The Stand-In Girlfriend Ch. 10-13

They stopped kissing when Chevonne started laughing uncontrollably.

"What's so funny?" Ashton asked.

"Katrina was the stand-in girlfriend," Chevonne said. "She isn't going to like that at all."

"She's not going to be too happy that we're getting married either," Ashton said.

"We can't get married," Chevonne said, "we just acknowledged our feelings for each other and we still have to deal with Katrina."

"You are going to marry me," Ashton said his tone letting her know he wouldn't chicken out on this decision, "and I'll deal with Katrina.

"But."

"No, buts," Ashton said. "We're getting married."

"Suppose I'm not ready to get married?" Chevonne asked.

"Are you saying you're not ready to spend the rest of our natural lives together?" Ashton asked. "Are you saying you're not ready to have children with me? Are you saying you don't think it's time you brought your coochie out of Fort Knox so I can enjoy it?"

His last remark got him a smack upside the head from Chevonne and made her laugh.

"Is that why you want to marry me?" she teased.

"Yes," Ashton said, "and the fact that I love you with all my heart."

"I guess I better accept your proposal if you're that much in love with me," Chevonne said, "and I'm that much in love with you."

"We're getting married?" Ashton asked.

"We're getting married," Chevonne said.

"It's about time."

Chevonne and Ashton jumped up off the bed when they heard his mother's voice. They were surprised to see both their parents standing in the doorway of the bedroom and both mothers with tears in their eyes.

"Now we can truly plan the engagement party and the wedding," his mother said.

CHAPTER 11

"Damn!" Katrina almost screamed snapping her cell phone shut. "Where is he?"

She had been calling Ashton for almost an hour and she couldn't reach him. For some unknown reason he wasn't answering his phone.

'Something isn't right', she thought to herself. 'Something is going on.'

It had been harder and harder for her to get in touch with Ashton over the last two weeks and when they did talk there was something in his voice that had changed. Their conversations weren't the same.

It seemed that Ashton had become very protective of Chevonne. He wasn't laughing anymore at the racist remarks she made about Chevonne and blacks in general.

He had gone so far as to tell her she shouldn't make such comments because they were hurtful and wrong.

When she asked him why he was suddenly becoming offended by what she was saying his reply was that he'd done some growing up and realized that what they had been doing was wrong and he would no longer tolerate that kind of talk.

She couldn't understand the sudden change that had come over Ashton in the two weeks since they put their plan in motion. Everything in her was telling she needed to go to London. To get to Ashton. That something was seriously wrong.

"What's wrong?"

Katrina looked up to see Martin had joined her on the balcony of their hotel suite.

"I think I'm going to have to cut our time together short," she said going over to him and putting her arms around his neck.

"Family problems?" Martin asked.

"No, pre-family problems," Katrina said chuckling.

"Your sister is having problems with her fiancé's family?"

"Yes, they had a fight about something his mother either said or did," Katrina said leaning in and giving Martin a peck on the lips. "He left and now she can't find him. She thinks he might be cheating on her."

"Wow. Maybe she should take the fact that she doesn't trust him as a sign that she shouldn't marry him."

"I've tried telling her that but she said she's put too much time and effort in the relationship to let it go or give up on it."

At that moment Katrina's cell phone rung. She looked at the screen. It was Ashton calling.

"Excuse me," she told Martin. "I need to take this in private."

"No, problem," Martin said. "I'll go get us something to eat. You want anything special?"

"Anything you get will be fine with me," Katrina said.

"Okay," Martin said as he leaned over and kissed her on the lips. "I'll be back."

"Hello," Katrina said as she walked Martin to the door to make sure he left and to lock the door so he couldn't surprise her when he returned.

"I saw that you called," Ashton said his tone flat and emotionless.

"Yes, I did," Katrina replied not liking or understanding the unfriendly tone of Ashton's voice. "I've been trying to reach you for over an hour. Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"I've been busy," Ashton said. "My mother took Chevonne shopping and to meet some of her friends and some of our family members and I went with them. I guess I didn't feel my phone vibrating or I had my hands full."

"Your mother took her shopping and introduced her to her friends and members of your family?!" Katrina said not believing what she was hearing.

"Yes," Ashton said. "It seems that my family likes Chevonne. They find her to be a very charming and likable person."

"You're kidding me?"

"No, I'm not."

"She hasn't done or said anything embarrassing or improper?" Katrina asked.

"It appears that we were wrong about Chevonne," Ashton said. "She knows how to carry herself in any situation. Did you know that she speaks three languages bedsides English?"

"You sound impressed," Katrina said snidely.

"I am," Ashton replied. "The woman is full of surprises. Did you know she worked two jobs and saved up every paycheck so she could send her parents on a cruise around the world to thank them for paying for her to go to college? I find that to be very impressive."

"Oh, really," Katrina said her tone very smug.

"Yes, really," Ashton replied.

"What else have you learned about Ms. Perfect?" Katrina asked.

"Nobody's perfect," Ashton said. "But I've found Chevonne to be a very interesting and loyal person. The type that if she makes you a promise she doesn't break it and I bet she's the type of person that if she's dating you she doesn't cheat."

Katrina had been pacing back and forth in her hotel suite as she spoke to Ashton but his words made her stop in her tracks.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"I didn't mean anything by it," Ashton said deciding against telling Katrina that he knew about her and Chevonne's brother over the phone.

"I think I should come to London," Katrina said a hint of panic in her voice. "Things aren't going the way we thought or wanted them to go. I think we should sit down and tell your parents we're getting married. We should tell them that you and Chevonne aren't really couple and that I'm the one you love and intend to marry."

"You don't have to come to London," Ashton said. "I'm flying back to the states next week. You and I can talk then."

"Next week is too long to wait," Katrina said her voice growing more panicky. "I can be in London by tomorrow and we can put an end to this whole mess."

"No," Ashton said his voice stern and final. "I'll be there next week."

"Something isn't right, Ashton," Katrina said a wave of fear overcoming her. "I can hear it in your voice. Are you fucking Chevonne? Is that why you want me to wait until you arrive next week? So that you can keep having sex with your brown sugar baby."

"I'm not having sex with Chevonne," Ashton said as he fought to keep control of his temper. "Why would you say such a thing?"

"I guess it's the way you're going on and on about how much your mother likes her and how she can speak three languages besides English," Katrina said not hiding the jealousy she felt. "That could make me just a little suspicious. You do remember you're marrying me right?"

"I never proposed to you Katrina," Ashton reminded her.

"But we talked about getting married," Katrina whined. "And the only reason you didn't propose was because I wanted to wait to try and form a better relationship with your mother."

"Talking about it isn't the same as proposing," Ashton remarked.

"But we did all of this so we could give the idea of getting married serious consideration."

"As you said you were the one who didn't want to go into a marriage with my mother hating you," Ashton said. "You said that it would make the marriage less likely to succeed and I agreed with you."

"Okay," Katrina said. "You're right. I didn't want to get married knowing that your mother hated me. But I'm willing to overlook how your mother feels about me. We can talk seriously about getting married when I arrive in London tomorrow. And after we talk we can sit your parents down and explain you and Chevonne and put this entire mess behind us."

Ashton was trying to avoid being mean and Katrina about him and Chevonne over the phone but she wasn't leaving him much choice by insisting on coming to London. She was pushing him into a corner that he was having a hard time getting out of.

"I'll fly down to Atlanta tomorrow and we can talk," Ashton said, "about everything then."

"Why I can't I fly to London?" Katrina asked.

"I don't want to take you away from your family," Ashton said, "and I don't mind flying to you."

"What about Chevonne?" Katrina asked. "How are you going to explain her leaving early to your parents?"

"She's not coming with me," Ashton said quickly bracing himself for Katrina's next question.

"Why isn't she coming with you?" Katrina asked unable to stand the thought of Chevonne getting closer to Ashton's mother.

"I told you my mother likes her and she has made plans for her and Chevonne to do a lot of things together," Ashton said.

"That's only because she believes that you and Chevonne are really getting married," Katrina said. "I think she's pretending to like Chevonne because she thinks that you really love her. If you tell her you actually love and want to marry me she'll be so overjoyed that the first thing she'll do is insist that Chevonne leave."

"My mother isn't pretending," Ashton said. "She really does like Chevonne."

"This can't be happening, Ashton," Katrina said her eyes stinging with tears she couldn't keep inside. "Your mother wasn't supposed to like Chevonne. She was supposed to dislike Chevonne and insist that you and I get back together. Besides it's only been two weeks. How can she and your mother be so buddy-buddy already?"

"Chevonne and my mother have a lot in common," Ashton said. "I think they connected on some level."

"On what level?" Katrina asked.

"I don't know," Ashton said. "All I know is that Chevonne and my mother became friends the moment they met."

"You're going to have to tell your parents the truth before I get there then," Katrina said. "And after I arrive we can all sit down and talk things over. I'm sure once they see how much we love each other they'll understand why we took such an extreme step to get them to like me."

Tired of hearing Katrina lying about how much she loved him Ashton decided to let her know that he knew that she was cheating on him.

He sent her an email that he'd written earlier and intended to send it to her but Chevonne talked him out of sending it saying it would be better for him to talk to her face to face. But Katrina was pushing the situation leaving him no choice but to tell her.

"Do you have your laptop with you?" he asked.

"Yes," Katrina replied. "You know I take it with me wherever I go."

"I'm sending you an email," Ashton said as he pressed the send button above the email he'd composed earlier and sent it to Katrina.

Katrina opened her computer turned it on and once it had powered up and connected to the internet she signed in to her email account. The email Ashton sent her showed up seconds later. She was about to open it when a sense of dread came over her.

"What's in the email?" she asked Ashton.

"Just open it," Ashton insisted.

"Why won't you tell me what's in it?" Katrina asked.

"Because I want you to open the email and read it for yourself," Ashton replied.

Katrina opened the email and saw the pictures of her and Martin having lunch at a local restaurant, walking in the park holding hands afterwards and the last one was of her and Martin kissing.

Ashton listened as Katrina bgan stuttering as she tried to form the words that would explain what was happening in the pictures. He didn't say anything he just waited for her to compose herself.

"I can explain this," Katrina said.

Ashton didn't say anything.

"This isn't what it appears to be," she said.

"It appears to be a picture of you having lunch with a man, going for a walk in the park holding hands, afterwards and you kissing him," Ashton said laying out what the pictures seemed to reveal to him.

"Okay," Katrina said when she noticed that each picture was dated and timed stamped letting her know that it would be useless to lie to Ashton. "I became lonely after you left."

"You became lonely after only two days?" Ashton said.

"It hasn't been going on that long," Katrina said, "I was using him until you came back. I was going to end it when you came back."

"I think we should end things between us," Ashton said. "It's obvious that we're not meant to be together."

"What do you mean we're not meant to be together?" Katrina said not understanding how things had gone so badly, so out of control. "You can't break up with me because I slept with someone else."

"It's not because you slept with someone else," Ashton said. "It's because you slept with someone else and I'm not upset about it. I'm not hurt about it. I don't care."

"That's because your heart knows I love you," Katrina said, "and that you're the only man for me and I'm the only woman for you."

"No, Katrina. That's not what my heart is saying," Ashton said.

"Yes, it is," Katrina demanded. "Why can't you see that?"

"I think we should end this conversation," Ashton said. "I'll fly to Atlanta next week and we can talk then. We're both too upset to talk or be reasonable about anything right now."

"You're trying to breaking up with me," Katrina said. "I'm not going to be reasonable about that. Not when I've invested so much of my time into maintaining a relationship with you."

"Excuse me," Ashton said.

"You heard me," Katrina said. "I've invested too much of my time in this relationship to just let you end it like that. In fact if you do try to stop seeing me I'll tell your parents and Chevonne exactly what's going on.

"They already know," Ashton said. "They've known since the beginning."

"You're lying," Katrina said.

"No, I'm not," Ashton said. "Chevonne told me the first day we arrived in London that she knew what was going on and my parents told me last week that they knew what I was doing when they saw me and Chevonne together."

"I don't believe you," Katrina said. "You're just trying to keep me from telling them what you're up to."

"I'm not lying, Katrina," Ashton said. "Chevonne and my parents knew what we were planning on doing from day one."

"If Chevonne knew what was going on, why did she agree to do it?"

"Why did you try to blackmail me?" Ashton asked his voice becoming angry and tight ignoring Katrina's question. "We were both in on the plan together. We both knew what we were doing. Why would you threaten to tell my parents and Chevonne?"

"To keep you from walking away from me," Katrina said. "It's not fair for you to just up and leave me because I had a little sex on the side."

"I told you I didn't care about that," Ashton said. "The reason I think we should stop seeing each other because it's obvious that we don't love each other. My reaction to seeing the pictures was one of it doesn't matter. I wasn't angry learning about what you had been doing while we were apart because I didn't care. And that isn't how I'm suppose to feel if I'm considering marrying you. It's suppose to matter to me that you're cheating. I should feel betrayed, hurt, angry. I should feel something, but I didn't. It was as if I had been giving something to numb my senses. The closest thing I came to feeling was relief because it gave me a reason to end our relationship."

"Are you trying to hurt me, Ashton?" Katrina asked her voice shaky. "Is that what you're trying to do? Because if it is I have to tell that you've succeed and you can stop now. I get it. It's over between us. There's no need for you to say anything more. I've got your message, it came through loud and clear!"

The next thing Ashton heard was the clicking sound of Katrina ending the call and their conversation.

He didn't want to hurt Katrina but he had to let her know that he no longer (if he ever did) loved her.

He didn't want to break the news to her in such a hurtful manner but she left him no choice. He just couldn't take her lies anymore.

Ashton made his way upstairs to the room where Chevonne was taking a nap. He crawled into bed beside her, wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her against his body and closed his eyes to also take a nap.

He knew he was still going to have to fly to Atlanta to talk to Katrina because he wanted to make sure that she understood their relationship was truly over.

But right now he wanted to put his conversation with Katrina behind him and enjoy holding the woman he loved and would be marrying in a month.

He smiled and a sense of joy came over him thinking about of how wonderful their live were going to be.

Martin came back with carry out for him and Katrina to eat. He followed Katrina into the bedroom and was surprised to see her suitcase sitting on the bed with her clothes in it.

"You're leaving?" he asked.

"I have to go," she told him. "Things have gotten worse for my sister and I need to be with her."

"What happened?" Martin asked watching her shoving clothes sloppily into her suitcase.

"Her fiancé called off the wedding," Katrina said and she's heartbroken. My mother says she beside herself, heartbroken, crying her eyes out and asking for me. I'm sorry about ending our time together so abruptly but it can't be helped."

"I understand," Martin said, "family first."

"You're so wonderful and so understanding," Katrina said walking over and giving Martin a kiss on the lips. "I'll call you when I come back to town and maybe we'll get together."

"I won't be able to get together when you come back," Martin said. "My girl will expect me to be back in town by then and I'm going to be spending all my time with her. I had a hard time getting her to understand why I would be gone for two weeks. The last time I talked to her there was something in her voice that said she was angry with me. If I didn't know better I would think she suspected something. But I was extra careful so she couldn't possibly suspect anything was going on."

"When will I see you again?" Katrina asked.

"I can't say," Martin replied. "I'll have to call you."

"I'll tell you what why don't you just forget my number," Katrina said storming out the door and slamming it behind her.

"No, problem," Martin said standing in the room alone, pulling out his cell phone and deleting Katrina's number.

Katrina made her way out of the elevator, through the lobby hoping the bellman had managed to secure her a cab so that she could head to the airport and catch a flight to London. She was on her way to London to confront Ashton and save their relationship.

If he thought he was going to call her and dump her as if the time she'd invested in their relationship didn't matter, he had another think coming.

She was entitled to an explanation and he was going to give her one and it had better be a good one and not that shit he tried to feed her over the phone. She considered Ashton to be her's and she wasn't going to give him up without a fight.

CHAPTER 12

Chevonne opened her eyes when she felt Ashton slip into bed beside her and put his arms around her waist. They had only been dating a couple of weeks but she noticed little things about him that were clues to how and what he was feeling.