Chapter Thirteen
Alana
“Details,” Peyton demands, when I meet her at the mall on Thursday after work. “You owe me two fucking weeks’ worth of Chase fucking the cobwebs out of your vagina details, woman.”
“Honestly, I don’t even know what to tell you,” I giggle. “Where do I even start?”
“Um, the beginning? How the fuck did it progress from nothing to this? Who started it?” she makes a face. “Stupid question. He obviously did—” She stops and gawks at me when she realizes I’m shaking my head. “You started it? You?”
“Don’t sound so surprised,” I reply indignantly. “I can be bold and daring when I want to be.”
“Really?” she says. “Because prior to this, the most daring thing I’ve seen you do is wear red with orange.” She shakes her head, still coming to terms with how much she’s missed. “So what happened?”
“We were in his office, and I kissed him.”
“Just a kiss?” she presses, her eyes twinkling. “How was it? Was that when you…” She winks at me as she raises her arms and sways her hips, until I reach out and slap her playfully.
“No, it was just a kiss and then I left,” I explain. “Then the next day, I finished work late and he insisted on making me dinner—”
“He made you dinner?” she growls, her eyes wide.
I laugh. “Well, not quite that time. He intended on making me dinner.”
“What the hell does that even mean?” she says, shaking her head.
“It means dinner ended up all over the floor because he fucked me on his kitchen counter instead,” I say, my face heating.
Her eyes widen as she clasps her hand over her mouth. She stares at me in shock for a few moments and then she shakes her head.
“Get the hell out,” she gasps, clapping her hand over her mouth. “Are you messing with me? Oh my God, you’re serious? On his kitchen counter?” she gasps. She throws her arms around my neck, hugging me, while kissing me on the cheek. “That's so fucking hot and amazing. How was he? I mean, I don’t want the details, but was it good?” she asks.
I sigh, a dazed smile on my face. “I can't even put into words how amazing it was.”
“And this has been going on for two weeks? I can’t believe you kept this all to yourself!”
I nod. “He’s incredible, Pey. We’ve been together nearly every night. And it’s not just sex. He took me out for dinner last night. We talk about all sorts of things…”
I sigh. It’s hard to put into words how I feel when I’m around him.
“And now I get to spend the whole weekend with him.”
“What do you mean?” she asks.
“He's taking me on a business trip. Three nights alone—well, if you don’t count the other couple of hundred attendees who’ll be there,” I joke.
“Holy crap, is that why we’re shopping?” she gasps.
“Yes,” I say with an excited nod. “I need something sexy, but classy for a function this Sunday.”
Without another word, she marches me into a small boutique called Game.
“Forget sexy,” she declares. “We can do better than that. What you need is blow his mind, make him want to fuck you in the middle of the conference, kind of sexy.” She looks around, a determined look on her face. “And if we’re going to find it anywhere, it will be in this shop.”
I nod, her passion and enthusiasm spurring me on. I’m pumped and ready to shop.
“Let’s do this.”
Ten dresses later, and I’m done. I sit down outside the boutique, deflated, because I’m never going to find the right dress. I might as well just wear a hessian sack. Hell, he’d probably find that sexy, anyway. Peyton is still in the store, refusing to give up, but I know it’s a lost cause.
I glance around me, looking for options, and then I see it. The perfect dress. My heart races as I stand up. It’s on a mannequin in the window of a boutique across the way. I slowly walk over there, just as Peyton walks out of Game.
“I’m sorry. I feel like I’ve let you down. Stupid store,” Peyton grumbles. I turn around and grab her by the shoulders, leading her over to the window. Her mouth drops open. She nods.
“Yes. Yes,” she cries, her eyes glassy. “That's perfect, Lanna!”
I race inside and search for the dress, but I can’t find it anywhere. An assistant finally walks over to help us when Peyton begins to get hysterical. I point at the dress, too out of breath to speak, from going through rack after rack looking for that dress.
“I’m sorry. That's the last one,” she says.
“What size is it?” Peyton demands.
“I'm not sure. Let me check.”
We both watch, holding our breath as she climbs up into the window display and unzips the dress. She looks back over to us.
“It’s a four,” she announces.
“Yes,” I practically cheer. Peyton throws her arms around me.
“Don’t get too excited until I try it on,” I say to her. She rolls her eyes, but nods.
“It’s going to be perfect.”
I hope she’s right.
I take it into the dressing room and peel off my clothes and then slide it up over my body. It's a perfect fit, but that doesn't mean it looks any good. I finally find the courage to lift my eyes and look at my reflection in the mirror. I’m stunned by what I see. The blue silk looks almost purple in some light, and it just clings to my body. It drapes softly against the floor, but with the right heels, the length will be perfect. I reach up and touch where the dress dips dangerously low into my cleavage. The amount of breast I’m showing is daring, but the conservative length of the dress kind of makes it okay.
Holy shit. That can’t be me.
My heart races. It really is perfect. I can’t even move, it’s so perfect.
“Are you ready?” I call out to Peyton.
“I've been ready for the last ten minutes,” she grumbles. “Hurry up already.”
I pull back the door and walk out. Peyton gasps. She shakes her head, speechless. I don't think I've ever seen Peyton speechless in all the time I've known her.
“You’re crying,” I say to her, laughing. She shakes her head and wipes away tears. “Seriously, maybe you're the one that needs to get laid,” I giggle.
“Trust me, I've been getting a lot of it lately, and I’ve got all the allergies to prove it,” she smirks.
“So how are things going with Mr. Vet?” I tease, referring to the guy she’s been seeing for a few months now. How he still doesn’t know that she’s allergic to dogs, I have no idea.
She smiles. “Really well,” she admits. “He’s so nice, Lanna. I think I need to tell him that I'm allergic to his giant dogs, though.”
“If things are going that well, you’ll work around it,” I say. She nods but doesn't look convinced. This guy must really love his dogs.
“Back to you and that dress. Please tell me you’re getting it?” she pleads. She grabs the tag, her eyes widening when she sees the price. “On second thought, you might need to take out a loan first,” she whistles.
“Good thing I have this, then,” I say, flashing the credit card at her.
“Is that Chase’s?” she gasps. “He gave that to you?” I nod. She shakes her head. “Okay, now I’m really jealous.”
I giggle and link my arm through hers as we walk over to the counter.
I treat Peyton to a smoothie to say thanks for helping me shop. She races to the bathroom while I wait for our drinks. I stand beside the counter, feeling happier than I have in a long time. I feel like nothing can bring me down. I glance over to see if Peyton is coming back and my heart stops. It’s not Peyton that I see though. It’s Dani and Aaron. I turn around, praying they don’t see me and try to crouch down around the side of the counter, where I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to be.
“What are you doing?”
I look up and see Peyton standing there, shaking her head.
She’s right. What am I doing?
I can't believe what I'm about to do, but there's no doubt in my mind that I need to do it. I stand up and straighten myself up and then I walk over in their direction. They don’t notice me until I'm right in front of them.
Dani looks up first. She pales when she sees me standing there. I see her grip tighten on Aaron’s wrist. He turns around, looking visibly sick when he sees me.
“Alana,” he mutters. “Hey. How are you?”
“Good,” I say, not believing for a second that he actually cares.
“Uh, how are you? Having a nice evening shopping…” His voice trails off. It takes everything for me not to laugh in his face. That’s all he has to say to me?
Dani hesitates. “I’m glad we ran into you,” she says softly. “I've been meaning to call you since…” She stops and swallows before continuing. “I really want to apologize for what happened. I just want you to know I never meant to hurt you.”
“The fact that you didn’t want to hurt me doesn't change the fact that you did,” I say. With a rush of confidence, I for myself to go on. “I want you to know something.” I look her dead in the eye and then Aaron. “You both hurt me. I trusted you. I trusted both of you and you betrayed me in the worst possible way. You have no idea how that made me feel or how long it took to get over both of you. You hurt the most,” I say to Dani. “We shared our whole lives together. Guys come and go, but I thought you’d be the friend I’d still have in my life when I turned eighty.” Tears roll down her cheeks as I keep looking her in the eye. “I hope he was worth it. I hope he was worth ruining our friendship over, because that's what you did.”
“Alana, please,” she whispers, covering her mouth with her hand. She wipes away tears and puts her hand out, but I back away. “No,” I say. “I won’t back down just so that you feel better. I need you to know how much you broke me, so that I can move on.” I sigh. “I didn't come over here to make a scene, or yell at you, or any of that. I don't care about anything, other than the fact that just being able to walk over here and say this to your face.”
Dani looks down. She runs her hand over her stomach and that's when I notice the bump.
“When are you due?” I say quietly. She looks surprised and then embarrassed.
“I'm six months tomorrow,” she whispers.
“Congratulations,” I say. “I hope you're happy. I really do.”
I turn and walk away, feeling like the weight of the world is on my shoulders. All I want to do is fall into a heap and cry, but I don't, because what I did took courage and I need to be proud of that. It took a lot of damn courage. I shake my head and laugh as I near Peyton. She stares at me with wide eyes and then wraps her around arms around me, kissing me on the cheek over and over again.
“I'm so proud of you right now,” she whispers.
“Yeah,” I say. “I'm pretty proud of myself, too,” I admit.
I take a deep breath, still feeling shaky. I can't believe that I did that. Last week—hell, even yesterday I wouldn’t have had the courage to do that. I never got the closure that I needed from that relationship, and I think that's part of what’s been holding me back. That and my remarkable ability to pick really bad men. My mind wanders to Chase.
Maybe all that is finally changing.
“Thanks again for helping me out.” I say to Peyton, as she pulls up outside my building.
It’s been a long day and I’m exhausted. Running into Aaron and Dani has made a whole heap of emotions resurface that I thought I’d dealt with a long time ago.
“Are you okay? She asks, giving my arm a sympathetic squeeze.
I nod. “I think so? You know, it’s funny. For seven months, just the idea of seeing them made me feel sick, but tonight, I not only faced them and told them what I needed to, I did it on my terms.” I smile. “I think I actually feel pretty damn amazing.”
“Good.” She grins, giving me a hug. “And just so you know, it took everything for me not to march over there and sucker punch that bitch.”
“I’m glad you didn’t,” I grin.
“So am I. I’m proud of you for standing up to them, but now, just put it behind you and move on. You owe that to yourself.” I nod, knowing that she’s right. “Besides,” she says, pausing for effect. “You have more important things to worry about. Or should I say people.”
I roll my eyes wishing I hadn't told her who I was going away with. Of course, she would've figured it out pretty quickly when neither of us were at work tomorrow.
“Stop it.” I say to her with a mock frown.
“Stop what?” she says, her dark eyes widening.
“That,” I groan. “Smiling every time I say his name.”
“Come on.” Peyton squeals and grabs my arm. “It's perfect! You know it's perfect and when he sees you in that dress, he’s not going to be able to keep his hands off you.”
“I'm going now,” I groan, opening the door.
“Bye!” She says, practically hanging out the window as I walk across the sidewalk to the front door. “Don't do anything I wouldn't do, and make sure you use protection,” she calls out. “Herpes ruins lives, you know!”
I cringe as the doorman grins at me.