Sex On The Beach: Bad Boys Club Romance #1

by Olivia Thorne

  She shook her head.

  “It’s about a father who never spends time with his son – he always thinks he’ll do it later. But when he retires, his son has grown up to be just like him, without any spare time for him. That’s the way it was for me and my parents. I barely saw them. When they retired early because of my dad’s health, I was already married and working nonstop. And now they’re gone.”

  I looked around the house and imagined the few times we were all together in one place. Thanksgivings… Christmas… a birthday here and there. The memories – or lack of them – were too sad, though, so I kept on talking.

  “Anyway, I couldn’t stay here. So I rented that place in Venice and went out and surfed every day, which is the only thing that made me happy back in high school. I did it some in college, but I gave it up when I went to San Francisco to start Iodyne. So I came back here and I surfed… and I started to not hate my life so much… and then one morning I met this girl. And for the first time in over a year, I actually started looking forward to getting up in the morning, because I got to see her.”

  I looked over at Katie and smiled, hoping she would smile back.

  She didn’t. She looked sad.

  “I’m really glad that you feel so much better,” she said. “And I’m really sorry about your ex-wife. But you didn’t tell me any of that before. And you should have.”

  “You’re right. I should have. I’m sorry.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “It was really hard for me to trust somebody again. Natasha took so much of everything I owned in the divorce. She was a fucking gold digger, and I had no idea when I married her. I…”

  I paused. I wasn’t telling her the whole truth.

  “It was really hard for me to trust women again,” I admitted. “I was afraid they would see my money, and the same thing would happen all over again.”

  Katie nodded slowly. “I can understand that.”

  Hope lifted my heart the tiniest bit –

  And then she sent it crashing back down to earth.

  “But you lied to me the entire time we’ve been together,” she said. “And you must have thought I was a gold digger, too. That’s the only reason I can come up with for why you didn’t tell me.”

  “It wasn’t just you,” I protested. “It could have been anybody.”

  She stared at me like she couldn’t believe what I’d just said.

  I winced. “That came out wrong. Look – ”

  “I just got out of a relationship with a guy who lied to me all the time. He made me feel crazy. I knew something was wrong, and he kept telling me it wasn’t – but it was. He was making me feel insane so he could live his double life. And as much as I’ve had an amazing time with you, you made me feel the exact same way. You made me feel like I was crazy. And you lied to me just as much as he ever did, if not more.”

  “I’m not Rick, Katie,” I said. “He cheated on you – I didn’t.”

  She looked like she was in horrible pain. “I want to believe that – I do – but I look at your friends and how they treat women – ”

  “Vic isn’t my friend,” I said. “He’s my business partner.”

  “But you still lied to me, Ian, so I can’t tell what’s true and what’s not. I don’t even know who you are!”

  I walked over right in front of her. “I’m me. I’m the same guy you fell in love with.”

  “No. The Ian I fell in love with didn’t have a ten million dollar home. The Ian I fell in love with didn’t have a whole history he was hiding from me.” The more she spoke, the angrier she got. “The Ian I fell in love with didn’t have a ton of money he was too afraid to tell me about because he thought I was some kind of gold-digging tramp!”

  “I got hurt before – ”

  “SO DID I! Rick hurt me horribly, but I still opened myself up to you… I trusted you, but you couldn’t trust me. Do you know how that makes me feel?!”

  “Probably the same way I felt when I found out you set up that test at the wedding reception,” I shot back angrily.

  Her face hardened. “That was wrong of me – but I admitted it just a couple hours later. And I didn’t test you because I thought you were greedy and manipulative and wanted to rob me blind.”

  I could sense everything slipping away from me, and in my desperation I made a stupid, stupid mistake: I tried to justify my actions. “Look, it would have been totally illogical to think money wasn’t going to change how you looked at me – ”

  “I don’t WANT your money!” she shouted, her voice anguished. “If I wanted money, I’d go back to Kansas and marry Rick! Or I could just move back in with my parents! My father’s a multi-millionaire! I know that’s nothing to you – ”

  “It’s not ‘nothing’ – ”

  She angrily brushed me aside. “The whole point was I wanted to fall in love and TRUST the man I was with! I wanted him to cherish me, to love me, to value me… not think I was some mercenary slut who was going to steal his cash the first chance I got. I never wanted your money – I wanted you.”

  “Just a couple of hours ago you were saying you couldn’t accept me if I didn’t get a job!”

  “I didn’t want a deadbeat, that’s all! I didn’t want somebody I was going to have to support! I didn’t want to work my fingers to the bone while you surfed everyday! Is that so wrong?”

  I knew I was losing this argument. “…no… no, of course not – but money was important to you.”

  “Enough money to get by. If I wanted a lot of money, I could go back to Kansas and be miserable.”

  “All your dreams?” I pointed out. “They cost money. Hawaii costs money.”

  “Yeah… a $600 plane ticket,” she said with a combination of sarcasm and sorrow. “What we had was worth a whole lot more than that.”

  My heart stopped in my chest. “…what do you mean, ‘had’?”

  “You don’t trust me!” she exploded.

  “I do – I just told you everything!”

  “Because I knocked on your front door! What else were you going to do? Tell me you were house sitting?”

  I could feel the panic rising up inside me – but I hated feeling afraid, so I led with my anger instead. “You lied to me, too – or at least kept the truth from me. About Rick, about Emmanuelle – ”

  “Yeah – but I told you the truth after a few days, sometimes after a few hours. You’ve been lying to me for weeks!”

  “But when it counted, I told you the truth,” I insisted.

  “Only because I already heard it from somebody else first.”

  OW.

  Katie turned and walked towards the door.

  “What are you doing?!” I asked in horror.

  She turned back, her eyes welling with tears. “I love you. I do. And part of me is always going to love you. But I swore to myself that I would never stay with another man who lied to me like this… and I definitely don’t want to stay with somebody who thinks I might try to steal from him.”

  “I don’t!”

  “You do… or you would have told me before your ex-wife forced your hand.”

  “Katie – ”

  She smiled sadly, and the tears spilled down her cheeks. “Goodbye, Ian. I had a wonderful time while it lasted. But please… don’t follow me.”

  She walked out the doorway, crying quietly – and then she was gone.

  111

  Fuck… fuck, Fuck, FUCK –

  I bolted to the door, opened it – and ran right into Bryce and Vic.

  “Dude,” Vic said, “what’s with everybody trying out for the Olympics?”

  I looked past them to see Katie running down the street.

  “KATIE!” I yelled, starting after her –

  Vic put a hand on my arm and stopped me. “Let her go, man. Let her blow off some steam.”

  I stared after her, but she never glanced back. “She just broke up with me…”

  “Naaah, come on,” Vic said. “If it’s one thing I know
, it’s women. She didn’t break up with you, she’s just pissed.”

  “But she said not to follow her.”

  “That’s what they all say, but they all want you to follow them.”

  I frowned at him like he was insane. “Well shouldn’t I follow her, then?!”

  “No, no, that’s the last thing you want to do. That gives her all the power. Let her work it out of her system, then go see her and smooth it over.”

  I let him guide me back inside the house, though I kept staring down the street until the door closed.

  Katie was just a tiny point in the distance now.

  As we walked back into the main room, I looked at Vic and Bryce in confusion. “What are you doing back? I thought you’d left.”

  “Turns out there aren’t any bars open on Sunday morning,” Vic said as he walked over to my liquor cabinet. “Bryce – bit of the hair ‘o the dog?”

  Bryce nodded grimly as he plopped down on the couch.

  “You guys came back because you wanted to drink?!” I fumed.

  “Well, we came back to check on you, too,” Vic said.

  “But mostly to drink.”

  “Mostly, yeah,” Vic admitted as he handed a glass to Bryce. Then he turned to me. “You want something? You look like you could use it.”

  I slumped down in a chair and thought of Katie.

  “Whiskey on the rocks,” I mumbled.

  “My man,” Vic said approvingly, and set about pouring the drinks.

  112

  I told them everything.

  By the end, they were looking at me in barely suppressed horror.

  “Well?!” I asked.

  Vic shook his head. “Shit, man… I think she really did break up with you.”

  My insides went ice-cold. “What do I do?”

  Vic shrugged. “Probably should have followed her.”

  “YOU TOLD ME NOT TO!”

  “I’ve never run into this situation before! This is usually where I tell ‘em ‘Don’t let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya.’”

  I scowled at him, in total disbelief that I’d taken relationship advice from a womanizing jackass. “Hold on.”

  I called Katie’s cell, but the call went to voicemail almost immediately.

  “What happened?” Bryce asked.

  “It went to voicemail after just one ring.”

  “Ooooo… she blocked you, man,” Vic said sympathetically.

  I frowned. “How do you know?”

  “One ring, dude. Telltale sign. Trust me, I’ve been blocked more than once.”

  “DAMN it – ”

  Bryce looked at me thoughtfully. “You were really going to come back and do the IPO because of Katie?”

  “You were here when I said it,” I snapped.

  “But… you already have enough money where you never have to work again.”

  “Vic already asked that.”

  “And you said, ‘What do you care as long as I make you a lot of money,’” Bryce quoted me. “You totally dodged the question.”

  I calmed down and thought about that for a second. “I think I originally ran away from the IPO because I was depressed. She helped lift me out of that, but then I was worried she would just be using me for my money. I decided to come back and do the IPO because she made me believe she didn’t really care about the money.”

  “Well, she just proved it,” Vic said.

  I glared at him.

  Vic shrugged. “Hey man, you gotta admit – a chick walking out on a guy who’s about to become a billionaire? She really doesn’t care about the money.”

  “Yeah, I got that part,” I said sarcastically.

  “You gotta do whatever it takes to get her back,” Bryce said.

  I scowled at him. “What, so you can have the IPO?”

  “Look, I’m not going to lie – I want it to happen. I want Mark Zuckerberg money. I want Microsoft 1996 kind of money. But…”

  His tone softened.

  “…you were miserable, Ian. I saw it in your eyes before you left. You were… dead inside. I didn’t say it when I came down here because I didn’t want you to stay here, but… you were happier than I’d seen you in years. Actually, you’ve been the happiest I’ve ever seen you.” He stopped and grew contemplative. “You know, as much as I want it to happen… fuck the IPO. I want my friend back more. And if the only way I get him back is for you to go get this girl, then… you should go get her. Whatever it takes.”

  There was silence in the room – but I couldn’t see much, because my eyes were blurring with grateful tears.

  Vic spoke first – to Bryce.

  “Dude… that was a really good speech. I mean it, I really felt something, bro.” Then he shook his head the tiniest bit. “Except for that ‘fuck the IPO’ part. You could have left that part out.”

  Bryce glared at him. “Shut up, Vic.”

  Vic pointed, good-natured but still warning him. “Watch it, now.”

  I walked over to the couch. Bryce looked up at me in surprise.

  “Get up,” I commanded.

  He stood up, a little fearful –

  Until I gave him a huge bear hug.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  He hugged me back. “Go get her, man. Whatever else happens, go be happy.”

  I nodded and headed towards the front door.

  “Good luck!” Bryce called out.

  “Yeah, man! Go get her!” Vic yelled.

  I waved without looking back. “Thanks!”

  The last thing I heard as I closed the door was Vic calling out after me, “We’re still doing the IPO, though, right? …right?”

  113

  I knocked on the front door of Katie’s house continuously for 30 seconds before Aisha finally answered.

  “What?!” she snapped, then saw it was me. “Oh.”

  I pushed past her into the house. “Katie!” I called out.

  “She left,” Aisha said angrily.

  “What do you mean, ‘she left’?”

  “I mean, she’s gone.”

  I flung open the bedroom door.

  Nothing of Katie’s remained. Her presence had been completely removed. No clothes, no jewelry, no wet suit hanging in the bathroom – nothing.

  “Where did she go?!” I asked, panicked.

  “I don’t know. She wrote me a check for two months’ rent, packed her bags, hugged me, was crying all over the place – and then she left.” She glared at me. “What the hell did you do to her?”

  I stood there at a complete loss.

  “I was a fool,” I whispered.

  “Yeah, I’d say so.”

  I grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled my number on it. “If she calls you, tell her to come back here, then call me.”

  “She’s not calling. It’s over.”

  “No it’s not,” I said, and raced out the front door. “It can’t be.”

  114

  I dashed out of the Uber I’d called and back into my parents’ house. Vic and Bryce were still drinking.

  Bryce looked up in surprise. “What happened?”

  “You guys good?” Vic asked. “Everything cool?”

  “She left. She packed her bags and left.”

  “Oh man,” Bryce said, his face pained. “I’m sorry.”

  “Well, shit,” Vic muttered in disgust. “There goes the IPO.”

  “She’s going back to Kansas. I just know it,” I said frantically.

  “So call her parents, see if she talked to them,” Bryce suggested.

  “They’re here in LA! They came after her!”

  “Maybe she’s with them.”

  Maybe she is… maybe she decided to give in…

  “But I don’t have their cell number,” I groaned.

  “Didn’t you say he was, like, a big attorney in Kansas? His law firm could give you his number.”

  “You’re right – I could Google her last name – ” Then reality set in. “But it’s Sunday morning. No law fi
rm is open Sunday morning.”

  “Uh, dude?” Vic said. “Any big firm, there’s always lawyers working, every hour of every day, trying to make partner and shit. Plus rich people are getting popped for DUIs all the time, man. It’s a 24/7 business.”

  “Huh…” I muttered, thinking about what he’d said.

  Bryce looked at Vic in surprise. “That was uncharacteristically helpful.”

  “That’s cause I’m helpful, bro. Nothing uncharacteristic about it.”

  “And you want the IPO,” Bryce said with a sardonic smile.

  Vic nodded. “That too.”

  I pulled out my phone and Googled ‘Wichita lawyer’ and Katie’s last name. I got back results for ‘Worthington Price Smith,’ and immediately dialed the number.

  “Worthington Price Smith,” an operator answered. “How may I direct your call?”

  “I need to talk to any lawyer who deals directly with Mr. Worthington,” I said. “It’s a matter of extreme importance.”

  “Please hold.”

  A second voice answered after a few seconds. “Hello, Bob Padgett here.”

  “Hi, Bob, my name’s Ian McLaren, and I need to reach Mr. Worthington immediately.”

  “He’s currently not available – ”

  “Yeah, I know, he’s in California. I need his cell phone number.”

  “I’m sorry, I can’t give you that information. Maybe I could help you instead?”

  “This is about his daughter, Katie.”

  “Uhhh… that’s a personal matter I’m not comfortable discussing.”

  I knew this Bob guy wasn’t going to help me if I said I want to make sure she doesn’t go back with her parents to Kansas, so I lied the tiniest bit. “His daughter’s potentially in danger.”

  “Then I suggest you call the police.”

  “Look, Mr. Worthington would want to know about this – ”

  “I can relay a message if you want.”

  If Katie was with her parents, then there was no way in hell Worthington was going to call me back. I gritted my teeth in frustration, then decided to go for it. “How much money do you make per year?”