“Yup.”
Tahir is correct ninety-nine percent of the time. Of course, he’d be right about this. I don’t mean this in a mean way but I’ve realized why he and Sara get along so well. They’re both the most rational and logical thinking know-it-alls I’ve ever met.
I’m kind of glad to have both of them in my life.
Chapter 21: New York City
A Week Later
When I heard Sunny walking down the stairs, I closed the three Chrome tabs on my Macbook quickly. I’d made a decision and pulled the trigger. I still didn’t want her to know about it yet.
Barefoot and wearing one of my t-shirts, Sunny came into the kitchen and headed straight to the refrigerator. In silence, I studied the way the t-shirt stopped at mid-thigh. On the back of her knees were a few stretch marks that were fading due to her obsessive use of coco and shea butter. I don’t mind the stretch marks that came from carrying my child but Sunny hates them.
I watched as the muscles in her neck tightened when she leaned her head back to swallow her Gatorade. Her hair had curled at the edges where her neck was damp with sweat from the workout we just had. I thought she was asleep when I crept down here twenty minutes ago. Seeing her in her Aiden Tyler World Tour shirt from 2010 and knowing she was completely naked underneath it made me want her all over again.
I slid off my stool and walked up behind her. I wrapped my arms around her and placed my hands on her thighs as I kissed her neck right below her ear. The softness of Sunny’s skin and the suppleness of her curves were in stark contrast to my sharp angles and rough hands.
“You’re so beautiful,” I whispered. “I don’t know if I really deserve you.”
“You deserve to be loved and adored by someone who loves and adores you. Since I do then, yes, you do deserve me.”
Sunny turned in my arms and looked up at me. “We love each other. We deserve to be together.”
A week had passed since my conversation with my brother-in-law. Lately, Sunny and I have been in a really good place. We told her parents about us, and just like I thought, Mr. Russell was thrilled. Her mother…not so much. Peaches doesn’t trust me and she never wanted me living with her daughter because I was broke. After I got rich and famous, she still didn’t trust me. I don’t know what it is.
The only thing that still bothers me is that it has been two months since the tour ended and Sunny still isn’t ready to be open about our relationship in public. Every time we go out, it has to be with other people. Most of the time, we just stay in. The paparazzi stopped making a big deal about my car being parked in Sunny’s driveway a long time ago. I don’t like this arrangement. She wasn’t exactly thrilled when I changed the ringtone on her phone to Atlantic Starr’s “Secret Lovers” either.
“What were you doing on the computer?” Sunny asked.
“Checkin’ out broads on AshleyMadison.com.”
“Don’t play like that, Aiden!” Sunny hit my shoulder and slid out of my arms. I pulled her back in and held her there.
“Seriously, I was just buying plane tickets.”
“Doesn’t Mona handle that kind of stuff for you? I didn’t know you could work a computer besides looking at porn.”
“Keep it up and I’m gonna hack your RainDrops site. I’ll redirect your site to YouPorn if you keep it up. Come on, let’s go back to bed.”
“I knew you weren’t buying plane tickets,” Sunny teased as we walked out of the kitchen.
I squeezed her rear as we climbed the stairs with her two steps in front of me. “I was. Besides, it’s two in morning and I’m not going to call Mona for this. It’s a personal trip anyway.”
Sunny stopped on the landing and glared suspiciously at me. She has every right to be suspicious. Both of her exes are in New York City and, usually, if I’m not performing or working, I have no reason to be in New York. She placed her hands on her hips and her forehead wrinkled.
“What are you up to?”
“Relax. This has nothing to do with you. Paulie and I are meeting up with some friends from Emory. That’s it. I’m not going to bother Xavier or Tristan. And I don’t know what the hell happened between you and Xavier when you were in New York that one time, but you may want to tell Xavier to stick to leaving his I’m sorry voicemails on your cell phone.”
“He doesn’t have my cell number. All he has is the studio number.”
“And the landline here.”
“Not anymore. I changed it to an unlisted number the other day.”
I grabbed her hand and began walking towards her bedroom. I had no idea she’d changed the number.
“Come on. I’m about to teach you a lesson in communication skills, Miss Rain.”
***
“Dee-Lee, where’s Paulie?”
Startled, Delilah jumped out of her comfortable spot on the suede and leather sofa that she adores.
“What?” she gasped and clutched her chest. “How’d you get in here? I told you not to just walk in my house, Aiden!”
Before I uttered, “You mean my house,” I stopped myself and remembered what Kat said.
“Sorry. I should have knocked.”
“Or called first. What’s up?”
I repeated my initial question.
“Next door cutting Joanna’s yard. Why?”
“I’m takin’ your man to New York with me and I don’t want you giving us any shit about it either.”
Delilah began to roll her eyes. The way she moved her neck and hands when she started telling that I couldn’t tell her what to do was a clear indication that my little sister spent way too much time with my girlfriend. She was picking up all of Sunny’s bad habits.
I found Paulie wiping sweat off his forehead and chugging Gatorade in the driveway of their widowed next-door neighbor.
“Hey!” I called. “Hurry up and finish. I need you to come to New York with me.”
“Why?”
“Because I told Sunny we were going to New York, and if she finds out that you weren’t with me, she will kill me.”
“I’m done here. Hold up.”
Paulie pushed the lawn mower into the garage, shut it, and then jogged over to me.
“Why’d you lie to Sunny?”
“I didn’t. You are definitely coming with me. Our flight leaves in two hours so hurry up and change.”
Around eight that evening, Perry picked Paulie and me up from JFK and drove us to Manhattan. I still hadn’t told Paulie why we were in New York. I’d planned to tell him on the plane but the flight was full, even first class. He had to wait until we were settled in because I couldn’t risk someone overhearing me and calling TMZ, which they’ve done to me before on planes.
I called Perry because she’s not Roxy and could get me in and out of NYC in forty-eight hours without alerting the media. She got us settled in an apartment she sublets and confirmed my appointment I had tomorrow.
As she was leaving, Perry patted my shoulder and smiled like a proud mother seeing her child walk across the graduation stage.
“I’m so proud of you, Aiden. This is the right thing you’re doing. I’ll be back tomorrow with Giovanna. The two of you need to stay in tonight. I stocked the bar. Order some pizza and Netflix but don’t leave.”
After Perry left, I found Paulie exploring the high-rise apartment overlooking the city. It was a fantastic apartment. Word is that super producer Dreamz owns the penthouse in the building. I wondered if he was in NY. Joey had given me his number a while ago and told me to make arrangements to get in the studio with him and discuss the Final Hour project. I completely forgot because I don’t know how I feel about Joey taking over Erica’s album and passing along his R&B group to me.
I checked out the bar and cracked open a bottle of Grey Goose. I filled two lowball glasses with ice and vodka, added a couple splashes of cranberry juice to give it some color, and threw a slice of lime in each. The drinks weren’t pretty but Paulie and I weren’t drinking casually tonight. Tomorrow is a major step in th
e next chapter of my life so we’re getting wasted tonight.
Paulie took his drink and propped his feet on the steel and glass coffee table. At that moment, no one would have believed that the light-skinned man on the sofa was quickly growing an impressive celebrity clientele at one of the most prestigious entertainment law firms in Los Angeles. He looked like a frat boy. Still, pretty soon Paulie will be in the position to leave Holmes, Sutter, and Holmes to start his own practice. The retainer I pay his firm is ridiculous. I’d much rather pay that money to the man who’s been my best friend since the seventh grade.
Paulie scrolled through Amazon Instant Video on the television until he found the second season of House of Cards. I groaned loudly and decided, even though we were nowhere near drunk enough, to reveal the reason why we’re camping out at Perry’s NY apartment before he got swept up in hours of the most boring show I’ve ever not watched.
“I’m going to ask Sunny to marry me.”
Vodka and ice splashed all over the couch and table when Paulie’s glass crashed against the marble floor and shattered. His face got red and he began coughing. His eyes were watering too. When he grabbed at his nose, I knew it was because Grey Goose was burning his nostrils. I did exactly what any good best friend would do. I sat my drink carefully on the table then laughed at how ridiculous he looked.
“You’re such a fuckin’ asshole!” Paulie hollered. “Why would you tell me some shit like that before I swallowed my drink?”
“Quit bitchin’. It’s just a little Grey Goose.”
I went back over to the bar and threw Paulie a bar towel so he could wipe up his mess. Then I fixed another drink and brought it over to him. Before he took a taste, Paulie said.
“Repeat what the hell you just said.”
“I’m serious. I’m going to propose.”
“To Sunny?”
“Yeah.”
“You?”
“Yeah.”
“Get the fuck outta here! You ain’t getting’ married again! Stop bullshittin’!”
“I’m serious!”
“You’re full of shit, man,” Paulie laughed. “There’s no way in hell that the Aiden that I know is going to give up a lifetime of groupies, strippers, and models to be with Sunny Rain Russell for the rest of his life. Ain’t about to happen.”
I let him laugh because I expected this reaction. I expect that most people are not going to believe me. It’s fast but I’ve loved Sunny forever and it’s time. It’s time for me to give marriage another shot. It’s time to give my last name to someone who actually deserves it.
“I took her to the Hendrix Memorial,” I stated seriously.
That wiped the smirk off of Paulie’s smug face. His eyes widened in either shock or disbelief.
“For real?”
I simply nodded and gulped down the rest of my drink.
“So, that’s why we’re here? To get her ring?”
“Sort of. I’m getting the ring made. I approved the design a week ago. It’s based off this ring Sunny was drooling over in Tiffany’s the last time we were here. I’m meeting with Giovanna Cristiano to see the mockup in person. Perry’s having her jeweler come by with the stones. Giovanna will set them and I’ll have the actual ring in a week or so.”
“Damn,” Paulie whistled. “You’re really serious. You really are going to marry Sunny? What happened while y’all were on the road?”
“It wasn’t just one thing, you know. You, especially you, know how bad I wanted Sunny. I mean, you know that better than anyone does. Then I got Sara and Tahir’s happily ever after asses living in my house. And I see you and Delilah...you two remind me of my mom and dad. I mean, Dad was a prick sometimes but he loved my mother. I want to have a wife. I want to raise my child with her mother. Sunny is the one...she has always been the one.”
I sat my glass on the table and stared out of the floor to ceiling windows. For a while, neither of us spoke. I started watching drops of condensation form rivers on the sides of my glass, rivers which became puddles on the table.
“You should have married Sunny instead of Ramey that night in Vegas.”
“I should have stayed in Atlanta instead of moving out to LA with you.”
“True. But then again, would you have the same career if you had stayed? LA’s been good to you.”
“Yeah but then Sunny wouldn’t have moved here with Xavier and gotten engaged. We wouldn’t have had that fight. If I had stayed in Atlanta and told her how I felt back then, I could have easily taken her from Xavier. You ever think that Sunny wouldn’t have all her fuckin’ trust issues if I had just told her how I felt back then?”
Paulie shook his head. “Sunny had issues before she met you. Besides, shit happens exactly the way it’s supposed to happen. If anyone had told me that I’d fall for you annoying little sister, I would have laughed in their face, but,” he held up his left hand where a solid platinum band encircled his ring finger.
“Don’t remind me.”
“Marriage ain’t easy,” Paulie snickered. When he did, he sounded just like his father. “And your marriage is going to even harder than most. There’s this thing called compromise and communication that I’m not too sure you or Sunny are familiar with.”
“It will be some work.”
“But you took her to the memorial.”
I nodded. “I did.”
“Then you should marry her.”
Once I told Paulie that I’d taken Sunny to the Hendrix Memorial with me, I knew he’d get it. That place is my Mecca. My trips there are a sacred pilgrimage that rejuvenates my creativity. Paulie, being my best friend and the reason I ever picked up my guitar, had only gone with me once. So he knew...he knew.
“So,” he said. “Tell me about this proposal. How are you going to do it?”
***
“Nah, man, ain’t none of these gon’ work for your girl. Let me call my people and get that exclusive shit over here for you.”
Paulie and I were sitting on the couch looking at about two or three million dollars worth of loose diamonds spread out on black velvet. They glittered and shone like stars. I’ve never been anywhere near diamonds like this.
Ryan, better known as Dreamz, occupied one of the chairs. Giovanna Cristiano, Sunny’s favorite jewelry designer, sat in the other. Perry’s jeweler, Ahmed, stood over the table. All three of them were frowning while Paulie and I were damn near giddy with joy at having so much ice in our possession.
I called Dreamz when I saw the paparazzi camped outside of the building this morning, preventing me from going into Duane Reed to get some Advil. He came down to the apartment a couple hours later and just stayed when Perry showed up with Ahmed and Giovanna.
“Ryan’s right,” Giovanna said and shook her head. “None of these are good for Sunny. She’s a subtle beauty. There are too flashy, too gaudy, and too big for the setting.”
“I’ve never heard such foolishness before,” Ahmed snapped. “Diamonds like these are rare and the best you’ll find in New York. You won’t find anything better than these.”
“Bullshit,” Ryan laughed. “Ahmed, my dude, why you tryin’ to play this man like that? Either come with the real shit you got in that dumb ass briefcase you carry or I’m calling in the competition. Sunny is an Earth-child, borderline hippie if you ask me. I know you’re holding out. Show the man some stones that will fit his bride-to-be and hurry up. We got business to discuss.”
My eyes narrowed and I stared at Dreamz, a man I’ve never met before today. His comment unnerved me a little. How the hell did he know anything about Sunny?
Dreamz caught my eye and shook his head. “Nah, it’s not like that. Sunny works with my sister a lot. She’s a great stylist. Aubrey calls her for everything. I don’t know her like that. But I do get that black hippie vibe from her.”
That calmed my nerves. I was already a little on edge. Trying to pick out the stones to go in the ring that Sunny’s going to wear for the rest of her life was stressful as he
ll. I didn't think picking out one little diamond would be this damn hard. No wonder guys enlist the help of their girl’s best friend for this.
“Where are your colored diamonds? I need canary yellow and chocolate,” Giovanna spoke up. She pulled out the mockup of the ring done in brass. “This is what we’re working with.”
“Oh wow,” Dreamz said. “That’s beautiful as hell. Is it gonna be platinum or gold?”
“Gold,” I replied. “Sunny likes gold. Says it’s richer and old school.”
“Ahmed,” Dreamz said. “Dawg, do you realize who this man is? You sittin’ there lollygaggin’, holding out on the good shit like this man still gets advances for his albums. This is Aiden fuckin’ Tyler. He’s the one giving advances now. His assistant could probably buy all those rocks on the table. Come on, dude. Time is money.”
Chuckling, Ahmed opened his silver case, lifted the velvet-lined tray, and brought out the rocks that we needed to see.
“That’s what I'm talking about.” I whistled as he spread the most beautiful yellow and chocolate diamonds that I've ever seen out in front of me.
Gingerly, I picked up a round yellow diamond. The sunlight coming in from the windows hit it at just the right angle to cast a rainbow of colors around the room.
“That’s it. This is the one.”
Everyone in the room nodded their heads in agreement. When I saw how the light hit the stone, I knew Sunny would love it. I loved it and couldn’t wait to slide it on her finger.
Giovanna took the ring from my hand and placed it carefully in the center of the brass ring. It was a perfect fit.
“Yes, yes,” she murmured more to herself than anyone else. “This is perfect. I’ll surround it with a chocolate halo. Oh, it’s going to be breathtaking.”
“How much for that one and whatever brown ones she needs?” I asked Ahmed.
“I need at least a carat of the chocolate diamonds to make the halo,” Giovanna told him.
“For you, for those stones, I can go seventy.”
I thought I heard him wrong and immediately thought I was making a mistake.
“Why so cheap?”
Love Notes (Friends Lovers or Nothing Book 4) Page 18
