Faith
My second ever visit to Cashville Resort and Casino came just a couple of days after the first. In spite of my disdain for its owners, I had to admit that the place was gorgeous.
Low, seductive lighting matched well with the dark blue decor.
Gold accents reflected off glass surfaces making the whole vibe feel expensive.
Reed fit into the environment naturally.
Everything about the place had his name written all over it.
When I made it to the restaurant, someone sent me upstairs.
I quickly spotted him near the back of the room, dressed in a charcoal-gray suit with a white button-up and no tie.
He was always so effortlessly put together that it was unnerving.
Reed made you feel underdressed, even when he was in sweats.
It was his fault that I loved men who could dress their asses off.
He’d left it up to me to decide where we would have lunch.
Since I had been dying to eat at the steakhouse inside the casino, anyway, I thought it was my perfect chance to finally get in there.
There was no more use in dodging Reed. He was front and center now.
It was crazy the things you had to do to dodge somebody after a bad breakup.
After years of running and hiding, I was finally ready to face him. Well, hopefully I was anyway.
The diamonds in his watch glistened as he lifted the glass in front of him to his lips, taking the brown liquid down in one quick gulp. The door to the private room closed behind me, causing his eyes to snap in my direction. He was on his feet in seconds, crossing the room to meet me.
“I was worried you wouldn’t come,” he said, wrapping his arms around me once he was in arm’s reach.
His clean scent was hypnotic. It disarmed me long enough for me to let him get close enough to touch me. My posture stiffened under his oddly familiar embrace.
“Uh-uh, this is not a date,” I reminded him as I shrugged out of his hold.
Reed’s lazy smile turned into a smirk as he studied my face. “I apologize. I’m just glad to see you. I wasn’t sure you would show up.”
“Not Mr. Popularity being insecure.”
“Wow, Mr. Popularity, huh?”
“Didn’t you win that in one of your fraternity pageants?” I asked.
“It wasn’t a pageant,” he said, shaking his head.
“I’m pretty sure it was a pageant. There were sashes and everything. If my memory serves me correctly, they even called it a pageant. You wore that white tuxedo with the red trim, and all the girls in the room went crazy when you came out on stage. It was a pageant.”
“So, you remember that?”
“How could I forget? You convinced me to come to that stupid thing saying it would be a laid-back fraternity thing, but half the campus was there.”
“I just wanted you to see your man shine. We had a good time after, right?”
I could see where this was going if I didn’t take control. So I held up a hand to stop him. “This is not a date.”
“Who said it was a date? It’s just old friends remembering good times.”
“There is no need to go back down memory lane. As I remember, the times weren’t so good.”
“It wasn’t all bad back then, Faith. Some of my best memories are from those days,” Reed said, breaking the silence between us.
I agreed with that sentiment, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to let him know that. I couldn’t let him steer the conversation back to no-man’s-land. I was on a mission. Instead, I switched gears.
“Even with all this?” I asked, looking around the room.
“Absolutely. I love what I do, and I’m damn good at it. There’s just something about being young and carefree that you can’t reinvent.”
“I get it,” I nodded in agreement.
Reed made it back to the table first. He pulled out the chair opposite from where he sat and waited for me to sit down.
I thought that once I was seated, my nerves would settle down some, but the realization that it would be just us for the first time in forever hit me at the wrong time.
When he took his seat across from me, his knee brushed against mine, making me jump.
“Relax, beautiful.”
“Don’t tell me to relax. Stop acting like this is a date, and I will.”
“I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable. It’s just hard for me not to act like I haven’t missed—”
I held up my hand, cutting him off before he could go any further. “I knew this was a bad idea,” I said, jumping up from my seat.
“Sit down, Faith,” Reed ordered.
The sternness in his voice made me pause. The reaction annoyed me, but I humored him. Slowly, I eased back down in my seat.
“Like I said, I’m sorry. I just want you to be open-minded, baby. I’ll give you an exclusive. You can ask anything you want to ask. I want to show you that I don’t have anything to hide. I want to show you that I am still the man you fell in love with.”
“This is not that, Reed. You fucked that up. You remember that, or do I need to remind you?”
“I don’t want there to be any bad blood between us. I still love you, Faith. I’m not letting you get away from me again. I couldn’t keep you before, but I’m not letting you go this time.”
“You don’t have that choice. We are not dating. We’re not even friends. This is just business. If you can’t accept that, I can leave right now. I don’t have a problem with taking a loss. Lord knows, I’ve taken enough of them.”
There was a light knock on the door. Reed lifted his eyes from me before waving someone in. In his infinite wisdom, he’d gotten me to send him my order ahead of time so that we didn’t have to be interrupted unnecessarily during our lunch meeting.
A pair of servers placed our plates on the table before quietly dismissing themselves.
I ordered the honey garlic chicken stir fry over glass noodles.
There was a five-star chef working in the kitchen.
He’d actually competed on a couple of my favorite TV shows.
I already knew what I wanted when I picked the place.
Needless to say, the food looked good and smelled even better. I dug in while my food was still piping hot and before Reed inevitably said something to ruin my appetite. After stuffing a second forkful into my mouth, I sat back and let the perfectly marinated chicken melt on my tongue.
“Be open-minded, baby. I’ll tell you anything, but you have to give me a chance.”
I laughed. “You’re playing with me, right?”
“I’ll show you anything you want to see. I’ll answer any question you want to ask. I’ll give you anything you want, as long as you give me a chance,” he said, picking up a bottle of bourbon and refilling his drink.
“And if I say no?” I asked.
Reed was still the same arrogant asshole. He thought he could blackmail me into dating him. As sexy as he was and as horny as I was right now, I wasn’t about to prostitute myself for a story.
He shrugged as he relaxed back against his seat. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Let’s go ahead and clear the air. Fucking up what we had has been the biggest regret of my life.
I didn’t know how to tell you about the arrangement.
Who even does that shit this day and age?
I didn’t plan on honoring the deal. I just had to graduate from college and get out of there.
My mom knew that I was backing out. That’s why she told you.
She had no right getting in our business, but you didn’t deserve to find out like that.
I don’t blame you for not wanting to forgive me.
You shared something with me that I can never give back.
I didn’t take that lightly, baby. I meant to honor my promise to you. I still do.”
“I’m not doing this,” I said, shifting to push back from the table.
Reed grabbed my wrist. His eyes dropped to my fingers as he pulled my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of it.
“I fucked up. My dad thought it was a good idea for me to go to college and sow my oats on some Coming to America shit. I never planned to fall in love. I never planned to meet you. Even when I knew I was falling for you, I had this other shit hanging over my head, but I was in love with you. I am in love with you.”
“Why are you telling me this now? Aren’t you married and living happily ever after?”
“I’m never going to be happy, if it’s not with you.”
“Yeah right. You played me and let me make a fool of myself.”
“I was young, dumb, and full of cum, but I knew with all my heart that I loved you.”
Ignoring the part of his comment that was pure bullshit, I laughed. “I’m pretty sure they use that for girls.”
“You know yourself that I was full of cum.” He smirked.
“Don’t even,” I said, pushing back from the table yet again.
“Let me make it up to you, Faith.”
“We are not dating, Reed. I’m not entertaining your nonsense. This is a job.”
“Entertaining me is part of the job.”
“I would actually rather deal with Nicholas. Where is he anyway?”
“You hated Nick.”
“He hated me!” I contested.
“He thought you were too good for me, and of course, he knew about the arrangement. He wanted me to tell you.”
“Either way, I would rather work with him.”
“Out of the question. That wasn’t our agreement, my love.”
“Technically, we haven’t made an agreement yet,” I reminded him.
“We will. No need to rush with the formalities. First, I think we should catch up.”
“That’s unnecessary. I told you this is not a date.”
“Have you gotten it out of your system?” he asked, hiking his brows.
“Actually, no. What the hell do you mean have I gotten it out of my system? I’m never going to get it out of my system. I’m never going to stop talking shit about how you—”
“Not that. I expect you to do that,” he said, cutting me off with a wave of his hand. “I mean everything else. All that shit you were doing while I was away. I’m talking about you seeing, dating, and fucking other men. Have you gotten it out of your system?”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
“Well, it is. I’m ready for you to come home, baby.”
“I have a home, and it’s about forty-five minutes away from here.”
“I need a list, Faith.”
“What kind of list?”