CHAPTER 2:

And a fun night it was…..

The next day at around 11:30 AM, an annoying, buzzing sound awoke Wilhelmina. "Oh…Oh my God…what the hell?...oh my." She groggily whined.

Her eyes fluttered open and she realized that the annoying sound was actually coming from her cell phone on the bedside table. Her gaze moved about in the room and even though it was dark, she managed to recognize the room as her suite, which offered some relief. However, her relief was short lived as she realized something she totally missed the moment she woke up. There was a warm body pressed against hers with an arm draping over her waist; somebody was spooning her and the gentleman's cock was pressing up against her ass. She reached for her bedside lamp and switched it on and promptly turned to focus on the stranger beside her. Her eyes adjusted to his features and her heart skipped a beat.

"Hey! Hey! Get up!" Wilhelmina prodded him. He groaned as he made an effort to open his eyes, finally his eyes shot open. He tried to make out the lady's face through his still blurred vision. As soon as he realized who was staring icily at him, his entire sanity came back.

"Wilhelmina?" He screamed as he swiftly adjusted to a sitting position.

"Are you done being a drama queen, Daniel?" She said dryly.

"What the hell happened?"

"I'll tell you what happened, YOU took advantage of ME." She stated firmly.

"Are you crazy? I wouldn't dream of…you know, touching you." He responded with a hint of nervousness.

"I would find that easier to believe if you weren't gawking at my tits!" She retorted sharply. As soon as that statement left her mouth, his gaze instantaneously moved away from her chest.

"Well they're…there. What do you want me to do, look the other way?" He spat.

"You better." Warned Willie.

"They're…huge… and real…I…I mean…just cover yourself, Wilhelmina. Please." He said nervously. She pulled the sheet up to her chest to cover herself.

"Daniel, I'm naked under here and I don't recall even letting you in my goddamn suite. Did you drug me?"

"Look I'm not that desperate for sex, woman. DID YOU DRUG ME?" He asked angrily.

"What could I possibly gain from…"

"Oh I don't know…to get me to sign my shares of Meade over to you and take everything I've got!"

"If I really did this to make you sign Meade Publications over, why would I sleep with you?" For a moment he was silent in an attempt to come up with an answer and looked under the covers.

"Maybe you couldn't resist all of this" He replied gesturing up and down his body. He immediately felt a pillow striking him across the face as a response to his outlandish theory.

"How dare you? You think I would sleep with you deliberately? Obviously I was out of my mind! Oh, my God…Why?...Did you use a condom?"

"I always use a condom. It doesn't matter how drunk I am."

"Oh, so we're good."

"Well, I kinda didn't have any condoms with me and I don't remember anything so…uh…we probably didn't use one." He said sheepishly, looking at her almost apologetically.

"Wow, the man-whore doesn't wrap his cupid." She sarcastically spat.

"Look, I wasn't planning on hooking up with anyone this weekend. I only stayed to clear my head…besides I'm not that guy anymore. I really have changed and…" He protested.

"Yeah, Yeah, yeah, I don't really care about your life story right now, Meade. I just wanted to know if we fucked with a condom or not." He huffed and jumped out from under the covers. As he attempted walking, he stumbled and stubbed his toe on the bed side table.

"SHIT!" He cried, "I can barely see…."

"Just turn the damn light on, stupid!" She rebuked.

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do, Wilhelmina?" He said irritably as he attempted to find the light. He flipped the switch and the lights came on.

"Geez, Daniel, just put your underwear on, please! I'm still disgusted just thinking about it and now you're giving me the preview!" Willie screamed. He chuckled, obviously finding the anger somewhat humorous.

"Oh come on, you've seen me naked and I've seen you…" He said in attempt to calm her.

"Yeah, the morning after you slept with my sister. Thanks for reminding me. Put your goddamn clothes on, Daniel." He spotted his boxers beside the bed and quickly slipped them on.

"And by the way, it's not a preview if it's after we had-…"

"OH FUCK OFF!" She retorted, shooting down his attempt to explain.

"Look, maybe we didn't sleep together. We were obviously very drunk and we couldn't possibly have done any-…"

"Well, the jizz on the sheets and on my thigh seems to suggest otherwise…oh, my God" She cried with revulsion.

"Oh-Oh" Said Daniel. She noticed that Daniel's eyes were fixated on the bedside table on his side.

"What? Now, What?"

"This is our…there's a…we are…" Growing impatient at his attempt to form a coherent sentence, she jumped out of bed and rushed over to his side while fastening the sheet around her body and joined him and stared at the piece of paper, her eyes widening in sickening horror. They were married; as evidenced by the marriage certificate and the receipt from Tiffany's Bellagio store. Atop of their marriage certificate, rested a tungsten wedding band.

"No!" She screamed and immediately looked on her ring finger and it was housed by an elegant solitaire engagement ring- another detail she missed when she woke up. Her gaze then followed a trail of the discarded clothes on the floor, Daniel's socks, shoes, a bowtie, her thong and matching bra and finally a white wedding gown neatly lay on the chaise together with a black tuxedo. This couldn't be, "Oh, okay nice joke, Meade. It's pretty lame but I admit it, you got me. Now please, I know we didn't…."

"Yes we did!" He said looking at her with terror. She stared at her ring and back at him and she realized that it wasn't a joke. Her eyes widened in horror, matching his expression.

"Oh, my God!" She exclaimed. While they were still staring at each other in astonishment, her cell phone vibrated and she rushed to the bedside table to answer it.

"Marc?...I have no idea, I'm still trying to figure things out…wait how do you know about that?...WHAT?...Oh shit, I'm screwed! Marc, I've got to go." She plummeted on the edge of the bed with her hands supporting her head.

"Wilhelmina, what's wrong?" asked Daniel.

"Apparently somebody took pictures of us in the elevator last night and sold them to Fashion Buzz."

"Elevator? What were we doing?"

"I'm not sure but I don't think it's what you're thinking."

"Are you sure?"

"Marc would have been much more dramatic if they showed footage of us fucking in an elevator." She said matter-of-factly

"I guess. God, I'm surprised I haven't heard from my mom and Betty."

"Maybe they tried to reach you but your phone is dumped in that wine filled glass over there." She said pointing to the table across the room.

"Did we drink that much last night? Wait, what day is it? " He asked.

"My phone says it's Saturday 11:47 AM. That's impossible. I only remember playing roulettes with you and those weirdos. And then…a limo ride and…nothing after that."

"I only had three sips of scotch when I was sitting with you at the bar and when we were in the limo with those guys and we danced at the club and…" He watched her confused expression, her eyes full of hope that he might remember "…and…I've got nothing." He said shaking his head in defeat.

"Okay, I only had two cosmopolitans and three tumblers of scotch, complimentary champagne at the gallery and another one at the casino. We rode the limo at some point…and I woke up next to you."

"Did we take some drugs?" Daniel questioned.

"I think we did, Daniel. Isn't it strange that we remember nothing after partying with some shady characters and now we woke up naked next to each other? And come to think of it…our last memory is the limo ride. I think I also sort of did a line of coke in that night club. "

"Oh, my God. How could I be so stupid?" Cried Daniel, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"We have to get the marriage dissolved. And we have to do it fast and quietly." She suggested.

"It's Saturday noon, Wilhelmina. I doubt that there are any lawyers we can find to grant us an annulment today."

"I know that!" She snapped "I was talking about when we get back to New York. And for your information, lawyers don't grant annulments, judges do."

"Why do you always have to be so mean? We are both adults here and we are both responsible for this. This is not all on me, you know!" He said angrily.

"I know that too! Look, just go to your suite and we'll talk about this later. I need to take a long shower and then instigate damage control."

"Fine!" He spat.

"Fine! My God, this is the worst thing I've ever done…and I once had a three way with Tommy Lee. This takes the cake." She said mainly to herself. "God, I can't believe I slept with you, and without protection. I feel so dirty."

"And how do you think I feel?...You're…uh… on the pill right?" He asked almost uneasily.

"No, I'm not." She noticed his expression turning into that of panic "Relax. I have a hostile womb, I can't have kids…It's just that I don't know where the hell you've been and I don't intend on contracting any type of STD from you."

"You have nothing to worry about, I've been tested and I'm clean, alright?" He said in an aggressive tone, slightly hurt by the look of repulsion and panic on her face.

"You see what being cordial to each other has done?"

"You were the one who was going on about 'let's be miserable together.'" He said the last part of the statement with a mimic of her voice.

"SHUT UP!" She spat. Before she could think of a witty remark, a wave of nausea overcame her. "Look, just get out of my suite. I'll talk to you later." She said and promptly got up and staggered to the bathroom. After she slammed the door, he took it as an indication not to argue anymore and just get out of there. He walked unsteadily around the suite picking up his items of clothing. As he was getting dressed he heard a commotion of retching sounds of her puking.

"Need some help?" He yelled.

"No! Just go, please!" She yelled back. At that, he scurried for the door and walked out.

The next morning, at Daniel's request, Wilhelmina made her way to the hotel restaurant to join him for breakfast so they could talk things over. Walking in the restaurant, her eyes went searching for him. She pranced down over to his table as soon as she spotted him. He stood up and pulled out the chair opposite his for her and she sat down, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Good morning, wifey" He said jokingly.

"Good morning, hubby." She replied sarcastically and Daniel could tell that she was clearly not amused.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We're both responsible for this catastrophe. You were trying to make the best of the situation…no matter how ugly." She exhaled loudly before speaking again "So, I spoke to Marc."

"Yeah, I saw Fashion Buzz. It was just us making out. They don't know about the…marriage."

"And I think it's best if we keep it that way." She suggested.

"Wow, you're suggesting that? I thought I was the one who was gonna have to convince you." He said with a nervous chuckle.

"Because I'm such a publicity whore?" She asked derisively with a mirthless smile.

"That's not…I was just…"

"It's okay, Daniel, I admit it, if this were any other time, it would have made a great scandal as they say 'All publicity is good publicity.' but our company is in the crapper. Hartley just saved our asses because Connor left me and…I mean he left with our company's money and you lost Molly and I just lost my so-…William. It's just bad for business." She looked down while mentioning William's name.

"I know. Wilhelmina, I'm sorry about Will-…"

"And that's why we have to get this marriage annulled ASAP." She said quickly, cutting him off.

"I agree. Can I get you some breakfast?"

"No." She replied.

"Come on, what would you like?" He insisted.

"I can't eat."

"Oh, come on, you're in Vegas. You got married to me, something you definitely never thought you'd do. I think you're allowed to eat carbs, lots of them." He pressed on.

"I can't eat because I'm feeling nauseous." She admitted.

"You too? I'm also feeling kinda quea-…"

"And yet you're stuffing yourself like a lonely girl." She said cynically.

"So, what? I'm hungry." He answered, mouthful.

"Disgusting." She said monotonously.

"So, how do we go about this, Mrs. Meade?" Daniel teased.

"Call me that again and I'll be heading back to New York alone. Remember Las Vegas is a desert." She warned eliciting a lopsided smile from him, clearly enjoying getting a rise out of her.

"Hey, you're still wearing your ring." He said pointedly, surprised that she didn't flush it down the toilet already. She eyed the ring on her finger.

"It is a beauty. Despite the circumstances, diamonds will always be my secret best friend."

"Really? I thought that was Botox." He teased and then she reached out on his plate, grabbed the buttered toast and threw it at him, hitting him on the face. "Okay, okay I'm sorry." He sniggered and wiped the butter off his face. "So how do we go about this, Willie?"

"First of all, don't call me Willie. And second, we have to file a petition for an annulment back in New York tomorrow if we can."

"What time?" He asked.

"Around 10 o'clock. We can get our forms then and fill them and wait for the judge to grant us a trial."

"Trial?"

"An annulment is not like a divorce. We have to go to court and prove that we were drunk off our asses when we got married…that we were not mentally capable of getting married." She explained.

"I didn't know that. I thought it was easier…you know, like on TV."

"Well, it's not. I spoke to my lawyer, he says we'll probably meet with the judge later in the week, giving us enough time to gather evidence to prove that we were drunk. Hopefully the judge will grant us the annulment, we'll sign whatever we have to sign and we can go back to hating each other's guts again."

"Wilhelmina, for the record…I don't…I don't hate you." He admitted.

"You're right, you don't hate me. You despise me."

"No, I don't. For months we've actually stuck together and became a team, worked together and we tried to save the company together…" As much as his tone would have made any other person feel warm inside, it didn't work on her.

"And you tried to push me out the moment you found out that William wasn't mine and Bradford's." She finished his sentence glaring cynically at him.

"Wilhelmina…"

"I have a plane to catch, Daniel. I'll see you tomorrow in New York. If you need anything, any information or if you want to share information about the annulment, don't hesitate to call or e-mail me. Have a nice day." She said coldly and hurriedly stood up and then walked off.