Bent not Broken (299 page)

“Oh. Really?” I relax a little.

Meeting my eyes again, he says, “Yeah, and what he told me coupled with what I've seen tonight has made me...more intrigued than ever.”

I swallow hard. He's a good-looking man. I didn't miss the fact that I wasn't the only one checking him out earlier. “Intrigued?” I ask as I start moving toward the bar again.

“Yes, intrigued. As in I've been wanting to meet you for a while now.”

“Oh?” Once we reach the bar, he asks what I'd like to drink and motions for the bartender to order my drink.

“Yes, I'd really like to get to know you, Celeste. I was going to try to play it cool,” he says with a laugh, “but I guess I'm not good at that. I'm more the see something—or someone in this case—and go out and get it kind of guy. But I know you've been through a lot, so I wanted to give you time.”

“Give me time before what?”

“Making my intentions known, asking you out on a date, asking you out on a second date...I think you understand where I'm going,” he tells me.

“Oh.” I've got nothing else at the moment. I haven't been asked out on a date in...in over fifteen years.

He frowns at me. “I see I've scared you a bit. That's exactly what I was hoping to avoid.”

“No, I'm not really scared of going on a date with you. What's scary is the realization that I haven't been on a date in over fifteen years. I don't even know how to date.”

He blows out a deep breath. “Well, that's easy enough. I'll say something like...Celeste, how about I pick you up for dinner and a show? And you'll say something like...'That sounds like fun.' See? Simple.”

I grin at him and his comforting nature. That actually does sound like fun, especially since Adrian has his tongue shoved down what-her-face's throat. “Well, since you've got the first part worked out, when and where will you pick me up?”

****

I'M PACKING UP some of the nicer decorations that I want to recycle for another event when I sense a set of eyes on me. Hesitatingly, I glance over my shoulder and find a slumping William staring at my backside. I straighten up quickly and frown at him.

“What's wrong, Celeste?” he asks with a slur.

“What are you doing in here, William?” I counter.

He sits up a little, rakes his hand through his unruly blonde hair, and lazily moves his stare up to meet my eyes. “Just getting it together before I head out.”

“Oh, well, you could've let me know you were in here.”

Quirking his brow at me, he asks suggestively, “And ruin the show?”

I smirk and turn back to finish with my last box without bending over.

“Actually, I've been wanting to catch up with you. You don't come out to the country near as much now that Tripp's gone.”

“It's hard, William, being a single parent. I have a great deal to take care of.”

“That's what I was hoping I could help with.”

“What's that?”

“You and the kids. I was hoping to help around your house.”

I should've never given him an opening. “Oh, no, William. That's not why I told you that. I'm fine really.”

“Adrian's help is enough then,” he practically sneers at me.

I spin around and pin him with my glare. William never says anything in passing. He's made this remark for a very specific reason. “Adrian has been a great help, William.”

“Yeah, but he does spend an awful lot of time with you and the kids. Is that really necessary?”

“They adore him.”

He shifts his head slightly to the left and then back to the right. “Yeah, I bet they do,” he grits out between his teeth.

Losing my patience, I snap, “What is that supposed to mean? What's your problem, William?”

He springs out of his chair and advances toward me and I resist the urge to tuck tail and run. He's always had this effect on me. I delight in the fact that I'm able to hold my ground. “My problem, Celeste, is that Adrian is bad news. He's up to something with you and the kids. I just know it.”

“Yeah,” I spit out, “he's up to taking them where they need to go, caring for them when they need it, listening to them tell about their day, making sure they feel loved and cherished—”

William cuts me off as he reaches me and grasps my elbow, “You don't want to get smart with me, Celeste. You have no idea what I could do with that smart little mouth of yours,” he warns me.

“Get. Your. Hand. Off. Of. Me,” I grit out. I have every reason to fear his father and mine, but I refuse to fear this slimy bastard.

He drops his hand quickly and immediately looks contrite. “Sorry, babe. That guy just pushes my buttons. Always has.”

“You barely know him.”

“What I know, I don't like.”

I shake my head at him a little. “William, you should just go. Do you need me to call you a cab or something?”

“No, I can handle that. I'm just upset about this whole Vanessa thing.”

I guess the Vanessa thing he was referring to was the fact that he repeatedly and flagrantly cheated on her and just expected her to get over it. Vanessa thought that what was good enough for him was good enough for her, and she started fooling around until she found someone who actually loved her.

“I'm sorry about your marriage, William, but that's still no excuse for your behavior.”

“You're right.” He hesitates briefly, reaching out to run his fingertip up my arm. It is soft and directly contradicts the touch I'm yearning for. “I had a little too much to drink and was already in a pissy mood. I apologize.”

“It's fine, William. I really need to get going, though. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.”

“Of course, Celeste. Shall I walk you out?”

“No, Farah and I are leaving together. I'm good. Thanks anyway.”

He leans in and kisses my forehead but only briefly because I quickly but subtly move my head back and turn back to the box. “Goodnight then.”

“Goodnight,” I return.

I hear him moving toward the door, and I turn to watch his retreating frame. This is not good. This is so not good. I’m on his radar now. Just like back when we were growing up. An involuntary shiver makes its way up my back. I'm afraid I may have just gotten myself in a little bit of trouble.

Seven

The Trouble with Men

“SO, WHAT YOU'RE saying is Adrian is going to babysit your children while you go out on a date with Ole Miss?”

“Yes, Bonnie. For the fifty-eighth time, Adrian and I are trying to get past this whole attraction thing. Part of us doing that is dating people. I especially need to date because of that little threat hanging over my head if you'll recall.”

It had been a couple of weeks since the soiree. Bradford and I had been on our awkward but sweet first date. And Adrian and I had had our strictly awkward conversation about the lines of our “relationship”. I still cringe when I recall it.

We'd all been hanging out for a while now. It was really neat to have expanded my social circle to people I actually enjoy hanging out with, even fit in with more so than any of my usual crowd. I love the Dog Tags. Each and every one of them is unique and awesome in his own way. They had all been in the Marine Corps at one time or another, hence the name, and have an enviable sense of pride and loyalty and honor. They rock it out and have a ton of groupies but aren't disrespectful or entitled. Determined to make it on the local music scene, the band works hard but still plays hard.

Part of this playing hard is their weekly football game they play every Saturday in Audubon Park. It attracts quite a crowd probably more so than their shows really. I mean, how could it not? Ten shirtless, hot guys running around the park, oblivious to their surroundings, enjoying their freedom, playing football with abandon—there is nothing better than that.

It was a couple of days after the soiree at one of these games during half time that Adrian pulled me aside and decided to talk to me about the balcony incident. This conversation was vastly different from our first. Rather than apologize or worry that I would do something rash like throw him out of the boys' lives, he set me straight. I was mortified. I was crushed. I wanted to crawl in a hole.

I had been cheering our boys on alongside Bonnie and the other girls when we took the lead right before half time. I cheered for the guys and leaned in to the girls to start gabbing about girl stuff when I felt myself being wrenched from my chair. Startled, I looked up to see Adrian looking over at the girls, not at me, to tell them he needed a minute with me. I could feel, not see, the same startled look from the girls. This was a new Adrian and one I didn't much care for. No, that's a lie. It turned me on. I'm pretty sure anything and everything about him turns me on. Aw...and he'd put his shirt back on.

After Adrian made his apologies to the girls, he tugged me along until we were standing in between his motorcycle and my MINI. He didn't get to ride his bike often because he was usually hauling my boys from one place to another. But when he did—wow. It was...wow. I was distracted by those thoughts, so when Adrian cleared his throat and gave me that look, I asked, “What?”

“What do you mean 'what'? It was a pretty simple question, Celeste,” Adrian replied bitingly.

He'd never snapped at me like that before. I flipped my hair over my shoulder, pushed my sunglasses up on my head, folded my arms across my breasts, and stood up a little taller. “Adrian, why are you being rude to me? I just lost focus for a minute. Could you repeat your question, please?”

He took his fingers and bridged his nose with them before running his hand through his damp hair. “Celeste, are you trying to drive me crazy?”

“No, why would you ask me that? Just ask me what you wanted to ask me,” I snapped back. Now I was getting irritated.

“I just did. So for the third and final time: are you trying to drive me crazy?”

“No, I'm not trying to drive you crazy. What are you talking about?”

“Balcony. You. Me.” He glanced around. “Almost going at it. Again.” He raised his eyebrows at me.

“Oh. Well, I thought we were just going to forget that happened.”

“Forget it...forget it happened?” he asked me incredulously.

“Well, yeah. Like last time,” I seethed. Why was he bringing this up? Why did we have to rehash this issue?

“I can't forget it. I can't forget you. Damn, woman. I—” I knew it. I knew he felt the same way. Maybe he'll listen to me in the light of day, so I make a hasty decision to lay it all out for him now.

I grasped both sides of his shirt and fisted my hands in it, automatically pulling him closer. Tears were already swimming in my eyes when I whispered, “I saw you making out with her right after we had our...moment. How could you, Adrian? I was thinking maybe we could—”

He cut me off this time. “Thinking we could what? Are you insane? My uncle...”

“Chip? What about him?”

He shook his head at me. “Nothing. Nothing. Look, nothing is going to happen between us. Do you understand? It's no good.”

I tightened my hands in his shirt, swallowed the huge lump in my throat, and forged ahead. “Adrian, I think we could be good together. I think we're crazy to deny how we feel about each other. I think what's going on here is more than—”

“I'm with Jennifer now. I'm happy with her.” He said this while he simultaneously unfisted my hands, dropped them, and backed away from me.

My gaze flew to the ground. I cleared my throat and leaned against my MINI. Finally, I dared a glance back up at him. His look shifted so quickly, but I could've sworn it'd said regret—regret for hurting me, or regret for not returning my feelings? I honestly didn't know. I blew out a breath. “I have to go. Will you make my apologies to the girls, please?”

“Celeste...sure, I'll tell them,” he agreed.

I jerked my keys out of my pocket, grateful that I hadn't brought anything that I had to go back for—it was only my heart and my pride I'd been leaving behind. And I was pretty sure I wouldn't be getting those back for quite some time.

Bonnie's look of disgust and her exclamation pull me back into the present. “Ugh...How could I forget? William. What a little perv!”

I shake myself my heartbreaking memory and another unpleasant one takes its place. “I know. I think I may have inadvertently offered him a challenge too,” I say with a grimace.

“What do you mean?”

I hadn't really wanted to acknowledge what had gone down in the ballroom that night, so I hadn't told her yet. Even now, I recoil with the retelling. There is just something so off and so creepy about him. I conclude with telling her that he'd used about every medium to contact me over these last few weeks. The only place I was safe was on Facebook and that's only because he didn't know I was on it.

“Shit, Cel,” she says with an exhale, “why didn't you tell me sooner? Did you forget what he pulled with you when y'all were kids?”

“No, of course not,” I reply more calmly than I feel. “I didn't want to make it more real,” I admit with a shrug.

“Here, try these.” She thrusts my black peep toe stilettos with the zipper on the heel. “These are badass and go perfectly with the rocker chic look you've got going on.”

Bradford was taking me to a concert tonight. I was a little surprised at first, but he said he was representing the band and had been planning to go for a while. Of course, I jumped at the chance to hang out with rock stars and enjoy some music.

“Ooh...yes, these are perfect,” I coo.

“So, back to Don Douchebag,” I snicker. Oh, her nicknames are the best! “Seriously, Celeste, what gives? What are you going to do about him? I'm thinking you need to go ultra-bitch mode on him.”

“I'm not sure yet. I'm afraid if I go 'ultra-bitch mode' he'll see that as a challenge too. If I try to reason with him, he'll see that as a weakness. Either way he'll hone in for the kill. I'm thinking my best move here is to continue to date Bradford and ignore him.”

As I'm putting on my second heel, I hear Adrian enter and the wrestling and vying for his attention commence. I grin at how much my boys adore him and stand to take myself in. My hair is big and sexy, and I've done the smoky eye thing again. I turn sideways to take in my backside. I have to remember not to bend over in this thing. The black dress, which is more like an oversized t-shirt, barely covers my behind. It's simple but says so much with its v-neck, fringed sleeves and fringed bottom hem. I'd wrapped a silver chain belt around my waist. I throw on my silver bangles and hoops and spin around to face Bonnie.