20 - framed

"Giovanna Wolf has been spotted at numerous events this past weekend without her engagement ring! Seven months ago, the Hollywood princess confirmed indeed that she was engaged to pop superstar Michael Jackson but is the marriage now off?! More det--"

He couldn't watch it anymore. "I'm an idiot," Michael mumbled and shook his head in disgust with himself. He couldn't believe the last 72 hours. He left Gia nearly 72 voice messages until the automated message told him her inbox was full. Over Lisa Marie, out of all people. That's like a minivan to a Rolls Royce. Lisa was nobody compared to Gia. No one could compare to Gia. "Such a fucking idiot."

It all happened too quickly. Before he knew it, Lisa's lips were planted on his, a feeling he didn't miss, but he didn't exactly stop her hands from placing his along her waist either. It was wrong, but he didn't have any time to pull away. Right on time Giovanna came inside. If he only had one more second... If only he locked the door, for that matter.

He was nearly losing his mind without hearing Aiden's laugh, seeing his eyes light up at the sound of his singing. Giovanna was in the process of shooting all day so he knew someone else was watching him. Alisha.

He went into his study and tried to find the notebook with all of his numbers. He went to "G" and narrowed his eyes to make out the small digits underneath Giovanna's.

He was praying for an answer.

"Hello?"

He did a sigh of relief. "Alisha?"

"Hey Michael, what's up?"

He creased his eyebrows at her chipper tone. Did she know? He was sure she did. "Hey Alisha. Where's Aiden?"

There was a long pause, as if she wasn't sure if she should answer. "He's with me on set."

"On the set? So everyone can see him?"

She exhaled and disregarded his complaints. "Would you like me to bring him over?"

Michael's stomach fluttered. "Y-yes! Yes."

"Are you in LA?"

"No, but I can be there by twelve. Do you know my address?"

"Would it be weird if I said yes?"

Michael giggled, his entire mood flipping upside down. Of course she knew his address. "It's not weird. I'll see you soon."

---

He opened the door and smiled at his son, his spirally curls wild and tousled that seemed to be getting tighter every week. He was pouting his bottom lip out and had tears on his cheeks.

"He's grumpy because I woke him up," Alisha explained and handed Aiden to Michael.

"Hi little man," he cooed and kissed his hair, which Aiden in turn grabbed onto Michaels hair and yanked it hard, laughing in amusement.

"Ow" Michael groaned, trying to unwrap his baby's tight fist from his hair stranded. "Stop!"

Aiden screamed at him back.

"He likes to do that now and I don't know why. He almost ripped Giovanna's earlobe when he grabbed onto her earring."

Michaels stomach turned at the feeling. "Oh god. Wait, did she tell you what happened?"

She scoffed, "Oh yeah, she did."

"She knows you're here?"

"No, I just do not agree with her keeping a baby away from his father. Don't involve Aiden in your differences."

"I didn't have time to pull away. Lisa forced herself on me," he explained as Alisha went inside.

"Gia told me your hands were on her. You're a whore."

"Lisa put them there."

"Michael, please shut up," she said as she handed him Aiden's bottle. "You are a grown man, not a little boy with no strength to push her off."

"I was but she came right inside the moment it happened. Alisha, please give me the benefit of the doubt. I'm not perfect."

Her hazel eyes rolled. "That's obvious. You two make me sick. It's like watching a car crash over and over again."

He sighed as he tilted Aiden's bottle in his mouth, who seemed to want to try to hold it by himself which made Michael happy.

"Hold on, did you say Gia came right when it happened?"

"Yes. Why?"

Alisha looked like she was deep in thought but shook her head. "Nothing."

"What happened?"

"It's just that she told me someone told her to be there at 8:30 exactly."

Michael was puzzled. "What? Who?!"

Alisha shrugged. "I don't know but it wasn't Lisa."

"Do you think Lisa planned this?" The timing of it all was too coincidental. He fell right into Lisa's trap, and it made sense. A jab to Giovanna for kissing Michael when they were married as pay back. He was pissed.

"Maybe. Whoever helped her obviously has Gia's number, meaning she knows them. You need to ask her."

"Can you get her to call me? Please."

She cut his eyes at him. "No. I'm already risking a headache if she finds out I brought Aiden over here."

"Please?" He followed her as she was leaving. "You see I was set up, right?! You know I love her."

Alisha turned and crossed her arms, looking like she wanted to die getting herself in between the two. "I'll think about it."

"Why isn't she wearing her engagement ring?"

She pursed her lips. "I'll let her tell you that."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you want to know the real reason Giovanna wanted Aiden to have her last name as well?"

"Because she read one book on feminism and now she's an extremist?"

Alisha groaned. "No, Michael, she just uses that as a front. She was so sure you two would get a divorce and if you two parted she wanted her identity to still be with her son's name. In the case of custody battles and what not."

"Really? She's that sure we wouldn't work out?" Damn. That hurt him a little bit. Making precautions for divorce before they were even married.

"Can you blame her, Michael? You two are ridiculous. If you two were so in love like you claim you are then shut up and enjoy each other. Can you do that? Be two normal loving, understanding people? Because honestly, she does not want to marry you anymore."

Michael tried not to break down in tears in front of her but he felt his eyes already starting to burn.

She glanced down at her watch. "Gia will be done around seven so I'll be back at six. I told her I was taking him to see my mother."

"Okay..."

"And by the way, she's staying at her moms house in Rhode Island this weekend. Take that information as you please. Bye Michael," she said and went back to her car.

He nodded and closed the door, not feeling able to stand. It felt like a slap in the face to know that he was losing her, or may already have.

-----

"Giovanna, I swear if this boy sends another bouquet of flowers I am going to scream. Our entire house looks like a flower shop," my mom said as she kicked the front door closed from behind her and set the large vase of white roses the delivery man just presented next to the fifteen other vases Michael sent me today. He was sending a new one every hour.

"He's definitely not a boy, mommy," I laughed.

"This one says," she unfolded the note inside. "I know I'm annoying you. Call me or you will get another. Every hour. I love you too. How sweet. He is smitten over you, honey."

I scoffed. Smitten? Sweet? Please. That's called an unhealthy obsession.

"You treat Michael better than your own son. Michael could kill me and you would think it is so romantic."

"That's because Aaron thinks something as simple as doing the dishes means child labor because he's almost sixteen years old."

"It is child labor!" Aaron yelled from upstairs, always catching onto a conversation when his name is mentioned.

"You see? And Michael is a sweetheart."

"Okay mommy." Tuh. What if I never walked in? How far would he had gone? A kiss and what would have been next, an orgasm?

I am such an idiot.

I knew the message he was presenting. White roses were what he always gave me. It started with the roses he gave me on the night of our first kiss, then he would send them while he was on his Dangerous tour when he missed me too much, then the baby shower, and now he's filling my mothers house with them.

As my mom was watching Aiden, I ran a bath for myself, dimmed the lights, and lit some candles around it so I can get some peace and quiet.

Of course, my phone vibrated on the sink. "Hello? Can you stop sending flowers over my mothers house?!" I snapped at Michael as my legs went inside of the large bathtub.

"Oh my god, you actually answered. Hey, you."

"Hey yourself. Stop sending flowers."

"I just wanted to hear your voice."

"You hear it don't you?"

"Can we just talk?" he asked, a hint of desperation in his voice. I haven't heard it it in nearly a week. "As if we're only friends?"

I squeezed my washcloth over my thighs and watched the suds travel down my skin. "Okay."

"What are you doing? I hear water in the background. Are you taking a bath?"

"Hm. I am."

"You sound relaxed."

"That's debatable since you just called. What are you doing?"

"I'm watching a movie of yours in my hotel. And I was missing you a lot."

"Oh."

There was a pause as if he was waiting for me to say it back. "How was your day?"

"It was terrible."

"Would you like to tell me about it?" he asked.

"No."

"Why not? Aren't we just friends?"

I closed my eyes and sunk lower into the bubbles, feeling the warmth sink around my neck. "Sure."

"So what's wrong?"

"I was hurt by someone who owns my heart."

"What did he do?"

"I caught him kissing his ex-wife," I hissed through my teeth, blood turning hot again. I cocked my head to the side, trying to ease the pain of my shoulders. "And my neck hurts."

"That's terrible. What can I do to make you feel better?"

I scoffed, he had no idea how terrible it was. Until I tell him what I did with the ring, maybe he'll get a feel for it. I smirked. "Nothing."

"Isn't that what friends are for? I can come over... and you can tell me about everything he's done to you. You can cry on me and I'll listen."

I stayed silent, not caring to respond. I should hang up.

"Would you let me give you a massage to make your pain go away?"

"No." Hang up, idiot.

"Could I rub the tension off? From your neck down to your toes, and every place in between?"

I sighed, trying not to melt at his tenderness. I really need to hang up. "No."

"Why not? If I was there I could give you a bath myself. That's what friends do. They take care of each other."

I watched the candles twinkle in the other end of the tub. "Nope."

"Or could I take care of you in the shower? Would you let me wash your hair? And then allow my hands to go anywhere else I want to feel on?"

"Or can you stop?!" I felt myself tighten underneath the bubbles, my newfound arousal now heightening out of control. Damnit.

"Afterwards we could lay down in the covers and watch a movie or something. I could make you laugh. I could make you my dinner. Then I can ease you down on my tip as my fingers hold onto your waist, thrusting deep into what's mine."

Goddamnit.

"Would that get you off? Would that make you forget about what he did to you?"

"Michael.." I whimpered, my fingers rubbing at light-speed underneath causing the water to splash loud enough I was sure he could hear.

"I can't wait to come inside you again, fill you up again." I heard him inhale through his teeth. "That little pussy... Damn."

I imagined his hands stroking over his veins and ridges trying to release the ache. Just the thought of him teasing me with his warm tip, rubbing his pre-cum slowly against my folds before sliding every inch inside sent me right where I needed to be.

A clipped moan escaped my lips as I couldn't store it in me any longer, feeling the all consuming climax travel through me,, my wet thighs trembling as I reached my peak.

"Shit... are you cumming for me, baby?"

I couldn't even utter the words to answer as I tried to catch my breath, my bath feeling much hotter than it did some time ago.

His chuckle was low and dark. "I can get on a flight right now and you can tell me what's bothering you. Kiss you and hold you and make you come again, ten times over. We don't have to go there yet if you don't want to, I can just have the comfort of you asleep in my arms. I know I don't deserve it. I don't deserve you at all, honestly..."

My sexual high suddenly wore off as the POD syndrome kicked in. Post Orgasmic Disgust.

Michael continued. "I know I should've told you I was seeing her, that was my mistake, but it's not how you think it is... I belong to you and only you. Let me make it up, Frecks..." His voice cracked. "Please."

No no no, how did I let my hormones get the best of me once again?! "I threw my engagement ring out of the window."

It was a silence. "You mean out of the window of your house?"

"I mean out of the window of a moving car. On a highway."

There was an even longer silence that I couldn't stand to listen to. I quickly flipped my phone shut. The phone went off again and I threw it down on the tile floor with such force part of the piece broke off.

"Fuck!" I screamed and slammed my fist in the water in frustration, making it splash all over the place. I hated how much I loved him more than I hated myself, and that depth alone has no end. "Idiot. Fucking idiot."

----

After a long day of shooting, I was entirely too exhausted as I waited for Alisha to meet me in my trailer as the make up artists was cleaning my face.

"Hey," she smiled as she came in and gave me my baby. The makeup artists were finished and it was finally time for me to go home.

I held Aiden close to me as we walked to Alisha's car. The scent hit my nose. "Why does he smell like that?"

"Like what?"

I sniffed his shirt before putting him in his seat. "Like Michael?"

Alisha didn't say anything as she started up her ignition of her BMW.

"You took him to see Michael today didn't you?"

"That's his father, Gia. Don't be stupid."

"I know exactly who his father is!" I snapped.

"Who told you to come at 8:30?" she asked as we pulled off.

"So you can run and tell him?"

"What? Is Michael not supposed to know who told you?"

I pushed my hair out of my face. "His new assistant."

"His new assistant? How was she hired?"

I shrugged. "I don't know but can we not talk about this? I was actually having a good day."

"No, we need to. I think she's working for Lisa on the side. I strongly feel like he was set up for you to come inside right when she kissed him."

My eyes widened as I put two and two together. "Quick. Call him. "

"Uh I'm driving, you call him."

I groaned and dialed his number into my new cell, slightly afraid of how he would answer after I told him about throwing away a six-figure worth ring. "Hello?" his voice was groggy, as if he was drunk or tired or both.

"Did you have Brittany get your locks fixed?"

"Yes."

I cursed in my head at having even the slightest hope that he was actually, in fact, set up for that. Of course he wasn't.

"Wait, which house are you talking about?

"The hideout."

"Oh, then no. It was Neverland. Ans it was the locks to my bedroom. Why do you ask?"

I hung up the phone. "Oh my god."

"What?" Alisha questioned as we stopped at a red light.

"That bitch is crack crazy. Lisa set him up!"

"Obviously. And you complain about me cursing around your child," Alisha laughed.

----

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A/n: Should she forgive MJ given the circumstances? Or shouldn't she? Hmmm.