by Alice Ward
He scoffed. “What? The great iceberg Caleb is worried about a girl’s feelings? Say it ain’t so.”
“I’m not an iceberg,” I countered flatly, wondering why I was keeping up this conversation. Was I that cold?
“Dude, I’ve watched you not even bat an eye as a woman you’ve dumped cried and threw herself at you. I haven’t seen you look like this since the car…”
I grimaced and held up a hand. “I would prefer it if we didn’t discuss this now. It’s been on my mind a bit too much lately is all. I feel like, with ten years now, the years will just keep passing. It feels… impossible.”
“Sorry, man. I know it’s a helluva thing to live with. I live with it too.” He held up his hands like he was retreating then took another long sip of his drink. “Look, all I’m saying is that you’ve changed a bit since meeting this girl. I don’t think it’s bad, but it also might not be good. I just want you to be aware.”
“Don’t worry,” I answered, steel in my voice. “I am.”
“Good. That’s all I can ask from my best friend then. Now, about that meeting…”
I was happy to have the topic shift, filling my mind with work. Crowding out images of Lillie cold and alone. Of Cherry alone, not wanting me to take care of her. I looked over the presentation Hunter had put together and noted some facts for the questions that the investors were sure to ask. But every time I managed to focus on a specific task, my mind would return to Cherry, and all the complications between us.
It was a very long day. When I finally arrived at the gym and Andre was leaving because Cherry hadn’t showed, I panicked.
Like seriously panicked.
Maybe it was because Lillie had been so much on my mind lately, but for the first time since I could remember, my feelings were running absolutely rampant, and I could only sit back and let my mind run where it wanted. It was like a tennis match between the worst that could happen and my logical side, which only increased my tension with every volley.
What if Cherry was kidnapped? For a long time, it had been thought that Lillie was kidnapped because of the wealth of our family. What if someone had kidnapped Cherry because I was her sponsor? Or what if a rabid fan had seen Cherry at the fight and wanted revenge for dishonoring De La Matta?
No, I was being ridiculous.
What if I’d driven her off last night and she quit?
No, she was loyal to her family more than anything else. She wouldn’t give up the money for her family’s sake.
I was a breath away from shaking, which made me wonder why I cared so deeply.
What if she’d been involved in some horrible accident? The memory of the acrid smell of melted rubber and burnt oil took over, and I was back there, pulling Lillie out of the car, then Hunter. Flagging down the first car that passed.
My cell rang, and I answered, even though it was an unfamiliar number. I always answered, in case it was her.
“Caleb.”
Every muscle in my body went limp when I heard Cherry’s voice. I heaved a silent sigh of relief.
“Where are you? Are you alright?”
She groaned, and it was still one of the best sounds I had ever heard. “I’m okay. I’m sorry. The school called, and Mom was at work, and I dropped my phone right before I went and the meeting with the principal went long…”
I shook my head, processing the information that had been hurled at me. “What? Principal? What happened?”
“My little brother decided it would be funny to put Sparky the goldfish in the teacher’s water glass. She almost drank him, spit him out, in fact, in front of the whole class. Colby is lucky to be alive.”
It took everything in me to hold back the laughter. “Cherry, you have to admit, your brother has flair.”
She made a noise that told me she didn’t agree at all. “I was calling to see if it would be alright if I brought him to the gym. We can take the bus and be there in—”
“Of course it’s all right, and you aren’t taking the damn bus. You’re never taking the damn bus again. It’s not safe, do you hear me?” I didn’t give her a chance to respond. “Now, tell me where you are, and I’ll be there pronto.”
She hesitated, and I found myself wishing she would turn me down because I was ready for a good argument, and I knew she was the perfect one to have it with. “You’re right, you’re right.”
“Okay then. See you in a few.”
I let out the breath that had been mostly trapped in my lungs since Cherry didn’t show up for training. When some of the tension was gone, I realized the fact that she had called me at all was incredible. I’d felt the connection between us change when she was at my place, but I hadn’t thought it had changed that much. However, I was more than happy to be wrong.
I wiped the sweat from my forehead as I went to the exit, coming closer to accepting that Cherry wasn’t just a booty call or another attractive woman for me to enjoy a few nights or weeks of companionship. No, she was something else entirely.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Cherry
I stood on the sidewalk in front of Colby’s school and watched the sleek black car pull to the curb. How embarrassing was this? Being picked up by my sponsor, in the very car I fucked him in two nights ago. Because my little brother wanted to be a comedian.
Caleb stepped out of the car, his concerned eyes on me. Heat scorched through me, and I fought it, determined that my face wouldn’t turn red and give me away.
His eyes went to Colby, and he stuck his hand out, as if he weren’t picking him up because he was suspended. I made the introductions and we got in the car, Caleb behind the wheel.
“I guess we better take him to the doctor. I can have my secretary look up a specialist.”
I swiveled my head toward Caleb, who was pulling away from the school calmly. “He’s not sick. Didn’t I tell you?” Sometimes being with Caleb, it was hard to know what was reality and what was fantasy, because my mind was always working on a new fantasy.
“Yeah, you can’t tell at first though. There’s a twelve-hour incubation period.”
“What’s an incubation period?” came from the backseat. Colby’s forehead was creased with a hint of worry.
“Caleb, he just got suspended for trying to trick a teacher into drinking a goldfish,” I spit out, my pitch going higher. “A. Gold. Fish… Swimming. Alive.”
Was that a smile Caleb was holding back? A hot breath was pushed from my lungs.
“I know!” he exclaimed. “But did he come in contact with the goldfish directly? Or even the goldfish water.”
Colby huffed. “Course I touched it. Only wimps are afraid of a little bit of fish water.”
Caleb’s voice raised in volume. “Are you sure? The goldfish or goldfish water touched your skin?”
A, “Yeah,” that sounded more like a duh came from the backseat.
Caleb slammed on his brakes and pulled over to the side of the road.
“Caleb?” I wondered if he’d lost his mind since I saw him on Saturday.
He turned to me, his eyes wild, then focused on Colby. “I can call the doctor I know, but I don’t know if it’s too late.” His head swung back to me and his eyes popped open larger so I could see the white surrounding the blue. “You haven’t heard?”
Then I got it. At least I think I did. He was putting on a show for Colby, but he looked so genuinely horrified that my pulse skipped up a beat. “Heard…?”
“Well, it depends on where the school got the fish, I guess.” Caleb sighed and plunged a hand through his hair.
“What depends on where the school got the fish? What are you talkin’ about? You’re freakin’ me out, man. Fess up.” Colby said the last like he was a gang member homey.
“I’m taking it that neither of you have heard about the outbreak.”
I pursed my lips, studying Caleb’s face. I’d never seen him this animated. I knew he was joking, had to be joking, pulling a prank on the prankster himself. But he was convincing. “Is the
re some kind of goldfish disease you can get, is that what you’re saying?”
Caleb’s eyes opened to disbelief proportions, and he tilted his head toward the backseat, hissing through his teeth, “I don’t know if we should tell him.”
A laugh propelled its way into the top of my chest, and I had to look away and out the window, hold by breath to keep it in. This was better than any punishment I could have doled out.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Colby was gripping Caleb’s headrest now. “I didn’t know about no disease.”
Caleb just silently reached across me, his arm touching my legs as he opened the glove box and got out a napkin. Then he silently wrapped the napkin around Colby’s hand and lifted it from his headrest with a shudder. “Please don’t touch anything.” His upper lip twitched upwards as he took off into traffic again.
There was silence in the back, and I chanced a quick glance. Colby looked like he’d just swallowed the damn goldfish himself. When his eyes went to his hands, I thought his bottom lip quivered a little. I shrunk down in my seat and concentrated on not laughing.
“I’ll call in the doc, but I’m sure he’s not going to want to take the chance of your brother contaminating his office.”
Colby shouted from the back, his voice cracking with panic, “Contaminating? What’s wrong with me? Am I contaminated?” There was a telltale sniff that told me Colby was succumbing to tears.
Tears squeezed out of my own eyes with the effort it took to hold in laughter. My chest was burning.
“I guess I better tell you.”
“Yeah,” Colby sniff-hiccupped.
“They found out yesterday that some of the goldfish that had been sold in Louisville had a disease that made them grow fingers, like humans. Scientists think that if humans come into contact with either the goldfish or maybe even the water they live in, some may begin to grow orange fish scales or even fins.” Caleb pulled into the gym parking lot.
There was silence in the backseat for a full ten seconds. Then, “Bullshit! You’re full of bullshit.”
“Colby!”
Caleb held Colby’s gaze through the rearview mirror, and looking back, I could tell Colby was pissed that he’d fallen for Caleb’s prank.
“Let’s go in, I’ll show you around the gym.”
Colby slammed out of the car, and I cringed as the expensive car shuddered. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to—”
Caleb grinned and winked, opening his door to get out. “There’s more than one way to skin a goldfish.”
As Caleb took Colby around the gym, introducing him to people and showing him the different sections, a strange melty feeling lodged in my chest, making it hard for me to swallow. No one since Dad had treated Colby this way, it was as if Caleb had known him forever. Colby wasn’t the type of kid to learn from being punished for a wrong. Caleb had hit the nail dead center when he pranked the prankster. Mama would still ground him, but he wouldn’t forget this one for a long time.
Tears welled. I’d been so worried when I’d missed training and broken my phone that my chance would be gone. That I’d be fired. I was pretty much flat broke. I had spent almost all of each check on food, new clothing for the kids, and then all of the bills we were behind on. We were mostly caught up now, but my next stipend was partially reserved for several things. Everyone in the house still needed new shoes, and I desperately wanted to get the truck fixed so Mama could drive to work instead of taking the bus.
I watched Caleb as he took off his suit jacket, rolled up his sleeves and showed my brother how to use the punching bag. I knew Caleb had already sunk so much money into me — a trainer, massage therapist, now a dietician — was it terrible of me to want more? To want not just these things he did for me, but the man himself?
To me, the thousands and thousands of dollars he had spent on me seemed astronomical. But to him? That money wouldn’t even cover a mildly comfortable vacation. He had probably thrown away more money on a single night on the town. I was not even a dent in his wallet.
I couldn’t help but feel that something changed when he invited me to his place. Something subtle, but there nonetheless. Then, I hadn’t been ready for him to drive me to my house and have him stroll into my personal life, but for a moment that night I’d felt closer to him, until I ruined it by bringing up his possibly dead sister. Now though, my world and his collided in a grin like I hadn’t seen on Colby’s face in four years, since Dad died.
Caleb was everything I could ask for in a man. Tall, built, and with a sort of swagger that wasn’t born of cockiness, but rather an assured sort of confidence that was unfairly alluring. And at the same time, he was distant, and could be cold.
I sighed. Why couldn’t any of this be easy?
For once, I didn’t want to be on my own. I wanted to talk to Grace, or even my mom, but my phone was so completely shattered that the screen was just a mass of tiny intricate lines. When had I grown to be so reliant on others for emotional support? I liked to think of myself as a strong, independent person who could fight her way through any situation. I was the one other people came to for help, and yet here I was, letting a charming, good-looking man whisk me and my brother away from our troubles.
Ugh, I needed to get out of here.
So then why were my legs taking me over to the weight bench to begin a workout that would take several hours?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Caleb
“Please, Cherry,” Colby begged, trying to convince her not to tell their mother about the goldfish incident.
“Ha! Do you think she doesn’t already know? Your school does have her cell phone number.”
“What time’s she get off work?”
“She’s probably off and back home by now.”
Colby groaned. “Can’t we just call her and explain?”
Cherry snorted. “We’re almost there now. It’s not like calling her a few minutes ahead of time will make her tone down her mama-ness.”
I looked over at Colby with mock concern. “You make it sound like she’s going to fillet you.”
“Worse,” Colby groaned. “She’s gonna click her tongue, maybe get teary-eyed, whisper about a dozen prayers to God and then beg me to change my ways.”
“Wow, that sounds like some real torture.”
“It is. I hate thinking that I stress her out, or that she’s wasting what precious little free time she gets on praying for me.” Colby said it like he was eleven going on thirty, and I knew there was no hope of him giving up his misguided ways.
I would need to go in the house with them, explain why I’d kept her son and daughter after picking them up at the school. My heart did a lurch in my chest. I could execute business deals with a steady outward appearance, no matter what was going on. So why did the thought of meeting Cherry’s mother make my hands shake? The baser part of me wanted to use my money and clout to impress her, but I knew that was exactly the kind of behavior that made Cherry distrust people like me.
Nervous energy swirling under my skin, I pulled up in front of the two-story I’d dropped her at all those weeks ago. Just looking at the faded blue of the front door made my stomach burn.
How would I approach this? I wasn’t Cherry’s boss. I certainly wasn’t her boyfriend, though we had slept together. I rubbed my forehead. Was I sweating?
We had been interconnected in one of the most intimate ways you could be with someone, more than once, and yet I had no idea what to call us.
I shot a look at Cherry and found her watching me. Her gaze was steady, and after Colby reluctantly stepped from the car, she gently pressed my cheek into her palm. Something inexplicable flipped over in my chest, and an inner spark lit as I followed her to the door and inside.
“Mommy, it’s prince charming!” was announced by a high, tiny voice, which came from a yellow-haired girl bouncing perfectly on a pogo stick in the hall.
“Honey, how many times have I told you, not in the house,” an older woman with dark hair
and eyes exclaimed as she bustled out of the kitchen. She stopped when she saw me, drying her hands on the dish towel she was carrying.
“He came riding in at the last minute to save the damsel in distress!” the little girl squealed. “That’s me.” She clapped her hand over her chest and brought one foot to the floor in a movement that told me she was a pogo stick master.
I met Cherry’s mother’s eyes, and with the warm imprint of Cherry’s hand still on my face, I did a half bow that sent the girl into a fit of giggles.
Cherry introduced us, after which Cherry’s mother pulled Colby into the kitchen for a scolding, and Honey announced that she must change into her best dress since the prince had arrived.
“Well, I hope we haven’t kept you from your evening.” Cherry set her shattered phone on the dresser that stood at the foot of the stairs.
“You weren’t kidding. Your phone is busted. Did you have my number memorized then?”
“Not quite,” she admitted, her cheeks going a cute shade of pink.
“Then how did you—” I put two and two together. “The business card I gave you when we first met. You kept it.” My heart took off beating at a rate that was uncalled for considering I was standing still.
“Is that so unusual?”
I leaned forward, her eyes meeting mine and heating. “I think it is.”
She looked back at her phone, breaking the moment. “Thank you for coming for us. I mean it.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Did you think I wouldn’t?”
Her eyes softened, and even with the bruising still evident around them, they were the most beautiful things I’d ever seen. “No, I was pretty sure you would, that’s why I called. But you didn’t seem inconvenienced or anything like that. And it was like you coming here even was just a matter-of-fact. That means a lot to me.”
I reached out gently and took her hand after glancing toward the kitchen. “I’m not going to pretend to know how either of us are feeling, but if you believe for a second that I would let you call your mother so she could ride a bus there, just to take you and Colby home on said bus, you are utterly mistaken. Not even a stranger deserves that, and we are certainly not strangers.”
