by Emma Cole
In the present…
"So, your mom did know? That explains you not talking to her a lot and being at my house so much after I got back. And what's up with your dad going all stalker mode? I never understood that part."
Alex was, and still is, my staunch supporter in my grudge against my dad.
"Looking back, I think Mom knew after the fact, with Dylan and Beck at least, but it's not like she would go against him. I wouldn't have either, for that matter, at the time. Now, if he were around and tried it, it would be a different story." I still hate that my mom let it happen, but I'm sure she had her own reasons for doing so.
"It's still crazy. And then him disappearing senior year." She trails off then pops out with the question I'm not sure how to answer. "What are you going to do now? With the guys, I mean. That's gonna be awkward, not gonna lie."
We both bust up. Awkward doesn't adequately describe it. Ugh. I seriously have the most insane luck! Not having a ready answer, I just shrug and change the subject.
"I'll deal with that later. Why don't we have a Reese's marathon?" Alex jumps up to grab keys for the store.
Reese's marathons are Reese Witherspoon movies, all the different Reese's candy, and all the different Reese's ice cream we can find. We do the same thing with Barbara Hershey too. Now that's a sad one. So are the Heath Ledger ones. We have a thing for candy-themed binges.
Chapter Ten
Eli
"Man, that's messed up. No wonder you were a wreck back at school." I couldn't believe their parents were such assholes. "And poor Remi. Explains a lot on why she was hesitant to commit. I was really pushy about it, too. And I took her medallion thinking it was yours. I suppose it was, but if I'd known…" I shake my head at myself. I'm surprised she didn't tell me to get lost.
Ethan alleviates my guilt somewhat. "You didn't know. I'm glad she has you and glad you pushed. She's a great girl. Woman, now. We all missed out on so much with her. But if it hadn't gone down the way it did, you wouldn't be with her. I wouldn't be with Beck. Maybe they'd have ended up with her. I'd like to think so, anyway."
"So, you really think the letter bullshit was just that?” Dylan asked. “That she really had nothing to do with them?"
Dylan isn't letting it go. In fact, he's starting to piss me off about it. Beck jumps him before I can.
"Bro, you know I never believed that. Not for a long time, anyway. She just wasn't like that, and from what Eli here has said, she still isn't. And what happened to us is tame to the shit she's gone through. I'm glad Ethan's aunt left him this place and we have a second chance. So… You getting on board or not?"
We all look to Dylan. Ultimately, he shakes his head mumbling “whatever” and walks out.
Ethan slings an arm around Beck's shoulders. "He'll come around. Let's just hope Reese does and that she doesn't kick his ornery ass to curb. Or ours, for that matter.” He makes eye contact with me, wearing a serious expression. “Eli, go get our girl, will ya’?"
Beck grins, and I take a deep breath, going to grab my keys to my Jeep. It's going to be an adjustment, for sure.
Adam
I'm standing at the side door and about to hit the buzzer to see if Remi is around. Her car is gone, but it could be in the garage. I hate that she chose Eli over me. Even so, I still want to be her friend. And I want to help with whatever trouble she's gotten into that Samantha, the secretary—no, the administrative assistant, as she'd corrected me—said Remi is in.
I'm feeling guilty about reporting things to Samantha about Remi, even though the directive came from agents that have real enough looking badges and guns. The story about her dad had checked out, too. They thought maybe the guys that ran the Greyside Security business were possibly helping him and think she's gotten mixed up in it. Eli seems like a good guy, though, so maybe it's the others.
Speaking of others, the door flies open, nearly hitting me as I come out of my internal debate.
"Who the fuck are you?" The striking man looks like a thunder cloud and I wonder what his connection is here. Is he one of the owners?
I introduce myself. "Adam. I'm a friend of Remi's. Is she around? I've left a few messages, but she hasn't answered, and I wanted to check on her."
He rolls his eyes at me. "She's got them coming out of the woodwork, doesn't she?"
I'm confused on his meaning, but he doesn't seem happy with my girl.
"I'm sorry what?"
The guy isn’t much bigger than me, but the sheer presence of him makes me leery.
"She moved out this morning, so piss off." He storms past me, swiftly moving down the sidewalk.
I stand there debating what to do before I go back to my car. Sighing, I pull out my phone. As the other end picks up, I see Eli pulling out in his Jeep and, on a hunch, decide to follow him.
"Hey, yeah, um her phone's off,” I say in the phone, “and some pissed off dude said she moved out this morning. Listen, I don't want to do this anymore, alright? It doesn't feel right."
The voice in my ear is pissed. I don’t even care, I'm not doing it anymore. I'm going to find a good time to talk to Remi and spill my guts and hope she'll forgive me.
Remi
After a good cry and an ice cream binge, Alex and I settle in and watch some movies. My stories are kind of crazy, but Alex gets it. She was there for most of it, even if peripherally. She just didn't quite know all the details before today.
Well, she still doesn't, but there's some things you just don't go into detail about, even with you best gal pal.
I side-eye her wondering if I should mention it.
"What?" Alex shakes her hair out, looking for a bug. Getting more frantic when nothing falls out of her purple locks, she starts slapping at her head.
Chest shaking until I can't take it anymore, I break out in laughter.
"You used to do that all the time! Stare at me like you wanted to say something then tell me, minutes later there's a bug on me!"
Nose wrinkling in apology, I say, "I’m sorry, I was trying to figure out if I should tell you the parts I left out."
Now I have her attention, narrowed eyes and all.
Hands up in surrender, I spit it out in a rush before she gets violent at my omission. "It's not bad. I had some sexy times with Ethan, once on my period and once with some...gadgets.”
Eyes round as saucers, Alex starts to ask, "And…?”
"Nope, not happening. Love you like a sister, and I think there's an incest borderline clause or something in there about TMI in my sex life."
Her mouth screws up in a moue of disappointment, but she doesn't press on.
I stretch and go use the bathroom idly, wondering how long I have in my hideout.
My phone's been blowing up with messages. I haven't bothered to check any of them, and at some point, I think it died, since I don't hear it buzzing around anymore.
Although I’ve discussed with Alex all of what I could possibly do at this point, really the only person who could help me decide is Eli. The other three were in my life briefly, years ago, and while they featured prominently in my life and I cared about them, those relationships were cut off prematurely.
A knock at the bedroom door interrupts our movie marathon. We ignored the buzzer, but Alex's roommate, Gina, must have let someone up as she speaks through the door saying that I'm being asked for. Of course she would let someone else up even when it wasn't for her. This is one of the things that Alex complains about. The chick lacks good sense.
Alex goes out to see who's there. She comes back a few minutes later, and as I suspected, it's Eli.
"I can tell him to go if you don't want him here." Alex is poised to do just that.
I'm not sure what I'm feeling, but I do want to see him. My feelings for him didn't change just because complications entered the picture. Well I was feeling a little betrayed thinking there's no way he didn't know, but maybe they just never directly spoke about it.
I straighten my hair as I go through the open doorway
. Waiting in the living room, is Eli, and he doesn't look much better than I feel. He asks if we can go somewhere to talk. Alex has a spare bedroom, the one I'll be using, and she indicates for me to go ahead, when I shoot a glance at her roommate. She turns on the TV in the living room to keep our conversation private from Gina and herself.
Eli looks at me tentatively and unsure as I lead the way. Sitting on the bed I pat the spot next to me for him to sit, too.
"Did you know? Did they know?" I dive right in.
He doesn't pretend to not understand what I'm asking.
"No, I didn't, and I don't think they did either. We all knew there was someone. Thought it was different people, not one person, though. We talked about it a little bit, but I don't think names were ever really mentioned other than the twins, and they never used your real name. Ethan may have said something, but he called you Reese, so again, we wouldn't have made the connection only based off that."
Putting his hand between us, palm facing up he waits to see if I'll take it. I don't hesitate, and I lace my fingers with his. He pulls our hands up and kisses my knuckles. His green eyes are bloodshot and his blond hair messy. He even has stubble from not shaving this morning.
"What's this mean for us? For me? Is it going to be a deal-breaker?" he asks.
"Of course not. I love you, and it's not going to change. I was overwhelmed, and staying there to talk about it, didn't feel like the right thing today. I think I should stay with Alex for a while, though. I'm not sure that it would be comfortable just staying at your place. This is where I was planning to move anyway…" I shut my mouth, realizing I'm rambling.
Eli looks on with understanding. "I get it, I do, I just wish that you had talked to me first before you took all your stuff."
Wanting to change the subject, knowing that we'll have to talk more in depth later, I say the first thing that comes to mind. "What are your plans for tonight?"
He raises his eyebrows at the subject change but lets it slide. "Well, hopefully, I'm doing whatever you're doing."
"So that's a girl’s slumber party?" I don't think Alex will mind, but I'm going to go double check. I hold my finger up for him to wait and go ask. She doesn't care but wants to move our party out to the living room instead of her bedroom.
Before I go back in the spare room, I grab my scarf from Eli that I left on Alex's bed.
"Thank you for this. I really loved it when I saw it."
His eyes light with pleasure. "I'm glad. I'd hoped it was the right one. I wanted you to have it in case you didn't want to see me."
I hug his head to my chest. Even sitting, he's still so tall. "Always, babe. I'll always want to see you."
After relaxing the rest of the day, Eli crashed with me in the guest room, and we snuggled the night away.
Hanging out with Eli while avoiding the others wasn't as simple as I thought it would be.
Although the weekend was fine, I'm finding out the only reason I hadn't ran into them before was dumb luck. Eli keeps trying to bring the subject up, but I'm just not interested in discussing it yet. That is until Samantha's name comes up.
Chapter Eleven
Adam is the one that inadvertently spills the beans.
Monday, on my way to class, I find him waiting for me outside the building as he likes to do. Last night when I turned my phone back on, I saw all the missed texts from him. Between the texts and missed calls from Elliot, I'd just ignored most all of it.
Adam spots me and walks my way. "Are you okay?" He looks worried, now that I'm paying attention. I feel a bit like an ass.
"I'm good. Sorry about the messages. I had my phone off for most of the weekend."
Anger briefly flits across his face before it's erased. "I didn't mean to interrupt your time with Elliot, I was just saying hello. But then you didn't answer so I got worried and tried to call and it went to voicemail. I'm embarrassed to say I went to the apartment to check on you." He ducks his head. A little over reactionary but it's what a friend would do, and I appreciate it all the same.
"No, that's alright. I would do the same thing if I was worried about a friend, Adam. I'm staying with Alex right now. I’m sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, I just had a rough weekend."
His copper colored eyes are troubled, but his lips tip up in a smile. "I can imagine. I've encountered Samantha a couple times, and I can't say she's the most pleasant person to be around."
I look at him in confusion. "What does Samantha have to do with anything?"
"Oh, nothing I guess. I just assumed that, because she was at the apartment, there must have been an issue and you left. That's what I understood from what she said, anyway."
I see red. Why would Samantha be there? With my guys. Or guy. Fuck, that's confusing.
"Samantha doesn't have any say on where I am. I'm not sure why an administrative assistant, and in her case, a glorified secretary, would be at her boss’s house on a weekend."
Adam draws his words out slowly, like it was something I should already know. "Because she's dating one of the brothers?"
I nearly shriek. "What?"
I know that can't be right… he must be confused. There seems a lot of that going on. Confusion, that is. I never really considered, or I, suppose, never really wanted to consider them having other relationships. Now that I'm thinking about it, I know that wouldn't have been feasible, but it still wasn't something I wanted to contemplate.
And they had kissed me! Dirty little cheaters.
A group of students interrupt our conversation, and I can see my shout has drawn a bit of attention. Trying to push the whole subject from my mind, I tell Adam that we should get to class and can catch up later.
All day, I'm preoccupied with who the guys are with now. I know I shouldn't care, but it's eating at me. I feel like they just didn't think twice about me and that hurts. I mean, I didn't even get into anything more than a date or two before Elliot. Granted, my dad was part of that, too. First with the interference, then the disappearing act.
I decide that it's a moot point, anyway. I'm with Eli, and while I may have some lingering feelings for the other three, those aren't his fault nor theirs. I'll just have to get over it. Somehow. But not with bitchy Samantha. Whichever one it is will have to dump her ass.
After classes, I go back to Alex's place, since Eli has football practice, and realize she and her roommate are in an argument. Catching parts of it, I realize it's about me staying. Alex has had issues with Gina and her boyfriend. Now Gina is trying to use my being here longer than the lease allows to get her own way.
Sometimes I really can't stand that chick.
She's demanding I'm gone tomorrow afternoon or it's a breach of contract, that her boyfriend can stay until January when she moves out. Alex responds with it being extenuating circumstances, but the girl doesn't care. Alex finally says to just let him stay. I knew she would do that, too. The guy is bad news. Wish she would have stayed with Eli's teammate. He was a decent guy.
At the smug look on Gina's, face I step in. I'm not letting Alex do this.
"I'm checking into a hotel tomorrow after class. It's a kitchenette that does weekly rates, and they'll probably work something out further, with me being a student and all."
Gina is well and truly pissed off now. If I'm gone, she has no reason for her boyfriend to stay.
"You can't afford a hotel long-term,” Alex says, clearly upset. “There's no reason that you can't stay here. There's a no-drug clause, and if he tries to peddle his shit here, I'll have him arrested and be booted out along with her." She points at a worried looking Gina, not so smug now.
However, I don't want Alex to have to let him in at all and chance getting in trouble, too.
"I'll be fine, Alex, it's not like it's for forever. It's actually not that far from here, if they still have openings. I'll call tomorrow and find out and go from there."
I do have the money, although it will eat into most of my savings. I need to see if I can pick up a few extra
jobs. It means I won't get to have as much of a social life, but it's not the end of the world either. I could probably get refunded what I had left for the security company payment the school made, but I really don't want to bring that up to any of them. And I have a feeling that it would have to go through one of them. Not to mention Samantha.
The next day after class, I go to the housing building just to check on the progress and see if maybe I won't need to stay in the motel very long. The damage is more extensive than they originally thought. The repairs were estimated to take another month before it's livable.
With that in mind, I go to my car and look up the numbers for the local motels. By the time I find one that has a vacancy that I can afford long-term, I'm down to two choices, neither of them are the best.
The first one I don't even stop to look at; it was so run-down looking. The next one is a little better. Going inside, I inquire about the room letting the clerk know I was the one that had called earlier. The room he shows me isn't great either, but it is doable. I tell the guy I'll take it, then go with him back to the office to pay for it.
Going back to Alex's, I pack up what I need day to day and load it into my car. The rest she offers to store for me in the basement. She continues to try to talk me into staying, but I tell her it will be fine. I'll try it for a week and see how it goes, at least.
The next few days pass fine with classes during the day and hanging out with Alex and, occasionally, Eli in the evenings. Picking up extra work, I stay too busy to have any issues. There are occasional loud guests but nothing that's too bad to handle. Elliot, upon finding out where I'm staying, tries to talk me into moving back in with him, but I don't want to do that either. It just feels too uncomfortable.
