16. Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sixteen
Samantha
Kelly woke up from a nap filled with vim and vigor. When she wasn’t bouncing off the walls, she vacillated between asking me thousands of questions about my house, Nate, my job, and ranting about Josh and Scarlet.
While I was glad she wasn’t a weeping mess, I was exhausted. The last time we’d spent more than an hour or two together had been before I’d left for college. We didn’t know each other, and to be honest, never had. But there was a tie that couldn’t be denied.
Kelly might’ve said she’d come to me because no one would think to look for her here, but I hoped a small part was because I was her big sister. If the situations were reversed, I hoped I could have gone to her.
That didn’t matter much, but I was pleased she’d known she could come to me.
After spending hours with her, however, I couldn’t take another minute. It was my night off, but I needed a break. Leaving her tucked on my couch with takeout and Netflix, I went to the club.
Tonight was swingers night. With no show happening on the stage, the tables and chairs had been pushed back to create a dance floor.
I’d arrived early enough; most of our guests hadn’t retreated to private rooms yet.
Duos and trios mingled and danced, some talking and laughing, others getting previews of what they’d get to have later.
Adrian was in his office, frowning at his computer.
“Hey, buddy,” I said as I sauntered in, taking a seat in the chair in front of his desk.
He was startled when he looked up. “Isn’t it Saturday?”
“It is. How are you feeling?”
“Fine, fine.” He brushed my question off, still annoyed he’d been sick at all. “What are you doing here?”
“The wedding didn’t happen.” I crossed my legs and leaned forward, my elbow on my knee. “I have a runaway bride in my house.”
He blew out a long breath before focusing on me. “You took Smelly in?”
“She was desperate. Her fiancé was cheating with her maid of honor. She obviously couldn’t marry him.” I turned my hand over. “What was I supposed to do?”
“Laugh in her bitchy face. I would have.”
“I know you would have, but I’m nicer than you.”
He rocked back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. “That may be, but you’re also a pushover. Smelly doesn’t deserve an ounce of your compassion. You know that.”
I shrugged. “That’s up to me to decide, isn’t it?”
He didn’t like it, but he knew I was right. And as much as he would have liked for me to agree with him, it wasn’t going to happen. I got to dole out compassion wherever I saw fit.
“Fine.” He worked his jaw for a minute, taking his aggression out on his molars. “How was your weekend with Nate? It seemed like you were having a good time.”
“Well…” I didn’t keep things from Adrian.
That wasn’t how we worked. But I also didn’t know how he was going to react.
Probably something I should have thought about before sleeping with his brother, but that ship had sailed.
“We really did have a lot of fun. The alpine slide, the ropes course—he even made the rehearsal dinner bearable. He’s different than I thought. ”
“How so?”
“I don’t know. He’s nice. Always nice. But he was…funny. Easy to talk to. And he took his job of protecting me seriously. Having him by my side was a relief. I’m disappointed we didn’t get to dance at the wedding. I bet he’s a great dancer.”
Adrian groaned. “Oh no. You haven’t picked up your old crush, have you? I don’t think I can take you mooning over Nate all over again.”
“No, no.” I laughed. “I told him about that. He was skeeved out about how young I was, but mostly, he thought it was funny.”
“Hmmm.” Adrian narrowed his eyes. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
“Right. There is…” I tucked my hair behind my ear, considering what to say.
When I didn’t speak fast enough, Adrian picked up his phone. “Should I ask Nate?”
I waved my hands in front of me. “I’ll tell you, just…don’t be mad.”
“Speak, Sam,” Adrian ordered, tossing his phone back on his desk.
“We slept together.” I braced myself.
His head jerked slightly, and he blinked slowly. “Okay. I don’t know why I’m surprised.”
“Hey.” I put my foot down, indignant. “Are you trying to slut shame me?”
“As if I would ever.” He rolled his eyes. “Well…you were two grown people sharing a hotel room. I suppose it was bound to happen.”
“I didn’t go into this weekend expecting it.”
He was silent for a moment, drumming his fingers on his desk. “I don’t want any details. Just tell me he treated you well.”
I bit back a moan as I thought of just how well Nate had treated me. Adrian and I might’ve been open with each other about all things, including sex, but this one, I was keeping all to myself.
“He treated me very well.”
He gave one sharp nod. “So, what next? You’re not dating him, right?”
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
“Good.” He blew out a relieved breath, and I had to admit, I was taken aback.
“Why good?”
That got me a chuckle. “Let’s be real, Sammie. Nate isn’t the kind of guy you date. He’s entirely too sensitive and nice. It would be a disaster for you both.”
“I can’t date a sensitive man?” I hadn’t had any plan of dating Nate Wells, but I didn’t like Adrian telling me he was too good for me.
“You don’t date sensitive men. You like assholes. Since we’ve known each other, you’ve dated exactly one decent guy, and you dumped him.”
“Oh my god, you have to get over Simon! That’s ancient history.”
He fidgeted with his watch, averting his gaze. “Did you know he got married three years ago? They just had a baby.”
“You should have married him, buddy.”
He lifted his gaze to mine, his mouth twitching. “Unfortunately, he’s not my type.”
“Unfortunately,” I muttered. “You know, you’d think, as my best friend, you’d be pushing me toward a nice guy, not warning me away.”
He leveled me with a serious look. “If I thought for one second you were genuinely interested in exploring something real with him, I would give you my blessing. I’d worry it would blow up in all our faces, but I’d set that aside.
You’re two of my favorite people, and if you ended up together, it would be rather convenient for me. But we’re being real. Right, Sammie?”
The fight flew out of me in a heavy breath. “Yeah. We’re being real.”
There wasn’t a lot to say. Another failed relationship had just ended, and I’d decided to be single for a while to get my priorities straight.
I did want to get married, maybe have a family, if it was in the cards, but I wasn’t getting things right and needed to figure out why.
Dragging Nate through that wouldn’t be fair.
Besides, would Nate have been interested anyway?
Last night had been incredible.
But maybe that was all it was:
One really great night.
Getting back into my routine didn’t take long, even with Kelly now along for the ride. She’d taken two weeks off work for her aborted honeymoon, so she’d decided she would be camping out with me at least for that long.
She wasn’t terrible, as far as roommates went. She cooked and cleaned up after herself. When I was at work, she did my laundry, including hand-washing my G-strings.
Which I made her promise never to do again.
I didn’t really trust her and her shifty eyes, but there were worse things.
She’d been with me for a week when she stopped me on my way out the door.
“I’m bored,” she whined, her gaze flicking over my suit. “You look nice.”
I tugged on my lapels. “This old thing? Thanks.” Then I cocked my head toward the door. “I’m sorry you’re bored. Maybe we can go for a hike or something tomorrow. I have to get to work now—”
“I’ll come with you.” She hopped up from the couch, her eyes alight. “Give me two minutes to get dressed. I promise I’ll be fast.”
I held up a hand. “No. You can’t come with me. Mile High is a private club. Besides, I’ll be busy doing my job. There won’t be anything for you to do.”
She wasn’t listening. “Come on. It’s a sex club. I’m sure I can find plenty to keep me busy.”
I shook my head. “No, Kell. You really can’t come with me. We can talk tomorrow. Right now, I have to go.”
I pulled open the door, and she was right behind me, following me onto the porch. Since she wasn’t wearing shoes, I wasn’t overly worried about her chasing me down the sidewalk to my car.
Before I could get down the steps, a man appeared from nowhere, yelling Kelly’s name.
Kelly collided with my back, and I had to grab the railing before I went tumbling down the steps.
Josh didn’t look great. Haggard was the best word I could think of. Possibly drunk too. His hair was disheveled, eyes bloodshot, baggy sweatpants stained and sagging low on his waist.
He shuffled to the base of my stairs, deep shadows beneath his eyes. “Kelly, you’re here. My love, I—”
Kelly screeched next to my ear. “Get out of here. I don’t want to see you ever again.”
He raised his hands. “No, baby, you have to let me explain. We have to talk. I can’t breathe, baby.”
When he put one foot on my steps, I moved in front of Kelly, blocking her from his view.
“You heard her, Josh. She wants nothing to do with you.” I pointed to the street behind him. “I’m asking you to leave. You’re not welcome at my home.”
For a moment, a nasty sneer replaced his anguish, but Kelly whimpered, and he crumbled.
“I get it,” he said, softening. “I made a huge mistake and hurt her. But I’m here to make it better. I’ve been going out of my mind trying to find her. No one knows where you live. It took me all this time to track down your address, and I wasn’t even sure she’d be here.”
Another pinprick on top of the millions. None of my family knew my address. They’d never asked and had certainly never visited. Not a surprise, but it hurt all the same.
Still, I kept my chin held high. “She said no. You need to leave her alone. If she wants to talk to you, she knows how to reach you.”
He shook his head hard. “No. I’m not going anywhere. This isn’t going to get better until we talk it out. I can explain everything—”
With another whimper, Kelly turned and fled back into my house, slamming the door behind her.
I arched a brow. “I think that’s your answer, asshole. She read all your texts with Scarlet. She knows everything. Do you actually think she’d ever forgive you?”
That sneer came back in full force. “I bet you’re loving this, huh? The black sheep finally gets to be the center of things? As soon as Kelly forgives me, you’ll be back in your spot on the outside—exactly where you belong.”
I shrugged, pretending the truth of his nasty words didn’t mean anything. “You’re probably right, but you’ll be outside with me because Kelly is never going to forgive you. Now get the hell off my steps.”
I spun around and ran back inside. Kelly was in the entry, chewing on her nails, her brow crinkled with worry.
“Is he going away?”
I checked the peephole. Josh was pacing at the bottom of my steps. “Doesn’t seem like it. Not right now.”
She tugged on my hand. “Please don’t leave me. Not with him out there. You probably think I’m an idiot for being afraid of him—”
“I don’t think you’re an idiot.” —not about this, at least.
“Do you think you could call Nate?”
“Nate?”
She nodded. “I feel bad you’ve been spending all your time with me instead of seeing your boyfriend, you know? But maybe if he comes here, he can scare Josh off.”
Oh, right. Nate was my boyfriend. I’d sort of forgotten that detail over the last week.
“I don’t want to drag Nate into this,” I said, which was true. He’d already done more than enough. But when I glanced out my peephole again, Josh was sitting on my bottom step, looking like he had no intention of going anywhere.
“Please?” Kelly whispered.
I really did need to go to work, but there was not a chance I could leave Kelly while Josh was camping out. I didn’t think he’d do anything crazy, but I wasn’t certain enough to take that chance.
“Fine. I’ll call Nate.”