Love Me to Death (30 page)

Wow. I’m standing in a huge living room, with a golden-colored couch, glass coffee table, mini fridge, TV, peach rug and floor-to-ceiling glass windows that allow you to spy on the beautiful city. To my left is a set of gold brushed double doors with bronze handles. I head toward the doors and open them up to discover a bedroom that is even bigger than Ned’s room in her penthouse.
Thank you, Misty.
At least, if Ned turns me down I’ll be staying in Paris, in style. The bed sheets are silk and the furniture matches the rest of the suite. In the room, there is also an adjoining bathroom. I rest my bag at the foot of my bed and fall down on top of the mattress. I don’t realize how tired I am until that bed is placed before me. I don’t even fight the sleep as my eyelids give into the darkness. I drift into a well-deserved sleep knowing that as soon as I wake up, my only mission will be to find Ned.

Reading Misty’s handwriting is like trying to work out the world’s most difficult puzzle. It has taken me half an hour to figure out that Ned should be heading to the opera house, with Jackson in the next ten minutes. If I’ve read Misty’s message correctly then they are going to see a show called
Il ne m’aime pas
.

According to Google translation, it means
He loves me not.
Only Jackson would take her to something like that. I swear the guy is some creepy stalker. It’s funny how he always seems to pop up at the most inconvenient times, not to mention just walking into her penthouse like he lives there.

The guy behind the desk in reception — whose name is Pierre — gave me a little booklet with all the show details in it. I’m currently handing that same booklet to the taxi driver so he can get me there as quickly as possible.

“Ah, yes I know de opera of course.” His English is not as good as the hotel staffs’ and so I have to concentrate a little more to understand him. “De tourists love to visit. I will go der now for you, sir.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“You will watch
Il ne m’aime pas
?”

“Yes.”

“I did not think you would enjoy.”

“Well, what is it about?” I ask curiously.

“A love story. It is bootiful. My wife and I have seen it two times now. You go alone?”

“No, I’m meeting somebody there.”

“Ah, a lady?” I see him smiling at me in the mirror.

“Yes.”

“A man like you don’t go to de opera. If you go, you go for her. You are in love.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Because I never go opera before I love either,” he has a huge smile on his face and says nothing else for the entire journey.

If only he knew that I flew all the way to Paris too. Gosh, when did I lose my balls?

“Here we go,” he says as we pull up outside of a huge gray and gold building.

“Thank you,” I say before paying him and then stepping out of the car. I look up in awe. The building is huge. It’s like it is part of a grand palace. There are pillars in front of every window. At the very top, the edges are gold. This place is out of this world. I hurry inside knowing that the show starts in five minutes. If I have any hope of finding Ned then I need to move fast.

Thankfully the line is short when I get inside and I manage to buy my ticket in less than five minutes. We are all gathered in the foyer waiting to be let in. My eyes are scanning the entire room searching for even a glimpse of Ned. I can’t see her. There are too many people. I move through the crowd, pushing past several annoyed people. Then I hear it, the sound that completes my world. When I spin around I see exactly where the sound is coming from and my eyes fall on the only face I just flew across the world to see. The beautiful noise fills the air. It’s a mix of pleasure and anger. The sound of her laughter is beautiful but the fact that she’s sharing it with Jerkson makes me mad.
Why the hell is she in Paris with him anyway?

A voice fills the foyer announcing that we can now go through and watch the show. I don’t care; my only task is to not lose sight of Ned. As the crowd begins to move, I head in the same direction she goes. Jerkson wraps his slimy hand around her waist and leads her inside. I want to snap his wrist.

It takes a while for us to all get inside but when we do the lights are dimmed and the sound of soft music fills the entire theater. I manage to sit three rows behind Ned and I can see her clearly. I settle in my seat and look around. This place is huge. The seats are all red and the balconies are decorated with a rich gold patterning.

I’m sandwiched in between two women: one who is looking at me as if I don’t belong here. The other is, unfortunately, looking at me as if she wants to take me back to her lair and devour me. I wouldn’t mind but she looks like she could be my grandmother. She smiles as her eyes scan from my face all the way down to my pants. I feel violated. I shiver in my seat. I clear my throat and focus my attention back on Ned.

What the hell? Why is his arm around the back of her chair? This is not going to work. My plan was to lay low and then confront Ned during the intermission but this can’t wait. I pull my phone out of my pocket careful not to make any contact with Granny on my right.

Me: Why the hell has he got his arm around you?!

My eyes focus back on Ned and I watch as she opens her purse and pulls out her phone. She hesitates before opening my message. Then she spins around as if she is searching for me within the crowd. She doesn’t spot me of course, it’s too dark and she has no idea where to even start looking for me. Jerkson whispers something to her and she brushes him off with a wave of her hand. Her body pulls a little away from him as I watch her fiddling with her phone.
Good, I have your full attention.

Ned: Are you in Paris!!

Me: Is that a question?

Ned: Cole, this is not a game. What are you doing here?

I smile. She called me Cole. I’ve never been so happy that someone didn’t call me by my first name before.

Me: We need to talk.

Ned: You flew to Paris because we need to talk?

Me: Yes.

Ned: You’re crazy.

Me: I know. And what the hell is this show about? I can’t understand a word of it?

Ned: You shouldn’t have come here. I told you the deal is off. And it’s opera, it’s not performed in English. Why come if you don’t even know that?

Me: I never came for the show, Ned. And the deal might be over but we’re not.

Ned: Yes we are!

Me: No we are not.

Ned: You need to leave. How did you even know where to find me?

Me: I have my ways …

Ned: Did Misty tell you?!

Me: Maybe …

Ned: She did, didn’t she! I’m going to kill her!

Me: Fine by me, we’ll fly back now, come on.

Ned: Screw you!

Me: I’d love you to. We can make it back to the hotel in less than ten minutes, meet you out front?

Ned: You’re a jerk!

Me: Yes the female population continues to remind me. But I am a jerk that has flown thousands of miles to talk to you about something really important. Now can we please leave this boring show so we can do that?

Ned: It is not boring and I’m not coming!

Me: Babe, I know you, you are not enjoying it.

Ned: Well Jackson is!

Me: Then leave him to watch it alone. Let’s go.

Ned: I’m not going anywhere with you!

Oh yes, you are. I look down and see Jerkson whispering something in her ear and his arm still wrapped around the back of her chair.

Me: You are, babe. And if you don’t tell that jerk to move his arm I’m going to come down there and break it.

Ned: I am not. And his arm stays! It has nothing to do with you! You will NOT break it!

Me: I promise you, I WILL break it, babe. And it has everything to do with me.

Ned: How the hell did you reach that twisted conclusion?

Me: Because I just book boyfriended the hell out of you by flying for 6 hours just to tell you that I am in love with you. So either you get rid of his arm or I do. The choice is yours?

“That is so romantic. Well, other than the breaking his arm bit but I can see why you’d want to do that.” I turn to see Granny staring at me. “Sorry I didn’t mean to pry but that is so sweet.”

She’s been reading the messages. Yup, I definitely feel violated.

“You better hurry, she’s getting away,” she says as she points behind me. I turn my head and see Ned heading out of the theater.

I don’t even answer her. I jump to my feet and squeeze my way past a bunch of people that roll their eyes at me and groan in frustration. When I get to the aisle I speed walk my way to the door. I push it open and search the foyer for Ned. I see her just as she is disappearing past a sign that says “des toilettes.” I follow behind her closely.

“Hey,” I say once I finally catch up to her. She stands still but doesn’t turn around. I walk toward her and turn her around. She’s crying. “Hey, what’s the matter?” I whisper as my thumbs wipe the falling tears off her cheeks.

She looks up at me sadly. “You can’t love me, Cole,” she breathes.

“Says who?”

“It’s not fair. Letting you love me is selfish.”

“Do you love me, Ned?” She looks down. “Answer me, babe.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Do you love me?” I repeat. Her sad eyes meet mine and the tears fall harder.

“I tried not to that’s why I ended the deal, it’s why I—”

I cut her off with a kiss. Damn, I’ve missed kissing her. This kiss feels different because now I actually know I love her and that she loves me too.

“Do you want me to tell you what’s selfish?” I ask when we pull apart. She looks up at me. “It would be selfish of you to know that I am completely in love with you and not allow me to have you when you know you feel the same way.”

“You know it’s not that simple.”

“No, it
is
that simple. You told me once not to be angry with death because we’ve always known it is going to come. Whether I fall in love with you now or whether I’d have fallen in love with you ten years ago, I would have always known that one day you would die. It doesn’t stop me from wanting to be with you. It just makes me want to spend every waking moment showing you how damn much I love you.”

“We’re running out of time,” she whispers.

“Then give me everything I can get from you but don’t you dare hold back. I want all of you, Ned.” I beg. She cries some more. “And stop crying, I just told you that I love you, anyone would think it’s a bad thing.”

She laughs. Why does that sound even better now?

I pull her into my arms and kiss her forehead. She holds me tight and I feel right at home. “I love you,” I whisper against her skin.

“I love you too,” she whispers.

“Best. Sentence. Ever.” I tease. I hear her laugh against me and it feels good. “Now that that is out of the way, why the hell are you here with Jerkson?” I say pulling away so I can look at her.

She rolls her eyes. “He lives here. This is where his client is based and where I need to finalize the deal I was telling you about. It was more of a coincidence than anything else.”

“Then how did you end up
here
?” I ask with raised eyebrows.

“Because he doesn’t start working until tomorrow and asked if I wanted to go to the opera with him. I was bored and so I said yes. Why? Are you jealous, Cole?” She teases.

“Hell yes! You’re mine, babe. He needs to back off.”

“I’ll let him know.”

“Good. And he still hasn’t tasted your pancakes has he?” I ask.