Thanks for taking a look at my newest story! The plot unravels as you read and I'll be posting regularly to keep up with your reviewing urges:P The POVs alternate every chapter and we begin with Jennifer's. Each chapter is named after a song.

She inhales an air she'd never breathed before
The air of no drama, no more
She said

No..
Happily never after
That just aint for me Because finally
I know, I deserve better, after all
I'll never let another teardrop fall

~ Pussycat Dolls - Happily Never After ~

Disclaim, disclaim, disclaim...


"Ungh, yeah. Harder!" My back was banging against the kitchen wall but I held onto the cupboard above me for dear life as my boyfriend rammed into me like a jet-packed mule.

"Baby, I'm almost there. Are you?" Felix gripped onto my hips tighter and I knew by the way his rhythm slightly faltered that he was just as close to completion as I was.

"Fuck. Fe-oh…Felix!" My orgasm ripped through my body and I arched my back towards him. I let go of the cupboard and hung onto Felix's broad shoulders as I milked the orgasm from him. He let out a fierce roar with a rough thrust and stilled, crushing me to the wall.

I'm Jennifer Amie Check. I have the hottest boyfriend in the world, Felix Durandy who owns Metastar Geothermal Energy Plants and Enterprises. Seriously, he is freakishly handsome. If I'm lucky, he'll fuck me everyday like the way he just did. He's always busy with work though, but being home alone gives me time to work on my paintings. Well, Felix likes to call them my little finger-paintings but it's only because he never really understood art. Always work, work, work.

We were both breathing heavily; sweat dripping into the valley of our joined bodies. I placed my fingers against his slick cheek, catching my breath. I stared lovingly into his blue eyes as I leaned closer, hoping to kiss him. Then, his cell phone rang and he immediately pulled out of me, leaving me against the wall. He disappeared into the hallway, rummaging through his clothes that he had quickly discarded not ten minutes ago.

"Durandy." He spoke into his phone with his hand on his hip. He looked every bit the economical tycoon that he was albeit the birthday suit. God, he had such a nice ass.

I rolled my eyes and turned to the fridge for a drink of water then I sauntered over to him. I gave him the most seductive grin I could ever muster on my face as I playfully traced a finger over his chest.

"Alright, thank you. Have it forwarded to my secretary. Good bye." He flipped the phone shut and I was glad I finally had his undivided attention.

"Want to go again?" I asked as I wrapped my arms around his neck causing our sexual regions to align. I was so ready for round two that I felt the heat radiating off my body. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling the same, strong, vibes from him.

"Sweetie, we've got to get moving. The party's starting in an hour and it takes forty-five minutes for you to get ready." He was trying to unclasp my hands from behind his head but I wouldn't budge. Dammit! You don't just come home and fuck your girlfriend's brains out while she's cooking then expect her to be all sweet mother of Jesus afterwards. Give a girl a round or two…or three.

"Baby, please? You own the company. Don't you think you have the privilege to arrive at a party on your own time?" I was practically begging at his feet, but his face was stolid. Once he made a decision, it was usually final.

"Jennifer, will you please get ready? I promise that when we come home, we'll do whatever you want to do. Is that a compromise?" He looked squarely at me.

I disengaged myself from his body and crossed my arms in front of my chest. I hated it when he used words like compromise in front of me. It made me feel like I was just one of his workers and not the actual girlfriend that I really was. If it wasn't because I was in love with him, I probably would have dumped his narcissistic ass already.

"Okay. Fine, I'll get ready. Give me forty-five minutes." He smirked at me then kissed the tip of my nose before collecting the clothes scattered on the floor. I slapped his naked butt as he walked past me.

"I love you." He called out as he entered the master bedroom. Crap, I only had forty-five minutes to get dressed.

-oOo-

Fifty-six minutes and three rounds of bickering later, the front door was locked and we were both climbing into his black Mercedes Benz SL 500. There were so many rules to the maintenance of his most prized possession that at one point, I was tempted to whip out my set of paints and color the sides in with a rainbow effect to it. The rules ranged from: no eating in the car, or blasting the radio or else the windows would loosen in their frame, or my personal favorite, no touching the steering wheel with oily hands or else the leather would corrode. How the hell can I avoid oily hands if human skin is filmed with a thin layer of natural oil? I tried reasoning with him with the last rule, got into a fight with him because of it, but eventually shared a night of hot make-up sex anyways.

That was what I loved about our relationship—that no matter how big or small our scuffles would be about, they were always resolved one way or another. Recently, all our fights ended with make-up sex and despite the fact that I loved the sex part, I was worried that the make-up part of it was the extent of our communication with each other.

What's more was that Felix was a man of few words. In fact, his pursuit of me was comical to say the least. It was two years ago, and I had just gotten out of an art class. Usually, I would buy a cup of coffee at the nearby bistro and he was at the café that day. As I turned around after paying for my coffee, he bumped right into me causing the searing hot beverage to spill into my blouse.

"I'm so sorry!" Felix immediately retrieved a handful of napkins then began to dab away at my chest.

"What the fuck, get your hands off of me!" I pushed his hands away then looked up angrily at his face. Suddenly, I forgot why I was so angry as my gaze was met with piercing blue eyes. I felt my face softened as he smiled apologetically at me.

"Excuse me," I'd been blocking the exit of the cashier lane and my reverie was momentarily disrupted by an old, gangly woman impatiently tapping her feet at me. I stepped out of her way and looked back at the man who'd just spilled my almost-two-dollar-cup-of-coffee down my shirt.

Out of nowhere though, we just begun to laugh at each other—me, at his terrified expression and him probably at my coffee-stained, now-see-through shirt.

"Uhm, would you like me to buy you another coffee?"

"I'd like that." And because of my typical genial personality and his mega swoon factor, we'd been inseparable since.

I'm pretty sure that I had made the right decision with him. I was at the point in my life where I was ready to make life-long decisions and because I wasn't a believer of true love and all the soul mate bullshit, I found myself to be content with Felix. Him and all his car rules.

Thirty minutes later, we were pulling into the Embassy, one of the hippest nightclubs in the city. Felix had rented the entire building for his employees' Christmas party and only Embassy could have been at par with his impeccable standards. Felix was always the meticulous one in our relationship and sometimes I wondered if he was gay.

Before he climbed out of the car, he pulled me in for a sultry kiss that made me forget all my errant thoughts of his gender inclination. After he thoroughly devoured my mouth, I stared up at him dreamily and he smirked at me once again.

"Let's go?"

I sucked in a breath. I never really liked crowded places, especially dark and crowded places so I never really frequented clubs. But this night meant a lot to Felix so that pose as my obligation. Putting on a brave smile, I said, "Alright, let's go."

-oOo-

As I perceived it to be like, the club was already full of people. There was a group in the middle that was moving to the rhythm of the thumping house music and several other groups scattered about. I never let go of Felix as we squeezed our way through the crowd and I shut my eyes before I could hyperventilate. I couldn't breathe because I felt like I had no space to move but I held close to Felix as he maneuvered us over to the side where he apparently was headed to.

"Hey! Rafael, how's it going?" I quickly opened my eyes and saw Rafael Batista get up from a chaise to greet his best friend.

"Amigo! You greet me as if you haven't seen me in days. Weren't we at work together this morning?" Rafael joked with Felix and laughed. There was such an easy confidence to Rafael that made everyone feel comfortable enough around him. He was very good-looking with wavy hair and deep-set, brown eyes. Rafael was lankier and taller than Felix was but his exuded confidence and charisma made him seem just as strong and bold as my boyfriend.

"Hello, Jennifer so nice to see you again!" Rafael greeted me in his heavy Mexican accent and he bent towards me and kissed both of my cheeks.

"Now, now Rafael, she's mine. Better watch it!" I knew that Felix was only kidding around with Rafael but his grip around my waist tightened considerably.

Felix pulled away and smiled widely at his best friend. "Oh come on, I would never steal this Chiquita away from you, nombre! I've got my own mama with me here," Felix gestured towards the woman who was sitting beside him on the couch. "This is Anita, my girlfriend, muy caliente."

Anita stood up and swatted Rafael in the shoulder. "Elie, seriously, would you please stop describing me using very provocative adjectives in Spanish? It isn't my ego that needs stroking tonight." Anita was about my height and weight, but where I was dark, she was light. We both had the same weird, pale skin but she had blonde hair and strangely hazel-colored eyes.

I had only realized that I was gawking and smiling at her when she turned into my direction and extended her hand out to me. "Hi, you must be Jennifer Check. I've heard a lot about you." Her smile was radiant and I immediately grasped her hand in formal greeting.

"You've heard a lot about me?" Who would talk about me to her?

"Yeah, Felix just can't shut his mouth when he talks about you."

"Really now?" So much for a man of few words.

"Speaking of the ego-stroking," Felix interjected and I braced myself for a below-the-belt-joke. "Rafael, would you care to do the honors?"

"Why, nombre, how thoughtful of you, but I'm pretty sure the announcement should be coming from you!" Rafael turned towards Felix and patted him on the back. I wondered what was going on and before I could ask any questions, Felix turned to the groups of people and raised his hands up.

"Alright, can I have everyone's attention for a minute?" He called out and the DJ promptly muted the music. "Okay, as you all know, the global recession hasn't been treating any of our sister companies very well lately and most of them have resolved into merging."

Hushed whispers erupted from the crowd. It was true; majority of the reason why Felix barely came home was because he was doing all he could to salvage and protect whatever stocks and bondages his corporation had with other companies. Every time he'd try to explain it though, he would lose me at words like macroeconomics and foreign exchange. I know I'm not dumb but I just really don't understand business at all.

"I am pleased to inform you that we will not be merging with any of the companies! In fact, Mr. Batista and I have decided to establish another plant somewhere off the coast of India. When the tough gets going, resort to international trade, is what I always say! So let's celebrate this moment and merry Christmas to all of you!" At that, the crowd applauded and hooted then resumed dancing as the volume of the music increased.

"Yeah okay, we're going to leave you two alone to get to know each other," Felix said while preparing to steal his buddy away from his girlfriend. "I'll see you later, sweetie."

"Congratulations! You should have told me about this!" I was gleaming up at him.

"No big deal. I know how you hate business anyways." He shrugged and I knew he was teasing me.

"I'll see you later, baby."

"Don't drink too much."

He smiled and kissed me on the cheek and I looked into his direction has he walked away with Rafael, already with a drink in hand.

"Boys will be boys, right?"

I turned around and Anita was already sitting down on the chaise, motioning for me to come join her.

"You got that right," I said as I sat down, my head was still a little bit dizzy from the heavy atmosphere of the club and I lightly touched my head to ground myself.

"Hey, are you alright? I saw you looking a little woozy when you came over. Do you need some meds?" Anita was already rummaging through her purse and she quickly produced a small bottle of Advil.

"Thanks," I popped the lid and took two Advil into my mouth, swallowing the pills dry. "I just don't really like clubs, that's all."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Random people rubbing up on you from all sides isn't exactly as liberating as a dance club experience should be." She rolled her eyes and already I found myself laughing. Like Rafael, she seemed very comfortable with herself.

I glanced over the crowd and found the two men downing shots. I vaguely wondered how it must have appeared to their employees seeing their bosses getting drunk but I realized that majority of the people in the club were already wasted so it probably didn't matter anyway.

After drinking pain meds, it was against my better judgment but I ordered Anita and myself some bubbly. We took the champagne flutes in our hands and toasted to the holidays, sipping a little bit. Because the music was so loud, we moved closer to each other on the chaise in order to hear each other better.

"So does Anita come with a last name?" I said loudly over the music that had gone into overdrive with a remix version of some David Guetta song.

"With a second name too! Anita Cara Lesnicky. I write children's books." Anita guffawed. Her face was glowing with the champagne that we were drinking; clearly it was already taking effect on her.

"Jennifer Amie Check. I paint!" Normally, I wouldn't divulge any personal information to anyone that I had just met but it seemed that the alcoholic encouragement was enough to let down a few barriers. Talking with Anita was nice; comfortable. She was quickly turning into my friend.

"You paint?"

"Uhm, yeah. Well, I never really thought of you as the children's book type."

Anita must have sensed my abrupt topic change because she just went with it after taking another swig at her flute. "Yeah, I never really give off that impression the first time around. What type did you think I was, anyway?" Her big, brown eyes were curious and challenging as they met mine.

I pretended to survey her attire that night. "Hmm, let's see now. Skin-tight denim jeans topped with a bohemian sleeveless blouse. Brown dangling earrings to accentuate the eye color, I bet; ballet flats, a body-hugging leather jacket; a beret and multiple rings." I jotted off her apparel from a list I had in my head and she looked at me with her mouth open. It was hilarious.

"I figured you to be more of a gypsy!" I almost dropped my flute as I laughed my head off. Not two seconds later, she joined in my laughter and there we were: two tipsy women laughing loudly on a bar chaise at a corporate Christmas party.

"Okay, it's time for revenge. You're all decked up in that purple cocktail dress and high pumps. You've got," she leaned into me a little bit, "Chanel N˚5 on. You belong in Hotel Ritz not in a bar full of drunks! And me? A gypsy? Okay fine, allow me to foretell your future. You're going to be hauling out your drunken boyfriend pretty soon because I'll be doing the same thing!" She laughed at her own joke and I looked into our boyfriends' direction.

Their faces were beet-red and their collars were loosened. Felix had that glazed look in his eyes that signaled his intoxication. I sighed quietly, knowing that Anita was right and that our time together would be almost up. I didn't know why but spending time with Anita made me realize how lonely I really was. The only person that I ever talked with besides myself was Felix. I needed to get out more often.

I glanced back at Anita who had just finished drinking her champagne. She wiped at the corner of her lips and looked back at me and smiled.

"Well this has been fun, huh? Let's exchange digits and get together again sometime, yeah? I had a great time talking with you." She whipped her phone out and held it out for me to type my number in. I hoped that I wasn't tipsy enough to forget or enter the wrong number so I concentrated really hard, furrowing my brow a little. I gave her my phone and had her enter her number.

She sighed. "Well, let's go lug those two inebriates out of here." She rolled her eyes and got up causing me to laugh at her insistence.

Indeed, when we got there, I noticed their table to be full of empty shot glasses. I cringed to myself because I never liked Drunken Felix. Minus the throwing up factor, Drunken Felix shouting at me all angry was enough to make me feel sick to the bones.

"Hi baby! We were just talking about you!" Felix was slurring his words and I quickly hooked my arm into his before he toppled off his bar stool. I gave Anita an apologetic look and she shot me one, too. Apparently, Rafael preferred to laugh out each and every word while he was under the influence.

"I thought we were talking about Hawaiian chicks?" It took Rafael thirty seconds to get that sentence out. God, drunken men disgusted me. I knew that both men were respectable but they're alcohol-induced behaviors were enough to make me forget that they were big-time corporate owners.

Felix glanced at me then at Rafael again. "I thought they were the same thing!" Then they started laughing again.

"Okay, enough, Felix. Come on, I'm taking you home." I tugged at his arm and surprisingly, he moved along with me.

"You too, pepito. Before I call your mama…" Anita and Rafael moved away from us. They must have been parked on the other side of the building.

"You know I love you, right, Jen?" He towered over me and the smell of Burbon and whiskey invaded my nostrils.

"Where are your keys?" I patted his pants' pockets and retrieved them from his back pocket.

"Ooh, trying to get frisky?"

"Shut up, I'm driving."

"But your oily hands are going to get all over my car's steering wheel." He whined like a toddler while tripping over his own feet on the level surface of the ground.

"Not if I have them connect to your face multiple times." My light mood was quickly dissolving.

He laughed at me. I deposited him into the passenger seat. Before I got to my side of the car, he was already promptly passed out, leaning against the passenger window. I sighed.

Fuck my life.

Not the kind of story you had imagined, was it? What do you think are Anita's thoughts about meeting Jennifer? Tell me in a review! =)