Love Unexpected (36 page)

I put my hands to his cheeks and I felt the hot tears. He reached for my hand and held it over his heart.

“It used to annoy me. The way she thought everything was good. When I lost a game and my mom and dad weren’t there, she’d give me a hug and say, ‘At least you gave it your best shot.’ My dad called her his ‘Fairy Princess’ even when she went to high school and college. She looked like my mom, she even had her smile.”

She must have been a beautiful woman.

“My parents did not want her to go abroad for college. Chrissy was persistent though, she convinced them. She said that she wanted to learn another culture, immerse herself in it, and be with her best friend, Shana, who also wanted to study abroad.”

His eyes opened and from what I could tell, he was trying to blink back his tears. I caressed his hair. The ocean breeze was chilly. Goosebumps were starting to form on my arms and legs. I wanted to know more about Chrissy. I was afraid that if I said something, anything, Zander would not continue.

“She finally convinced my mom to let her go study in Germany for 18 months. My dad took a longer time to cave in but when he did, he made her promise that she would call or video chat every day. My dad has a business hub in Germany so he asked one of his colleagues to find a nice place for her to stay. We all flew with her to Germany,” He sucked in air and though his tears stopped, his voice hinted extreme sadness as he spoke.

“Chrissy kept her promise, she called every day. With the time difference, she’d leave video or phone messages and I either texted her or called her a few minutes a day. My parents got to visit her often because of my dad’s work. He probably used work as an excuse but I knew he wanted to make sure she was ok.”

“Then, one day, she didn’t call,” his voice broke and he started heaving, his nose flaring.  He sat up on the bench. He pulled his sunglasses tighter. He was trying to compose himself as he took in huge breaths.

He held my hand tighter.

“Babe, when I say it’s been a while for me since I’ve been in a relationship, it’s the truth,” he was looking away so he must not have seen my nod.

I gripped his hand.

“You’re the first relationship I’ve had, since Chrissy died,” his jaw tight as he spoke the words that caused my heart to drop to my stomach.

My heart was breaking for him, “When did she pass away?” I managed to ask the question.

“About 2 years ago,” he removed his hand from mine, pulled me against his chest, and burrowed my head under his chin, “but it still feels like yesterday.”

“How?” I asked, “What happened?”

“Shana called my parents. She felt that something was wrong when Chrissy did not show up for dinner. They were supposed to meet up. She tried calling her Chrissy’s cell but it went straight to voicemail. Chrissy never turned off her cell. When Chrissy didn’t call back after 5 hours, Shana called my parents. My parents flew out that same day. My dad used all his connections to track her phone, to alert the authorities, to do everything that they could to locate her. My parents didn’t tell me what was going on. I had a game that day. They only told me after they found her,” his voice breaking, I felt hot liquid against my hair.

“They found her in her on the side of the road, her car parked a few feet away. She was tied and gagged.”

I felt sick to my stomach. I wanted to throw up. I don’t even know how I even managed to stay in his arms.

Gruffly, he went on with this heartbreaking story, “You see, we didn’t even know that Chrissy was dating this one guy. According to Shana, Chrissy went out on a few dates with him but didn’t see it as anything serious. This guy had other plans though. He was upset when Chrissy said she wasn’t going to see him anymore because she was moving back to the U.S. Chrissy was almost done with her study abroad program so she was ready to come home. The bastard, the fucking bastard, did not take this well and they had an argument. Chrissy’s gone because of him!”

The last shred of his control broke. His voice was furious, “This guy didn’t know whose daughter or sister he killed! In court, when they asked him why he did it, he said because he couldn’t let her go. She’s gone because he couldn’t fucking let her go so he killed her instead!”

He pulled his arms away from me and stood up. He walked towards the beach. I remained in place.

When he came back to me, he removed his sunglasses, and looked at me with eyes filled with sadness and unspeakable emotion.

“Remember when I said that this tattoo was special to me?” he asked. His left hand touched the condor tattoo on his right arm.

              I nodded as his voice slightly broke, “This is for her. We used to watch condors fly around our house when we were children. Chrissy called them as the ‘dope’ birds. They were feisty, wild, and free. She was all that,” his strained gaze glistened with unshed tears, “She is here”,
his hand clutched against left side of his chest
, “here,”
his hand touched his head, and
“here,”
touching his arm with the tattoo
, “my throwing arm.”

I leaned down and pressed a kiss on his right arm, right on the spot where he etched a lasting memorial to his beloved sister.

His eyes did not waver its gaze on me.

“You mean a lot to me, Sedona. I’ve never told anyone about what really happened with Chrissy. Kieran and John, they know because they’re closest to me. When the incident with Brennan happened, it hit so close to home. I felt like ripping his heart out and then you went to him. I know that you did it for me. It doesn’t make it better. Please don’t ever do something like that again,” his voice imploring.

How could I say no to this man? He held me at the palm of his hand.

I nodded and said, “Babe, I’m so sorry. It must’ve been horrifying for you to go through that,” I added with a promise, “I will never put myself in that situation again.”

His eyes left me, but a hint of relief, tugged on his face, “My parents have managed to keep Chrissy’s death out of the press. Chrissy was not into sports like me or anything the media might be interested in. Only our close friends and family knew exactly how she died. She suffered before she passed away. We didn’t want to be hounded by the press about how or what happened to her so my parents pulled out all the stops to keep it on the down low.”

I wanted to comfort him, to ease his pain, so I kissed him tenderly on his lips, “I understand. You can always talk to me about her, about anything. I’ll be here. ” I said softly against his lips. He kissed me and hugged me tightly as we watched the sun descend from the skies to nest at the horizon.

Sedona

Our relationship cemented on a stronger foundation after Zander’s revelation about his sister.  He was so strong, so resilient. He gave me a piece of himself that day and I held on it,
tightly
. 

ChattyPepper.com became somewhat of a normal thing for us. It still bothered me; just not as much. The website continually posted pictures of Zander and I around campus, maybe holding hands or hugging each other. It was part of the reality that we both lived in. My boyfriend was popular and my best friend was a rising star. The website continued to insinuate that there was a love triangle between the three of us but everyone close to us knew the real deal.

Tonight was bar night so we went straight to Hudson’s after he picked me up from school for some beer and greasy, happy hour food. If there was one thing I indulged in, it was spinach and artichoke dip and Hudson’s was the best. And, of course, Zander had to have his chicken wings. Our seats were at the bar counter so we were seated side-by-side; my chair was to Zander's right.
              I excused myself to go to the restroom. I was about to return to my seat when I saw a redhead with heavy make-up, tight jeans, and an even tighter top openly flirting with Zander. I didn't go back to my seat right away. I wanted to see how Zander reacted to the situation. It wasn’t because I didn’t trust him. This was the first time I’ve seen a chick this aggressive so I wanted to see how he handled it. 
              He looked really uncomfortable. His back muscles were tense. From afar, I would bet that his jaw muscles were working overtime. He was probably trying to be polite; he shook his head a couple of times. The girl was persistent. When her boobs touched the side of his upper right arm, Zander flinched and started to stand up. I didn't want to lose our spot and miss out on the greasy appetizers, so I hurried back to our table and to the redhead, I said, "Excuse me, that's my seat."

The girl backed away, surprised. Before she could utter another flirty word, I grabbed Zander's head, put my fingers on his hair, and kissed him on his lips. Well, more like French kissed him on his lips.
              I saw the shock, surprise, and amazement in Zander’s eyes. I usually didn’t initiate PDA. But here I was, my tongue sticking in and out of his mouth. In a bar, full of customers. I heard some whistles around us. The girl was nowhere to be found.
 

I was a bit embarrassed by my actions. Her aggressive flirtation irritated me. Plus, Zander needed my help. By the time I finished kissing him, his face was hot and his eyes were on fire. I knew he wanted to leave and continue what I started. If I wasn’t starving and I wasn’t craving for
the artichoke dip, I would’ve agreed with him.
 

He
asked, "What was that for?"
 

I didn't want him to think I was sort of spying on him, that I could've helped him a few minutes earlier. I wiped my lip gloss off of his lips and said,
"Just claiming what's mine."
 

He held a stupid grin on his face after that and we had such a great time at the bar. After we left the bar, he came over at my place and proceeded to show him in bed just how much
I cherished him being mine.
 

That night, he asked me to meet his parents.

*****

Three weeks ago, when Zander asked me to meet his parents, I have must have been in a post-se
x euphoria to have said yes.
 

"Tanya, what was I thinking?" I asked her, as I was sitting in front her mirrors, hairpi
ns sticking out of my hair.
 

Tanya rolled her eyes, took a bobby pin out her lips, and said, "You're so dramatic, Sedona. You'r
e waayy over thinking this."
 

"They're his parents. I've never met a
boyfriend's parents before."
 

"You met Kieran's."
I fell straight into that one.
 

"But K
ieran is not my boyfriend."
 

"He's still a boy
and a friend," she reasoned.
 

"Come on, T
anya, you know what I mean."
 

"Overthinking, Sedona. You'll be fine. It's not lik
e they're the royal family."
 

She was right. I shouldn't be nervous. They were
only
Zander's parents. His dad was
only
Mr. Severius Zobowski – multimillionaire and software genius. Zander's mom was
only
Dr. Haven Zobowksi, the well-known philanthropist, socialite, and, a super close friend of the First Lady. Yes, I had no reason to be nervous.
 

The more I thought about it, the more I itched to grab my phone and call Zander to tell him that I couldn't make it. I could tell him that Tanya had contracted a sudden case of malaria. She needed to be quarantined in a place far, far away from San Francisco and she needed me to go with her. Too bad for Tanya, she was going to be my escape goat.
 

I reached for my phone.
 

"Don't you dare, missy! Don't you dare cancel on Zander. That poor guy has been looking forward to this for a wh
ile now."
 

It was true. The other night, Zander, Tanya, Nalee, Kieran, and I were playing poker at our apartment; the topic, out-of-the blue, steered towards Zander's parents. I already knew this but the rest of them didn't. It wasn't something that was just brought up. Zander expressed his excitement when he talked about his parents meeting me. He said he couldn't wait to introduce his girlfriend to his parents.

Kieran stifled a laugh because he knew how awkward it was for me. I’ve been unloading on him about my insecurities on meeting Zander's parents before this even came up; but, he just brushed them off. Just as Tanya was telling me now, Kieran said
that I overthink too much.