The Bet (Addison #2) (7 page)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The clouds overhead are starting to turn dark grey, raining is spitting down on us. I pull my phone out of my purse and call a cab.

“He’ll be here in a few minutes,” I mutter to Stephen.

“So this is it, huh? We’re over, just like that?” I drop my head and sigh.

“What do you want me to say? That everything is okay and we’ll be perfectly happy together forever and ever?”

“Yes, because it’s true. We can have that.” He looks at me with pain-filled eyes.

“No, we can’t. If I told you that I would be a fucking liar and you know it, Stephen.” I wrap my arms around him and he buries his head in my neck. “If you truly knew for sure you wanted to be with me, you wouldn’t have had to take me to the church to make sure you were making the right decision. You wouldn’t have felt confused. You would have been positive. You would have been sure I was the one you wanted to be with for the rest of your life. And you didn’t know.”

“I do know, Addi. I may not have known right in that moment, but I know now.” His voice was desperate.

“That right there tells you I’m not the one. When you find the one, I believe in my heart of hearts, you’ll always be sure. There will be no moment of confusion, no doubt in your head or heart.”

The cab pulls up and we get in. Stephen gives the driver directions to his hotel. We ride in silence the entire way. Once we reach the drop off lane in front of the hotel, Stephen turns to me.

“One last kiss, please? That’s all I ask and I promise I’ll leave you alone. Just…please know I will always be here for you, Addi. No matter what, you’re my best friend.”

“On the cheek.” I tap my cheek and slightly smile. He softly kisses my cheek and tingles go up my spine. “You know I’ll always be here for you too, Stephen. I love you, there’s no denying that. You’ll always be a little bit of home.”

“Where to?” the cab driver asks.

“Hang on, I’m getting directions.” I pull my phone out of my purse and call Lucas.

“Hello there, stranger.” he answers enthusiastically.

“Where are you? I need the directions. I’m in a cab. Make it quick,” I ramble.

“Hand the driver your phone.” I reach my arm up to the front seat to hand the phone over to the driver. After a few seconds of talking, he hands the phone back and I end the call immediately without saying anything to Lucas. I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t even want to think. I just know I want to be with him.

The drive is taking forever, my eyes are barely staying open. I’m mentally and physically exhausted from all of the emotional bullshit from the day’s events. I start to doze off.

“Hey! Hey, lady! Wake up! We’re here!” the driver hollers. I rub my eyes, stretch, and yawn. I look out the window and see that we’re parked right in front of Lucas’s condo.

“Thank you so much,” I say to the cab driver while digging in my purse, trying to find money to pay him. The cab driver rolls down his window and there stands Lucas, saving the day, paying my cab fare. I open the door and run over to him. He stumbles to catch me. I kiss him, multiple times, quick soft kisses. The rain is pouring down on us, masking the tears building up in my eyes.

“I think I might be madly in like with you.” Tears of joy come bursting down my face.

“Good, because I’m madly in like with you too, Addison.” He laughs and spins me around, but stumbles and sets me down.

“Sorry, I thought I could pull that off like in the movies.” He places his hands on my cheeks and draws my face up toward his and kisses me firmly. “Come on, let’s go inside. It’s raining!”

We run for his front door. Before he opens it he says, “Don’t mind the mess, I’m remodeling.” I walk in ahead of him and find that this place is an absolute wreck. Scraps of wood are lying all over the floor, the drywall is unpainted, the carpet is completely pulled up in what I assume is the living room, buckets of light yellow paint are sitting in the hallway to the left.

“I guess you are remodeling. Looks like you’ve got a lot of work to do.” I look around and watch the rain pouring down out on his deck.

“Yeah, I do. I’m excited to see it all finished. When I was growing up my mom always told me she wanted to live in a condo on the beach someday and she wanted the walls to be yellow, because yellow is a happy color.” He stops talking for a moment and walks to the patio door. He stands and looks out at the rain. “She passed away from stage-four breast cancer. It spread to her liver and lungs…I was sixteen. You’d think it’d be easier by now, but it’s not. It’s still just as hard.” An ache forms in the pit of my stomach. I walk over to him and lace my arm around his.

“I’m sorry…I had no idea. I can’t even imagine.” He rests his head on mine and we watch the rain fall in silence.

***

Last night I stayed with Lucas, that way I didn’t have to worry about calling a cab at four o’clock in the morning to come over here in time to go to the photo shoot. It was nice sleeping next to him again, having him hold me in his arms and play with my hair until I fell asleep. He woke up a little before four to get into the shower and since there’s currently no door on Lucas’s bathroom and his bedroom is straight across from it, I couldn’t go back to sleep. He has no couch in the living room due to the remodeling, which leaves me hanging out in his bed while he gets ready for the photo shoot at sunrise this morning.

“Hey, doll?” Lucas peeks around the door frame at me while brushing his teeth.

“Yes?” I raise my eyebrow at him and smile.

“Come here,” he says with a mouthful of toothpaste. I get out of his bed, wearing only one of his t-shirts. “God, you’re so damn beautiful. It’s damn near four o’clock in the morning, you just rolled out of bed, and you look absolutely perfect.” He grabs a handful of my ass. “Mmm!” he grunts.

“You know, I thought for a split second you were really sweet.” I smile at him and kiss his cheek. “So is that all you wanted? Just a handful of my ass this morning?” I glide my hands over his bare chest and abs, then run my fingers along the towel at his waistline.

“Oh no, I want far more than just a handful of your ass.” He pulls me in for a hug and kisses my forehead. “Go get ready.”

***

We arrive at the photo shoot just as the sun’s rays are starting to peek out into the clouds. It’s fairly cold this morning and all I’m wearing is a large cream colored cable knit sweater, holey jeans, and my cowgirl boots. No one is here yet, which seems odd to me. I didn’t think we’d beat the photographer here. It’s not like we’re extremely early, maybe fifteen minutes tops, I would think.

“Where’s everyone at? Are you sure we’re at the right beach?” I ask Lucas and he nods.

“Carlos and Andrea should be here any minute.” Carlos…I wonder how he’s doing. I should probably call him or at least shoot him a text. I need to apologize. I still feel terrible for snapping photos of him and the pool boy and sending them to his dad. A gust of wind blew sending chills through my body.

“Ugh. We should have grabbed coffee. I’m freezing out here.” I shiver.

“Shoulda coulda woulda, but we didn’t. Did we?” Lucas mocks me and wraps his arms around me to keep me warm.

“You’re lucky I like you.” I kiss his cheek.

“I know.” He smiles and kisses the tip of my nose. He grabs my hands and breathes on my fingertips to warm them up. I hear a faint noise in the distance, a familiar voice.

“That was perfect, you guys!” Lucas and I look up the beach and see a man holding a camera. The man starts walking toward us. Lucas breaks away from me and meets the man, shakes his hand. I can’t quite get a great look at what the guy looks like. But his voice…I swear I know that voice. He comes closer to greet me, and it’s him. The photographer is Carlos. Carlos’s eyes widen, Lucas goes to introduce us and Carlos interrupts him.

“Addi, long time no see.” Carlos says with a bit of attitude. Lucas looks back and forth at us.

“You guys already know each other?”

“Oh yes, we know each other very well.” I feel my cheeks burning and my stomach churning. I know he hates me and I wish he didn’t. We were so close. He was my best friend. For crying out loud, I was going to marry him. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. I can tell by the look on Lucas’s face that he feels the tension between us.

“Well, that’s awesome. Where’s Andrea?” Lucas asks.

“She can’t make it…so we’ll have to use Addi.” Carlos slants his eyes at me.

“What? No. I’m not going to be in any photos.”

“Please, Addison. This is a big shoot.” Lucas butters me up with his puppy dog eyes. They’re so hard to say no to, but I’ve never been in front of the camera before and I really don’t want to be in front of Carlos’s camera.

“Ugh. Fine, I’ll do it,” I groan.

***

After the shoot I ask Lucas if he would give Carlos and me some time to talk. Lucas didn’t ask any questions, he’s walking ahead of us and giving us the space.

“Carlos. I’m sorry. I truly am. I know that no amount of apologies will take back what I did to you and make things right.” Carlos stops walking and turns to look at me straight on.

“Addi, what you did hurt. But you had every right to react the way you did. I’m sorry too, Addi. I really am. Most of all I’m thankful for the way things went down…I would have never pursued a career in photography, my passion. But because of you, I am now photographing models for magazines and book covers. I can’t thank you enough.” Tears form in my eyes, Carlos sets his camera bag down and hugs me, kisses me on the cheek. “I love you, Addi. Take care of yourself.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Hilton, can we get lunch? I’d like to talk.”

“Yeah, it’ll have to be a quick lunch though. I have a meeting with a new client this afternoon.” Hilton sighs.

“If you don’t want to go we don’t have to.”

“I’ll pick you up in about twenty-five minutes.” Hilton ends the call.

I quickly change into fresh clothes and walk out into my living room. My mom is packing a bag for their fishing cruise this afternoon.

“Mom, can we talk?”

“Of course, sweetie.” She glances up at me and offers a warm smile.

“Why didn’t you tell me he was going to be here?” Her warm smile fades and she tucks my hair behind my ear.

“I knew something was wrong between the two of you when the wedding was canceled. He had come to the house several times to talk to me about everything and to see if I’d talked to you. He cares about you, Addi. He loves you.”

“I can’t do this right now, Mother.” I storm away from the coffee table and grab my purse. “Have fun on your cruise. I’m going to lunch with Hilton. Love you,” I say while exiting the apartment. I sit down on the steps in front of the apartment complex and pull out my phone, running my fingers over the screen. I wonder if I should text him, talk to him one last time, listen with my mind and ears wide open. I just know if I do that, I’ll be ripping open a freshly stitched wound. Something I know I shouldn’t do. Instead, I text Lucas.

Email me your riding schedule so I can set up a few more photo shoots for you.

Lucas: Okay Boss

Thanks. What are you doing?

Lucas: Thinking about how badly I wish I could kiss you right now.

Hmm…maybe later ;)

Lucas: You mean, yes later?

Hilton’s craving Chinese food, so we stop at the Panda Hut about two miles away from my apartment.

“How are things with you?” I ask. She shifts in her seat, and takes a sip of water.

“I’m fine.” She seems distant. She and Garrett must have talked about the run-in we had at the store.

“Listen, I’m sorry I lost my temper a little yesterday. It’s just I was only gone a week and I come back and everything is different, even you.” I take a sip of my lemonade and eat a bite of my broccoli beef.

“I’m not upset about that, Addi. I’m upset that you stuck your nose where it doesn’t belong. Garrett is a good guy.” She stares down at her plate, shoveling sweet and sour chicken into her mouth. “I had no intentions of beginning a new relationship when my last one just ended, but sometimes people come into your life that just get you. I’m a black bird in a world full of canaries…he respects that, he understands me, and he doesn’t try to change me.” Her gaze darts up at me.

“I just worry about you, Hilton. I know we don’t really know each other. But after you confided in me about your baby and asked me to go to your first appointment, I developed a sisterly love for you. I don’t really know Garrett either, I thought I did but it’s apparent I don’t―”

Hilton cuts me off. “No, you don’t know him. So don’t assume that he’s bad for me, just because things didn’t work out between the two of you.” I had no idea he told her about us. I never planned on telling her about us because I didn’t want the awkwardness. I didn’t want to hurt her or make her think badly of me.

“I’m sorry, Hilton.” I set my chopsticks down.

“Don’t be. Just stop worrying about me. Trust my judgment.” The corners of her mouth are curling upward. “Garrett is a really good man, Addi. I love him.” Her smile is contagious. I feel the corners of my mouth begin to rise, too.

“I’m glad. I truly am. I’m happy for you. You and your baby deserve a really good man.”

“Thank you.”