Theo draws his eyebrows down, smirking. “How do you expect me to keep acting like a gentlemen when you make noises like that?”
“Sorry, but I just had a mouthgasm,” I say, closing my eyes and licking my lips. “I have a feeling I’m going to gain a lot of weight with all this sensational food at my disposal.”
“Now you know why I’m always running. Gotta stay in shape if I’m going to eat like this.” He takes a bite. “Jewels mentioned you’re a runner too. If you’re interested, we could meet up in Central Park sometime.”
“I’d love that. I haven’t ran in over a week. My legs are getting restless.”
He wipes his face with a napkin, then takes a swig of his water. “Back to why I brought you here...I’m not sure how you’re going to feel about this. One of the shows I’m producing is looking for fresh talent. They need a woman to play a witty vixen in a futuristic show. You know, kind of like a dystopian thing. I thought maybe you’d be interested in trying out for the part.”
I shoot a mouthful of water across my lap. “Oh god.” My face turns red as I reach for a napkin and begin patting my leggings down. At least it wasn’t pasta I spit.
“You okay?” Theo comes around the desk, intending to help, his brow drawn in concern.
“I’m fine, I got it!” I snap, waving him away. “Why would you think I’d want to be an actress of all things? I wouldn’t know the first thing about it.”
He leans back on the desk, arms crossed. Though he’s clearly thrown by my reaction, he also seems pleased with himself. “Because you’re incredibly sexy, and I’m willing to bet you’ve got the confidence that would work for it. It wouldn’t be the first time someone without acting experience was hired. A job like that could pay the kind of money you need to set you up nicely in this city. You would be able to afford your own place.”
“Is that what all of this,” I wave my hand between us, “is about? You were looking for someone to fill a part?” A storm brews in the pit of my stomach, threatening to chuck what little manicotti I ate. “Is that why you’re trying to impress me with dates and private cars?”
“Of course not.” He shakes his head. “I didn’t even consider you for the part until today. I promise you, that’s not how I work, Cavenaugh. Where’s this coming from?”
I stand from the chair to move away from him, feeling as if I’m going to be sick. “Have you considered how that would look? The producer of the show, courting or whatever you want to call it, the star? That’s why you made that comment to Josiah about one day knowing me, isn’t it?”
If my family and everyone back in my hometown got wind of such a scandal, I’d never be able to show my face in Wisconsin again. It’d be the exact image they’ve created for me—someone who’s willing to sleep around to get what they want. It’d be the cherry on top of this big, fucked-up mess I created for myself.
Theo holds the palms of his hands out, as if to calm me. “I’m sorry, I never would’ve suggested it if I knew the idea would upset you like this. I just want to see that you’re taken care of.”
“I don’t need you or anyone else to take care of me,” I tell him, sulking for the doors. I’m suddenly pressed to find my breath.
“Wait!” He moves toward me with his brows furrowed. “I don’t understand why you’re so upset. I thought you’d be excited by the opportunity. I was taking a chance offering an unknown up to the writers of the show, but I really believe you’ve got what it takes.”
The doors to the office open before I get to them. His secretary stands in front of me, her dark eyes wide. We’re the same height with her garish red heels. I look down to see she’s wearing the shortest skirt in the history of office attire. “Everything okay in here?”
Theo catches up to me, cradling my elbow. “Raquel, it’s fine. Go back to your desk.”
“It’s fine, I’m leaving,” I insist, slinking away from his touch. As I pass Raquel, she holds her hands up by her bugged out eyes, smirking. I hear Theo quietly arguing with her behind me as I make a dash for the elevators.
In the taxi ride back to the apartment, I’m shaking the entire way. How could Theo think offering me such a position would be okay when we’ve agreed to take things slow? How could he not see how awful it would look to everyone else? As much as I refuse to allow myself to cry, there’s a giant ball stuck in my chest, threatening to turn me into a blubbering mess.
I stumble from the taxi, anxious to crawl into bed and hide beneath the covers for the rest of the day. I nearly rub my eyes in disbelief with the sight of the striking brunette standing outside the apartment building, shifting her weight and frowning as she taps at her smart phone with a manicured finger. A small line of sweat glistens beneath the thick braid on her forehead that continues down off to one side of her face, stopping midway to her core. Her fashionable, short sundress in a bright print could easily be something out of my closet if it weren’t for the fact that she’s a size zero and I’m a four. The gladiator-style sandals she wears are the exact same shade of blue as the flowers on her dress, a detail that doesn’t surprise me in the least.
Between her $200 sunglasses and the designer handbag hanging from her arm that Mom and Dad gave her last Christmas, she could pass for one of the local socialites I’ve seen passing through the neighborhood. Though she’s only a year and a half older than me, my youngest of four sisters always appears at least a decade more grown up just by the way she carries herself. I guess it’s all that grooming they put her through in pageant training.
I balk at her. What in the hell is my sister doing in New York?
TEN
“Glo?” I call out, not sure if I should run toward my sister or away.
When she looks up in my direction, her rich brown eyes soften. “Kel, thank God!”
Glori hurries toward me for a spirited hug. I take it, but don’t make any movements to return the gesture. She’s short enough that her head barely grazes my chin—a curse that she claims stopped her from taking the actual title of pageant beauty queen. I’m actually surprised she isn’t wearing 3 inch heels for once to make up for it.
I inhale with resolve, catching her signature scent of gardenias. “What the fuck are you doing here? How’d you know where to find me?”
“Such language.” She clicks her tongue and backs away, arms crossed. “Mom got your address from Jewels. I guess she got real emotional about it, said she didn’t want to rat you out, but she didn’t want you to make her mistakes or something like that. I don’t know. Mom didn’t tell me the whole conversation because I was in a dressing room for a fitting when she called.”
“Sounds about right,” I mumble to myself. I make a mental note to “thank” Jewels later for giving me a heads up.
A tight-lipped woman with flawless blond hair and a designer track suit walks our way with a handful of leashes, walking a gaggle of Yorkies with little pink bows on their heads. I kneel down to greet them, letting them cover my hands in kisses.
“They’re adorable!” I peer up to see the uptight woman smiling. “What are their names? Are they all yours?”
“Sorry,” Glori apologizes to the woman on my behalf, “she’s been an animal magnet her whole life.” She pulls me back up by my arm. “Focus, Kel. I’m here, remember?”
The woman brushes past us, throwing Glori a confused look. My sister looks up to the apartment building with a lowered gaze I’ve seen a million times before. It’s something she wants. And I’ve witnessed her stepping in stilettos over her “friends” to get whatever her sights are set on. “I thought maybe she gave Mom the wrong address when the cabbie dropped me here. How can you afford to stay in this neighborhood?”
“I have a roommate.” I cross my arms, then quickly uncross them when I realize I’m a mirror image of my big sister. “Seriously, Glo, why are you here?”
She rests her hand on my forearm, her eyes drawn down. “Mom and Dad have been a complete wreck since you took off. Mom goes to the confessional nearly every day. S
he’s worried ‘the devil has her baby in his clutches’.” She hooks her bright pink fingernails in the air as she quotes our mom.
“It’s not like I haven’t been talking to her. I have called her.” I don’t mention how rare or painful those calls have been.
“Yeah, well, they feel responsible for driving you out of town.”
I push her hand away, feeling the anger rise back up. “Basically, they did. You all did.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. What happened was a big misunderstanding. You left Wisconsin on your own.”
Anger boils my blood into lava. I turn to see if our doorman is listening in, but he’s busy chatting it up with one of the Wall Street guys who lives a floor down from us.
I turn back to Glori, forcefully taking her elbow in my grip. “I’m not going to talk about this with you right here.”
“Let go of me!” Glori snaps, clawing at my hand.
I don’t back down, knowing I can take her. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“I’m not going anywhere until we talk about what happened!”
“Hey!” someone calls out behind us. We both whirl around to see Erik marching our way with a messenger bag slung over his shoulder, his expression hard. “What’s this about?”
My spirits crumble down to the sidewalk. If my sister spreads her poisonous lies to him, it’ll all be over. He’ll tell everyone, and the secret I wanted to keep back in Wisconsin will have followed me here.
Glori smooths her dress down at her nearly non-existent waist, narrowing her eyes with suspicion. “I don’t see how it’s any of your business. Who are you?”
“I’m her boyfriend,” Erik answers swiftly, his hard stare on her unrelenting. “Who are you?”
What the actual fuck? I bite down on my bottom lip to keep my jaw from dropping.
Glori scoffs like she’s onto the farce. “Boyfriend? I’m her sister. She hasn’t mentioned a boyfriend to any of us.”
Erik reaches down to lace his fingers with mine. “From what I understand, she hasn’t really been in communication with any of you, so how would you know about me?”
This time my jaw does drop. How does he know I’m not talking to my family? I haven’t even told Jewels what happened. And why is he pretending to be my boyfriend?
If I weren’t so mad at my sister, I’d maybe feel sympathetic the way Erik’s eyes bore into her. “I want to know why you’re standing outside of our apartment, screaming at my girl.”
I’m quiet, still baffled by this new side of Erik. Where is it coming from?
“It’s a family matter,” Glori tells him, raising her chin. “I’m not going to stand on the sidewalk and air our dirty laundry with a stranger.”
“I’m not a stranger,” Erik insists. “And if you can’t treat Kelly with respect, you need to get the hell out of here.”
Glori looks Erik up and down, disbelief spreading across her expression. She finally looks back at me. “I don’t know what this is about, but you and I need to talk when your guard dog is off duty. I’m not leaving the city until we do, so call me.” She spins around, marching out into the street, her arm raised for a taxi.
I make it all the way up into our apartment at Erik’s side until the pressure everything finally releases. I become a sobbing mess in Erik’s arms. His embrace is stiff, making me wonder if he’s ever held a girl like this. I’ve never broke down in a guy’s arms, so I don’t have a lot of experience in the matter either. I’m exhausted from finally letting myself feel all the emotions that have built up ever since I left home.
“Are you going to tell me what you’re blubbering about?” he asks in a cool tone after a few minutes have passed.
I wipe my face and let out a long sigh. “I just wanted to leave the lies back home.” My strained voice crackles.
“Considering your sister’s in the city, it seems the cat’s out of the bag whether you want to admit it or not.”
I look up at him, knowing he’s right. I could only avoid the truth for so long before it would bite me in the ass. I close my eyes for a moment, gathering courage.
“When I was a counselor this summer at my family’s camp, I’d go down to the local tavern for burgers on Friday nights with my three sisters and the other counselors. We’d usually end up closing the place down. One night my sisters were out of town so I went alone and met this older guy who I was attracted to right away. He was sweet and had a great sense of humor. I was intrigued when he told me he trained horses. The way he kept touching my shoulder and giving me these hot glances, I knew he was into me, too. When he asked if he could see me again, I made the decision to keep him a secret, figuring once my sisters Glori or Megan saw him, there’s no way I’d have a chance.
“Our first date was at the state park a few miles down the road from camp. I guess the fact that he didn’t want to meet somewhere public should’ve been my first warning sign that there was something off, but I just figured he was a nature kind of guy and wanted to take me for a picnic or whatever. Once we met up, we were all over each other like magnets. We ended up having sex right there in a grassy field. We met up a bunch of times after that, always in the same park. Our meeting time kept getting later and later at night. He claimed the strange hours were because he was putting in overtime at the factory he worked in. I was stupid enough to believe him.
“The sex was great, and we were really into each other. I considered him my first real boyfriend. If there were other red flags, I didn’t catch on to them until one night about a month and a half into our relationship when he showed up wearing a wedding ring. At first he was embarrassed that he forgot to take it off for our meeting, but then he got crazy mad at me. Like I had any fucking clue he was married. I was crushed because I was falling for him. I told him he was an asshole and I didn’t want to ever see him again. I wasn’t about to break up someone’s marriage.
“But he wouldn’t leave me alone. He started coming to see me at camp, begging for another chance. He told me he was going to leave his wife so we could be together. Glori, the sister you met just now, caught him trying to kiss me. I guess she knew the guy. She told the rest of my family about our ‘affair.’ That’s how I found out that not only was he married with two little kids, but his wife was in hospice care with fourth stage melanoma.”
Erik make a low, throaty sound, but doesn’t say anything.
“I didn’t believe my mom when she first told me all the sickening details, so one night I followed him from the bar to his house. I saw her lying in a hospital bed through the bay windows. She was incredibly frail, skeleton-like. I felt like the biggest dirtbag on the planet and spent half an hour puking my guts out. I swear to God, I never would’ve slept with the guy if I knew any of those things about him. That’s not my style.
“My family accused me of keeping the affair secret, saying I knew he was married and I knew his wife was dying. They’d never been especially proud of me in the past, but this was taking it too far. One of the counselors who hated me for reasons I’ll never understand overheard my sisters talking, and told everyone she knew about the affair. I became the town slut. Turns out the wife was one of the most beloved people around. She was a freaking kindergarten teacher. People started either avoiding me or treating me like I was scum of the earth. Hate emails started pouring in, and I eventually had to close my Facebook account. My car was vandalized. Some woman—I guess it was a sister-in-law—physically attacked me at the grocery store.
“I couldn’t tell Jewels what was going on because she was busy dealing with Adam’s surgery. I didn’t think it was fair to drag her into my mess. When I heard they were moving out here, I jumped at the excuse to get the hell out of town. I threw everything at camp into my suitcase and decided I was leaving for good.
“I’ve never been ashamed that I like to have sex, because I’m single and guys are always telling me I’m amazing in bed, so why should I hold back? I mean, there’s nothing like having a good looking guy look at you in a way that tells you
he wants you. I’ll never get tired of that look. It’s good for a girl’s ego. But everyone was so quick to judge me after what happened with Brad that it made me stop and realize it’s time to reassess my priorities.”
Erik’s smug smirk is almost comforting for a change. “No judgments here. When we first met and you told me your life was a mess, I knew that look you gave me. I figured you were running from a pretty dark secret.”
“I just don’t know what to say to my family. I tried to explain my side a hundred times. They won’t listen. It’s a waste of breath.” I run my hands across my face. “I can’t believe I’m having this conversation with you. I should be telling Jewels.”
He spreads his arms across the back of the couch, looking so sure of himself. “You’re secretly worried she’s going to judge you. I get it.”
“Adam told me what happened between you two,” I blurt.
He stiffens and looks away, stretching his neck. “Obviously you’re not the only one with a dark past. I’ve done a lot of moronic things myself.”
“He says you never apologized.”
Erik looks back at me, the cold chill of anger crossing his gaze. “How could I? I was high on coke and tried to kill my brother. That’s not something you can just apologize for.”
“You could start by telling him you’re sorry.”
“And what if I’m not?”
My blood turns ice cold. I stare at him, waiting for him to take it back.
“My childhood sucked. I was the kid whose parents never came to anything. I was no different than one of the girls in my grade who was in foster care. I was always home alone, because my parents decided the hospital wasn’t a place for healthy young boys. I hated my brother for taking them away from me. It’s fucked up, I know. I don’t expect you to understand.”
“You’re right, I don’t. Not really.” I look down to pick at my fingernails. “At least not how you could want your brother dead.”
Kelly's Quest (NYC LOVE Book 2) Page 12
