Chapter eight Aubrey
Chapter eight
Aubrey
Losing my mind.
~ One Week Later / New Year’s Eve ~
I’ve been avoiding the girls all week, and even though they’ve been hounding me down with questions, I haven’t really given them any answers.
The morning after the wedding, when we finally made it to brunch, everyone was already in the room, ready to choose their seats. No one questioned why we were arriving at the same time, but I felt all my friends’ eyes on me.
When we got closer to the tables, I felt my nerves taking over. I knew the proper and expected thing for me to do was sit with my family and friends, but I desperately wanted to sit with Shane. Luckily, he solved that problem for us by asking if he could sit at our table.
When everyone at the table told him to take a seat, Shane took advantage of the opening and pulled out the chair next to him for me.
Passing himself off as the perfect gentleman to anyone watching and making my heart flutter in my chest as I took my seat.
I saw the way the girls grinned and the way my mother’s all-knowing eyes lingered on me, like she knew there was more to his innocent kind act.
After brunch, Shane and I snuck away to his rental car when everyone started going their own way.
We drove around for a little while, until we found a cute little café that was pretty deserted of any clients.
We settled into a booth, drank warm coffee, and tried different pastries for about two hours, talking about everything and anything until he really had to leave.
Then he drove me over to my parents’ home, parked a few houses down the street, and kissed me goodbye with a promise to text when he arrived at his parents. And he did, even sent a picture with proof, like I wouldn’t believe him. It made me laugh.
And then at midnight exactly, my phone rang with his name lighting up my screen. When I answered it, he said he wanted to be the first to wish me Merry Christmas. And he was.
We haven’t seen each other since, but we call and text one another whenever we can. I wake up to a good morning message from him every day. And every night, he calls me to wish me goodnight.
And then there are those moments when he’ll randomly send me messages that say he misses me, or that something made him think of me. Those are my favorite, the messages that I don’t expect, yet warm my heart as a smile grows over my lips when I see them appear on my screen.
Morgan was right; Shane is a romantic, and he’s proving it in every way possible.
Tonight is our New Year’s Eve party at Morgan and Clay’s. Their last big hurrah before parenthood since Morgan should be giving birth by the end of January. As always, everyone is invited, which means I’ll get to see Shane. And maybe, just maybe if we’re lucky, he’ll be my New Year’s kiss.
But that also means I can no longer avoid my friends, and they know it. Which is why Morgan ordered us over early to spend a bit of girl time together before the party while the boys are at practice.
I step out of my car, well, Ronnie’s car, in my new boots and walk up the driveway to Morgan’s house. I should probably start looking for another car; I know she’ll most likely want hers back soon.
The moment I step through the door, my phone pings with a new message. I pull it out and immediately smile at the name on my screen. Well, it’s not exactly a name, simply a heart. I didn’t want to risk my brother seeing my phone and having to answer a whole ton of questions I’m not ready for.
Say hi to Morgan for me.
I smile and shake my head, looking back out the open door and toward the house across the street.
The house is owned by Jessie Storm—Julian Storm’s brother and another one of Shane’s close friends.
He and his brothers own one of the largest security companies in the world, which means their houses are guarded like a fortress, and Jessie must have seen me stepping out of the car on his cameras.
Me
Is your friend keeping you updated on my whereabouts?
Maybe…
Me
Say hi to Jessie for me.
I chew on my thumb as I type out the next message with one hand.
Me
I can’t wait to see you tonight.
Me too, sweetheart.
I miss you, Angel.
“Aw, look at her. She’s just standing there smiling at her phone. I remember those days.” Cecilia’s voice pulls me from my screen. I feel my cheeks growing warm as I type out one last message, saying I miss him too, and shove my phone in my pocket.
“She’s so distracted that she hasn’t even closed the door.” Ronnie snickers, and I immediately jump into action, closing it behind me.
“I’m sorry,” I rush out, feeling embarrassed as I shrug out of my coat and take off my boots.
“Don’t apologize, sweetie. We all know what it’s like to be in love. It makes us all go a little coocoo at first.” Morgan smiles tenderly at me.
My eyes widen. I’ve admitted it to myself, but never anyone else. “Oh… I’m… I’m not…” Emma’s arched brow shuts me up. Who am I kidding, everyone knows how I feel about Shane. “I feel like I’m losing my mind…” I say quietly as my face sets on fire.
“Oh, we know, we’ve all been there.” Emma steps up and hugs me. She pulls away and smiles as she looks at my new jewelry. “Nice necklace, looks expensive.” She smirks knowingly.
“Shane gave it to me for Christmas.” Warmth spreads in my chest.
Emma then awkwardly bends down with her huge belly in the way and picks up one of my boots.
She and Morgan are only about a month apart in due dates and both carrying twins.
It’s a pretty funny coincidence, although Emma would tell you otherwise.
She was not too happy about the news when her and my brother found out.
“Damn, this man really goes all out on gifts,” she says, inspecting it, then sets it back down and pulls out her phone, tapping away on it as she walks away. Okay…
“Come on, let’s go sit down in the living room. I can’t stay standing too long, I feel like my back is about to give out.” Morgan giggles as she locks our arms together and wobbles over to the living room while pulling me along. “Plus, it’s time you talk.”
“Yeah, don’t think we haven’t noticed you ignoring us.” Cecilia narrows her eyes at me with the point of her finger, and I blush harder.
“Now sit your pretty ass down and fess up. We need to know everything!” Ronnie practically pushes me into an armchair as everyone sits around, staring at me. Even Emma wanders back and plops down on the couch beside Cecilia, still on her phone with a frown. What is she even doing?
“Where are the kids?” I ask, looking around and desperately needing to change the subject before I combust into flames.
“With Sam at my place.” Sam being Dante and Gracie’s nanny. “Then they’ll spend some time with their fathers before going to spend the night with their grandparents,” Cecilia rushes out. “Don’t try to change the subject, young lady. We’re here all day, so might as well get it over with.”
“Oh wow!” Emma suddenly exclaims. “You lucky bitch.” She looks up from her phone with a smirk. “Were you going to tell us?”
My eyes widen. “Tell you what?” I really have no idea what she’s talking about.
“Did you guys know Shane was loaded?” She looks at the girls, waiting for an answer. “And I don’t mean rich-guy-who-played-hockey loaded.”
Morgan shrugs. “Well, I have seen him in like three different cars.”
“And he does hang out with billionaires, so I guess it’s a little obvious he has money,” Ronnie tells her.
“He has five.” All their eyes turn to me, and my cheekbones turn pink. “He told me he had five cars,” I whisper.
“Yes, well, this man is richer than all our men combined. Hell, he’s still richer even if you add me to the equation!” Emma sounds disappointed with her last comment. “Look what his family owns!” She turns her phone around for everyone to see, showing the jewelry store Shane mentioned.
I had heard of it before he told me, I know it’s a really expensive jewelry store that only the very wealthy ever shop at. And it’s not just anyone, you need to be known to shop there, you need connections to be on their client list.
A few gasps echo around the room. “He told me his family owned an expensive jewelry chain.” I shrug, not making a big deal about it, because it isn’t. I don’t care about Shane’s money; I only care about him.
“Aubrey!” Emma shrieks. “It’s not just an expensive store!
It’s the most expensive jewelry chain in the world!
My dad can’t even get on their client list, if that tells you anything!
And I could bet my life that the little beauty around your neck comes from there.
” She groans. “Ugh! I can’t believe our baby Brey snagged up the heir to a jewelry empire. I’m so jealous!”
I can’t help but giggle a little at Emma’s reaction—she’s a bit dramatic at times.
“Okay, enough about that. I want to know what happened the night of the wedding! Spill.” Cecilia sits at the edge of her seat, begging me with her eyes for details.
I smile as my blush resurfaces. “We just… talked and had a good time.” I’ve never been the one to talk about my private life—this is still new territory to me and I’m not sure what to say.
“Please, you were all over each other in the morning, you did way more than talk.” Emma rolls her eyes. “Answer this for me, did you have sex with Shane?”
I can’t even look at her as I answer. Instead, I hide myself behind my hands as my face heats and my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. “Yes.”
There’s a series of squeals before the next question is thrown at me. “How was it? Was he sweet? Or did he go all manly beast on you?” It’s Morgan this time.
Oh God, I’m overheating. I fan my face with one hand, using the other to cover my eyes. Why do I feel so embarrassed talking about it? Why can’t I talk about sex like it’s normal? Like they all do.
“He was gentle and caring the first time,” I admit.