“I think we have our winner,” a blonde haired guy walks over and brings our table shots. “You’re drinks are on the house tonight. It’s a pleasure to meet you, man.”
“Thanks,” Kellen mumbles and we toss back our shots.
We leave the bar earlier then Olivia intended. After the announcer dropped Kellen’s name, we had too many people coming up to our table. The guys that wanted to talk baseball didn’t bother me, but the girls that didn’t flinch when he introduced me as his fiancé pissed me off. Finally, the group decided to leave and go to a club that Olivia saw on the drive over.
“What do you want to drink?” Kellen asks when we walk into the club.
“I’m cutting myself off. I’m the babysitter tonight.” I remind him.
“I’m not getting that drunk in Mexico, babe. Drink as much as you want.”
“I want you to have fun. I don’t want you to take care of me every night.” We step away from the bar to let Olivia and William order their drinks and we find a booth.
“Taking care of you is fun; you’re nice when you’re drunk.” He laughs, “When I get tired of taking care of you, you’ll be the first to know. I promise.”
“Shut up,” I smile at him. “Is it lame that I want to go back to the room?”
“Not lame at all, I haven’t enjoyed a night alone with my fiancé.” he throws me a dimpled grin. “You’re too drunk when we get in. I’m too busy taking care of you.”
“I’m going to tell Olivia we’re leaving,” I ignore his joke.
We arrive at the resort less than an hour later. I’m the perfect mix of drunk and sober. I’m drunk enough that I can try new things, and sober enough that I can look sexy doing them. I laugh at my thought and Kellen looks at me, waiting for me to tell him why I’m laughing. Hell no. My mouth connects to his and he forgets.
Chapter twenty-eight
“You're going to New York over spring break?" I ask Olivia when she finally walks into the living room. I glance down at my phone and see that it’s past two in the afternoon.
"Yeah, what are you doing?" She tosses her book on the floor and turns to look at me.
"My best friend is going to New York and my fiancé just started spring training. What do you think I'm doing?"
"Come with me," she insists. If I'm being honest I was waiting for her to invite me.
"Okay, let me see when Kellen will be home. He has two off days next week."
"Are you staying with me at Williams?"
"Uh..."
"It's that option, your moms, or a hotel."
"I could stay at my moms.”
She laughs but stops when she notices that I’m serious. “Wait, you’re serious?”
“We sort of made up.” My eyes dart around the room, avoiding contact with her now angry face.
“Why didn’t you tell me? This is huge!”
“It’s not a big deal,” I shrug. “It started when she called me to ask about you and William. She accepts Kellen now.”
“So she knows,” she looks down at the ring on my left hand.
“Kellen asked her permission before he proposed!”
“How did you forget to tell me this?” She asks. “This is a big deal. She hated Kellen.”
“I think she still hates him, the verdict is still out on that. But she accepts him now and I can live with that.”
“Has she mentioned moving back?” I shake my head no. “Has she called to congratulate you?”
“Not exactly, she called the day after we got back but I forgot to call back.”
“Audrey that was a week ago, call her back!”
“I will,” I promise her.
“Now, and put it on speaker.
“What? Why would I do that?”
“I love drama when it doesn’t involve me. Do it,” she tosses me the phone and I dial her number. She answers on the second ring and I put it on speaker and sit it on the couch in between us.
“Hello dear, I was beginning to worry about you.”
“Hi mom,” I ignore that. It will only lead to a small argument over why I didn’t call her back and I don’t want that, especially in front of my audience.
“How was your trip?”
“It was great. That’s actually why I was calling you.”
“Oh,” she says. She doesn’t know that Kellen told me he asked for her permission.
“Kellen asked me to marry him.”
“Did you agree?”
“Yes,” unfortunately for you.
“That’s wonderful. You sound happy,” she tells me.
“So you’re not mad?” Olivia scrunches her face at my mom’s reaction.
“No dear, I only want the best for you. If he’s best for you then I can put my personal opinions aside for you.” Olivia clamps a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. Yeah, she still hates him. “Have you thought about the wedding?’
“No,” I rush the word out of my mouth. “It’s too soon. We will plan it after the season ends.” Olivia cocks her eyebrow at me.
We hang up the phone after I tell her I plan to visit for a few days next week. She genuinely sounded happy about my visit. I’ll call Kellen tonight after his game and work out the details of when I’m going to visit. My face morphs into a frown when Olivia’s phone chimes with a text from William. Olivia, and most other girls in the world, can text, talk, and see her boyfriend whenever she pleases. And then there’s me, I have to wait until tonight to call my fiancé, and figure out what days he will be home so I can plan a trip around them.
“What’s wrong?” Olivia asks and I realize I’m scowling at her phone.
“Oh, nothing,” I mutter. “Sorry.”
“No way, I’m not letting it go. What’s going on with you?”
“I’m acting like a brat,” I laugh.
“That’s nothing new. What’s bothering you?”
“I never see Kellen and I talk to him twice a day if I’m lucky.”
“He’s busy,” she assures me. “It’s not like he doesn’t want to spend time with you.”
“I know and maybe that’s the worst part. He’s miserable when he leaves and so am I, but I don’t think he will ever be done with baseball.”
“Stop being dramatic,” she rolls her eyes.
“I’m not being dramatic,” she eyes me. “Okay, maybe I am. In ten or more years when he retires, what is he going to do? Baseball is all he has ever known. We won’t even be able to start a family until after it’s over.”
“I didn’t know you wanted a family so soon,” the shock is evident on her face.
“I don’t, but knowing that we can’t is driving me crazy.”
“You are crazy. Talk to him about this Audrey, don’t let it build up.”
“What am I going to say? There’s no solution to this.”
“Yes, there is. I promise, you’re freaking out but that’s normal. Everyone does this before they get married.”
“Okay. You’re right.” I let out a breath and lay my head back on the couch.
“I think I know what you need.”
“Please enlighten me,” the sarcasm is thick in my voice.
“A night out,” she jumps up from the couch and drags me behind her before I can protest.
“Kellen won’t be happy,” I tell her, but she shrugs her shoulders at me and disappears out of the room.
One hour later we’re dressed to impress and walking to her car. I glance down at my strapless black dress that she insisted I wear, and I fight the urge to cover up. Her purple dress is open in the back with a plunging neck line. Her confidence over powers mine and it shows in our wardrobe.
“Let’s grab dinner first,” she says. My phone starts ringing and Kellen’s name appears. Shit. The game is over.
“Hey,” I answer with a calm voice despite my racing heart.
“Hey babe, I just got to the room. What are you doing?”
“Olivia and I are going out to dinner.” I tell him, and she wants to go out. We’ll
probably call a cab home at two am when she decides to stumble out of a bar. I leave that part out.
“Really, you’re eating and then coming home?” He asks curiously. He knows what happens when we go out.
“Olivia, is that what we’re doing?”
“I’m taking her to a bar after dinner. She’s stressed out but I promise to have her home at a respectable time, sir.” I try to hold back laughter.
“Why are you stressed?”
“I have a test tomorrow,” I lie.
“You have a test tomorrow that you’re stressed about, and you’re going out tonight instead of studying?”
“I want to go out with Olivia, what’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, fuck. I just hate that you’re going out without me there.”
“You’re never here,” the words tumble out before I can stop them.
“Is that what this is about?”
“No… A little,” I admit. Olivia is in the car and I don’t want to have this conversation in front of her, or over the phone.
“Come on Audrey. Just tell me what’s bothering you.” He’s clearly annoyed at this point.
“Can we talk when you’re home?”
“Sure,” he’s being short.
“What days are you free next week? I want to visit my mom.”
“Sunday and Monday,” he says.
“Okay, I’ll plan on leaving Tuesday.” I look up to see that Olivia just pulled into a restaurant. “How long will you be up?”
“Not long.”
“We’re about to grab dinner. Can I call you later?”
“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be able to now sleep anyway.” I roll my eyes at him.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He ends the call. I can understand why he’s mad; I would be upset if he went out during out of town games. My stomach drops at that thought, but this is different. This is two best friends going out for drinks, not a professional baseball player going out and getting attacked by a flock of willing participants.
“Are you ready?” She asks.
“Sure,” Why are you so persuasive?
Chapter twenty-nine
My prediction was right. Sometime after one in the morning, I forced Olivia out of her favorite bar. I purposely avoided drinks for an hour so I volunteered to drive her home. When I turn into our driveway the clock tells me it’s past two. I walk into my room to plug my now dead phone. My phone powers to life and I see that I have two texts, and both are from Kellen.
When are you calling? I’m going to sleep soon.
Guess you’re busy. Call when you can.
Nonchalant comes to mind after I read his last text and that’s never a word that I would use to describe Kellen. Months ago he would’ve been on a plane home, searching through every bar in San Francisco and punching a guy while dragging me out of a bar. But this is present time and things are obviously changing. I’m changing.
I peel my borrowed dress off and debate throwing the trashy material away. I pull out yoga pants and a tank and fall into my bed. At this moment I wish that I would’ve consumed as much alcohol as Olivia, then my mind wouldn’t be able to think of worst case scenarios for hours until I fall asleep. By morning I’ll break up with Kellen and get back together with him three times if I continue at this rate.
My phone buzzing wakes me up. Why the hell is Kellen calling me before eight in the morning? I rip the charger out and answer the call.
“Good morning.”
“How was your night out?” He asks.
“Shitty, I babysat Olivia all night and forced her out of the bar, the usual.” I smile.
“Why do you even go out with her?” His tone is menacing and rubs me the wrong way this early in the morning. “You have the same experience every single time, Audrey, you don’t enjoy it. So why do you even go?”
“What else would I do?” I can’t hang out with you.
“Things will get better when you go to away games with me.”
“Things will get better for you, Kellen, because you’ll be able to watch me. Things won’t be better for me.” This isn’t a conversation I intended to have over the phone, but he needs to know.
“I think I know what’s going on,” I sigh but I don’t say anything. He sounds so calm like he doesn’t want to argue with me, again. “Graduation is in a couple of months and you don’t know what you want to do yet. That’s okay, Audrey, most people don’t but you can go with me until you figure things out.”
“I don’t know, Kellen, I’m freaking out about the distance and you being gone all the time.”
“That’s not anything that I can help,” he reminds me. “I’m going through the same thing. There’s only one other guy here that doesn’t go out every night. All of the other guys, the married ones included, go out every single night. I see the girls they take in their rooms every night and it makes me insane. If it’s so easy for them to cheat, how easy could it be for you? And then you have Olivia there that wants you to go out every single night.”
“You think that I would cheat on you?” I practically scream into the phone.
“No. Fuck, that’s not what I mean. It makes me crazy to know that you go out without me there. I wanted to fly home and drag you out of the bar.” I laugh. I was worried last night that he didn’t care anymore, but I was wrong he’s still crazy about me. And he’s still crazy in general.
“My phone died last night by the way.”
“That helps.”
“I worry about the same thing.” I admit. “You’re gorgeous, Kellen Reeves, and a baseball player. Have you seen your ass in baseball pants? Of course girls throw themselves at you.”
“Am I just a piece of meat to you?” He laughs.
“I’m not finished! We just have to trust each other,” he sighs. “Do you think any guy would hit on me with this rock on my finger?” I tease him.
“Yes, I would still hit on you.” I roll my eyes.
“And girls will still hit on you when you’re sporting a wedding band. We just have to let it roll off.”
“So, are we good?” I giggle at him. He’s still the same Kellen, and I’m freaking out over nothing. If we can make it through the first season together, we will be fine.
“Yeah, babe, we’re good.”
“I’ll be home tomorrow.”
“I’m counting down the hours,” I tell him.
“I want you at my house waiting for me. We’re having make-up sex as soon as I walk in the door.”
“Make-up sex, I didn’t know that we were fighting.”
“We were. I was in the biggest fucking fight with you last night.”
“I’m sorry you went through that…alone.” I laugh at him.
“So, what are you doing right now?” He lowers his voice.
“I’m in bed,” why?
“Oh, you are?”
“You’re insatiable; don’t you have to be at the field soon?”
“That I am,” he laughs. “Yeah, I’ll call you tonight. Maybe I can come home as soon as the game ends. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
I hang up the phone and try to go back to sleep but I have no luck. I can’t wipe the grin off of my face. The weeks of freaking out about Kellen being away has disappeared. Olivia was right; all I needed to do was talk to him.
∞
I feel the bed shift and someone slide under the covers. My heart stops for a second until I remember Kellen saying that he might make it in tonight. His lips nuzzle in my neck and he places a kiss there. When his arms wrap around me, I smile.
“This is a nice surprise,” I say when I wake up.
“I didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep.”
“What about the make-up sex that I was promised?”
“I prefer to have sex when you’re fully conscious. Go back to sleep, minx.” I try to laugh at him but I slip back into sleep.
A trail of kisses down my back wakes me up. A moan slips fr
om my throat when I see Kellen, shirtless and lying next to me. “Wake up,” he tells me.
“I’m up. What time is it?” I complain.
“Nine, I have to go somewhere.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah, babe, I’m meeting Jared for batting practice. He thinks he’s going to get traded,”
“Oh.” I don’t press the issue. He’s helping a friend, even if I only have two days with him I’ll let it go.
“Do you remember meeting him?”
“Yeah,” I answer.
“Get dressed.” He swats my butt and gets out of bed.
“Why do I need to get dressed?”
“You’re going with me,” he gives me a weird look. “Did you think I was leaving you here? I’m dragging your ass everywhere with me while I’m here.” I laugh at him.
“Okay…” I say, not completely sold on the idea.
“His wife, Kayla will be there. Come on.”
I jump out of bed and walk into his bathroom to brush my teeth. I grin when he joins me. We’re almost normal right now. I reach for my make-up bag but he grabs my wrist, “Trust me, you don’t need that. Put on some clothes and let’s leave.”
“You’re only saying that so you don’t have to wait on me.” I scowl at him.
“No I wouldn’t let you leave the house with me if I thought you looked bad.” He teases.
He tosses me a cereal bar as we walk through the kitchen and out of the door. The California sun is shining down on me as I walk to his Range Rover. I enjoy the moment because I know I won’t have this perfect weather in New York the rest of the week.
“Please tell me that Jared is the one that doesn’t cheat on his wife.” I can’t imagine how awkward the day would be if I knew that her husband cheated every night that he’s away.
“He’s our guy.”
“Good to know.”
“You’ll love them. I think she would be a great friend for you to hang out with while I’m away.”
“Are you setting me up?” I tease.
“No, but it’s a good idea. When you’re lonely she’s going through the same thing. And she’s not at bars every night,” he adds.
Forever Careless Page 17