A/N: Hi kittens! I know I am updating like CRAZY but it's because I will NOT be updating starting June 14th through August 26th. So I would like to finish all my stories on hiatus before then. Since this story is becoming a personal fave of mine, and I tend to get my best idea when most inspired, I wanted to update another chapter before I churned out my twist for Green Elephants. I know it was supposed ot be 2 days ago and I have no excuse. BUT, Rhonda and Curly are too cute to boot!

And I wanted to make a quick note before I got into it because this chapter is a bit longer than normal for reasons to be discovered later.

I just wanted to point out that I received some minor concern that the story was becoming similar to Purple Elephant. I love you guys much too much to allow you all to read the same story twice with different characters. Certain aspects like the touchy subject of racism and, of course, loads of…'heat' are the same but I assure you my lovely kittens, Rhonda and Curly have their own little plot line scheduled. I plan to make this story around 12-14 chapters (so far that seems right. I am not a fan of overly done plot lines) so my masterpiece shall unveil itself. But what I am noticing is I am starting to shift a little away from Rhonda and more on Curly. Hmmm….me like the idea. Feel free to shoot any more comments, concerns, or questions my way. I love feedback and as always, enjoy my twisted, dark fantasies.-SP

Rhonda

Chapter theme song: 'We Need A Resolution' by: Aaliyah

"Ugh, keep your paws off me you mongrel!" He chucked up a wad of saliva, spitting on my twenty thousand dollar gown in pure disgust. It enraged me, evoking yet another slap to the face. How dare he!? "Did you just spit on…Vera Wang!?"

"To hell with you and Ms. Wang; Jesus effin Christ all you do is nag and complain. I'm so damn tired of hearing your voice I'm willing to pay you to make it all stop."

"Why, I never!" I gathered up my now deflowered train and stormed my way into my walk-in closet. Liam had followed me in, perching himself on the wallboards while occupying himself with fiddling with his nails. His mere presence irked the hell out of me. Tonight was not ending how I had hoped it would and that alone was reason for me to scream. My debutante ball was officially ruined and there was no way I was planning on showing my face to the hundreds of guests waiting downstairs with a soiled dress. "You, Liam, are just rude!"

"Coming from the preppy princess that ruins lives, that's real rich."

I snarled, flipping him the finger. He returned the favor, watching me skin myself of my soiled dress to put on a red, lacey number that was just as regal but more befitting for a cocktail dinner party. I scanned myself in my vanity mirror, making sure that I was simply perfect. I felt my stomach grow queasy again and found myself rushing to my connected bathroom to pop in another round of anti-acids. I been feeling a bit nauseated the past couple of days- since the last day I saw Curly. I was bad enough I was feeling a painful throbbing in my chest from our…'breakup'…but vomiting and indigestion was too much for me to handle at the same time. I chalked it all up to anxiety. I was stressed and needed to force myself to calm down.

"We can't keep our guests waiting, wife." The last word dripped off his tongue like liquid fire.

I spun around, flinging a bar of soap at his tuxedo jacket. He chuckled, wiping white residue from his left breast pocket. "Don't you ever call me that again."

"Why not?" he cooed, edging closer towards me, "You are my wife."

"For now." I growled, pushing him away from me. I returned to the middle of my room and fastened back my ankle strapped Louboutins. I peppered my lips with another layer of gloss, popped in a breath mint and headed for the door. "Let's go."

"What's the rush?" He breathed, flipping off the lights before placing a gentle kiss on my neck. "I have not seen my wife in three years. I believe some overdue lovemaking is in order."

I brushed him off, flipping back on the lights. "You were just the one who insisted we not keep our guests waiting."

"That was before I saw how good you looked in that short little dress." He purred, nipping at my ear. His hands snaked around my waist, beginning to massage my stomach to travel upwards towards my breasts. Just him touching me brought another round of my nausea. His touch felt of sandpaper and glass, nothing remotely comparable to Curly's tender, featherlike pecks and caress. "Five minutes."

"If five minutes is all you need then we definitely need to head downstairs." I murmured, turning to face him. His eyes were glassy while his breath reeked of vodka. He had been smoking and drinking heavily again, his jacket even carrying the strong scent. I sighed. "And you are high and drunk right now."

"I needed something to keep me entertained while you went off and did your little façade in front of all those people."

I scoffed, pushing him back. "Why did you even come, Liam? You should have stayed gone."

"A husband can't see his wife anymore?"

"We are in the process of a divorce!" I roared. He was raising my blood pressure and it was bad enough I had a stinging pain in my chest and been queasy for the last week. I did not need a migraine on top of my laundry list of ailments. "We got married when I was seventeen because our families thought it was a brilliant idea for some business, family merger."

"One that your family should be grateful my family agreed to." He snapped, smirking. "Without my hand in marriage, Rhonda my dear, you and your family would be on your last million by now."

"That was three years ago."

"Could still be your reality if you go through this divorce, Ms. Wellington-Lloyd-Carmichael."

I held back my rage, knowing full well he was right. My father had arranged for Liam and I to marry in late spring of my senior year of high-school. With the economy crashing a little over five years ago, my father's stock business was inconsistently fluctuating from doing extremely well to us barely making mortgage payments at the end of each month. Liam's father was a well-known, prominent businessman with a tempting proposal. He promised to bring my father as co-partner to his financial investment firm for the sole price of my freedom. Apparently in his culture, the oldest son was to be wed and begin a family before the ripe age of twenty-five to pass on his legacy; so in his later years he could court and attain concubines-whatever that means. Liam was twenty-one when we got married and my father had a written contract that stated I would not begin to bear his children until I was at least twenty-one- conveniently around the age Liam would be twenty-five.

With my birthday approaching in the upcoming months, I started to worry more and more and that I would have to make good on an agreement that I did not even consent to. To think, I sold my soul to keep my Tiffany collection, the endless shoe closet and maid staff.

It was also one of the reasons I refused Curly's proposal…

"That has nothing to do with me."

He shrugged, pulling me back towards his chiseled frame. "Either way, I have not slept with my wife in three years and I don't know about you but I am in the mood for some fun."

An expression of pure disgust graced my face, my eyes rolling to the back of my head when he glided his hands underneath the fabric of my dress; tricking his way into my satin panty to massage the folds of my womanhood. I bit back a moan, my nails finding home in his thick bed of hair. He brought me in for a kiss, a single kiss that led to him leading me towards my bed. I pulled off his tuxedo jacket, ignoring the stench of marijuana and alcohol, to ravage against his half-buttoned shirt. His hands worked the back zipper of my dress, undoing my work before unclasping my bra to free my pert mounds. I watched with half-lidded eyes when they spilled into his awaiting palms, his soft kiss planting against the valley of my chest before he devoured each bud one by one.

I tossed my head back in ecstasy. There was a small knock against the door.

I dabbed a small amount of concealer against my neck and under my eyes to hide the dropping bags from sleep- of lack thereof. I clutched my Vera tightly in the plastic cover slip, my palms now sweaty as I stared at the dry cleaners…his dry cleaners. I could have easily had Thomas steam clean my dress but I decided to take a drive out to the city to check on things. I heard that he had got stringed on doing drugs again and was spiraling out of control. I avoided seeing him for a week after my debutante ball, making it two weeks since I last seen him since my costume fiasco.

Gerald had told me he had saw Curly buying from Oscar again in that abandoned parking lot on Wood, upgrading from the occasional bags of the stuff laced with powder to legitimate pills. I began to worry. Curly was not as strong as he liked people to let on but I gave him credit for steering away from his addiction for so long. He used to just smoke to be considered as 'one of the guys', then he found some guy that would insert additives to the stuff to make a better profit. That's when the damage had happened and his habit started. When it all became too costly, he had switched to abusing his mental health status to get prescription drugs for cheaper prices that would give him similar effects. When I had found out about his habit, I immediately paid for a few months worth of rehab to get him back on his feet after his health scare. He nearly had a heart attack from mixing two drugs that were fatally toxic together that cut off almost all circulation on the right side of his body. After rehab and two months of psychotherapy, I made him vow to not use again.

The bell to the front door rang out softly, some Asian woman greeting me with a warm smile. "Welcome to Gamelthrope cleaners. May we help you?"

"I need this dress cleaned."

"Such a pretty dress." She hummed. She took my dress gently, removing it from the plastic bag to give it a look over. I was too busy scanning to back to see if I could see him in his parent's office. "You need right away?"

I shook my head, still looking. "Whenever is fine." I finally looked at her. "Is Curly in?"

She raised her brow. "Curly?"

"The little geeky kid whose parents own this place." I sighed when she still was clueless. "Rectangular glasses, very handsome, very sweet, funny, a little on the crazy side…" I paused, realizing I was practically complimenting the disgusting vermin. What was getting to me? "I mean…That…that…"

"I'm right here, Rhonda."

I spun around. There he stood in a pair of jeans and a simple red and yellow striped t-shirt, face emotionless as he brushed past me to go behind the counter. He had informed his employee that he would be taking care of my dress and to go restock the something of the something that moved in circular fashion. I felt a small wave of heat course against my cheeks, my heart pulsating against my chest when he looked at me through his glassed eyes. My mouth grew dry, me biting my lip in an effort to find the right words to say. I swallowed hard, taking a deep breath.

"Hi, Curly. I didn't see you there."

"I know." He said simply, examining my dress. He looked back at me with the same emotionless expression. "What's wrong with it?"

"Uhm…I need it cleaned. It's a small stain on the train but only I can see it." I mentally kicked myself for sounding like a complete idiot. Good going, Rhonda, darling.

"So…a stain only you can see…" he shook his head, letting out a low chuckle. "Why didn't you have one of the many people on your staff to fix it?"

I shrugged, taking out my nail file from my clutch. "I didn't feel like it, plus I don't trust those heathens."

He let out a hearty laugh. "Just admit it, sweetie, you came because you wanted to see me."

I felt better seeing him smile. I was not used to him being so…statuesque. This was Curly for crying out loud. Curly was anything but emotionless and mute. If anything he was highly offensive and disturbing. I filed an invisible hangnail before looking at him. "I was just in the neighborhood, that's all. No need to get your boxers in a bunch."

"Oh, Rhonda, you slay me. You think you can outsmart me but we both know who will win at this little game you are playing."

"Do we now? Because I think I was just in the neighborhood dropping off a dress to get dry-cleaned."

"Then why are you still standing here?" I grew quiet, his sly smirk widening into a conniving smile. "Your dress will be ready later this evening. You can feel free to come back and pick it up from my father."

I just stared at him, lost for words- which is a complete rarity. Thaddeus claimed his checkmate and snatched my dress before disappearing between a sea of plastic-covered laundry. I grew tired of this and decided to take matters into my own hands. I slipped underneath the open counter to follow him, calling out his name. He ignored me so I sped up a little to catch him before he went inside some locked room. I snatched the back of his shirt, swinging him around to face me.

He tried to say something but I yanked him to a spare corner underneath the mechanical staircase of clothing that circulated throughout the room. I pushed him into a pile of clothes, swallowing my pride before I joined him. I must have been out my mind to swim in dirty laundry.

"Rhonda!" he screeched. "What the hell?"

"What has gotten into you, Curly?"

"I don't know what on earth you are talking about." He snapped, trying to push me off him. "Can you get off my leg?"

"No, not until you talk to me."

"If this is about Serena…"

"Don't even say that trollops name." I barked, a sudden rush of anger encasing me. Curly just looked at me, rolling his eyes.

"Rhonda, if you came here to talk me out of a relationship with Serena you can forget it."

"I came here because I was worried about you."

"What have I done that would make u feel the least bit insecure about this sex magnet?" he sighed. "There is nothing wrong with me! Other than you landing on my already sore leg, I'm just dandy sugar plum; now get off!"

I pushed him further back into the mound of shirts and slacks, planting a small kiss on his lips. To my surprise he did not pull away, only deepening it with forbidden passion and flames of lust. I ran my hands over Curly's front pocket, feeling my way inside to grab what I had hoped to find.

"Rhonda!" he shouted, reaching for it. I hid it in my bra, pushing him back down towards the floor.

"I have nothing to be worried about, huh?" I scoffed. "Thaddeus, how dare you lie to me? Since when were you planning on telling me you were using again?"

"It's none of your damn business." He snapped, forcefully switching positions to place me beneath him. He pried my legs open, pinning my hands above my dark brown halo. Our breathing was matched, both uneven and full of emotion neither one could overcompensate. I saw in the corner of my eye a few of his employees had been watching our little tussle but he had scurried them away with orders without even breaking our trance. His hands slowly slid down towards my shirt, lifting up the sheer fabric to expose half of my black lingerie. He removed the plastic bag and placed it to the side of him.

"You need to leave now, Rhonda." His voice was low.

I swallowed, reaching up to kiss him again; this time, it not serving as a distraction. All I could think about him and how us kissing felt so right yet so wrong. I never realized how much I had truly loved Curly until that very moment, the feeling of how your heart finally feels as ease when the person you love touches you. I knew I was wrong for keeping the fact that I was a married woman away from Curly for so long, even during the course of our relationship, but I never thought I would have to make good on my contract with Liam. We were in the process of getting a divorce but he and his family were appealing to the fullest to delay the proceedings and even threatened to sue me and my family for breach of contract.

I knew that if I truly did divorce Liam, I would be left out on the street without a pot to piss in; but what was a girl to do when she was in love with a bug-eyed creep that contradictory disgusts yet infatuates her?

"Curly…" I whispered. "What happened? You were doing so well."

He closed his eyes, burying his head within the crevice of my neck and shoulder. He inhaled my scent, kissing my bare shoulders. "You."

"What did I do, Curly?"

"You did this to me." He hushed, loud enough for only me to hear.

"Curly, I didn't put a gun to your head and tell you to start pill popping again."

"They aren't prescription drugs, Rhonda." He hissed. "I can't even get those anymore without supervision."

"So what are you taking now, Thaddeus?" my voice coming out a little icier than usual. I placed a single finger underneath his chin to bring his gaze to meet mine. I stared in right in the eyes, looking at his dilated pupils, swollen eye beds, and damp skin from profuse sweating. I placed my forehead against his. "You're high now, aren't you?"

He remained quiet, finding solace between my neck again. We stayed like that for awhile and for once I didn't mind. "Do you love me, Rhonda?"

My heart stopped. "Where is this coming from?"

"Do you love me?"

"Thaddeus…" I felt that familiar stinging sensation in my chest, trying my best to ignore it. "Stop this."

"Marry me, Rhonda…please."

My anxiety attack pounded away at my senses. I suddenly forgot how to breathe. I squeezed my eyes tight, balling my dainty hands into fists. "Thaddeus…Serena…"

"I can handle not being good enough for her family, but I can't handle not being good enough for yours. Marry me."

"What are you talking about?"

He remained motionless, still breathing softly against my neck. I waited. "Your parents aren't the only pricks out there that believe I'm not good enough for anyone."

I fell silent for a short while, attempting to control myself. "What happened?"

"Doesn't matter." He looked at me, eyes glossed over from unshed tears before his lips crashed against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. He smelled of cleaner and alcohol. I pulled him closer towards me, snatching his shirt again. "Marry me." He repeated.

"Curly, you're using again." I whispered. "You are only asking me to marry you because you are depressed about Serena's family."

He growled, shoving me deeper into the pile of clothing. "You seriously don't get how much I love you, do you princess?"

"Thaddeus…"

"The only reason we are the way we are is because you won't be woman enough to admit you love me."

"Curly…"

"I don't know how much more I can take of this, Rhonda. I can't."

I buried my head against his chest. For some reason an ominous aura shelled against my heart as he spoke. I felt small pelts of water fall against my forehead, landing against his shirt. My heart slowly began to crackle. "Thaddeus, I never seen you…"

He cut me off with another kiss. "I'll stop again, I promise I will. I may need a bit of help but I'll stop, just say yes…please."

I bit my bottom lip, trying so hard to say the things that were better left unsaid. I opened my mouth to speak but heard the bell to the front door ring out again in its jingle. There was a familiar voice that rang out in the front, calling his name.

Shit!

Thaddeus looked at me, then between the racks of clothing to decipher the voice. He stood to leave but I begged him to stay put with me, my emotions getting the best of me. I felt small tears begin to course down my face, my anxiety attack worsening. My chest began to constrict, my stomach pain now almost unbearable. I started to pant, face flushed as I gripped my heart as though it would help me breathe. I grew dizzy, feeling faint before I pressed myself against the cool tile of the floor.

Thaddeus yelled out for one of his staff members to call an ambulance as he lifted me up off the floor to carry me into his arms. He made a dash towards the front, telling that Asian lady that greeted me when I first walked in to manage the store in his absence. I saw Liam, standing at the counter, arms crossed with his face smug before he caught a glimpse of me.

I was now sweating profusely against Curly's shirt, feeling my mind go blank. Liam tried to get Curly to hand me over to him but he refused, just like I knew he would. Liam's voice raised a few octaves, he shouting out that I was his wife and the husband she be the one that takes care of me. All I remember was that Curly remained silent for a short while, telling Liam that he knew exactly what his title was in my life and he knew who and what he was to me.

The ambulance arrived seconds later, a few paramedics stepping out with a stretcher. Curly laid my, now, convulsing body against it to be strapped down secure. I closed my eyes and watched as everything went black.