I remembered lying on one side of the couch with Nick at the other end. He must have pulled a cover over me when I fell asleep, because I woke up the next morning all warm and toasty under a wonderfully soft blanket. I sat up a little to see if Nick had left and he had. I sat all the way up and did a once over. He wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Must have gone to his bed.
I checked his room but found that it was empty. I checked the bathroom. Saw a raccoon staring back at me in the mirror and decided then that I needed to tame the beast.
Fresh faced and rodent free, I sat back down on the couch. It was then I noticed the folded piece of paper on the coffee table with my name on it. I quickly grabbed it and huddled in my soft cocoon of covers. I turned it over and read.
Don’t freak out. I just went to get some coffee and something for us to eat. You might have cleaned like Cinderella last night, but you forgot to hit up the grocery store and fill the fridge.
I’ll be back in a few.
Nick
My face hurt as I smiled down at the witty note. At least he signed it with more than an S this time. I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. When the TV was warmed up, the first thing that I saw was Spencer’s face. I’d left it on an entertainment channel the previous night because I just had to watch my trashy TV shows. It had been a long while since I cringed when I saw my name attached to Spencer’s. Since we’d gone public, most of the publicity had been good, now it was like I was sent back in time.
In the first photo I was hit with, Spencer was lounging in some club with women sitting all around him. His eyes seemed glazed over, and he looked like shit. I mean he was still freakishly handsome, but he looked worse for wear. He was in California, or so the entertainment anchor told me.
We are sad to say the short whirl-wind romance of Spencer Salvatore and reserved sister to the Monroe brothers, Elizabeth Monroe, is over. Last night both were spotted out on different sides of the continent. It seems as though Elizabeth has dumped Salvatore for acclaimed up and coming photographer Nick Holsen. The vixen who stole America’s heart seems happy and in love as the two raced away from paparazzi last night.
“I can’t believe this,” I shouted at the TV. I grabbed the remote next to me and turned it off. I prayed then that Spencer’s family didn’t follow entertainment media, because if they did, I was going to have a hard time explaining this one. Just as I buried myself under the covers and was milliseconds from dozing off again, the door opened.
“Ah, dammit,” I heard Nick yell from the other side of the couch as he got inside.
I tossed the covers off my head and sat up. He was juggling bags and a tray full of coffee cups.
“What’s with the look?” he asked as he placed the bags on the floor and steadied the tray of coffee.
“Your boss is--”
“Ex-boss.”
“Your ex-boss is fucking things up again.”
“What did she do now?” he asked as he handed me one of the coffees.
“Everything. Thanks.” I said, taking the drink from him. I took a sip and expected to taste coffee but was pleasantly surprised to find it was tea--perfectly made tea with two sugars and a splash of milk. I sighed as it slid down my throat.
He winked at me. “You thought it was coffee. Such little faith in me. I know how you love your tea. I did date you, and I didn’t forget anything.”
I couldn’t help my smile as I took another delicious sip of the hot tea. “My faith has been restored with this single cup of tea.”
“So what did Natasha do?” he asked, picking the bags up and taking them to the kitchen.
“She’s saying I dumped Spencer for you.”
“Don’t give into her. She’s just trying to stir the pot. She’s trying to make Spencer jealous, and we both know the one thing that’s going to get under his skin is him seeing you with me.”
He had a point. It wasn’t the truth, I knew that, he knew that, and even though I wanted to set the record straight with the world, I had to keep my head down.
Nick grabbed two bagels from one of the bags and joined me on the couch. I took the warm bagel from him and got comfortable on the couch again. We sat there, eating our breakfast and discussing how we were going to go about gaining the information we needed.
“Is that your phone ringing?” Nick asked.
We had been going through every possibility that could have happened when we knocked on Spencer’s family’sdoor, when my phone rang from the coffee table. I reached for it, seeing Charles name light up on the screen.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Would you like to tell me why all your shit is sitting outside my front door?”
“Are you serious?” I jumped from the couch and started pacing. That fucker actually tossed me and my crap out of his place?
“I’m currently staring at boxes of crap with your name written all over them. So, yes, I am very serious. Why the hell is your shit at my door step and not in Spencer’s million-dollar penthouse?”
He was mad. Charles didn’t get mad. Scratch that. He did get mad when people would gang up on me or say something about his family.
I sighed into the phone. “It’s a long story.”
“Do I need to call Teddy--”
“No! Don’t call him.”
“You better start talking, baby girl. Did he do something? Did he hurt you?”
My mind was racing by this point. Charles kept on yelling from his end of the phone then, in-between his rants, I could clearly hear a female voice yelling as well.
“Is Gia with you?” I asked, cutting off one of his rants about Spencer being a no-good sickly twisted freak.
“What? Why would she--”
“Cut the crap, Charles. I know that’s her in the back ground. Put her on the phone.”
I waited while he handed her the phone. I glanced at Nick, who was watching me from the couch.
He mouthed, “Is everything okay?”
I rolled my eyes and shrugged my shoulders because that was how I felt. Everything was crumbling and, once again, I was dragging everyone into my problems.
“I told you that--”
“Drop it, Gia,” I said, cutting her off abruptly. “I’ve got everything under control. This is all a big misunderstanding. Spencer and I are fine.”
“Define fine because your definition and mine must be worlds apart. I’m looking at a picture of him with women all over him.” I could hear her clicking so she must have been on Fame’s website. “Oh-My-God! Elizabeth Monroe, where the hell are you right now?” she demanded.
Perfect, she’s looking at the pictures of me and Nick.
“I’m at Nick’s.”
“Nick?”
“Simon,” I clarified.
***
I waited with Nick as we rode the elevator up to Charles’s place. When the doors opened and I stepped out, I ran right into one of the boxes with my name on it.
“He couldn’t take them inside? What a jerk,” I said, kicking my own box again. I didn’t bother knocking, I just barged in. I did a quick scan and caught the tail end of Gia jumping off my brother’s lap.
“Jesus, Beth! Ever heard of knocking?” Charles yelled from the couch as he stood.
“I don’t have time for knocking. Thanks for bringing all my stuff in.”
“Oh, no problem, I love cleaning up your messes. Been doing it since you were born. Why stop now?”
“Chuck!” Gia called, hitting his shoulder.
I didn’t need her to reprimand him for me, but I was grateful--one less thing I had to do.
“I’m leaving this afternoon, so my stuff’s going into the spare bedroom until I get back,” I said with a curt nod before returning to the hallway to grab my boxes.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You can’t move in here.”
“Why the hell not?” I demanded.
He didn’t have a good reason. He was a man, thinking with his smaller head, because he didn’t want me messing up whatever arrangement he
and Gia had going on.
“Ugh--fine, whatever. Take your shit in there,” Charles said, pointing to the spare room like I didn’t already know where it was.
“I will, thanks.”
Nick was standing behind me silent as a mime the whole time. When I turned to grab the first box, I caught him nod at Charles.
“What’s that for?” I asked Nick before whipping around to question Charles.
“Nothing,” Charles answered for both of them.
Chapter 26
Nickolas
I listened as Elizabeth tried to explain herself to her brother and best friend. They didn’t give her any leeway. I sat back when they told her that this was for the best, that Spencer was wrong for her.
Stubborn, Elizabeth was hearing none of it. She defended Spencer at every turn. With every bad thing Chuck and Gia said, she had ten good things to say about him.
I didn’t want it to be true, but the longer I heard her talk about him, the stronger my respect for her bond with him grew.
Spencer was a jackass for leaving her, for not trusting in her love, for giving up on her. He was a coward, and I wanted to swoop in and take her back, but there was no going back. There was only forward, and I’d promised that I was going to help her, so I sat back and let her argue with her brother and friend.
When Chuck nodded my way, I tried to nod back discreetly but Elizabeth saw me. She called us out, and, thankfully, Chuck was on it. Now the girls were in the spare room, going through the boxes that Spencer had packed up for Elizabeth. She was packing a bag so we could leave for Vegas and, while she did, I stood in the kitchen with Chuck.
“You didn’t tell her, did you?” Chuck asked.
“Tell her what?” I questioned him.
“About me helping you find dirt on Salvatore.”
“No, of course, I didn’t say anything to her.”
“So why did he leave her? And why the hell is she with you?” he demanded.
He tried to hide the big protective brother vibe, but the man loved his sister and, even though they fought almost every time I saw them together, both of them always had the other’s back.
“I heard her explain all this to you over the phone. What don’t you get?”
“I don’t get why you’re helping her. You and I both know Salvatore’s a dick. Did you plan all this? Have you been behind it all?” He was digging but wasn’t going to get anywhere.
“I swallowed my pride a long time ago. I’m just trying to help your sister, it’s the least I can do. And for the record, I had nothing to do with this.”
Elizabeth’s voice came from around the corner. “All right I got everything I need.” She was pulling a small overnight bag behind her.
“Great,” I said, moving away from the kitchen and Chuck and heading for the door.
“I swear to god, Beth, if you--if he does anything, I mean anything to hurt you--”
“Charles, I’m fine. Spencer and I are fine,” Elizabeth said, trying to sooth her brother’s mind. Behind him Gia was rolling her eyes and shaking her head.
“Gia--” Elizabeth called to her friend. “I love him. I’m going to figure this out, find him, and put all of this nonsense behind us. I was wrong about you and Charles. Maybe you’re wrong about Spencer.”
“I hope I am,” Gia said, before hugging her friend.
They were a dysfunctional family, but they were a family. I didn’t have that and being around them made me want it. It made me want friends who, even though they didn’t agree with me, still supported me, and a family that had my back, no matter what.
The flight was a full one, and Elizabeth got mobbed at every turn. She held her head up, smiled, and moved forward. We had a car waiting for us outside the airport. I gave the driver the address and off we went.
“So you’re sure this is the only way to get more information?” Elizabeth asked from beside me.
She was nervous. It was about the millionth time she asked me that question, or some form of it. She kept messing with the seat belt and chewing on the inside of her lip.
I nodded. “I think this is our only chance. He has everything else so locked down, it appears he got beamed down by aliens. There’s nothing, Elizabeth. You saw the records or lack thereof. Just take a deep breath.”
“Ha! That’s easy for you to say. You don’t have to meet you boyfriend’s family alone and bombard them with private, personal questions.”
I nudged her shoulder with my own and smiled at her. “Bright side--they love you and show you humiliating home movies of him with head gear, thick glasses, and zits.”
She gave me a smile back and some of the stress seemed to melt away.
“This is it,” I said, looking out the window at the huge iron gate that lead to the Salvatore family home.
“We’re here already? That was too fast. Are you sure this is the place?”
I pointed to the huge S on the gate. “Looks like it.”
Our plan to get past the gate was simple. We were posing as stylist for the oldest Salvatore girl. I did still have some connections, and I found out that she was awaiting a style team for an event she had that night.
Once through the gate, the drive down the driveway seemed longer than necessary. The house came into view and, honestly, I didn’t expect anything less from a world renowned surgeon. It was huge and opulent.
“You’re sure about this? Because once I do this, there’s no going back. I’ll have met his family and be labeled as the crazy girlfriend.”
“Or you meet his family, and they understand and love you, because they know Spencer and his issues.”
“All right. I like that scenario better. Let’s go with that.” She nodded as she stared out the window at the huge house.
I sat in the car and watched as Elizabeth got out. She stood against the door a moment before whipping back around and tugging the door open. She stuck her head back inside with a panic-stricken face. “What the hell are you waiting for? Get out here. I need you,” she pleaded.
I expected to wait in the car until she got done. I didn’t think she’d want me by her side to do this, especially with all the history. When I got out of the car and stood next to her, she glanced up at me a moment and didn’t say a word, but still said so much. She told me she was thankful, scared. Her eyes told me, “I know this is hard but I wouldn’t want anyone else by my side.”
So I stood there and helped hold her up because I loved her and because maybe she could be the family that I’d needed. After all of the lies and scandal, she was still by my side and I by hers.
Chapter 27
Elizabeth
Spencer had told me about his sisters. They were younger than he was, and all of them still lived in their family home. The oldest, Camilla, or Cami as he called her, was following in her parent’s footsteps and becoming a doctor. Lucy was nineteen and attending LVU. And then there was the youngest Stella who was still in high school.
Spencer kept it vague when it came to his family, even this new one that he had. They were private and liked to keep it that way. There were no pictures of them on the internet attending wild parties or being too risqué. They all seemed like good girls, staying on the straight and narrow. I was sure having Spencer for an older brother helped in keeping them in line and out of the lime light.
I didn’t know what to expect, or who to expect, when the door opened, but I was thanking the stars above it was a youthful round face and beautiful blue eyes that greeted me. It was Stella, the youngest of the Salvatore sisters. The one photo Spencer had shown me of his family didn’t do Stella any justice. It must have been an older picture because the young woman who stood in front of me now was nothing like the young girl in the picture.
I knew they weren’t Spencer’s eyes, but they could have been. They were clear as the clearest ocean blue. Her hair was long and jet black, like his, curled and pulled half back in a high pony tail atop her head.
She stared at me for a moment, shorter than I
was. Her eyes drifted up to my face and widened as everything must have clicked in her head.
“Hi,” I blurted.
“Are you really standing here right now?” she asked with a bit of a valley girl accent.
Oh, god, this is going to be bad. Can I still run to the car? I really don’t want to get chewed out by a seventeen year old. I didn’t run, of course, I nodded like a scared mute.
“What are you doing here? Is Spencer with you?” She looked around me and found Nick instead of her brother. “I knew you didn’t dump him. He’s so in love with you, it’s all he ever talks about when he calls. So where is he?”
“Well--” I cleared my throat. “He’s not here, but I was wondering if I could talk to your family.”
“It’s just me and my sisters here this weekend. Mom and Dad are at some surgical conference in Chicago, I think. I’m so glad Spencer sent you over here. I’ve been dying to meet you, and you know him--he kept on putting it off. Come on inside,” she said, all chipper.
Her hair bounced as I followed her into the large kitchen. Nick followed close behind me.
A voice came from the stair behind us. “Stella, who was at the door?”
“Get down here and see for yourself,” Stella yelled happily.
Clunky boots hit the stairs as Lucy the middle sister came barreling down them. She stopped half way when she saw me. Where Stella was young and delicate, Lucky was not. Her hair was cut short to her chin. It was the same dark color at the roots but lighter as it got to the ends. She was in a tank top and her arms were covered in tattoos. Her green eyes bore into mine as she studied me.
“What the fuck is she doing here?” she asked, crossing her arms and giving me the evil eye.
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