Chapter 1- Back to Reality

            Shadows lingered across the room as the first few rays of the mid-dawn sunlight streamed in through the curtained window, making it not completely dark, but not light either, instead bathing it in a soft grey color that was slowly beginning to grow lighter as morning neared closer. In the dim natural lighting, Alyssa momentarily rolled over just long enough to glance at the flashing red numbers on the digital alarm clock that was on the nightstand, still struggling to calm her ragged breathing from the events of just a few minutes prior. 6:03 AM, it read. It had been a long time since she'd voluntarily been up this early and an even longer time that she'd been woken up in the manner that she had.

            "Okay, now I really don't want to get out of bed after that," she lightly joked once she finally found the ability to speak again. She turned back around to where Nick was laying beside her looking just as flushed as she imagined that she appeared.

            Nick's arms snaked around her bare waist, pulling her closer to him. "Maybe that was the plan," he replied with a flirtatious smirk. "To get you to forget all about going back to work and stay in bed with me all day instead."

            Alyssa just laughed. Since when had Nick become one who would be content in spending the entire day in bed cuddling? "Although I do have to admit that the offer does sound tempting, I'm going to have to take a rain check on that. Unfortunately, summer vacation is over and I need to get back to work before they give my job away."

            Nick stuck out his bottom lip in a pout. "You sure that I can't change your mind?"

            "Oh, I'm sure that you can. That's the problem." She leaned forward to give him a light peck on his lips before reluctantly wrenching herself from his grip. "If I stay in this bed one more minute I know that I'll never make it on time, so I'm going to go jump in the shower now." She slipped out of his embrace and pushed the covers off of her body as she stood up. Nick mimicked her movements, but Alyssa held up a hand to stop him. "Uh uh... Under any other circumstance I'd love for you to join me, but you know as well as I do that we'll be in there for a lot more than ten minutes and that's all the time I have."

            She watched as Nick crossed his arms over his chest and sulked a little bit. She knew that Nick just didn't want her going back to work today and was setting out to do whatever it took to get her to reconsider her decision. Oh, well... He'll get over it, she told herself, purposely ignoring his childish behavior as she headed into the bathroom. She turned on the showerhead and adjusted the water temperature before stepping underneath its warm spray. She had to admit that there was a tiny part of her that didn't really want to go back to work, but she knew that deep down it was time. She'd been out of work since the end of January recovering from the accident that had caused her to lose her unborn daughter. The physical wounds had healed in only a few short weeks, but the emotional ones still lingered on. She'd had so many issues to resolve before she could even begin to think of going back to her old life and although she still couldn't say that she was completely past the incident, she had definitely made enormous strides. She supposed that a part of her never would get past the fact that she had lost a child, but she knew that she couldn't sit around and grieve forever. She needed to restore her old life as closely as she could which meant resuming her teaching career.

            Of course she couldn't completely return to her old life before Zoey. That life had long been destroyed. In her old life she had been newly married to Sean, living in a brand new home, and seeming to be living a perfect life. She'd had everything a woman could want. A successful career, enough money to live comfortably, and a husband that had adored her. Still, it hadn't been enough. After the first few months of post marital bliss had faded, their issues had started to come to the surface and Nick had reentered her life. The result? She'd fallen back in love with Nick, and her marriage to Sean hadn't even reached the two year mark before ending in divorce.

            Nick had been her rock throughout these past few months. After the accident she'd purposely pushed him away at first, not having the energy or the strength to allow him to help her grieve. The promises that she'd made to be with him became empty as she let herself fall deeper and deeper into depression. He'd been the one to give her the much needed wake up call that she needed to move on. He'd urged her to seek the help of a therapist and throughout the next few months he stood on the sidelines, giving her support when it was needed, and waiting for her to decide that she was ready to dive back into a commitment with him. It had taken four long months for her to finally realize how ridiculous she was being, but once she had, she wasted no time in confessing to him how she really felt. Since that night they'd been stronger than ever.

            That past summer had been one of the happiest times that Alyssa could remember having in a long time. After literally being put through hell and back, the two of them had decided that they needed some time to reconnect and build up their relationship before they officially became public. Once they took that step, all hell was certain to break loose. Nick was still technically married to his wife, Shayla, an entertainment news reporter, although their marriage had pretty much been over for well over a year now. Nick hadn't yet made a move to end the marriage only because he was waiting until Alyssa was prepared enough to face the consequences from the media that were sure to come once they got wind of the announcement. Shayla wasn't fighting to file for a divorce either. For some deluded reason, she actually thought that there was a chance that Nick would one day change his mind and come back to her. The two of them had decided that a change of scenery was exactly what they needed, so they'd left LA for the summer and headed across the country to the Florida Keys. It was relatively private and peaceful and one of Nick's favorite places in the world to kick back and relax. They'd rented a house on the beach and spent the past few weeks in very much of a honeymoon phase of their relationship. A few of their friends had joined them for a few days here and there, but for the most part it had just been the two of them. Their vacation had definitely been almost a calm before the storm of sorts.

            The only difficult point of the summer had been on one of the last days they were in Florida. They had never had any sort of service or memorial for Zoey because at the time Alyssa knew that she just couldn't handle it. Now that she was stronger, Nick had suggested that they do something to provide the both of them with some sort of closure to the situation. They'd decided to have her cremated and in a private, informal, ceremony of just the two of them, they'd spread her ashes into the ocean. It seemed appropriate being that it was one of Nick's most favorite places in the world. She could only imagine that if Zoey had lived she'd have grown to share in her father's love of the ocean.

            Before Alyssa had realized, it was time to head back out to LA. The past few weeks they had spent in the Keys seemed like they had taken place in an entirely different world. She wasn't looking forward to returning to LA where she knew that pretty soon her private life as she knew it would be exposed for everyone in America to see. She wasn't looking forward to the nasty rumors and the paparazzi trying to snap her picture everywhere she went. Most importantly, she wasn't looking forward to how the media exposure was going to impact her teaching job. She'd worked hard to get where she was. She didn't want to lose her career over her decision to be with the man she loved.

            Don't stress about it, she reminded herself as she finished squeezing the last bit of conditioner from her hair. If it happens, it happens and you deal with it. For now you're starting the school year off fresh and working hard to be the best damn teacher you can be. The harder she worked; she hoped that the less of a difference the media backlash would have on her. She hoped that her coworkers would be able to look past the vicious rumors and see her as an excellent teacher and not just tabloid gossip.

            She turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a fluffy, white, bath towel around her body. She grabbed a second towel to dry her soaked hair and stopped at the sink to quickly brush her teeth. Once that was done she headed back into the direction of the bedroom where as expected Nick had gotten over his pouting. He'd pulled on a pair of boxers, but was still sprawled out across the sheets waiting for her to return. She just rolled her eyes and picked up her comb that was lying on the top of the dresser as he wolf whistled at her when he entered the room. "Bathroom's all yours if you want," she announced as she began combing out the few small tangles that had formed in her hair from the night before.

            "It's okay. I think I'd rather just stay right here and enjoy the view," he snarkily replied as he watched her grab a bottle of curl crème, pump a small amount of product into her hand, and bend over as she scrunched it into her hair making loose waves. He loved it when she wore her hair all curly and wild like that.

            Alyssa whipped her head back up and fiddled with her hair for a few more moments until it fell just perfectly enough to satisfy her. "Suit yourself," she shrugged, heading for the closet to pick out an outfit to wear. After a few minutes of selection, she pulled out a pair of grey dress slacks, a white button down shirt with a slightly ruffled front, and a wide black belt to wear around her waist. She quickly pulled out a fresh bra and a pair of bikini underwear from her drawer and sat down at the foot of the bed beginning to wriggle the underwear up her legs.

            "You smell so good right after you get out of the shower." She felt Nick come up from behind her and his lips connect with her bare shoulder. She shuddered a little as he continued to kiss up towards her neck and his hands reached around to unravel the towel around her chest. Alyssa lightly moaned, but then remembering that she had a job to get to, she reluctantly pulled away.

            "Come on," he groaned, clearly frustrated with the situation. With all the time they had been spending together he'd gotten too used to being able to have sex with her wherever and whenever he wanted.

            Alyssa sighed. "I promise you that as soon as I get home I am all yours to do whatever you want with, but I really need to get to work as early as possible. It's the first day and I have so much setting up still to do in my classroom." She reached over to grab her bra which was lying next to her on the bed, but Nick was quicker, purposely scooping the garment out of sight and hiding it behind his back. "Nick..." she whined. "I don't have time for the games this morning."

            He just playfully smirked his frustration now turning into amusement as she got increasingly more annoyed. "You're so cute when you're angry," he observed. "Your face gets all red and your eyes get all dark-"

            "You know hiding my bra is not going to keep me from going to work," she interrupted him, not bothering to listen to him. "I can just go over to my drawer and get another one." She stood up from the bed and did just that, retrieving a nude colored bra from her dresser and slipping it onto her shoulders. She reached behind to clasp it, letting her towel fall away from her body. Next, she grabbed her pants and stepped into them ignoring Nick's very obvious stare. She grabbed her shirt and put her arms through it before sinking back down on the mattress to button it. She started out at the bottom and only got about halfway to the top when she realized that every button she buttoned Nick promptly unbuttoned. Finally losing her patience she rose to her feet and pointed towards the door. "Okay Nick, I love you and all, but please go take a shower. I can't get ready with you breathing down my neck like this. Don't you have plans for today, anyway?"

            "Uhh... maybe?" Nick responded, deciding to play dumb. He knew damn well that he did have plans today. Pretty big plans in fact, but he was trying to delay having to face them.

            Alyssa raised her eyebrows at him. "Maybe? Having second thoughts about finally getting the ball rolling on your divorce?"

            Nick sighed. "Not really. More like I really don't want to have to have the inevitable phone conversation where Shayla calls me up screaming at me and wanting to know why she was served with divorce papers."

            "Come on Nick... She has to know they are coming. You even warned her! I mean yea... It has been a few months now, but what was she expecting? You to just come waltzing back into her door and say that you want another chance?"

            "You never know with Shayla. You know she lives in some delusional fantasy land."

            Alyssa sat back down next to him on the bed and put an arm around his shoulder. "Look, I'm not looking forward to this divorce any more than you are. I know that Shayla is going to do all that she can to make us miserable, but it needs to be done. We can't go on living like this forever you know. I mean I want a future together that includes a marriage and kids and I want to do it the right way this time. I know it feels like we are opening Pandora's Box by getting started with the divorce, but this should've been done months ago. Better late than never."

            "I guess you're right," Nick reluctantly agreed. "Things were so much easier when we were in the Keys and didn't have to worry about anything else, but each other."

            "Well, no vacation can last forever." She gave him a light peck on his forehead. "Go get in the shower. Don't you have an appointment with your lawyer to finalize the papers before Shayla gets them this afternoon?"

            "Yea... I do." Grudgingly he stood up and shuffled over to the bathroom knowing deep down that he was just being a wuss about the whole thing. He didn't want to give up this whole private world that he and Alyssa had created, but she was right. It had to be done sooner or later. He just wasn't looking forward to the media. It had taken a long time for his tarnished image to get back to somewhat respectable status. After the divorce scandal hit, he very much could be done for. All he knew was that Diane was going to love him...

***********

            As soon as Alyssa stepped foot into the school cafeteria that morning to meet her new students and take them back to the classroom she was bombarded by two of the other Special Education teachers Marie and Tara as they enveloped her in hugs.

            "Welcome back Alyssa! It's so great to see you again," Marie gushed. "You look great."

            "Yea, you'd never have thought that just a few months ago you were waddling around these halls," Tara chimed in.

            Alyssa gave both women a tight smile. She knew that today would be a hard day with everyone offering her delayed condolences. "Thanks... I've tried hard to get myself back into shape."

            "How are you doing?" Marie asked in a more serious voice. "I'm really sorry about the baby. That had to be really difficult for you to go through."

            "It was one of the hardest things of my life," she honestly admitted. "It really took a long time for me to get myself together and begin to move past it, but I'm getting better."

            "And to have Sean leave you during that time... What a jerk!" Tara sympathized. "Of all the times for him to decide to bail on you. That had to make things a billion times harder, right?"

            Alyssa just nodded. Neither woman knew the whole story about exactly why Sean had really left her. They had just assumed that the strain of her losing the baby that been too much for their relationship and he couldn't handle it. Never in a million years would they suspect that the real reason was that he had found out that she had been cheating on him with her ex boyfriend. "I guess it was for the best." She shrugged. "I mean I guess we just weren't meant to be together. There's something better out there for the both of us."

            The other two women exchanged a glance. "Is that your way of telling us that there's someone new in your life already?"

            She hesitated for a moment not exactly sure how honestly she wanted to answer Marie's question. She really wanted to keep her relationship with Nick under wraps for the time being. She knew that once everything finally came out in the media there would be no way to hide the truth, but in the meantime she really didn't want to have to answer any questions about her love life. "No, I didn't say there was..."

            "You do look awfully happy this morning," Tara carefully observed. "You're practically glowing."

            Alyssa rolled her eyes, pretending not to have any idea what her two coworkers were talking about. "I'm just happy to be back at work doing what I love to do. Right now meeting my new students is what is number one on my list of importance." She gave the two women a small smile. "Now, if you'd excuse me I better head over and see what I've got in store for me this year. I'm hoping that this class is a little less draining than last years."

            Without waiting for any other questions, Alyssa headed over to the table where her new students were sitting. She taught a class of third and fourth grade learning disabled students. Her first year teaching in California, she'd had a very sweet class who had been a pleasure to work with for the most part. Last year though was an entirely different story. She'd had a number of behavior problems and of course with her being pregnant on top of it all it made dealing with her students even more stressful. Needless to say she'd been looking forward to going out on maternity leave all year. If there had been one advantage of missing out on the last half of the school year that had to have been it. Looking over at the students in front of her though, she had a good feeling that this would be a much better year. About three or four of the students she'd had last year as well, but only one was a troublemaker and Alyssa knew him well enough now that she was confident she could keep him in line. This is going to be interesting trying to explain to the kids that I'm not Mrs. Robinson anymore, but Ms. Martinelli, she thought to herself. It felt kind of strange going back to her maiden name after a full year and a half and she knew that her students would probably assume that she got married again or something. She was already anticipating her old students having a hard time calling her by her new (old) name.

            "Hello boys and girls!" she enthusiastically greeted. A few of her old students rushed up to her to give her hugs. "My name is Ms. Martinelli and I'm going to be your teacher this year. I can already tell that we are going to have a magnificent year together and I can't wait to get to know each and every one of you. I'm going to start by taking attendance and then we'll do lunch count." She smiled at the interested looking faces of her new students as she gathered up her crisp new attendance cards. She'd almost completely forgotten how much she enjoyed her job in her short time away from it.

***********

            Meanwhile across town, Nick was sitting in the office of his lawyer Richard Pierce going over the last few details of the divorce papers he had drawn up before they were sent to Shayla that afternoon. "Okay, so we are filing under irreconcilable differences, right?" he asked.

            Nick nodded his head. "Yea... I think that's the best course of action. Simple, easy, to the point. I don't want to turn this into a blame game."

            "As far as your terms go you want everything to be distributed fairly right? Any special requests for property or assets? Anything that you want her to have or not have?"

            He shook his head. "Nope. I want everything done as simply and as fairly as possible. I want to try to get through this divorce as quickly and amicably as possible. I would like us both to leave with what we came into the relationship with. As far as property goes she can have the house, the vacation home, and the Mercedes."

            Richard nodded as he clanked away on his keyboard to add that bit of information to the final document. "I'm going to try to get this done and over with as quickly and cleanly as possible Nick, but be prepared for a fight. I don't think that Shayla is going to accept this without trying to run you over the coals. I'd be prepared for some resistance on her part."

            "Oh, I'm expecting it," Nick assured him. "More than you know," he mumbled under his breath. "Seriously though what good is it going to do her to prolong this divorce? And furthermore what does she honestly need from me? She's got a pretty successful career going on there herself. She can definitely afford to get by on her own."

            "I don't know about that Nick. You've racked up quite a small fortune throughout your years with the Backstreet Boys. You've been in the entertainment world for over ten years now. Shayla is relatively new to showbiz and she's only a reporter and television show host. Yes, she has enough to get by, but not nearly as much as she had available to her while the two of you were married." Richard sighed and looked at Nick seriously. "There is also another problem. The two of you never signed a pre-nuptial agreement. By right, she's entitled to at least half of everything that you earned throughout your marriage. Now she could agree to these terms or she could decide to challenge you for more money. Judging on what you've told me about her I really don't see her agreeing to these terms. She's going to want every last penny that is entitled to her."

            Now it was Nick's turn to sigh. He knew that his lawyer was right about Shayla. She was going to be pissed and looking to seek revenge on him and what better way to do it than by hitting him in the pocketbook. It wasn't the money that really bothered him. He knew that he'd earned enough money throughout his years of performing that he could live comfortably for probably the rest of his life. He still had money coming in from his label and who knew if in another year or two the guys would be interested in another album and tour. He also knew that Alyssa didn't need any of the materialistic things that he and Shayla had built their world out of. He just didn't want the hassle of the fight. A part of him wanted to just give in to Shayla, but she really didn't deserve half of his riches. She'd proved herself to be an ugly person because of what she had done to Alyssa. He always could use his knowledge of her role in Alyssa's accident to his advantage, but he also didn't want what would probably already be a messy media scandal to get even dirtier. He'd take his chances for now. Maybe she'd be just as fed up as him at this point and agree to his terms amicably. Maybe pigs would start to fly...

            I knew I should've made her sign a damn pre-nup, he mentally cursed himself. It had been a horrifically stupid move on his part. He probably should've known better after the number of times he'd gotten burnt by girls who were only out for his money in the past. He'd just been so infatuated with Shayla at the time, honestly believing that he had changed and because he had changed the type of woman that he had begun to attract were different. He'd never stopped for one moment to consider that one day he'd find himself in this position and that Shayla would actually vindictively try to screw him over just because she could.

            "I guess that's just something I'm going to have to take my chances with," he finally replied, raking a hand through his blonde hair. "It's too late to worry about that now. It's all up to her I guess for the time being. So, what happens after Shayla receives the papers?"

            "She has thirty days to file a response to them. She can either agree to them, sign them willingly, and then we wait six months and you are officially divorced. The more likely scenario in your case is that she will contact her lawyer, and come up with her own terms. If you aren't satisfied with her requests, than the next step would be to take the case in front of a judge and he or she will decide who gets what," Richard explained.

            "And if it goes in front of a judge about how long would that take until we are officially divorced?"

            Richard shrugged. "It depends on how long you have to wait for the case to go to trial. Typically it can take six months to a year and then depending on how complex the situation the trial can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. After all is said and done you still have to wait an extra six months for it to be official, so it could take an extra two years or so."

            "Two years?!" Nick's mouth hung open in shock. There was no way that he wanted this divorce to linger on for two fucking years. He and Alyssa were already thirty. He knew that she wanted to get married and have at least two kids within the next five years. They simply could not afford to waste two years on cutting Shayla out of their life.

            "That's worse case scenario Nick. I doubt it'll be that long. I know how quickly you want to get this over with so that you can move on with your life. I'm going to try to get this settled for you as fast as I possibly can," the older man tried to assure him. "Let's just take this one step at a time and we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. You never know what is going to happen."

He pressed some keys on his computer and Nick could hear the noise of the printer starting up behind Richard's desk. "I'm just going to print this out and then all I need is your signature and I'll make sure that Shayla gets these hopefully by the end of the day."

Nick just nodded and a few minutes later the papers were laid out in front of him and Richard indicated to him where he needed to sign. With a sigh, Nick picked up the pen and slowly scrawled out his name in the designated areas all the while wondering if this was supposed to free him from Shayla, why did he feel like he was signing his life away?

****************

By the time Alyssa arrived home from work it was nearly five pm and there was a note from Nick on the refrigerator about him going out to pick up something for dinner and that he'd be back soon. Alyssa was grateful for this because the last thing she felt like doing right now was cooking. Even though she was glad to be back at work it had been a long day and her body wasn't used to getting up so early and then being up on her feet for so long. There had been a short faculty meeting after school and then Alyssa had stayed a little later to get her classroom organized a bit more. They'd moved her this year, so she was still trying to get everything set up the way she wanted it. The commute from her school to the condo was a little bit longer than it was from her home with Sean had been which meant she'd have to leave a little earlier in the morning and she'd be getting home later in the evening.

The first thing she did was head back into the bedroom and change into more comfortable clothes which meant a pair of sweatpants and one of Nick's hooded sweatshirts. Then she headed into the living room and sank back onto the couch looking to see if there was anything worth watching on television besides the news. After only a few minutes of channel surfing she heard the front door open and saw Nick peep his head into the living room holding two plastic bags from the nearest Chinese place.

"Yum, Chinese food," she observed as she eagerly scrambled off the couch. "How did you know that I didn't feel like cooking tonight?"

Nick just shrugged as he headed into the kitchen and plopped the bags onto the table. "I figured that you'd probably be tired from your first day back and we've both kind of had pretty busy days. Seemed like a good excuse for Chinese takeout. How was your day, by the way?"

"It went well," she reported from across the room where she was already pulling out two plates for them from the cupboard. "My class seems to be a lot better than last year which is a definite plus. I'll be able to do so much more with them. Last year we couldn't do anything fun because the minute I gave them an inch of freedom they just couldn't handle it. Everyone seems happy to see me again though, and it is nice to be back and doing something productive again."

"You mean that spending time alone with me isn't productive?" he teased with a smirk. "That's not how you felt this morning."

Alyssa rolled her eyes and playfully swatted his arm. "You know what I meant. How did everything go with you today? Did you get everything straightened out with the divorce?"

"Yea, we did." Nick bit his lip contemplating on how much he really wanted to tell Alyssa. He didn't want to freak her out by telling her that his divorce to Shayla probably would be a lot longer and a lot more complicated than her and Sean's had been. He knew Alyssa wasn't stupid and probably wasn't expecting this to go over easy, but he also knew that she hadn't anticipated the process having to go to trial or taking much more than a year. Then of course there was the whole lack of a pre-nup business. He knew Alyssa would go ballistic on him when she heard about that and he definitely did not want to ruin the good mood that she seemed to be in. "We finalized the papers and she was supposed to get them a few hours ago. I haven't heard from her yet, so who knows if she received them or not. She has thirty days though to decide if she wants to just agree to the divorce and get it over with or if she wants to contest anything."

"And if I know Shayla she's going to have a lot to contest," she finished for him.

Nick shrugged. "I hope not. I tried to be as fair as I could be. I think I was actually very generous. I let her have nearly all our property outside of this place and I let her keep her car. As far as finances go, I just wanted us to leave with everything that we both earned."

"Good luck with that," Alyssa scoffed. "Thankfully enough I didn't have those problems with Sean. I mean first off we didn't have nearly as much assets to worry about and secondly we just both wanted it to be over. I had no reason to contest anything. I didn't need the house and I didn't want any of his money, but then again I was the guilty party so I guess it would've been pretty hypocritical to demand some kind of retribution."

Nick was about to respond when his Blackberry began to ring from where it was clipped on to his belt. He picked it up and stared at the screen and groaned. "Ugh... I guess I spoke to soon. It's her."

"May as well answer it. You're going to have to face her sooner or later. No better time than the present," she advised.

He pressed the button to answer the call and put the phone up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Can you explain to me why the fuck I was served with divorce papers today Nick?" Shayla's angry voice screeched into his ear. "What was that all about? Way to warn me!"

Nick deeply sighed and stepped out of the kitchen into the direction of the bedroom so that he could have more privacy. He didn't care if Alyssa overheard him, but he just didn't want to get himself angry in front of her. "First Shayla, you need to calm down. How can I explain myself when you're screaming in my ear like a banshee? Second of all, I did warn you. Remember we had that whole fight before I moved out and I told you that it was over?"

"But that was months ago Nick!" she pointed out. "And I told you that you wouldn't because you didn't have the guts to really leave me because you didn't want the media to find out about your precious, little affair! That bitch put you up to this, didn't she?"

"Alyssa? No, she didn't ‘put me up to this.' Shayla, I fucking told you point blank that I wasn't in love with you anymore, that I was confused by my feelings for Alyssa, and that I wasn't sure what was going to happen because Alyssa wasn't in a state where she could give me any kind of commitment at the time. I didn't want to drag her into some messy, divorce scandal right after she lost her child and was going through a divorce of her own," he tried to explain.

"So why now?" Shayla's voice challenged. "It's been over six months since you moved out. Why did you wait so long to decide that you finally wanted a divorce? What have you been doing all this time? Are you seeing her?"

Nick took a deep breath knowing that he owed his wife a truthful explanation; one that she was not going to want to hear. "I was staying with Teri and Howie while Alyssa recovered. You can imagine that she not only had a lot of physically healing to do, but emotional healing too. I stood by her as a friend, but we weren't romantically involved until she told me that she was ready and that was only in May. I moved into the condo with her and we spent a few months together to see if it was going to work out. We're very happy with each other and she's finally prepared for all of this to come out."

"She better be, because I'm telling you right now, I am not going down easy. I'll play your little game which by the way, the terms of your divorce are laughable at best. How could you possibly think that I'd walk away from this marriage without at least wanting something? Especially after what you did to me? I'll be talking to my lawyers and I intend on dragging this out as slowly and painfully as I possibly can," she threatened. "When I'm done with you, you are going to wish that you never even met me."

Nick just rolled his eyes in response. Shayla could be so overdramatic at times that he never knew when she was being serious or when she was just flinging empty threats at him. Sometimes he really began to think that that Shayla thought of herself as the star of some kind of warped soap opera going on in her head. His head was beginning to pound and he could feel himself start to reach his own breaking point. "Shayla, I really don't know what you expected to happen here. I left you and said very distinctively that I didn't love you anymore. Did you really expect that I was going to leave for a few months, do my own thing, and then go crawling back to you? You knew this was fucking coming, so don't try and play like you are the victim here! If you want to draw this out and make it some kind of fucking media circus, go right ahead! It's your career that's going to be in jeopardy too!" He could feel his heart start to pound and his body shake with anger and he knew that if he did not end this conversation soon, he was going to wind up blurting out the fact that he knew that she had pushed Alyssa which he knew right now would only make matters that much worse. "Go talk to your fucking lawyers... Just remember two can play at this game." Angrily he pressed the end key on his phone and flung it across the room where it hit the wall with a loud thud.

Hearing the commotion, Alyssa hurried down the wall and stuck her head into the room. She immediately noticed Nick's face red with anger and him struggling to control his breathing. "Is everything all right in here?" she asked, sounding a little worried.

"Yea..." Nick told her, feeling kind of dumb for being caught in such an emotional state. "Just fucking Shayla being Shayla. Making threats, trying to be manipulative... The usual."

Alyssa just laughed lightly trying to make him feel better. "Well, I could've you told that." She stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around him in a comforting hug. "Let her make threats. I'm not scared of her. She's just pissed off because now she can't justify her delusions that the two of you might still get back together and continue your reign as Hollywood's Golden Couple."

            Her sarcastic response did make Nick's face crack into a tiny bit of a smile. He loved how Alyssa always seemed to know what to say to make him feel better. He bent down to give her a short, reassuring kiss. "Thanks Lyss. I needed that." He tucked a loose strand of hair that had fallen out of her messy updo back behind her ear. "I'm just warning you though. I have a real bad feeling that this is going to get very ugly very quickly. I want to make sure that you can handle it."

            "Of course I can handle it. Come on, after all I've been through this past year? It's going to take so much more than some hateful bitch and some crazy paparazzi to break me down. I'll be fine," she assured him with a confident smile. "And I have you and I know this sounds completely cheesy, but I feel like together we can handle anything that life throws in our path."

            Alyssa may have put on a good front for Nick, but deep down she even had to question herself. Was she really ready? Did she have any idea whatsoever what she was about to get herself into?