Chapter Fifteen
Justin – Saturday
The big smile was still spread across my cheeks as I woke up in the morning after the most amazing night of my life. I turned over, ready to go for round two, but I found the other side of the bed cold, proving that I’d been lying alone for a very long time.
Annie had Houdini’d me; she’d vanished at some point in the night, and I had no idea how to feel about that. Obviously, I couldn’t believe it, but my emotions seemed to run much deeper than that for some reason.
I sat up in the bed, rubbing my eyes hard trying to get rid of some of the sleep, the entire time trying to work out what I’d done wrong. It wasn’t that she hadn't had fun – I could tell that she was enjoying herself the whole time – so it had to be because it was complicated. We had overstepped a boundary, gone where we probably shouldn’t have, and it was likely she’d freaked out.
I hoped she didn’t think that I would withhold the investment now; that would be awful. I would just have to find a way to make her see that what happened last night had no impact on the business side of things.
But now right now, I needed to give her some time to calm down first. I knew enough about people to know that I couldn’t just jump in there with both feet like an idiot. I had to just chill and find a way to distract myself.
I jumped into the shower and then pulled on some clothing, needing to get out of the very constricting hotel room, where memories clung to every wall. I needed to get away from the very room where Annie had finally allowed me to explore her body. Those thoughts could quite easily drive me to pushing Annie too hard, and that was the last thing I wanted.
Ring, ring…
Ring, ring…
There was only one other person that I knew in Florence, and I really needed his advice.
“Hey, Justin, what’s going on?” Roy asked with a smile in his voice.
“Are you at work?” I replied, glancing at my watch. “Or do you want to go for breakfast?”
“Oh, are you in town? I didn’t know. But, yeah, I could eat; what do you have in mind? Shall we go to the café in town?” He was so unbothered by the fact that I’d not informed him of me coming into Florence, which was why we would always be such good friends. We were both so laid back.
“Yeah, sounds good; see you soon.”
I knew he’d take a while to get there since he lived away from the town center, so I took a moment to stare at my reflection in the mirror. I noticed that I looked a little odd, like something was troubling me. I was too hungover to work out what the issue was, so I shook my head and made my way outside.
I needed advice from the perspective of an outsider, and Roy was the perfect person for that. As a mutual friend, he knew both of us well, and he could tell me the best thing to do.
I got into the café quickly, ordered myself a coffee, just another item to remind me of Annie, and sat at the table to wait. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait for long enough for me to get my head all tied up in knots because the door opened only moments later.
“So, what’s going on?” Roy asked me almost right away, the moment he sat down with me. “You look like you have all sorts of things going on in your mind.”
For some reason, as soon as he said those words, I leapt on the changes that had been going on with Garrett, rather than Annie. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt like I needed to let him in to that part of my life gently.
“So, Garrett has come to work at the office-”
“He has?” Roy sounded shocked, which was hardly surprising. I’d spent a lot of time complaining to him about my brother and his debauched behavior, so this was something very new. “How is that going?”
“Actually, pretty well,” I nodded happily. “He seems to really want to change. I’m starting to believe that he might actually be growing up.”
“Wow, that’s incredible. I’m really happy for you,” he nodded slowly, still giving me something of a curious look. “But it isn’t that, is it? There’s something else going on, right?”
Damn it, he knows me better than I care to admit. “Okay, sure, there is,” I couldn’t stop the big grin from spreading across my cheeks. “I sort of maybe hooked up with Annie last night.”
Roy furrowed his eyebrows, looking far less pleased than I felt. “Did you run out on her?” he scolded, looking like he might yell if I had.
“Actually, she ran out on me; can you believe it?” I laughed, trying to hide the small element of hurt that statement caused me, but Roy wasn’t sharing in my joy.
“Annie is a good girl; don’t you go hurting her,” he warned. “I don’t want to regret introducing the pair of you. She has a big heart, but it’s one that she doesn’t share easily, so please…just be careful, okay?”
“How do you know all of this?” I asked, panic suddenly consuming me. “Have you slept with her?”
If Roy had dated, or even been with Annie before, it would change absolutely everything. I would have to return back to Portland with my tail firmly tucked between my legs. I couldn’t share a girl with my friend; that would be too weird for words.
“No, not at all. I see her more like a sister. No, she’s just…she’s had a tough life. Just be careful, okay?”
I wanted to ask what Roy meant by that, but it didn’t feel right. I didn’t want to learn about Annie’s past without her permission, I only wanted to know about it if she felt ready to tell me.
“I don’t intend to hurt her,” I told my friend honestly. “And maybe we shouldn’t have slept together considering I’m going to be investing in her company, but…but I like her. I like her more than I should, and I don’t know what I should do.”
“I’m not here to tell you how to live your life. I know from personal experience that feelings can come from the most unexpected places. Just be careful. I don’t want Annie to go through more pain. Just, I don’t know, do what you think is right.”
“Well,” I shrugged, all of a sudden wanting to seem nonchalant. “I’m going to see her later on today, anyway, so I might try to work out how she’s feeling about the whole thing before making any crazy decisions.”
“I think that might be for the best,” Roy replied, now smiling widely at me. “I really hope it works out for you.”
I pondered on that for a moment, wondering how I wanted things to work out myself, but I wasn’t really sure what would be best. I hadn't ever found myself in a situation like this before, where I had genuine feelings mixed in with business, so I guessed it would be best to simply wait and see.
***
I pushed the door to Boffees open, my heart fluttering excitedly in my chest. I’d been standing outside for a few moments, watching Annie work, thinking that she looked incredible, but I’d forced myself to stop and go inside. I didn’t want her to look up and to see me staring like a weirdo, especially not now.
The store was empty, and she was close to closing up. This was the perfect chance to speak to her candidly without any watchful, judging eyes.
“Hi, there,” I said quietly, feeling a little shy and embarrassed, totally unlike my usual self. “You okay?”
As she finally spotted me, her entire face went pale, then red, all in the space of one second. I’d flustered her since she wasn’t expecting me, but I wasn’t exactly going to run away, to go back to Portland without saying anything. She must have assumed that much.
“Erm, I…I…” she stammered, stepping backwards away from me. “I’m still a little hungover, to be honest.”
“Yeah, me, too.” Why did I feel so uncomfortable all of a sudden? I acutely missed the easy-going, fun-loving atmosphere that had been between us the previous night. “Any chance of a coffee?”
As she brought my drink to the table and sat in front of me, I could tell that we were about to have the chat. Much as I wasn’t looking forward to how awkward that would be, I knew that we had to get it out of the way. That was why I had come, after all.
“So, about last night,” she said slowly. “I think that maybe it was a mistake.”
That actually cut me quite deeply, even though I knew she wasn’t telling the truth, but I plastered a fake smile on my face. She was saying what she thought was right, and I had to agree with her for us to move forward. “Of course, I know. It must have been the wine. It made us act crazy.”
She giggled, so I joined in, just waiting for those shoulders of hers to roll backwards. She was carrying all kinds of tension, and I just knew that it was my fault. “It’s just…what with Rae, and this potential deal…”
“Speaking of which, we didn’t actually get around to talking about that last night, did we?” I replied regretfully, deciding that it was best to move on from any weirdness. “Maybe we should meet up again to actually have to conversation we were supposed to.”
“Erm…no, I don’t know if that’s a good plan,” she started shaking at that, fear growing inside of her. “Maybe we should just…not see each other anymore.”
“No, no, I purely mean business,” I reassured her. “I promise, no funny business. Just me and you, talking about my investment proposal.”
Please, I begged in my mind. Please give me another chance.
“Okay, well, this time come over to my house,” she insisted fiercely. “And it’s just to talk, only about business.”
I nodded with a smile, happiness flooding me. At least she didn’t hate me; at least she was willing to give me another shot.
She was right – we needed to sort out what we intended to do business-wise first, put any feelings to one side. If anything was supposed to happen, then we would figure that out afterwards. For now, we needed to concentrate on the actual reason we met.
“I promise,” I told her seriously once more. “Business only. Nothing fun…and maybe no wine.”
A cheeky smile burst from her lips and I couldn’t help but wonder what part of the night she was remembering. Was it my fingers buried inside of her? Me taking her up against the wall? Her hand stroking my throbbing cock? I was remembering it all at once, and that probably showed across my face.
“Okay,” she finally agreed. “And, no sneaking out in the middle of the night, either.”
“Yeah, we wouldn’t want to give the locals of Florence anything to gossip about now, would we?” I winked, which made her laugh…and there it was again. The easy-going connection between us was back, and that worth everything to me. I didn’t mind holding back and behaving myself if I got to see her smile. “Okay, well I better go, but I’ll see you…tomorrow? Maybe? Does that work better for you?”
“Yes, we’ll both have clearer heads then,” she confirmed. “I’ll see you then.”