by A. M. Myers
“Unfortunately, I haven’t brought good news. Your sister was really upset by your behavior at dinner and she asked me to come speak to you.”
My brows knit together as I watch him. “And why wouldn’t she just talk to me herself?”
“Because she doesn’t want to speak to you ever again,” he says casually and it cuts deep. Ivy doesn’t want to speak to me ever again?
“What? No, that can’t be.”
“Yes, I’m afraid so. She also asked me to inform you that your invitation to the wedding has been rescinded.”
His statement crashes down on me like a bomb and I plant my hands on the desk in front of me to keep from stumbling as I try to process his words. She’s cutting me out of her life completely?
“She wouldn’t do this,” I mutter, more to myself but Julian lets out a tsk from the doorway.
“I’m afraid she would. Her future is with me and she doesn’t want your negative energy destroying our relationship. She wants you gone and I support her decision so please don’t come around anymore.”
He flashes me a look of pity before spinning and walking out of my office like he didn’t just completely destroy me. I still can’t wrap my mind around everything he just said. Ivy wasn’t happy at the dinner, but she didn’t seem so upset that she’d kick me out of her life. And she doesn’t want me at her wedding? I was going to be her maid of honor and now I’m nothing? What is happening? I sink into my chair and slap my hand over my mouth as tears sting my eyes. Maybe it’s not coming from Ivy, though. Maybe this is all Julian’s doing.
Convinced this whole thing is a huge mistake, I grab my phone and dial Ivy’s number before pressing it to my ear. I wait, for what feels like forever, to hear a ring but instead, I get a disconnected notice. No, there must be some mistake. Shaking my head, I dial again. The same message as before plays in my ear and I toss the phone to my desk as I drop my head into my hands and the tears start to fall.
No.
No.
No.
“Carly, there was one…” Mercedes’ words cut off mid-sentence and I glance up at her. She covers her heart with her hand. “Sweetie, what happened?”
“Nothing. I’m sorry.” I wipe my eyes, trying to regain control of my emotions but it’s difficult. My thoughts keep drifting back to Ivy and the tears continue to fall. “It’s Julian.”
“Oh, no, did he break up with you or something?” she asks, a sympathetic look on her face.
Ew, no.
I shake my head. “He’s engaged to my sister and he just told me she doesn’t want me to come to the wedding. I tried calling her, but her phone is disconnected.”
“Oh, no. That’s terrible but it has to be some kind of mistake, right?” she asks and I wish my own optimism wasn’t shrinking so fast. “Take the rest of the day off and go figure this out. We can deal with all of this on Monday.”
“Are you sure?” I ask out of habit. I won’t be any good to her for the rest of the day and we both know it.
“Absolutely.”
I nod, grabbing my things as I rise to my feet and she walks around the desk and wraps her arms around me.
“Thank you.”
She nods. “Of course. I’m sure this will all work out and you’ll feel like a new woman on Monday.”
“I hope you’re right,” I say, forcing a smile to my face as she releases me before heading back to her office. Checking to make sure I have everything I need before walking out to my car, I try desperately to not lose it again. After I slip behind the wheel, I grab my phone out of the passenger seat and stare down at the screen as I scroll through my contacts, unsure of who I should call. The person I really want to talk to right now has a disconnected number and apparently doesn’t want me in their life. Without thinking, I dial my mother’s number and press the phone to my ear.
“Yes, Carly,” she answers and I break down in a sob. I can practically hear her roll her eyes through the phone. “What is going on?”
“It’s Ivy. Julian just came into my office and said they don’t want me coming to the wedding and Ivy doesn’t want me in her life.”
“And?”
“What do you mean “and”?”
She tsks through the phone and I regret dialing her number. “Well, what did you expect, Carly? Ivy told me all about you and Dottie ganging up on her and thinking Julian is some kind of monster.”
“Because he is, Mom. She has bruises on her body.”
“Oh, so what? People get bruises for all sorts of reasons. It means nothing and you are trying to ruin a perfectly good match based on your theories.”
My eyes widen. I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “You can’t be serious. I watched him hit her, Mother. Your daughter is in danger.”
“That’s enough, Carly Rae,” she snaps. “Julian Henshaw is a respected member of this community. He’s wealthy, comes from a good family, and is a perfect gentleman. I don’t want to hear another word about this. Am I clear?”
“Yes,” I whisper. What was I expecting? That she would become mother of the year all of the sudden? Of course, she loves Julian – he has boatloads of the one thing she cares about.
“Goodbye, Carly.” She hangs up before I can say another word and I drop my head as more tears fall. Now what? I look down at my phone again and sigh. I could call Dottie but this new information will only stress her out more.
As I scroll past Chance’s name, I pause. Closing my eyes, I picture him wrapping his arms around me and telling me everything will be okay and I’m dialing before I can stop myself.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he answers on the second ring and I suck in a stuttered breath – a clear sign I’ve been crying.
“Chance, listen, I’ve got to reschedule tonight,” I say and smack myself in the forehead. Why the hell can’t I just tell him the truth and say I need him right now?
“Is everything okay, Princess?” he asks and my lip wobbles as the tears start to build in my eyes again.
“Um, yeah,” I reply, hating the way my voice is shaking. “I just got some bad news and I’m heading home from work early. I just need to be alone right now.”
Jesus Christ.
Can I get out of my own damn way for once?
“Okay, baby. We can go out tomorrow night instead. It’s no big deal.” His words sting for some reason and I bite back more tears, forcing a smile to my face.
“That sounds good. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” I hang up the phone before he can say anything else and a sob rips out of my mouth, amplified by the enclosed space of my car. I can’t decide if I should be angry at Ivy or worried about her but my heart aches and if this is really coming from her, I don’t know how I’m supposed to go on with my life. She’s been my best friend, glued to my hip, since we were babies and I never thought I’d be without her. She was my constant – the one thing I could always count on. Losing her just may ruin me.
With tears trickling down my cheeks, I pull out of the parking garage and turn toward home, my mind blank and my chest heavy. The drive passes in a blur and as I pull into my parking spot at the apartment, I wonder how I even made it this far without crashing. Once the car is in park, I flip the mirror down and try to do some damage control on my face. I may be slowly dying on the inside, but the doorman and my neighbors don’t need to know that.
When I feel like I’m as presentable as I’m going to get, I climb out of the car and head inside, avoiding the gazes of everyone who passes me. In the elevator, I slip my sunglasses on to hide how red and puffy my eyes are. A few people give me weird looks, but I ignore them. Who gives a shit what they think anyway, right? The elevator stops on my floor and I shuffle past the woman in front of me as I exit the car and step into the hallway.
“Excuse you,” she huffs but I don’t have the energy to bother with her. With my head down, I walk to my apartment and stop when black boots come into view. My head snaps up and a soft gasp slips past my lips.
“Chance, what are you doing here?” I as
k, eyeing the bottle of my favorite wine in his hand.
“Sweetheart, you didn’t really think I was going to leave you alone after that call, did you?”
God, what did I ever do to deserve this man?
Another sob tears through me and his brow furrows in concern as he closes the space between us and wraps his arms around me. I feel more secure than I have since Julian left my office and I cling to him, hoping he never lets me go.
“Baby,” he whispers into my hair, squeezing me tighter.
“You didn’t have to come here but I’m really glad you did,” I tell him, my voice hoarse from all the tears I’ve shed this afternoon. His lips press against my forehead.
“I always know what you need.”
“You really do, don’t you?” Even when I was fighting every single thing I felt for him, Chance always knew the truth.
“Why don’t we go inside and I’ll get a fire going? You can curl up on my lap and tell me what happened. That sound like a deal?”
I nod against his chest and I feel rather than hear his chuckle as he takes the keys from my hand and opens the front door with me still wrapped up in his arms. He navigates us inside and closes the door behind me before setting the wine down. I finally pull myself out of his grasp and kick my heels off.
“Let me just go change really quick,” I say, scooping my shoes up, and he nods. Leaving him in the kitchen, I pad into my bedroom and drop my heels in the closet as I go to the drawers on the back wall. I quickly strip off everything but my panties before grabbing Chance’s shirt that I stole from the clubhouse and pulling it over my head. For a second, I consider putting shorts on before deciding that I’m most comfortable like this.
Chance is sitting on the couch with a fire roaring in front of him when I walk into the living room and he glances back at me, his eyebrows shooting up.
“Love the threads, Princess.”
I offer him a smile. “Me, too. It still smells like you.”
“Oh, yeah?” he asks, holding his hand out to me. “What do I smell like?”
I take his hand and let him pull me into his lap as he wraps his arms around me. “Cinnamon gum.”
He throws his head back and laughs. “And you like that?”
“I love it.”
“I’ll have to remember to thank Jerry for that.”
I tilt my head to the side and scowl. “Why?”
“When my mom first introduced Jerry to me, he brought me a pack of cinnamon gum and it just kind of became our thing. After she left him, I would find packs of gum in the mailbox or on my windowsill and I knew he was always watching out for me.”
“That’s so sweet,” I whisper.
Nodding his head, he kisses my head and hands me a glass of wine as he pinches the shirt between his fingers. “When did you lift this off me?”
“The night of the party,” I say, my smile drooping as I think about that night. He nods, reaching forward and lacing his fingers through mine before bringing my hand to his lips.
“So, you want to tell me what happened today?”
I toy with the stem of the wine glass, fighting back tears as I take a deep breath. “My sister’s fiancé showed up at my job.”
“And?” he asks, his voice soft. It encourages me to keep talking.
“And he told me Ivy wanted me out of her life completely and I was no longer invited to their wedding.”
“Oh, baby,” he whispers, pulling me closer and I bury my head in his neck. “Did y’all have a big fight?”
I shake my head. “No. It doesn’t make any sense. Unless…”
“Unless what?” he asks when my voice trails off and I shake my head again, not sure that I’m ready to talk about this with him. Then again, this is what he does. If I can’t trust Chance with this, then who can I trust?
“I don’t like her fiancé. We had lunch together earlier this week and I noticed a bruise on her wrist. She said it was nothing but when we all had dinner on Tuesday, I saw another bruise. When they left, Aunt Dottie and I spied on them through the window…” My voice cracks and Chance tenses underneath me.
“What did you see, Carly?”
I draw in a ragged breath. “He slapped her right there in the middle of the street.”
“I’m so sorry,” he whispers, his voice full of pain and I know he means it. Chance deals with the horrors of these situations all day long so he knows what I’m going through. “Who’s her fiancé?”
“Julian Henshaw.”
He’s quiet for a moment. “The mayor’s kid?”
“Yep.”
“And your sister doesn’t want help?”
I shake my head, my heart aching again. “No. As far as Ivy is concerned, Julian hangs the moon but I’m so worried about her, Chance. Something about that guy… he’s scary.”
He takes my wine glass from my hand and grabs my hips, lifting me off him so he can turn me to face him. I straddle his legs and meet his eyes.
“I hate that I can’t fix this right now. Please know the second she says she wants help, the guys and I will be there for you.”
A weight I didn’t even realize was there lifts off me and a tear spills down my cheek. “Thank you, Chance. You have no idea how much that helps.”
At the very least, I have a plan. Now we just need Ivy to wake up and realize that she needs to get out.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chance
“Here’s your table, sir,” the hostess says, stopping in front of the U-shaped booth I reserved for tonight.
“Thanks.”
Carly slides in one side of the booth and I sit across from her as the hostess lays our menus down in front of us. When she leaves, I glance out the large floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the Mississippi Rover with the lights of Port Allen shimmering on the water’s surface. Thinking over what I have planned tonight, I can’t help but smile. Hopefully, Carly has never heard of this place and she’ll be surprised. When I originally asked her out, I wanted to wow her but now I’m just hoping to take her mind off Ivy for a while.
She spent all last night torturing herself with what-ifs and wondering what she could do to help her sister but we both know the truth. Until Ivy decides she’s ready to leave, there isn’t anything anyone can do. But when the time comes, I’ll be there to help and the club will be behind me one hundred percent. It kills me to see the pain in her eyes and I would move mountains for her but right now, I’m stuck and I hate it.
“This is nice,” she whispers, like she’s surprised I could plan such a nice date and I choose not to take offense, laughing as she opens her menu. We haven’t been on an official date until now, but she’ll learn I can be a romantic guy when I really want to be.
“What did you expect?”
She shrugs, glancing up with a gleam in her eye that I fucking love. God, this woman has me mesmerized. “Honestly? Pizza and beer.”
“I’m hurt, Princess. That actually hurt.”
She leans forward, her eyes zeroed in on my chest and I tilt my head to the side as I try to figure out what she’s doing. Finally, she leans back and shrugs again. “Doesn’t look fatal.”
I bark out a laugh, unable to stop myself and I’m greeted with her full smile – the one that takes my breath away every time – and my gaze trails down her neck to her chest. The dress she wore tonight hugs her tits tightly and I wish I had gone with pizza and beer instead, so we could be at her place right now. Naked. It’s been too fucking long since I’ve been able to get her underneath me. But that’s my own damn fault.
I pat the white button up shirt I wore tonight and smirk. “Yeah, but, at least, I dressed up for this.”
Her eyelids droop for a moment before she meets my eyes again. “Yeah, but I think I’d like it a whole lot better if you were dressed down.”
“Careful, Princess,” I growl, my jeans feeling a little tight. “That comes after the date, remember?”
With a sigh, she rolls her eyes. “Fine. I guess I’ll w
ait.”
What Carly and I have started out as just sex and call me crazy, but I wanted to give us a chance to really get to know each other before we jumped back in bed. I wanted to make sure we did things differently this time but honestly, it’s been killing me. All I can think about when I’m around her is slipping my hands up under her shirt or bending her over the nearest surface. And it doesn’t help when she’s just as intent on making me eat my words.
The waitress stops at our table, snapping me out of my daze. “What can I get y’all to drink?”
“A glass of moscato, please,” Carly says and the waitress turns to me, her smile changing as her gaze drops down my body.
“I’ll just get a beer.”
She nods. “Any preference?”
“Nope. Whatever is on tap works.”
“Would you like a glass of water with it, too?” she asks, batting her eyelashes and completely oblivious to the glare Carly is throwing at her right now.
“Nope. That will be all.”
She scribbles it down on her notepad before laying her hand on my arm. “Coming right up and I’ll be back in a moment to get your order.”
As soon as she leaves, Carly rolls her eyes and scoffs but doesn’t say anything and I bite back another smile. Is she jealous? This is new and I can’t say that I’m not enjoying it. She has nothing to worry about, though. How could any other woman steal my attention when I have her sitting in front of me?
“So, I was thinking we could try something a little different tonight,” I prompt and she quirks a brow at me.
“Oh? And what was it you wanted to try?”
“Well,” I say, rubbing my hands together. Why do I feel nervous all of the sudden? “I have questions for you and since you promised to stop fighting me, I’m hoping you’ll answer them.”
Her quick intake of air worries me. “I don’t know about that.”
“This is what people in relationships do, Princess. They get to know each other.” I’m going out of my fucking mind, dying to know what it is that makes her act the way she does but I have no intention of asking that tonight. That’s something we’ll have to ease into. But there are so many other things I’ve wanted to ask since the moment I met her. She sighs, thinking it over for a moment before she nods.
