He looked at her, and she could see pain in his eyes.
"Rhys, I'm so glad you're ok. I hadn't heard from you and I thought something happened. I'm so glad you're safe and sou..."
"Something did happen", he interrupted, looking down at the photos.
"Rhys, I swear to you, it's not what it looks like. Nothing happened with Ian, I don't even like him. He's an asshole. Nothing happened!" She pleaded.
"That's not what it looks like. I'm trying to remain calm but you understand how this looks, right?" He held up the one of him touching her face.
"That picture shows what happened right before I slapped him across the face!" Pearl cried. "This was a set up! You have to believe me."
"First Dylan, then David. Both of those I let go because you weren't mine yet and I had to take care of things with Carys. But this. This happened after." He was clearly upset, and her heart broke when she saw him wipe a tear from his cheek.
"I promise, on my life. I swear to you I am loyal to you. I would never do anything to hurt you. I made up my mind that night in New York, after the shooting. You were there for me. You loved me like no one ever had. I had to face death to see and believe it but I did. You are the one. I would never betray you." She was crying now.
He put his head down and thought long and hard about it. She could see he was fighting his mind. Several minutes went by and he looked up at her, his eyes red and tears falling down his cheek.
She waited for him to speak.
"I believe you." He said.
She nearly fell over. She began sobbing and ran to him, wrapping her arms around him. He hugged her back and held her tight to him, both of them trembling. "Thank you for trusting me, believing me. I swear to you I am being honest. And I'm going to prove it. I'm going to find out who did this." She said.
"No. WE are going to find out who did this." He said and he kissed her, running his hands through her hair. She kissed him back and he lifted her onto the counter, lifting her dress up and pulling down her panties. "I've missed my girl", he said, opening his pants.
"I'm your girl. Only yours. Always. You own me. There will never be anyone else. You never, ever have to doubt that." She said as she lifted her dress higher.
He pulled her toward him and slid inside of her, laying her back onto the island. He grabbed her breast with one hand and pulled her towards him with the other, as he plunged into her. She moaned and dug her nails into his arms.
His climax came when she felt hers wash over her. He poured himself into her and collapsed on top of her half naked body, splayed out over the counter.
"I love you", he said.
"I love you so much", she said back and sat up, hugging him.
"How long are you in town?", she asked, knowing he wasn't supposed to be home for another 3 weeks. "Until after this weekend", he replied "I'm not going to have that asshole come here with me being miles away. I don't trust him now. We are going to get to the bottom of this, I talked to Matt, my director. He rearranged a few things. It's all good", he said.
"We should let the guys know, too." Pearl wanted to look for another guitar player. This one was more trouble than it was worth.
"Good idea. I'm going to make some calls. Then I want you to fill me in on how the meeting went yesterday."
"He left me his company. That's how it went." She put her head in her hands.
"He did what? He willed you his company? Trigon?"
"Yes", she replied, shaking her head. "I told them I didn't want it. But there are stipulations."
"I'm calling my lawyer." He got on his phone and Pearl poured herself a drink. Straight vodka. This is why all the rich people in movies drink all the time, she thought to herself.