THREE WEEKS HAD passed since the funeral. Lily had called me three times. Each time, I sent it to voicemail and buried myself in work. I’d worked every Saturday and Sunday. When I wasn’t at work, I was home with Mr. Pootie. He was the only man in my life now, and I planned on keeping it that way. Especially after I’d gone out for a run and had seen Tucker and Noelle walking out of a restaurant just a block from my place. She’d reached up and kissed him on the cheek. I’d nearly stumbled over a poor man who had stopped to tie his shoe. I jumped him like a damn hurdle and screamed in the process. Of course that made Tucker and Noelle look my way. The guy jumped up and asked me if I was okay. We both chuckled about my impressive jump, but I felt Tucker’s stare. Felt it in the very core of my being. When my eyes met his, I said my goodbyes to the stranger and practically sprinted home, ignoring Tucker, who called out for me. A small part of me hoped by seeing him that day, he’d text me. But he didn’t, and neither had I. My pride wouldn’t allow it.
My phone buzzed with an incoming text on my desk, and I flipped it over to see it was Nash.
Nash: Feel like grabbing a beer tonight? We’ll all be at Sedotto tonight.
I flipped it over and went back to work. An hour passed when it buzzed again.
Nash: Charlie, please. Lily’s depressed as fuck, Tucker has been drinking nearly non-stop since y’all broke up, and I’m pretty sure Terri’s planning on killing Blake soon. We need you!
A small chuckle slipped from between my lips at the mention of Terri wanting to kill Blake. My heart hurt for Lily, and I was back to being angry at Tucker. He had Noelle now to comfort his ass. Nash expected me to show up and be the salve to their wounds. Yeah, I was made of strong stuff but not strong enough to put myself in their crosshairs again.
Me: Let Terri kill Blake. I’m sorry about Lily, but she made her feelings pretty clear at the wake. And call AA for Tucker’s problems. Nothing I can do to fix what’s broken.
His reply was almost instant.
Nash: So that’s it? You’re walking away from all of us? She was angry and hurt and confused, Charlie. You know that; you’ve been there. And what about Tucker? Did you ever even care about him, or was it really all a game?
My body shook with anger.
Me: It was never a game. The only man I could ever see myself with was Tucker. I’m at work, Nash. I can’t talk. But then, that shouldn’t surprise y’all, right?
Nash: No, I guess not.
I stared at his last text, my teeth digging into my lip so hard I tasted blood. His next text made me jump.
Nash: Just so you know, Tucker is really fucked up. I know something happened with his dad, but the other night when he was wasted, he kept saying how he hurt you. He can’t move on and he needs to. He can’t apologize to his father, so for fuck’s sake, can you at least let him apologize to you so he can get his shit together and move on if you don’t intend on being a part of his life?
The fact that he was trying to guilt me only made my decision to not go tonight the right one. They all thought I worked too much and my job owned me. Well screw them … Every last one of them.
Nash: I’ll take your silence as a no. That’s fucked up, Charlie. I really thought you cared about him.
“Fuck you, Nash.”
Pulling out my drawer, I threw my phone into it and slammed it. The rest of the day I was useless. I couldn’t stop thinking about Nash’s text messages. I worked until seven and then changed and headed to the gym. After an hour of working out, I made my way home. Mr. Pootie was pissed off and ignoring me as I walked through my living room and into the kitchen.
“If you keep acting like a dick, I won’t feed you.”
The damn cat actually sat with his back to me. When I pulled back the lid on his moist food, he simply glanced back at me and gave me a disgusted meow.
“Are all the men in my life going to be like this?” I mumbled as I dropped the food into Mr. Pootie’s bowl.
After a hot shower, I settled on the sofa and stared out at the night lights of Austin for what seemed like forever. A part of me wished I was staring up at a night sky filled with stars like when I went camping with my father. He loved being in the woods, and whenever he got the chance to get away from work, he always took me and my mom somewhere fun. It was camping, the beach, or a trip to one of the national parks. However, once he became CEO of CMI, everything changed. We went on less and less trips, and I had gotten to the age where I did more things with my friends’ families than I did with my own.
The heaviness in my chest felt like a brick. Heading out to the balcony, I sat down on the chair, my knees pulled up and tucked under my chin as I let out a long sigh.
“I really hate the city,” I whispered to myself. There were a lot of things I really hated. These last few weeks alone had made me open my eyes to all the things I had been using as fillers to make myself think I was living the life I wanted. It was the opposite. Nothing about my life was what I wanted. It was what my father wanted.
My cell phone started ringing, and I jumped up. I knew it was late, at least after ten. If it was work, I was going to beat someone’s ass.
Lily.
Turning away, I walked into the kitchen. I was being childish and pouting because my best friend spoke the truth.
Mr. Pootie went in between my legs, letting out a loud cry for either attention or a snack.
“Do you think I’m being a baby?” I asked, picking him up and snuggling him against my chest.
He didn’t respond.
“I’ll take your silence as a yes. This is why my father didn’t want me falling in love, Mr. Pootie. It’s a distraction, and one I can’t really afford to have. I have a company to run.”
Using his front paws to push me away, my cat fought to get out of my arms.
“You too, huh? Well I don’t have a choice. My father trusted me with his company, and I’m going to do what I was raised to do. Run it and make it even better than it was before.”
Licking his paw, he rubbed it over his ears and face. He had no interest in my declaration. None at all.
Note to self: Get out of the house more. You’re losing your damn mind.
After digging through the freezer, I settled on a pint of Blue Bell chocolate ice cream and headed into the living room to find something to watch on Netflix.
Mr. Pootie jumped up onto his cat condo and peered out over the city lights. Sedotto wasn’t far from my place, and my mind kept drifting off and wondering if the whole gang was out tonight. What was Tucker doing? Working or hanging all over Noelle. I picked up my phone and saw I had a voicemail from Lily. Swallowing hard, I hit the little sideways triangle and listened to it.
“Hey, I’m sorry we haven’t had a chance to talk. It’s been a rough few weeks. Mom is finally not crying every hour of the day.”
A long pause came. I heard music pulsing in the distance. She must have been in Tucker’s office.
“I’m sorry for what I said that day. I didn’t mean any of it. Well, I do think you work too much, but you already know that. I didn’t want you to leave. A part of me saw the hurt in your eyes when you saw Tucker, and the stress of the situation was too much to handle. It was easier for me if you weren’t there. That sounds like such a bitch thing to say, and I’m so sorry. Have you tried calling Tucker? He misses you, and I think he was really hoping you’d be here tonight.”
I frowned. If he missed me so much and wanted to say how sorry he was, he sure had a funny way of showing it. I hadn’t received one phone call or text from him.
Why in the hell am I hiding out here in my place? I’m young, single, and free to date anyone I chose.
“Fuck it!” I said as I jumped up and rushed to my bedroom. “Everyone is so desperate to see me, then they are going to see me.”
I had never changed and put makeup on so fast in my life. Forty minutes later I walked into Tucker’s bar. My eyes widened in shock. It was packed with people. Turning to the left, I spotted my friends. Nash sat between Lily and Terri. Jim was next to Terri and next to him sat someone I didn’t know. It was a woman with dark hair. My heart pounded in my chest. It had to be Noelle. She turned, and sure enough, it was her.
Fucking great. This was a stupid idea.
Turning to get the hell away from this place, I ran into someone.
“Excuse me,” I mumbled.
“Charleston?”
Startled, I took a step back and looked up at a gorgeous guy smiling down at me. His blond hair looked like he had been pushing his fingers through it all night. His bright blue eyes seemed to sparkle as he gazed down at me. He looked familiar, but damn if I could place him.
“Do we know each other?” I asked, forcing myself to smile politely.
He placed his hand over his heart as if I had wounded him. “I’m hurt you don’t remember me. I must not have left a very good impression. Darrell Adams. Your father and mine were good friends. We played a few rounds of golf together and talked about how we both wanted to sail around the world and leave work behind.”
The memory hit me.
“Oh my gosh! Yes! You had dark hair, though.”
He laughed. “I did. Went for a change.”
“How are you?” I asked. Darrell and I had spent hours on and off the golf course talking about life in general. He was in the same situation as me. He had a father with his own business who was hell bent on the heir apparent taking it over.
“CMI is doing some work for us; I was hoping I’d get to see you.”
My eyes lit up. “Yes, we’re helping y’all redesign your call center. George doing a good job so far?”
“Very much so.” He nodded. “Were you leaving?” he asked, turning to the two guys he had walked in with. “I’ll catch up with y’all in a bit.”
I glanced back over to the table and chewed on my lip.
“Let me guess, ex-boyfriend here with a new girl?”
My head turned back to Darrell and I laughed. “Something like that. Ex owns this bar, we all hung together in college, and it was stupid of me to come here tonight.”
He lifted a brow. “Because of the ex?” Darrell turned in the direction I had been looking.
“Because of the little dark-haired beauty sitting in that large booth at the very end. I think they’re dating now.”
Darrell smiled. “Then let’s go say hi.”
He placed his hand on my lower back and guided me toward my small group of friends. I frantically searched for Tucker but didn’t see him.
“No … honestly, I’d rather just …”
“Charlie!”
My body sank. “Damn,” I whispered as Darrell wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to him.
What in the hell was he doing?
“Hey … Terri.”
God, my voice sounded weak and unsure.
All eyes went to Darrell. Terri and Lily gave him a once-over, Nash looked like he wanted to rip off Darrell’s head, Jim showed no emotion, and Blake … Well, Blake looked like he wanted to punch the living shit out of poor Darrell. This guy had no idea what he’d just walked into.
“How are you doing, Lily?” I asked.
Pulling her eyes off Darrell, she forced a smile. “I’m doing okay. You got my message?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
She sat back and stared at Darrell, giving him a look like she wanted him to explode on the spot.
“Who’s this? A new friend of yours?” Nash asked, his voice thick with sarcasm.
I froze, which was so not like me. At all.
When I finally found my voice, I replied, “Darrell Adams, he’s a friend of mine.”
With a huge grin on his face, Darrell reached out his hand to Nash. “Our fathers were good friends. Charlie and I are …” He trailed off and looked at me. “Hanging out.”
I groaned internally. Darrell had made it seem like we were doing more than hanging out. Before I knew it, Darrell shook each person’s hands and introduced himself. Then he got to Noelle.
“I’m Noelle, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
I snarled my lip at the way she openly flirted with Darrell. What a bitch.
Lily looked pissed, as did the rest of the table. The only person who seemed happy was Noelle. Lily’s eyes darted to her and then back to me as she spoke in a gruff voice. “It’s not what you think.”
I shrugged. “Not my business.”
“Charlie mentioned y’all would be here tonight, so we just stopped in to say hello. So if you’ll excuse us.”
My eyes widened in shock. Darrell wasn’t messing around.
“Wait, you’re not going to sit here with us? We haven’t seen you in weeks, Charlie,” Terri said, her eyes sad and hurt.
I let my eyes drift over to Noelle. They lingered on her for a few seconds since she was busy typing something out on her phone. Focusing back on Terri, I replied, “Not tonight, table seems crowded already.”
“Nice meeting y’all,” Darrell said and we went to turn. Oh my God, I felt him before I even realized where he was.
As I turned around to join Darrell, there he was.
Gasping, I threw my hand over my chest. “You scared me to death, Tucker.”
Darrell stood taller when he realized this was the ex.
Tucker stared at me with a hard look. “Finally decide to hang out with your friends?”
I lifted my chin. “Actually, I only came over to say hello. Looks like you’ve got a full house at your friends’ table.”
Tucker’s eyes looked past me and to Noelle. His eyes were back on mine and he smirked.
“Jealous?”
Darrell’s fingers pressed into my hip.
“Hardly. You always were the type to jump from one to the next.”
Tucker’s smirk slid off his face. “Same old Charlie. Runs when the shit gets real.”
The smell of booze practically dripped off Tucker.
Darrell cleared his throat. “Okay, I’m not sure what happened between you two, but we’re going to be leaving now.”
Poor Darrell. I really should have warned him what he was getting himself into. Tucker faced him.
“Who are you? The new flunky she tricked into falling for her? Y’all getting married? Dude, you better watch out with this one. She likes to play games.”
“Me?” I shouted, taking a step closer to Tucker. “What about you? You knew from the very beginning, and you never said a word. How long were you going to play me, Tucker? Maybe your intentions were to leave me at the altar. Ultimate payback, right?”
His jaw was locked tight, and I barely understood the words that came from his mouth. “It wasn’t a game.”
“It never was for me either.”
Tucker tossed his head back and laughed. “That’s classic, Charlie. How much time you got left? A month? You pay this guy or something?”
Darrell took a step closer to Tucker. “Listen here. I don’t know what in the fuck is going on, but Charlie is a friend of mine, and I don’t like how you’re talking to her.”
Tucker smiled wide now. Normally his smiles made my lower stomach pull, but this one did the opposite. It frightened me. A look of evil moved into his eyes.
“Friends with benefits. Is that the type of arrangement you got with him? Is that what we had Charlie? Because I thought it was a hell of a lot more than that.”
“Stop it,” I hissed, glancing around the bar. “You’re drunk and you need to stop now.”
“Why? Truth hurt? Is that all we were, Charlie?”
Burning in the back of my eyes had me blinking fast. I took a step closer to Tucker. “I’m not the one who hooked up with an ex at my father’s funeral.”
His smile dropped, and he looked at Noelle and then back to me. He didn’t say a word at first, which only led me to believe my suspicions were right.
He’s with Noelle.
My heart felt like someone had stabbed me right in the middle of it.
“Think what you want. I don’t care anymore. Enjoy your fake marriage. I hope you get everything you’ve ever wanted, Charlie.”
And with that, he turned and walked off toward his office.
Lily appeared in front of me. “Charlie, you’ve got things all wrong.” Her eyes looked at me, pleading.
I scoffed. “No, for the first time in my life, I think I’m actually thinking clearly. It was good seeing you, Lily.”
Darrell took my cue and guided me away.
“Holy shit Charleston, what was that about?” he asked, his mouth against my ear.
My breaths came fast and shallow.
“I need to get out of here.”
With a nod, Darrell gave a quick chin up to his friends who flashed him a smile that suggested they were happy he was about to hook up.
“Your friends,” I started to say.
“Are fine without me. Come on, let’s go grab some coffee.”
For the first time in weeks, I actually felt myself relax and smile while in Darrell’s presence. We sat at a coffee shop for almost two hours talking. I told him everything. The whole stupid plan to get Tucker to marry me, how I felt about Tucker, and how he knew about the plan from the very beginning. How lost I felt with my father gone. My doubts about my future. And he was equally open with me. He’d just broken off an engagement his parents forced him into, and things weren’t so great on the home front right now.
Looking at my empty coffee cup, I sighed. “I should get home. It’s late.”
“Let me take you home.”
“I drove, but if you want to walk me to my car, I won’t argue.”
Darrell smiled and it made my chest flutter. Not like how it did with Tucker, but in a different way. A nice, comfortable way. A way that said I needed a friend.
We stopped at my car, and I took in a deep breath. “Thanks for tonight and letting me spill my guts to you.”
He laughed. “No worries. That’s some crazy shit with your grandfather.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, it is. So, I guess I’ll be seeing you on the golf course?”
Darrell grinned wider. “I have a better idea. There’s a dinner that my father’s company is hosting. It’s to help raise money to build a school in Africa. It’s really my mother’s passion, but Dad’s sponsoring the trip. I’m sure if your … well …”
He looked away.
“If my parents were here?”
When he glanced back at me, I could see the regret in his eyes. “I’m sorry, that’s what I was going to say. If your parents were here, I know he’d invite them.”
“I already RSVP’d to the invite a few weeks back.”
He quirked a brow. “With a plus-one?”
With a pout, I shook my head, causing him to chuckle again. I was beginning to really like the sound of his laughter. It eased the ache in my chest.
“Go with me? Friends only. I’m honestly not interested in going down the relationship road anytime soon.”
“I’d like that. I think it will make the evening better for both of us.”
Darrell nodded, then leaned down and kissed my cheek. “So do I. I’ll give you a call in a few days. Maybe we can grab coffee again.”
“Sounds good,” I said as I opened the door to my car and slid in. Darrell pushed his hands into his jeans pocket and looked down at me. I couldn’t help but give him a once-over.
Damn, he was nice looking, that was for sure. His body was built, shoulders broad. Nice smile. Good just-fucked hair and eyes that held a certain mystery to them.
I lifted my hand and waved goodbye as I drove off.
Too bad I wasn’t the least bit attracted to him in any way whatsoever.