“Nothing, umm, you just look like you ran to the state line and back.”
She chuckled. “Yeah well, I had a really great run.” She kissed me and said, “I’m going to grab a much-needed shower.” Smiling and gesturing to her sweaty body and she ran up the stairs.
We all just sat there looking after her. Mel took a deep breath and shook her head. “It’s got to be something with her ex. She never used to act like that. Old Izzy would have had your balls on a platter.” Uh, yeah, suddenly I was glad I wasn’t dating old Izzy.
Flynn piped up. “Hmm. That’s odd.” His brows were pulled together as if he were trying to remember something.
Mel asked, “What is?”
“Well, that night we were drunk...” We all started laughing because wasn’t that pretty much how most of our stories began? “No, hear me out. The night you first kissed Izzy, the one you don’t really remember, we were talking about jealousy. I remember her saying something about her ex making her jealous on purpose, but I never thought anything of it. Well, until now.”
Mel just stared at him. “Wow, he really did mind fuck her, didn’t he?”
I just shook my head. What the hell is going on in my girl’s head? What did he do? “What, like you think he conditioned her not to be jealous or something?” I whispered, not sure if the echo thing works both ways up the stairs.
Mel said, “I wouldn’t doubt it. I mean a girl who used to go crazy on other chicks for flirting doesn’t walk in on her guy with his ex kissing him and not flip out.” She said shaking her head.
No, I guess she’s right. So what did her ex really do to her?
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Izzy
I HAD a fantastic run and was able to clear my head and think. I was pretty sure I heard Z say he thinks he loves me. I was sleeping, but his phone chimed a text and it woke me briefly. Thinks. I guess that’s more than any one has ever said to me. Even my own mother barely said she actually loved me. I could probably count the times on one hand. I knew I was in love with him. I wanted to be with him all the time. I loved the look in his eyes he had for me. I loved his smile. I loved how he made love to me and made me feel special and so cherished.
During my run, I also thought about being jealous. Sheila was …gorgeous. To say that word seemed like an understatement, actually. She should be a model. Maybe she was one, I never thought to ask. I’m not sure I really wanted to know.
But during the first year of my relationship with him, I learned that jealousy only resulted in bad punishments. The first time was the hardest lesson. I sat at a party and had to endure watching him make out with a tall, gorgeous brunette in the corner. His eyes constantly flicked over to mine to make sure I watched. I tried to contain my jealous rage until we were in the limo ride home. But after the door shut, I let him have it. I yelled, screamed and came pretty close to slapping his smug face, but he had caught my hand before it made contact. He had smirked and told me that he was trying to teach me a life lesson in containing my jealousy. That evening he followed through on teaching me the lesson.
Maybe he actually did me a favor and I did learn something. Remaining calm was probably for the better in my relationship with Z. Not to mention, it would have given Sheila the satisfaction of seeing me upset. I guess that didn’t stop her from contacting Z, though, since I saw the text on his phone when I pulled it out. I had placed his phone on my nightstand so he would see my text. When I double-checked to make sure my text came through to his phone, I noticed one from Sheila. Going for a run never felt so great.
I ran into Mark when I finally came back down to a jog. He ran alongside me with a smile. “I guess you have a lot on your mind. I’ve never seen anyone run so hard and fast.” I had laughed at that. “Maybe you should train to be a professional,” he teased me. It was nice to see him. After all, he didn’t know anything really about me except my college days. He didn’t know all my baggage or the crap I’ve been through. A nice pleasant conversation just felt nice. He invited me to his gym, but again I turned him down.
I was pretty sure when I returned to the townhouse the gang was discussing the Sheila incident. I didn’t want their sympathy. I was tired of pity eyes and sympathetic smiles. I just want to get on with my new life. Being with Z was...fun, exciting, sweet, romantic. It was everything I wanted a relationship to be. And then Sheila happened. Now he was going to be pining for me because he felt sorry for it all. I didn’t want that. I hoped after my run, we could just get back to where we were before Sheila’s kiss.
After taking my shower, I went downstairs and started cooking everyone breakfast. Z came over and stopped me. “Why don’t we all go out to Rita’s?” Everyone had that pity look in their eyes. I wasn’t sure if a breakfast filled with staring eyes and quiet conversation was what I wanted, but I decided I was going to receive that if we stayed home regardless. So I agreed.
We all walked the couple of blocks and just as I thought, the conversation was barely existent. It was getting on my nerves. We all sat down at the table and all ordered the same Hangover Special. I took several huge gulps of my Bloody Mary. It was more to calm my nerves so I could tell them all to stop being idiots. They were all watching me as I took my gulps and then cleared my throat.
“Look, last night sucked,” I said looking right at Z, who turned red immediately. “But it’s done and there’s nothing I can do about it and I don’t want to talk about it anymore. And if you guys could stop the pity eyes and stupid conversation, I’d really appreciate it.” There, I said it. The guys all said “Yeah,” “sure,” “of course,” in unison.
Mel sat there staring at me as if I had three heads. “We’re not trying to give you pity eyes, it’s just that we’re shocked that you’re not angry. You should have at least kicked her ass or something,” Mel said disbelievingly.
I shook my head and looked Z right in his eyes. “Do you want to get back together with Sheila?”
“Nnn, nooo. Not at all,” he stuttered, shaking his head, shocked.
“Good,” I said. “Then that’s that. What more is there to discuss?”
Mel just shook her head. “Nothing, I guess there’s nothing left to discuss.” I took a deep breath. There. Done. I felt better and continued to eat my food.
Clark spoke up and started in about some chicks last night and how drunk they were and how he had to help them outside, then watched one of them puke into the bushes. Our conversation turned real again and for once, I was thankful for Clark and his silly conversations.
We were sitting around chatting and laughing about different stories. Then I looked up at Clark and Flynn’s eyes and saw both their faces tight with anger. I turned to see what they were looking at—Mark, Dex and another guy walked in and were seated at the table right behind us. Let me add, Mark’s seat was right behind mine. Z was next to me on one side and Melanie on my other side. The whole situation was tense and very uncomfortable to say the least and no one said a word.
Before Mark sat down, he walked over in between Melanie and me, squatted down and he squeezed my shoulder keeping his hand on my arm. “Hey, that was a great run this morning. I’d really like to give you my personal trainer’s number. I think you should really think about training professionally like we talked about,” he said with a gorgeous smile and loud enough that the entire table heard it. I, obviously, hadn’t told anyone I saw Mark on my run that morning. I could feel Z stiffen on the other side of me, but he kept his mouth shut. So did the other guys.
“Thank you, Mark. I’ll…I’ll think about it,” I stammered nervously.
He smirked, squeezing my shoulder again, “Good, you do that. I’ll see you tomorrow on the trail.” He paused and then emphasized his next line. “Maybe we can hit it just as hard as we did today.”
BAM! I heard Z’s chair fling back and hit the floor as Z jumped up behind me. Dex and the other guy stood up quickly; Flynn and Clark did the same. Mark had a slight smirk on his face.
I pleaded, my voice wave
ring, “No fighting. Please guys. No fighting!” I was terrified, especially since I was in the middle of them.
I looked back and up at Z, “Nothing happened, whatever he’s implying, nothing happened.” Z wasn’t looking at me at all, but I noticed that he had a slight smirk too. I glanced down and his fists were clenched, ready to fight just like the night when we were at the pool hall.
I turned to Mark in a panic. “What the fuck are you doing? Please don’t say shit like that.” My heart pounded as I watched Mark continue to smirk. “Everyone...just sit down…please.” Dex, his friend, Clark, and Flynn slowly sat back down.
Mark and Z still stood. Both were ready to fight.
I looked at Mark with pleading eyes, “Please, please just sit down, you’ve done enough.” I barely said it loud enough.
He smugly smirked at me. “Anything for you Izzy. Anytime, anywhere.”
“That’s it mother fucker!” Z yelled out and I jumped out of the way just in time as Z threw a punch at Mark landing right on his jaw, knocking him back toward where I had jumped to.
Dex jumped up behind Z and tried to hold his arms back before he could throw another punch, but Z thrust his head back hard hitting Dex in the forehead and caused him to stumble backward. Clark caught him so that Flynn could throw a punch at him as the other guy Mark was with tried to throw a punch at Clark.
Melanie pulled me into the corner as I glanced around the restaurant to see if anyone could help out in this situation. Mandy dropped her coffee pot causing to shatter on the ground. Two police officers strolled in, as if they were hoping to eat breakfast, when they noticed the huge brawl happening at the upper level of the restaurant.
I turned back to see Mark take a swing at Z and missed as Z ducked his punch. One of the police officers grabbed hold of Mark quickly and the other police officer grabbed Z. They must have already called for backup because two additional police officers came in and started to break up the rest of the fight. Mark and Z were pulled out to the sidewalk.
It all happened so fast. The police officers took everyone’s statements, including mine and Melanie’s.
Three hours later, I was at the police station with Melanie bailing out Z, Flynn, and Clark.
We walked outside and started to walk back. The rest of our group walked faster as if to allow us to have our alone time. I glanced over at Z. His jaw was extremely tight. His nostrils were flaring, or so it seemed. He didn’t have a scrape on him except his hair looking ruffled.
“Are you okay?” I asked Z.
“Yep, just fine. It’s all okay,” he stressed the ‘okay’ as if throwing back what I had said to him last night about Sheila.
“So… what should we do today?” I asked nervously trying to change the subject. He didn’t look like he wanted to discuss the fight and I really didn’t want to until he calmed down a little.
“Maybe we should call Mark’s personal trainer and see if he could work you out. Hard,” He spat at me in a tight voice. Oh. Guess he wasn’t really okay. I stopped so I could face him. He passed by me and started pacing in a small area. He looked like he wanted to punch something again; I’m sure Mark was his first thought.
“Are you mad at me?” I asked. I didn’t want to fight. I just wanted to be back to where we were before Sheila and now this whole thing with Mark.
He stopped in front of me. “Did you kiss him?” He spat out through gritted teeth, with anger in his eyes.
What? “No! Why would I?” I asked, shocked that he even thought that.
“To get back at me or some weird fucked up thing you’ve got going on in your head,” he shouted.
“No, I wouldn’t do that,” I protested, trying to remain calm with a concerned look on my face. I just want everything back to before. “I’m not like that.” I insisted trying to make him understand.
He shook his head, his voice was still tight. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m just…you didn’t tell me you saw him on the trail today, much less ran with him. Did you guys plan on meeting tomorrow for a run?”
I shook my head. “No, it was more like a ‘see you around’ type thing.”
“You’re not going to run with him anymore,” he commanded, his voice still tight and I could see the veins in his neck throbbing.
“I…well, I hadn’t planned on running with him today. We just happen to be on the trails at the same time. I mean, that is how we met.”
“You should start coming to the gym with me then instead of running,” he sneered and I was trying to figure out how to get back to where we were before all this.
I blinked a couple times and swallowed. I didn’t want to argue with him, but I preferred to run. “I…I’m still going to run. I…there is nothing going on with Mark and me. I swear to you. Nor will there ever be. I chose you and am with you. You need to trust me, please,” I implored and tried to make sure he understood.
He nodded his head and looked away trying to calm himself down, it seemed. He started walking toward the townhouse with long strides, so I had to run to catch up so I could walk beside him.
“Bike.” He muttered through gritted teeth and I could only assume he was answering my earlier question. At least it was an answer and he didn’t want to be by himself; although, he didn’t say anything about me going with him, now that I thought about it.
“Alright, we could pack a lunch and go to that park we went to a couple of weeks ago, the one with the waterfall,” I said in a hopeful manner. I swore I saw him nod his head, but I wasn’t sure since it was so slight.
We arrived back at the townhouse and he still didn’t say anything. The gang was looking at us like they were waiting for a massive blow-up. I nervously made our sandwiches and quickly packed a few other things for a small lunch. Everyone was eerily quiet as they watched me pack our lunch. I glanced up at Melanie and her eyes were begging me to tell her something. All I could do was give her a small shrug not knowing what was really going on in Z’s head.
As soon as I was done packing our lunch, Z grabbed the bag from my hands and strolled toward the door. I followed, still unsure if I was welcome to join him. I glanced back and everyone was eyeing us but still just as quiet. I shrugged back at Melanie, who gave me a sympathetic half-smile.
He secured our lunch in the pouch on his bike, hopped on, then looked at me. “Are you getting on?” He asked, his voice still tight.
I swallowed. “Do you want me to go with you?”
He looked away, again his jaw was tight and he seemed to be grinding it. “Only if you want to,” he said in a very gruff voice. I wanted to laugh because he sounded like the big bad wolf. I didn’t think he would appreciate my little joke.
Instead, I nodded and hopped onto the back. I placed my arms around him and put my head on his back like I always do. He took a deep breath and shook his head before starting the bike. I thought for sure he was going to say something before we took off, but he didn’t.
When we arrived at the park, he got off the bike and then held out his hand toward me. I took his hand, getting off the bike and looked up into his eyes. He bent down and kissed me hard with what seemed to be desperation. I started to wonder if he was going to break up with me because it was such an anxious, frantic kiss. He pulled back and looked down at me as if he wanted to say something to me, but he seemed to change his mind at the last minute.
“I’ll never cheat on you, Z. I’m not that type of person,” I said as sincere as I could to make him understand. He nodded and looked away as if he still didn’t believe me.
He took out our lunch from the pouch and grabbed my hand. We walked hand in hand not saying a word and continued until we sat down under a gorgeous oak tree and ate our lunch. He started to tell me about how he came up with the idea for Allure and how he opened it. Our conversation went on from there, but we didn’t discuss what happened with Sheila or with Mark.
The rest of the afternoon took place as if nothing happened. Actually, we had a very romantic afternoon. It was just like I
had hoped to have earlier in the day after the Sheila incident. Life seemed like it was going to return to normal.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Z
SEVERAL WEEKS PASSED after the Sheila/Mark incidents. Izzy and I never discussed either of the incidents again. I didn’t tell Izzy what my lawyer said nor did I tell her that Mark decided not to press charges. Since I threw the first punch, Mark wanted to press charges against me initially. My attorney seemed to think that his change of mind had something to do with his sponsors. Whatever. I was prepared to go to trial if I needed to. The press would probably just bring in more business for Allure anyway. Not to mention, I’m sure once the Judge heard what the fuck that asshole said and implied, I was sure he’d be lenient with me anyway.
Things seemed to return back to the way it was before all the chaos. I loved being with Izzy and we always had a great time together. I still hadn’t told her I loved her. I wasn’t sure what I was waiting for, but I think it had everything to do with my jealousy. After being cheated on so many times, I was leery of putting myself out there, especially since I’ve never said that to anyone. Although with Izzy, I was getting pretty close. She made it so easy to fall in love with her.
I had to admit, I wasn’t able to control my jealousy as much as Izzy was able to contain hers. Particularly one Saturday night at Allure when my old buddy from high school came walking in. I was chatting with Flynn and a couple of girls at the bar when Steve Maxwell anxiously came up to me shaking my hand and was just as happy to see Flynn. He hadn’t been to Allure in a while and it was great to see him again. We used to play football together and used to get into some trouble at parties together.
We started talking about old times, but I kept noticing how he was glancing back behind the bar. I wasn’t sure if he was looking at Sandy or Izzy but when he spotted one of them, his eyes lit up and he had this huge dopey grin on his face. Fuck, that better not be for Izzy.
Alluring Promises Box Set (Books 1-3) Page 24