Seducing my Best Friend (Fated Series Book 3)

by Hazel Kelly

  “What?! How?”

  “Chuck. He fired me.”

  “Why would he do that?” I asked.

  “Cause I kneed him in the balls.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Cause he grabbed me. He grabbed me and he tried to grope my breasts.”

  “Fuck.” My eyes started to burn.

  “So I reacted,” she said, leaning forward. “I’m so sorry I-“

  “You have nothing to be sorry about. Look at me.”

  She stared at me through puffy eyes.

  “Nothing. Okay? You did the right thing.”

  “But now I’m unemployed. How am I going to pay my share of the rent?”

  “Don’t worry about that,” I said. “I have plenty of savings.”

  “The savings are for your salon.”

  “And emergencies. Like this.”

  She leaned against my shoulder.

  “Why were you even alone with him? I thought we agreed not to be stupid.”

  “I was only going to be alone with him for two seconds, and Katie had a date so I let her go.”

  I shook my head. “Jesus.”

  “I know.”

  “Did you call the police?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Cause I was too busy telling Chuck what a spineless, dickless bastard he was while he writhed on the floor holding his nuts.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “Really?”

  She nodded.

  “I think we should call the police or get some legal advice or something.”

  “I just lost my job. I can’t afford legal advice.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We can’t afford to let him get away with this.”

  “I know. All the way home I just kept thinking what if it was Katie?”

  “To be honest, that almost would’ve been better cause she’s only seventeen.”

  “Lucy!”

  “I’m just saying.”

  “I know, but still.”

  “We’re going to get this guy,” I said. “We have to.”

  Chapter 14: Aiden

  It made me sick to think I hadn’t been kissing her all these years, and my groin ached over what I’d been missing out on.

  At least I was kissing her now. Well, not right now… fucking Fiona.

  But that’s okay. The important thing was that things were great and that I would be seeing her soon.

  I threw my car into my space and jogged across the street to pick up some milk and eggs, the only two foods I couldn’t live without besides protein shakes, and headed back towards my building.

  The phone rang when I was half way across the street.

  “Miss me already, do ya?” I said without looking at the caller id.

  “I don’t even want to know,” Claire said.

  I winced. “Damn it. I thought you were someone else.”

  “I think that goes without saying. You sounded even more smug than usual.”

  “My bad. What’s up?”

  “I just wanted to know if you had any good news for me.”

  “Well, I haven’t decided not to humiliate you in your speech if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “No,” she said. “I knew better than to hope for that.”

  “In that case, you’ll be pleased to know that Lucy said yes.”

  “That’s wonderful news.”

  “So please call off the dogs.”

  “Will do. I have to call her back anyway.”

  I lingered outside the door of my apartment complex and squinted up at the evening light as it squeezed between the buildings in the alley across the street.

  “And before I forget, she said she’d do your hair if you wanted her help.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, she said you could pay her in free drinks.”

  “You really think she doesn’t mind?”

  “Not at all. Though I’m a little surprised you don’t have someone.”

  “Well, Mom said Ricardo would probably do it, but I was hoping my hair wouldn’t be bigger than the cake, ya know?”

  “I’m sure Lucy can do it however you want.”

  “It would be nice to tell Dave that at least one thing about this wedding was actually affordable.”

  “Should I tell her she’s got the job?”

  “Yeah, why not? Lucy’s vibes will be good for me on the day.”

  “She’ll be happy she can help.”

  “If she does a good job, she could get a lot more work out of it, too. Three of my sorority sisters are getting married in the fall.”

  “Sounds expensive.”

  “That’s what Dad said.”

  I shrugged. “Is that all you were calling about?”

  “Pretty much. Plus, it’s nice to hear your voice. You’re the only person that doesn’t have a million questions for me right now.”

  “Cause I’m an answers guy.”

  “Fair enough. Chat soon.”

  “Later.”

  I slipped the phone in my back pocket. I couldn’t wait to tell Lucy the good news just as soon as I got the milk in the fridge. And the thought of my sister and Lucy being happy because of an idea I had was almost enough to have me skipping to my door.

  But as soon as I stepped in my apartment, I deflated like a cheap balloon. “What are you doing here?”

  Chelsea was sitting on a barstool in one of my collared shirts. It was open, and I could see her skin all the way from her collarbone to where her hands were holding the stool between her spread legs.

  “I’m surprising you,” she said. “And by the look on your face, I’m doing a good job.”

  I dropped my keys in the bowl and walked to the fridge, determined not to let her get a rise out of me. “You got me,” I said, keeping my eyes on the fridge as I crossed the floor. “I wasn’t expecting you to come crawling back.”

  She made a pouty face and slid off the stool, following me around the counter.

  I opened the fridge and put the whole grocery bag in.

  When I closed the door, she was standing beside me, doing nothing to keep my shirt from billowing open and revealing a hairless pussy which was highlighted by her skimpy tan lines.

  “Ohh,” she sighed. “I missed you looking at me like that.”

  I swallowed. “What do you want, Chelsea?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “I’d guess, but you won’t like what I have to say.”

  “Try me,” she said, leaning against the counter until a crease formed between her meager breasts.

  “You want me to call the cops and have you arrested for breaking and entering?”

  “No,” she said. “And it’s not breaking and entering if I have a key.”

  “About that, I’m going to need that b-”

  “Ahh ahh ahh.” She wagged a finger in my face. “Not so fast. Keep guessing.”

  “You want me to break up with you again because it was so much fun the first time?”

  “No,” she said. “And we didn’t break up, Aiden. We had a fight.”

  “No. We definitely broke up,” I said. “I can tell because there’s all this money in my bank account and food in my fridge that wouldn’t be here if you still were.”

  “Ouch.” She looked down. “That really hurts. But I’ll give you one more guess.”

  I shrugged. “Shit, I don’t know what you want, Chelse? To humiliate yourself?”

  “No,” she said, running a hand up my arm. “Not unless that’s code for letting you come on my face.”

  “Jesus.” I took a step back. “Have some self-respect, will you? You’re better than this.”

  “So are you,” she said, taking another step. “We both are. We’re better together.”

  “What is this really about?” I asked. “You need money or something?”

  “No,” she said. “You want me to tell you what I want?”

  “Yeah, like five minutes ago.”

  She tilted
her head at me. “I want you back.”

  “Not happening.”

  “I want to have the dirtiest, raunchiest, roughest make up sex we’ve ever had, and then I want everything to go back to how it used to be.”

  “Not going to happen,” I said. “But thanks for stopping by.”

  “Come on, Aiden,” she said, pulling the shirt open so her tits were less than an arms’ reach away. “Don’t you miss this?”

  “I don’t know how to tell you this,” I said. “But I don’t miss anything about you at all.”

  Her lips fell apart.

  “And as far as this-” I gestured to her naked body in front of me. “Well, you’re a beautiful girl, but you’re too skinny.”

  She gasped and pulled the shirt closed around her. “How dare you! You know how sensitive I am about that!”

  “I hope someday you can forgive me for my honesty. Now give me my keys and get out.”

  “That’s not fair! You have no good reason to throw away what we have.”

  “Actually, I have more than eight good reasons.”

  “Eight?”

  “Yeah, eight, the number of times you cheated on me in the last two months of our relationship.”

  “So I made a mistake.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “But at least I can admit it. At least I’m not a hypocrite.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I found another woman’s panties in your bedroom.”

  “Fuck. How long have you been here?”

  “You want to tell me what that’s about?”

  “I think the panties speak for themselves.”

  “So you admit you cheated on me, too?”

  “I see what you’re trying to do here, but I was never unfaithful to you while we were together.”

  “But you’ve been unfaithful since then.”

  I shook my head. “Whatever. You’re right. I’ve been cheating on you since we broke up.” I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “It’s not funny.”

  “It is from where I’m standing.”

  “Here’s what I propose-”

  “That you leave and don’t come back?”

  “No.” She took a deep breath through her nose. “That we call it even and start again with a clean slate.”

  I put my hands on her shoulders. “It means a lot to me that you want to give this another chance. Unfortunately I don’t.”

  “But-”

  “Remember the last time we talked? How you said I was too nice? That it was so easy to cheat on me? Do you really think I should give you another chance after you said that stuff?”

  “But I love you.”

  “Well, if I thought your words meant something, I’d be flattered. Now if you would kindly give me my key and my shirt.”

  “Will you at least think about it?”

  “No.”

  “I’m going to take that as a maybe.”

  “Don’t.”

  “Say maybe or I won’t leave.”

  “Maybe,” I said.

  She smiled, held up my key, and put it on the counter.

  I snatched it and finished my thought. “Maybe I’ll have amnesia and forget what a selfish, unfeeling bitch you are. Then maybe I’ll take you back.”

  Her jaw dropped.

  “But don’t count on it.”

  She crossed her arms and fumed as I walked to the door and opened it.

  “Hey close that! I’m not even dressed!”

  I closed it and started to count. “10…9…8…”

  She took my shirt off, threw it over the chair, and walked over to her crumpled dress on the couch.

  “7…6…5…”

  She slipped it over her head, smoothed it down, and grabbed her purse.

  “4…3…2…”

  She stopped in front of me. “You have my number,” she said softly.

  “Can I give you some advice?”

  She nodded.

  “You’re in the wrong profession.”

  She crinkled her face.

  “You should be an actress.”

  She smiled.

  “It might be a good way to capitalize on your multiple personalities.”

  She opened her mouth to say something, but I pushed her out the door.

  “Goodbye, Chelsea,” I said. “For good this time.”

  Chapter 15: Lucy

  I knew time was of the essence. Chuck was getting bolder which meant every woman in the salon was becoming increasingly vulnerable.

  And now that Fiona had lost her job, I felt like all the pressure was on me to do something. For Fiona, for me, for the other girls, for my Mom.

  Chuck was a bully and he had to be stopped.

  But I was out of my depth.

  I’d never dealt with this kind of bullying. Standing up for myself was one thing. I could knee someone in the crotch and cuss them out as well as anyone, but this was different. He needed to be punished. As far as I was concerned, he needed to be permanently kept away from working with women, and I couldn’t stop him on my own.

  I did enough research online to know I needed a strategic plan. A few complaints wouldn’t cut it so Fiona and I couldn’t do it alone. Many of the sites I read said to go to the manager or cite the employee handbook. Neither of these things was an option for me.

  And I didn’t want to run to the police and tattle with my fingers crossed. I was a grown woman and when it was time to get the police involved, I wanted to make sure I had the information I needed to be taken seriously the first time around.

  After all, even though I knew I should’ve done something about it a long time ago, that was no reason to be reactionary now, when it counted most.

  Plus, I didn’t have the money to experiment with a bunch of dead ends, and I didn’t want to run to my Dad or Aiden and get them all freaked out and make this their problem. They had their own shit going on, and I didn’t need rescued.

  I needed to educate myself.

  Fiona was still a mess. She’d managed to pull herself together a little bit after the shock of the whole thing wore off, but I could tell she was still shaken up.

  And on top of Chuck’s assault, she was freaked out about our financial situation. But I wasn’t. Sure, I’d saved hard for a salon of my own, but if I’d done it once, I was confident that I could do it again.

  In the meantime, I had enough money to keep us afloat for a while until she could find a new job. Of course, depending on what happened with the Chuck disaster, I might be looking for one sooner than I thought, too.

  And while I promised myself the next time I changed jobs it would be to work for myself, I knew better than to think life could always go to plan. And sometimes, as Aiden’s recent interest in me proved, that wasn’t the worst thing that could happen.

  But it was going to break my heart to throw my salon money away on rent and bills. As a result, I was determined to cut corners any way I could. So when I found a directory for volunteers offering legal services, I was thrilled.

  After I posted my concern in one of the forums, a man named Nathan agreed to meet me after work at a nearby coffee shop.

  I was only a few blocks away, power walking my ass off, when my phone rang.

  “Hey you,” I said, slowing down so I wouldn’t breathe too hard into the phone.

  “Hey yourself,” Aiden said.

  I felt a smile stretch across my face. “What’s up?”

  “I have good news.”

  “Oh?” I almost wished I’d let him leave a message so I could hear him give me good news over and over.

  “I told Claire that after some sufficient begging, you agreed to be my date for the wedding.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t exactly make you beg.”

  “Oh right. My bad. Begging is what I’m going to have you doing tonight.”

  I was so glad he couldn’t see how flushed my cheeks were. If they were as pink as they felt, he would’ve laughed at me for sure. “What m
akes you think I want to see you tonight?”

  “I asked my crystal ball.”

  “Oh really?”