The Scandal : A BBW ALPHA MALE BWWM ROMANCE Read online

  THE SCANDAL

  PRIVILEGE & PRESTIGE SERIES

  CASSIE VERANO

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  This eBook is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and situations are complete creative works of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

  Resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental.

  Any unauthorized reprint or use of this book or any portion thereof is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

  Copyright © 2020 Cassie Verano

  All Rights Reserved

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  Printed in the United States of America

  Contents

  CHAPTER 1 – INDIGO

  CHAPTER 2 – INDIGO

  CHAPTER 3 – INDIGO (2 MONTHS LATER)

  CHAPTER 4 – INDIGO

  CHAPTER 5 – DANTE (1 Month Later)

  CHAPTER 6 – INDIGO

  CHAPTER 7 – DANTE

  CHAPTER 8 – DANTE (1 ½ Week Later)

  CHAPTER 9 – INDIGO

  CHAPTER 10 – DANTE

  CHAPTER 11 – INDIGO

  CHAPTER 12 – DANTE

  CHAPTER 13 – INDIGO

  CHAPTER 14 – DANTE

  CHAPTER 15 – INDIGO

  CHAPTER 16 – DANTE

  CHAPTER 17 – INDIGO

  CHAPTER 18 – DANTE

  CHAPTER 19 – INDIGO

  CHAPTER 20 – DANTE

  CHAPTER 21 – INDIGO

  CHAPTER 22 – INDIGO

  CHAPTER 23 – DANTE

  CHAPTER 24 – INDIGO

  CHAPTER 25 – DANTE

  CHAPTER 26 – INDIGO

  EPILOGUE – CHAPTER 27 – INDIGO (2 Years Later)

  ITALIAN TRANSLATION

  SNEAK PEEK AT THE ARRANGEMENT

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  CHAPTER 1 – INDIGO

  Looking at the smiling faces all around me, I smiled at some and waved at others. I tried not to focus on the fact that this event was live and being aired on WSKH – 6 here in Sunset Harbor, North Carolina, and beyond to Summer Cove and the surrounding towns.

  I tried not to focus on the fact that the beautiful rays that Lana, our local meteorologist and one of my bridesmaids, predicted were a no-show and, in its place, was a torrential storm. An omen of things to come?

  I tried not to focus on the fact that at the last minute, we’d had to move from the garden to the ballroom inside. But we’d made provisions for this just in case.

  I tried not to focus on the fact that my father continually cleared his throat, and I could feel his disapproval radiating from him brighter than the missing sun.

  I tried not to focus on the fact that Keith looked as if he would be ill rather than ecstatic like all the other grooms before him.

  With a big cheesy grin, I looked ahead at Keith and gave him an encouraging wink and smile.

  Of course, he was nervous and had cold feet. That was typical of most men and even women in some instances. It was me who’d felt the same way last week, and it was him who’d talked me down off the ledge, assuring me that our love was enough to see us through the most turbulent times.

  My bridesmaids were all rays of sun beaming on me as I passed them.

  And then there was my best friend, Maeve Reynolds. She gave me a reassuring smile and nod as I passed her. She’d flown in from Europe, giving me a boost of her sunshiny presence and love over the last week. After just finishing up a major shoot, Maeve had dedicated her attention to me, ensuring I was solid and in a good frame of mind.

  She’d arrived the day of my meltdown. She was subjected to the crazy emotions and the second-guessing of myself as a wife and future mother, and my questions about the chances our marriage would survive. She was the one that held my hand and assured me that everything would be fine.

  At the end of it all, Maeve had been the one to call Keith and tell him to get his ass in gear to come to my place and talk to me. Feeling his arms around me and his reassurances had steadied me. But after he left, I’d shared my real concerns with Maeve.

  And it was Maeve who’d concocted a plan to get me through this day.

  “Keith,” I whispered after my daddy placed my hand in my fiancé’s.

  His soft brown eyes lifted to find mine, and he smiled at me. A small smile, but a smile all the same.

  We turned to the minister, Dr. Reverend James S. Goodwin.

  Most of the words that he spoke were lost on me. In twenty-five years down the road, when Keith and I celebrated our twenty-fifth anniversary, I wouldn’t recall a thing the good Dr. Reverend said to us.

  I was a bundle of nerves. Somewhat worried about what the guests gathered thought about this wedding, somewhat wondering if the precipitous rainfall was an omen. Part of me worried about the conversation I’d had with Maeve and how Keith and I would proceed from this day.

  Yes, we were engaged, but lately, we’d been under a great deal of strain even in our intimate moments. Occasionally I chalked it up to the stress of planning a wedding and balancing our careers. But now I wondered would that stress cease to exist after the vows and the reception was done. Would we find our ease with which we’d enjoyed the balance of our seven-year relationship when we lay together on our honeymoon to consummate our marriage? Or was the current stress just the beginning?

  I felt Keith squeeze my hands, and I looked up at him as he bore the smile that had been elusive lately.

  I conjured up a smile, pushing the worries away and focused on being happy at the moment. Ready to receive the words that Keith would speak, I vowed that these words I would never forget. I would carry them with me for the remainder of our lives.

  “I Keith Trevor Samuels, take thee, Indigo Briana Scott, to be my...to be my...”

  Keith looked away from the minister to his left and me and then inhaled deeply and blew out through his nose. I followed his gaze, and my smile slipped for a moment.

  At that moment, I knew what I had to do. All the on the fence shit was out the window.

  Come on, Keith. Honey, just repeat after the minister. You’ve got this thing on lock; we practiced it several times, I screamed in my head.

  But externally, other than the widening of my eyes, my carefully composed face gave nothing away.

  “To be my wedded wife,” Dr. Reverend James S. Goodwin prompted.

  Keith looked at the minister and shook his head. “I, Keith Trevor Samuels, take thee, Indigo Briana Scott, to be my wedded wife.”

  I half-listened and waited for my turn. Glancing around at my attendants, I issued a smile of love and appreciation to each of them before I turned back to Keith. It was my turn to speak.

  “I Indigo Briana Scott, do not take thee, Keith Trevor Samuels, to be my wedded husband.”

  There was a collective dramatic gasp, and I so wanted to shout out to the guests, “Ya’ll save that shit for the movies!”

  But I didn’t.

  I pressed my lips together, strengthened my heart, ignored the cameras and whispers, and looked Keith in the eyes.

  “A good husband protects his wife, nourishes her, and has her back in all times. A good husband will be there to be her strength when she’s weak and loves her when she’s at her worst. A good husband is a man of integrity, someone I can trust, and who respects and honors me. If you’re not doing that during the relationship, then I know that I can’t exp
ect you to do it during the marriage.”

  “But baby, I don’t understand,” Keith said.

  “You’re about to. I never expected this relationship to end this way. I never wanted us to walk away from this hating each other, but I won’t settle for anything less than the best. And being with you is just that...settling. It would mean settling for the lies that you tell, the excuses you give, the late nights, and turning my head the other way and acting as if I didn’t know that you crept into Lana’s room last night or that you’ve been creeping with her for the last seven weeks. See, you forgot that before I became an anchor, I was a reporter, Keith. And not just a reporter, but an investigative reporter.”

  “Baby, I don’t know—” Keith began before I held my hand up to stop him.

  I saw Lana out of the corner of my eye, trying to make excuses to my other bridesmaids who were giving her the eye and ready to fuck her up if necessary.

  “Keith, you’re the one who wanted this fairytale and a commitment. I was cool with the way it was. You pushed this on me, not the other way around, so don’t get this shit twisted for a minute. But the last year since you got your new job, you’ve been walking around as if I need you. You know what I have to say to that?”

  Continuing to do what my mother has always taught me, I squared my shoulders, held my head high, pressed my lips into a tight smile. Ever the lady as my mother had taught me. But then, I had to do me.

  “Fuck you.”

  I heard Maeve snap her fingers behind me, and music cued to Rihanna’s Needed Me.

  Gathering my skirts into my hands, I turned around and graciously walked down the aisle with my attendants following behind me.

  I smirked as I realized that my departure music as I strolled down the aisle was very different than the classical Mendelssohn’s Wedding March that announced my arrival.

  As my entourage and I walked away amid the whispers and the cameramen going crazy, Rihanna was belting out:

  I was good on my own; that's the way it was

  That's the way it was

  You was good on the low for a faded fuck.

  CHAPTER 2 – INDIGO

  “Girl, talk to me. What are you really feeling?” Maeve asked, eyeing me as I sat up in the hotel bed the next afternoon.

  Taking a look at her, I could tell that she’d been up a while. Just waking up, I didn’t want to talk about my feelings about the wedding, but I knew that she wouldn’t let up until I did.

  Walking out of the wedding the night before, we’d climbed into the waiting limo and headed straight for the clubs. With Maeve, Raven, Alexis, Amber, and Sabrina, I’d partied my ass off all night. The only bridesmaid that wasn’t in attendance was that ruthless ass Lana.

  When I’d first shared with Maeve that I found out Keith was cheating on me with Lana, she’d convinced me not to confront either of them.

  She’d convinced me to bust both of their asses at the wedding. Initially, I’d thought it was a great idea, but the night before the ceremony, I’d been on the fence. Maeve said she’d love and support me no matter what I chose, and ultimately the decision was mine since it was my life.

  I’d asked all the ladies to bring a change of clothes for the reception. No one knew the plan except for Maeve, who had, with the help of my mother, taken everyone’s change of clothes to the limo. And on the way to the club, all six of us had changed from our wedding attire to the reception attire, which was suitable for clubbing.

  We’d partied all night long and drank our asses off. I’d freely accepted all the free drinks the bartender sent my way after Maeve shared my pitiful ass story. Then there were the men who’d offered to buy me drinks. I’d accepted some of those, too, and the dances they requested.

  But now, in the stark reality of daylight, the circumstances of my new life were slapping me in the face. Groaning, I placed a hand over my face.

  “Like shit. Like I’ve been run over by a MAC truck. Like someone kicked my ass. Like I ran into a brick wall.”

  “Okay, I get it. You’re shitfaced. But right now, how do you feel about your decision,” Maeve said, turning onto her side in the bed to face me.

  We’d gone back to her hotel room rather than my apartment I shared with Keith.

  “Decision?” I asked, lifting my eyebrow and propping my arms behind my head.

  “Yeah.”

  “I didn’t make the decision, Maeve. Keith made it when he stuck his dick in that whore that was supposed to be my friend.”

  She shook her head. “I never trusted that bitch. What made you suspicious of her?”

  “I wasn’t suspicious of her but him. Lana came to our house for dinner one night, and I caught him looking at her ass whenever he thought I wasn’t looking. A few days later, he started slipping, getting caught in conversations with some broad in the bathroom. He swore it was his sister once and then his mother. I talked to his sister, and she said she hadn’t spoken to Keith since the week before. The next time she came by for dinner, Keith left right after she did. I followed his ass using the GPS tracker I’d placed on his car the week before. He and Lana met in the parking lot, kissing and shit. I watched as their bitch asses went into that motel. I wanted to go up in there and beat both of their asses, but I was waiting for some revenge shit. I just needed to find the perfect way to do it. You gave it to me,” I said, swiping at the first teardrop that fell.

  I hadn’t cried the day before, the day of my wedding. I’d done all the crying in the weeks before and the night before my wedding when I made up my mind that I wouldn’t be marrying him after all.

  I had alternated between approaching him and working through our issues and forgiving him, or just kicking his ass to the curb. Seven years down the drain was a lot of wasted time, and it wasn’t easy walking away from it.

  From the moment he proposed, we decided to move in together, and we got an apartment together. The last two years of my life was spent taking care of that man as if he were my husband. The previous year he’d been a bit cocky because of a new job he’d received, but I was proud of him and overlooked his boorish behavior.

  But when I found out he was cheating on me, everything changed.

  “How long ago did you find out about the two of them?”

  “A month ago.”

  “What the fuck! A month and your ass didn’t beat the shit out of both of them? Didn’t you confront him? You didn’t beat her ass down on the newsroom floor?”

  I felt ashamed that I’d allowed it to go on and remained in the apartment and relationship with him. Ashamed that I’d let her still think we were friends, smiling in my face while she was fucking my man.

  Tears of shame drifted down my face because I knew my low self-esteem had gotten me to this place. I hadn’t allowed myself to feel as if I was better than this, thinking that because she was a size eight to my size eighteen, I didn’t deserve loyalty, love, and faithfulness.

  I had begun to think that I wouldn’t do any better than what I had in my life. I’d forgotten that for years I was the shit, and I was only a size fourteen when I’d met Keith, and he loved all my thick, luscious curves.

  And I was a curvy woman, not just overweight, but there were well-defined hips, thick thighs, junk in my trunk, and more than two handfuls of breasts. Yes, I had gained weight, but it was well proportioned. When I interviewed with the head of a modeling agent for a news story, she had even asked if I’d like to be a plus-sized model for her agency.

  Despite all of this, I’d still allowed myself to lose sight of the woman that I was. A woman who held a Master’s in journalism and had won the Investigative Reports and Editors Award and One World Media Award. I had placed my role as an investigative journalist on hold to focus on becoming a married woman and applied for a newly open spot as an anchor at our news station. All for him.

  “Hey, stop that,” Maeve said, grabbing my hands and pulling them away from my face.

  “I’m just so angry at myself, Maeve! Who am I? How did I let him get m
e here? To the point where I’m questioning if I was worthy of his love and sitting back, letting his ass get away with some shit like that. I mean, I don’t know if I would’ve said anything if it hadn’t been for you returning home.”

  “I believe you would’ve, sweetheart. When you told me that shit, I was so fired up and ready to beat both of their asses. But when I thought about it, I thought about the fact that you’re so much better than that. Better than both of them. Now the question is will she be able to hold her head up when she has to go back on the air. When people are questioning her, giving her glances, whispering behind her back, and coming for her on her social media accounts, what the hell will she do?”

  “But they’ll do the same for me. They’re going to whisper, gossip, ask questions, and stare. They’re going to speculate.”

  “Yeah, but they’re not going to be in your inbox sending threats, and they won’t hate you.”

  “I’m not concerned about all that anyway. People are always going to be in your face saying one thing, but as long as it doesn’t stop my paper, they can say what they want.”

  “What I want to know is how the hell are you gonna be good returning to work with her?”

  “I don’t know how I’ll feel when I return to work. I’ll have to deal with it when the time comes. She’d just better stay the fuck out of my face, or I swear I’ll have to beat that bitch down.”

  “Whew! Yeah, I was hoping yesterday that you didn’t throw any blows. Your face and hair were too beautiful for all that. Not to mention that gown!”

  Laughing, I said, “Yeah, I did look good as hell, didn’t I?”

  “Mm-hmm,” she said, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV. “We need to call down for breakfast. And you’re supposed to be leaving for Curaçao today. Have you made up your mind about that? Or...”

  “I thought about that on the ride to the club last night. And what I came up with was that you should go with me.”

  “Wait...what?”

  “Yeah, you don’t have another shoot or show for the next month. And it’s only a week. I mean, when was the last time the two of us hung out and kicked it?”