by Ava Claire
“Well, he’s a gajillonaire, Sa-die,” She mocked my stern, big sister voice. “I can’t even imagine what kind of digs he has.” She popped to her feet, carefully draping my worn blanket on the back of the couch before she resumed freaking out. “Not that your place isn’t completely adorable! Bohemian chic.”
“Bohemian chic,” I snorted. “Does that mean secondhand and falling apart?”
She ignored me and picked up where she left off with the jumping up and down. “I bet he has a butler! And a private elevator! And a fleet of foreign cars!”
My excitement dimmed with every thing she mentioned. That kind of a lifestyle, with all the trappings of wealth and success, intimidated me more than it thrilled me. What did I have to offer a man that could buy the world? I didn’t want nor need flights to far off places, diamonds, or my picture all over the internet like the women he usually dated.
What the hell had I gotten myself into?
“Uh oh,” Rose had paused her pregame festivities and I hadn’t noticed because I was too busy doing my own version of freaking out. She squeezed on the couch beside me and gently took me by the shoulders. “You’re already trying to talk yourself out of it, aren’t you? Trying to talk yourself out of him because you don’t think you deserve to be spoiled?”
I flashed her a sad smile and gently extricated myself from her grip. “It has nothing to do with not thinking I deserve to be spoiled, Rose. I don’t want to be spoiled. I don’t need to be taken care of. And I don’t belong with a man that has a butler and a private jet and wants to spoil me. I’m no one’s sugar baby.” I looked down at my phone and slumped my shoulders. “This is such a bad idea. I’m going to tell him no-”
“Don’t you dare!” Rose squealed, snatching my phone from my hand.
We were both lanky and long legged, but she got all the athletic genes. I could only chase her around the living room for a few seconds before I was completely out of breath.
I stopped at the kitchen table, yanking out a chair and dropping onto it with a cough. Rose poked her head out from the bedroom, her cheeks flushed, smile waning.
I wasn’t smiling.
She trudged over to me, offering my phone like it was a peace offering. “Sorry.”
I snatched it from her, still hyperventilating. “Not sure what’s up with you and my phone, but it is not okay to treat it like a toy. What are you, 5?”
“I said I was sorry,” Rose snapped, a little more annoyed the second go round than apologetic. She pulled out the chair beside me, tugging at her braid nervously. “You know I was joking with all that rich dude talk, right? I mean, you know him well enough to know he’s not one of those guys.”
I perched my chin on my palm and stared at her blankly. “Do you want the truth or a lie?”
“Sadie, I could just...” She didn’t finish her sentence with words, making a choking motion with her hands instead.
“The feeling is mutual.” I stuck out my tongue at her and laughed, realizing that I’d officially jumped on the five year old bandwagon.
I wished I was more like Rose. We grew up in the same hostile and loveless home and it turned me hard, bitter, and skeptical. She didn’t let the black void of what was missing and what we’d never have dim her ‘arms wide open’ approach to living. I hid in my books and threw myself in my work. Rose still saw the good in people. I worked really hard to root out the reasons I should keep my distance instead of giving people the benefit of the doubt.
“I wish I could see something other than disappointment on the horizon,” I said glumly. “We’re clearly not match, Rose. If he takes me out to some fancy dinner-”
“Sis, do you think a man who woos women with fancy dinners would come to this neighborhood and eat canned spaghetti and pasta out of a box?” She realized she was making her point by dissing me and quickly added, “No offense.”
I shrugged my shoulders, but I contemplated her words. She had a point. If that was the kind of man Jackson was, our first night together would have gone very differently. I wouldn’t be sitting here, trying to convince myself that he was a bad idea, because he never would have gotten past my defenses.
My aversion to being wrong made me answer her as low as I could muster, hoping she didn’t catch my words. “That’s a good point.”
Unfortunately, she had ears like a hawk and heard my words loud and clear. “Just in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a pretty intelligent person.” She patted herself on the back. “Which is why I took what you shared about him in the car and decided to take matters in my own hands.”
I massaged my temple, channeling all my patience. “Just because it ended up working out does not make what you did no big deal. You took my phone and texted him without my permission. Yeah, it ended up going well, but what if it hadn’t? The ends do not justify the means, Rose.”
“I know, I know,” she whined. She sat up a little taller. “And just because Mom broke your heart doesn’t mean that love is stupid and taking risks is a dumb thing to do. Could we go over there and discover that he loves caviar, ecstasy, and making fun of poor people? Maybe. I’d say that the chances of that are slim. I’ve never had a guy answer my texts as quickly as he answered the ones asking him to come over. He likes you, Sadie. He likes you enough that he’s even inviting me over.” She framed her cherubic face like she was about to take a selfie. “As amazing as I am, I’m not that amazing.”
I still wasn’t convinced.
“Look, if I’m wrong, I’ll never force you to watch another episode of L & O. If I’m right, he could end up being the one. The freaking one, Sadie. Some people search their whole life for a partner who looks at them the way Jackson looks at you.”
I bit my lip and dropped my eyes to the table. I wasn’t ready to look at my embarrassment in her eyes. “You’re just a hopeless romantic.”
“And despite the show you put on for the world, so are you,” she winked. Not one to beat around the bush or take no for an answer, she launched into action. “Now, are you gonna text him, or am I? We need to find you something sexy to wear!”
~
I wasn't sure what I was expecting when our cab pulled to the curb, but when I peered out the window at Jackson’s building, I was at a loss for words. It was barely different from my own except it was a little fresher off the ‘standard urban apartment building’ assembly line and was in a much nicer area of the city.
My sister was not speechless. “This is it?”
Despite her whole bit about not really expecting a castle and limousines, disappointment tinged her voice. I, on the other hand, was relieved.
I paid the fare and slipped out of the car first, wiggling my toes in the ridiculous open toe wedge shoes I'd let Rose talk me into. If she had her way, I’d be in a skin tight black dress with a body hugging jean jacket to 'make it cas'. I'd vetoed the dress and gone with a black tank top and jeans instead. The wedges stayed and while I would have been more comfortable in something flat and practical, they did make my outfit pop. I'd warded off her flat iron and pinned my hair into a bun instead and my makeup was low key except for my begrudging acceptance of a pop of color. My lips were fire engine red and I was sure I'd be paranoid about lipstick on my teeth all night. I refrained from wiping it off after Sadie let out of a squeal of glee when she was done applying it.
There was a doorman standing dutifully at the entrance and he flashed us both a welcoming grin as he held open the door. "Welcome to 111 Pine!”
We stepped over the threshold and instantly found out that Pine was more than the name of the street the building was on. It was like someone had pulled inspiration from the Pacific Northwest and brought the essence of the woods here. The walls were bleached white and the floor was a pearlescent marble, but the colors that swirled around the lobby were warm colors, green, red, and mahogany. Wooden sculptures transported us to the great outdoors, the branches and grooves sparkling with bits of turquoise and precious metals. A wire and stone art installation hung from the
ceiling. The natural light that flowed from the world outside reminded me of the sun peeking between the leaves. Even the air smelled like pine and rain.
It was nothing like my apartment building after all, but it wasn't cold and off putting like some of the apartment buildings I'd seen online, browsing for kicks because anything that wasn't on Craigslist was definitely out of my price range. It was somewhere in between the two extremes.
It was just right.
There was a slender white table that ran down the middle of the lobby, surrounded by wooden stools with metallic legs. There was a receptionist behind a desk, perched below the name of the building, etched out in mosaic-like pieces of tile. I was just planning on grabbing one of those hipster stools and texting Jackson that we were here. Rose didn't have a patient bone in her body, so she practically skipped to the desk. I eyed them warily and smirked as I watched my sister charm the brunette who I was pretty sure had been moments away from asking us if we were lost.
Rose beckoned me to come join her and I gripped my purse and projected a confidence that I didn't feel. The closer I got to seeing Jackson again, the more I wondered if I truly got the gravity of what we were doing.
My phone hummed in my purse and I paused to look at it, half wishing he was texting to cancel.
It was my mother.
I almost answered it, but Rose's giggle reminded me that my priority was with me. If my mother had a problem, she could ask her gross boyfriend for help.
Rose performed the introductions. “Laura, this is my sister, Sadie. Sadie, Laura.”
“Sadie...” Laura stroked her glossy brown locks out of her dark eyes and they narrowed, like something was on the tip of her tongue, but she was struggling to get it out. She snapped her fingers. "The Beatles!"
Most people thought there was an interesting story behind my name, and I'd even asked my mother a couple of times. Her answer was that she just thought it was a cool name.
I held my smile a few more beats. "Yep."
Rose crinkled her nose at me, picking up on my annoyance. She didn’t stay annoyed, because it wasn’t in her nature. She turned the sun back on, smiling at Laura like they were old friends. "We're here to see Jackson Colt. Maybe you know him? Tall, dark hair-"
"And sexy?" Laura finished, licking her lips like he was a dish she was dying to try. The pang of jealousy that washed through me kept on trucking. He was tall, dark, and sexy...and for some reason, he invited us to dinner—not Laura. That was more than enough reason for me to not be petty.
"That's the one," I answered brightly, looping an arm through Rose’s. I’d fake it until I made it. "Could you let him know we're here?"
"Actually, he already called down and told me to be expecting you two." Laura opened a drawer and pulled out a keycard. From the lobby, her control center looked pretty modest, but she had a screen filled with multiple monitors, a laptop, a desktop, and a separate computing system that she gave her full attention to. She typed a few numbers on a key pad and when the indicator light flashed green, she swiped the card through the reader.
She swiveled back to face us and held out the card to me.
"Just head down the corridor directly to the right of my desk and you'll see the elevator. Swipe this key when you're inside and press P."
"For parking?" Rose asked with a tiny frown.
"Penthouse," Laura answered with a wink. She gave me a quick once over and picked her iPad back up. "Have a good night!"
Rose was tugging me down the corridor and suddenly all the things that I found endearing and quirky were museum like and sterile. The walls reminded me of a hospital. The wood reminded me of a coffin. Who wears a black tank top and jeans to dinner with a billionaire? Who lives in a apartment complex where you don't even use keys to get to your house?
I followed Rose into the elevator, sweat exploding at my temple as the doors slid closed behind us. Great. Now I was ruining my makeup. Jackson was going to take one look at me and call security, because clearly a mistake had been made.
I opened my mouth to tell her I couldn't do it, but she didn't let me get a syllable out.
"You like him, he likes you, it's just dinner." She plucked the card out of my hand and swiped it over a slender black panel and hit the P button.
And just like that, the swarm of nerves in my stomach dissipated and became a gentle flutter. I sniffed and crossed my arms as we glided toward the penthouse floor. "Not sure what you mean. I'm totally fine."
"Heck yeah you are," Rose confirmed, all but swinging her pom poms for Team Sadie. When I glanced over at her, she flashed me a thumbs up.
The doors slid open and I strode out, all the things that should have kept me glued to the elevator, pounding the lobby button before I saw his face, his eyes, a distant memory.
I was too busy taking in a billionaire's loft that looked nothing like I imagined it would.
Brick walls gave it an urban, chill vibe that instantly reminded me of the hustle and bustle of the city. The hardwood floor beneath my feet was simultaneously chic and classy, but not off putting. It made me feel right at home, like I could kick off my shoes and flex my toes on the cool surface.
Rose was already down the corridor, following the smell of something warm and definitely decadent. I paused when I saw a framed cover of Forbes Magazine. Jackson took up the entire frame, arms crossed, eyes burning a hole through anyone who dared to get in his way.
My phone trembled in my purse again and I didn't even silence it. I let it rock against my hip, lost in the blue. If I didn't know him, I would have been intimidated. Now, I just saw something familiar. He had the same "don't mess with me" glare that I kept glued to my face too.
A rich voice, hard and powerful, rang out behind me. "That was my first cover. I look pretty badass, huh?"
His voice alone was enough to make goosebumps ripple up and down my bare arms. I crossed them, smiling at the frame and waiting. He stopped just beside me, and I took a minute to admire the man I knew and the man he showed to the rest of the world.
"You look like you want everyone to think you're a badass. I know you're secretly a big ole softie with a penchant for redheads."
I watched his reflection ease closer and I knew exactly where he was headed. My body sighed with anticipation when his lips brushed against my ear. He made me come alive.
"There's one particular redhead I have a penchant for."
I licked my lips and leaned into him. "Is that right?"
"Mmhm," he purred against my earlobe, then took it between his teeth and tugged.
"Oh my God! Sadie you have to-" Rose's chipper voice flew into the hallway and came to an abrupt stop when she saw us. We stepped away from each other like we'd been caught.
"Sorry!" Rose stifled a giggle with one hand and held up a bucket of chicken with the other.
I almost rubbed my eyes, sure they were deceiving me. "Is that-"
"A box of fried chicken? Yep,” Jackson smirked. “You two shared some comfort food with me, so I figured it was only polite to do the same."
I marveled at him. The fact that he was drop dead freaking sexy was only part of it. I ran my fingers through his dark hair, tousling the waves as a smile spread across my lips. "Where did you come from?"
From the playful curve of his lips, I half expected him to say, ‘your dreams’. Instead, he roped my waist and pulled my body to his, pressing a gentle kiss on my lips. The heat that rushed over me and settled on my cheeks was arousal, surprise, and a dose of embarrassment when Rose called out, ‘Gimme some of that!’, making the moment perfect and too much at the same time.
Laughing, I broke away from Jackson and headed toward my sister. "Looks like you began the tour and dinner without us."
“Sadie, wait until you see the view from his terrace!" I practically saw the hearts bursting from her eyeballs. "He has a freaking terrace!"
I glanced over at Jackson and if I didn't know better, I'd say he was blushing. I could have given him a hard time about it, but
my heart was too full to do anything but smile. When he reached for my hand and interlaced his fingers with mine, I couldn't help but do the very thing that I'd been running from as far back as I could remember.
I hoped for something more.
I hoped for love.
The smell of chicken and biscuits intensified and just as I reached Rose and got ready to take the box of chicken and hand it back to our host, my phone buzzed again.
"Ugh," I groaned, ruffling through my purse and snatching out my phone. I expected to see my mother's number, but it was a different number altogether. I recognized the area code. It was someone from our neck of the woods.
I almost let it go to voicemail, so whoever was on the other end could see that they had the wrong number, but I decided to answer it.
"Hi," I started, ready to make it quick so I could get back to Jackson and Rose. "You have the wrong-"
"Is this Sadie McLeod?"
My smile fell right off my face and I slammed to a stop, yanking my hand from Jackson's. "Yes? Who is this?”
"I'm Marissa," the woman on the other end said. "I'm a nurse here at Mercy General. The charge nurse knows your mother and I found her number in your phone-"
"Wait, what?!" I whipped toward the wall, pressing my hands against it. Needing something stable, as everything crumbled around me. Mom was in the hospital?! "I don't...I can't-"
"Your mother was brought into the emergency room earlier tonight." The woman's voice took on a somber tone that told me that this was real. "She's in critical condition, Sadie. You need to get here as soon as possible.”
~
Thank you for taking the time to read Irrational (Underneath It All: Book Two). Please consider leaving a review. xoxo, AC
About The Author
Ava Claire is a sucker for Alpha males and happily ever afters. When not putting pen to paper or glued to her e-reader, Ava likes road tripping, karaoke, vintage fashion, and fantasizing about her favorite book boyfriends.
