"I can stand not sleeping in the same room or together, but I will not stand living in different places. Our son needs to live with us both, and I need you both."
"I will not let you do," he shut me with his lips in an angry kiss, and I slapped his face, pushing him away, but that only made him angrier and he kissed me again, tightening his grip on my throat.
When he deepened the kiss, I was unable to fight it, kissing him back, just as angry as he was, angry at him, angry at his possessive behaviour, angry at myself and at how I was helpless in resisting him. Rhyot lifted me off the ground by my thighs, making me lace my legs around him as he pushed my make up products to the ground and set me on the table, against the mirror. My hands went to his hair, messing it up as he bent down to kiss me, his tongue taking mine to a dance as our hushed breathings harmonized against each other again.
And this could have escalated to something else again, had my phone not rang, startling us both and making me jump off the make-up table, my heart on my damn throat, "I'm about to break this damned phone of yours," he cursed.
"No, you ain't," I snapped annoyed, struggling to stead my breathing, grabbing my phone before he could, I saw Jasmine's name glowing on the screen.
"Who is it?" He asked annoyed.
"It doesn't concerns you," I side-eyed him, then I turned my back to the jerk and picked call, and before I could even say a word, she did.
"Ruby Coraline Vaughan!" The sound of my middle name made me cringe, I hate it, only my father used to call me by it, which made me hate it more. "I've called you more than 27 times, where the hell are you?"
I cursed Rhyot under my breath, "I'm home?"
"Home?" She yelled and I put some distance between the phone and my ear, crunching my nose at the sound of my editor high-pitched voice. "What the hell were you doing that you couldn't pick your bloody phone? I tried to call your mum, but she ignored me, again."
Sigh, "I was dealing with some personal issues," I side-eyed Rhyot, who was frowning at me and glaring at my phone. "And my mum will keep ignoring you, she doesn't like you, she finds you profoundly annoying," and so do I, but she's amazing at her job, and she is already used to me and shenanigans. "Why?"
"Why? Leah Reid posted about you, she's one of the biggest socialites of bloody London, of the United Kingdom even. You have any idea how many followers you got when she tagged your accounts?"
I rolled my eyes, "Is that it? You wanted to talk about followers?"
"Ruby Coralina," ugh, I hate when she calls me that, "her little influence, made your books be the most searched in the United Kingdom in the last 30 hours! Many got sold out, out of nowhere. And why didn't you tell me that your son, was a Crowther? Do you have any bloody idea the power that family has?"
My blood went ice cold, "Who told you that?"
"The comments on the post made by her followers who know her from her time in Harvard, maybe?" She yelled. "Why didn't you tell me you studied with Leah bloody Reid in senior high? We could have used that!"
"That doesn't concern you, it's personal, and I don't even write under my name," I snapped annoyed. "My son's paternity has nothing to do with you or nobody else other than me, him, and his father. I'm a Vaughan, I don't need that. Or have you forgotten the power my bloodline holds in the United Kingdom?"
A gulp came from the other side, "Yes, but this could have made your fame wider than it already was, Ruby. You were already a viral bestseller writer, but this? This is different. This is another level of power. You could get deals to make a tv series from big companies such as HBO, Amazon Prime, Netflix even. This... changes things, Ruby, we could get rich with this."
"I'm the heiress of a billionaire empire, Jasmine, I don't need that. I don't write for money, I write because I love writing. Because I love creating stories that will touch the heart of someone, somewhere in the world, the same way many books touched mine in moments when I most needed a escape. I'm not aiming for that kind of money, I'm not aiming for adaptations of my works, I'm not aiming to take over the world with my books and pull a Tolkien or Martin kind of effect. Of course, if it happens, I'll be overjoyed, but I don't want to force it to happen just because I can pull some connections here and there."
"This is not just about you, Ruby," she groaned.
"It's my work, my writing, my effort, that we're talking about Jasmine."
She cursed whatever under her breath, "Liking it or not, now the truth is out there, thanks to Leah Reid. Everyone know who Rebecca and R. C. are, and that it's not your true name but a pen name, and they also know that you're both a Vaughan, a Sinnott, involved and with a son of Rhyot Crowther, and with a seemingly close relationship with the Reid family. You aren't invisible no more."
"It doesn't change anything," I hissed.
"Oh, sweetheart, but it does. The Crowthers and the Sinnotts in the US, for the business world, have the same effect as the Jenners and the Kardashians for public figures there. Just like the Vaughans and the Reids also do in London. People are curious to know who exactly this mysterious young woman is."
"I don't give a shite about what they are curious about, Jasmine," I snapped.
"Well, but you should, because now, you're a public figure writer, and everything will affect your image and your work. You can be introverted and antisocial, but you can't hide no more, sweetheart," her words settled inside of me with growing anxiety. "Keep up with your exceptional work, we'll have a meeting next week to talk about what you've got on the draft of the new book. That launch is now, the most important event of the company. Because this, is the affect you now possess, sweetheart. See you!" Then she hung up.
Putting my phone down, I kicked the seat I set in front of the make-up table away, anger rushing through my veins, the pressure she just threw at me making me nervous in anticipation. I got so mad that I almost forgot that Rhyot was present with me in my closet, until I turned around and found his eyes burning on my skin. Fuck.
"Who's Jasmine and why are you angry?" He crossed his arms over his chest.
"It doesn't fucking matters to you!"
"If you haven't understand yet, love, everything that concerns you, now also concerns me, because you're mine, you're problems are mine, so, tell me who this Jasmine is, and why I shouldn't hunt her down and kill her for making you angry enough to kick the damn chair," the intensity in his voice was enough for me to understand that the sick bastard was not bloody joking.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I glared at him.
"Who, is, Jasmine?" He ignored my words, stubbornly.
Fuck, I've always hated this behaviour of his, it always got on my damn nerves, that's why we were constantly fighting in class back in school. "She's my editor."
The tension in his shoulders softened but not fully, "And why are you angry?"
I clenched my jaw, feeling angrier, "Leah posted the photos she took with me and Rhett, and her family, on her Instagram, I'm not very into social media, my p.a. and my editor handle them for me, so I didn't know how influential she was. I've been writing under two aliases, and I've kept a low-profile. But apparently, I won't be able to do that anymore, because not only did Leah make my identity public, her friends from Harvard took a look at Rhett and realized he was your son. Added to the fact that they now know I'm a Vaughan and a Sinnott, mom of a son I had with a Crowther, and seemingly friends with a Reid, the spotlight was turned to me, and that will affect my work and my life."