Playing It Safe (22 page)

After about a half hour of making sure everything is running smoothly, which thank God it is, I make my way back outside where the kids are all gathering for the first round of Quidditch. Approaching the small crowd of spectators on the edge of the field, I’m trying to squeeze through the last grouping of bodies when I hear a familiar woman’s voice mention my name.

So what do I do?

Yup, I eavesdrop like you know you would too.

“I can’t believe she’s here,” Marisa says, clear as a bell and loudly enough that I can hear, along with anyone else within a five-foot radius.

I shimmy over to her left and around a couple who are cheering for their child so that I’m standing right at the front, keeping Marisa in my peripheral to make sure she doesn’t notice me so she’ll keep talking. And she does.

“Seriously, she’s like white trash, and he’s way too good for her,” she rattles off to the person she’s talking to.

“So why is he with her then?” an unknown woman’s voice asks.

“He’s not … or at least he won’t be for too long,” Marisa answers.

I’m going to freeze right here and remind you all how I had a feeling about her when I first met her—the whole women’s intuition thingy. Yeah, about that. Well, after Alex told me the history behind Marisa, I felt terrible about how I had labeled her a whiny bitch and treated her awfully.

Now is about the time that I say
aha!
in my head because I was so right about her from the very beginning. Really? I’m trash? Who the fuck does she think
she
is? And that nonsense about me not being good enough for Alex? Bitch, please.

Yes, I admit it, I’m in love with him, but that’s not important right now. What’s important is getting Miss Teen USA to shut the fuck up in the most reasonable way possible in front of all these people without making a scene.

At this point I’m craning my neck sideways to look over to where she’s standing so I can get her attention, but her back’s turned my way. The next thing I know, I get pelted in the face hard by something. I don’t know what it is, but it’s hard enough that it knocks me on my ass until I’m lying flat on the ground.

Well it worked—she shut up.

That might be because everyone is crowding around me to see if I’m okay. My hand is covering the left side of my face, which feels like it’s already black and blue, and I can only see out of one eye when Vanessa crouches alongside of me.

“Are you okay?”

“I think so.” I go to sit up, and she helps me. “What hit me?”

She smirks and says, “A Quaffle ball.”

“Awesome.”

“Come on, let’s get you up and inside to check out your eye.”

Vanessa gets me to stand up and leads me toward the house, but not before I catch a glance from Marisa, who is smiling like the conniving bitch that she is from ear to ear.

“Bitch,” I say under my breath.

“Who’s a bitch?”

“Nobody, never mind.”

“Uh-huh, right,” she says quietly and then turns around to the crowd still standing around staring. “She’s fine. Go back to enjoying the party; we’ll be right back.”

She leads me straight to the bathroom in Alex’s bedroom. Sitting me down on the closed toilet seat, Vanessa proceeds to turn on the water in the sink. She grabs a hand towel, running it under the stream to get it wet. She wrings it free of excess water and then comes over to me.

“Okay, let’s see it.”

I shake my head, afraid of what my face must look like by now.

Growing exasperated at my childish behavior, she starts to pry my fingers away from my face.

She blows a long whistle after the big reveal and says, “Nice welt, sweetie.”

“That bad?”

“Honestly?” She takes a breath and blows on the area for a second or two. “It’s pretty bad.”

I stand up and go to the mirror to see for myself. The left side of my face just below my eye is swollen and already has a purplish hue to it. You have got to be shitting me.

“Here.” She hands me the wet towel. “Put this on it for a little bit to help with the swelling and sit down.”

Feeling defeated because I look like I’ve gone a full twelve rounds in the ring with Mike Tyson, I sit back down on the toilet seat. After a few moments of silence, Vanessa finally speaks up.

“So this has to do with Marisa, huh?”

“What makes you say that?”

“Women’s intuition.” She leans against the wall casually and crosses her arms.

I can’t help but laugh a little at that, but it starts to hurt my face. Plus, now I have a pounding headache, so yeah, it sucks.

“Julia, don’t worry about her. She’s been trying to get her claws into Alex for a while, but he wants nothing to do with her. Trust me when I tell you that I have not seen my brother this happy in a very long time, and that’s all because of you.”

“Really?”

“Scout’s honor.”

And speak of the devil, Alex appears in the doorway of his bathroom looking concerned and worried.

“What the hell happened?”

He bends down and kneels in front of me while Vanessa tells him I got nailed in the face by a fucking prop.

He kisses my forehead and tries to gently tug my hand away. “Let me see.”

“Nope, it looks ugly as all hell, and I don’t care if that makes me a vain person, but you definitely don’t need to see this.”

Vanessa chuckles and starts to walk out of the bathroom. “You two lovebirds can figure this out while I go find Julia some aspirin.” She gives me a wink over her shoulder and closes the door behind her.

Alex tries again to pry my hand away, but I don’t budge. “Baby, no matter what it looks like, you’ll still be gorgeous to me.”

I breathe in through my mouth and blow it out through my nose. Closing my eyes and on the count of three, I drop the towel from my face.

He doesn’t say a word, so I open my eyes. “It’s awful, isn’t it?”

Alex leans forward and ever so gently places a kiss over the welt on my face. He pulls back an inch until he is all I can see with the one eye because the left one is squinty at this point.

“Gorgeous. Perfect,” he whispers.

I smile. “You’re just saying that because you’re my boyfriend and you know I’d kick your ass if you didn’t.”

He chuckles and brushes the ponytail off my shoulder. “You would, wouldn’t you?”

“Not right now, but definitely in the foreseeable future.” I bring my hand up to lightly touch my face and add, “I’m going to have to wear a goddamn eye patch or something and look like a freaking pirate, aren’t I?”

“You’d be the sexiest pirate I know.”

“I’d be the
only
pirate you know.”

He brings the towel back up to my face and gets me to stand up. When he opens the bathroom door, he makes sure that his bedroom door is closed before leading me to his bed.

“Alex, what are you doing? We can’t be fooling around while the party is going on. Plus, I have to go and keep an eye on everything.”

“Shhh, stop talking,” he says and sits me down on the bed.

He arranges the pillows behind me on the headboard and pulls my feet off the floor and onto the mattress.

“Okay, before the
stop talking
thing was really cute, but now … not so much.”

He ignores my commentary but grins anyway as he arranges me until I’m propped up with the pillows on his bed. He sits down beside me on my right side and throws his arm around my shoulders.

“Stop worrying about the party. I’m sure Lisette can handle it for a bit by herself while you rest.”

“You have a house full of people. You really don’t need to stay with me. I’ll just rest for a while, and I’ll meet up with you later,” I say.

“Vanessa will take care of the guests.”

“But—”

“But nothing,” he insists. “Lean into me and relax for a little while.”

Well this certainly isn’t how I thought the day would go,
I think, resting my head on his shoulder. On top of that, I feel terrible that I’m taking him away from his family on such a big day.

“Alex, this sucks, and I’m sorry that you’re stuck in here with me when you have a house full of people over for your niece’s birthday party.”

He tilts my face up carefully. “I’d rather be here with you right now than with anyone else at this party.”

“Don’t let Josie hear you say that,” I say through a chuckle.

“You know what I mean,” he says, his voice growing sincere.

I do know what he means, and it makes me feel incredibly happy. I’m sure I’m grinning like a one-eyed pirate at him right now because of it.

He ducks his head to press a feather-soft kiss on the top of my head before letting me adjust myself on his shoulder again. “Get some rest, baby. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

My heart may have just skipped a beat or two. It definitely does a few seconds later when his hand starts to rub small circles on my back. Melting farther into his warmth, I let him lull me into a state of complete relaxation. My eyes grow heavy, and I have no choice but to give in to sleep, where I dream about Marisa getting pelted with Quaffle ball after Quaffle ball until she’s covered in huge, ugly welts. Best dream ever.

CHAPTER TWENTY
-
SIX

I
t’s been a week since Josie’s party.

The welt is still visible but not swollen anymore. The purplish hue has grown to a lovely shade of yellow
and
purple. I think because it’s so close to Halloween most people think I’m wearing zombie makeup or something, so it’s all good in the end.

Anyway, I’m on my way to meet my brother Darren for a couple of drinks in Coconut Grove. I was supposed to have dinner with Alex, but he had to cancel because of a last-minute meeting he scheduled with an artist at a studio that he’s trying to book for the gallery. He did say he’d be coming over afterward, so that gave me enough time to play catch-up with my little brother.

After circling all of Coconut Grove twice while cursing up a storm in my car, I finally find a parking spot close enough to the bar where I’m meeting Darren for drinks. As soon as I walk in, I spot him. It’s not hard since he’s flanked by two busty brunettes who are both vying for his attention like he’s some prize cattle or something.

Seriously, ladies. Ugh. I can’t even.

He sees me heading toward him as he tips his beer bottle to his mouth and takes a swig. He puts the bottle back down on the bar and grins like a kid who was caught with his hand in a cookie jar. When I finally reach him, he picks me up in his usual bear hug while I hear one of the girls he was talking to say to the other one, “Who is that?”

“I don’t know,” the other brunette answers.

Darren puts me back down and then turns around to grab his beer off the bar. “Ladies, it’s been a pleasure.”

He leads me to the far side of the bar while mumbling under his breath, “Thank God you showed up when you did. I couldn’t take another minute with those two.”

“Sure looked like you were enjoying yourself, Maverick.”

“Please, give me some credit. I do have some standards.”

“And what would those be?” I ask him with a laugh. “A pulse?”

The bartender comes over at that point, and Darren asks for two more beers. “God, you’re hysterical, and by the way, what the fuck happened to your face?” he asks.

“I got hit by a ball.”

“That’s what she said,” he adds quickly.

I put my hand on my hip and give him the evil eye. “Shut it. I really did get hit in the face by a ball, and believe it or not, this looks a hundred times better than it did a few days ago.”

The bartender puts our beers in front of us, and Darren shells out the money to pay for them while I promise to pick up the next round. At that moment, a bevy of women comes strolling in the door. There’s about five or six of them, all young and each more gorgeous than the next. Darren of course is mesmerized. What else is new?

The last girl, a leggy blonde, has her head buried in her purse but pops her head up at the last second, and wouldn’t you know it? It’s Sarah.

“Julia!” she yells like she hasn’t seen me in years.

“Sarah!” I mimic.

She comes over to us and waves her friends away, letting them know she’ll catch up to them. “Oh my gosh, what the hell happened to your face?”

Darren almost chokes on his beer.

“Long story,” I deadpan.

“Isn’t it always?”

Whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean … your guess is as good as mine.

Sarah looks over and notices Darren for the first time. Her eyes scan him from head to toe, openly and without any shame. “Julia, aren’t you going to introduce us?”

“Sarah, this is my brother Darren. Darren, this is Sarah, a friend of mine who works for Alex at the gallery.”

My little brother, the player that he is—insert eye roll—takes the hand that Sarah extends for him to shake and turns its palm facedown so he can kiss the back of it. “A pleasure to meet you, Sarah.”

“Oh my,” she says, and starts to fan herself with her free hand.

Darren, of course, loves the effect he has on Sarah and moves in closer.

“Okay, you two,” I announce and push Darren back a step. “Break it up.”

He puts on his best innocent face while grinning at me. “What did I do?”

“Whatever, just put it back in your pants, for chrissakes.” I look over at Sarah, who’s still practically drooling over him, and sigh out loud. “Sarah, you can put it back in your pants now too.”

She giggles and flips her hair off her shoulder, giving it one last shot before turning her attention back to me. “So what are you doing here anyway?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m having a couple of drinks with my brother and then going home.”

“Well, aren’t you late for dinner with Alex at Lu Lu’s?”

“Um, no.”

“Oh,” she simply says.

“Oh, what?”

“I’m just confused is all.” She pulls her phone out of her purse, and after a few quick swipes, looks back up at me with a weird face. “He asked me to make a reservation for two for dinner at Lu Lu’s kind of last-minute today. I figured it was for the both of you, but I guess not.”

“No, I guess not.” My spidey senses kick into high gear.

“Anyway, I have to catch up to my girlfriends. I’ll call you next week so we can get together.” She extends her hand out to my brother again. “Darren, it was
soooo
nice to meet you.”

His voice lowers to a ridiculous level as he takes her hand in his and says, “The pleasure was all mine, Sarah.”

She bounces away giggling while I’m trying to figure out why Alex would tell me he was going to meet an artist at a studio when he’s half a block away having dinner with someone who isn’t me.

Darren notices me getting agitated and asks, “Julia, are you okay?”

“Nope. Let’s go.”

I chug back the rest of my beer and slam the bottle down on the bar. I’m already walking toward the door when Darren yanks my arm to stop me. “Hey, what are you doing?”

“We’re going to go across the street and see who the fuck Alex is having dinner with.”

“So, we’re going to spy.”

“You’re damn right I’m going to spy on him.”

“Julia,” he says, while running a hand through his hair nervously. “There’s a guy code. I can’t do that kind of shit.”

I pivot my body around to face him and look him dead in the eye. Through clenched teeth I say, “Are you serious with your guy code bullshit? I’m your sister, which supersedes any stupid-ass guy code.”

“Dude, I’m just saying—”

“You’re just saying what?”

“I’m just saying that this has
bad idea
written all over it, Julia.”

“You know what, Darren? I’ll gladly tell Sarah you have elephantitus of the nuts the next time I see her if you don’t let me go so I can see what the hell is going on across the street.”

He lets go of my arm instantly and puts his beer down on the nearest surface. “Let’s go.”

We leave Taurus and turn to the left, heading toward Lu Lu’s with my heart in my throat and my stomach in knots. In the back of my mind I’m thinking that it’s nothing, or at least I’m hoping it’s nothing, but something tells me I’m not going to like what I find when I get there.

Lu Lu’s has a ton of outdoor seating, so I have to be careful not to be seen right away. Plus, it’s on a corner, so from one side you wouldn’t be able to get a look at the other and vice versa. Darren picks up on this immediately and tugs my arm so that we’re hidden behind a bush. He holds up two fingers, points at his eyes, and then taps his arm before pointing to his eyes again and then finally pointing toward the restaurant.

“What the fuck does that mean, Helen Keller? And why can’t you just tell me what you’re trying to say via Navy SEAL sign language? It’s not like anyone can hear us behind this bush.”

He leans over and whispers, “I’m trying to be unnoticeable.”

“Well, it isn’t working, so tell me what you were trying to say.”

Still in a hushed voice, Darren proceeds to map out his plan. “You should go across the main street so that you’re behind those parked cars so you can scope out that side of the restaurant.”

I sneak a peek over his shoulder while he’s still giving instructions and see the one person I didn’t want to see.

Marisa.

She’s facing me. And sitting across from her with his back to me is … you guessed it, Alex.

“I’m going in,” I say, cutting off Darren’s plans.

“You can’t just go in there. That defeats the entire purpose of spying.”

“Hell yes I can. Watch me.”

“Julia,” he says, “sometimes things aren’t as they appear. Stop and think for a second before you do something stupid.”

I walk around the bush before Darren can stop me. With each step that brings me closer to their table, I feel more empowered. Finally, with only a couple of steps left, Marisa lifts her head and sees me coming. And I watch as she takes the opportunity to reach across the table and take Alex’s hand in hers while smiling.

“Well, well, well.” My voice is surprisingly steady given the circumstances. “What do we have here?”

I stand in between them, looking right at Alex, who lets go of Marisa’s hand and shoots me a confused look.

“Julia,” he says, genuinely surprised. “What are you doing here?”

I bring my hand up and point to myself. “What am
I
doing here? Funny you should ask that question since I’m wondering the same thing about you. You know, seeing as you’re not supposed to be here.”

“I can explain.”

“Explain? I simply figured that this is one of your surprises since you know how much I
love
your surprises. Isn’t that right, Alex?”

“It’s not what you think, Julia.”

Marisa speaks up then. “It’s none of your business.”

I lean forward, bracing my hands on the table, afraid I may slap the grin right off of her face. “Little girl, no one is talking to you, so do yourself a favor and shut the fuck up.”

I turn my head to face Alex, who is rubbing the back of his neck and not saying a word. And honestly, there isn’t anything he can say at this point that I would even want to hear, that’s how pissed off I am.

I stand up straight and start walking quickly to my car. I totally forget about Darren in my anger-fueled haze until I see him coming toward me.

“Julia,” he calls out to me, trying to get me to stop walking.

But I don’t stop until I’m safely tucked away in my car, where I sit for a few seconds without starting it.

His fingers gently tap on the driver’s side window. “Julia, come on. Talk to me.”

Here’s the thing. I don’t cry much. With the exception of getting choked up at Josie’s party, which technically doesn’t qualify, I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve cried in the last ten years. But when I do, you should leave me be because it’s going to be freaking epic. And that is exactly how I feel. The dam is about to break, and I know if I turn my head to look at Darren, I’m going to bust out with the hysterical crying right here in my car, parked on the street where I just found my boyfriend out to dinner with another woman.

“I’m going home, Darren,” I choke out to him and start my car. “I’ll be fine.”

“No you’re not. Please don’t leave like this.”

“I’ll call you, okay?” I say, my voice starting to crack.

After a few beats, he relents. “Okay. Take care of yourself. And Jules?”

“Yeah?”

“Love you.”

“Love you too, Darren.”

I watch him step aside and move to stand on the curb so I can pull into traffic. The whole drive home I’m thinking that I shouldn’t have anyone to blame for this but myself. I knew it was too good to be true. He was probably just better at hiding it, and I was only too eager and willing not to see it. I really pulled the wool over my own damn eyes, and it was right there in front of me all along. Aiden was actually right, and I chose not to believe him.

What kind of world is this when that asshole ends up being the good guy?

Because that right there might be the very first sign of the apocalypse.