Tangled Mess (20 page)

Tiffany

Obviously, I was kicked off of the show. So was Ransom. He was ecstatic
, and well, I didn’t care either. I had what I wanted, Ransom, and it was more than I could have wished for. Plus, I’d received several offers from other record producers, interested in hearing me sing, none of which were associated with Icon, so my musical career wasn’t over quite yet. Funny thing was, it just didn’t seem as important as it did before, so I decided to wait.

Instead,
I returned to the salon while Ransom moved back to his mother’s house, with his sister. Unfortunately, after breaking his contract, he lost everything, including the friendship of his band members, all of his property, and the rights to the songs that had really made him famous. In other words, he was flat out broke. But, in all honesty, I’d never seen him so giddy and excited, especially after he started practicing in his parent’s garage again, with the old members of his band. The ones he’d grown up with. They’d buried the hatchet, and although most of them had careers now, they were all eager to jump back into the swing of things, especially after Sonia, Ransom’s agent, started negotiating deals with other record companies still very much interested in him. This time he even promised his old friend Robby, that he’d never abandon the band again.

Never.

It would be all or nothing.  

Remy broke it off with Taylor
, after we’d finally convinced her of what a real shit he was. In the end, she’d admitted that it hadn’t been that much of a shock, considering he was away so much, and that she wasn’t getting any sex when they
were
together. Instead, she started hanging out with Julian, who eventually talked her into signing up for a mission trip to Uganda during Christmas time.

Ransom and I spent al
l of our free-time together, and although I’d offered to let him move in with me, we both decided not to jump into anything. At least until I turned twenty-five. He hinted that it would be a good age to get married and have kids.

Yeah, life was going very well.

Then, six weeks after being kicked off of Icon, I was sitting in the break room at Tangled, stuffing my face with the leftover pizza that Ransom had brought over the night before, when Sinclair sat down next to me.

“Notice anything different on m
e?” she asked, smiling secretly.

I stared at her face. “Not… really.”

She raised her left hand and waved it next to her cheek. “Now?”

My jaw dropped. “Oh my God! Is that an engagement ring?”

“Yes,” she beamed. “Reed asked me to marry him last night!”

“I thought you guys were
separated?” I said.

“W
e weren’t
really
separated. I mean, I wouldn’t answer his phone calls, or see him for a couple of weeks.”

“That sounds like a separation,” I replied dryly.

She smiled and stared down at the ring. “Anyway, he insisted on seeing my last night and well, presented me with this beautiful ring.”

I stared down at it and smiled. “It is beautiful.”

She held it up to the light and nodded.

“So, um, did anything ever happen between him and his assistant? Isn’t that what you were so worried about?”

She turned back to me. “
He swore up and down that nothing happened. He also told me that he couldn’t live without me.”

“
Do believe that?”

“
I do. Truthfully, he didn’t give me any reason to think that he was cheating. He’s a lawyer and works long hours. He warned me about that. So, his assistant has the hots for him, and is a total bitch, that doesn’t mean he’s going to cheat.”

“That’s true.”

“Besides,” she grinned, “he said he’d let her go if it really meant that much to me.”

I leaned forward.
“Are you going to make him do it?”

She giggled.
“Well, I
wasn’t
, but then Jesse called the office early this morning. Apparently they started arguing, and then she hung up on him, really pissing Jesse off. He got a hold of Reed on his cell phone, and I guess he ended up firing her anyway.”

I held up my hand and she slapped it.
“Nice.”

“I know, right,” she grinned. “Now, I don’t
even have to feel guilty about it.”

“
I hope he starts spending more time with you.”

Her eyes lit up. “He’s going to have to. See, that’s the other thing… I haven’t even told him yet. I was going to do it tonight.”

“Tell him what?”

“I’m pregnant.”

I stared at her in shock. “You’re pregnant!”

“Shush!” she whispered
. “Nobody else knows yet, not even him.”

“C
ongratulations,
again
. How far along are you?”

“Almost three months.”

My jaw dropped. “What? And you haven’t told him?”

“
I was going to but then, we separated.”

I
chuckled.

She laughed. “So, what’s going on between you and Ransom?”

I sighed dreamily. “Great. Better than great. I love the guy.”

“Do you think you
two will get married, some day?”

I blushed. “
We kind of talked about it. But not now, maybe in a few years.”

“
That’s wise. I wouldn’t jump into anything this soon.”

“I know.
I’m really not ready for marriage right now, but if he asked, I definitely wouldn’t say ‘no’.”

She pushed a curl behind her ear.
“He seems like a really nice guy. Nothing like the media made him out to be.”

Felicia stepped into the break room. “You have a call on line two, Sinclair.”

“Oh, maybe it’s Reed,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “He’s getting off early. Oh my God, I’m so nervous about telling him.”

“
Nervous about what?” asked Felicia.

“About
telling him what I want for my birthday,” she lied, winking at me.

Felicia frowned. “
It’s a guy on the phone, but definitely not your man, Reed.”

Sinclair picked up the phone on the table. “Hello?”

I watched as her face turned white and the smile fell from her face.

“What
is it?” I whispered, staring her hand that held the phone. It was trembling.

Her eyes filled with horror.
“You leave me alone or I’ll call the police, you sick son-of-a-bitch.”

Whoever was on the othe
r line said something else.

S
he slammed down the phone.

“Who was that?” I asked.

She clutched her stomach with both of her hands. “I need to find Reed.”

“What’s wrong? I asked. “Who called you?”

Her lips trembled. “It was that freak that kidnapped me last year. Michael. Oh my God, he isn’t dead…”

The End

****

Watch for
the next installment-
Tangled Fury

Coming January of 2014

Thank you for reading Tangled Mess.

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Thanks
so much for your support and happy reading!

K.L. Middleton/ Kristen Middleton

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