Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Audrey
It had been a little bit since I’d been home last. My apartment smelled a little musty and everything I left in the fridge was expired. I knew that would happen when I left but it felt weird coming home to such an empty place. It felt even stranger to not have Carina just down the hall from me. I hated this.
A text pinged on my phone and I smiled. Brian hadn’t forgotten about my flight home!
UNKNOWN
Did you make it home safely?
Who’s this?
UNKNOWN
The sexiest man in your world.
I frowned down at my phone. Did Brian get another number? Surly not. He wouldn’t text me like this. I was pretty sure he had never referred to himself as sexy before.
I think not.
UNKNOWN
Ah, you’re no fun.
Who is this?
UNKNOWN
I’m tall, dark, rich, and you can’t stop thinking about me.
Damn it all, how had Alexei gotten my phone number?
How did you get my number?
UNKNOWN
Shouldn’t you be thanking your God for me having it?
Absolutely not.
UNKNOWN
You didn’t deny thinking about me.
Could this man get any more intolerable? I placed my phone face down and paced across the length of my apartment. Why on earth would he text me? There was no reason for him to do so.
None. Nadda. Nothing.
Carina stayed in New York as there was no reason for her to come home and I found myself missing her all over again. How was I going to live in this tiny town without her? There weren’t many options when it came to making friends and the closest city was at least an hour away. Plus Brian would never go for me trying to make new friends in the closest city. He would veto it so fast. It would be too dangerous. He was barely hanging on with me going to New York as often as I was now.
Another text pinged through and I ignored it. There was no point in caring about whatever it was Alexei had to say. Instead, I immediately dialed Carina.
She answered sleepily after a few rings. “Are you okay?”
“No, I am not okay.” It took everything in me to not check my other text from the insufferable bastard.
Her voice grew concerned and I heard Ace in the background asking what was up. “What’s going on? Do you need me to fly back? I’ll get on a plane as soon as I can. I’m sure Ace can get the private jet. It will take me no time to get to you.”
I loved her so much it hurt. She was the best and I knew that even if she lived on the other side of the country, we would see each other often. She would hop on a flight at the drop of a pin to get to me if she needed to. “Did you give Alexei my number?”
That perked her up. “No,” Her voice muffled as she covered the speaker with her hand and asked Ace something I couldn’t hear. “But Ace did.”
I groaned and threw myself onto the couch. It slid across the floor and I closed my eyes waiting for it to crumble beneath me. “Why? Why? Why? I’m going to have to change my number!”
“Audrey?” Ace’s deep timber came over the line and I almost squeaked at the intrusion. “He promised not to bother you and to only communicate about wedding things. You are the Maid of Honor, he is the Best Man. He said it was only fitting that the both of you make plans together for parties and celebrations.”
I knew better but I wasn’t going to give Ace an earful over it. He would find out soon enough that Alexei didn’t want to communicate over wedding things.
“You’re right. I didn’t think of it that way.” That’s because it wasn’t like that at all. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
“Let me know if he harasses you too much. He told me he wasn’t familiar with wedding duties and details. I didn’t think you would mind.”
Oh, I minded alright. I couldn’t stand the man who listened in on my sexual plight. I couldn’t stand the man that showed up with stripper glitter and cheap perfume to pick us up from the airport. I really couldn’t stand that he thought he was God’s gift to women. You could see it in the way he prowled. But the thing I hated the most? I hated how much my body wanted him despite my being involved with Brian. It made me feel icky. It made me feel horrible. It wasn’t like I thought about him, but my dreams and libido didn’t know that. They had minds of their own. It wasn’t like I was acting on any of it, or going to act on any of it either. I wouldn’t even give myself the thought of pursuing Alexei. He was completely off of my radar and I couldn’t care less about him.
When I hung up the phone with Carina, I finally opened the message from Alexei.
Alexei
Did you faint from excitement?
This is strictly a wedding text. You can’t communicate about anything else. This is not a friendship.
Alexei
We’ll see.
I didn’t bother with saying anything else. There was no point. Alexei was obviously living in a fantasy world and there was no way I could talk to him seriously or even look him in the eye after I assumed he heard what I said about my lackluster love life. What the hell had I been thinking to be talking about it so cavalier? I’d managed to avoid him the rest of the trip but unfortunately, I couldn’t avoid him for the rest of the wedding. It was strictly business.
A knock on the door had me throwing my phone across the room. It bounced off of the back of the couch before landing face down on the seat cushion.
With cheeks flaming I opened the door to Brian on the other side. He had a bouquet of yellow roses. I would have been lying to say I wasn’t disappointed. I couldn’t keep my face neutral even if I tried.
“You don’t like them?”
I grabbed them quickly and ushered him inside. “No, they’re beautiful!” Roses weren’t even my favorite flower, but at least he tried.
“My mother said yellow was a safe color.”
She would.
I nodded, unsure of what to say. Yellow roses were for friendship. I hated the color yellow to begin with. It always clashed with my skin tone so I usually stayed as far away from the color as I could. Turquoise and green have been my favorite colors since I was a child. Did he even know that? I was sure I’d told him before. I knew Brian preferred safe colors such as beige, tan, and brown. His suits were always navy blue and he always wore a cream shirt under his sports coat. He didn’t like black so he always wore dark brown dress shoes. How did I know all of this? I paid attention. He didn’t need to tell me.
Quickly, I turned the tap on in the sink and put the roses in fresh water.
“Who’s Alexei?” Brian asked from the living room and I felt my face flush again. “Have you always had a password on your phone?”
What the hell?
I set the glass vase in the center of my tiny, worn-out dining room table and rounded into the living room. Brian was squinting down at my phone, clicking random numbers trying to unlock it. I frowned and leaned against the doorway as I watched him struggle.
“I’ve always had a password on my phone as I’m sure you have one too.”
He startled and dropped my phone on the couch. “I didn’t mean to snoop.”
I shrugged. “It’s one of Ace’s brothers, he’s the Best Man and wants to keep in touch to plan things. Which I doubt I’ll have anything to do with. I don’t have the money or the contacts to keep up with them. I’m sure he’ll ask me my opinion on things and that’ll be it.” I’m also sure he’s going to flirt shamelessly and I’m going to have to beat him with a baseball bat.
He eyed the phone carefully as if he didn’t trust me and nodded his head. “You look like you put on a little weight, were you eating a lot while you were there?” This time he squinted at me and I felt myself shrink a little.
I blinked at his audacity. How dare he? “No.”
He stood up and made quick work of the space between us. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
How the fuck else would you mean it?
I pressed my lips into a thin line while he pulled my hands into his. “I just missed you.”
I lifted a brow.
What a funny way of showing it. He ran a hand down his face and chuckled nervously. “You always make me nervous and I always screw it up. I’m sure you were wined and dined the whole week. I’m sure some of the meals were incredible. I’m a little jealous.”
As carefully as I could manage, I removed my hands from his. “You had every opportunity to come with me.”
“It’s not that simple.”
But it was.
I let out a huff. I was hungry and tired. Those things mixed with his insensitive comments were not a good combination.
“It’s been a long day.”
Reluctantly, I went to the door and opened it for him to leave. My eyes and nose burned as I fought back a wave of emotion. I thought we would reconcile. I thought things would be good when I got home. My expectations had been entirely too high.
The man that sent me sexy texts and excitement over the last few days was not the man standing in front of me and I couldn’t figure it out. Was I dealing with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?
“I’m going to order some takeout and get ready for bed,” I said when he didn’t move from the couch.
“Can I see you tomorrow?”
Instead of biting my tongue, I let my emotions fly. “Can you keep your stupid, mean comments to yourself?”
He blinked a few times before he walked past me in a daze. I’d never talked back before. I’d never told him how I felt about his weight comments but damn it all. I’d seen what love looked like while being with Carina and Ace. I was able to actually see what I was missing and I hated it. All I wanted was for Brian to appreciate me. I thought things would be different and I guess, I thought wrong.