Frayed

by Pamela Ann

  With a huge lump in my throat, I looked up to the man whose body I had reveled in. The man who brought me to such delightful heights I hadn’t known possible. The very one who saved me and helped me breathe again. “With every fiber in me and with all of my heart, I thank you for…everything.”

  My hands wanted to reach out, but I knew better. Funny, how we were on this same spot only two nights ago, inseparable and unable to get enough of each other’s bodies. Now, we stood like strangers. I knew we would’ve parted anyway, but I didn’t expect it to be this cold and distant. I was always thinking that someday we’d even joke of what had happened between us during our summer here. I guess I had thought wrong. “I suppose we’ll see each other around in LA then.” I tried to sound light except I failed miserably. The urge to hug him was strong, but the thought of him pushing me off his body made me think otherwise.

  Taylor was composed, bored and indifferent. He gave me an irresistible smile before walking away while my eyes followed him. “Sure. Don’t forget to send me an invitation for the wedding,” he yelled off, not looking back.

  “Taylor…” I murmured to the night. My eyes watched the man walking away.

  I’ll miss you.

  Chapter 24

  Trista

  Taylor, as promised, left the next day without saying a goodbye. Going through those couple of days was rigorous. I was counting down the hours until we were leaving for London. Then, maybe, my sanity could comeback to me.

  No one really understood how relieved I was when we boarded the plane in Athens to head to London for the weekend , before we were going back home.

  We were staying at Claridges for our entire weekend. The hustle and bustle of the city of London brought good vibes in my down and out demeanor.

  “Home sweet home,” Lindsey announced as she opened the door to our hotel suite.

  “Sweet!” Emma chimed ahead of me.

  We were dragging our luggage on the small pathway when the three of us froze in shock. “Holy shit!” We exclaimed as a dark figure stepped in front of us.

  “Surprise?” Carter beamed, looking like a hot stud , t , t hose dark eyes never leaving Emma.

  Lindsey pushed him out of the way. “Surprise my ass crack, Carter. Instead of freaking Emma out with your stellar-stalker-gawking efficiency, why don’t you make use of yourself and put this luggage away?”

  Carter moved closer to Emma and motioned to get her luggage away from her tight grip, but she just stood there like she didn’t know what to do.

  “Snap out of it, Emma! Now move that chunky ass out of the way. I need to unpack and whatever.” I barked at her, just enough for her to get out of that weird Carter funk.

  Bass Cole better hold on to this woman tight cause the ex was officially back, and he’s out to get her back.

  After we finally picked which rooms we wanted, we agreed to be ready in two hours to dine somewhere.

  ***

  “Ready?” Lindsey asked through the door whilst giving it a knock. I could hear her heels thump on the floor while she paced.

  With a heavy sigh, I scrambled to hunt down my gold clutch to go with my dress. I was in the middle of shoving my lipgloss and credit cards into the tiny bag when Lindsey yanked my door open dramatically. She was dressed in a corseted, crepe, red dress with gold heels. Her long dark hair and brown eyes made her look sophisticated and righteously gorgeous. “This shit is a disaster. Dimitris and I had a major fight, and now Emma is inside her room talking to Carter. What’s the plan? For Carter and Emma, I mean.”

  I smiled at Lindsey as I shook my head. “Like we need one? Emma’s a big girl. She can handle it, I hope.” The woman knew what she had with Bass. This was all up to her now.

  My phone was sitting on my bed and I anxiously glanced at it before sticking it in with the rest of my items in the tiny clutch. No messages from Taylor. I knew we parted under the most radical circumstances, but I hoped that he could at least send me a text message or two, which was silly of me since we had never exchanged numbers. So, here I was, hoping he’d call Emma or someone to get a hold of me, but no such luck on that front.

  “Miss him, don’t you?” Lindsey muttered as she plopped on the bed, peering at me.

  Do I miss Taylor? I’m fiending for him. For weeks, he had been my addiction. Now, I was just an addict without my drug. Emotional withdrawals are bad, but the sexual withdrawals, were the worst.

  “He wanted you to choose him, you know? I mean, you two didn’t really talk about it, but I think deep down, he wanted you to choose him. He was too shaken up about Harry and the whole let’s get married and the whole baby thing to even ask that of you. Taylor’s crazy about you, Doll. I have no fucking clue why you’d let that hunky man run around Paris without you. There are a lot of brunette models in that city, you know. Not to mention the city of love is like an hour away. Maybe you should hop over the pond and claim your prince? Do you really want him to have sexy times with brunettes now?”

  Now, that was a total bitch move. Glaring at Lindsey, I became furious. “I may be a little gutsy at times, but I’m not all-the-time-ballsy like you, Lindsey. The first real relationship I had was with a married man. The second one was a total rebound and purely for sexual gratification. I don’t have guys fall at my feet all the time like the rest of you girls. I suck at this and I totally suck at dealing with men.” I was shaking now, so I had to sit at the foot of the bed to calm myself. “I don’t deserve him, really. He’s too good for me because I’m still in love with Harry, Linds. Taylor deserves more than that. He’s a great man who deserves a woman who’s not messed up and irrevocably tainted like me.”

  Lindsey was right next to me, holding my hand. “You are the sweetest and the most generous woman I know—okay maybe next to Emma cause that woman is oddly too nice. Taylor saw that . He , saw through the hard exterior you put up to pretend that you were a badass beeotch. He appreciated you as a whole, but if it’s Harry that can truly make you happy, then follow that road. I’m your friend, babe, and I will support you no matter what.”

  My arms squeezed her, hard. “Thank you. As much as you scare the fuck out of me sometimes, you’re the best and I love you.” I kissed her cheek before looking at her. “So, you and Dimitris? What’s gonna happen now?”

  That made Lindsey look away and stare at the wall. “He wants to make it official, like boyfriend and girlfriend official. I don’t think I’m ready for that type of commitment. He wants all or nothing and I threw that stupid ultimatum in his face—even though that face was made for masturbation.”

  That made me snort and laugh at the same time. The stupid combination was painful. “I don’t know how you make serious stuff so funny, Lindsey! Go for it. Not every man is like Brody, you know. God knows that guy has groveled on his knees to hell and back for you to take him seriously, but you’re relentless and now, you have another opportunity to have a good man that you could trust, one that hasn’t plowed through Cece’s field of wild oats.”

  “Yeah, but it’s just too much. He lives on another continent and is a sought out actor on top of that. There are just so many reasons not to pursue it. I just want to leave it at that, a summer fling, since those really don’t have a chance in hell to survive out in the real world. It was fantastic, but now it’s over.” Lindsey looked thoughtful as her words sunk in. She seemed to have accepted this fact and was not about to dwell on it anymore.

  “I guess he and Taylor can chill and hunt down women together. Whatever.” I stood up and offered my hand to help Lindsey up from the bed. At the same time, I could hear Emma’s door open and close. The blast from the past couple appeared in our room. Emma’s cheeks were pink, too much blushing, perhaps?

  “ ’ Bout damn time you two come out of that stupid room. Were you guys having sex or what?” Lindsey accusingly glared at them, arms folded as she studied their faces.

  “Goodness, Lindsey! What the hell! We were just talking!” Emma interjected, miffed that her friend would thin
k of her that way.

  “Lindsey, will you please ease up on us? We’re just talking, nothing more. So, how about I take all three of you lovely ladies out to dinner and catch up.” Carter guided us out of the room. I noticed that his hand stayed on Emma’s back and saw how she stilled even at the lightest touch from him. The woman definitely wasn’t immune to him.

  Chapter 25

  Trista

  We got into a black cab which that took was going to take us to dine in Rhodes Twenty Four restaurant, close to the London Bridge. “No, dude. You sit over there. It’s the perfect spot where we can watch you.” Lindsey pointed at the small square of a flip down seat that was attached behind the driver’s separator panel. We were seated nicely, facing the jock. Carter wasn’t fazed , whatsoever.

  “So, how did you get out of playing soccer since it’s in season?” I asked the man who wouldn’t let up at checking out Emma.

  Carter grinned wider before he spoke up. “You know, I had to get creative. I told the coach that I had a family emergency in London and I swore to head back out Sunday with my baby sister. Coach wasn’t convinced at first, but he finally gave up after I wouldn’t let him off the hook.”

  Like his coach had a choice, the Mason siblings were two relentless beings.

  “Bet he was pissed at your persistence—” Lindsey muttered before she paused and nudged Emma’s arm. “Your phone’s vibrating, aren’t you going to pick that up?”

  Emma immediately took the call call, as the rest of us remained silent, watching her. “Hello?” She murmured.

  I didn’t even have to guess who was the caller since there was a catch in her voice that gave it away.

  “Yep, we’re on our way to a restaurant on some high building close to the Tower of London, I believe. Hey, can you move somewhere that’s not too noisy? Where are you?” Emma started to sound suspicious before she continued on. “Are you in some kind of a club, Bass?” She started to pick on her nails as she listened to his explanation. “In Paris with Dimitris and Taylor? Since when did you all start having guys’ night?”

  The sound of his name attached to partying made my insides churn like they were in an industrialized washing machine.

  Emma gave a long sigh before she responded to Bass. “Okay… well, be safe then. I’ll see you Sunday. Yeah, miss you, too.”

  After she ended the call, no one said a word. I was sure we were all thinking about certain respective men in our lives. Our thoughts were wreaking havoc in our minds, thinking of them and some hot French models, dancing and laughing the night away. Even if Lindsey was convinced that she and Dimitris were better off, I knew deep down she was affected that the Greek McHottie was in Paris. All three men with no women by their sides, all single and ready to party the night away. Yeah, this night was going to torment us.

  “Guess Bass is doing a-o-kay without you next to him. He sure will be checking out the ladies.” Carter broke our thoughts with his venomous remark.

  “For the love of all that’s holy, SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!” Lindsey spat at him. Carter looked taken aback from the ferocity of her words, and gladly remained silent until we got to our destination.

  The rest of the evening was uneventful. Carter tried to get us out to some bar, but the three of us just wanted to go back to the hotel and sulk, though none of us were brave enough to admit the fact.

  Here we were in the great city of London, but our thoughts were somewhere in Paris. Funny wasn’t it?

  ***

  At a quarter past three in the morning, I grudgingly got out of bed due to being severely parched. I hadn’t slept a wink and I was bound to be awake for the rest of the day.

  Ever since we got back to the hotel, all I did was stare at the engagement ring Harry had given me. The expensive bauble seemed to mock me.

  I was putting the cap back on the bottled water when I jumped out of my skin as a figure appeared out of nowhere. “Shit! Carter!” I yelled at the boxer-clad man. He gave me a light chuckle then a small yawn. I couldn’t help checking out those impressive thighs of his. Emma kept yapping about them back in the day and I never understood her fascination until now. They were thick and honed to muscular magnificence.

  I stopped drooling over those epic thighs—and nice body—after it dawned on me that he was wearing boxers coming out of Emma’s room. “You stupid little shit! You didn’t have sex with her, did you?” I hissed, careful not to wake the girls up.

  That definitely made him frown. “I was close to making a move, but I stepped back. I knew if I did that, my chances would get slimmer. She needs to trust me and I need to be patient to earn that from her.”

  Well, the man did grow a heart after all.

  What the hell was Emma doing? She was playing with fire having Carter so close. Even if she wasn’t doing anything with him, it still was dangerous. “Bass is going to flip about this, Carter. Why show up here? You could’ve waited until she got home.”

  “That was the plan, but fuck, Tris. I fucking miss her. I just wanted to see her for a couple days, that’s all. I just wanted to be around her smiling and laughing at some stupid jokes. It’s bad. I’ve got it bad. You don’t know how hard it is to fight for something you lost. The fucked up part was that it was too late when I realized just how much I fucking love her.” Carter ran his hand over his hair and sighed, closing his eyes. Without opening them, he asked me a question. “Is he good to her? Does he love her?” Each word came out with such pain that I didn’t have to guess how much it cost him to say them.

  “I think he does. He definitely looked like he did to me. Bass treats her with kindness and loving affection like a woman should be treated. If Bass makes her happy, you have to set her free. Confusing her will not make her go back to you, Carter.”

  “That’s like asking me to stop playing soccer, Trista. It’ll never happen, even if she was married to another man. She still loves me, I know it, though she won’t admit to it. She might be an actress, but lying about her love for me was something she was never good at.”

  I stared at him, speechless, as he went back inside Emma’s room. Fuck, Emma. Please, be careful.

  Chapter 26

  Trista

  The next day, we found ourselves in The British Museum. The four of us were admiring The Elgin Marbles that were originally from the Acropolis of Athens, when we heard an American girl speak behind us.

  “I don’t want to be weird, but are you that new actress that was on E! News filming that movie in Greece with Bass Cole? Emma Anderson, right?” The tall, strawberry blonde, valley girl asked, hopeful and a tad star-struck.

  “That would be me.” Emma smiled at her first official fan. “I wasn’t aware that they ran it already.”

  The fan was all bright-eyed and smiling from ear to ear. “Oh gosh, they totally did, like a week ago. My friends and I are doing the whole Euro-trip thing. Do you think I could get a picture with you?”

  “Sure, just give me your camera and I can have my friends take the picture.”

  Carter stepped in and offered his hand towards the fan. “Here, let me take the pic. I promise I’ll only take it from the best angle.” He then immediately took care of the shot before handing it back to the girl. “Here you go.”

  “Shit, you’re her soccer boyfriend, aren’t you? Do you think I can get a picture of the two of you, please? You guys look so perfect together!”

  Before we knew it, Carter stood behind Emma and wrapped his arms around her neck and kissed her cheek. The fan, of course, took a few instead of just one. “Thank you, Emma. I promise I’ll watch your debut movie. I’m sure you’re going to be amazing. See you on the big screen very soon!” The fan waved before retreating towards her friends.

  Emma glared at him after Carter unwrapped his arms from her neck. “Did you really have to kiss me, Carter? And for the record, you and I are done. So, do the rest of us a favor and take those pictures down from your page please.”

  Lindsey excused herself to pick up a phone call. She
moved up ahead of the rest of us before she took it, though.

  “Why? Bass Cole can’t take a little competition?” Carter cockily said.

  “God, Carter! You cheated on me! As far as I’m concerned, you and I are through.” Emma grated on him, her eyes spat fire.

  Carter’s jaws locked as he stared at the woman he was so crazy about. “So if Bass cheats, too, you’re going to dump him?” He bit out. His words were like bullets to Emma.

  “Damn you, Mason. That’s fucking enough! Really, please, she’s already had enough.” I interrupted their little spat. I wasn’t sure what these two had been up to talking all night long, but I wasn’t going to let Carter put doubts into Emma’s brain.

  Whatever Carter Mason needed to say or do, he could pick up where he left off in Santa Barbara, but until then, he could just kindly shut the hell up.

  ***

  It had been five days since we got back from our vacation and I was more than antsy since I was going to see Harry tomorrow night. These five days, though, were terrible since thoughts of both Taylor and Harry hounded me day in and day out. My only consolation was that we were now in our new rented house, and just as Lindsey promised, I got to enjoy my morning cup of joe Joe with some nice, hot men as distractions.

  Amber came back two days ago and I must say it was the best feeling to see my friend back after so long. She was still the same, sassy and bitchy as ever. Spilling my guts out about what happened wasn’t the easiest thing, but Lindsey was there for me when I couldn’t go on any longer. As to be expected, Amber wasn’t very forthcoming about her situation, although she did promise that she was off her cocaine habit. At that point, Lindsey and I were just more than relieved that she was actually paying heed and had stopped her deadly addiction to drugs.