Chapter 1

Under the roof of one of Manhattan's most luxurious residential buildings, resides the Upper East Sides most notorious playboy. He sleeps with many women and they're always the best of the best, yet he's fully aware that he's settling for less that he wants.

Sure a pretty face is great every now and then but he was raised under the belief that every goal you set for yourself should be truly exceptional or else you're settling for less that you deserve. Cato wants to set a goal for himself but as far as women go, he doesn't know what truly exceptional really is.

Sure, he had a girlfriend his first three years of college and genuinely he thought he would marry her, but after a realization that the only thing that bonded them was their kinks he quickly dismissed the idea of marriage.

Cato Astor is a unique soul, with a kind heart covered by a filthy coating. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a Louis Vuitton bib to match. Everything in his life is the way he wants it to be, due to the fact that he's never been told no a day in his life.

He graduated from Columbia University a little over a year ago with a perfect G.P.A and a Ph.D. in Psychology. Despite his urge to help people with their problems, Cato has a hard time facing his own. He's very promiscuous, yet he's very meticulous when picking a girl to stay for the night. His intentions are never the greatest and he's never able to be fully satisfied despite his attempts.

He lay in his bed and wakes up with a very attractive blonde by his side. Glimmer Larkin, is the heiress to a very successful international chain of luxury hotels. She's beautiful but she isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. She'd be a great companion for Cato, as she's loyal, classy, and very well mannered. He could take her to all the Galas and parties without having to worry about her tainting the very name his family worked so hard to achieve.

However Cato figures that her beauty doesn't make up for her lack of intelligence, so he politely escorts her down to the lobby of his building. They part with a kiss and he returns back up to his luxury penthouse.

Cato sits around for a while just enjoying the solace of his apartment in this hectic city. That's when he's at peace with himself. However, it's also when he realizes that he's entirely alone. His parents are living it up with their friends in Abu Dhabi.

With his mother being an extremely successful architect, and his father being rated one of the best neurosurgeons internationally, his family name is held in high regard and Cato is constantly reminded not to do anything that could possibly taint the family name. Despite his playboy status it doesn't necessarily give him a bad reputation; in fact he's one of the most coveted bachelors in New York City.

However despite his family's own backlash about him being such a playboy, Cato's doing very well for himself. He's a self-employed Psychologist and he's thinking about opening up a practice. He already has a heavy patient load for only being out of school for a year and he made Psychology Magazines list of the top 100 therapists in the nation.

He goes on with his day and sees all of his usual clients. He gives them insight and advice on all of their struggles. He sees quite a few spoiled adolescents whose problems are about as first-world as the ones you see on gossip girl. After listening to a young girl named Primrose complain about how her mother's been neglecting her after lowering her allowance because of the furlough.

Primrose was referred to Cato by her sister Katniss, who attended college alongside Cato. The Everdeen family owns one of the nation's largest drugstore chains. However the daughters have a lot of trauma to deal with; from their early years of struggling in the Bronx, to their father's death in a roadside bombing over in Afghanistan. Despite Primrose complaining about the majority of petty problems in her life Cato's been trying to get her to acknowledge her past and give her some closure.

Cato gets off the clock at around seven and he goes out for a drink with his friend-since-birth, Marvel Cartier, the heir to the famous high-end jewelry brand. They head to their favorite local speakeasy style bar downtown and they relax in the plush lounge chairs, taking in the scenery of the luxuriously decorated room.

Cato's attention is captured by a pale-skinned beauty with long raven hair and a petite frame. He stands up in pursuit of her but by the time he walks towards the location where she once was, she's long gone. He looks around the entire lounge for her but turns up empty handed. "Goddamn it," he mutters under his breath and returns back to Marvel. "Did you see where she went?" Cato asks Marvel.

"Who?" Marvel says puzzled. Cato scans the room again, "It was a small girl with long black hair and skin that practically glowed, and she was like, mesmerizing."

"I don't know who you're talking about and trust me I would've noticed, I've been scoping this place for girls all night," Marvel says. Cato scrunches his forehead in confusion and he ponders the thought of whether he's gone crazy or not. Could I possibly have been hallucinating? He wonders. "God, either I'm really drunk or I'm going mad. I swear she was the most beautiful girl I've seen in my entire life and I only got a glimpse of her before she vanished," Cato says.

"Oh well, maybe you could ask the hostess if she knew what her name was," Marvel suggests. "Thank you for the suggestion, now I know why you're my best friend," Cato says with a slight laugh.

Cato walks up the hostess and considering this is an exclusive lounge they'd technically have to have her name somewhere on the list. "Hello ma'am, I was wondering if you knew the name of the black hair girl who just left. She was wearing the grey bandage dress, had pin-straight hair, luminescent skin, very beautiful." The hostess looks up at him and looks at him skeptically, "That was Clove Rathburn, how could you not recognize her? She's on this month's cover of vogue. The only reason she's here is because she's hooking up with the owner of this place. Honestly she's such a slut I can't even fathom why you're taking interest in her."

Cato raises his eyebrows in response to the hostesses snarky attitude, "thanks for the information." She smiles flirtatiously at him, "Anytime."

Cato heads back to his seat and orders a few more drinks. He drinks them all and begins the head out, "Marvel I think I'm going to head home," Cato says. "Same here," Marvel says referring to the obviously drunk blonde sitting on his lap.

Cato heads back to his penthouse at 15 Central Park West, and retires to his bedroom and for the first night in months, he does it alone. He lay on his king sized bed cuddled up in his fuzzy white blankets, clad only in a pair of Calvin Klein boxer briefs. He wakes up to his maid, Mary, cooking him breakfast in the opulent kitchen that Cato's never even bothered to set foot in.

Mary brings him his breakfast in bed. The usual, freshly squeezed orange juice, three eggs over easy, four strips of bacon, and two slices of French toast. After finishing his meal he grabs his Macbook Pro and begins to do more research on this Clove Rutherford girl. Apparently she's an extremely successful actress, singer, and dancer. She's currently starring as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago on Broadway and she also teaches at Broadway Dance Center.

It's weird for him, and it's even weirder for him to acknowledge it, but he finds himself to be infatuated with this girl. He wants to meet her and hold conversation with her, but for the first time in his life Cato has possibly found a girl that may be unattainable.

At around two Cato sees his first patient of the day, Jacqueline Foxx. She's in an abusive relationship she can't escape out of, and while Cato insists that she should alert the authorities. She never does, scared that somehow he'll find her and hurt her even worse. It upsets Cato that nearly every time she comes in that she has a new bruise or cut. He always wants the best for his patients but he can't let it affect him too much or he'd be an emotional wreck.

After seeing four more patients he receives a call around seven thirty, "Hello?" He asks. "Hello I was wondering if you could do an evaluation on my daughter. I'm terribly worried about her emotional health and I just need to know whether or not she needs more help. She's currently seeing a psychiatrist that's monitoring her medication for a bipolar disorder but I feel as if she needs additional care."

"I'm sure I could help her ma'am, I just need some additional information and times as to when you would like to set up an appointment," Cato says politely. "Of course, well It's not urgent I would just like her to see someone by the end of the week."

"I actually have a cancellation for tomorrow at five pm so would that be okay? My address is 795 5th Avenue. She needs to be here about ten minutes before five, as I have a strong policy against tardiness."

"Oh that's' completely fine. My daughters actually in a musical at the moment and tomorrow would be perfect considering the fact that they only have a matinee on Sunday so five would definitely work." The lady says, her voice chipper. "Is it okay if I take your last name?" Cato asks.

"Oh certainly dear, it's Rathburn. My daughter's name is Clove. I'm not sure if you're aware but she's held in very high regard by the media so I'd appreciate it if you don't tell anyone that she's seeing you." The lady says softly. "Of course I have a strict policy that supports patient confidentiality. Nothing will be mentioned outside of our appointments."

"Perfect thank you so much Mr. Astor," the lady says graciously. "No, Thank you. I'll see your daughter at five tomorrow." With that Cato hangs up the phone. Practically bursting he has a smile on his face the entire time.

Meanwhile at the Ambassador Theater Clove's just finished with the evening show, she removes all of her makeup and strips herself of her provocative costume changing into a leotard and free city sweats. She heads out the backdoor of the theater and signs a few playbills of adoring fans. She leaves the mobs of fans and heads off to 322 West 45th Street a.k.a. Broadway Dance Center, where she teaches a nighttime contemporary jazz class. She gets ready for her class and she mentally goes over the combination she's teaching. She enters studio B after Heather lets her students out.

Clove waits for all her students to file in and her class reached the maximum number of students as it does every night. Clove's still kind of tired from her show, but she still teaches regardless. They start off with a warm up then she goes straight in to the combination. "Okay everybody, this is an intermediate class for a reason, so I'm going to move a little faster than I normally do. We're doing a combination to Young and Beautiful by Lana Del Rey."

She teaches the whole combination and she's pretty impressed by how fast the class is picking up on it. They run through it in groups and by the time they do it enough class is over. Clove congratulates her students on doing a job well done. Then she runs through the combination all by herself.

She choreographs a combination for tomorrow's contemporary modern class that she's teaching. She goes to the stereo and plays The Face by Ryan Dan. She choreographs a whole dance in about an hour and a half. After she's finished she leaves the studio and heads back to her residence at 20 West 53rd Street.

She relaxes and watches the news until she's interrupted by a phone call "Hello?" She asks and waits for a response on the other end. "Hey sweetie," Her mother says happily.

"Oh hey mom, how are you doing?" Clove inquires. "Oh I'm doing just fine honey," her mother says and Clove rolls her eyes at her mother's constant terms of endearment.

"So I got you an appointment with a therapist, he's going to evaluate you and see if you need further treatment," her mother says cautiously. "Mother, I do not need further help. I'm fine seeing a psychiatrist once a month," Clove protests.

"Clove dear, I've been looking for months to find you a therapist that I think will work and I think I've found you one, he's quite young and very attractive. You can look him up on the web, his name is Cato Astor, I'm not saying you have to go for this evaluation but I really would like you to consider it." Clove lets out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, I'll go see him," She gives consent.

"Okay you have an appointment with him tomorrow at Five, you should show up at least ten minutes early, he made it very clear that he has no tolerance for tardiness," Her mother explains. "Okay, well I have to get going, I love you mom."

"Oh I love you too sweetie thank you so much for doing this. You might not realize it but I'm always out for your best interests. Anyways sleep well dear. I love you," her mother says before parting. With that Clove hangs up the phone and retires to her bedroom. She takes a long shower then dries her hair. She slips on her nude colored La Perla Maison Satin Chemise. She lay in her bed and drifts off into a deep sleep.