Oakley shook her head and rolled her eyes. “With that kind of money I could buy a whole car, not just a down payment! That just proves how different we are. He drives brand new trucks worth more than I could make in five years and drops a twenty-thousand dollar gift card like it’s a fifty for someone’s birthday.” She focused on her phone and pulled up his number. As much as she’d wanted to delete his entire existence from her digital memory, she couldn’t. He said he missed Kaden, missed her.
Ha.
There was no way he missed her as much as she missed him.
Alone in her bed at night it was all she could do to keep breathing, the ache for him was so strong. She missed his smile. His citrus scent. The sound of his voice when they’d stayed up late and he got sleepy. She missed listening to him play with Kaden in the living room while she made dinner for all of them. She missed his arms around her, her cheek against his chest, and she missed his kiss. Oh, how she missed his kiss!
But most of all, she longed for him, the man, the person Chris was inside. She loved his sense of humor. His tenderness. His compassion.
His love for her.
Oakley closed her eyes. She’d done it again. She’d judged him by the world’s standards and not based on what she knew. What she knew!
Her heart ached again, more than it ever had. She’d lost him. No. She’d pushed him away. It was too much. Tears flooded her eyes and clogged her throat.
Oakley hung her purse again on the hook and collected all the pieces of the invitation, holding them close to her heart. She’d look at them again later, when she was alone.
“I think I’m going to go to bed,” she told Cam.
Cam took a step toward her then stopped. They’d known each other too long not to understand what the other needed in a moment like this, and Oakley needed to wallow. Alone.
“Thanks for everything, Cam. I love you, girlie.” She turned toward the stairs and her bed.
“I feel like this is my fault. I’m sorry, hon.”
Cam’s voice stopped her. Oakley shook her head. “No way. This is my fault. And Chris’s. He should have told me. I should have trusted him even though he didn’t.” She sighed. “Whatever. I can’t talk about this anymore right now. I need to sleep.”
“Okay. I’ll let myself out.”
Oakley had made it halfway up the stairs before Cam called her name one last time. She paused and turned to her friend.
Cam walked to the bottom of the stairs. “You are my best friend and I love you more than just about anybody. You do deserve love. Billionaire or pauper, you deserve someone who loves you the way I think Chris just might. If he’s the man you think he is, don’t let him get away because you’re afraid. Take a chance. I’ve known you a lot of years, and even I’ve never seen you so happy as you were with him.”
Oakley choked back a sob and rushed back down the stairs, throwing her arms around her best friend. “Thank you, Cam. I love you, too.” She broke away. “I’ll call you.” Then she ran up the stairs to her room. To her baby. To her own thoughts and hurts and hopes and dreams. Chris was at the center of them all.
What was she going to do?
Chapter Thirty-Four
For two weeks, Oakley fretted. She wavered. She made lists of pros and cons. She reflected…and bit her nails down to the quick. Thirty-six hours before the gala she still hadn’t made up her mind if she was going or not. And if she hadn’t been able to do the math on her own, Cam had been sending her hourly text messages with a countdown for the last twelve hours.
“All right, sweet girl. You ready to tell me what’s going on?” Mercy asked from her place at the kitchen counter where she mixed dough for biscuits. It had been a long time since her mother had moved with her dad to Colorado from her home in Louisiana. Mercy might be removed from the South but the south hadn’t been removed from Mercy.
Oakley hadn’t told her parents much, just that things between her and Chris didn’t work out. She was sure they’d seen the photos of Chris with that Harley woman, but neither of them had said a word to her about them or him.
Oakley shook her head.
Mercy sighed. Abandoning her dough, she washed the remnants from her fingers in the sink before drying her hands on the apron tied to her waist.
“Oh, baby, when are you gonna stop letting that boy beat you down?” Mercy dropped into a chair beside Oakley. Her hand reached out to smooth Oakley’s hair away from her face, the touch so familiar and soothing, tears sprung to her eyes.
“Who? Chris?” Oakley sniffled.
Mercy snorted. “Chris? No. I’ve never seen you so happy in all your life as you were with Chris. No. I’m talking about the other one. Wes.” She spat his name like a cuss word.
Oakley frowned. “Wes? What has Wes got to do with anything?”
Mercy’s eyes widened. “What has he got- Girl, he’s got everything to do with all this mess you’re in.”
Oakley sighed. “Mom, I don’t have time for games-”
“No. You listen up.” Mercy’s firm voice made Oakley sit up in her chair. “I could strangle that kid for a lot of things, darlin’. Leaving you all alone with your sweet boy.” She shook her head. “I could give you a whole list, but we don’t have time for that. So, I’ll tell you the number one thing he did that if I ever met him in a dark alley, I’d end him.”
“Jeez, Mom. That sounds a little scary.”
“Don’t you think I’m joking around. I mean every word.” Mercy’s eyes flashed. “But what I’d do to Wes is nothing compared to what he did to you, Oakley.” Mercy looked her right in the eyes. “Or what you let him do to you. And what he did was steal your ability to see your own worth.”
Oakley jerked back her chin. That was not at all what she’d been expecting her mother to say.
“What? No, he didn’t.”
Mercy nodded. “Yes, he did.” She put her hands over her daughter’s on the table between them. “Sweetie, when you left here after graduation, you were ready to take on the whole world. I couldn’t wait to see what you were going to do with your life. You had plans. Goals. Dreams! And then you met him.” Her lip curled. “When you told me you were going to marry that man! Oh, I just wanted to scream.”
Oakley was shocked. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I could have.” Mercy paused and looked Oakley dead in the eye. “And what good would it have done?”
Oakley thought back to that time. She thought she was so in love, believed Wes was the man of her dreams and they were going to live happily ever after. Even if her parents had shouted from the rooftops their dislike for him, she wouldn’t have cared. Nothing was going to stop her.
“Not a lick.”
Mercy’s lips flattened. “That’s right. Not a darn lick. You were determined to follow your own path. My younger sister, Bernice, met a man a lot like Wesley before she married your uncle Dan. His name was Bartholomew. Can you imagine? Bernie and Barty. What a disaster!” Mercy laughed. “My mother hated Bart with an unholy passion and she never let Bernie hear the end of it. But instead of listening, Bernie dug in her heels deeper until the two of them ran off and eloped.”
Oakley gasped. “Are you serious?” She’d ever only known her aunt Bernice with her uncle Dan, who she knew loved her more than life itself. The two were a match made in heaven.
Mercy nodded. “As a heart attack. They were married for almost a year before she finally left him. He was a horrible, horrible man. It was many years after Barty before Bernice would even look at another man, but Dan. Dan was special. He saw through the hurt and became an instrument of healing. But that’s not the point. Okay, it’s the whole point, but what I’m getting at is that I watched that whole train wreck from start to finish and what I realized was that Bernie had to learn for herself. And so did you, sweet girl. I could have told you a thousand different ways how bad Wes was going to be for you, but you wouldn’t listen. And as much as it broke my heart to watch you go through that, I knew it was part of th
e process. The learning process. We all have to go through it.”
Oakley sighed, taking in the wisdom of her mother’s words, and hoping she would remember them when it was her turn with Kaden. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Of course, I’m right. The only thing I didn’t count on was how much you would let that sorry excuse of a human being get you down. Oakley, honey, you are bright, and beautiful, and so, so loving. You have so much to give someone, even a billionaire couldn’t catch up to you. Because, darlin’, it ain’t about the money. It’s about the heart. That’s what you have to look at. Is Chris’s worth all wrapped up in the zeros in his bank account?”
Oakley assumed the question didn’t require an answer, but when Mercy didn’t continue, she wondered.
“No, of course not.”
Mercy smiled, satisfied. “Well, then, what makes you think your’s should be measured by the zeros in your’s, hmmm?” Mercy slid her a look. “Or the big fat zero in yours, I guess I should say.”
“Wow.” Oakley shook her head.
Mercy wrapped an arm around Oakley’s shoulder. “Oh, you know I’m just messing with you. And you know I’m right, too. You have to look at the man’s heart, Oak. His heart will tell you all you need to know.”
Her mother’s words required some pondering. Of course, she was right, and Oakley had likely thrown away the best thing that had ever happened to her other than her son. But still, she needed to think about what to do next. “Mom, how will he ever forgive me?”
Mercy reached into the pocket of her apron and pulled out the invitation to the charity gala. Oakley should have been surprised to see it in her mother’s hands, but she wasn’t. Not much got by Mercy Abbott.
Mercy laid the invitation on the table between them and pointed to the words he’d written at the end. “Sweet girl, I’d say he already has,” she said before standing and returning to her biscuits.
Oakley read the words her mom had pointed to. I will always want you. And she knew what she had to do.
Rising from the table, she picked up the invitation and walked to her mother’s side, kissing her cheek. “Thanks, Mom.”
“You’re welcome, sweetie. And don’t worry about Kaden. He’ll be just fine here with us.”
Oakley laughed. “You really are the best mom.”
“Don’t I know it. Now, go get your man. And you might want to talk to him about his taste in music while you’re at it.”
Oakley frowned. “His taste in music?”
Mercy’s eyes darted to the invitation. “‘I will always want you’? Sounds like he’s been listening to too much of that Cyrus girl if you ask me.”
Oakley busted out laughing once she realized what Mercy was implying. “Oh, my goodness, Mom,” she gasped between giggles.
Mercy shrugged, but a small smile tugged her lips. “Just saying!”
Oakley had just barely gotten her laughter under control and made it halfway up the stairs when her mom started singing.
“I came in like a wrecking ball!” And the giggles started all over again.
But she didn’t have time to worry about what songs might be in Chris’s iTunes account, she had a gala to get ready for, and she knew just who to call to help her get ready.
Picking up her phone, she used Google to get the number. After a few transfers, she finally reached the person she was looking for.
“Hey, Summer, I don't know if you remember me, but I have a huge favor to ask.”
The next morning, Oakley was on a plane. Not Chris’s private jet, but she’d sprung for first class. At first, she felt guilty for using the card Chris sent, but that only lasted a moment. Her mom was right. She knew Chris’s heart. He sent her the money because he wanted her to use it. She knew deep down he wasn’t trying to buy her, he wasn’t being arrogant, or even flashing his wealth in her face.
He just wanted her.
And more than anything, she wanted him.
She only hoped he still felt the same way after almost three weeks of not seeing or hearing from her. She’d picked up her phone probably five hundred times to call him since deciding to go to the gala. Or text. But each time, she set it aside. This was something she needed to do face to face. If things went the way she hoped, it would be unbearable if she wasn’t by his side when they did.
Oakley shivered in her seat just thinking about his arms coming around her. If he forgave her. But she couldn’t think that way. Only positive juju from here on out.
Summer met her at the curb outside baggage claim and greeted her like an old friend. Apparently, there was nothing like bonding over makeup and cocktail dresses.
“Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much for this. I owe you big time!”
“Yes, you do,” Summer laughed as they hugged. “Come on. We don’t have much time.”
Oakley frowned as she glanced at the time on her phone. They still had hours before she had to be at the mixer before the gala where she planned to try to find Chris.
Summer laughed again. “Believe me. We’re gonna need every second. Now get in.”
With a little shrug, she followed orders. Summer knew what she was doing.
“You got a room, right?” Summer asked as she pulled into the heavy traffic at LAX.
“Yes, I can check in as soon as we arrive.” It had taken some sweet talking and a rather large chunk of the money on Chris’s card, but she’d managed to get a room at the same hotel where the gala was being held.
“Perfect. I’ve brought three dresses for you to choose from as well as accessories and shoes and my portable makeup bag. We should be all set.”
“Summer, I can’t thank you enough for this.” She hadn’t even had to beg, Summer had been more than willing to drop everything to help Oakley get ready for the gala, especially once Oakley told her how much she could pay. Still, it was an inconvenience and Summer had to call off work to make it happen.
“Enough of that.” Summer waved her words off. “I was thrilled when you called. This is going to be epic. All I ask is an invitation to the wedding.”
Oakley barked out a laugh. “If there’s a wedding, you’re not only invited, you’re hired as my personal stylist. But first, I have to get through tonight.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Do you think she’ll come?” Carter leaned against the bathroom door in the bedroom Chris had claimed in the suite the brothers shared.
Chris ran his fingers through his hair and the strands settled just how he liked. Finally. He’d been messing with it for far too long. Fortunately, Carter had laid off the teasing about thirty minutes ago when Chris threatened to remove all of his appendages. He was on edge without Carter making things worse by being a jerk.
“I don’t know,” he answered, but he hoped. He should have found a way to track that card he’d sent her to see if she’d spent any of it. He supposed if he made the right call and paid enough money, he could still find out, but he wouldn’t. The money was a gift. Mostly, he just wanted her to use it. Hopefully to come see him tonight, but if not, at least to buy herself a car. He’d found out from Cam, who’d stopped by Oakley’s house again, that the Honda was a goner. He hadn’t known that when he sent the money or he would have added another ten grand. Actually, if he’d known, he probably would have sent her a car.
He still might.
“Come on. You look fine. It’s almost time to go, anyway.” Carter pushed away from the door frame and checked the time on his Rolex. “Didn’t you promise Harley we’d pick her up in her room at six? It’s ten to now.”
Chris frowned as he straightened the jacket of his tux. It fit a little more snug than he was used to but he’d made the mistake of taking Carter to the fitting and allowing his brother to talk him into the more modern fitted look. The only difference was that Chris’s shoulders were a mile wider than his younger brother’s and now Chris felt like he’d been stuffed into the thing and wanted desperately to take it off.
“Suck it up, bro. You look like a million bu
cks.” Carter slapped a hand down on his shoulder.
Chris smirked. “Don’t you mean a billion?”
Carter laughed. “Touché. Let’s get out of her.”
The two men left their suite and took an elevator one floor up. Chris and Carter could have chosen the penthouse, but Chris left it for Harley. She was definitely the bigger name between the two of them and it was mostly because of her this whole thing was even happening. Chris had latched onto her project, not the other way around.
“This is the second time you’ve met her?” Carter asked in the elevator.
Chris nodded.
“And the first was the night with the pictures?” Carter asked again.
“Yep.”
Chris clenched his jaw, wishing his brother hadn’t brought up the pictures. The last thing he wanted was to be reminded of the photos that had ruined his life. He’d barely slept since he’d last seen Oakley. He missed her to his core. It was as though his body knew his heart needed her to survive and was just giving up.
He was being dramatic. But the ache for her was real and it hadn’t lessened at all. If anything, it had intensified. He had a lot to be anxious about this night, but the thing he was most worried about was Oakley. Would she come?
It was taking all his game day techniques to keep his head straight and his stomach from revolting. He hadn’t been this nervous before the biggest games of his life.
The elevator doors opened to a hallway that was completely empty except for two armed body guards beside the only door. One of the men stepped forward and shook hands with both Chris and Carter.
“Hello, Ms. Stone is expecting you.” He used a key card to open the door.
Carter slanted a glance at Chris who frowned, a silent signal telling his brother to behave. Carter lifted his eyes to the ceiling just in time for Harley to catch him as she entered the room, her hands busy sliding an earring in place.
Marrying the Football Billionaire Page 23
