The Driven Series

by Bromberg, K.

  I’m hung up at the office again. Haddie’s picking you up for me. Call you on the way home. Crash My Party, Luke Bryan. - Xx C

  My heart soars and soul warms at the song he’s texted. My sentimental, alpha male full of continuous contradictions. I sigh to push away my disappointment because I missed him terribly today, but I’m ecstatic about spending a little time with Haddie. I haven’t seen her much lately.

  I pick up my phone and reply. I miss you. Hurry home. All of Me, John Legend. -XXX

  I check the clock and realize time’s gotten away from me, so I start getting my stuff together and saying my goodbyes to the boys.

  When I exit the house she’s sitting in her car outside. I open the passenger side door to her squeal of delight. “Well fuck me sideways it’s so good to see you!”

  “I know!” I tell her as she pulls me in for a quick hug across the console, before gunning the motor and taking off with a laugh.

  I throw my head back in a laugh that matches hers and close my eyes for a minute, letting the wind of the open window rush over my face. The wind dissipates as she rolls the window up, and I turn to see her eyes glancing from the road ahead of her over to me.

  “Thanks for picking me up. If I had known Colton was going to work late, I wouldn’t have let him drop me off. Sorry.”

  “I know, you’re such a pain in the ass!” she says as she flicks her blinker and makes a left turn. “So since Mr. Fine-as-fuck has dumped you for now, how about a few drinks to catch up on things? Like why even though all your things are in our house, you never are … despite you adamantly denying that you’ve “officially” moved in with him.”

  I laugh and shake my head. “I don’t want to jinx things.” I shrug. “You know how I am.”

  “Yep, I sure do. So that’s why we’re going to knock back a few so you relax, get loosey-goosey and talk to me.”

  As much as I want to catch up with her, I’m dead tired. “Why don’t we go to his house and we can sit on the deck, look out at the water, and have some wine. Besides,” I say, looking down at my T-shirt and jeans, “I’m not dressed for a bar.”

  “Exactly what I thought you’d say,” she says, reaching behind my seat and grabbing something. She places a tote bag on my lap. When I look over at her, she just smirks. “Nice try, Ry, but we’re going out for drinks.” She nods her head at the bag. “A shirt, sexy shoes, and makeup.”

  “What?” I say, surprised but at the same time not surprised that she’s going to get her way.

  “Hussy-up baby! I’m a driving and time’s a wasting.” I laugh and shake my head at her. “You’ll thank me before the night is through.” We slow to a stop at a light and she picks up her phone and sends a quick text, before putting it down and looking over at me. “You’re not getting out of this, Thomas. I miss my friend, I want a drink, end of story.”

  The light changes and she takes off as a smile spreads on my lips. God, I love her.

  I don’t really pay attention to where we’re going because I’m looking in the visor mirror and fixing my makeup and primping my hair. Haddie’s only input is “Leave it down,” when I try to put it up in a clip. We chat about this and that, to catch each other up on the day to day. I’m zipping up my pouch of makeup when my phone rings.

  I fumble with it clumsily when I see it’s Colton. My immediate thought is that he’s done with work and can meet up with us for a drink.

  “Hi!” I say as I shove everything back into the bag at my feet on the floor.

  “Hey, sweetheart.”

  And just the sound of his voice causes a wave of love to wash over me. “Are you done with work?”

  “I lied,” he says, and I’m immediately confused. “I’m not working because I’m busy planning the perfect date for you, so look up because that date starts right now.”

  I snap my head up and cannot contain the sob that catches in my throat as I take in the dirt field and the quiet carnival in front of me. The motionless Ferris wheel, the vacant Midway, the locked turnstiles

  “Colton … what … why?” I attempt to ask as astonishment passes through me, his amused chuckle resonating through the line.

  “We haven’t been on a real date since our night at the carnival, so I thought this would be the most fitting way to start this one. I know you’re not good with the unknown, but promise me you’ll go with it. For me.”

  What? Holy hell! “Yes … of course,” I stutter.

  “See you soon,” he says and the line goes dead.

  I immediately look to Haddie who has the hugest grin on her face. “You!” I say to her, my voice breaking from so many overwhelming emotions. “You knew?”

  “Do men have penises?” She laughs with mock abhorrence. “Of course I’m in on it!”

  I just sit in the car with my mouth hanging open, as I look around and my mind tries to process this. Tries to process how the man that swears he isn’t romantic is a hopeless romantic at heart. “How … what?” I try to spit out the questions my head is forming, but they’re not coming out.

  “Colton thought you deserved a real date—a night out to thank you for hanging with him through everything so he asked for a little help.” She shrugs. “I agreed with him, so here we are.”

  Tears well in my eyes as I breathe in deeply, still trying to comprehend that I’m sitting at the same carnival seven months later. While I sit stunned, Haddie reaches behind my seat and produces a box larger than a shoebox.

  I laugh. “Do you have a whole store back there?”

  “Nope. This is the last thing.” She places the box in my hand and I cough out a nervous laugh, not because I’m actually nervous, but because of my dislike for the unknown and my need for control.

  Colton knows me so well.

  I sit there and stare at the rectangular gray box and can’t help the soft smile that graces my lips as I recall something Colton told me a long time ago—sometimes not being in control can be extremely liberating.

  “Jesus, woman, open the damn box already, will you? The suspense is killing me!” Haddie says beside me, her body vibrating with anticipation.

  I let out a deep breath and crack open the top like something is going to jump out at me. And when I lift the top off, an envelope sits atop some black and white checkered tissue paper, my name written on it. I lift it up and slide the paper out of it.

  Ryles-

  I know you’re probably wondering what in the hell is going on, so let me try and explain. You always put everyone else first—me, the boys, the stray dog on the corner—so I thought it was time to switch places and let you be the one front and center. So with the help of others, I’ve put together a bit of a scavenger hunt for you. In order to get to the prize, you have to follow and answer all of the clues.

  Good luck.

  Here’s your first clue: The carnival is the place I knew you were so much more than I’d ever expected. I knew sitting atop the Ferris wheel with you that no matter how hard I was fighting it, I couldn’t do casual with you and that you deserved so much more than that from me. So the first item is waiting for you at the first ride we went on.

  Love,

  Colton

  I wipe away the tears that slide down my cheeks without messing the makeup I’d just put on, but it’s damn near impossible. Haddie reaches over and squeezes my forearm to help steady my trembling hands. I look over at her trying to comprehend what it took for Colton to organize all of this, as well as put the words he has a hard time expressing verbally to paper.

  “Get your ass out of the car and go find your man before I have a heart attack from the anticipation,” she says as she pushes my shoulder toward my open car door.

  I slide out of the car, my heart pounding and head trying to understand that he cares enough about me to do this. I walk up to the gated entry to find a single turnstile unlocked. I walk through it and into the eerily deserted carnival, my pace starting to quicken with each step as memories flood back to me. Stuffed dogs, stolen kisses, and cotton ca
ndy. Dares to a bad boy who had already captured my heart even though I didn’t want to admit it just yet. Fears and firsts and a shy, lopsided grin on his magnificent face.

  I reach the ride section and head for the Tilt-A-Whirl. I let out a gasp as Shane and Connor step out of the shadowed ticket booth with huge grins on their faces and a box in their hands.

  My hand presses to my chest from utter shock and absolute adoration at Colton for including my boys in his scavenger hunt. For allowing them to help him do something nice for me. “You guys!” I exclaim as I jog over to where they stand and take in the mischievous looks in their eyes. “You kept this from me?” I step forward and hug both of them tightly as we all laugh.

  “We were sworn to secrecy,” Shane says, blushing.

  “Colton said we wouldn’t get in trouble for lying to you either,” Connor adds, shaking his head.

  “No.” I laugh, completely overwhelmed by everything. “You’d never get in trouble for something like this.”

  Shane clears his throat and I look over to him. “We have your next clue.”

  “Oh, okay,” I say with a laugh, my nerves returning.

  “You have to answer this question right in order to get the next clue, okay?” I nod. “When you see this item, which Con is going to hold up, what one word answer comes to your mind?”

  Connor holds up a yellow, rubber ducky and I erupt into a fit of giggles, fresh tears appear at the corners of my eyes. I shake my head trying to staunch my laughter but can’t when I say, “Quack!”

  And more recollections hit of shouting and hurt cutting through the morning chill on the front lawn of the Palisades house to a hotel room in Florida and my menagerie of animals I threw at Colton when trying to preserve my heart from misconceived truths. Of being so stubborn I didn’t really listen, didn’t hear what he was telling me.

  But I’m listening now. He’s not the only one who’s learned during our time together.

  Connor and Shane let out a little cheer and they hand me another envelope in which I hurriedly tear open. It says: The memories this next clue remind me of are burned in my mind just as much as the ink of my tattoos. And you were sexy as fuck. Damn! “In case you need a little sweetener after I dirty you up.” Where exactly would you buy that?

  Everything below the waist tightens at the memory of Colton and cotton candy and I smile at the thought and then feel weird thinking those thoughts near the boys. “Are you guys going to be okay?” I ask them immediately.

  They roll their eyes. “We’re not here alone,” Shane says. “Now go figure out the clues!”

  “Okay,” I say as my excitement mounts. I kiss both boys on the top of their heads and jog through the fair looking everywhere for a vendor cart that has cotton candy on it. And with every step, I look for and expect to find Colton and his impish grin waiting to surprise me.

  But there’s nothing.

  I start to get panicked at the quiet calm of the grounds. After a bit of wandering I turn a corner and look up to see a lone funnel of cotton candy hanging from a stand. As I get closer I cry out when I see Ricky and Jackson standing in aprons and smiles.

  “I can’t wait any longer!” Ricky says, fidgeting behind the counter and handing me another box as both Jax and I laugh at his excitement to be a part of this.

  I set the box down and open it to find an auction paddle that says: Go back to where it all began. Where I learned defiance can be pretty damn sexy.

  I shake my head again, feeling like I’m having an out of body experience as I say goodbye to them. I walk as fast I can out to the parking lot, to where Haddie is sitting behind the wheel, eyebrows raised and fingers drumming in anticipation.

  I slide into the car to her repeating “Tell me, tell me.” Over and over. I tell her to drive where the date auction charity gala took place and then fill her in on the two clues I’d received at the carnival. She’s bouncing in her seat with enthusiasm while I sit here wide-eyed and shocked at Colton’s sweet surprise.

  “Well shit, that bonk on the head at the race in Florida sure as fuck helped him in the romance department.” She laughs. “I think it might become a mandatory thing for the penis-poking gender!”

  I laugh with her. “You really didn’t know about this part?” I ask Haddie several times.

  “Ry, he told me he had a cool date planned for you and asked if I’d be your chauffeur for part of it. So I’m here, and I so can’t wait to see what else he has in store for you!” she says, reaching over and running her hands over the words of the auction paddle. It’s sitting on my thigh and I can’t stop staring at it.

  The stars must be aligned because we avoid Los Angeles traffic and make it to the old theater in record time. “I’ll be waiting right here!” she yells as I climb out of the car with the paddle in my hand and jog to the grand front doors of the old theater to find one of them ajar.

  I enter the familiar foyer and look around as I walk toward the door to the right of the stage like I did that night so many months ago. I start humming out of habit to Matchbox Twenty’s Overjoyed playing softly on the speakers overhead. It has to be a complete coincidence because even Colton couldn’t time my arrival this perfectly, but it makes me smile at how perfect it is that my group is playing. I blink back tears as the significance of this moment takes hold—Colton leading me back here after all this time where something I never really wanted to happen, actually started.

  And look at us now.

  I swallow the burn of tears in my throat as I push through the door and into the lit backstage hallway. And suddenly my tears are replaced with an uncontrollable fit of giggles when I see caution tape over the little alcove where Bailey tried to seduce him. And more hilarious than the caution tape is the little sign that says “Beware, piranhas lurking.”

  I’m still laughing as I turn the corner to see the storage closet door propped open and a light on inside. My heeled boots click on the linoleum as I try to figure out who is going to meet me this time. A part of me wants it to be Colton so I can kiss him and hug him and thank him for all of this, but at the same time I don’t think I’m ready for this walk down memory lane to end just yet.

  And the giggles return when I see Aiden and my co-counselor Austin sitting in chairs just inside the closet playing Uno. Aiden jumps up with a squeal when he sees me, and Austin and I laugh at his enthusiastic reaction.

  “Hi, guys!”

  “Rylee,” he shouts out in excitement. “Here! This is for you!”

  He fumbles as he hands an envelope and two boxes to me. One very small on top of a larger one. I look at both Aiden and Austin, their anticipatory grins matching mine as I set the boxes on the table and tear open the envelope. Colton’s familiar penmanship greets me: You were the first person to ever look at me and really see into my soul. And it scared the ever-loving shit out of me. Where did this happen? If you need a clue, it’s in the top box. (Open the larger box once you leave the theater.)—C

  My heart is pounding and my hands are trembling with excitement. I know the answer. He’s referring to the Penthouse where we had sex for the first time after the Merit Rum party, but nothing prepares me for what is inside the first box.

  My breath catches and I instinctively lift a hand to cover my mouth before I reach out and lift the lone earring from it. The earring I couldn’t find that night as I tried to gather my dignity and leave the hotel room. The earring I left, never caring if I saw it again or the man now giving it back to me.

  Something about the sight of the earring and the fact that he kept it all this time, kept it when I walked out on him, causes so many emotions to surface I can barely speak as I thank Aiden and Austin before picking up the other box and hurrying back to Haddie and our next destination.

  I climb in the car, stunned and bewildered, as I tell Haddie about the significance of the earring. She starts to drive to the hotel as I tear open the larger of the two boxes. And the air punches from my lungs from laughter as I look into a box of all the panties that h
ave been ripped off me. Included in the box is another envelope that takes me a minute to open because I’m laughing so hard at the memories they evoke, and the fact that he actually kept them all.

  “Geez, woman! You weren’t kidding when you said the man put a dent in your drawers!” she teases as she nods her head, urging me to open the envelope.

  I tear it open and a gift card falls out to La Perla for a ridiculous amount of money. The note wrapped around the gift card is worth ten times more to me though. It says: You better buy a large supply, Ry, because I don’t see my need to have you when, where, and how I want stopping any time soon.

  The blatant sensuality of his words causes an ache of desire to coil and spring to life between my thighs that I don’t even bother to ignore.

  “Wow!” Haddie drawls, breaking me from my less than pure thoughts as she looks over and reads the card while we’re at a stoplight. “The man is that fucking hot and has a dirty, dominant mouth like that?” She draws in a shaky breath. “Shit, Ry … I’d tell him to handcuff me to the bed and let me be his sex slave for life.” She laughs.

  I’m feeling a little blown away that this man is most definitely mine. “Who says I haven’t?” I say with a smirk on my lips and a raise of eyebrows.

  “Well hot damn!” she says, slapping my thigh. “That’s my girl talking!”

  We laugh together and try to figure out what the next clue at the hotel is going to be until she pulls up into the valet circle. “I’m assuming I’ll be right back,” I tell her as I climb out and jog into the lobby before I suddenly stop. I just can’t go up to the Penthouse and knock on the door.

  I head over to the front desk and when I approach, a woman eyes me up and down. “Ms. Thomas, I presume?”

  “Yes …” I reply, a little astounded she knows who I am.

  “This way please,” she says, leading me to a private elevator on the side of the lobby. She takes out a key card and presses it to the scanner causing the door to open. “There you go,” she says, her stoicism breaking as she grins broadly at me before walking back to her desk.