Gold Digger | S&L

01 &. boyfriend

one &. boyfriend

and maybe, just for once, sophia might be wrong

unedited

❝what's a little love gonna hurt?❞

—

      "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" is the first thing Sophia hears once her coat is tight around her body and her hips move slightly to slide into the backseat of the car. She reaches down into her coat pocket to pull satin white gloves over her hands, Eric's eyes burning into her face. There's a mark already forming from Eric's fingers on the inside of her wrist to which she merely flinches at, pulling the gloves up higher to cover up most of the bruise. 

       Her eyes are low and lips unmoving as she looks up at Eric, his eyes cold and lip snarling, "You mute now, or what?" Eric spits - Eric who looks at her like he wants to kill her sometimes but plans to drop down on one knee and shove a ring down her finger. He doesn't know that Sophia knows this, though, that Sophia saw the ring and would be plenty satisfied if it weren't for how he 'takes care of her' by tattooing bruises with his palms into her skin.

       "Sophia." She hears him speak again, this time his voice softer, his e   yes flickering up away from her face to the driver who murmurs something to which Eric waves his hand as a yes to. Her own eyes lift to catch the driver's eyes - she knows this driver, has seen him plenty of times. 

       There's only been a few conversations passed through them and she realizes then as a sympathetic looks spreads across his eyes that she, after being with Eric for a little over a year, she still doesn't know his name. It kills her, it does, because in a month or even less, she'll be out of Eric's reach without ever knowing the driver's name. 

       She turns finally, after looking away quickly before she says anything stupid, back to the grey-blue eyes of her boyfriend.

              "Eric." She murmurs back, finally, her hands clasping together tightly. Boyfriend. The word flits around in her head as her eyes bore into his. The gesture was something she practiced millions of times - she's never been good at confrontation. But she knew that with a mindset and lifestyle like hers, it's the only way she'll ever get what she wants. Was he ever really her boyfriend? She thinks back to just moments before, when the word 'toy' sneered out of Eric's mouth directed to the attractive male that's beginning to become something Sophia wants to see again already. 

       She knows she's never loved Eric - not even when he used to kiss her cheeks and tell her she was the prettiest girl in the room. Not even when he'd let her have any dress she wanted and not even when she sat late at night, her eyes squinting at the bright glow of her laptop as her numbers change by the thousands. She didn't even love him when he told her that she's all he's ever wanted. She doesn't love him.

       "I want you to wear that dress I got you yesterday." He says simply, the events that had just occurred moments before seemingly forgotten until he speaks again, his lip snarling again. "You've been bad today, haven't you?"

       So, this is her life. She doesn't realize how much she hates it until now. Not until she finally says yes to going out with Harry and slipping out of the house slyly, knowing very well how to avoid the security cameras Eric keeps around the house. She's not an amateur - but she is getting tired. She tells herself she's just getting tired of him - just needs someone new. Sophia isn't new to this - she's not new to boys who throw her around and she's not new to slipping out her home unbeknowest to her lover. And, yeah, she's got a plan. She never gets into things without knowing how to get out of them.

       But now there's something lingering, a floaty new feeling in the back of her mind. There's something weird when she thinks about the bar, the dancing, being out. She's never felt happier, for one thing. She's never had so much fun in her life with someone who she knows will never turn on her. Her thoughts hang heavy even when they pull past the tall gate that guards her current home. Her home has never looked more like a prison, more like a cave, a tower. It's never looked so frightening in her life, her fingers clasping together again, twisting her fingers and pulling until her breathing stops picking up in pace slightly. 

       Her thoughts hang heavy even after she's out of the car, even after there's another sympathetic look sent her way. Even after Eric's hand wraps around her forearm and she pulled into the mansion. They're still there when the dress falls from her body to a pool of glitter on the floor.

      She stands still when she feels her heart slamming in her chest and the thoughts spread from her head to her heart to her body, forcing her still as her fingers shake and her eyes fill with tears. She doesn't know what's happening, pulling her away from the darkness that tries to enclose around her. 

       She thinks she's okay when she's wearing the dress Eric requests and she's okay when the dress is off her again. She's okay under Eric's hold and she's okay when her cheek presses against a pillow and she's okay when her hands are constantly shoved away from his body. She's okay when she lies on her side with an ache in her legs and she's okay when she curls away from Eric's clammy hands, her body cold as she sits up to stand and wrap a rosy pink robe around her body.

       Her face is unrecognizable when she slips into the guest bathroom that is attached to the bedroom that she sleeps in sometimes, so often that it becomes more of her bedroom that just the guest room when her body hurts too much to pretend she's okay with clammy hands that try to be sweet unlike moments before when they're gripping her so hard she bruises in the most grotesque way. 

      She pushes the silky material to the side to reveal some of the older bruises, running her fingers along the surface and she breathes a little easier when she sees that their horrid color is almost back to her normal tannish skin. Her hand finds the little jar of smooth cream that she coats onto the pads of fingers and smooths over her newest bruises, her heart still heavy. She doesn't understand what it means, truthfully, doesn't understand why her thoughts won't rid themselves of her mind.

      She looks up at the mirror again and her face is a little more recognizable with her breathing now calm and the tears that never fall finally out of her eyes with the encouragement of a tissue pressed to the edges of her eyes. Thoughts whizz through her mind again and the question of 'what the hell are you thinking?' is answered so quickly in her mind that she sort of startles herself. 

       Her plan plays again in her mind and before she knows it, there's a soft face in her mind and adoring, definitely imaginary hands wrapping around her hands. It wasn't like she didn't consider it before - she wants the boy from the club to be next. She knew this from the moment she caught his wandering eyes on her dancing body. But - but there's something more to this boy that she can't place and she knows she's just scared to admit it to herself. 

      The thought is pushed quickly out of her mind although she keeps the memory of the facts he learned about him, reminding herself of ways to push past the fears she knows he has. She's good at this - good in the ways of always getting the heart in her hands, always getting the dough flowing easily into her bank account, and never - not even once - falling in love.

       And, although she knows that it will be hard to resist those big, brown eyes, she'll always keep those rules in place. She'll never get married and instead enjoy the rest of her life single as a dream trophy wife celebrity persona. If she can - she'll even reject him, maybe. She'll play hard to get. She'll make this boy the one who gives her the most. She'll make it out with millions if not more in her hands and slinky dresses to help her get even more. And she will never fall in love.

--

{ a.n. }

yaaaay here's the next part after three months ( oops! ). hope it helps introducing more of sophia's character better :-)