by Lauren Wood
“I never really thought about it. Life got busy and I haven’t really had any time for things like that.”
It was a lame excuse. I knew that. I could hear it in my voice. There was no conviction and I was sure that Greg could hear it too. He had to understand that I was dying inside to talk to him and to be so close to him. I knew that I wanted him, badly, but I don’t think he ever really knew how much I liked him and loved him. I was always quiet with my feelings, but for some reason I was finding it hard to hold it all in. I felt like I was going to burst and again all I could think about was getting away from him so that I could breathe again.
“Come have a drink with me. It has been fourteen years and I think that there is much for us to catch up on.”
I told him that I wanted to, but I couldn’t. I had to get home and get up early. I didn’t mention that my son had to be picked up and brought his clothes because he always forgot something. I didn’t want him to know about Alfie. I wasn’t ready for that, if I ever was. There was a part of me that didn’t think I would ever be able to go down that route.
“Come on Mandy, you can’t give me the time for just one drink? Not for old time’s sake at least?”
I couldn’t tell him no. That was a big problem and had always been that way for as long as I could remember. I wanted to do everything and anything to please him and there was a part of me that still felt that way, whether I wanted to or not.
“Yes, but just one. You have your friend waiting for you.”
“And who do you have waiting for you Mandy?”
I didn’t really give him an answer, just walked to the bar and waited for the bartender to get around to serving us. The sooner I got the drink, the quicker I would be able to get it down and then find Alise to get out of there. I was suffocating again and I knew that it was Greg that was taking up all of the oxygen in the room. He looked good, like always and I couldn’t help the way my body reacted to him. Greg still looked like he had then and it was hard not to relive some of the better parts of our six month relationship.
CHAPTER 3
MANDY
“I forgot how easy it was to talk to you.”
He waved me off. I was working on my third drink that had started with just one. I didn’t want to go and I didn’t actually have to go, but then Alise popped up and I was forced to make a decision.
“Are you coming home with me or what?”
Alise was looking at me strangely and I was sure that she was trying to figure out who Greg was and what it was that I was doing there with him. I could tell she was also trying to figure out how wasted I was. I wasn’t but her evaluator look made me rethink what it was that I was doing. I had long since ignored the looks from his friend from across the bar, but Alise was harder to deny.
“Yeah, I am. Sorry I got sidetracked.”
She didn’t say much, her attention on Greg. “And you are?”
“Gregory Smith.”
Alise knew the name and I could tell the recognition in her eyes before she glanced over at me. I waited for her to straighten up and not say anything. I knew she wouldn’t, but she didn’t have a poker face either.
“He’s an old friend that I used to go to school with a long time ago.”
I could feel Greg looking at me and not liking the way I had summed up our relationship. I didn’t know honestly what else to say about it, so it worked for me. Alise finally snapped it together and I was thankful for that.
“Well it was nice seeing you again Greg. We should catch up again some time.”
Greg wanted to stop me, I could see it in his eyes and the determined look of his chin, but I also knew that I shouldn’t. He took my hand and pulled a pen from the credit card receipt he had just signed. I felt him write something in my palm and made me promise to call him.
“I’ll be waiting for your call Mandy.”
I nodded, but I could feel my face getting red like my hair. It really was good to see him again, no matter what old memories and haunts that he brought up. It was good to see that life was treating him well by the looks of it. He was successful and still just as handsome as ever.
CHAPTER 4
GREG
I was still watching the door that she had left out of, still not sure that what had happened was real. Amber was next to me when I looked back to the empty drink that was in front of me, as well as the one that was next to it that Mandy had used.
“Are you ready to go?”
An hour ago, before I had seen Mandy, I was ready to take Amber back to my hotel and give her everything that I had. She had already pleasured me in the bathroom and now it was her turn. She had been patience and though she was as pretty as she was before, more so now that I was a little drunker, I didn’t want her. The last thing I wanted to do was go anywhere with her. Everything had changed.
“No, I think I am going to head out. I’m not feeling so good all of a sudden.”
Her blue eyes looked at me as if I was lying. She was someone that I used to know as well, though Amber was just a friend that I went and seen when I was back in town. It was every few weeks and it had been a regular thing for several years. Amber was not happy with me and I knew that she wasn’t going to go quietly. While I tried to get her out the door before she blew up, I was a little too late and some trickled out before we cleared all of the people. The last thing that I needed to do was start a scene. It was bad enough that I was there with her when Mandy showed up. I didn’t need any more gossip about me reaching her ears. Not when I was trying to get another chance.
“Who is she!?”
I knew which she Amber was talking about. I didn’t want her to get her nose in it so I told her that she was just an old friend that I used to know a long time ago. Amber wasn’t buying it, but I didn’t owe her anything, so I didn’t say much else. It was too hard to explain it in my own head. How was I supposed to say it to her when I didn’t quite know what it was that I was doing or why I still felt the clinch in my heart all of these years later. There had always been something about Mandy and the draw I had to her was still undeniable.
“I have to go Amber. I will give you a call in the morning before I head out.”
“So that is it?”
Her red lips were pouting and for a moment I almost went with her because I needed the release that she would give me. Amber was many things, but she always was one to pleasure me well.
“For now. I just wouldn’t be any good the way I am feeling and you deserve better.”
It sounded good in my head, but reflected back in her eyes, I knew that it was a load of crap. She stormed off and if I was smart, I would have gone after her, told her that I was just feeling off and offer her a quiet night in with me. There were a lot of things I could have done, but I just let her go. She wasn’t the one that I wanted and now that I saw Mandy again, I remembered why no one else had done all of these years.
Driving back to the hotel, my mind slipped to Mandy. She looked the same as she always had. Her red hair was a bit longer and a bit more tamed, but it was still the same as when I had buried my fingers through her hair while we were making love. I had always loved her hair and there was a part of me that had ached to smell it, wondering if she still used the same shampoo as before. I would never admit to how long I had spent in grocery stores trying to find the right bottle, just so I could have that smell of her. I never found it and if I did get to see her again, I knew that I was going to have to find out what it was.
The room in the hotel was a lot smaller than I remembered and I was sure that it was because I was pacing before I went to bed. I couldn’t stop thinking about Mandy and all of the things that we had done together when we were young. She was the one that I thought of late at night when I was alone. Now I wondered if she was ever going to call me. Had I missed the only chance to see her that I was ever going to get? The idea was unsettling and I knew that there was a part of me that was never going to get her back. That sort of thing was only in my dreams.
***
“Morning sunshine.”
I smiled into the phone and wiped the sleep from my eyes. Looking at the clock, it had only been a couple of hours since I had lay down and though I was supposed to leave in a couple of hours, I was still debating what to do. It is what had kept me up all of this time and I was no closer to an answer than when I had started asking the question to myself last night.
“Did you get some rest before your flight?”
“Yeah.”
“Liar.”
I sat up and wiped my eyes until they were a little sore. I hadn’t really gotten any sleep, but that wasn’t any matter. I still had a million things to do and the only one that was going to get them done was me.
“I was going to bring over some breakfast before I left for the week. Do you have anything in particular that you would like?”
My Aunt Dawn told me that there wasn’t anything that she could think about and I was just going to have to pick something out for her. I knew that she wanted French toast, but she would never really ask for it because of her diabetes. She knew that I would tell her no, so she didn’t even ask anymore.
I hung up the phone and realized that it was still a little while before my flight and I was thankful that she woke me up instead of me waking up at the last minute and not getting to go see her. It had been a long time since I had missed a flight out of Watertown, but the last time I had been forced to rent a car and drive back to Chicago. It was easier to pay a little more and let someone else do the traveling.
I checked to see if there were any messages that I had somehow missed. I was waiting for Mandy to call me. I was sure she would, but then again, she had ghosted me so many years ago. There was no telling if she was just going to do it again. I tried to tell myself that I wouldn’t care like I had the last time, but I would have only been fooling myself. If I never heard from her again, I would be devastated like the last time.
**END OF PREVIEW**
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Thank you very much for downloading! I hope you enjoyed my book!
If you are OBSESSED with bad boys, you can find him here of all kinds. My alpha males are strong enough to make the hard decision in life but sweet enough to melt for his mate. I write about smart, sexy, sassy and hot alphas. If you are a passionate romance reader and love reading bad boy books, then stay in tune.
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