by Hart, Taylor
He chug laughed. “Well, when you have reflexes like superman, nothing gets past you.”
“Arg. Here we go,” She rolled her eyes, but couldn’t contain a laugh.
He stared into her eyes. “I’m happy for you, really.”
“I’m finally just starting to realize all my hopes, all my dreams.” She let out a breath. “I have something I want. For myself. Without him.”
“The New York Times,” he muttered.
“Exactly.”
He felt like he was watching everything precipitously unravel. The ball was being thrown to the wrong player. It wasn’t right. “But…” He stared at her face. So beautiful. He saw her blue eyes and the determination in them. He’d seen that look everyday when he’d looked into the mirror. “I get it.”
“You do?”
He let out a breath. “And I think you should do it.”
“You do?”
He grinned. “Finish the article. Go work at The New York Times. If that’s what you want.”
Her eyes fluttered like she was trying to figure everything out.
“We’ll make it work. I want to be with you.”
Her cheeks reddened. “I couldn’t do that to you. Long distance relationships are hard.”
Staring into her eyes, he shrugged. “I could make a trade.”
After giving him a wide-eyed look, she scoffed. “No you couldn’t.”
“I could if I wanted.”
“Yeah, if you wanted to commit career suicide.”
“You’re not the boss of me Charity No Middle Name.” He winked. “But let’s not put the whole trade thing in the article quite yet, I have to make some calls first.”
She laughed. “Is this really happening between us?”
Excitement filled him. “Do you still have the ticket for next Saturday?”
“Yes.”
“Good, meet me then, and we’ll celebrate and talk more about everything.”
“Legend, I don’t know if I can get away with everything that’s going on here.”
He shook his head. “I got it covered. I talked to Shelia already. She’ll take care of the Bed and Breakfast. Plus, your grandpa thinks you should go too.”
“What?”
Liking this feeling of having her grandpa on his side, he wiggled his eyebrows. “We’ve discussed it. Apparently, he heard more when he wasn’t waking up than we thought.”
She laughed. “Shut up!”
He laughed, loving being with her.
“Legend!” Three of the girls plus Katrina moved to him and pulled him up on the stage.
“Hold up.” Legend stopped their progression, turning to Charity and putting out a hand. “We have to do this first one together.”
He motioned to Charity to go up with him. “I called ahead to get this one first.”
Shaking her head, she joined him on the stage, unable to contain her joy.
The music blared out. “It’s been a hard day’s night…”
She laughed and took a mic, and they both sang along. All Legend knew as he watched her was that he would be with her if it was the last thing he did.
Then, without warning, a loud screeching sound came over the stereo, and Legend felt like he’d been sucker punched. Over the speakers came the song he and Katrina had called ‘their song.’
Out of nowhere Katrina came out to the middle of the stage, easily taking Charity’s microphone and insisting he sing with her. Not wanting to make a scene, Legend agreed.
Chapter 34
Getting shoved out of the spotlight had been more of an inconvenience. What did Charity care if Legend’s annoying ex wanted to steal the stage? She was fine waiting until the song was over.
Charity hopped off the front of the stage, slightly annoyed at Katrina, but not worried that Legend even liked her.
“Hey.”
Startled, Charity registered Paul in front of her.
“What are you doing here?”
Paul’s hair had grown longer. Now it hung down into his eyes and the sides were shaved. He was extremely tan and seemed to have shed twenty pounds within the last eight months. He looked good. “I was invited.”
Like she could brain erase the vision of he and that local girl in a full on lip lock. She frowned. “I told you I’m done, Paul. Consider yourself uninvited,..”
He caught her wrist just as she pushed through the crowd to get away from him. “I’m sorry, Charity. I came to apologize. I know you’re over me, but I wanted to make things right.”
Flinging back, she stared at her wrist. “Let go,” she commanded. Then she glanced up at Legend. He and Katrina were all out singing, and he was smiling down at her.
A weird shiver pulsed through her. Jealously. At that moment she was completely jealous of Katrina.
Then it got worse.
The next thing that happened made Charity wish she’d never written any articles about Legend George James.
The song ended, and Katrina turned, pulling Legend into a kiss.
Knowing their history, and the kind of girl Katrina was, would have been enough for Charity to believe that it was all her. And then it got worse because Katrina pulled him closer and he didn’t seem to mind at all.
The crowd, especially all of Katrina’s friends, cheered as if the Berlin Wall had come down and people were being set free.
Her heart began to pound, and for a second, she felt dizzy. It was as if everything Legend had just told her was a lie. The past week, being with him… All she saw was betrayal. She pushed through the crowd until she got to the front door, unable to be in that room one more second.
Paul followed her out. “Wait!”
Tears burned her eyes. Tears that she hated, tears that were a complete farce like the rest of her love life.
“Wait!”
She flung back. “Go away!”
He pursued her anyway. “Charity, what’s wrong?”
Going into a full out run, she got three blocks away before Paul caught her.
“Are you with that guy?”
She quit running, putting her hands on her head and ignoring Paul.
“Charity!”
She glared at him. “It doesn’t matter.”
Paul took her by the shoulders. “We were friends a long time before we were together, and you will always matter to me.”
Her heart pounded into her ears. Confusion filled her. Legend had just asked her to marry him. Was it all some insane lie? Her reporter brain took over. Why had he stayed in Park City with her? Why had Katrina been staying at her Bed and Breakfast? None of it made sense.
Paul took her hand. “He hurt you, didn’t he? Who is he?”
Leave it to Paul not to recognize Legend James. This made her let out a ridiculous scoff. “The only person on the planet that wouldn’t know would be you.” She didn’t yank her hand back. Paul had been her friend forever.
He put her hand between both of his. “I’m sorry for what I did, Char. You have to believe it when I tell you I’ve tortured myself these past months.”
She looked down at her hand in his. So many nights she’d dreamed of him coming back and apologizing and wanting her back. So many times she’d woken in the morning with tears and a headache. She’d loved him. There had only been him.
He was here and it was happening, but it felt wrong now. This wasn’t her dream anymore. Her new dream had just become her old nightmare, and the stabbing pain in her heart was back. She put her hand on her chest. “Paul, everything’s different now.”
Tugging her into a hug, he took her hair and pulled it back from her face and then held it behind her back. It was something he’d always done, and with that gesture, it all came rushing back to her.
Him. Loving her. The safety she felt with him.
“Shh,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s okay, Char. Shh.” He began kneading her shoulders and neck, as he always had, following a path down her back.
Her eyes were closed, and she was trying to shuffle throu
gh her mind, decipher truth from this messed up reality. “I can’t do this, Paul.” She needed to get home and get in her bed.
The adage ‘the sun will come up tomorrow’ ran through her mind, and she began crying harder.
Legend. Pain burned into her. Had she really just fallen in love, trusted someone, and been cheated on all over again?
Chapter 35
Finding Katrina’s mango lips against his, took Legend by surprise. After they’d sung together, between the words of the song and her puppy eyes smiling up at him, he admitted he’d gotten lost in the kiss. Lost in what had been between them. But the sound of cheering had jerked him back to reality.
He’d seen Charity running through the crowd to the front door. He’d seen Paul following her. Self-hate and regret ran through him.
Katrina’s friends had swarmed the stage and all of them pressed him into Katrina. They were laughing and cheering.
He looked at Katrina’s face and felt nauseous. What had he just done?
Her eyes were on his face, and she stopped smiling. Her brows tugged together. “I found you.”
“What are you talking about?” He tried to back up, but he couldn’t.
Tears glistened her eyes. “I wanted to see you before you signed with the Destroyers. I called Brad, and he told me you were in Park City with her. I googled her and found the Bed and Breakfast.” She shrugged. “I took a chance that you’d be there, and…it looks like fate intervened to give us a second chance.”
This disgusted him. . How she’d pretended she’d just run into him. It angered him. It reminded him of what she’d done all those years ago. The lies. The conniving. And the truth of it settled in his heart. “You wanted that abortion.”
“What?” Fear flashed in her eyes. She glanced around at the group and gave him a “not here” look.
“You didn’t want to make it work between us.”
Tears filled her eyes. “You were a nobody, Legend. How could I have ruined my future?” She shook her head.
Everything became clear. Katrina had never been the person he’d thought she was. “That was my future. You took away my future without even discussing it with me. Then you sent your father to tell me.”
She frowned. “But we have a chance now. I knew you’d make it. Now we can be together. With your new contract, Daddy won’t say a thing.”
Sickened, he pushed back with super human strength. “Let me out!” he demanded.
The crowd instantly dispersed.
He ran down the stage and out the front door, letting himself go into pouring every ounce of power into his legs. He was three blocks from her house, when he saw them.
Paul’s arms were wrapped around her. Her head was lying on his chest.
That wouldn’t have mattered except he saw her look up, and Paul’s lips meet hers.
“Charity!” he called out in strangled pain.
Pulling away from Paul, she dashed towards him.
Then, before he could stop her, her hand slapped his face.
“What?” Legend put his hand over the place where she’d hit him.
Angry tears streaked down her face. “I saw you. I saw you with her.”
“But it wasn’t like that.”
“Whatever.”
He hesitated. “I saw you with him.”
Backing away, she wiped her eyes. “Goodbye, Legend.”
Chapter 36
Draft Day
“Dude, you should be way happier than you are right now,” Brad insisted.
Jason picked over the eggs on his plate. “I agree. C’mon, this chick couldn’t have put you in that bad of mood. I mean, hey, I know she was gorgeous, but you’ve acted like we’ve just lost to the Philadelphia Panthers since we got to Chicago yesterday.”
“Shut up.” Legend felt like he’d just lost to BYU, the U’s biggest rival. The problem was…he’d felt that way ever since the night Charity slapped his face.
His poor aunt had commented that she would have rather had him not come home to spend time with her if he was going to sulk around like a spoiled child all day.
He pushed his food away. He was sure the Destroyer’s trainer would be all up in his business about the fact that he’d dropped ten pounds in the past week. But he couldn’t eat. He’d forced himself to push protein shakes down, but food held no appeal.
And he’d ran. And ran. And ran. He’d tried to blare music into his brain and force her out of his mind.
His agent had told him that The New York Times had given her the job. He’d also asked him if he wanted to read the finished article, saying it was really good.
He’d refused, and he hated that it had made him happy she’d gotten the job back.
He just couldn’t quit thinking of her and Paul in New York together.
He was miserable.
He fingered the ring inside his pocket. It was the one he’d bought one day in Park City from a local jewelry shop. The ring was a princess cut diamond with blue turquoise, the same color of her eyes, in four princess cuts around it. He’d shown it to her grandpa when Charity had gone to get lunch. Her grandpa had approved. He didn’t know why he still carried it with him. It was over. It had been a dream. A figment of his imagination. Like he could have fallen in love in less than a week.
Pshaa. It was insane.
“Man, you have it bad.” Brad spit a straw wrapper at his face.
Legend slammed his fist into Brad’s shoulder.
“Dude!” Brad and Jason both yelled at the same time.
Glaring at Brad, he frowned. “Sorry.” Then he pushed back from the table. “I gotta go for a run.”
Chapter 37
Charity sat on her grandfather’s porch, grateful that her grandpa had made such a remarkable recovery. She’d brought him home that morning. The doctor had said there may be more repercussions than they knew. Right now he had scheduled help every day and a therapist coming to work with him twice a week.
Her grandpa came out, the screen pounding behind him. “Why are you looking so glum, punkin?” He sat next to her and took in a long breath. “It’s a great day to be alive, don’t you think?”
Charity stood, moving to the deck and trying to not think of him. The fact that he would be celebrating tonight. She tried not to think of that stupid ticket that she hadn’t been able to rip up. She should have. But it was still in her purse. It had plagued her all week.
“No word from Legend, huh?” her grandpa asked.
Swerving back, she frowned. “I told you he was kissing her.”
Grandpa snorted. “No, you told me she kissed him. Then he ran after you and found you kissing that idiot Paul.”
“Grandpa…” She turned away, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“And you told me he gave you that ticket.”
She shrugged. “It’s not meant to be. It’s fine.”
“Right. You’re going to New York.”
“Yep, they want me now.” It had happened fast. She felt slightly guilty for leaving before her mother was back, but they wanted her now. Part of her felt good knowing that. As for the other part, she had to put the past in the past. “I’m sorry, Grandpa.”
He stood and moved next to her, putting his arm around her. “I’m proud of you.” He kissed her forehead. He grinned. “But I thought Victor would cry when he and Rosie stopped by the hospital yesterday.”
She shook her head. “He’s a good guy. I hope he finds someone to love.”
Grandpa hesitated. “He will. Just like you have.”
“What?” She stared back at him, confused.
He hesitated then winked at her. “I read that article. You love him.”
“I think he’s basically a good person. That doesn’t mean I love him.”
“You want to look at the stars with him. You love him.”
“No.”
“It’s like the witch said. Fate is trying to take you to love, but you have to take a chance.” He shook his head. “Punkin, chances are hard to ta
ke.”
“I took a chance,” she shot back, “and he kissed her.”
Grandpa’s cheeks burned. “And you slapped him.”
“True.”
“And he saw you kissing Paul.”
“That was ten years of confusion.”
“You don’t think he could have had a moment of confusion, too?”
She hesitated. How would she have felt if she were in Legend’s shoes? Things were hard enough to let go of where Paul was concerned. She couldn’t imagine if there had been a baby mixed up in all of that. A possible family that had been ripped away.
“Plus, I doubt he asked her grandpa for her hand.”
“What?” She was stupefied.
He let out a low growl. “I don’t like getting in your business.” That was completely untrue. He lived for it. “But Legend might have spoken to me about permission to ask you to marry him before you guys left the hospital.”
Placing her hand on her heart, lightning shot through her. “Wh-what?”
Tears bubbled into Grandpa’s eyes. “Go to him, baby. He loves you. Get on that plane and go to him. You’ll hate yourself if you never take a chance!”
Chapter 38
The time clock was counting down to the official start of the NFL draft. He and Brad and Jason had been wined and dined and been taken around the room and put in front of the cameras a hundred different times.
Legend was excited. In less than five minutes, the rest of his life would officially start. He’d sign on as starting quarterback for the Dallas Destroyers.
Even though her face went through his mind causing him pain, he was comforted by the mantra he’d told himself the past two years…at least he had football.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her.
There was no mistaking that red hair.
His heart rate kicked up a notch. She was at the other end of the room, clearly looking for him. Why else would she be there? Dressed in a tight, satin blue dress with white heels and desperately scanning the room.
