More Than Friends: Brad

by Marie Rochelle

  After her high school boyfriend Nick, and her college boyfriend Brian had both committed suicide after she had broken up with them, it tarnished her belief in love and made her terrified of getting involved too deeply with any man. It made her feel like if she ever loved a man he would get hurt and she was right. She’d confessed her feelings to Brad and he’d dropped her ass like a bad habit.

  Never in her life had she expected to fall for someone like she had with Brad and now he was gone from her life because of something Richard mistook as her cheating on Brad.

  After Brad had accused her of cheating on him, she had thought about going and confronting Richard...but why should she? She hadn’t done a damn thing wrong. Instead of running off to Brad, Richard should have come to her instead and asked about the scene in the restaurant.

  God, she didn’t want to tell anyone about what she had been doing for Brad just in case Ivan didn’t get in contact with Brad. Ivan was one of the top male tennis players in the world and if Brad knew about Ivan , he would have been waiting for the tennis pros’ phone call.

  What if Ivan didn’t call? Brad might have taken Ivan’s dismissal personally and stopped pursing his dream. No, she had to keep quiet and hope for the best.

  Ivan was supposed to be Brad’s foot into the door with the career he loved so much. She had only tried to help the man she was in love with, but it turned out horribly wrong.

  Rubbing her hands across her eyes, Alicia thought about fixing herself something to eat, but in the end changed her mind. All she wanted to do was crash in bed and stay there for a couple of days.

  Alicia was dumb. She knew that she had been burning the candles at both ends for the last week or so; this might be her body’s way of telling her that she needed a break for a while and get away from here.

  Tomorrow she would call Chloe and see if she could crash at her place for a day or two maybe a week at the latest. New York was a far cry from where she lived and it wasn’t like anyone here would be missing her anyway.

  Hopefully, Chloe wouldn’t try to force her to try and see their parents because her answer would still be the same. She wasn’t in any mood to hear her parents complain about her lack of personal life or meaningless job.

  All she wanted to do was relax a little before the Christmas holiday hit. It was the busiest time of year at the station.

  Christmas was usually her favorite holiday season but she wasn’t too sure about this year. She might just pull the covers over her head and sleep through it on the days she wasn’t scheduled to be at work. She never would have predicted that breaking up with Brad would be this hard on her.

  God, what was she thinking? She never thought about truly telling Brad about how she honestly felt until he pulled it out of her with his love and understanding.

  Alicia blinked back the tears that suddenly filled her eyes. Shit! She wasn’t a crier and she hated that she was doing it now, but it seemed to be happening a lot now. It was probably her body’s response to the lack of sleep that she had been getting.

  Okay, now she really was going to call her sister and see about coming for a visit. She couldn’t keep feeling like this from lack of sleep and nerves.

  Going over to the couch, Alicia sat down and picked up the cordless phone. She was going to call her sister, but she had to go something first and it would be the last time she would make this call.

  Her fingers quickly dialed a number she knew by heart and probably would for a while. She waited for the message to come on and her heart skipped a beat at the sound of Brad’s voice.

  “This is Brad...you know what to do after the beep.” A second later the beep buzzed in her ear.

  “Brad, this is Alicia. I just wanted to let you know that I finally understand now that it’s over between us. So, I won’t be trying to contact you anymore. Bye.”

  Alicia pushed the end button as tears poured down her face. Well, she’d done it. She let Brad know that she was done with him. She was the type of woman who once she committed herself to something would not likely change her mind. Her life worked out better that away and it would be extremely hard for her to go back to her old way of living, but she could do it, because she had no other choice.

  Taking a deep breath, Alicia brushed the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand and got herself together so she could talk to her sister. Chloe was very observant and would be able to tell right off the bat if something sounded off in her voice.

  She dialed the number. The phone only rang once before Chloe picked up.

  “Alicia, what’s wrong?” her sister asked immediately.

  “What? Nothing.”

  “Don’t give me that. You have never called me after midnight before. So, I know there is something going on with you.”

  “Nothing’s wrong.” Alicia answered too quickly and she knew it.

  “You know that I don’t believe you right? So, you might as well tell me the truth or I won’t stop asking until I get it out of you.”

  Alicia knew her sister and Chloe was right. She wouldn’t take anything but the complete truth. So, she retold Chloe what had happened between her and Brad and the pain was just as bad as the first time.

  “Do you want me to come there and give that idiot a piece of my mind? No, better yet, let me have a conversation with that stupid brother of his. How dare he spread lies about my baby sister,” Chloe shouted.

  “Chloe, calm down,” Alicia said. “All I want to know is can I come and stay with you for a couple of days.”

  “Of course you can. Now, I won’t be here because my job has booked me on several seminars, but use the key I gave you. The condo is yours for as long as you want. I’ll let the security guard know you’re coming. When are you booking your flight?”

  “I was hoping to do it tomorrow and leave on a later flight the same day,” Alicia answered.

  “I’ll be gone when you get here. My flight flies out today. Everything you need is here and don’t worry about anything. Everything will turn out better than you think it will. I need to go, but I’ll call you once you get to New York to make sure you arrived safely,” Chloe told her before hanging up.

  Sometimes Chloe got on her nerves being so overprotective and bossy, but that was how her sister’s personality was and despite all of their fights over the years, she loved her sister and even her brother who she only saw maybe once every three years.

  Well, she didn’t have time to sit there and waste. She had a lot of things to do before she left on her much needed trip.

  Tossing the phone on the table, Alicia got off the couch but instead of going to her bedroom she made a detour to the kitchen. It seemed like since she decided to leave town for a while, she had gotten her appetite back and a turkey with bacon sandwich was sounding really good to right now.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  “I was hoping that inviting you to lunch would get you out of this bad mood you’ve been in lately.”

  “I’m doing fine. I don’t know why you don’t think I’m not,” Brad said, looking at Richard across the table. Sure, most of his time was spent working on getting his business up and running. It wasn’t going as well as he thought it would, but he was keeping hope that it would get better.

  “Brad, if you really miss Alicia why don’t you call her. Maybe you can work past this kiss and get back together.”

  Didn’t his brother know that he had thought about going to see Alicia and trying to work things out between them but he couldn’t? He wouldn’t let Alicia get any deeper into his heart than she already was. It was hard for him not to drive past the news station to try to catch a glimpse of her.

  God, he had even been trying to see her on the news, but she hadn’t been there for a couple of days now. He didn’t want to be but he was worried that something might be wrong with her. Alicia loved her job and hardly ever missed a day of work.

  He kept replaying that message he had gotten from her in his head and wondered if she was trying to tell him something an
d he hadn’t picked up on it. As much as he hated it, he was still madly in love with her.

  “No, I broke up with Alicia because I didn’t want to go down the same road I had with Max and her. I deserve to have all of her love and attention. If I can’t have her completely then I don’t want her at all.”

  Richard’s eyes bore into his. “Brad, I know you and you’re still in love with Alicia. Why don’t you talk to her?”

  “Excuse me. Aren’t you Brad Drace,” a male voice interrupted.

  Looking up Brad saw a tall, dark haired man standing to his left but he couldn’t believe who it was standing there next to him.

  “Yes, I’m Brad Drace,” he answered.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was just finishing a business meeting and saw you over here. I’m—.”

  “Ivan Graf,” Brad finished, shocked that one of the most famous Men’s US Open tennis players even knew who he was.

  “I see you know who I man,” Ivan smiled.

  “Yes, who wouldn’t,” Brad answered. “How can I help you?”

  “I had a meeting with your girlfriend Alicia Hart several weeks back. She was telling me about how you were opening up a business and your love for tennis. I meant to contact you a few weeks back, but I had to take care of some personal issues.”

  “You’re the man that Alicia kissed?” Brad said, shocked.

  “You mean that sisterly kiss on the cheek.” Ivan laughed. “There wasn’t anything romantic about it. I met her a while back when I did an interview at her news station and we became good friends and that’s it. You have nothing to worry about. Alicia is totally in love with you.

  “Okay, I’m getting off the subject. I don’t have time today, but are you free tomorrow? I would like to go over a business proposition with you.”

  “You want to have a meeting with me?” Brad couldn’t believe this was happening to him.

  “Yes. Unless you’ve already found a partner for your business, I watched the DVD Alicia gave me and you’re a damn good tennis player. You could have gone pro.”

  Ivan Graf was thinking about being his partner. Alicia did this for him. She hadn’t been cheating on him like Richard and Zack thought. She was actually thinking about him and helping him make his dream come true.

  What in the hell had he done? Why in the world had he listened to Richard? He should have known that she would never cheat on him. He had to talk to Alicia and make her understand his stupid ass mistake. God, he had to get her back and before Christmas. He couldn’t start the New Year off with her.

  “Mr. Drace.” Ivan’s voice drew him away from his inner thoughts. “Are you listening to me?”

  “No, I haven’t decided on a partner yet,” Brad answered.

  “Good.” Reaching into his suit jacket pocket, Ivan pulled out a business card. “Call my office and tell my assistant I want her to set up a business lunch for us tomorrow at the club.”

  Brad took the expensive looking black card still in shock by what was happening to him. “I’ll do that.”

  “Excellent, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Ivan told him and then nodded at Richard before walking away.

  “Who was that guy?” Richard asked once Ivan was out of ear shot.

  Brad turned the card over in his hands before sliding it into his shirt pocket. “Ivan Graf is a professional tennis coach who has played and taught tennis all over the world. He has played the professional circuit in Europe, The United States and even Australia.

  “God, he has taught the game in county clubs all the way down to public parks. He owns and runs several tennis clinics and camps for all ages and ethnicities. I mean he’s a legend and I have him interested in becoming a part of my business because of Alicia.”

  “Shit Brad! I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions about Alicia and what I saw,” Richard said. “Do you want me to go with you when you see her? I can plead your case and tell her it was all my fault.”

  “No. I don’t want you to do a damn thing,” Brad snapped loudly, not caring who heard him inside of the restaurant. “Haven’t you already done enough by telling me Alicia was cheating on me? Why didn’t you listen to Dawn? Do you know the things I said to Alicia because of you? Did you ever think about talking to Alicia before running to me about that stupid kiss?”

  Brad fought down the urge to reach across the table and punch his brother in the face for meddling in his life without knowing all of the facts. If he was lucky enough to get Alicia back, he wasn’t to jump to conclusion anymore after listening to something someone told him when it came to Alicia. He would go straight to her and find out all of the facts.

  “No, I didn’t,” Richard sighed. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am about all of this. Why don’t you leave? I can pay for lunch. You need to see Alicia and work things out with her.”

  “I can’t go and see her today.” Brad sighed, looking down at the card in his hand. “I need to get my thoughts together first. You don’t know what I told her. I can’t appear on her doorstep and beg for her forgiveness. It just wouldn’t work.”

  “Not after I took your stupid words as the gospel...Fuck! I should have listened to my heart instead of my overbearing older brother. I thought Lee would be the one who broke me and Alicia up and it turned out to be you.”

  “Brad, I’m sorry. I can’t apologize anymore. Are you sure that you don’t want to go and see Alicia?”

  “I don’t want to talk about this anymore right now,” Brad said, standing up. “I need to let all of this sink in. I’m getting a chance of a lifetime to work with Ivan Graf. However, the woman that made it happen is out of my life because I wouldn’t listen to her.”

  “Call Alicia and apologize for not listening to her side of the story. She loves you and will understand,” Richard encouraged again.

  “No, I don’t think so. I need to go. I’ll talk to you later.” Brad left the table and hurried out of the restaurant. Despite what he told Richard, he was going to Alicia’s house and he wasn’t leaving until she took him back and forgave him for his stupidity.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Where in the hell was she? Brad knocked on Alicia’s door for the fifth time, but she wasn’t answering. He got a bad feeling that she wasn’t even inside. Where was she?

  Damn it! He should have come over here right after he listened to her message. She had sounded so lost and alone like she didn’t have anyone in the world. So, who could she be with?

  After hearing about her parents, he doubted that Alicia would go there. He had to find her because Christmas was a little less than two weeks away.

  Brad was about to knock on Alicia’s door again when his cell phone went off. Pulling it out his jeans, he flipped it open and answered it.

  “Hello?”

  “Where are you?” Zack asked him.

  “I’m at Alicia’s house,” he answered.

  “Well, you have to leave right now.”

  “Why? What’s wrong?” Brad asked. “I really need to talk to Alicia.”

  “You need to come to the hospital. Cherise is in labor,” Zack told him. “You can bring Alicia with you, but Lee is driving everyone up the wall.”

  Cherise was in labor! He was going to be an uncle again. Rushing down the steps, Brad hurried to his black Lexus and got in slamming the door behind him.

  “I’m coming. I should be there in thirty minutes. Tell Lee to calm down and help Cherise,” he said before disconnecting the call.

  Before he drove off, Brad sat inside of his car and stared at Alicia’s house. He couldn’t get all of the good memories he shared in there with her out of his mind. He had been a complete asshole not to listen to her when she tried to explain the kiss to him.

  If he had listened to her, Alicia would be sitting next to him going to see the arrival of the new additions to the Drace family, but he wasn’t going to give up on getting her back and placing a ring on her finger by Christmas.

  “I’m coming back and I’ll make Alicia liste
n to me,” Brad said to himself before driving off.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  The second Brad got off the elevators he saw the entire Drace family sitting in the waiting room. Carter got off Traci’s lap and ran up to him.

  “Uncle Brad, Auntie Cherise’s babies are coming.”

  “I know,” Brad said as he picked up Carter and walked back over to his family. He noticed a Christmas tree over to the left and was surprised that Carter wasn’t over there bothering it.

  “I saw Santa today,” Carter told him patting him on the shoulder. “He gave me a candy cane.”

  “You did?” Brad sat down next to Traci and handed Carter back to her.

  “Yeah, he was at the mall.”

  “How are you doing?” Traci asked as she put Carter back down so he could walk around. “Zack told me about what happened with Alicia and then Richard just filled us in on who the guy really was. Were you able to talk to her?”

  Brad shook his head. “She wasn’t at home and I don’t have a clue where she went to either, but I’m not giving up on her. Hell, she’s my woman and I’m going to get her back.”

  “Brad, I feel like shit for even saying anything,” Richard chimed in.

  “It’s not your fault. Alicia tried to talk to me and I blew her off. It’s my fault, but I’m going to fix it. So, how’s Cherise?”

  “She’s doing okay, but Lee was the one I was worried about,” Zack laughed. “He called me in a panic as he was helping Cherise into the car.

  “How far along is she now?” Brad asked leaning back in the uncomfortable hospital chair.

  “The last time I heard Cherise was about ready to deliver and Lee was getting ready to go into the delivery room,” Traci told him.

  ****

  For the next three hours, the Drace family members paced up and down the hallway waiting for the announcement of Lee and Cherise’s two bundles of joy. Forty-five minutes later, they saw Lee rushing out of the delivery room with a huge smile on his face.