Frankie was taken aback at first but returned and enjoyed his kiss, and closed her eyes for a brief moment until the sound of an enraged Ryan entered the room.
"Get your hands the hell off of her!" Ryan roared.
"Ryan!" Frankie gasped, wiping her mouth quickly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean any harm!" Trey quickly exclaimed.
"Trey, not now!" Frankie shouted. "Ryan, what are you doing here?!" she demanded to know in a panic.
"Georgia told me that you and Trey have some business deal going on," Ryan explained, as he looked over Frankie and Trey standing side by side. "It looks like it was a lot more than a business deal."
"Nothing happened!" Frankie squealed.
"And I should believe that? Why, Frankie?" Ryan demanded to know. "After what happened with Kevin last time, why should I believe that this was the first time that you and Trey have gotten this close?"
"See, I told you," Trey muttered to Frankie. "If you don't mind me asking, how did Georgia arrive at the conclusion that Frankie and I had some business deal going on?"
"Frankie spoke in an Italian accent when she was pretending to be Ms. Hammond... yeah, I know about Ms. Hammond... and then she also spoke in an Italian accent just a little while ago at the mall," Ryan explained.
"Frankie!" Trey shouted. "Is feigning Italian accents a hobby of yours?"
"Oh, shut up!" Frankie glared at Trey, and then quickly turned to Ryan. "Yes, I did have a deal with Trey, but it was nothing more than that, and you should believe me because I'm telling the truth!"
"Trey, I'd really like to talk to Frankie in private," Ryan told Trey in a serious tone.
"This is my hotel room," Trey reminded him, only to catch his glare. "Well, I do have to get to my first day of work to try and right some wrongs."
"The job that Frankie helped you get, right?" Ryan asked him.
"If I still have it!" Trey shouted. "Oh, and Frankie, had I known that Ryan was standing there, I would never have displayed my true feelings to you. I had every intention to stick to my end of the bargain, but you had to know how I felt."
Frankie didn't reply, only stared at him, as he left the room.
"Well, that worked like a charm," Trey muttered in the hall, pleased with himself for getting out of that deal. "But, ouch, Georgia knows. I have nothing to worry about, though. Georgia knows that she can't fire me... or her Daddy's secret will rear its ugly head."
Grant walked into the lobby of the hotel and was surprised when he saw Georgia pushing her way through the doors.
"Georgia!" Grant shouted.
"Oh, Father!" Georgia exclaimed.
Georgia ran up to him, and Grant felt her tight embrace. "Georgia, what are you doing here?" he asked her.
"I LIVE in Philadelphia!" Georgia reminded him. "The better question is: what are you doing here? Philadelphia isn't exactly around the corner," she noted. "Are Savannah and Mother with you?"
"No, they regret that they can't be here, but you can be assured that they will be here for the wedding," Grant replied. "I came by myself to see Trey."
"Trey," Georgia flatly replied. "Actually, that's why I'm here, too. I'm firing his sorry derriere before he even starts."
"Georgia, WHY?" Grant demanded to know.
"Father, I thought you'd be happy," Georgia figured, shocked by his reaction. "Father, he used a girl named Frankie to help get him that job."
"You can't fire him, though... that secret," Grant reminded her in a soft tone.
"To hell with that secret," Georgia blew it off.
"Georgia!" Grant shouted.
"Father!" Georgia shouted back. "The Caldwells have done no wrong. What, did we forget to return a library book or something? What could Trey possibly have on us?"
"Look, I don't know but I will find out," Grant lied. "Let me talk to Trey, and I will fire him if I deem that he has nothing to use against us."
"Father, I don't understand," Georgia muttered.
"Please, do as I say," Grant requested.
"Fine," Georgia pouted, embracing her father again. "Visit me at the penthouse tonight, okay?"
"I'll be there," Grant replied, watching as Georgia turned around and left. Suddenly, Grant felt a tap on his shoulder, and he spun around to find Trey standing behind him.
"That was a touching conversation with your daughter," Trey observed. "Of course, Grant, you won't fire me... you know better than that."
Grant clenched his jaw, as he looked into Trey's eyes.
Frankie turned around and prepared for the lecture that was probably about to come out of Ryan's mouth.
"Don't turn around," Ryan ordered of her.
Frankie turned back around, with her arms still folded. "Have any more orders while we're at it?" she asked him, in anger. "Look, you have to believe me when I say that nothing personal has happened between Trey and I."
"It looked pretty personal a few minutes ago," Ryan reminded her. "What was Trey's end of the deal?"
"I'll be straight with you," Frankie began to explain. "I offered to help him get that job with Georgia, if he'd help me get you back in my arms."
Ryan threw his arms in the air and waved them around. "What?!" he demanded to know. "The only thing you had to do to get me back in your arms, as you put it, was just be honest and be yourself!"
"Myself?" Frankie wanted to know. "Ryan, I am being myself!"
"No, you're not," Ryan shot back. "I can't believe you could be so stupid as to get suckered into yet another scheme that could hurt people in the process."
"Stupid? Suckered into?" Frankie repeated some of the phrases that Ryan just used, as anger began to build in her body. "Let me make something clear to you, no one pressures me into doing anything. I freely made those choices to help Vivian, and I was very aware of what I was doing when I agreed to help Trey. You seem to think that I'm some lost puppy, who'll just follow other people for the hell of it. Well, I'm not! I am being myself, you just seem to be having a tough time accepting me for who I am!"
"Is this really the person that you want to be?" Ryan proposed a question. "Look at you, you're helping nasty people do their dirty work. Why? Why do you always have to do this?"
"I am not the same person that came to Philadelphia with you," Frankie informed him. "I'm tired of you and my mother thinking that I'm some perfect little angel, and you have rules that you want me to abide by. What are you going to do, send me to my room if I don't act like I'm supposed to in your perfect vision of the way you expect me to act?"
"You've proven that you are not a perfect angel," Ryan let her know. "Getting involved with the wrong people over and over again won't help you get any better."
"Who says I want to change?" Frankie asked him. "Did it ever occur to you that I'm happy the way I am? This is who I am. Why can't you accept me for that? You know what? To hell with your perfect visions, and to hell with my mother, too. If she wants to 'disown' me because I won't be married when this is child is born, then let her do whatever the hell she wants!"
"I can't believe you can stand there and say things like that about people who have cared for you for years," Ryan observed in disappointment.
"I find it very easy to say what I'm saying. I don't NEED your discipline; I don't NEED your guidance. I want acceptance! I'm not changing for you or for anyone. If you can't take me for who I am, then that's just too damn bad!" Frankie shouted, grabbing a pillow and tossing it over at Ryan. "You hear me?"
"Don't stress yourself out," Ryan told her in a serious tone.
"Oh, thanks for the concern five minutes later," Frankie sarcastically replied, looking down at her watch. "You always have to have the first word in, then you tell people to calm down when you're the one who riled the person up in the first place!"
"I don't know you anymore." Ryan shook his head.
"You don't WANT to know me," Frankie shot back.
"I knew you... once," Ryan reminded her. "But, not anymore. You're right, I can't accept you this way. You're not even trying to change… hell, you don't even WANT to change."
Frankie glared at him. "Save yourself the trouble. It's over, isn't it? Well, now I'll have so much more time on my hands. I don't have to think about how to win you back anymore. It's only going to be me and this little guy or girl from now on."
"We'll have to see who gets custody of our baby," Ryan pointed out in a soft tone.
"Don't you even think that I'll hand over this baby. He's going to stay in my loving arms. Why don't you leave?" Frankie demanded.
"You know," Ryan began in a soft tone. "When Vivian gave you that makeover, she not only changed your face... she changed your heart."
Frankie tightened her mouth, as the slamming of the door pierced her body. Alone in the room, she walked over to the mirror and looked at herself. She rested her head on the bureau, as a tear came to her eye.
Trey folded his arms and looked at Grant's reaction. "What's the matter, Grant? Expensive cat got your money-green tongue?"
"You know I have every right to fire you," Grant replied in anger. "Not only because of what you did with that Frankie girl that Georgia just mentioned, but what you are doing by threatening my family like that!"
"All I want is a steady job, and if I have to use threats and blackmail to maintain that job, then I will... one-hundred percent, without a doubt," Trey informed him.
"You really are a piece of work, you know that?" Grant looked at him and shook his head. "But, I have made a decision."
Frankie got off the elevator, still reeling from her break-up with Ryan, when she saw Trey and Grant standing and conversing on the side.
"Trey," Grant began to announce his decision. "I will let you use this information against my family and I anymore, and I won't let it stop me from saying this. Trey, you ARE fired."
"On the morning of my first day? Well, I wasn't given much of an opportunity," Trey told him in a serious tone. "I'm not fired, you can't fire me!" he reminded him.
"Trey," Grant simply muttered, raising a finger. "Listen to me, if what you know gets out, I'll personally see to it that your life becomes a living hell."
"Then, you better start making the arrangements because everyone in the industry, and Georgia, will know that you are not Savannah's biological father!" Trey shouted. "Georgia has a half-sister."
"You shut the HELL up!" Grant roared.
Frankie put her hand over her mouth, as her heart skipped a few beats upon hearing that Georgia's father isn't the biological father of Georgia's sister. "Oh, my God!" she exclaimed in shock, as she continued to listen intently, her eyes wider than ever.
"I told you, Grant, if you let me keep that job, then your secret is safe with me," Trey once again proposed. "So, what's it going to be?"
"Georgia's the one who ratted me out to Ryan," Frankie muttered. "Grant's secret is NOT safe with me!" she finished in a mutter, as she quietly left the hotel, unseen.
"You and your family are traitors!" Grant shouted at him. "You really would let your knowledge be known, wouldn't you?"
"I would, but that won't have to happen if you simply reconsider your decision," Trey reminded him in an urging tone.
"Report to your first day," Grant ordered him, sounding reluctant. "I will have Georgia present me with a detailed report tonight."
"Thank you for reconsidering," Trey replied, extending his hand. "Shall we shake on it?"
"Not without a pair of brass knuckles," Grant retorted. "Remember, not a word."
"My lips are sealed," Trey assured him. "You won't regret it."
"Oh, I will!" Grant shouted, as he watched Trey head to the door. "I know I will," he muttered.
Chapter 17
Non-Nsync Fiction
I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
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