Touch

by Rose Wulf

  Angela’s eyes widened at his insane argument. “You can’t be serious,” she said, briefly dumbfounded. But he was clearly serious. “No, you’re not him. Right now, that’s the nicest thing I can say about you.” She took a breath and resettled her glare on him. “Sex isn’t the only way you can cheat on a person. Making out with someone else entirely qualifies. Especially if that leads to you wanting to justify getting naked with her by inviting me to join you.”

  “Angie, be reasonable,” he started, taking a half-step toward her.

  “I think I’m being completely reasonable,” she said. “For example, I’m not yelling or calling one of my overprotective brothers to come bail me out of this conversation.” Although she was officially tempted. “Do not make me say this a third time, Geoff. Get out of my way. I’m leaving.”

  “You know they say you should never leave before an argument is resolved,” Geoff said, apparently disregarding her other comments.

  Angela tightened her hand over the strap of her bag, stalked up to him, and snapped, “And I say that you and I are done. I’ll be back tomorrow for the rest of my things, and then you can do whatever the hell you want with whoever catches your attention.”

  “Angie, baby,” Geoff said, the pleading tone back in his voice.

  “Don’t ‘Angie, baby,’ me,” she said. “Move.”

  “Let’s just talk this out.” He clearly wasn’t going to let her leave so easily.

  Fine. Switching her overnight bag to her other hand, Angela pulled her phone from her pocket, unlocked the screen, and asked, “Which brother should I call, then? I personally think Dean would be best. He drives the fastest, has the worst temper, and would love to have you to beat on when he hears this story. Plus, he’s not getting the greatest sleep these days, what with having an infant in the house. But if you don’t agree, I could always call Logan. He does have the truck. I could just pack everything up while he’s here. Your choice.”

  Geoff finally seemed to take the hint as his eyes widened. A long second ticked by before he swallowed and moved aside, leaving just enough room for her to slip past him. “I still think we should talk about this,” he said.

  “And I think you’ve said enough.” She shoved her way past him and into the hall, depositing her phone back into her pocket as she moved. A small, violent part of her was disappointed that he’d caved without her having to make that call, even though she knew it was better this way. Dean really did have the worst temper and his lack of sleep probably would make his reaction worse.

  “Will you be home tomorrow?” Geoff called after her, trailing several feet behind her.

  “Long enough to pick up my things,” she replied. She paused, hand on the doorknob, and turned a deliberate glare over her shoulder. “But, technically, this place isn’t my home anymore, anyway.” She didn’t bother adding any kind of goodbye before yanking the door open and striding through, her anger powering her all the way to her Mercedes.

  The drive between the city and her hometown of Darien wasn’t long, but it was long enough for her anger to give way to the sharp sting of betrayal.

  Angela’s eyes burned by the time she made it back to Darien. Geoff didn’t deserve the tears she’d cried, the tears she continued to cry, but it couldn’t be helped. She’d given him so much of her life, only for him to go and mess around with another woman. It was disgusting and infuriating and worst of all, it hurt. Because she’d worked so hard to let him in, to open herself up and allow herself to care about him.

  She’d been reluctant to let Geoff in for multiple reasons, the majority of which revolved around Eric Matthews and his family. But by the time she’d caved and agreed to that first date, it had been the better part of ten months since they’d seen or heard from the Matthews family. That had enabled her to focus on her fears of betrayal. For as furious as she’d been about Eric’s true intentions, and the way he’d used her, deep down, she’d still been hurt to find him with someone else. It had taken Angela time to warm up to Geoff, wary of a repeat of history. But over the past two years, she’d abandoned that fear. Just in time, apparently, for it to become a reality.

  An aggravated sigh slipped free and she pulled into the nearest parking lot, knowing she needed to take a few minutes to gather herself. For one thing, she needed to figure out where she was actually going. It was pushing eleven o’clock on a weekday. She would feel terrible for dropping in on someone. That pretty much left her with needing a hotel, which only barely justified driving out of the city. Darien had several hotel choices, but so did the city she’d just left.

  “Ugh,” she grumbled, shutting off her engine and letting her head fall back against the headrest. “What now?” Now she needed a tissue, that was what. So she turned, slipped her hand into the purse resting in the passenger seat, and dug around until she found the small pack of tissues she always carried with her.

  A couple of tissues later, Angela finally gathered enough of her wits to blink some of the tears from her eyes and shift her focus outward. Apparently, she’d pulled into the parking lot of Darien’s local movie theater. On a bustling Tuesday night in the middle of April, it turned out it wasn’t all that busy. And how does it matter? It really didn’t, so she shook her head and wiped once more at her stuffed nose before extracting a makeshift garbage bag from the glove compartment.

  Angela started when someone knocked on her window seconds later and a muffled male voice called to her from the other side of the door. Her heart leaped into her throat, choking her more, and for a long, panicked second, she was convinced she’d managed to get cornered by Eric or his brother, Jacob. Because she was having that kind of night. Two years of silence didn’t mean they were actually gone, after all.

  Seconds ticked by before she fully processed the familiar, intelligent blue eyes frowning back at her through the glass. Blue eyes that were set above a strong, smooth jaw and below a head of thick, blond hair. It was a face she knew, and though an immediate pang of sadness shot through her, the sight of him also brought a smile to her lips. That face belonged to Vaughn Prescott, one of her few true friends. A friend she hadn’t been good enough to lately. She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten, if only for a minute, that he worked at the theater.

  He stepped back, giving her room to get out of the car, and she obliged him as soon as she’d slipped free of her seatbelt.

  “What’re you doing out here?” Vaughn asked by way of greeting as she eased her door shut. He was already frowning with either mild concern or confusion, and she found herself glad for the darkness around them. He was less likely to see that she’d been crying.

  She tried to offer him a light laugh, but the sound failed somewhere in her throat. “Ah, well,” she hedged, suddenly self-conscious. Their friendship had become rocky recently, mostly because they simply never saw each other. They were in entirely different fields of study, and after the first year, they’d only seen each other in passing a couple of times on campus. It didn’t help that they lived in separate cities. It helped even less that she’d been strangely awkward about hanging out with him once she’d started dating Geoff. She didn’t think she’d communicated with him at all in over a month. “I’m, uh … I just needed a little quiet thinking time, you know?”

  He arched a pointed brow and slipped his hands into his pockets. “So you thought you’d park in front of the movie theater?”

  This time, she did laugh, a little, and leaned back into her car as she honestly admitted, “I wasn’t paying that much attention, actually. I just knew it was a parking lot.”

  His frown returned, brow furrowing faintly as an evening breeze toyed with his hair. “Is everything okay?” His concern was undeniable and it warmed her heart a bit to know the distance that had formed between them wasn’t enough to pull him completely away. She really owed it to them both to put more effort into keeping in touch with him. He’d been an incredibly good friend to her right from the start, and he deserved better.

  Her smile was eas
ier, if not also sadder, when she replied, “I guess that depends on your definition. It’s nothing crazy.” She paused, suddenly finding herself uncomfortable and fighting the urge to fidget. “Geoff and I broke up is all.” It had always been awkward talking about Geoff with him, or even around him.

  Vaughn had inclined his head, acknowledging her assurance that her current state had nothing to do with the seemingly dead war between her family and the Matthews family. A war he knew about firsthand, since he was the one who’d saved her from Eric on the day she’d learned the truth about everything. It was possibly ironic, then, that she would run into him now. On the day she’d broken up with her next cheating boyfriend. His frown deepened into a genuine scowl and he asked, “What happened?”

  She sighed, looking away as she suddenly found herself embarrassed to admit she’d once again been cheated on. Did it say something about her? Was it her fault in some way? What will he think? And she certainly wasn’t about to get into the conversation that had prompted the breakup. So she simply said, “Oh, you know, the usual, I guess. I found out he made out with someone else recently, and he was way too casual about it.”

  “Damn,” Vaughn grumbled, dragging her gaze back to him even though he wasn’t actually looking at her at that moment. But he returned his eyes to hers seconds later, frustration shining in the blue, and said, “I’m sorry, Angie.”

  Angela shrugged and straightened. “Don’t worry about it. It’s my rotten luck, right? So it’s my problem to deal with.” She attempted a bitter grin and added, “It could be worse, at least.”

  “That’s probably not the best way to think of it,” Vaughn pointed out. He didn’t wait for her response, though, before glancing around and finally asking, “Where are you headed?”

  “Oh.” She blinked back at him as if the question was completely out of left field. Actually … where am I headed? “Ah, the hotel, probably. It’s too late to drop in on my family, you know?”

  “I think your family would understand,” Vaughn said.

  Angela inclined her head because he was probably right. “Yeah, but I’d still feel bad. It’s late.”

  “It is,” he agreed. His gaze flicked back to her car—she assumed—and if she hadn’t known better, she’d have sworn he hesitated before offering, “If you’d rather, you could crash at my place tonight. I’ve got that extra room, and you wouldn’t have to worry about keeping me up late.”

  Angela took a deep breath as she mulled over his suggestion. It wasn’t like she had to worry about the financial end of the decision, but she was sure she’d be more comfortable with Vaughn. She was upset, and being alone in an unfamiliar hotel room would only give her time to dwell. Staying at Vaughn’s, however, would provide at least a temporary distraction. And it wasn’t like she worried she wouldn’t be safe with him. It was hard to worry about that when he’d already saved her life. So, she relented, knowing her preference, and nodded slowly. “If you’re sure,” she said, “I would appreciate it.”

  “Of course, I’m sure.” He turned and tugged his keys from his pocket as he walked. “I’m also sure you remember the way, but I’m headed home, anyway, so you might as well follow me.”

  Angela laughed, watching as he navigated around her car, past the empty space on the other side, and over to one of the few other vehicles in the parking lot—his Audi. How did I miss that? It was literally one space away from her. Her observational skills were clearly lacking that evening. “I suppose you have a point,” she said aloud.

  It wasn’t like she’d been to his condo very often. He hadn’t moved out of his parents’ house until after she’d left Darien, so while she’d visited a few times, none of those visits were recent. On the other hand, she knew the town like the back of her hand, so she wouldn’t actually have needed to have been there even once to find it since she had the address. But following Vaughn was easier regardless.

  She waited until he’d pulled out of his parking spot before throwing her car into reverse. When she’d left the apartment she technically still shared with Geoff, she’d been intending, she assumed, to go home to her parents for the night. Somewhere along the way, she’d realized how rude that would be and decided on a hotel. She was glad she’d opted to pull into the parking lot to gather herself first, though, because she really didn’t like staying in hotels. For one thing, they didn’t offer good company.

  Vaughn had always been good company.

  Chapter Two

  “So tell me,” Angela asked as they settled on Vaughn’s sofa, “why do you still work at the theater if you love it so much?”

  Vaughn’s lips twitched with a reflexive smirk at her sarcastic tone and he shrugged casually. “There’re worse jobs,” he replied. “Besides, my parents insist I need some working experience, so I might as well stick with it for a little while.”

  His parents, thanks mostly to dedication and keen business skills, were ridiculously wealthy. But they’d also both had less privileged childhoods than he himself, so they still believed in the values that having a less-than-glamorous day job could teach. Most of the time, Vaughn understood that logic, but there were certainly days where he envied Angela for the fact that she didn’t have to deal with those kinds of frustrations.

  After a while, a guy got sick of smelling like popcorn.

  Moreover, he knew perfectly well that Angela had plenty of other frustrations to deal with. The kind no one in their right mind would envy, and which he couldn’t do a whole lot about. Then there was the newest addition to her list of headaches—Geoff Solberg. Vaughn had never liked the man. Based on the few times they’d interacted, he assumed Solberg didn’t care for him either, but he was still surprised things had fallen apart the way they had. Vaughn was sure the circumstances haunted Angela, even if she was still managing a smile.

  “I still think that’s strange,” Angela said, drawing his attention outward again. She had leaned back against the cushions, her head tilted up ever-so-slightly for a second before she looked back to him and continued, “I mean, you’re planning on working in your dad’s company, right? So why not at least just get you a starter job there?”

  To that, Vaughn didn’t have a perfect answer, so he offered another partial shrug. “Unless it’s because the nearest branch is in Sacramento, I have no idea.”

  His father, Bruce, had inherited a moderately successful business from Vaughn’s grandfather several years before Vaughn was born. For the first half of Vaughn’s life, Bruce had split his time between running the company and caring for his family, but when Vaughn had entered high school, Bruce began withdrawing from the company. By the time they’d moved out to Darien, Bruce had all but retired, leaving the technicalities of the company to one of his childhood best friends who’d been working alongside him for over a decade. Bruce remained the official face of the company, meaning he had to leave home from time to time to make an appearance, and Vaughn was poised to inherit everything down the line. But that was a ways off, and though it was Vaughn’s eventual goal to run his family’s company, he knew it would be a while before he had a position worth mentioning.

  “Well, that still doesn’t seem fair to me,” Angela stated. “They should just build a closer one.” The last part was added with a laughing grin and again his lips twitched in response.

  “That’s not a bad idea.” He glanced down at his watch and bit back a sigh, hating his class schedule about a hundred times more at that moment than he usually did. If it weren’t for the midterm he had to tackle in the morning, he suspected he’d have opted to ditch both of his morning classes in favor of staying up to keep Angela company. She was certainly more interesting than economics. “Damn,” he said, dropping his wrist back to his lap. “I’m sorry, Angie, but I have a test in the morning. I should probably try to sleep.”

  She blinked at him for a second before shaking her head and offering another smile. “Don’t worry about it,” she replied. “I have things to do tomorrow, anyway, so sleep is a good idea.”


  He inclined his head in acknowledgment of her point and pushed to his feet. “You know where everything is,” he said unnecessarily, “so help yourself. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Goodnight,” she called after him, a smile in her voice.

  He lifted one hand in the air without looking back, holding it over his shoulder for several seconds as he walked, and tried to ignore the stupid up-tempo beat of his heart. It wasn’t like she’d never said goodnight to him before. Her staying under his roof really shouldn’t make any kind of difference. Although he supposed the fact that she would be just across the hall pretty much guaranteed to make a difference in how well he slept.

  ****

  Angela waved at her father with another grateful smile as she stepped out of her car the following morning. He’d pulled into the driveway behind her but wasn’t planning on getting out, so she didn’t wait for him before turning and starting toward the front door of her brother’s house. It was nearly eleven o’clock already, so she doubted she was waking anybody up, which helped negate the guilty, almost apprehensive feeling churning in her stomach. If she didn’t want to get her things out of that apartment as quickly as possible, she would have settled for letting Hilary and Vaughn do most of the helping. Vaughn had offered to help once he was done with class for the day, around three, but she wanted to be out earlier if she could. She’d promised to let him know if she needed the help by then, though, just to be safe. Taking him up on his offer, in hindsight, would probably have been easier—and in some ways better—than going to any of her brothers.

  Her brothers were going to want to stick around and, as her father had worded it, teach Geoff a lesson.

  Still, it was too late for that attack of conscience because she had already knocked on the door and she could hear someone approaching on the other side. Why do I always act before I think?

  The door swung open and Angela smiled guiltily at her sister-in-law before her smile widened and her gaze fell on the adorable five-month-old baby girl in Arianna’s arms. “Well, look who’s awake!” she cooed as she reached over to play with the back of her niece’s nearest hand.