CHAPTER FOURTEEN - REED
Rick was my best friend, and I knew him better than I’d known anyone in my life, so I took some time to talk to Kayla to try and convince her to give him another chance.
“I’m not leaving him for good, Reed. Things have been amazing, but I want to be his only. I need him to give me a little time is all. And I understand that you don’t want Bella to leave. I’ve tried to convince her to stay, but she’s dead set on going with me. For that I’m sorry, but I’m not staying.”
She’d been adamant about their departure, and I was reluctant to ride to the airport with them because I didn’t want to be around for any emotional goodbyes.
I kept a dark expression the entire time, but Bella took my hand for a final goodbye. “I’ll call you the minute I land, and since I’m going back to work, I’ll still have an extra week off. We’ll make plans, I promise.” I leaned in and kissed her, and Kayla turned around and gave me a sad expression.
“I’m sorry, guys. I hope you don’t hate me, Reed. I know that this was a bit sudden.” I didn’t hate Kayla, but I wished that she’d been able to trust Rick for who he was and not what she was afraid of him being.
“It’s okay, I’ll add it to the list of things you owe me for.” I gave her a wink, and she turned around and faced the front as Rick gave me a dirty look in the rearview mirror.
He’d asked that I not torment her, but I think I’d earned a bit of teasing for the damage she’d done to my car.
We got to the airport in plenty of time for them to board, and we made our goodbyes quick and painless. Bella and I promised that we’d get together for a weekend the following month and as soon as she stepped on the plane I had my secretary book a few weekend flights for her.
Rick and I finally had a bit of time alone for the first time in a week without the girl’s around to talk for an extended time. “You got lucky meeting Bella. I’m glad Kayla brought her along.” He headed toward the freeway, and I eased back in my seat and glanced out the window.
“Yeah, it was the one thing Kayla did right. You think the two of you are going to be okay?”
He let out a whistle. “I hope so. I erased all my contacts and blocked the ones that I thought might try to contact me on a whim. I showed Kayla. Hell, she helped me, but I couldn’t convince her to stay. She said it was all too serious for her. Too much too soon.”
“I wonder if that’s why Bella went along with her. Even though she didn’t want to say, I think she needed some space. She’d just left that asshole to come here, and then here we go. I know it was a lot and that’s why I didn’t protest too much.”
“You still haven’t told her, have you?” he asked. “I mean, I’m assuming since I didn’t hear dishes breaking or see her slap the shit out of you, that you didn’t?”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “No, I didn’t.”
Rick shook his head and looked at me sideways. “Waiting isn’t going to help man. It’s only going to make it worse.”
I nodded. “I know that, but I’ve been thinking.”
“Uh oh. That never leads anywhere good,” he teased.
“Shut up man. What I mean is, maybe I don’t have to tell her. I’m falling for her hard Rick. At this point, I don’t even care if she gets pregnant or not. Sure, it’ll suck to lose out on my inheritance, but I just want to be with her. For the first time in my life, I want an actual relationship. Something real and solid. She’s so smart and so talented. I’ve never felt the way I feel about her for anyone else.”
Rick tried to hide his smile, but then he turned and gave me a sympathetic look. “She reminds you of your mother, doesn’t she?”
“Painter, photographer, they are both creative spirits, with stories to tell through their work. You know, my father was always jealous of mom. When they’d go out to a party, and people would praise her work instead of his, it would rub his ass red. He’d get drunk and bitch about it all the way home. What a waste of time art was. How her painting room was a cluttered mess, just like her mind. He drove her to those damned pills. If he had lifted her up, just one time, maybe she would have been okay.”
Rick nodded. “You want to save her. You know, you haven’t been your grumpy self. I mean, you’ve been grumpy, but not as abrasive. It’s kind of nice.”
“Watch it. My muse if gone. I’m liable to unleash all my stored-up anger at any moment.”
He let loose a soft chuckle. “She does make you a little more bearable is all I’m saying.”
“If I’m so bad, why do you put up with me?” I heard a ping from my phone and glanced down to see a message from work. An instant scowl crossed my face. I hated my job. I hated any connection to my father and even though he was long dead, dealing with my uncle, who he’d left in charge, was just as bad.
“Because you make me look like an angel.” He turned and saw the hard expression on my face. “Damn, that didn’t last long. What’s the matter?”
“Work.”
“You hate that job. Why don’t you just quit? You know, you get away from that place long enough, and you’re a totally different person. It’s not just Bella who makes you better. You’re hindered by that fucking place.”
“I agree, but I can’t do anything until I get my money.”
“But you just said you didn’t care if she got pregnant or not-”
I shook my head and smiled. “She might be anyway. I mean, I did what I was supposed to do to make that happen.”
He looked at me, incredulous. “So, you might not have to tell her about the stipulation.”
“Hopefully not,” I answered.
Rick shook his head and I could see that he disapproved. “It’s wrong, man. You’ll always know you’ve deceived her. How can you live with that?”
“As a fucking billionaire? Pretty comfortably. But how do I tell her that? She’ll always question if I care about her, which I do. She’ll always have it in the back of her head that she’s some baby machine, and that what I feel for her means nothing.”
Rick just looked at me like I’d finally lost my mind. I didn’t care. I loved Bella and I was going to have it all.