Trust Me Forever
A Forever Happens Novel
Josie Bordeaux
Sandy Toes Publishing, LLC
Contents
1. Alex
2. Cory
3. Alex
4. Cory
5. Alex
6. Alex
7. Cory
8. Alex
9. Cory
10. Alex
11. Cory
12. Alex
13. Cory
14. Cory
15. Alex
16. Cory
17. Alex
18. Cory
19. Cory
20. Alex
21. Cory
22. Cory
23. Alex
24. Cory
25. Cory
26. Alex
27. Cory
28. Cory
Epilogue
Dear Reader
What To Do Now
Also by Josie Bordeaux
Stay Connected With Josie!
Acknowledgments
Copyright
Trust Me Forever
Copyright © 2017 Josie Bordeaux
eBook Edition
Cover Design by Amy Q Designs
Content Editing by Trenda London
Editing by Amy Jackson
Proofreading by Indie Go Pro
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-940533-10-0
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, scanned, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the author. Exceptions are reviewers who may quote short excerpts for review.
This work is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and other incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarities to persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Trademarks: This book identifies product names and services known to be trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective holders. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of all products referenced in this work of fiction. The publication and use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
One
Alex
Between the timid smile and the shy way she approached customers, I doubted the new waitress at my favorite bar was the girl I used to know. Sarah’s personality didn’t match Cory’s at all. Yet something about her—except her hair and the small scar under her right eye—reminded me of Cory. Watching her serve customers, my eyes lingered on her longer than a casual glance. I was completely entranced by everything about her. Her pale complexion was virtually flawless except for the scar and the cute little freckles peppering the bridge of her nose. Maybe my attraction to her was because she was sexy as hell and didn’t realize it. Or maybe the sight of her brought back my cherished memories of Cory.
My older brother, Jay, always told me, It’s always the quiet ones that’ll hit you the hardest. Watching Sarah, I realized he was probably right. Oddly enough, Jay was the one I was waiting on that night. I’d never believed him, especially since I was usually attracted to women that were more confident—the women who made advances toward me and enjoyed showcasing their assets. It could also be that it made for an easy chase.
Sarah’s hand tugged at the white top again. She was uncomfortable, that was obvious. I tried to determine if she was usually so fidgety or if it was the waitress uniform that made her seem so awkward. Most likely, it was the uniform. Hell, I’d even helped pick it out. Tommy, the owner of The Freckled Maiden, hadn’t been able to make up his mind if he wanted a German hofbrauhaus or an Irish pub. He’d settled on an Irish pub, but had the waitresses wear skimpy German costumes, which he insisted were sexier with white thigh-high nylons. The nylons were actually my idea.
“You know…” Cassie interrupted my thoughts and blocked my view by standing in front of the table. “You’re coming off as a creeper.”
“What?” Finally pulling my eyes away from Sarah, I tried to register what Cassie had said to me.
“A creeper. You keep staring at our new waitress, and now you look like one of those stalker types.” Cassie’s thick Southern accent was shadowed by her sweet smile—followed by her jutting out her hip, giving her hand a place to rest.
That was another thing: Sarah didn’t have a Southern accent like most of the women in Atlanta. I knew she was from out of town, but none of us could get a straight answer out of her as to where she came from. Which was another clue Sarah might be Cory, the girl who broke my heart so many years ago.
I shook my head and grabbed my beer. Cassie had always been a great friend, so I valued her opinion. It was the reason why I kept my mouth shut and just listened.
“Although the creeper thing seems to be pretty popular in most romance books, but you’re not a billionaire. Yet.”
After realizing I had a hard time peeling my eyes away from watching Sarah again, I decided Cassie made a great point.
“Cassie, I told you, Sarah reminds me of someone. I know you guys are all joking that she’s probably some one-night stand I’ve had, but I think it’s something else. I—”
“Well, whatever you do, don’t pull one of your pranks on her. The girl is skittish enough.”
That got my attention. Although I could tell Sarah seemed sheepish, I wasn’t sure about her being fearful. “How so?”
Cassie leaned in and whispered as best as she could above the noisy bar. “I think she’s got an ex she’s hiding from or something. I haven’t figured it out yet, but she seems like she’s always looking over her shoulder.”
I watched the woman we were talking about appear from the back hallway, retying her apron. My eyes roamed down to her short skirt and creamy thighs. Bending her over a nearby table was becoming a huge fantasy playing out in my mind.
“You’re doing it again,” Cassie said as she swatted my arm and chuckled.
My eyes darted back to Cassie. “Why’d she take the job?” I knew the question was out of the blue, but damn, Sarah looked so uncomfortable and out of place, I couldn’t imagine her jumping at the job after trying on the uniform.
“Just like the rest of us in here—we need the money. This place might not be one of the upper-side places, but it brings in pretty good cash, especially with all your construction workers wanting to blow their checks here.” She sighed and tapped my arm. “Just quit staring so much. She was asking about you and said you make her uneasy.”
“Me?” I jerked back. “I make her uneasy?” I had always thought I was an approachable guy.
“Yeah, that’s what I said. Look, you know you’re in her seating area and she doesn’t even want to serve you. That’s saying a lot.”
My eyes found Sarah again. Our eyes met briefly before she immediately cast them back down to look at her order pad. I watched her hand shake. “Send her over.”
“What?” Cassie pulled her eyebrows in as if I was speaking another language.
“You heard me.”
“Okay.” She sighed. “But no playing pranks on her. I’m telling you she’s not like that.”
I nodded, not really taking her advice. Who isn’t into having a little fun? I downed the rest of my beer so I’d at least have something to say to her and then waited. I pretended to watch one of the twenty TVs but kept glancing over to the bar area to finally see Cassie talking to Sarah. I watched Sarah’s eyes flashed t
o mine briefly before she looked back at Cassie and nodded.
After Sarah disappeared into the kitchen for what seemed like forever, she finally emerged. Smoothing over the apron and pressing her lips together, she walked toward my table. Unable to help it, I observed her again as she made her way to my table. Her makeup wasn’t as heavy as it had been the night before and I couldn’t stop staring into her big, round, coffee-colored eyes. Damn, those eyes. Mocha with flecks of gold—she had to be Cory. My God, she was beautiful. My heart flipped and suddenly I felt like I was a teenage boy about to talk to Cory again. Then I remembered what she had done to me and my stomach sank.
“Need another beer?” She kept her eyes averted as she stood next to my table and fidgeted with the pen in her hand.
I kept my eyes on hers even though she wasn’t looking at me. I debated coming right out and asking her if she was the Cory I knew, but something inside of me told me she’d never admit it if she was. Maybe a friendly dance around the subject might help. “Have you ever lived in Ohio?”
She pretended to study the rest of the bar, but I watched her swallow and her cheeks turned red. “I’ve lived in a lot of places.” Her voice was quiet but had a small sense of resolve. She straightened her back and tilted her chin up. “Why are you asking?”
“I used to know a girl up there. I keep thinking you might be her,” I challenged.
Her lips pressed together in a tight line, and I couldn’t decipher what emotion flashed over her eyes. It wasn’t anger. Was it pain? “Couldn’t be me. You don’t look familiar.” She exhaled a breath as if she wished she hadn’t snapped at me. “Do you want another beer?”
I smiled and handed her my mug. “Please.”
As she took it and turned, I watched her shake her head and it only made me chuckle. Cory used to do that same thing whenever she was upset about something. It had to be her. So why did she just lie to me?
If she really was Cory, why was she using another name? She hadn’t denied living in Ohio—she only said she wasn’t the same girl. Hell, for that reason, why wouldn’t she just admit to me that she was Cory?
Unless she wasn’t Cory? If she was actually some random woman I had slept with before and that was why she was so pissy with me, maybe that made sense too. There had to be more of a reason other than I was staring at her too much and made her uneasy, as Cassie said. Of course, that might actually be the reason. I was pretty sure I’d never had a woman label me as a creep. Well, except at that frat party where I was too drunk to even move and just stared at some college girl’s tits. But she was leaning over in front of me and I was pretty sure it was on purpose. At least in my mind it had been.
Jay strolled in and sat down. After a quick hello, he dove right in to being an ass. “Funny I need to come here in order to talk to you. Seems like you can’t wait to get out of the office lately.”
I huffed, feeling a lecture coming on.
I wasn’t drunk enough yet, but the moment I wondered where my next beer was, a mug was set down in front of me abruptly and the dark liquid spilled over. I looked up to see Sarah glaring at me as if I had done something wrong. Then she saw Jay and her eyes widened. Jay hadn’t noticed Sarah at all since he was paying more attention to his phone, like he usually was, and he rattled off his order. Sarah quickly wiped up my spilled beer and then hurried away.
I took a drink from my beer and realized Jay could confirm if Sarah was really Cory. Although I kind of wanted to play the game a little more, and even more so since he was still being an ass. It didn’t take Jay but a second to jump right in to why he’d really come down there.
“When do you think you’ll get the plans finished?” Jay’s eyes pierced right through me. He wasn’t being my brother right then; he was my damn boss.
Dad had made him CEO of the company, and my other brother (also older), Cal, couldn’t stand him as our boss either. When Jay had told me he wanted to go out for beers, I’d figured I would get there early and get drunk. Listening to a lecture from him was as much fun as stabbing my eyes out with a knife. He used to be fun, when he’d lived down in our offices in Florida. Then he’d moved up to Georgia with us to take over and turned into an ass.
“No idea, Boss. Maybe I can give you a better date tomorrow at the office.” I rolled my eyes and set my beer down on the table. “If you came here to be an asshole, leave. I don’t have to put up with your bullshit after hours.”
Jay’s jaw clenched, but he held his comments back. “Fair enough.”
Sarah timed it perfectly by setting down his drink in front of him, and then she walked away.
I watched him, waiting to see if he recognized Sarah might be Cory. His eyes stared after her as he gulped his whiskey and then smacked his lips. Nodding his head he asked, “Who’s the new waitress?”
“Sarah something,” I said, waiting to see if he could see the resemblance too.
“Really? You don’t have more information than that? You haven’t taken your eyes off her.”
“She reminds me of Cory,” I went ahead and admitted since it hadn’t dawned on him immediately. I shook my head right as he was about to respond. “And no, I don’t think I’ve slept with her before.” I laughed after I said it and he chuckled, holding his hands up.
“Wouldn’t be the first time you’ve had a case of mistaken identity.”
I rolled my eyes as my insides cringed. Years ago at one of Jay’s famous parties at his Florida house, I’d tried to pick up a woman he’d always had a thing for. Her hair had been different than I’d remembered, and well, parts of her had grown up. A lot. She hadn’t looked the same and I’d hit on her. Jay about beat the shit out of me, but Carissa, who’d since become his girlfriend, thought it was one of my pranks. I played it off as one, but man, that was not a good day.
I glanced around again, and of course my eyes landed right back on Sarah again. Just thinking about her made my heart quicken.
“It can’t be Cory. The hair’s not right and her body sure as shit doesn’t look anything like I remember. Besides, what the hell would she be doing here? It can’t be her,” I said, voicing my thoughts out loud. Especially how she’d screwed me over the last time I’d tried to go see her. Hell, I almost hoped it wasn’t Cory because the more I thought about how she’d fucked me over, the more ticked off I was. Sarah seemed like a sweet enough person that I didn’t want to hold some sort of grudge against.
“Girls grow up to be women in all the right places. You never can tell,” Jay mocked me. “But hell, if it really is Cory, she’s the one who fucked up your view of women. Not sure if you want to tangle with that all over again.”
Cory. My mind wandered back to that girl I remembered who’d always wore baseball jerseys and loose jeans. Freckles had scattered across the bridge of her nose. She’d always seemed to have dirt on her chin and grass stains on her elbows. She’d never left the house without her black Spice Girls baseball cap on sideways. She’d given me that very same cap right before she moved, telling me I needed to always remember her. Obviously I never wore it, especially since it had the outline of the group embroidered in hot pink, but I sure as hell kept it.
We had tried to keep in contact through snail mail, but after she’d stopped writing to me, I wasn’t sure what happened. When I’d finally gotten my learner’s permit, I’d stolen my grandpa’s car to go see her, only to be told by her stepdad that she had run away with some boy. She’d told me there’d never be any other boy but me. Funny how a girl tricked me so young. Never again. I was the only one who played the pranks these days. I was in total control over my life—well, love life at least, considering my family controlled my work life.
If Sarah really was Cory, there was no way I was going to let her trample my heart all over again. This time I’d turn the tables on her and let her feel the pain I had. I just needed to make sure it was really the Cory I knew.
Two
Cory
I read the same line repeatedly while waiting for my laundry. Not
hing in the book made any sense. It could also have been that my brain wasn’t able to concentrate on a single word. Alex was messing with my thoughts. Cassie had told me his name and it had taken everything I had not to cringe, knowing that my assumption was right. I wasn’t sure if my reddened face reflected that or not. If it had, she hadn’t said anything.
Like a character from the book I was trying to read, older Alex was tall and handsome. Such a cliché, and if I hadn’t seen him myself, I’d have rolled my eyes. Yet this man had a striking resemblance to Alex, the boy I had loved so long ago. One who had broken my heart, and unlike the hero in my book, Alex had never rescued me like he had promised.
I had pushed away any and all thoughts of Alex after I ran away from home. Seeing the man at work for the past two nights of my new job had brought back all the hurt Alex had caused. His jet-black hair and jade eyes, just like the boy I knew. However, that was where the resemblance ended. Alex had been shy, skinny, and barely able to talk to girls, whereas the man at work was tall, broad-shouldered, and oozed confidence. Sexy, no doubt, but that wasn’t what made my heart flutter.
From the moment he had stepped into the bar, his eyes had followed me. At first, I’d thought he was a cop. The thought made me want to run out the back door. After realizing he wasn’t, that he was just interested in me, I needed to find out why. Though he looked almost nothing like my Alex, the possibility was there, and as the night wore on, I knew it was more than likely him. When he’d asked me if I had ever lived in Ohio, a flurry of both excitement and nerves grew inside of me. It had to be Alex. Why else would a stranger ask that? Seeing his brother Jay sealed the deal for me. I was thankful that Jay hadn’t looked up at me from his cell phone, or else I’d have had a slew of questions from both of them. I was unsure if Alex really knew if it was me or not.
Trust Me Forever (Forever Happens Series Book 2) Page 1