick smile and pushed his plate of food
away. "What a lucky man your husband must be."

"I hope he thinks so," I joked. I
picked up the box. But I didn’t open it. I looked up at Nick. "What is
this for?"

"You have to open it first." He
slid his chair over until he was sitting next to me. He was waiting for me to
open it. But I was hesitant.

Finally I did open it and was nearly
blinded. There, nestled in the safety of black velvet padding, sat the most
beautiful diamond ring I had ever seen in my life. A large, princess-cut yellow
diamond sitting perfectly on top of a gold band. And I was completely
speechless for the first time that night.

Nick picked up the ring with his fingers,
then took my right hand and slid it on my bare ring finger. "Layla Hudson,
it would mean the world to me if we could renew our wedding vows. Give us a new
start. A new start to another year of marriage. Only this time, together. No
separations. No screwing around. Just us."

I stared down at the ring, still
speechless. Nick wanted us to renew our wedding vows. That was the last thing
in the world I was expecting.

"And, just for the record, the entire
restaurant is staring at you right now, waiting for you to say something."

I looked up at Nick. His eyes were
twinkling and he had an easy smile on his face.

"Nick. Oh my god."

"What? Too yellow?" he joked.

"No. It’s not too yellow. It’s too
perfect."

" A perfect ring for the perfect
wife."

I frowned a bit. "I’m far from being
perfect."

"Well, in my eyes at least. So what do
you say?"

I didn’t have to think about it. I already
knew my answer. "Yes."

It was like the first time he asked me to
marry him. I was completely overcome with emotions. Love. Want. I was unsure. I
was hesitant. But I wanted it.

We just had to make it work this time.
Because honestly, if it got all fucked up again, I don’t think I could go on.

I love New York. Maybe Nick and I should
just move here. There’s so much happening all at once. And it’s not as
culturally flat as Los Angeles. It’d definitely be something to discuss over
dinner tonight.

After last night’s fiasco at the
restaurant, not to mention seeing our faces plastered everywhere this morning,
we decided to spend our anniversary ordering room service and just hanging out.
Why should the rest of the world be invited in on our special day?

Nick had some last minute things to take
care of at the studio so I decided to do what I do best: shop for Nick. I love
shopping for myself, don’t get me wrong, but there wasn’t a thing that made me
happier than shopping for my husband. I had stumbled across Ralph Lauren and
fell in love with everything I laid my eyes on. A nice young man named Paulo
was holding my Nick purchases for me and had encouraged me to head upstairs to
check out the new women’s line. I couldn’t refuse. Just a peek couldn’t
possibly hurt. Right?

Wrong.

I was in a dressing room trying on a new
swimsuit when I started to overhear a very interesting conversation somewhere
in the room. It sounded like juicy gossip, so of course I listened in. It
sounded like two women.

"Did you see the look on her
face?" asked the first.

"Yeah. She looked really
surprised," said the second.

"I have to admit that I wasn’t
expecting him to pull that stunt last night. And she said yes! I’m having an
even harder time believing that."

"So what are you going to do
now?"

"Nothing. We’re sticking with the
plan. Believe me; those two will be over before they know it."

Ouch. This was better than soap operas.

"But what if they don’t break
up?"

"Vee, I don’t want them to break up. I
want them to get divorced. I want her to know what kind of man she‘s married
to."

"He really did a number on you, didn’t
he?"

"Believe me. Nick Hudson is not as
nice as people think he is."

What the hell
? I stopped dressing and stood completely still, trying to hear more
of the conversation.

"But this is really messed up. And
what did Layla do to deserve this?"

My breath caught in my throat and my body
temperature increased.

"Never mind about the details, Vee.
Let’s just stick with the plan. Trust me, you’re doing great. God and calling
them when you knew Layla would answer the phone? Talk about priceless. I would
have paid anything to see the look on her face when she found out that the
woman that’s pregnant with Nick’s child was on the phone."

"I actually feel sorry for her. I
mean, how many times has Nick slept with other women?"

"Believe me, you don’t want to
know."

Oh, but I sure as hell do. I slammed open
the door and was immediately faced with none other than Vanessa Carrington and
Missy Page. They both turned around at the same time and looked at me, their
faces white as sheets and their eyes wide, like deer-in-headlights.

"Go ahead Missy. I’m dying to know as
well. Exactly how many women has Nick slept with?"

"Layla. Oh my God. I had no
clue..."

"No, you never have a clue, do you
Missy? So go on. Continue with what you were saying. You want to split up me
and Nick, telling me what you know is a good way to do it."

"Layla," Missy started.

"Come on Missy. You obviously know. I
don’t know how you know, but you better start telling me. Right now."

"I don’t think this is the time or
place."

"Oh, but it was all right when you
didn’t know I was here, right? So come on Missy. Why don’t you finish what you
started?" I was so fuming mad I was sure steam was going to come roaring
out of my ears at any moment.

"Layla, believe me this has nothing to
do against you personally. It’s all on Nick."

"Bullshit. You’ve never liked
me." Not that I cared.

"That’s not true. I’ve felt sorry for
you."

"Liar!" I spat at her.

"I’m not lying! I’m sorry you put up
with that bastard for so long. If you only knew half the things he did behind
your back."

"Stop trying to put me off and just
tell me. What is this big plan you’ve got cooked up against us?"

Missy sighed and put down a dress she had
been holding. She looked at me and for the first time ever it was as if I was
looking at someone else completely.

"Nick never told you that he and I
dated, did he?"

Holy. Shit. "Excuse me?" That
can’t be true. Nick would have told me that.

"In fact, he and I were still dating
when he met you. We were pretty serious for a while. God, he told me he was
going to Santa Barbara that weekend to do some press for his latest album. I
had no idea what was really going on."

My mind flashed back to that day when Nick
and I first met. It was in Santa Barbra. I could remember everything perfectly.
Every moment we spent together was permanently etched into my brain.

"I didn’t find out the truth for
another couple weeks. I had suspected he was cheating on me. But I never really
wanted to believe it. That was, of course, until I overheard him on the phone
with you."

Oh my God. She heard that? God, I could
only imagine. The things we said that night. Jesus Christ.

"That was the night everything came
out. About his affairs. About you. You were the worst of them all. God, he was
so in love with you. He didn’t care that
I
was in love with
him
.
He said he loved me. That lying bastard. And ever since then...."

"You’ve been trying to destroy
him?"

"He never stopped. When I got the job
working for the blog I was able to use my resources to find out all sorts of
things. And I watched for two and a half years. Watched him cheat on you.
Watched you come back to him. And it made me sick."

I could feel my stomach twisting into
horrible knots. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to punch Missy. I wanted to kill
Nick.

I stood there for countless minutes, listening
as Missy Page counted off all the women Nick had slept with. While we were
dating. While we were engaged. After we were married. And as up to as recently
as a few weeks ago. And all the lies were suddenly revealed. And one-by-one,
the longer Missy talked, the longer Vanessa talked, the more that came out. All
the lies. All the cheating. All the broken promises. Until I had heard enough.

I could only do one thing. I had to find my
husband.

I could have only imagined what was going
on in Nick’s head when he walked through the door. Me, sitting on the floor,
surrounded by my belongings all packed up, with a bottle of liquor in my hand.
And I was drunk. No, not drunk. Completely drunk off my ass. Blindingly drunk.

I watched as he walked in slowly, like he
was afraid to make any sudden movements.

"What’s going on?" he asked.

"I could ask you the same thing,
baby."

He laughed nervously and motioned at all of
my packed items. "What’s with the suitcases?"

"I’m leaving."

"You’re what?"

"My flight leaves tonight. And as soon
as I can stand up I’m going to call a hop bell and have him take my shit
downstairs into a cab."

"Okay. Why are you leaving?"

"Because it’s taking all of my will to
not strangle you right now. Besides, I don’t have an alibi."

"Lay, you’re scaring me. What the hell
happened to you?"

I found my footing and was surprised when I
stood up without falling over. "I had a nice little chat with Missy Page
this afternoon. Apparently that girl knows a fuck of a lot more than we credit
her for."

"What are you talking about?"

"What’s the matter Nick? You look
scared."

Nick swallowed and tried to approach me,
but he did so slowly. "I’m worried about you."

"Obviously not worried enough. Tell me
something Nick. How the hell were you good enough to hide it from me?"

"Hide what?"

I walked until I was standing right in
front of him. He was staring down at me and I could see the worry in his eyes.
Worry my ass. You bastard. "Hide twelve affairs."

He looked outraged. "What?!"

"You heard me! Or was it more? Because
honestly, cheating on your wife with twelve different women during three years
is quite an accomplishment."

"That is complete bullshit!"

I laughed. And I kept laughing until my
throat hurt. "Poor little pop star. You can’t sing or dance your way out
of this one, can you? You can’t just thrust your pelvis or sing a note to make
me swoon. Not like with those other girls."

"Layla, you’re drunk. Maybe you should
go to bed and we can talk about this in the morning when you’re thinking
clearly."

"Good suggestion but what you really
mean is maybe I can go to bed and you can start kissing me, trying to make me
forget about everything. And then by the time your dick is in me I’ll be so
overcome with you that I’ll just forget all about it, right?" He looked
positively shocked and disgusted by my words. Yeah, because they’re true.
"That’s what your solution is to everything, isn’t it Nick? Seduce Layla.
It’ll get you everywhere, every time."

"Why the fuck would you say that, Layla?
You know that’s not true."

"The hell I do!"

"God damn it! This is our wedding
anniversary. And look at you. You’re drunk. And you’re pissed at me."

"I’m not pissed at you. I’m pissed at
myself. Pissed that I never saw through you earlier!"

"Look, I don’t know what Missy Page
told you, but from what I’ve heard so far it’s all lies."

"Lies?!" I screamed at him.

"Yes, lies! I never cheated on you
twelve
times. Jesus Christ, I’m not a monster! I owned up to the mistakes I made after
we initially separated and I started cheating. And I apologized. And you said
you had forgiven me!" he screamed back at me.

"I thought I had. But you were keeping
more than that from me!"

"I don’t have any secrets from you,
Layla. I tell you everything."