Huffing and puffing, she paused at the ground floor and made a mental note to look into renewing her gym membership.
Carefully, she opened the door and looked out to see if anyone was around. When she noted she was somewhat alone, she stepped out and went out the side door. Leaning against the building, she pulled out her phone and immediately pulled up her Uber app and requested a car.
“Oh, thank God,” she sighed when one was only two minutes away.
Those two minutes felt like an eternity, and she was certain that any minute Drew was going to come running out of the building looking for her. She hadn’t left a note, but he’d have to be an idiot not to notice she was gone. When he got up to their room and all her stuff was gone, she would hope he’d realize what happened.
But he wouldn’t have any idea why.
“Once I’m in the car, I’ll text,” she muttered. “Maybe.”
Her ride arrived, and she tried to sprint but ended up looking more like an idiot walking over hot coals because her toe was throbbing. Giving up on even trying to be smooth, she got to the car and threw herself into the backseat. She refused to look back and kept her eyes closed for several minutes while she tried to calm herself down.
That’s when her phone started to ring.
Drew.
It would be childish–well, more childish–for her to ignore his call, so she answered.
“Hello.”
“Hey,” he said, but she could hear the uncertainty in his voice. “What’s going on? Where are you?”
Letting out a long breath, she explained about getting out of her massage and seeing him with Jimmy.
“I heard your conversation.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah,” she said blandly.
“Why did you stand there and listen? Why didn’t you let me know you were there?”
“Seriously? Why didn’t you defend me or tell Jimmy he was wrong, huh?”
“You were eavesdropping!” he yelled.
“And you’ve been lying to me all this time!” she countered. The driver glanced at her in the rearview mirror, but she didn’t care. “I believed you, Drew. I didn’t trust you at first, but I thought we were past all that. I thought I had been wrong about you all this time.” She shook her head and willed herself not to cry. “But it turns out I was right all along.”
“Chelsea, please. Just let me explain…”
“There’s nothing to explain. You lied. You used me.” She let out a mirthless laugh. “You convinced me that I shouldn’t trust my friends, but the joke’s on me. Clearly, I can’t trust anyone. Especially you.”
“Chels, come on. That’s not true! Jimmy took me by surprise! I was completely freaked out by everything he said, and when I was about to speak up, he left!”
“Convenient.”
“Okay, yes, I could see where the timing would seem suspicious to you…”
“It would be suspicious to everyone.”
He sighed loudly. “Can you just tell me where you are? We need to talk about this.”
“Why? So you can go tell Jimmy and Bianca more stuff about me? Want to make sure you put the final nail in our friendship? Well, …screw you, Fredo!”
“Fredo?”
“Yeah, Fredo,” she said tartly. “Or better yet, Pettigrew.”
“Are you having a stroke right now?”
“Oh my God! How are you not getting this? Fredo? The Godfather! He was a big fat traitor to the family! You should be real familiar with that movie considering you’re Italian. That trilogy is probably gospel to you.”
“Hey! That’s offensive and stereotyping!”
“And Peter Pettigrew from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? He was a big fat rat! Any of this ringing any bells for you?”
“Yeah, I’m not really a big Harry Potter fan…”
“Just another reason why you are the absolute worst. I swear I don’t know what I was thinking hooking up with you. It seriously must be Stockholm syndrome.” She shuddered at her own stupidity.
Again.
“Stockholm…we’ve been over this, Chelsea! I did not kidnap you and that’s not something to joke around about!”
“That’s exactly what a kidnapper would say.”
“Ma’am?” the driver asked nervously. “Are you okay?”
She waved him off. “I’m fine now. Thank you.”
“Who are you talking to?” Drew asked. “Are you down in the lobby?”
“It doesn’t matter where I am,” she argued. “I’m no longer any of your concern.”
He let out another long breath. “You’re being dramatic and a little like your old self.”
If he was within reach, she’d strangle him right now.
“Yeah, thanks. That really makes me want to keep talking to you,” she said sarcastically. “Goodbye, Drew.”
“Chelsea, wait!” he yelled, and she must be a glutton for punishment because she actually stopped herself from hanging up.”
“What?” she snapped. “What else is there possibly to say?”
“Just…he was wrong. You have to believe me. Nothing that happened between us had anything to do with Jimmy or this wedding or anything. It was about the two of us finally connecting.”
For a minute, she started to weaken–started to believe him.
“It wouldn’t have mattered what I said to Jimmy at that moment. You would have only heard what he said and nothing else.”
Again, she was ready to strangle him.
“I guess we’ll never know, will we?” she said sadly. They were both quiet for a moment. “Look, this is all for the best, if you think about it.”
“I don’t see how.”
“Now your friendship with Jimmy is safe. We both know this wasn’t your fight, Drew. You just got dragged into it. Now he thinks you’re some kind of hero and I’m finally out of their lives.”
“Chelsea…”
“No, really. It’s okay. I hate that it all happened this way, but…you helped me.” And damn did it pain her to have to admit that.
“What?”
“It’s true. You gave me the push I needed to break up with Bianca. We both know I wouldn’t have done it on my own. I’m too much of a damn pushover.” Her voice started to shake and she took a few seconds to regain her composure. “So, thank you. Now I can move forward and stop feeling bad about myself because of how Bianca treated me.” Swallowing hard, she saw the first signs for the Savannah airport. It was a shockingly short drive. “I need to go, Drew. Have a safe trip home.”
“Chelsea, please…”
“Goodbye, Drew.” She hung up before she could change her mind and immediately turned off her phone. It wasn’t a long-term solution because she’d have to turn it back on eventually, but for right now, she could handle the silence. There were so many details she needed to work out and they were all overwhelming.
First, she had to find a flight home.
Probably should have looked that up before I rode all the way here…
Then she’d have to figure out what life was going to look like in the coming weeks. She had no doubt that Bianca already told Kendall and Shauna about what happened, so she was essentially going to be friendless for the foreseeable future.
Ugh…now I’ll really need to join the gym just to meet new people.
And probably the biggest hurdle she was going to have was getting over Drew. It was hard to believe how this short weekend really affected her. For a year she thought she hated him, but once they got past all of the animosity, Chelsea realized there were strong feelings there that had nothing to do with hate.
Of all the times for me to fall in love…
And yeah, painful though it was to admit, she had no doubt in her mind that she was already in love with Drew Russo.
Damn him.
Why did he have to turn out to be an even bigger jerk than she ever imagined?
And why did he have to break her heart so damn soon?
The knock on his door had Drew lu
nging for it–hopeful it was Chelsea coming back to him. He pulled it open and wanted to slam it shut again.
Bianca.
Oh good. Bridal Barbie is here.
Wearing a blindingly white strapless dress that was way too tight for a wedding dress–at least, what he thought of as a wedding dress–Bianca waltzed into the room like she owned it. “Where is she?”
“What?”
Turning on her ridiculously high heels, she looked at him with annoyance. “Where is Chelsea?”
Drew leaned against the open door and hoped she’d take the hint that she wasn’t welcome here. “She’s not here.”
“Oh, please. Jimmy told me the two of you were sleeping together. Don’t try to tell me she got a separate room.” She snorted with disgust. “Look, I’m getting married in fifteen minutes and I need to know where she is. Now.” Crossing her arms over her already pushed-up breasts, she glared at him. “Well?!”
“I’m not sure what part of ‘she’s not here’ you’re not getting, but look for yourself. Her stuff is gone and so is she.” And man did it hurt to say that out loud.
Stomping around the room while huffing and puffing, Bianca made a big show of searching the room–even opening the dresser drawers and looking behind the bathroom door. She spun around and faced him. “Well, where is she?”
All he could do was shrug. “I don’t know. Gone. On her way home, I’m sure.”
“But…I’m getting married!”
“Uh…yeah. I know. We all know,” he said impatiently. “Don’t you need to go?”
“How can I? Chelsea’s supposed to be my maid of honor!”
Drew was fairly certain his eyes were bugging out and his jaw had to be on the floor. Was this woman for real? Swallowing hard, he pushed away from the door and knew he couldn’t hold back. He’d made that mistake already today and he wasn’t going to do it again.
“Your maid of honor? You’re kidding, right?” he snarled, stalking toward her.
Bianca stumbled back a foot. “No,” she said weakly. “Why?”
“Besides the fact that you were ridiculously hateful to her earlier, you mean? Or how about the fact that you’ve always been a total bitch to her? Hell, in the year that I’ve known you, you’ve never said one nice thing about her! You were pissed off that she even showed up here, so why on earth would you think she would be anything for you?”
“Um…”
“Are you really this cruel or are you just damn clueless?” he demanded, his voice rising with each word.
“I…I should go…”
“Chelsea’s gone and it’s all your fault!” he shouted. “This whole damn thing is your fault! You create drama everywhere you go! You’re a damn narcissistic sociopath!” With his own snort of disgust, Drew stormed over to the door and opened it again. “Get out!”
Bianca seemed uncertain. “Drew, you have to realize…”
“I don’t have to anything,” he said, his teeth clenched. “I knew I had you pegged right from the beginning. Chelsea was right about you. I only wish Jimmy was smart enough to dump your selfish ass. Now get out.” When she didn’t move fast enough for him, he added, “Now!”
Once she was gone, he slammed the door. Honestly, he would have preferred to punch something, but there wasn’t anyone around. It would be wrong to call Jimmy just for the purpose of hitting him, right?
Walking over to the bed, he collapsed on it. “I need help.” Closing his eyes, his mind spun with all the ways this day had gone downhill. Earlier, when they were still in the car, he never should have left the decision up to Chelsea; he should have put his foot down and said to hell with her needing closure. At the time, it seemed like the mature and responsible way to handle things, but now? Now he wished he had turned the car around and taken them someplace else. They’d probably be out to a nice dinner right now and then go back to their room for another amazing night.
Now he was alone and even though hardly any time had passed, he was already hating it. He missed her. He needed her.
He was quite possibly in love with her.
“Damn.” Groaning, he realized he had no idea what to do with himself now. It was too late to start driving home, and even the thought of driving all the way back to New York alone made him feel even worse. If he left first thing in the morning, he could realistically drive home in one day. It would be fourteen hours’ worth of driving, but it was better than stopping for the night along the way and being alone. He’d rather get the damn drive out of the way and sleep in his own bed tomorrow night.
Alone.
There was another knock at his door and he knew it wasn’t going to be Chelsea. Sighing wearily, he got up and walked over to open the door and found Jimmy standing there looking just as tired as he was. Without a word, he shoved the door the rest of the way open and walked away, figuring his friend would just follow him inside.
“What did you say to Bianca?” Jimmy asked, his tone mild and fairly unconcerned.
“Don’t you have a wedding to get to?” Sitting down on the desk chair, he raked a hand through his hair and wished like hell this whole situation was over.
“Right now, Bianca’s fixing her makeup because you made her cry. Where’s Chelsea so we can just fix this mess and move on?”
“I already told her that Chelsea left.” He motioned to the whole room. “Her stuff’s gone. She heard our conversation and left.”
“Why?”
The longer this went on, the more Drew realized that maybe Jimmy and Bianca were perfect for each other after all. They were both clueless.
When his friend continued to stare at him blankly, all he could do was rub his head. “Because she heard what you said.”
Still no reaction.
“And she thinks I only slept with her to help you out!”
And…still nothing.
Jumping to his feet, Drew advanced on Jimmy. “And it’s not true! How are you not getting this?”
If anything, now there was total confusion on his face. “Then why didn’t you say something down in the lobby?”
“Um, when? You talked non-freaking-stop and then left!” He began to pace. “And on top of that, everything you said just took me by surprise and I couldn’t collect my thoughts quickly enough.” Turning, he faced Jimmy. “I didn’t sleep with Chelsea for any reason other than I wanted to! I learned a lot about her on this trip, and I’ve always found her attractive.” Groaning, he added, “But like an idiot, I listened to you and everyone else and formed an opinion of her that turned out to be completely untrue!”
“Now you’re just thinking with your dick,” Jimmy stated. “Because she’s crazy. I mean, look at what she did today alone! Now Bianca’s without a maid of honor!” He shook his head. “Wanna be my best man?”
That was it. Any minute, his head was going to explode.
“No, I don’t want to be your best man! I don’t want anything to do with this ceremony!” He started pacing again. “All this wedding has done is ruin everything! Friendships are over and Chelsea’s never going to talk to me again and it’s all because you can’t say no to Malibu Barbie!”
“Hey!” Jimmy shouted and then stopped and blinked. “Wait…Malibu who?”
“Oh my God! Bianca! You can’t say no to Bianca!”
“Why’d you call her that Malibu thing?”
“I’m not doing this with you right now,” Drew said, beyond frustrated. Taking Jimmy by the shoulders, he spun him around and shoved him toward the door. “Go! Leave! Go make the biggest mistake of your life! I’m done!”
“Biggest mistake? But…”
Drew didn’t let him finish. He gave him that last final shove out the door before slamming it shut.
The first thing that came to his mind was how he now completely understood Chelsea’s frustration with him over the phone earlier. He had been just as clueless as Jimmy and the whole scenario that just played out in his room was painful.
Before he could second-guess himself, he pulled o
ut his phone and typed out a quick text to her.
Drew: Hey. I don’t know if you’ll read this but you have to know–again–how sorry I am. I just told Jimmy off and said that he was making the biggest mistake of his life. Not sure it will change anything but…I wanted you to know.
He stared at the screen and waited for any sign of Chelsea responding, but all it said was “sent”.
Drew: I miss you. I was really looking forward to road tripping back to Long Island with you.
After he hit send, he knew it would be pointless to wait for a reply. He was sure that she turned her phone off and even if she hadn’t, he was probably the last person she wanted to talk to.
Or at least in the bottom three.
There wasn’t much of anything else for him to do. Sightseeing held zero appeal without Chelsea and he wasn’t in the mood to go out to eat by himself. The only thing to do was to order some room service, try to get some sleep, and get on the road as early as possible in the morning.
Feeling good about having a plan, he walked over and picked up the room service menu and sat on the side of the bed. His foot kicked something and when he crouched down and looked under the bed, he spotted Chelsea’s Kindle. Smiling, he picked it up and placed it on the bed next to him. Within minutes, he had decided on treating himself to a kind of mixed bag dinner–crab cake appetizer, a bacon double cheeseburger with fries as his entrée, and a slice of chocolate cream pie for dessert, along with a bottle of beer, a bottle of soda, and a bottle of water.
“And I’m not going to feel weird about it at all,” he murmured as he picked up the phone to place his order.
When he hung up the phone, he turned on the bed, leaned against the pillows and picked up the Kindle. The right thing to do was to put it in his suitcase and mail it to her when he got home.
But he was never particularly good at doing the right thing, so…
Turning it on, he looked at her collection of books–which was quite eclectic. There were more romances than anything, but even they seemed very diverse judging from their covers. Historical romances, contemporary ones, and–again, based on the covers–some pretty sexy-looking ones. After that, there were a few biographies, a couple of thrillers, some cookbooks, and one lone self-help book for introverts.
Wrong Turn: Road Tripping Series Page 17
