Love Triangle: Storyteller Cosmetics, #1

By Magus Tor and Carrie Lynn Weniger

'I love him, but she loves me!' 

Sydney is an attractive almost college graduate, who struggles with homophobia. Her boyfriend and love of her life, Joe, and she have big plans to move in together after graduation down in Florida. When Joe realizes he can no longer cope with Sydney’s homophobic rage and mindset, he breaks up with her and leaves her to pick up the pieces. Although devastated, Sydney must find the strength to go on. 

Fast forward five years, and Sydney finds herself losing her job and finding another the very same day due to meeting the gorgeous Samantha Martin, the Vice President of Marketing with a trendy cosmetic company. The two become extremely close, and as Samantha provides Sydney with exceptional incentives, lavish gifts, and the royal treatment in the office, Sydney as well as her co-workers quickly realize there’s something… strange going on. Something that’s too good to be true. 

With lies, deception, love, humor, and mystery all rolled into one, Love Triangle is a story about love, loss, acceptance, and redemption. 

WARNING: LGBT theme

• Language: English
• Publisher: Beyond His Words
• Release date: Jan 23, 2016
• ISBN: 9781519972491

Magus Tor

Magus Tor is a dreamer who enjoys dreaming varied dreams of being a doctor, a lawyer, a police officer and a teacher but never in the wildest dream to become a writer. Since starting to write in 2007, Magus continues to explore creating worlds in his imaginative mild. Although he wishes to specialize in writing fantasy but his mind twisted his will and he ended up writing more Science Fiction than Fantasy. So far, his only fantasy novella is D-Nine: Protectors of the Crown.

Book preview

Chapter One

Sydney tucked a strand of her long, dark hair behind one ear and narrowed her eyes. This definitely wasn't the way to the mall. Turning to the tall, skinny man next to her, she poked him teasingly with one finger.

Where are we going, Joe? she asked.

He took his eyes off the road for a split second to give her a wide grin, showing even white teeth. It's a surprise.

She gave a pretend pout and tickled him a little with her still outstretched finger. I hate surprises. Tell me!

Joe grinned again but said nothing. He knew Sydney well enough by now not to engage her. The best thing to do was to keep his mouth shut and let her wonder, just for a few minutes longer.

Sure enough, Sydney rolled her eyes and slumped back into her seat, sulking. But secretly she was pretty excited. Joe didn't try to surprise her often. In fact, the last time he had, it had been a proposal, so she couldn't wait to see what he had planned this time. A minute or so later, he turned the car into a small parking lot, and Sydney scanned the rough-looking building in front of the windscreen.

Where...? she began.

Surprise! said Joe, reaching over to grab her hand. You've been talking about getting a tattoo for as long as I've known you, so happy anniversary—we're getting tattoos!

She stared open-mouthed at the flashing neon sign in the store window, not quite knowing what to say. She moved her lips experimentally a few times before finally croaking: Really?

Really, Joe said, trying not to laugh at her reaction. He was pretty proud of not only his idea but the fact that he'd surprised her. It was tough to take Syd by surprise; she was an expert at coaxing information out of people. Especially him. Her puppy-dog eyes were enough to make him spill any secret in the world.

He squeezed her hand tightly as they walked across the lot to the door, feeling the softness of her skin, loving the fact that she was his, that he got to spend the rest of his life with someone he downright adored.

Hey, I thought we could get matching tattoos, he said, lifting her hand up and kissing it gently. You know, until I can afford that ring that you really deserve.

In answer, she squealed in delight, and Joe laughed. She could be so childlike at times.

All we've got to do now is figure out what to get and where to get it, he said, pushing open the door of the store and making a bell ring somewhere.

Truthfully, he'd figured that they knew each other so well, and that they were so alike, that deciding on a matching tattoo would be easy. But after almost half an hour of looking at designs, he was beginning to wish he'd put a bit more thought into the idea. They just couldn't seem to see eye to eye.

We could get matching hearts, he suggested, looking at a simple, plain design.

Eugh, responded Sydney. That's so gay. C'mon, do you really see yourself walking around with a girly heart tattooed onto you?

Fine, Joe sighed, flicking through pages. What about... But he'd run out of ideas.

Finally, he slammed the book of designs shut, rather more loudly than he'd planned on.

Problem? asked the small man who'd handed them the books. He had rings up and down the outside of his ears, and one through his nose.

In the end, with the help of the artist, they decided to get simple, small infinity symbols on their chests, right over their hearts.

It's a symbol of loving you for always, Syd said, smiling at Joe. But she was too nervous to go first.

Instead, Joe stripped off his t-shirt and lay on the tattoo chair, and Syd settled down next to him to watch, smelling the familiar smell of his skin, his soap and deodorant. The machine began to whir, and she carefully watched the moving needle as the infinity sign began to take shape on Joe's chest. He winced once, but otherwise sat still and calm, breathing deeply, and Syd was amazed at how the artist skilfully etched the design into Joe's skin. This seems right, she told herself. Sure, she was committing to a tattoo, but she was doing it with the man she was committing her whole life to, and she smiled to herself, perfectly happy.

Ready? The artist broke her out of her thoughts, and, looking up, she saw that Joe was done. He smiled broadly at her and sported a red patch on his chest with the new tattoo in the middle.

It's a piece of cake, babe. You got this, he said, bending and kissing her on the cheek before taking her hand and pulling her up into the tattoo chair.

She smiled nervously at him, but his hand on her leg calmed her a little, and she began to take deep breaths, bracing herself for what she was sure was going to be the worst pain she had ever felt. But after the first shock of the cold needle, she was pleasantly surprised. It didn't hurt nearly as much as she'd thought. But that did give her more time to consider the fact that she was sitting shirtless in a tattoo parlour, which made her cheeks redden in embarrassment.

They left the studio, fingers entwined, feeling as close as they ever had, the matching tattoos a small act of intimacy. Sydney felt the warm sun on her shoulders as they got outside. Graduation was only a month from now. The last four years had flown by. Soon they'd be college graduates, working, and planning their wedding. It was only a matter of time before she had everything she'd ever dreamed of.

So, said Joe, unlocking the car. What would you like to do now?

He'd decided to leave the rest of the evening up to Sydney. It was their joint anniversary, after all, and he wanted her to enjoy herself. Besides, he figured that one surprise a day was probably as much as she could handle.

Sydney plugged in her seatbelt and turned to grin at him; his hair was sticking up at the back, making him look like an eager child. And suddenly she wanted to please him.

Why don't we head over to that end-of-year party that your friends are throwing? she said.

Joe arched his eyebrows in surprise. It was their anniversary, so he'd told the guys he couldn't come, though he wanted to.

You don't really want to hang around with a bunch of drunks tonight, do you? he asked.

You surprised me with a tattoo, Sydney said evenly. I want you to have fun too. So let's go to the party. I'm sure that some of my crew will be there too. We'll both have fun. Okay?

He studied her for a minute, then grinned back and turned the ignition key.

Very well, your wish is my command! To the party we will go!

***

Wow.

Hand in hand, they stood in front of the small house. There were way more people here than either of them had imagined. There must be two hundred college kids here, drinking, laughing, jumping off the balcony into the pool, even passed out on the lawn, and it was only a little after nine. They'd stopped for a quick dinner, knowing that drinking on an empty stomach was a bad idea, and also knowing that expecting food to be served at a college party was also a bad idea. And now here they were, feeling the bass of the loud music pumping, making their whole bodies vibrate.

Joe grinned down at Sydney, took her hand, squeezed it, and pulled her up, over the curb and across the lawn. He knew exactly where he was going to find his friends, so he held onto her hand and dragged her safely through the crowds and up the stairs. They'd be in the attic, watching the madness and yet able to talk over the quieter music.

Outside the attic door, the music blared, but as soon as Joe pushed open the door, a softer, quieter atmosphere greeted them. Maybe it was the shock of going from loud to quiet that made Sydney speak a bit louder than she'd intended, Joe figured later.

You didn't tell me the fags would be here, she said, her words ringing out clearly.

Two of Joe's closest friends turned at the sound of her voice. They had been looking out of the window, wine glasses in hand, arms draped casually around each other's waist.

You didn't tell us the hag would be here, responded the two in unison.

Then their lips curved into smiles, and they all began to laugh. The offensive greeting was sort of an in joke, Joe guessed. But it still made him uncomfortable. Syd was joking around, he knew, but he didn't like it when she used that kind of language. He only laughed because his friends did, comfortable enough in their homosexuality that they could laugh, could joke around. It gave Joe a weird feeling in his gut, though.

Joe grabbed a beer for himself and one for Syd, and after the usual small talk and the arrival of a few others, they all broke out the cards for a few hands of poker. It wasn't until a few beers in that they were all drunk enough to think about joining the mayhem downstairs.

A band was playing, people thrashing around on the makeshift dance floor, a game of beer pong in the far corner. The average college party. And as they reached the ground floor, the band came to a crashing climax and announced that they were taking a break. Someone put on some slow beats, trying to calm the place down a little, and Joe took Syd's hand and pulled her out onto the dance floor, holding her tight and swaying to the rhythm.

She pressed her head to his chest, listening to his heart beating, glad that he was here with her, glad that she was here with him.

Joe smiled down at her as she looked up into his eyes, but then she recoiled a little, and he guessed she'd seen something. In his peripheral vision, he could see that Dan and Ed were taking advantage of the slow, steamy music too and were kissing. Sydney murmured something, and Joe bent, leaning his head into her.

What, babe? Didn't hear you, he said, his lips brushing her ear.

I said: I'll be glad when we finally graduate and can get away from all the freaks around here, she repeated.

But she spoke loudly, and Joe knew even before he saw Dan and Ed that they had heard and that they were staring at Syd in stunned silence. Cringing internally, Joe took his girlfriend off the dance floor, pausing to grab a couple of bottles of water, hoping that later he could pass this off on her drunkenness. He hated that she had embarrassed him like this.

***

Three days after the party, Joe and Sydney were crashing on the couch, hanging out and watching TV and procrastinating about studying for finals, when an old episode of Will and Grace came on. Syd lunged and grabbed the remote, flicking through the channels.

Hey, I wanted to watch that! Joe said, surprised at how quickly she'd moved.

I hate that show, she snapped, concentrating on