Love’n’Lust

The next day.

Brie’s apartment.

“So you’re telling me that supermodel, Jenna, asked you to be one of her bridesmaids?” Cherry asked Belle.

“When you put it like that,” Belle laughed.”I mean it sounds different when you say Ben’s cousin asked me to be one of her bridesmaids.”

“Brie should be here to hear this.” Cherry wringed her lips.

“And I can’t wait, I have to be at Jenna’s by one pm  so I’ll have to leave soon.” Belle said and tapped on her phone’s screen to see what time it was. Doing that, she saw a message notification pop in. It was from an unknown number.

She unlocked her phone to see what was sent to her. It was a video. She was about to download and view it when her phone rang in her hands. It was Randy. Ben had asked him to go with Belle to Jenna’s so he was calling her to let her know that he was downstairs waiting to pick her up.

“Alright Cherry, gotta go.” She stood up and headed to the door.”Tell Brie that I will come see her some other time, I might forget to call her.” She told Cherry when she was at the door.

“Okay.”

****

Jenna’s place.

Belle arrived and was ushered in by one of the the workers at Jenna’s house while Randy waited in the car.

“You guys, tell me what you think of these three,” Jenna showed a magazine to her friends who were seated together including Alex.

“I’d rather the peach colour,” Alex said but Jenna’s attention wasn’t with her anymore.

“Belle! O my gosh, you came!” Jenna went and hugged Belle the moment she walked in. Alex rolled her eyes and hissed.

“Who is she?” One of the ladies asked Alex but she didn’t respond.

“Guyss, meet Belle, she will be part of the bridesmaids train.” Jenna smiled widely, so much that it annoyed Alex but she didn’t show it.

Belle’s eyes met Alex’s, they weren’t happy. Belle immediately looked away from her direction.

“Who is she, Jenna?” Someone else asked Jenna.

“Belle.” Jenna answered simply.

“Yeah, you just said it, her name’s Belle. I’m asking who she is. Who is Belle?”

“Oh,” Jenna nodded when she understood the question better.”Well, Belle’s a friend of mine.”

“How come we don’t know her?”

“We don’t all have mutual friends.”

“Yeah, but I thought it’s just us, your mutual friends being your bridesmaids.”

“It’s my wedding. I get to choose who would be my bridesmaid.” Jenna got tired of the sudden questioning.”I already told you guys, she’s a friend of mine. Alex knows her even, don’t you Alex?”

“Yes, I do.” Alex faked a smile.

“See?” Jenna told them.

*****

Zina walked into a room in one of Mr Larkson’s property in the City to see one of her colleagues on the floor with his blood creating a little pool around his head which had a bullet hole. A gun was in her boss’s hand and he looked furious, something she hardly witness.

She swallowed first before looking at Randy to know what just happened and why, but he said nothing yet. Ben threw the gun to Randy who caught it and they both watched him leave. When he was gone, Zina immediately went to Randy.

“What did Nicholas do?” She whispered a question.

“Mr Larkson found a picture of his woman on him, he couldn’t give a good explanation as to why he had it so…” Randy shrugged with a sigh.

“Wow,” she looked at the lifeless man.”Poor thing, what was he thinking? Doesn’t he know how crazy Mr Larkson gets when it’s something to do with her?”

“Mr Larkson thinks he had her picture because he has probably been gathering information about him and her, but mostly her.” Randy informed her.

“Or was probably jerking off to her picture…” Randy snorted sharply when Zina said that.

“Funny because that’s what he agreed to; that’s what he told Mr Larkson was the reason he had a picture of her. He died the very next minute.”

“He didn’t have a chance to beg?”

“He wasn’t given one. Help me take care of this one,” he winked at Zina and wanted to leave but she pulled him back.

“No. You were with him when it happened, you take care of it.” They were referring to the body.

“You owe me a favour, don’t you remember?”

“I don’t, not anymore.” Zina shook her head to his disappointment.

“He still wants to speak with us about all of this,” Randy told her while putting on a glove to do what he planned to do.

***

Ben’s office.

“How did he find her picture on him? Was Nicholas searched?” Zina asked Randy while they sat little spaces away from each other waiting for their boss to come in after a meeting.

“No, it fell off of him while we were accompanying Mr Larkson to survey that building. You are lucky you came by late, he actually tried to say that it fell from me but thankfully, Mr Larkson trusts me. I’m sure it would have been different in your case.” Randy laughed but it ended in a cough when their boss came in. He didn’t want Ben to see him laughing because Ben wasn’t in a cheer mood.

“I think someone is trying to attack Ms Miller, and I need to know who. It’s not someone close to me, this person had to buy Nicholas to get information.” Ben went directly to why he wanted them there at his office.

“But sir, he admitted to having her picture for a different reason other than what you suspected.” Randy said.

“No. I think he said all of that to irritate me.” Ben had a pint of regret in his voice.”He wanted to die. He wanted me to kill him because now that he’s dead, I can’t get the information I want from him.” Ben got angry at himself for letting his anger take over him earlier.

“If I were there, I would have suspected what Nicholas wanted, maybe things would be different.” Zina said, explaining that her presence when it all happened would have been much better than Randy’s presence. Randy wanted to reply to her but knew it was risky considering his boss was still not in a good mood so he just kept mute.

“I can’t risk her safety. Zina?” She sat up on her chair when Ben called her name.”I want you to be around Ms Miller always from now onwards. Don’t let her know you are with her though, she’s not very comfortable going around with securities. Make sure she’s safe, do you understand me?”

“Yes sir,” she smiled dryly because now she was taxed with protecting Belle. She hoped it wasn’t too hard for her to do.

“Randy, you get C-Jay to return to city S, I want him to look into some things concerning this.”

“Okay sir.”

****

Belle was standing and staring at a view of the city from her room’s balcony while she thought of how her day went with Jenna and her friends. They were awkward moments between herself and Alex. She didn’t think about how she would have to deal with Alex’s stares and fake smiles when she agreed to Jenna’s offer of being one of her bridesmaids.

Ben came into the room minutes later and saw her standing in the balcony looking lost in thoughts. He took off his jacket and went and hugged her from behind.

Enclosing her small waist in his arms, he kissed her neck and then her cheeks but Belle didn’t react to anything he did to her, she just stared on outside like she was doing before he walked in.

“Belle, what’s the matter? Are you okay?” He asked her but she said nothing still.” Did anyone say or do anything to you at Jenna’s?”

“No.” She finally said something in response, and she only answered because she wanted to make it clear that her moodiness wasn’t as a result of going to Jenna’s house.

****

A week later.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

Belle was with Jenna and her friends again, they were going with her to see the venue for the weddings reception.

“Jason thinks it’s big enough but I doubt it. What do you think, guys?” Jenna threw the question to them as they stood in the center of the wide-spaced hall.

“It’s not as big as he probably thinks,”  Alex commented before looking in Belle’s direction. She expected Belle to make a fuss about the video she sent to her yesterday so all of her friends there could know she once had her time with Ben but Belle was quiet since she arrived.

“I know right?” Jenna said again.

“It depends on the number of guests attending.” Belle finally said something, it made everyone turn to where she stood.

“Oh, there’s going to be a lot of guests. The media will be here too, I want the town to talk about my wedding.”

“You two can check for somewhere bigger and spacier,” Alex told her best friend but yet kept her eyes on Belle. She was marveled at how calm Belle was even after seeing the video.

“The wedding is in one week, Jenna. You can’t start to change halls now.” Someone else said, opposing Alex.