Warren Worthington the third was a millionaire, so naturally he attracted a lot of women. But not only was he rich but handsome too. He couldn't go anywhere without a numerous amount of young teenage girls following him about begging for an autograph and perhaps a hug and kiss.
I was not such a woman. I was a top model, the face of every designer known in Britain. I was on the wall of every teenage boy's room and I was envied by women all around the world. I didn't need Worthington's millions. I already made billions.
I first met the American playboy at a charity event hosted by a friend we had in common, Jean Grey. She was a caring woman that always liked to help. It was a shame that she couldn't save her marriage to 'Darling' Scott, but that's another story. I watched as that 'bloody bastard' as Marie and I like to refer to him as, skulked in the corner downing glasses of wine one after the other.
"Ah! Betsy! You made it" said Jean, her trademark dazzling smile in place, "Marie said she's going to be late"
Of course Marie was going to be late. Her latest infatuation was Eric Lensher, a much older man yet according to her he had a 'young heart'. Poor Marie. She was going to get hurt again. Men tended not to stay with Marie to long. It probably has something to do with the fact that she's very clingy. But how do you explain this to a friend without hurting her feelings?
"Betsy," She said holding my and steering me across, the floor, "You must meet an old friend of mine, this is Warren Worthington. I used to go to school with him. Warren, this is Elizabeth Braddock"
I must admit. The moment I stared into those bright blue eyes, for a moment, I was lost for words. Lucky for me, Warren wasn't.
"I've seen one of your shows miss Braddock. Last Autumn. That was a very daring outfit you wore, the purple silk thing, but you pulled it off just splendidly." he finished his sentence with a flirtatious smile.
"Well I'm glad you liked it." a pitiful reply, but I had only just regained my ability of speech.
"Yes, I did. It was very…revealing" he took a sip of his wine, all the while looking at me.
I imagined he was mentally undressing me. At that moment of realisation I should have grabbed the glass of wine and thrown it at what appeared to be a new Armani suit. But he was exceptionally handsome.
"Well, that was the general idea Mr Worthington. If your tastes follow the more 'revealing' clothes maybe you will attend our lingerie show next July"
It was my turn of the sip and wine and suggestive look, however, I had no glass of wine.
"I should be glad to attend such an event Elizabeth"
"Betsy"
"Betsy then…you appear to have no drink. Allow me to get you one"
It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Clearly he demanded power in a relationship. Well I was all for men sweeping me off my feet, and again there were alarm bells. However someone had put a muffler on them.
After my forth glass of wine handed to me by the wonderful Warren, I said, "I do believe your trying to get me drunk Mr Worthington"
He smiled flirtatiously again and said, "only so that I can persuade you better to come back to my place"
I laughed, but that smile stayed the same, "miss Braddock…Betsy, I'm being completely serious"
"what"
I know, not my wittiest remark but I had had a lot of wine.
"You're a very beautiful woman. So, shall we share a cab"
Again it was a statement, not a question. He was so sure of himself…but it had been a long time…
"I'll get my coat"
As I walked out of the party, arm in arm, with the millionaire, Marie walked by. She had been crying.
"Betsy! He left meh!"
She burst into tears again. I let go of Warren's arm to comfort the poor girl. "oh fuck him Marie, fuck the lot of them, Men! You don't need them luv, Men are a bunch of scheming bastards who's soul purpose in life is to destroy women"
My comments had worked. Marie was almost smiling again, but then I remembered…Warren. I turned around, expecting him to be gone. But he was still there. At the least I expected him to be angry. But he was still smiling.
He took Marie's hand in his and kissed it saying, "Warren Worthington the third. Allow me to apologise for the whole male race. We are indeed a bunch of prats. However please believe me when I say that when I take your good friend Betsy back to my penthouse apartment, I intend to worship her like a goddess. With your permission of course"
That winning smile was on his face again, and he knew that he had won her over.
"Of course mistah Worthington. Don' let meh keep ya any longer. Bye Betsy…call meh in the morning"
And with that we were alone again. We went back to his apartment and well…we stayed up until the early hours of the morning. I must have slept at some point, as when I woke up, I was left alone in the bed. However breakfast was left by the bed, and beside what looked like freshly squeezed orange juice was a letter. In beautiful swirling letters he had wrote:
To my dearest Betsy I would have loved to have woken up to your beautiful eyes staring back at me, however I was called away to a dreadfully boring meeting. Please accept this breakfast as an apology and I hope to see you when I return.
With Love Warren
P.S remember to call Marie
And that's how life went for a while, in a blur of good meals, fine wine and fantastic sex. Being the girlfriend of a millionaire definitely had its advantages, if I wanted to try on every dress in the shop then I could try on every dress in the shop…of course…I could have already done that, but the point was that after it all I could see, "my boyfriends Warren Worthington." And THAT made everything a whole lot better.
Or so I thought. The one thing I noticed about Warren was his possessiveness. Whenever I was going out somewhere, god forbid without him, he had to know exactly where I was going, exactly what time I'd be home and who exactly I was going with, along with a detailed account of those persons history. At first I thought it was sweet but then it just got annoying. After a while I just gave up going out anywhere with out him. That was until I called Marie
"Hello?" She had been crying.
"Hiya Luv. You haven't been crying over that arse Bobby have you. He's not worth it Marie!"
"I know." she said very unconvincingly
"Oh luv this is an emergancy, i'll meet you accross the road in 10 minutes ok."
"Ok."
And with that I put down the phone triumphantly and turned to look at Warren.
"Who was that"
"Marie"
"What did she want"
"I'm going out to meet her."
"Where"
"Cafe Rougeand then…who knows where we'll end up"
"What time will you be home"
"I don't know. I should probably call Emma as well."
"So its just you, Marie and Emma"
"That's right"
"Can I come"
"No. It's just us girls. Where we tell each other secrets and try to cheer up Marie"
"You have secrets?" He said putting down the paper and looking at me with a worried expression.
"Oh Warren don't start that again. Yes, I have secrets, but so do you. How come whenever you run off to some far distant country on business, you never tell ME anything"
"You never ask"
"Ok. So last week. Where were you"
"Sorry, I cant disclose that information. Plus, you don't need to know. You're not going out"
He cant do that, I can go wherever the hell I want. I don't need his permission. I could have spent the next hour "explaining" to him the whole 'it's a free world' concept but even in this state I didn't think he would be able to grasp it. There was only one thing I could say. Something he would understand. I smiled, as if finally giving into his demand that I stay at home and moved towards him.
"Warren luv," I said seductively leaning in close so that our lips brushed lightly, "its over"
And with that I slapped him. I was brought up in a rich family and was taught that it was extremely un-ladylike for girls to go around slapping people, but god that felt good.
"What!" he said standing up quickly.
"Its over. Quite frankly Warren you've become a bit of a bore and rather clingy. I'll have someone come pick up my stuff tomorrow, goodbye Warren"
He was shouting after me as I walked away. At first he was all cursing and telling me to go but as I stood outside trying to hail a cab is attitude changed as was nearly begging me to stay.
"Betsy please, please stay, I'll be better, I promise"
Finally a cab finally pulled up.
"I am sorry Warren luv, but, I really have to go"
As the cab pulled away I finally felt like I could breathe again. This was who I was, Betsy Braddock; Strong, Confident and in control and…and…I had to make sure that Marie wouldn't let me go crawling back to him the next day.
"Are you ok ma'am?" asked the driver.
"Yes, thank you." I said furiously wiping the tears away.
Suddenly there was a tissue dangled in front of me. I looked at the driver who was smiling sympathetically. He was very attractive and when I took the tissue from him his hands were extremely strong.
"You're Elizabeth Braddock?" he asked.
"Yes, yes I am"
The light changed to green and he started driving again.
"I must say ma'am you must be one of the very few models that can still look stunning even when their mascara is running." I laughed. Maybe, under other circumstances I would have told him to 'fuck off' but I could see he was trying to cheer me up.
"Thank you, and who are you?" I asked.
"Neal. Neal Shara. Taxi driver by day, Dancer by night"
"Really"
"Nah, but it sounds good." he said grinning and turning to look back at me, "So, Café Rouge, yes"
"Yes please"
By the end of the journey I was feeling much better due to what turned out to be a very amusing and witty taxi driver. "How much do I owe you"
"No charge. Driving around beautiful super models is what makes the job worthwhile." he said smiling at me.
"Say, you couldn't wait here for about five minutes. I think me and my friend are going to need something much stronger than coffee"
"Of course"
I walked quickly towards the café passing an arguing couple.
"Yer what"
"Remy, I'm sorry, I know I should have told yo"
"Who is he!"
Pushing by them she walked into the café only tofind Marie slumped over the table looking even worse than she felt.
"Oh Marie Luv, how are you feeling"
"I feel……..I feel like I've just met the man of my dreams, and then his beautiful wife"
"Come on, this coffee isn't going to work, we're going to Logan's. There's a taxi outside luv, he'll take us." I said lifting her up out of the chair. She looked up at me.
"Ya've been crying"
"I'll be fine"
"Warren?"
"Yup. Come on, lets go"
Just as we were about to leave my phone started to ring. I pointed to Marie where the taxi was and answered the call.
"Hello"
"He-hello"
"Emma? Whats wrong"
"Its, its Scott"
"What happened"
"He's been having an affair"
I could hear her crying on the other end of the phone. There was a man on the other side of the street with a sign that said, 'The Whole Worlds Gone To Hell'
I sighed and thought, 'You've got that right luv.'