Belong to You(16)

     



 

A tall dark haired man approached as we spoke and stood next to me. He  was polite enough to wait until a break in our conversation before he  interrupted. "You ladies were great, can I buy you both a drink?" His  question was directed at both of us, but he spoke to me directly.

"Thank you, but not tonight. We are having a girls night."

He pretended to clutch his heart in pain. "That's too bad. But you  ladies have a good one anyway." He politely excused himself and walked  away. Most men didn't take rejection well, especially in a bar after a  few drinks when their friends were nearby, so I never knew what to  expect.

"So Syd, are you still lusting after Jack, you didn't even notice that one was cute?" Trust Sienna, to always be direct.

I sighed. "I'm trying to move on, but it's not that easy. When I left  Michael, I felt a loss for the routine, the normalcy, but not really for  him as a man. I didn't crave his touch or wake up in a cold sweat after  dreaming I was still with him."

Sienna looked at me wide eyed. "Shit Syd, you got it bad. I thought it  was just emotional because he was your first after Michael. Are you in  love with him?"

I thought about our night under the stars, lying on our backs holding  hands and talking. I thought about our sweaty bodies slapping against  each other as we furiously tried to get closer as we came together. A  dazed smile crept across my mouth as I stared at the mental images  burned into my brain, but I didn't give her an answer.

Sienna took a cigarette from the pack in front of the man sitting next  to her and smiled. He turned and flicked a lighter, flaming the  cigarette that she bummed without asking.

I leaned over Sienna to the man next to her. "Can I have on of those  please?" I extended my two fingers to him to place the cigarette  between.

"You don't smoke." Sienna stated matter of factly with one eyebrow arched quizzically.

The man lit my cigarette and I took a deep inhale, letting out a long  puff of smoke on a deep exhale. "Neither do you." We both smiled at each  other.





Chapter 13




The Heston annual shareholder meeting was held at the Heston Grand in  Times Square. The event was being held in the main ballroom of the five  star hotel. I had expected gaudy and extravagant, but was pleasantly  surprised to find eloquent and understated. Lyle had told me that  President's usually stayed at the hotel when they were in town, which  often hosted fundraisers for wealthy donors. The contract came earlier  in the week, as Mr. Heston had promised, and I was pleasantly surprised  at the generous fee that I was being paid for my services. It was more  than three months of pay for my regular job singing at the Heston hotel,  but I wasn't going to complain even though I did think it was excessive  for the three songs that I was hired me to sing.

The event coordinator had contacted me the week before and informed me  that the gala was black tie and that I was expected to wear an evening  gown. I was relieved to find out that the cost of the gown was borne by  Heston Hotels, because although I had some really nice dresses, nothing  could be classified as an evening gown.

I still had a light tan from our trip to Hawaii, so I picked a light  blue sequin dress that was form fitting. The front was simple and had a  V-neck that showed some cleavage, but couldn't be described as plunging.  The back, however, was the showstopper. It plunged deep into my back,  barely covering the top of the crack of my ass. It was beautiful and  sexy, yet elegant and classy. The sales clerk had assured me that the  sequins would reflect the stage lights and dazzle the audience. The  color reminded me of the strapless dress that I wore in Hawaii, and I  smiled thinking back to Jack's reaction when he saw me in it.

I watched from the side of the stage as the ballroom filled up with men  in tuxedos and women in beautiful ball gowns. It struck me as odd that  an annual shareholder meeting would be so formal, but the fancy clothing  gave the ballroom a magical feeling and the celebration was, after all,  for a high-end hotel group.

When the MC announced my name, I suddenly thought it may have been a  mistake to pair the dress with five-inch stilettos, but I made it to the  microphone unscathed. I knew the ballroom was packed, but the size of  the crowd never bothered me. The lighting usually blinded the audience  from me anyway. Something about being unable to see people's faces made  it easy for me to get lost in a song and allow myself to feel the music  through my body.

I performed two songs at the beginning of the meeting and then the final  song was a repeat of the Aretha song that Mr. Heston had requested and  it closed the meeting. The crowd was gracious enough to give me a  standing ovation, but I figured they were also anxious to get up from  such a long conference.         

     



 

Backstage, the conference producer looked way more relieved than she had  a few hours earlier. She was laughing and smiling and finally had that  awful headset unglued from her head. All of the stage crew and the MC  gathered backstage and opened a few bottles of champagne to celebrate  the success of the conference. I was mingling with some of the lighting  crew, enjoying my post show high with a glass of good champagne when I  felt a hand on my bare back.

"Sydney, you were fantastic tonight. Thank you for putting on such a  great show on such short notice." Mr. Heston spoke with impeccable  grammar that screamed expensive private schooling and made me stand a  bit straighter.

"Mr. Heston, thank you very much that is very kind of you. I had a great  time and it looks as though your conference was a rousing success." The  hand holding my champagne motioned to the crew, happily celebrating.

"What. The. Fuck." The growl came from behind me and sent my body into  an instant frenzy. I didn't have to turn to know it was Jack, but my  eyes were suddenly desperate to catch a glimpse of him again. I turned  and saw the beautiful creature stalking towards us. At first I didn't  even notice the woman following behind him, struggling to keep up with  him.

Mr. Heston turned with me, his hand still on my bare back. For a second I  thought Jack might leap forward and attack the poor man. Jack came to a  screeching halt before us and his eyes shot daggers at Mr. Heston,  tracing the hand now pressing harder on my bare skin. Was he jealous?  The man made no attempt to contact me for almost three weeks and then  shows up where I am working and makes a scene live a raving lunatic.

"I'll ask one more time. What the fuck is you doing?" Jack spoke  directly to Mr. Heston and his tone made me nervous of what was about to  happen.

I finally found my voice and it was more than a little angry. "Jack,  this is Mr. Heston, he owns this hotel and hired me to sing tonight." I  attempted to offer as an explanation.

His eyes never left Mr. Heston's when he spoke. "He owns HALF of the  hotel. And I don't know what kind of game you are playing, but maybe you  should remember who owns 51% and who owns 49%, Dad." Jack uttered Dad  with so much hatred and disdain, it was as if a blow had physically been  thrown.

"I don't know what you are talking about son." Mr. Heston spoke low in a  cool as ice voice. He was obviously concerned with people hearing, as  Jack's tirade had already caught the attention of most of the crew  backstage, whereas Jack was not.

Their words took a moment, but finally registered in my stunned brain. "This is your father?" My voice trembled as I spoke.

Jack took one step forward and spoke in Mr. Heston's face. "Get your filthy fucking hands off her now."

Mr. Heston immediately removed his hand from my back, which I had  forgotten was even there still. The two men stared at each other for a  moment in silence, unspoken threats passing. Then Jack put out his hand  to me. I looked at his face and knew I didn't have a choice, even if he  was scaring me. I put my hand in his and he clamped his long fingers  around my hand and turned to walk.

He said nothing as I trailed behind him, my hand cupped so tightly in  his that my fingers began to get numb. When we passed the woman that had  followed him backstage, he spat at her, "Go home Jenna." I eyed her as  we passed, she was wearing a red dress that was incredibly revealing and  her huge obviously fake breasts looked as if they may burst out at any  second. She was attractive, but in an odd, overly made up sort of way,  the kind of look that is done on purpose, to stand out and scream that  you aren't the girl next door.

Jack raced through the hallways with purpose, only slowing enough to let  me catch up so that I wouldn't fall on my face. Men in tuxedos passed  as we walked by, each tried fruitlessly to catch Jack's attention or  exchange a greeting. But Jack ignored them as if they didn't exist. We  arrived at the elevator banks and waited in silence. As the car arrived,  Jack put his hand on my bared back to direct me forward and that jolt  of electricity I hadn't felt since Hawaii ran through me. He put a key  into the elevator and I watched as he pressed the button for the  penthouse.