Summary: The tables turn on Annette thanks to Kathryn
Chapter 16: One Last Game
Good I was such a fool, Annette thought glumly as she stared up at the ceiling of her dorm room. All weekend she had been holing up in her room thinking about the disaster her life had become. Since Sebastian kicked her out of his hospital room the previous week she had been assessing her life and how she got to where she was. In the end she could blame Kathryn and Sebastian all she liked but deep down she realized it was really her who was to blame.
She never should of hired Gwendolyn. Looking back she wondered how on earth she thought she would get away with it. Sebastian was many things but stupid wasn't one of them. Of course he would eventually find out what she did, it was inevitable. Her only real defense for her actions was her jealousy and hurt. By choosing to cheat on her with Kathryn of all people Sebastian managed to hurt her in a way that she never thought possible. After making the discovery she was so overcome with hurt and anguish the only thing she could think of was to hold on to him at any cost necessary. In the end she lost the one thing she held most dear.
Annette just couldn't get the look Sebastian gave her when he woke up out of her head. He looked at her like he despised her, like she was the lowest form of dirt on the planet. Did he really hate her? She couldn't be sure but she did know what ever they had was over. As much as it pained her to admit it Sebastian now belonged to Kathryn. For reasons she couldn't fathom he loved her and most likely always had. Annette faintly wondered if Sebastian thought about Kathryn a lot in the two years they were together. Did he picture Kathryn's face when he made love to her? It was a depressing thought.
Annette's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of her telephone. She really had no intention of picking it up but on the fifth ring she decided to answer it just to get rid on the annoying noise. "Hello?"
"Hello Annette it's Gwendolyn. Bad time?"
You have no idea Annette thought miserably to herself. "Sort of" she answered her with a sigh "what can I do for you Gwen?"
"Well darling it's like this, I need ten grand and I need it by tomorrow."
Annette was so startled she began to laugh "are you serious?"
There was a pause on the line before Gwendolyn's stone cold serious voice told her "no sweetie this is no joke. I need the money and you're the only person who can get it for me."
Annette sat there flabbergasted not sure what to make of all this. For starters she barely knew Gwendolyn. She had heard a classmate mention her a few months ago and then asked where she could get in touch with her. At the time she wasn't even sure what her job description was. The guy had just told her "she's a dirt digger. You need it she'll find it." Annette was unsure of her at first but then they met and she seemed normal enough. She had even been so kind to her when she found out about Sebastian's infidelity. That's why all of this came as such a shock.
"Gwendolyn I don't have that kind of money. I'm sorry but you'll have to look someplace else."
"Oh but you had plenty of cash when you needed info on your cheating boyfriend. Look I know you can get me the money so I think it's in your best interest to get me it by tomorrow."
Annette couldn't be sure but it sounded like she was threatening her. "What if I don't?"
"Well then I guess I'll be forced to go to the cops and tell them about your blackmail scheme."
"My black mail scheme? It was your idea and you're the one who technically did the blackmailing" she reminded her.
"Yes but you're the one who paid me. Besides I don't really think the police will see it that way especially if I got a certain dark haired debutante to go along with me."
As soon as she mentioned Kathryn Annette began to worry because she knew Kathryn was just looking for a reason to pay her back. Well getting her arrested would sure as hell accomplish that. Still Annette had no idea where she could come up with that sort of money. "Gwen how could you do this to me? I thought we were friends."
"Sure we are but business is business. Now Annette I suggest that if you don't want to spend the rest of your college years in prison you'll get me my money. Do we have a deal?"
With her head in her hands Annette murmured into the phone "yeah I'll get you your money." What else could she do?
* * * * * *
Twenty four hours later Annette was standing in a dark parking garage in Queens wondering just where the hell Gwendolyn was. After spending the previous night thinking and worrying where to get the cash Annette did the only thing she could, drain her savings and college fund. It was the only source of cash she had and her only option.
Although she had considered other alternatives such as asking her dad, a friend or even Sebastian she knew she had to get the money herself. If she told her dad he would insist she go to the police where he would most likely get an earful from Gwendolyn and Kathryn about her various activities over the past few weeks. None of Annette's friends had the money and she knew even if Sebastian was feeling generous there was no way he would give her the cash if only because Kathryn would cut off his balls if he did.
So here she was standing in the dark, dank garage all by herself practically shivering with nerves about what she was about to do. Looking around the area Annette did wonder why Gwendolyn wanted to meet there of all places. True she never did tell her where she lived but for some reason Annette never thought Queens was really Gwen's style. Apparently she was wrong, about a lot of things actually.
After about twenty minutes Annette looked once more at her watch and considered just going back to her dorm room. This was ridiculous did Gwendolyn just expect her to wait around all day? Shaking her head Annette started to head out when a gruff voice called out behind her "hey you Annette?"
Annette spun around at the sound of her name. A tall, street kid in his early twenties started to approach her making her somewhat nervous. "Yes I am" she said in a shaky voice "where's Gwen?"
"Gwendolyn" he said pronouncing each symbol slowly "couldn't make it. You're suppose to hand the cash over to me."
She shook her head "yeah right. Why isn't she hear herself?"
The guy rolled his eyes in annoyance "do you really think she'd show up herself? She thought you might bring the cops or something so she sent me to check you out. I see no cops so I assume everythings cool, where's the money?"
Annette was very dubious of this however she really wanted to get out of there quickly and this guy did seem to know who Gwendolyn was so after a moment of reservation she took the package out of her oversized rain coat and handed it to him. "That's it are we done?"
The guy took it and looked through the small bag in satisfaction. "Is this all of it?"
"Yeah"
"All right. Well then here" he said taking some sort of paper out of his jacket "Gwendolyn said to give this to you."
Annette took the small envelop from him cautiously "what is it?"
"Don't know just the messenger" suddenly the guy looked behind her and his eyes went wide in fright. "Oh shit! Man I thought you brought no cops with you."
Annette looked at him confused "what? I didn't"
However as Annette turned around she saw two uniformed police officers making their way towards them. "I'm out of here" the guy said before running off the way he came.
"Hey!" One of the older cops called out to him before breaking into a run after him.
Annette was so shocked and confused about what was going on she just stood there when the other cop approached her. "What's in the there miss?" he asked gesturing to the tiny envelop in Annette's hand.
"I-I'm not sure" she stuttered.
Before she could protest the cop yanked it out of her hand and pulled out a small baggy that contained what looked like white powder. The cop sighed "yeah right. Well this looks like heroin to me sweetheart."
"What? No, no I don't do drugs!"
"Yeah right" the cop scoffed "you're just holding it for a friend right?"
Suddenly the other cop approached them dragging the street kid along with him. "Hey Joe I found this on him" he said holding up the bag of money. "Looks like we got ourselves a drug deal."
"NO!" Annette screamed "I'm not buying drugs."
"Right" the cop said as he grabbed Annette's wrist and slapped a pair of handcuffs on her. "I hope you have a good lawyer sweetie."
* * * * * *
The following morning Kathryn awoke from a restful night's sleep. She rolled over in her queen sized bed and was about to fall back asleep when she noticed she wasn't alone. "Jesus Christ Sebastian" she exclaimed as she sat up quickly. "You scared me."
"Sorry" he replied in a flat even tone.
Kathryn smiled slightly as she considered how good he looked dressed in one of his dark suits. Then as the sleepiness began to wear off she realized he probably shouldn't be there. "What are you doing here? You're suppose to be in the hospital."
Sebastian said nothing at first and his strange attitude combined with the way he was looking at her began to make her nervous. Leaning forward Sebastian picked up the newspaper resting on his lap and tossed it to her. Kathryn caught it and as she looked down the small headline caught her eye. 'Private School Girls Private Habit No Longer' then underneath it read 'Daughter of headmaster at prestigious Manhattan school arrested for buying drugs.' Although it wasn't front page Kathryn was still pretty please it made the papers none the less. However as she looked up at Sebastian's cold glare she realized maybe it wasn't such a good thing after all.
Before she could say anything Sebastian said "I was getting ready to come over hear to surprise you with news of my early release when I saw this."
Kathryn sighed "ok so how mad are you?"
"Oh sweetheart" Sebastian said with a cold sneer on his face as he got up from his seat. "I don't think mad is the right word."
"Sebastian I was going to tell-"
"You were going to tell me what?" He roared startling her "that you were going to send the women I almost married to jail? Annette hurt you so you ruin her life. That seems fair to you?"
Kathryn was more than a little thrown by Sebastian's attitude. She thought he might be upset with her little scheme but never did she think he would be this angry. Wasn't he over Annette or did he still carry a torch for her? "Look Sebastian you know I was going to pay her back for what she did so I don't know why you're so surprised. God I thought you hated Annette for what she did to us or was I wrong?"
The hard expression never left Sebastian's face "yes I was angry for what she did but this went way too far. Jesus I never thought you were capable of something like this. I mean this is just sick Kathryn, you're sick and completely fucked up."
Kathryn just stared at him in shock. She couldn't understand the words that were coming out of his mouth. He didn't understand how she could do something like this? He knew her, he knew her better than anyone and he was most certainly aware of what she was capable of. "How could you...I thought you loved me."
"Hmm well so did I but I don't know if this thing between us is going to work."
"What?" She asked baffled as she made her way to the edge of the bed. "Why just because of this? God they're not even sending the little witch to jail. Just some bullshit rehab facility."
"It's not just what you did to Annette. I pour my heart out to you all the time and how do you respond? You go and do some shit like this. Come to think of it I don't think you've ever told me how you felt about me."
Kathryn leaned forward and took his hand "you know how I feel."
Shaking his head at her he said "no, no I don't."
"Sebastian..." she sighed.
Snapping his hand back suddenly he snickered "yeah that's what I thought. I'm out of here."
Kathryn started to panic as Sebastian turned his back on her and started for the door. "Sebastian wait! Please don't go. Sebastian I love you!"
As soon as she said the words Sebastian stopped and slowly turned around. He looked at her a moment before he walked back over to the bed. As he leaned forward over her Kathryn leaned back on the bed not quite sure what he was doing. When his body was pressed against hers and his mouth was only centimeters away Sebastian smiled that usual cocky smile he used when he just got his way. "Now was that so hard?"
Kathryn's brow wrinkled in confusion "what are you-"
He silenced her with a kiss that took her breath away. With his body now resting on hers Kathryn began to process what just happened. It took her a moment to realize the truth. When Sebastian finally pulled away he looked at her with a lazy grin but was met with a smack across the face. "You set me up" she said somewhat amazed. "You just wanted me to say it. You don't care about poor Annette."
Touching his cheek Sebastian laid down next to her on his back. "I don't know, define care." Kathryn hit him again in the chest and he groaned "hey stop it with the hitting. I just got out of the hospital remember?"
Kathryn got up and straddled him. "You just" hit "said" hit "all those" hit "awful things to me" hit, hit "just so I would tell you!"
Sebastian blocked her hits and said with a laugh "tell me what?"
Kathryn smiled at him "I hate you."
"No that's not it. Come on say it."
"Or what you'll call me a sick fuck again?"
He laughed "you are but it's ok I still love you."
As much as she didn't want to Kathryn smiled in response and stopped hitting him. "So you're really not mad about what I did to Annette?"
"Mmm not really. Although I am curious why you left Christian off the hook so easily. Then again all he did was SHOOT me."
"I'm starting to think he should get rewarded for that" she said with a sly smile. "Don't worry Christian will get what's coming to him."
"Good" pulling her down to him suddenly he asked "what about me?"
Kathryn let her nose brush against his "I'm thinking about it."
Sebastian pulled her down for a perfect kiss. One of those kisses that made her forget all the reasons he aggravated and infuriated her. "I love you" she whispered to him as they pulled away.
"I knew that."
Epilogue Coming Soon