Amazed (Tempted Book 3)

by Heather Doltrice

  “I overheard him asking the dean to keep his name private. He didn’t want you to find out.”

  “Why are you telling me this now? Why didn’t you do it sooner?”

  “I don’t know, okay? I just felt like you needed to know,” she said, turning to walk away.

  Leaning against the kitchen island, I tried to keep the voice that was telling me that she was telling the truth to be quiet but it didn’t listen.

  It was like the universe didn’t want me to be happy.

  Storming out of the door, I walked back to where I left him.

  “Tell me you didn’t do it,” I pleaded with him.

  He shot up from his seat and placed his hands on my shoulders.

  “Baby, what are you talking about?”

  “Were you the one who told the dean about me and Talon?” I asked, praying that it was all a rumor.

  His silence was deafening. He said everything I needed to know by not saying anything at all. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and removed myself from his grip.

  “I can’t believe you. How could you do that? Why would you do that?”

  “I did it for us,” he said, running his hands through his hair frantically, “I thought that I was losing you to him.”

  “I wasn’t yours to lose, Ethan. You dumped me. I had to try to move on because you didn’t want me.”

  “I always wanted you, Grace. I had to get him out of the way.”

  “All you had to do was tell me you wanted me back and I would have come crawling. You ruined someone’s career. Do you understand that?”

  “Grace, I’m sorry but you just looked like you liked him so much and I knew I messed up with you,” he said, trying to defend himself.

  “You messed up again,” I said, looking over at Luca, “Will you drive me home?”

  “Yeah, I’ll go start the car,” he said, kissing Holland’s cheek and walking to the driveway.

  I knew better than to look at him because if I did I wouldn’t be able to resist him and he would be automatically forgiven.

  “Holland, will you help me get my stuff together?” I said with my back turned to Ethan.

  “Yeah, let’s go,” she said, placing her hand in mine and leading me toward the lake house.

  I was too shocked to cry. I didn’t know that had that in him. People taunted me for weeks and I couldn’t count how many times people at school called me “Teacher’s pet”. He saw what I went through and how guilty I felt because I felt like I cost Talon his job. I had to get far away from Ethan and this time I had to stay far away from him. I knew that with one look at those eyes I would turn into putty in his hands. Like I always did but that had to change. I couldn’t allow myself to fall under his spell.

  “I’ll grab our stuff. Wait here,” Holland said, sitting me down on the couch.

  Waiting till she was out of sight, I finally broke down and sobs escaped from my chest. Why couldn’t anything be simple? Why was their always a catch to everything?

  I thought we really had a shot but I found out the hard way that we didn’t.

  “Baby,” Ethan’s voice rang through my ears.

  “Please don’t do this,” I said, burying my head in my hands.

  “Look at me,” he said as I felt the couch go down beside me.

  That was a simple request but I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t do it.

  “I can’t. Please leave, Ethan.”

  “I’m not going anywhere until we talk,” he said, scooting closer to me.

  “If you won’t leave I will.”

  Getting up, I started to run up the stairs to find Holland but she was already on her way down.

  “Are you ready?” I asked, frantically wiping my eyes.

  “Yeah, let’s get out of here,” she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the door.

  “Grace!” Ethan yelled, trying to get me to stop.

  I pretended like I didn’t hear him and kept walking.

  Walking away from him was hard because I was walking away from my heart.

  Chapter 20

  “I’m so glad you got your job back. I missed you,” Emma said, feeding Kate.

  Holland thought a girl’s night in would be a good idea since we hadn’t all been together since the night at Luca’s lake house.

  “I’m glad to have the distraction,” I told her, painting my toes mint green.

  “Speaking of distractions, have you spoke to Ethan?” Maddie asked.

  “Not since that night.”

  “I can’t believe that happened two weeks ago. It seems like it was just yesterday,” Holland said, smiling at her phone.

  I knew who it was without asking. It was Luca. I was happy for her but I wanted to be happy too. I envied the relationships all of my friends had with their guys. I had that but it was long gone and it didn’t look like it was coming back anytime soon.

  “Has it been weird seeing him at school?” Emma asked.

  “No, it hasn’t been awkward at all,” I said, sarcastically.

  That got some laughs. I had seriously thought about dropping out of school and taking classes online but we lived in a small one horse town, so I had to toughen up. I was going to see him and sure it was going to hurt but I had to get over it.

  Hearing a ding, I looked over and saw that Holland had received another text.

  “Luca is like a watch dog. What does he want now?” Emma asked, rolling her eyes.

  “To tell me that he misses me,” she said, smiling like a kid on Christmas morning.

  “No offence but there’s no way he misses you, he literally just left,” Maddie said, playing with her necklace.

  She ignored them and continued texting.

  “I’m starving,” I said, trying to change the subject from happy couples.

  “You want to make cupcakes?” Maddie asked, seeming a little too excited.

  Emma and I nodded while Holland made a sour face.

  “How do you not like sugar?” Emma inquired, looking at Holland like she was an alien.

  “I don’t like the taste of it,” Holland answered, shrugging her shoulders and getting up from the couch.

  “You’re not normal,” Maddie said, gathering all of the ingredients for her famous sweet tea cupcakes.

  “Thank you,” she said, sitting down on one of the stools located at the kitchen counter.

  “That wasn’t a compliment, Freak,” Maddie said, cracking eggs into a mixing bowl.

  My friends should have been enough to take my mind off of Ethan but I couldn’t shake myself free of him. The thoughts of him constantly haunted me.

  It was like there was this huge void in my life and nothing seemed to fill it. No distraction helped me from thinking about the way we made love or the silly inside jokes we had. Memories were completely taking over me. His face had taken vacancy in my subconscious.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Emma whispered, nudging my arm.

  “Not even a little bit,” I replied honestly.

  “Ethan’s not okay either, if that makes you feel any better.”

  It should have made me feel better but it didn’t because I loved him. When you love someone, truly love someone, you don’t want them to be miserable. I always wanted him to be happy regardless of what he did. I just knew that I couldn’t go back to him because it ended badly every single time.

  “It doesn’t,” I told her, giving her a poor excuse for a smile.

  “Will Kate help take your mind off of him?” she asked, holding her beautiful baby girl up.

  “Yes, she will. Come here, beautiful,” I cooed, taking the little bundle of joy in my arms.

  Kate looked just like her mom expect she had Roman’s steel blue eyes. She made me excited to be a mom someday.

  “Luca just called he’s on his way up,” Holland said, looking at me with concern in her eyes.

  Concern for me.

  “What the hell? Its girl’s night, not hot bad boy boyfriend night,” Emma said, pulling her long blonde hair
up in a bun.

  “He was coming to get his watch he left here last night and he found Ethan drunk in the parking lot. He’s bringing him up,” she said, sitting her phone on the counter.

  What was Ethan doing in the parking lot? And better yet why was he drunk? Something wasn’t right, I could feel it in my bones.

  “Just take the boy back already,” Maddie said, putting the cupcake tray in the oven.

  “It’s not over me. I don’t know, I just have a feeling that something’s wrong.”

  Hearing a pounding on the door, I ran to it and pulled it open. Luca was standing there with his arm wrapped around Ethan holding him up.

  “He’s hammered,” he said, walking past me and carefully laying Ethan on the couch.

  “Grace, Amazing Grace,” Ethan slurred from his seat.

  I stood there completely frozen not knowing what to do. Should I console him? Would that give him the wrong idea?

  “Gracie, go to him,” Holland whisper yelled from her spot on Luca’s lap.

  They were so cute it made me sick. Ethan and I were that cute once and look where it got us. I hoped Luca and Holland had better luck than us. I still wasn’t sure how they happened but I needed to find out eventually.

  Looking around the room at everyone, I saw that they thought I should do the same thing.

  Walking over to the couch, I hesitantly kneeled down beside him. He reeked of liquor and it was definitely the hard stuff. He wasn’t playing.

  “I’m here Ethan. What happened?”

  “You,” he mumbled before falling into a deep sleep.

  Looking at him, I ran my fingers through his hair which was drenched in sweat. Even stinky and drunk he made my heart skip a beat. I still loved him, a blind man could see it but I had to keep my walls up around him.

  We waited for what seemed like forever for Ethan to wake up.

  “Do I smell sweet tea cupcakes?” Ethan asked, sitting up, “Oh shit, got up too fast. How much did I drink?”

  “From the smell of you, I’m going to say a whole liquor store, bro,” Luca said, laughing, “And yeah, you’re smelling cupcakes.”

  “My head is pounding,” he said, rubbing his temples.

  “Yeah, dude, that’s called hung over,” Luca said, once again throwing in his two cents.

  “Thank you, Luca, for being so helpful. I’ll grab you some water,” I told him, standing up.

  Walking into the kitchen, I headed straight for the fridge and grabbed an ice cold bottle of water.

  “Drink this,” I told him, giving him the bottle.

  “Thanks,” he said, taking the bottle and gulping down a huge swig, “Can we talk?”

  I knew that wasn’t the brightest idea and I commanded my mouth to say no.

  Come on, you got this. Don’t do this to yourself.

  “Yeah,” I said, biting my lip.

  Where did that come from? It was like I couldn’t say no to him. Getting up, he grabbed my hand and led me to the balcony. Closing the door behind us, he sat down on one of the lounge chairs and motioned for me to do the same.

  Silence filled the space between us and I struggled with wanting to be around him and wanting nothing to do with him. I was being pulled two different way by my heart and my head. I didn’t know which one to listen to.

  “What would you say if I asked you for a huge favor?” he asked, breaking me free from thoughts of internal struggle.

  “Depends on what you want,” I answered honestly, tucking a stand of hair behind my ear.

  “I need you to tutor me,” he said, looking anywhere but at me.

  I thought to myself that that had to be a ploy to get me to spend time with him. It wasn’t a good idea.

  “I’m not sure that I can do,” I said, nervously fidgeting with my hands.

  “I haven’t had the mindset to study since we broke up and my grades are slipping. Coach said if I don’t bring them up he’ll kick me off the team. Please, Grace, I need you,” he said, leaning closer to me.

  If he got kicked off the team I would have felt like it was my fault and I didn’t want him to lose his scholarship, so I did the only thing I knew to do. I agreed.

  “Okay, I’ll help you but I’m only helping you study, nothing more,” I told him, getting up before he leaned any closer.

  “Nothing more,” he repeated.

  His tone told me he didn’t believe we could do it anymore than I did. One thing was for sure, I was going to fight it best I could. I was going to fight it with everything I had.

  One thing I wasn’t sure of is if I had enough fight in me.

  Chapter 21

  “You’re a lifesaver,” Ethan said, shutting his book.

  Smiling, I got up from the couch and turned my head before he seen me blush.

  “Hey, are you doing anything tonight?” he asked, stuffing all of his supplies into his bag, “Do you want to grab a bite to eat?”

  Stopping dead in my tracks, I slowly turned around.

  “Depends,” I told him, narrowing my eyes at him.

  “On what?”

  “If it’s a date or not.”

  “Which would you prefer?” he asked, trying to be smooth.

  I chose not to answer that with words but with a look and that look said “What do you think?”

  “I know, I know. You still hate me and it’s not a date,” he said, looking defeated, “It’s just dinner between friends. We’re friends right?”

  We were so much more than friends and he knew it but I couldn’t admit that to him or to myself. We belonged together, I knew that deep down but that didn’t change the fact that every time we tried to be together it ended in disaster.

  “Well, in that case, I’m starving,” I said, hearing my stomach growl right on cue.

  So not sexy. Wait, we were just friends right? And friends shouldn’t worry about being sexy around each other.

  “You’re not kidding about being hungry are you?” he asked, looking at my stomach and chuckling.

  “Shut up, asshole,” I told him, grabbing my purse and following him to the door.

  I quickly checked my reflection in the mirror as I walked by. I always wanted to look my best around Ethan, it was a habit. One that needed breaking. Immediately.

  The whole way to the car we walked in complete silence. I had no clue why I was so damn nervous. Maybe it was because he still gave me butterflies or that the smell of him took back to all of the times we made love. Or the way his smile made me weak in the knees. But I bet it was the way he still had my heart and I didn’t even want it back. Even if I wanted it back I had no shot because he had a death grip on it. It was rightfully his.

  “Hey, beautiful, driving to the restaurant requires you to get in the car,” Ethan said, before rolling his window up.

  What was he talking about? Snapping out of my thoughts, I looked around and saw that I was standing by the car staring into space like a crazy person.

  “Always daydreaming,” he joked as I got in the car.

  “Always a wise ass,” I cracked, putting on my seatbelt, “Where are we going?”

  “Since it’s not a date I’m not trying to impress you, so I thought we could just go to burger shack. That sound okay?”

  “Yep,” I said, gripping my bottom lip with my teeth.

  He didn’t have to try to impress me, he did that naturally and watching his muscles flex as he messed with stick shift of his car, I started to think that the whole friend’s thing was a bad idea. Mentally, I started making bets with myself about how long it took until we were back in bed together.

  “Why are you smiling?” he asked, bringing the car to a dead stop and putting it in park.

  “Oh, I didn’t even realize I was,” I told him, getting out of the car.

  Walking in, I noticed that the place was bustling. I’m talking wall to wall packed. My parents were even there.

  “Grace, honey, over here!” My mom said, waving her hand for me to walk over.

  Coming to a stop
in front of their table, I leaned down and gave my mom and dad each a quick hug.

  “Ethan, how have you been son?” My dad asked, shaking Ethan’s hand.

  Men and their handshakes.

  “Been good, sir. How about you?” he asked, smiling as if my dad liking him was the greatest thing in the world.

  “Can’t complain. How’s football?”

  “Oh no you don’t, Bobby. Let them enjoy their date,” My mom scolded my dad.

  “It’s not a date,” I said, shaking my head and laughing nervously.

  “Looks like a date to me,” My dad said, trying his hardest to stifle his laughter.

  Yeah, laugh it up old man. He knew what he was doing.

  “It’s totally a date but she doesn’t want to admit it,” Ethan said, draping his arm around my shoulders.

  Scoffing at him, I shook myself free of his hold. It wasn’t a date, it was two people who love each other very much and hadn’t exactly gotten over each other. Shit, it was a date.

  “He’s one of the good ones, baby doll,” My dad said, holding his hand out for me to take it, “Don’t let him get away.”

  Was this real life? My dad knew that we were broken up.

  “Dad, he’s already got away. We’re not a couple anymore, remember?”

  “You look like a couple to me,” My mom said, sipping on her strawberry milkshake.

  “Yep, me too,” My dad chimed in.

  “Me three,” Ethan said, pulling me closer to him.

  Burying my impending smile, I tried to wiggle myself free but he wasn’t having it. Not in the least bit.

  “I see a table open over there,” I said, attempting to change the bizarre conversation that was taking place.

  “You kids enjoy your date,” my dad yelled as we walked to the table.

  Choosing to ignore him, I finally broke free of Ethan and slid into the neon green booth. I wasn’t sure what the theme of the restaurant was supposed to be. To me it looked like the ninety’s threw up all over the room.

  “Every time I come here I feel like I’m on an episode of Saved by the Bell,” Ethan said, grabbing a menu and looking over it.

  It was like Ethan could read my mind. Okay, maybe he couldn’t read my mind but he always knew what I was thinking. I found that so attractive about him but I found everything about him attractive. Every little thing.