Sophie Martin is a young woman in her mid 20s in Los Angeles. Living the Hollywood lifestyle, she knows perfectly well she can't afford. Her poor choices lead her not only to financial crises but romantic ones as well. Sophie finds herself involved in a toxic relationship not with one, but two guys at the same time, who also happened to be brothers. No matter how hard Sophie tries to get out of the relationships, it is almost as if some unseen force is keeping these three people together.
Will our heroine find the strength to break the cycle and move on, or continue clinging to the old familiar ways?
Sophie Martin is a young woman in her mid 20s in Los Angeles. Living the Hollywood lifestyle, she knows perfectly well she can't afford. Her poor choices lead her not only to financial crises but romantic ones as well. Sophie finds herself involved in a toxic relationship not with one, but two guys at the same time, who also happened to be brothers. No matter how hard Sophie tries to get out of the relationships, it is almost as if some unseen force is keeping these three people together.
Will our heroine find the strength to break the cycle and move on, or continue clinging to the old familiar ways?
“Amor Vincit Omnia”—Love Conquers All!
For as long as I remember, love has always been an essential part of my life. I’ve been searching for it like a thirsty woman searches for water in a desert.
Though I have never chosen the right man to love, I guess this extreme desire to have someone by my side didn’t let me choose wisely or be patient enough to allow the right one to come along. I have always been so desperate to be loved that I idealized every guy I met, and then every time, I was left disappointed and broken inside.
When I met Richard, he seemed to be the most charming, funny, and intelligent guy I’d ever known … but this Prince Charming was on a date with another girl. I mean, he was on a date with another girl and flirting with me! Thirty minutes later, he ordered that girl an Uber and never called her again, or so he told me, anyway. Red flag right there, but in my head, it all looked SO romantic; he did this because he fell in love with me at first sight. Well, at least those were my thoughts at that exact moment.
Around us time seemed to have stopped, but we were moving fast. Three hours after our first meeting we found ourselves in one of the city’s most expensive restaurants talking about love, commitment, and relationships. It was already four in the morning, but I didn’t feel like going home at all—I was too excited. I knew I wouldn’t sleep with him that night, but I was tempted.
In the parking lot, he kissed me for the first time, and it was the most magical moment. Have you ever heard when ladies almost fainted because of a kiss? Well, it was most certainly the case with me.
He gave me a ride back home that night, and after a good-night kiss, he said, “Call me in a morning.” I just laughed and flirtatiously noted that I don’t call guys first. I didn’t expect the response I got—he looked at me angrily and said that if I didn’t call him myself, we would never see each other again. I didn’t appreciate that kind of manipulation, so I just wished him a good night and stepped out of his car.
That day at 7:00 a.m. I got a good-morning text . . . and then a hundred more. He seemed to be so obsessed with me. I won’t deny that I liked it, and maybe I liked it a little too much. I felt so in control. That’s how it works I guess; one always loves more than the other. I just met this guy, so I really didn’t care about his feelings. I enjoyed the way he made me feel.
My theory is that every relationship is a playground, and we all are players, and whoever plays the best wins . . . and I intended to win!
We spent all day together. He took me out to Malibu for brunch. Later we had dinner and went to the movies. Whether it was because of the film we picked or the kaleidoscope of events we had experienced in twenty-four hours, we ended up sleeping on each other in the movie theater. And next morning, I woke up at his place.
Everything was like a dream coming true— beautiful penthouse, handsome guy walking around wearing nothing but a towel, breakfast waiting for me. What else can one ask for?! That weekend was truly magical. We just drove around town trying new places for lunch. He even let me play my own music in his car, even though we obviously had totally different tastes in music.
Isn’t it funny how hard guys try when you are just getting to know each other? They will literally do anything for you to get some extra credit.
After fewer than seventy-two hours, he introduced me to his friends as his girlfriend. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mind at all, but it seemed so rushed, and my previous dating experiences in LA had been so different from this. I thought guys in a city of angels were total freaks. No one was looking for something real, for commitment, for feelings. The casual model of relationships is a pretty common thing around here. So, when you meet a guy who gives you a full commitment after such a short period, it looks suspicious. Just like that, I got a new boyfriend. A handsome, smart, wealthy boyfriend—my very own Mr. Perfect.
The weekend was romantic, but everything comes to its end, and the end of the romance eventually became a reality. The workweek started, and with it, the routine. I was so used to my schedule and my habits that I didn’t feel like giving it all up for some guy I had just met.
Every Monday, I was going to Cecconi’s with a group of my closest friends. It was a tradition of a kind. Just so you understand, Monday night at Cecconi’s is the busiest time of the week. The whole town is there. To get a reservation, you have to call at least a week in advance. So, there I was with my girls, sharing a good bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and good gossip when, during the second course and after two glasses of wine, I got a phone call from him.
“Hi babe!” he said. I can’t even describe how much I hate those cliché nicknames. Richard was asking me a lot of questions, but I couldn’t hear a thing. I was tipsy and in a crowded restaurant, so I took it outside. “Where are you? Aren’t you home?” he asked. “No, I’m with my girls at Cecconi’s,” I said, not knowing where he was going with his questions. “Oh, wow!” he said slowly. “Yeah, I come here every Monday,” I explained. “And you didn’t tell me you were going somewhere?! You could have at least asked me to join you!” I didn’t know what to say. Should I really have asked him to join me? Would it be a courtesy to do so? He was pissed, and I could hear it. “OK, you know what, I don’t want to talk to you right now. You are drunk and I am really upset. When you get home give me a call.” And just when I thought it could not get any worse, some drunk stranger passed by yelling, “Hey, Pier! Come here!”
“Who the fuck is Pier?!” Richard shouted, “You went out on a date?! Stop lying to me!” “I have no idea who Pier is! It’s just some random dude,” I tried to explain, but all in vain. “Yeah, right! I know you’ve been seeing other people! Just stop lying about it!” “Are you insane?! I’m not lying!” I said, irritated. After less than a week of knowing me, he was already playing an Othello. At first, I wanted to explain but realizing it wouldn’t do me any good, I said, “You know what, whatever . . .” and before I got a chance to finish the sentence, I heard him screaming, “Whatever?! Sure, as you wish!” Then he just hung up on me.
I was nearly in tears when I got back to the table, so obviously I had to share with the girls what had just happened, but my story was interrupted by another phone call. It was my best friend’s phone and guess who was calling?! Of course, it was Richard.
Could someone be more inappropriate? After he had just yelled at me five minutes before, he was calling my friend to make sure my night was absolutely ruined. I didn’t hear what he was saying to her, but I couldn’t help myself and grabbed the phone from her hands. “What do you want?” I asked. “Are you still at Cecconi’s?” His voice was calm. “I am. Why?” “Text me when you are done. I’ll come to pick you up.” “No, I don’t want you here.” I didn’t mean it, but it just came out of my mouth. Despite my wishes, he came there and picked me up in thirty minutes. I thought there would be some talking that night. There wasn’t. Instead, it was a wild night of sex. The next morning when I was getting ready for work, wearing yesterday’s outfit, he told me something that I always wanted to hear from every guy I ever dated but never heard. He said I should bring some stuff to his place. That was it. To me, it was proof that we had something real, something that was going to last.
That Tuesday happened to be busy for both of us. He had a business meeting during lunch, so we decided to meet for dinner and drinks in the evening. By 7:55 p.m. I was ready and waiting for him to pick me up. After sitting on a couch all dressed up for twenty minutes, at 8:15 p.m. I decided to call him, and it went straight to a voice mail. In five minutes, I called again, but still no answer. I tried his phone two more times, and after that, I just gave up on ever reaching him. There was nothing I could do, so I changed into my PJ’s, washed my makeup off, got into bed, and turned the TV on. I got ditched. For the first time in my dating history, someone ditched me. I watched a movie and passed out around 10:30 p.m.
A horrible noise coming from the front door woke me up that night. Someone was knocking nonstop. Half scared and half asleep, I got out of bed and went to open the door, and there he was, at two in the morning, on my porch . . . drunk. He fell into my living room and started hugging me. I could smell the alcohol. He had been drinking, and a lot at that. “Gosh, what are you doing here?” I asked, still shocked by his appearance. “How did you even get here? Did you take an Uber?” “Uber? I don’t take Uber, babe,” Richard mumbled. “Well, don’t tell me you drove!” I didn’t get an answer to that one. “Wait, are you serious?!” I asked, concerned how a person who couldn’t stand straight could drive a car. He just smiled and hugged me. “Come on! I’ve been calling you! Where have you been?” I started to get angry. “I had a meeting, you know that.” “Do you seriously expect me to believe you got that drunk at a business meeting? And you told me it was at lunch.” “Yes … I went out with my clients,” he started to explain. “OK, doesn’t matter. Let’s get you an Uber, and you’ll go home, deal?” Richard didn’t answer, but one look at him and I knew there was no way for him to even make it home. I helped Richard to take his clothes off and then put him to bed.
As do all people, I had my morning routine: wake up at 7:00 a.m., yoga from 7:30-8:30 a.m., and then breakfast and getting ready to be at work by 10:00 a.m. Obviously, my routine was messed up that particular morning. At 9:00 a.m. I woke up Richard and told him I was leaving, and he should get going too. He used the bathroom and left my place without arguing. Later that day while I was at the gym my best friend Chloe texted me saying that my boyfriend had called her. I was shocked. Why would he call my friend . . . again? What could Richard possibly need from her? When I finished my workout, I called her to get all the details. Apparently, Richard was seeking advice and had also complained to her about how I had kicked him out in the morning. I was furious. Not only had he shared our dirty laundry with the world but he had also invited my friend into my personal life. I didn’t hesitate a second and dialed his number. “Hi.” He sounded very cold. “Can I call you back? I’m in the middle of something.” “No, you can’t!” I said, irritated, “Why did you call my friend?”
“I can’t talk right now, Sophie,” he said to me, trying to end the call. “Well, you could when you called her! What is wrong with you?” I got so angry I almost yelled. “Oh, so now we are talking like this, huh? OK, fine! What the fuck is wrong with you? You kicked me out in the morning like some puppy!” I didn’t know what to answer to that one, so I said, “Are you serious? We made plans, you ditched me, then got drunk and showed up in my place in the middle of the night, and now I’m the bad guy here?” I asked bitterly. “I can’t take it from you anymore! You are being annoying!” “Me? Really?” I was on the edge. “Yes! And frankly, I think you are seeing other people and fucking around!” “God, Richard, your name really suits you—you are a real Dick!” I yelled at him. No other man in my life has managed to piss me off that much and that fast. “I just can’t take any more of your lies and all this shit you keep giving me! I don’t need this drama!” he yelled back and hung up. I was speechless. That night I went to bed early, trying not to think about all that craziness I had experienced in the past twenty-four hours. In less than a week I had managed to start and finish a relationship. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and those thoughts kept me awake. Around 2:30 or 3:00 a.m. I got a text—‘Where are you?’—from Richard. I decided to leave it without an answer. Two minutes later another text—‘Are you in bed?’—then another one—‘You went out with another guy??’
I knew it would be better to ignore him, but what I didn’t know was that he was not planning on giving up and stopping. Instead, he went from texting to calling. “Babe, I am so sorry!” he said when I finally picked up. “I lost my temper . . . I am so sorry!” Honestly, I didn’t know what to say to that, so I said, “That’s fine, let’s just talk in the morning.” In the morning we did talk, and everything seemed to be back to normal. Actually, it seemed to be better than normal, and on the weekend, he took me out for lunch with his brother Kai.
Kai appeared to be charming and funny, a kind guy who treated women with respect. He was single, so I instantly decided to set him up with one of my friends, I just wasn’t sure with whom.
I was with my friend Mia when Richard called asking if I wanted to go out with him and his brother, and he wondered if I would invite a cute girlfriend along to join us. It was an easy choice. I decided to bring Mia. After all, I really wanted her to meet Richard. We agreed on meeting at Kai’s place around 8:00 p.m. for pre-party, but when I got home, Chloe called me. Apparently, she’d had a fight with her boyfriend and needed my moral support. I couldn’t help myself and asked her to go with us; and just like that our double date turned into a group date. Chloe came over to my place and together we went to Kai’s.
Both Richard and his brother were very attentive and polite with my friends, and of course, both Mia and Chloe enjoyed Kai’s company. I wasn’t surprised, how could someone not like him? He was perfect in everything. Though I didn’t want to admit it, I kind of liked him myself and in a way that wasn’t appropriate, considering he was my boyfriend’s brother. Since it was three girls and only two guys in our group, the boys decided to invite some other friends. After a couple of drinks at home, we took a car and headed to Hollywood.
I was very excited, but at the bar, an unpleasant surprise was waiting for me—apparently, Richard was that type of guy who prefers female friends over guy friends. There were at least seven girls, whom he called “friends,” and the second we got to our table all of them surrounded me like vultures surround their prey and started asking questions about my relationship with Richard. Meanwhile, he was at the bar talking to some guys and not paying any attention to me. After an hour at that bar, we moved to a nightclub across the street. At the club I found Kai flirting with some other girl. I was disappointed. That whole night was one big disappointment. Richard didn’t spend more than five minutes with me, and when guys were trying to hit on me, he didn’t even really seem to care. In fact, it was his brother who was taking care of me that night. When some drunk guy started bothering me, Kai saw it from across the club and came to my rescue—“Sorry, dude! It’s my brother’s girlfriend. Right, Sophie?” he said, turning to me. “Yes, that’s right,” I answered, smiling.
It was already 2:00 a.m., and I thought it was time to call it a night. We all went outside, and though it was already May, it was freezing. Before I got a chance to ask for it, I felt a jacket on my shoulders. I turned around, thinking it was Richard. “Thank you.” I smiled, seeing Kai behind me. “No problem, doll,” he said to me, and his eyes lighted up with some devilish fire. “Where do you think we should go next?” he asked, turning to the group, and then he answered his own question—“there is a club close by; they are open till 4:00 a.m.” “I don’t know, I’m kind of tired,” I said, unsure. “Come on!” Kai whispered to me. “Just the four of us! Irina, me, you, and my brother.”
“Irina? Who is that?” I was confused “Oh, that girl right there.” He pointed at a girl. It was the one he had flirted with at the club. Turned out they had known each other for a long time.
“Thanks, but I think we’ll go home.” I refused him politely. “OK, sure,” he said and kissed me on a cheek. “Night, love. See you.” I gave him his jacket back; he said good night to my girls and Richard and then left with that Irina girl.
“Home?” Richard asked me. “Yeah, but we need to make sure girls get home safe.” “OK, let’s get them an Uber.” The car was ten minutes away and I was so cold I needed something, or better, someone to keep me warm. I leaned over and tried to hug Richard, but he immediately stepped back from me. “What are you doing?” I asked, confused, without any understanding of what was going on. “Stop this! Not in front of people!” he whispered, irritated. “Are you being serious? You have been distant all evening. We barely talked. All you did was flirt with some chicks all night.” “Those are my clients!” he said, raising his voice. “Yeah, right! Same ones you had a ‘business meeting’ with the other night, huh?” I asked him sarcastically, thinking I was witty, but Richard thought differently. “I am sick of it, Sophie! Fuck it!” he said to my face, nearly yelling, and then he just walked away, leaving me in the middle of the street at 2:30 in the morning. I was shocked by his behavior, as were my girls. We had started ordering an Uber when some car pulled over and a Mexican driver yelled “Sophie?” “That would be me,” I replied, confused. “Get in the car, lady. The guy ordered it for you and asked me to get you home safe.” “What was his name?” I asked, not wishing to get in a stranger’s car and end up as a victim of sex trafficking. His name was Richard. I knew it before the driver even answered. I was exhausted even to think how Richard humiliated me; I was so embarrassed by myself and mad for letting a guy speak to me that way. For the next five days I didn’t hear a word from him and then Chloe told me that she had gotten a text from Kai the other day and he was asking about me. The next day after that Richard called. We decided to have dinner and talk. And though we did talk—but not about what happened on the weekend—it was just a smart move to get me in bed, and it worked.
It took me some time before I realized my Mr. Perfect was a jealous and demanding type, someone who craved attention and got mad if he wasn’t getting it immediately. Our whole relationship was nothing but one big fight. We had only been dating for two months at that time, but it felt like two decades. Whenever I wanted to go out, I had to tell him where and with whom I was going. I couldn’t have girls’ night without his permission. If I had went out without him, I would have to FaceTime to prove that there were no guys with me. And yet, when it came to him, he could go out whenever he wanted with whomever he wanted. He could leave me alone on a street at night and it would still be OK. This whole thing became unbearable and two months and three weeks after we met, I broke up with him. He never called me, never texted; things between us seemed to be over.
Sophie is in her 20s and living the good life in Los Angelos. Until Richard comes into her life. She believes he is the perfect man for her even though there are clear red flags. Like him lying and cheating. And then she meets his brother and she decides to date them both.
I was surprised there was so much drama in the beginning. And to be honest it was relentless. It was overwhelming and exhausting just like a toxic relationship.
Since the title of the book lives up to its promise I'll give a spoiler: Love does not conquer all. I am not sure what this whole Richard mess could be called. I had a Richard in my life.
There were some typos like two instead of too and once Kai was spelled Kia.
Here's what I disliked; at the New Year's Party she was bummed there were no guys to flirt with instead of having fun with her friends. She continued being a bad friend and an all-around catty person with girls whom she found boring or basic. Now I can understand when tempers flare within the friendship. A good friend like Chloe warned her when she was going down the wrong path. It would have been nice if Sophie was a decent friend.
Perhaps she should have taken a break from dating as she vowed but the lifestyle was too addictive. The drugs and drinking released those inhibitions to make bad decisions. It would have been interesting to see what happened next if Sophie lost that catfight. It's a decent read if you can deal with the constant roller coaster of emotions.
This book was me about 20 years ago way back in the day hehe. It doesn't fit me to a tee but there are some similarities. What you can take away from Happily Never After are the red flags that anyone going forth in the dating world should recognize. Readers who have been emotionally shattered by a toxic man are going to find the story worth reading