Price Of Love (Written In the Stars Book 4)

by Erica Marselas

  I race outside, needing to get away. Needing air so bad, but once I’m outside the double doors of the hotel, the hot air that felt good only moments before now burns my lungs. It hurts so bad. When I thought the warning I was getting was going to be from Tim hurting me, it turned out to be Leo.

  “Claire.” Leo’s voice cracks through the air. I shake my head and don’t look at him. “Claire, come on it wasn't what you think.”

  I snort a laugh. Famous words. Famous words I've heard too many times. “It’s never what I think,” I seethe as I spin around to face him.

  “This time, I swear, it is not what you think. Izzy was just saying goodbye. The kiss was nothing! I fucking swear.” He pounds his chest with his fist.

  “Sure.” I cross my arms over my chest, refusing to look at this man who I just spent so many mind-blowing hours with the night before and who just had his lips on someone else.

  He rolls his eyes. “Haven’t I been showing you how much I like you? How much I care about you? That I wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt you?”

  “And why do you think seeing you kiss her kills me?” My voice cracks with each word.

  He sighs and runs his hands through his hair. “Claire, can we please go somewhere and talk?”

  “I’m not really in the mood to talk. Or to be lied to.”

  “I’m not going to lie to you. I’m sorry that even happened, and I’m sorry that I put myself in that situation for it to happen.” I snort. “There’s no good way to say it, but it meant nothing. She finally got that I was with you and that I only want you and that I wasn’t going back to her.”

  “That’s why yesterday you left me in bed to have coffee with her and you were holding hands, looking damn cozy.”

  “Fucking A,” he mumbles, and his eyes search the sky before coming back to me. “What a cluster fuck. I ran into her after talking with my cousin. Well, she ran into me and sat down. We only talked about you.”

  “But you didn’t think to tell me about it?”

  “Not that I didn’t want to, it just didn’t occur to me because I didn’t think it was a huge deal.” He steps into me, and I step back, and his body deflates. “Listen, I get that you don’t believe me, but you can ask Izzy about what really happened. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt you.”

  I am not talking to Izzy. The last thing I need is another Monica on my hands.

  “I’m not asking anyone anything right now. It’s bad enough I had to deal with your brother and his bullshit. Which, if I remember, you promised you would stay by my side so I wouldn’t have to deal with him, but every time I did, you were with her. Now I think my head and my heart is about to explode.”

  “Claire.”

  “I just thought you were different. Different than…” I choke, the dam about to break.

  “I am," he growls. "If you think for one second I’m anything like my brother, you have it all wrong. You’re letting your fears control your feelings. Turning things into something they aren’t.”

  “A kiss isn’t nothing. Feeling deceived isn’t nothing. Do you know how hard it is not knowing which side is up right now? To not know if I can believe you—because of someone else’s shit. It sucks, and I don’t know what to do.”

  “Am I seriously going to pay the price for my brother's mistakes?”

  “We both are. Trust me it sucks.” I let out a shaky breath. “I just need time. If it was really nothing, give me that. If it was something more, please do the right thing and let me go.”

  His blue eyes close, and he nods. “I’ll give you time.”

  “Thank you," I breathe.

  It says so much that he'll give me time. Someone else would be harassing me till I talk.

  “Just, Claire,” he says, and I glance up into his defeated, pained expression.

  “What?”

  “The last thing I ever wanted was to hurt you. I had always thought we were meant to be. I didn’t think I would get this chance with you, so the last thing I would ever want to do is blow it by hurting you. So take your time, and I will be right here waiting.” He glides past me to go back inside.

  I pinch the bridge of my nose and feel sick to my stomach. Lost. Even now he’s being perfect, which just piles on the questions I have. Another speed bump thrown in front of me that I’m going to have to find a way to hurdle over.

  The last place I want to go is back to the spa with everyone, but I can’t just run off. It’s Jo’s day, and if I did, there would just be more questions than anything else.

  “Where did you go?” Christiana wraps her arm around my shoulder. She smells of green tea and lavender.

  “I needed some air," I mumble and fall into a cushy chair that's beside Grams, who has a facemask on with cucumbers on her eyes. Thankfully, Sonya has gone off somewhere, so I won’t have to explain what happened with her son.

  Christiana sits next to me and she waves someone over, but I don't pay attention to who as I rest my head in my hands. "Girl, what happened out there? I heard you go off on Tim when I went to the bathroom."

  "You went off on Tim?" Jo hoots and my head pops up. Chris had called Allison and Jo to circle around me. Great, I'm in for a pow-wow. Beside me, Grams smirks.

  "You didn't tell all of them?" I tilt my head, twisting my lips, surprised Christiana didn’t spill the beans.

  "No. I was waiting to get all the dirt straight from the source.” Chris gently rubs my arm. “Now, you look like you've been crying, so what happened?"

  "You think now is the time? This is your time, Jo. I don’t want to ruin it."

  "You kidding? I've been waiting forever for you to tell off that son of a bitch. Fuck. It feels good to cuss. Anyway. Spill. Wait, let's get more champagne." We all laugh as Jo flaps a mile a minute then signals down one of the servers, who brings each of us a glass of sparkling champagne. "Now spill, lady. Don't miss a beat."

  "Well, Grams, I think you might have been right about your vision with Leo and my heart," I mumble.

  Grams peels the cucumbers from her eyes to spy me curiously.

  "Wait, what does that have to do with Tim?" Christiana grumbles.

  "Everything."

  “My vision? My dear…" She lays her hand on my leg and looks over to Jo and Christiana with a devious twinkle in her eyes.

  “What?”

  “I guess it’s time to come clean," she sighs and pulls herself up.

  “Excuse me?” I peek over at my two friends and they both look sheepish as they throw back their champagne. Allison glances at me, shrugging, appearing as lost as I am. At least I know one of my friends isn't a schemer.

  "I didn't have a vision about you and Leos, sweetie. I made it up," Grams says casually as she tosses the cucumbers to the table beside her.

  I swear I can hear the sound of screeching tires as everything comes colliding head-on.

  "Why? Why would you make that up?"

  "To push you and Leo together, of course."

  "To push us together?” I screech and look to my group of friends who are still finding the floor more interesting than me. Okay, now I'm so confused, and my head is throbbing. “I don't understand. How would telling me to stay away from Leos bring us together?"

  "Because you, my dear, are the most stubborn girl alive and always do the opposite of what I tell you. You still hold a grudge towards that horoscope I sent you five years ago, after the event with Colt, so we," she points to Chris and Jo, "banded together to make up the personal ad that would lure you in the direction of one Leo Price."

  “What if I had listened to you?”

  “Ha!” Grams cackles, throwing herself back. “Like that would have ever happened. The second I told you I had a vision to stay away from Leos, I saw the defiance in your eyes.”

  “That’s not true," I argue crossing my arms over my chest. “I would’ve listened if I didn’t run right into Leo! You baited me, that's not exactly fair.”

  “It was the point, and it worked. But it was to also help gra
b his attention and ask you out, finally,” Grams huffs. “He’s only been wanting to do so for months since you broke up with Tim.”

  “Are you telling me he was in on the whole thing as well?” My eyes close and my temperature rises. He should’ve told me what was going on when we got serious. “I know someone in this room was his informant or whatever.”

  “He wasn’t in on it fully.” Jo places her hand on my shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze, talking me from the ledge I really want to jump off now. “He has been talking to Nate for a while about you. I, of course, got the scoop later, but Leo mentioned how he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to have his chance with you. He hadn’t talked or seen you since the break-up. He wanted to give you time, but he had always thought you two—

  “We’re meant to be,” I finish for them.

  “Yeah. He's always liked you, Claire,” Jo says sternly. “So, me and Nate thought we could help. I called Chris and she, of course, told Grams.”

  “Yet, I was left out of this.” Allison holds up her finger and narrows her eyes at our two friends. “Thanks a lot.”

  “Girl, for one, we tried calling you and you were always in trial and two, you can’t keep your mouth shut after three Manhattans.” Christiana lays out the truth.

  “Well, I love you too.” Allison blows a kiss at Chris before waving her hand at me. “But go on, this is getting good.”

  “Wait. Why didn’t you just tell me he liked me? Wouldn’t that have been easier?” I point out. Save me from all this mess.

  Christiana slaps her leg. “I DID TRY!” she yells. “I tried to and the whole ad in the paper could have been avoided if you had let me set you up on that blind date, but you weren’t having it, missy. So, we all went to plan B.”

  “Plan B, as in the personal ad in the paper?”

  “Yes, so when Val ended up in the hospital, she thought it was the perfect time for the plan to start moving because she knew there was no way you were not going to be there at all hours of the day. We might have been the ones to blow up your phone a bit." Christiana smirks. "I hope you liked the pictures. Though Mr. Jenkins called on his own."

  "You're evil." I glare at her. I knew something was amiss with all those phone calls and pictures.

  "We wanted to make sure the push to Leo was there. What better way than thinking all single men of Franklin are pervy? I mean, not all calls were fake, by the way," Christiana adds.

  "Once that was out in the open, Nate called Leo and told him to look at the paper, telling him to make his move,” Jo pipes in with her side. “I gave him some advice on things you liked, and Chris told him where you were gonna be that afternoon when he first asked you out."

  “This is insane.” I push my hands through my hair. I can’t believe they did all this, just to hook me up with Leo.

  "But it's so sweet," Allison swoons.

  "Don't encourage them,” I growl.

  "Why? You have this guy who obviously likes you, friends that wanted to get you together…" Allison says.

  It is sweet, but I'm still in a fucking sticky mess of feeling betrayed by the gooey mess of sugary sweetness they tried to coat me in.

  "Yeah. We don't know what you and him were thinking with the whole fake dating thing. That was fucking annoying, and I wanted to slap him for it. We know we mentioned taking it slow, but not that slow, like damn. Then he mentioned it was your bright idea and I understood. Because you’re bli—ind. So it’s why I canceled your room," Christiana tells me.

  "And I delayed my coming in," Grams adds.

  "But we were glad you came to your senses before that. If I had known, I would have just forced you to stay with him rather than canceling the room,” Christiana admits and everything comes together.

  "He really wants to be with you, Claire. You two just needed a push and we wanted to help." Jo pats my leg, and though hours ago I would have been grateful for their interference, now it’s a different story.

  "Then explain why he was kissing Izzy?"

  "What?" All four of them say in unison, and it’s loud enough that it echoes around the spa, taking many of the patrons out of their Zen to stare at us.

  "It's what caused me to go off on Tim. He approached me wanting to ‘talk.’” I roll my eyes and only wish I had turned right around when I saw his face. I guess it's better now I know what I saw.

  But what did I really see?

  "He wanted to know if Leo ever told me about him meeting up with Izzy for coffee the other morning when I spotted him alone with her."

  "What? When did that happen?" Chris waves her hands, confusion marring her beautiful face that I realize matches the confusion on everyone's faces.

  I give them a rundown of my first run-in with Tim and Leo and Izzy, but how I shook it off because of the amazing day we had together. "Then Tim mentioned knowing about the ad, hearing Nate and Leo talking about it and the fake dating." My eyes close as I run my hands through my hair. "He was so damn cocky about it and when he mentioned Nate pushing Leo on me, and Izzy wanting him back, my mind got scrambled. I wasn't going to believe it ‘till Tim led me right to Leo and Izzy kissing."

  "Maybe it wasn't anything. Maybe it was a setup," Jo says. "This is Tim we’re talking about. How would he know they would be there at that moment kissing?"

  "I don't know. It's just Izzy being here, has made things complicated. He was still getting calls from her and he still has her pictures on Insta. It's hard to believe he didn't know she wasn't coming. It feels like they're spending time alone every time I turn around. There are all these flags.”

  I should've gone with him to talk to Izzy when she first came in at the pool and staked my claim. Found out what was really happening.

  I just wanted to trust him.

  “Or they could mean nothing,” Jo says.

  “Did you see Leo after it happened?” Chris asks, and I nod. “What did he say about the kiss?”

  “That it was nothing. That it was a goodbye kiss and to ask Izzy.”

  "And you don't believe him?"

  "I don't know what to believe. Like, I do want to trust him, but I also don’t want to be that gullible girl again that looks the other way because I'm blinded by sweet acts and words."

  “Holy shit,” Jo gasps, looking at her phone, her face twisting at whatever she is reading.

  “What?”

  “Nate just texted me. Leo and Tim are killing each other. Well, Leo is trying to kill Tim.”

  I groan and sink into my seat. “I’m sorry. I’m ruining everything."

  “Are you kidding? I’m only upset I'm missing it.” Jo hoots. “I asked if there’s a video.”

  "This is supposed to be your bachelorette party celebration and his bachelor party. Your last hurrah, not hanging around dealing with my drama."

  "Girl, are you kidding? If it wasn't for you, I would have never met Nate. Yeah, sure, it's because you were dating Tim that we got to meet, but you pushed me to talk to him when I wasn't sure. You and I have a shitty history with men, maybe not the same, especially on the lines of Colt, but you helped me find my one and only when I thought love was for suckers." Jo giggles and there's that dreamy look in her eyes when she thinks of Nate. The one I saw in Nate’s eyes last night. "When we found out how Leo felt about you, we wanted to do the same. Christiana too."

  "I would have totally helped if they trusted me." Allison laughs and puts her drink to her mouth.

  "Plus, you’re our best friend. You’ve been at my side through everything. Leo is good for you."

  "I've never seen you smile more than when you are around him," Chris says and wraps her arm around me. "After having to see that night after Colt attacked you. To see you…and to think I almost lost my best friend, that scared the shit out me.” She lets out a shaky breath and I rest my head on her shoulder. “Then after that, I watched you shut off the world. It was the hardest thing to watch you fall apart and to see you scared of your own shadow.” Her fingers brush through my hair. “And still wi
th your forgiving nature, you made sure Colt, Colt of all people, who didn’t deserve your kindness, got help and into treatment, even after the scars he left. Your heart is so big, and you deserve to find someone that can love you."

  "What if?" I mumble.

  Grams stands in front of me and lifts my chin. Her silver eyes narrow, and I know I’m about to be hit. "You need to stop questioning your every step. You have to live in the moment and take every one by chance. Stop living in fear."

  I’m crossing the lobby to head back to Leo’s room to grab my stuff to change for the night. I’m not in the mood to party, but what the bride wants the bride gets.

  I spot Izzy passing the reception desk, dragging a large purple suitcase behind her. Her eyes lock with mine and she gives me a gentle smile. I awkwardly give her one back as she makes her way over to me.

  “Do you think we can we talk for a second, Claire?” she asks, nervously chewing on the corner of her lip.

  “Um, I guess. Are you leaving?”

  “Yeah. I got a last-minute flight back to California. I realized yesterday I should have never come and it took me until this morning to get a cheap enough flight back out. I’m glad I caught you before I left. I wanted to talk to you about what you saw. I was going to message you, but it’s better in person.”

  “Okay?

  “Let me start by saying, I’m glad Leo has you.”

  “Excuse me?” I shake my head baffled. That was the last thing I expected her to say.

  “I thought I could come back and get him, but I was crazy even to believe that because he was already gone. I saw the Insta posts. I should’ve known then, but I listened to Tim.” She clicks her tongue and looks to the ceiling. “I listened to Tim. My first mistake. Tim told me that he and Leo were repairing their relationship and Leo had confided in him that he wanted me back. Tim and Monica went on and on about how I should come here and surprise him because it would be the perfect place for us to reconnect. That you two were only friends. I stupidly believed them because I guess I kept this piece of hope in my heart, but I knew. I knew.” She rubs the wrinkles on her forehead, and her shoulders deflate.