Episode 9: Tearjerker
tearjerker: an excessively sentimental or emotional film, usually with suffering female protagonists, tragic circumstances, manipulative scenes, and dramatical musical scoring.
It was in the middle of the night when she heard it. A soft but persistent hum of her charging cellphone that rested on her nightstand. The sound pierced through the thick veil of sleep that blanketed her. She woke up in her bed with Nick in a spoon position. Her elbow nestled in the crook of his, their arms fitting together like a puzzle. He laced his long big fingers in hers. It didn’t surprise her that Nick liked to cuddle at night (old habits died hard), but it surprised her she fell asleep alone and awoke in an opposite predicament. After delivering an emotional performance opposite to Diane Gary and blotching a take by being a total klutz, she crashed hard like an asteroid when it was time for bed. So hard that she didn’t even stir when Nick declared her bed as his new settlement.
She chewed on her bottom lip as she cautiously untangled her fingers from his and lifted his heavy imprisoning arm. A victorious feeling consumed her as she sneakily slipped from his embrace, from beneath the sheets, and, from her bed. She detached her phone from its charger and tiptoed to her bathroom, quietly shutting the door. The clock on her phone said it was nearly two in the morning. Making her way to a closed toilet seat, she sat down and hovered a hesitant thumb over the Hollywood Laundry notification.
Tallulah took a deep breath and finally gave into the urge she had been battling all day. A zoomed-in aerial picture of Nick leaving her trailer was the banner picture with a tagline: "Look who Daddy Drone caught red-handed.”
Her eyebrows shot up.
They were using camera drones now? What happened to the good old days of paparazzi scaling roofs and hiding out in trees with their long-range camera lenses?
There’s a cost to mixing business and pleasure!
Here’s a story to spark a little hate in your hearts, Nickomi stans. That is if you all still have one and from the looks of our comment sections, that’s highly doubtful. With that being said, there have been reports flooding in from the set of Forget Me Not. According to insiders, our new favorite couple has been mixing business with pleasure. Witnesses claim Nicky’s visits to his ex-wife’s trailer aren’t to rehearse lines. In fact, there hasn’t been much talking at all (if you know what we mean). Nicky seems to be making up for lost time, even though time is money and it’s costing the studio a lot. Plus, it wouldn’t be the first time he fooled around on a movie set. Naomi should know all too well. Sources close to the film director state he isn’t happy about the reunited couple’s unprofessional behavior, but if you want our opinion, with a known track record of marrying lead actresses in his films, Eugene Aaron should be the last one to talk.
Having an A-lister at one's fingertips must be a disorienting experience as Tally had an accident today on set and suffered a minor injury. If you care at all, we’re happy to report she’ll be fine. For those that don’t, you can uncross your fingers and stop your prayers of gratitude to your gods. After all, she’s in excellent hands and must be in real tight with God to have been blessed with one of the hottest men on the planet.
“What the fuck?” she whispered, her eyes widening at the false allegations.
There were over six hundred comments beneath the salacious article and Tallulah lost a war with herself to not take a peek.
B2Kbae: I don’t think I’m artificial or anything and I believe that beauty is the eye of the beholder and all that shit, but let’s be honest here. There’s a hierarchy even to that. A bottom-tier heifer shouldn’t be with a top-tier Zaddy. Point blank. #unpopularopinion
cheese’n’whine: My gurl Naomi must’ve done a real # on Nicky. Got him so discombobulated that he runnin back to his sloppy fat ex-wife thinkin she hot when she not.
Ben-Dover: you bitches hatin! His baby mama got a real cute face. All she gotta do is drop some lbs and she’d be good. I’d give her the D, but she gotta hit the gym first.
naominator: I hope that fat bitch has a heart attack, so Nick can finally stop running away from the inevitable. Nick is Naomi’s soulmate and I know Naomi would be a great stepmom to Milo. She’s so good with kids!
Nickomi4lyfe: Tally must be into some voodoo shit. Why else would Nick give her the time of day? Or she’s got a deal with the devil. You know what? The latter’s more believable.
YUalwaysLion: Yo, fat hoes will do things ya’ll skinny chicks too stuckup to try. She probably eatin his ass like a five-course meal then he treats her with an actual six-course one.
JUSTINTIMBERfake: I’d eat Nick’s ass too. Me and her can take turns.
BeyHiveBzz: If ya’ll can accept Our Queen Mother Beyoncé loving camel-faced Jay Z’s cheating ass, you can accept Nick getting back with his ex-wifey. #doublestandardsAINTcute
Anonymous-87621: Don’t be too hard on Nicky. He’s a southern country boy who was raised on a farm. He can’t help but have a soft spot for pigs.
StraitOuttaAudaCity: @anonymous-87621, that's so heartless, but you make ½ a good point. Nick IS a guy who had a traditional southern upbringing. He probably feels that he's obligated to be with his baby mama for the sake of his kid and that sneaky cunt is using Milo for fat paychecks. But Nick’s a PHENOMENAL actor. He’s suffering through it, but he’s pretending he wants this. Give this man his Oscar already! #ICUnick
Anonymous-34283: I’m still trying to figure out how did such an adorable kid come from THAT? Nick’s handsome genes are dominant af. That kid should count his blessings.
The hurtful comments were like sharp stabs to her gut, but she kept reading—kept torturing herself. Her thumb scrolled through the opinions until her eyesight blurred with tears and she couldn’t stomach it anymore. She squeezed her eyes and let out a shaky breath to get hold of her emotions.
Tallulah snatched up some toilet paper to soak up her tears and tossed it in a waste bin before she returned to the bedroom. She carefully put the phone back on the charger and laid it down, creeping back into bed. She situated Nick’s arm back where it needed to be and weaved her fingers with his.
He curled his arm tighter around her and snuggled his bearded face into the curve of her neck, brushing his lips against her ear.
"You're stubborn as hell. You know that?" It was a throaty accusation that fluttered against her skin as warm breath and made her shiver.
There was no use in her denying.
“If I hadn’t checked out the website, I wouldn’t have known that rumors are going on that we're screwing around on set. They've even used a camera drone to catch you coming out of my trailer,” she said.
“Apparently, I have an infamous reputation for doing that,” Nick yawned.
Tallulah pried his arm off her and sat up to get a good look at him, pursing her lips. “Yeah, they mentioned that too and the fact that your partner-in-crime was—drumroll please—Naomi Barrett. So, are you telling me that your publicized habit is nothing but a baseless lie?"
Nick’s tongue glided across his teeth slowly as he contemplated her question. She arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms, waiting for a reply.
“I’m not gonna deny that she and I fooled around on set because we did,” he said. “A lot.”
Tallulah tossed her head back and let out a bitter laugh. “So when you two do it, the world’s hunky-dory with it, but when we reportedly did it then it’s unprofessional behavior, it’s costing the studio oodles of money, and Eugene Aaron is furious with us.”
She tapped a finger on her chin and gazed up at the ceiling. “I wonder what gives Naomi a pass, but my reputation gets dragged through the mud. Do you know?”
Nick sighed, “It’s not, so it doesn’t matter, Ray.”
“It matters to me, Nicholas,” she said, pointing to the bedroom door. “Our son is old enough to type in either of our names and read that goddamn article. So can his little friends at his new fancy private school where you just handed over a 30-thousand-dollar check for tuition.”
“He won’t.”
“And how can you guarantee that?”
“Because I’ve already had a talk with him about not reading that ridiculous crap and if he somehow did come across that stuff then he shouldn’t believe a word of it. We did our secret handshake and he promised me no backsies,” he said. “A conversation that rings very similar to the one I had with you.”
That put her at ease slightly, but it wasn’t enough to combat her plunging self-esteem. Those comments calling her a pig, claiming she was ugly and fat, and wishing for her death consumed her like a stoking fire that had no intentions of waning. How could people be so cruel toward someone they had never even met? Hiding behind their phones and computer screens with no regard for the feelings of the victim of their vicious attacks.
“There are literally people out there that want me to die because they think I’m in the way of their fave couple getting back together,” she said, her voice cracking. “They’d rather our son have your ex as his stepmom than me be his mother because I’m overweight? That’s fucked up. How am I supposed to be cool with that?”
Her feelings got ahold of her again and tears spilled down her cheeks.
Tallulah snatched the covers off her and escaped the bed, marching into the bathroom to splash water on her face. She braced the bathroom counter and hung her wet face over the sink, letting her tears and the cold water drip.
She blindly reached for a nearby towel and dabbed her face dry.
Straightening her back, she peered into the mirror, her eyes cutting away from her reflection and focusing on her ex-husband nearing her. Moonlight bled through the glass windows abundantly and carved shadows in his thewy physique’s defined muscles as he padded toward her in merely sleep shorts. Every passing second she stared at his reflection, a rise of self-inflicted detestation built up within her.
“What’s this really about, Desiree?”
She frowned at the question, her mirror self’s face twisting into a scowl. “It’s about all these horrible things they’re writing about us. What else?”
“There is something else,” Nick said as he imprisoned her against the bathroom counter, “and it’s eating you up. Now, go on and say it out loud.”
In all of those mean-spirited remarks on that Hollywood Laundry post, there was one identified theme that she wondered if there was a grain of truth to it which planted a seed of doubt in her.
Their gazes locked in the mirror and she posed bitterly, “Are you only trying to make this work between us because you feel obligated to for Milo’s sake?”
“Milo deserves a family, Desiree.”
Her heart sank like an anchor at his lack of refuting the accusatory question. A sad smile stretched across her lips and she nodded in agreement, feeling incredibly foolish for putting herself out there like that and not recognizing an actor giving an Oscar-worthy performance.
Tallulah let out a short soft pathetic laugh as if she had been in on the joke all along even though she was the only one with egg on her face. "Of course."
He continued. “And you deserve something as well.”
A BooBoo the Fool award?
“And what’s that?” Her drained voice reflected her state.
“Everything, Desiree,” he said, “and I’m going to be the one that gives it to you.”
Tired of being the victim of his charming sham, she stated coldly, “I don’t want everything. I only want the truth. This is all an act, isn’t it? Maybe, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt by acknowledging there’s a genuine possibility you do miss what we were, what we had, and what I used to be, but that was eight years and forty pounds ago, Nicholas. I can accept keeping up a façade for Milo’s sake for the time being, but let’s put an end to this romantic bullshit like the foot massages and nighttime cuddling.
“It’s pretty damn obvious to everyone what’s going on, so don’t think you’re doing me any favors by pretending you’re attracted to me behind closed doors. If you’re worried that if you don’t do those things, then I’m going to take Milo away, you shouldn’t be because I wouldn’t. I’ve hurt that little boy enough.”
Guilt injected into her body like a virus, effectively making her feel like a piece of shit for all the wrong she had done to her son. But she didn’t want an audience to her downward spiral, least of all her ex-husband.
“I’m going to bed now. You need to do the same,” she ordered, “but in your own bed, of course.”
She went to break free from how he caged her against the bathroom counter, but Nick grabbed her wrists.
“Let me go, Nick.” She gritted her teeth and struggled against his tightening grip.
“We’re not finished with our interesting conversation,” he said, resting his chin boldly on her shoulder and tilting his head against hers. She shrugged angrily to knock his chin off, but his head rode it out with ease.
“Nick, I swear on all that is holy,” Tallulah began with a frustrated hiss.
“Don’t set yourself up for failure,” he warned. “I can assure you nothing holy is going to happen tonight.”
She stiffened. “N—”
He cut her off. “I let you speak, Desiree. Now, it’s my turn and you’re going to listen to every word I have to say.”
Her jaw hung open, words dying in her throat.
“This is what happens when you let strangers define your worth and convince yourself that their judgments are true. When you let them tell you what I think and how I feel when you could've easily gone to me yourself,” he said coolly in her ear. “Now, ask the fucking question, Desiree.”
His blue eyes radiated with a simmering meanness in the mirror.
“Fine,” she snapped. “How could you go from the likes of Avalon Dillard and Naomi Barrett on your arm to your overweight ex-wife, hm? Better yet, what makes me attractive enough to earn the attention of the Nick Bryant? And don’t you dare give me that we’ve-got-history spiel or that personality-is-what-counts bullshit either.”
Nick chuckled darkly, running his tongue along his perfect teeth like a predator. “You want me to start from top to bottom or bottom to top?”
His inquiry shouldn’t have made her shiver in anticipation or sent a feverish heat crawling across her skin, but it did.
She uttered in a quiet unsure voice, “Top to bottom.”
He placed her hands palm down on the bathroom counter, using his freed hand to run his thumb along her bottom lip. “Let’s start with your chocolate brown eyes then. I can lose myself in them. They tell me everything about what’s going on inside your mind without you ever opening your mouth.”
She frowned. “Are you saying you can read me like a book?”
“I’m saying I could study you for hours and come out an enlightened man.”
Tallulah’s defenses faltered momentarily before she steeled herself again.
“I have to keep myself from kissing you, but you don’t make it easy for me when you tug that bottom lip into your mouth or when you smile. It ain’t fair how I have to wait my turn to bite your lip or get drunk on your smile,” he stated as his thumb traced the plump contour of her lips. “And don’t even get me started about what you do to me when you take all of me into your mouth.”
She caught the digit with her teeth rudely in an attempt to show him she still wasn’t convinced. His blue eyes darkened as she bit down a little harder then freed his finger.
He leisurely dragged his thumb from her mouth and down her neck before he splayed his fingers across her left breast and fondled it with a brazen squeeze. His other hand joined in and pampered her other breast, making her arch against him as he groped greedily.
His thumbs toyed with her erect nipples that strained against her silk pajama tank top. “Many a day, I’d bury my face in these beauties. You’d wake up to me sucking and biting your nipples. I love how they’d bounce in my face when we’d fucked, always teasing and tempting me.”
Her eyelids fluttered shut and she gasped.
He let a hand venture down to her belly and she broke through the haze of pleasure to grab his hand to keep him from going any further, her self-esteem getting the best of her. Tallulah shouldn't have felt shy about him touching her belly in that moment considering...well everything, but she was.
Nick trailed his tongue against her ear’s rim. “This is what you wanted. You wanted the truth and that’s what I’m trying to do, baby.”
Tallulah trembled, succumbing to his conquest of her. She lowered her hand back to the bathroom’s cold granite surface. His creeping hand rested on her ample stomach—her Achilles’ heel. His fingertips brushed around her belly button.
“This is soft and delicate. This is warm and alluring. This is luscious and delectable. When you don’t let others mess with your head, you radiate this unequivocal confidence that I can't help but be enthralled by," Nick said huskily as his hands explored her assets appreciatively. "Your belly, your full hips, thick thighs, and that perfect ass. All the features you perceive to be embarrassing flaws make you the sexiest fucking woman I’ve ever laid eyes upon. Every woman that came after you and before this moment were imitations, Desiree Tallulah Bryant."
She parted her lips to correct him, but he brought his hand to her throat and squeezed it warningly. A gasp caught in her throat, growing into a lump with nowhere to go. A protest he didn't want to hear because he said what he said and meant it. His eyes in the mirror told her so.
He used his free hand to crawl into her shorts, cupping her slick pussy. “And this is going to be my downfall, but maybe you need a reminder and some tough love. So, I’m going to fuck some clarity into you, Diamond.”
Nick let go of her throat and entangled it in her hair, using his brawn to bend her over. She braced the glass mirror with one hand and the counter with another. His hard cock came free when he pushed his sleep shorts down. He tugged her silk shorts down too, letting them pool at her ankles. He rubbed and tapped his mushroom head in between her soaked folds, coating himself with her juices.
Then he plunged in without warning and she cried out at the invasion. Before she could recover, he rammed his cock in and out of her. Her eyelids screwed shut and her quivering mouth hung as he fucked her with brutal merciless thrusts. She moaned and panted as he worked her.
His grip tightened in her hair.
His southern accent thickened as he growled out, “You want the truth, Diamond. I’m showin’ you the truth. Now, open your fuckin’ eyes and watch.”
Tallulah obeyed his command, fighting to keep her eyes open as a raw sort of ecstasy and sweet pain ravaged her from the inside out. She watched her face contort as she endured. Her body jerked with each mean stroke before he slowed the rhythm with a swaying roll of his hips, his dick filling her up slow and deep. Her eyes trailed up to his reflection, his blue eyes drinking everything in.
“There she is,” he said with a smirk as she finally regarded him.
He reared his hips back and drew himself nearly all the way out before he lodged his cock deep within her. She cried out and her knees buckled, but he wouldn’t let her fall. She held his lustful gaze in the mirror as he pounded her into the counter.
He tilted forward and posed huskily in her ear, “Now, do I look like a man that ain’t attracted to you, Diamond? Would I be ownin’ this pussy right now if I wasn’t? And when I’m done ruinin’ you on this counter, would I gobble this pussy up until there ain’t a drop left if I wasn’t? Hm? Would I?”
Tallulah shook her head and rasped, “No.”
“Good, I’m glad we had this productive conversation,” he grunted, punctuating his statement with a hard slap on her ass as he ruined her like he promised against the bathroom counter and in the moonlight. As he drilled into her, he reached around her full hips to dive his hand in between her spread thighs to rub at her clit, wrenching out a powerful orgasm from her. Her pussy tightened around him, sending him over the edge as well.
Bonelessly, she slumped forward and pressed her sweaty cheek against the granite surface, his cum dripping down her thighs as he pulled out of her. He laid his bare chest on her back, kissing her neck and whispering how beautiful she was.
She bit her bottom lip to keep from crying, but she couldn’t stop her hot tears.
Day 2 on the road.
