***
After a quick workout, I made my way to the restaurant Kyle and Delia had picked and looked around for them. I saw Delia’s tight smile as she half stood waving me over. “What’s wrong?”
I could tell there was something going on. I looked around noticing we were short one person in this little party of ours. “Where’s Brandy?”
“How did you?” Delia trailed off.
“Please, we figured it out at therapy this afternoon.” I rolled my eyes. “So where is she? I thought she was meeting you right after I left there.”
She thought for a minute and then glared at me. “What did you do?” The complete one-eighty had me taking a step back in shock.
“What? I didn’t do anything.” I looked to Kyle for help but the asshole just shook his head. So much for bros before hos.
“She called me about an hour ago, completely upset but wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. What did you do?” she repeated pointing a threatening finger at me.
“She was fine when I left.” I was so confused it was ridiculous. What the hell happened between the time when I left her and when she called Delia. Something didn’t add up. “What are you doing here then? Shouldn’t you be at her apartment making her talk to you or something?” I was starting to get mad. She was sitting there judging me, blaming me when she should have been checking on her friend. Indecision crossed her features as she looked to Kyle for help.
“Go. We’ll get ourselves home okay.” Kyle kissed her forehead and watched as she left the restaurant.
“What do you think happened?” I asked absently still staring at the door that Delia left through.
“Who knows. Are you sure you didn’t do anything to piss her off?” He eyed me warily. “Because if you did, Delia’s gonna cut your balls off.”
“I have no doubt about that. I promise. She was fine when I left. Well, maybe not fine, but she wasn’t upset to the point of holing up in her apartment instead of coming to dinner. I’m pretty sure she was coming to give you a piece of her mind just like I was.” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Whoa, what did I do?” He looked completely confused.
“Maybe not you per se but your woman and Darren have been a couple of meddling assholes.”
Kyle shook his head smiling. “I told her not to get involved. She didn’t listen and then when the hooker incident happened, she and Darren finally had the ammo they needed to get you two together. I told them it would blow up in their faces.”
“Truth?” I asked needing to confide in someone.
“No dick. Lie to me.” He rolled his eyes.
“I need a drink.” I motioned to the bar and stomped over to it. I couldn’t do this without a heavy dose of alcohol.
“Yeah, I didn’t think you’d actually tell me anything real.” Kyle shook his head in disappointment.
“Really?” I spun around glaring at him. “How’s this for real? I haven’t been the same since Christmas, nothing has excited me. The hooker incident was going to be a band-aid. An itch to scratch since I couldn’t have what I wanted. What I still want. Us avoiding each other? That was about self-preservation so that every time I closed my eyes, I didn’t see her smile or hear her laugh. I stayed away so that we wouldn’t torture each other over what might have been. But you assholes couldn’t take no for an answer. You had to butt in and ruin everything,” I growled motioning to the bartender for a shot of whatever he had in his hand. He looked confused but poured the shot of tequila and handed it to me. Thank fuck for that. The burn made me momentarily forget the gorgeous woman and all the things she did to my body, my mind and a place I really didn’t want to admit… my heart.
Chapter Eight
Brandy
Boom Boom Boom. That was not the pounding in my head from nearly drowning myself in alcohol and crying myself to sleep.
“Brandy! You better get your whore ass out here and tell me what that fucktard did. I’ll murder him,” Delia shouted through the door. Sniffling, I wrapped the throw blanket around me and made my way to the door wondering what the hell she was blabbering about.
“What?” She took in my bloodshot eyes and tear-stained face.
“What the fuck did he do?”
“Who?” I was genuinely confused.
“Pete, what the fuck did he do to put you in this state?” She wrapped her arms around me but I flinched. She thought Pete was the cause of this? Absolutely ridiculous.
“Pete did nothing.” I sniffed disengaging myself from her arms.
“What do you mean he did nothing? You saw him this afternoon and then you called me nearly in tears.” Now Delia sounded confused.
“I got some unsettling news today. It had nothing to do with Pete,” I sighed flopping down on the couch.
“What is it?” she asked carefully. She looked uncomfortable now that she didn’t have someone to blame for my craziness. I couldn’t tell her what was going on. She wouldn’t understand. She didn’t have the isolated childhood I’d had. I knew my father still felt guilty that he hadn’t tried harder to see me when I was young. By the time he’d figured out what was happening to me, it had been too late the damage had been done.
“Nothing, Dee. I promise, just found out someone I don’t want in my life may be coming for a visit.” I lied, well I kind of lied. If she knew the truth, if she knew who I was, she would look at me differently and I couldn’t bear for my best friend to see me as anything less than the girl she thought she knew.
I could tell that she didn’t believe me. The dubious look she shot me told me everything. “I have a feeling there’s more to this story.” She raised an eyebrow at me. “But I’m not going to push you, yet.”
“Don’t push at all Delia. It’s really not something you want to know.” I covered my face with my hands.
“Honey, what is going on? You can talk to me,” she sat down next to me rubbing circles on my back.
“No, I really can’t.” I shook my head. Even thinking about the mess of a childhood I had made me want to vomit. I’d done my best to forget about it but Mother wasn’t going to let me get away with that. She had to skip out on her parole. I had no idea what had set her off. From what I understood she’d been doing well with her therapy and crazy delusions. She’d only been paroled for about a year. My dad had promised to keep an eye on her mostly out of guilt, I think.
“Okay, but if you change your mind, I’m here for you. We all are.” She squeezed my arm in reassurance. I know she was trying but my skin was crawling and I just needed to be by myself. Throwing the blanket off I jumped from the couch needing the space. Delia looked a little hurt but I just couldn’t bring myself to care.
“I’m sorry, Dee. I just think I need to be alone right now.” She looked like she wanted to argue but my expression must have made her pause because she nodded and stood giving me a quick hug before leaving.
The quiet room was eerie as I stood there. It only took a couple of minutes before I was regretting my choice to be left alone. The dark took on a sinister quality that I hadn’t been prepared for.
A sharp knock on the door had me nearly jumping out of my skin and I almost ran to my room and hid like a child. The things the threat of that woman made me do. If Pete hadn’t yelled from the other side, I would have but now I was more curious than anything. What the hell is he doing here? The only time we’d spent together since Christmas was in the therapy sessions. The thought crossed my mind again to go hide in my room but I had a feeling Pete wasn’t going anywhere. I didn’t want him to disturb the new neighbor, so I finally begrudgingly answered the door.
“What happened?” He looked wild. His hair was wet and I noticed that a light rain was falling. That was strange. It hardly ever rained in Vegas.
“What are you doing here?” I was confused. I noticed the bag in his hand a second before he held it up.
“You missed dinner.” He shrugged embarrassed.
“Thank you.” I moved back from the door letting him in. “I thin
k we all pretty much missed dinner. You just missed Dee.”
“So, what happened?” He ran a hand through his hair as he moved into the room. A chill slid over me that had nothing to do with the cool night air.
“I got an... unpleasant phone call this afternoon.” I didn’t meet his eyes. It wasn’t a lie, exactly. The call had been more than unpleasant. It had been downright terrifying.
“What was it about?” He busied himself pulling the containers out of the bag.
“Is that one of your questions?” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“If I need to use a question to get you to talk to me then I will.” He shot me a stern glare.
“It’s my mom,” I found myself replying. “We have a... strained relationship.”
I had no idea why I opened my mouth, but even subconsciously the half-truths spewed from my mouth. My mother and I had no relationship. “Delia said you were crying.” When did he move? Pete’s arms wrapped around me as if he knew I needed the comfort. His touch didn’t make me jump away like I had wanted to with Delia. His lips brushed my forehead in a sweet gesture.
“C’mon, let’s go eat.” He led me to the couch and I curled up at one end. Pete handed me the foam container and I nearly moaned at the smell wafting off it. He sat there staring at me with a thoughtful expression.
Grabbing for the remote, I clicked on the T.V. mindlessly flipping through the channels. A picture of Pete and two gorgeous women made me pause. That must have been the story that caused Darren to freak out. How is it that they’re still talking about it a week later?
“Don’t watch that. Nothing good can come from that garbage.” Pete tried to take the remote but I held it away from him.
“They’re dressed a little slutty but you’re right, I wouldn’t have thought they were hookers either.”
“Thanks, I think. Can we change this now?” He looked a little desperate and I wondered what he wasn’t telling me.
“Do you think it’s strange that notorious womanizer Pete Collins fell for a sex therapist?” The pretty girl on the TV asked her co-star.
“I honestly think it’s almost too poetic. The addict and the therapist? It sounds like a romance novel,” the other girl replied.
“What?” I all but shrieked being sure to put the container of creamy pasta down on the coffee table before my monumental freak-out. “They know what I do??”
“Shit, I’m sorry. I knew that you’d probably be scrutinized, but I never thought they would track down what you do for a living. This is bad.” He put his head in his hands and sighed. I was still kind of in shock. I should have known when they showed up outside my apartment that they’d go digging. I never should have allowed Pete to stay in the group. Shit, this was bad. I could lose everything.
“How could I be so stupid?” I said mostly to myself.
“It’s not your fault. I’m sorry I dragged you into all this.” Pete pulled me into his arms. “It will be okay; I won’t let anything bad happen.”
He grabbed the remote from my numb fingers and quickly changed the channel to some reality show that neither one of us were paying attention to. There was so much going on that I was completely exhausted. My mind finally shut off and I drifted off into the most peaceful sleep I had in a long time.
Chapter Nine
Pete
I never should have gone to her house. I knew it was a bad idea but when Kyle got a call from a distraught Delia I couldn’t stay away. Something was wrong and I knew that it had nothing to do with me.
Having her curled up practically in my lap sleeping soundly tested every bit of patience I had. I knew she was going through more than just the threat to her career but I had no idea what it could be. I shifted uncomfortably beneath her not wanting to wake her up but my arm was starting to go numb. Brandy whimpered.
“Mama, no,” she mumbled before moving slightly and going back into a deep sleep. What the fuck? I knew I shouldn’t be listening and I probably should have put her to bed and left, but hearing those sounds and watching the gentle way she breathed when our skin touched. A tiny sigh escaped her lips when I brushed her hair back away from her face. I knew I was a goner. Turning off the TV, I laid my head back and fell asleep.
**
It must have been four in the morning when a scream tore through the air jolting me awake. I don’t even think she realized she was screaming. My arms wrapped tighter around her trying to calm her. Rocking her gently, she finally calmed down and settled back against me, but I was unsettled. What the hell happened to her in her life that would give her such horrible dreams? It made me want to hold her and protect her. But, how can you protect someone from the demons you can’t see?
There was no way I was getting back to sleep after that, so I extracted myself from her on the couch and laid her down placing the throw blanket on top of her. There was a second I thought she’d wake up, but she rolled back over facing away from me and settled down. I thought about leaving and going home. My muscles were sore from the way I’d slept all night and a nice long run would help to work out the kinks, but every time I thought about leaving, she’d make a sound of distress and I found myself sitting back down.
At around six I decided to see what she had in the kitchen to make breakfast. We’d left our dinner completely forgotten the night before and I knew she’d be hungry. There wasn’t a whole lot in her refrigerator but there were a few eggs some ham and vegetables, so I decided to make omelets.
It wasn’t long after I started cooking that I heard a soft groan come from the living room area. Looking up, I saw Brandy and I swear she never looked so good. Her hair was in disarray as she rubbed her eyes yawning. “What are you doing?”
“Making breakfast?” It came out as a question. My voice sounded too high even for my own ears and my rumpled jeans suddenly felt too tight.
“Why?” she looked genuinely confused and my brows scrunched down.
“You had a rough night, and we completely forgot about dinner. I figured you would be hungry.” I shrugged like it was no big deal and flipped the omelet.
Shaking her head, she sat down at the island and watched me work. “Where did you learn to do that?”
“What?” I asked like an idiot.
“Where did you learn to cook like that?” I smiled thinking about my mom and all those evenings when I helped mom in the kitchen. I was a small child it was one of the reasons that dad had gotten me into martial arts.
“Oh, my mom taught me,” I said without thinking. Some of the light dimmed in her eyes and I cursed myself for my big mouth. Why didn’t I lie? What was it about this woman that made it impossible to tell her anything but the truth? I nearly kicked my own ass at the words. She was upset and it had something to do with her mother. Why on earth would I bring up my relationship with my own mother? “Sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” Her head snapped up in my direction as I put the plate in front of her.
“I shouldn’t have mentioned my mom.”
“Mom?” Her laugh was harsh. “She has never been a mom. She will never be a mom.” Her eyes widened at the words like she hadn’t meant to reveal that much about herself. Quickly, she shoved a bite of omelet into her mouth and I swear to God, if my dick hadn’t been standing at attention before that, it definitely did now. Her moan filled the room and it had every male instinct in me begging to jump that counter and pin her to the wall and do wicked things to her. I was definitely a sick bastard. Maybe I did have a sex addiction, or maybe I was just addicted to her.
Chapter Ten
Brandy
Waking up to the smell of cooking food and Pete walking around my kitchen in rumpled clothes, made me pause. What the hell is he doing here? A fuzzy memory of the night before assaulted me and I groaned. Why couldn’t all the bad shit from the night before just fade away? Why did I have to remember all of it in gruesome detail? The women on Pete’s arms, the snarky stars of the E news show that I’d stopped on and the worst, the fact that my mother was mo
st definitely on her way to Vegas probably to stop me from falling for the sexy MMA star by any means necessary. I hadn’t thought about it until then but it made perfect sense that she’d seen one of the gossip rags or E News blogs that followed Pete around like the plague. Something that she’d seen had set her off and now she knew exactly where I was. Shit. Am I gonna have to move? I hope not.
I sat there watching Pete as I ate the delicious omelet. When he wasn’t focused on cooking, he was watching me with the same thoughtful expression.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Is it one of your questions?” I couldn’t help but mess with him.
“If you want.” He shrugged.
“Sure, go ahead,” I said, but I had a feeling that I didn’t want to hear the question.
“How long have you been having the night terrors?” Jesus that was not the question I was expecting. Had I had nightmares the night before? I didn’t remember any. All I remembered was a peaceful dreamless sleep wrapped up in Pete’s arms.
“Can I veto?” I raised an eyebrow at him. The question made me uncomfortable.
“Ah, no. You already pulled that twice. You have to answer.” He nodded as if telling me to go ahead. Taking a deep breath, I answered.
“I have been having them since I was sixteen.” I gave as few details as possible. The less Pete knew the better. The less everyone knew the better.
“What happened to start them?” He looked genuinely concerned.
“That’s two questions,” I replied.
“Fine.”
“Veto.” I turned my head away from him. I couldn’t look in his eyes and see the pity in them. See the disgust.
“No.” Suddenly he was too close crowding my space. “No more hiding. No more lies. Tell me what the hell happened.”
The nerve of this guy. I didn’t owe him anything. “No. I don’t have to tell you about my past. You’re a former patient, nothing more,” I wished my voice didn’t wobble as I said the words. His hands squeezed my forearms.
Addicted (Sin City Gym Book 2) Page 3