Seraphina almost groaned aloud. She forget all about her working twice as hard and just wanted him to distract her. Him distracting her felt really good. The rush of cool air as he stepped back and gave her space brought her out of the stupor. She could not help but grin back at the mischievous look in his eyes as he bid her goodbye and got into his car. The man had done it on purpose knowing she would be thinking about him all day now. She did not seem to mind it much, though.
The next day he texted her to meet him at the coffee place nearest to her workplace during her break. Glad to have the opportunity to see him as well as take a break, she made a run for it when the hour came. Just as she rounded the corner, her mobile phone pinged.
Cole: Sorry, stuck in a meeting. Can’t make it. Maybe later? :(
Seraphina: Looking forward to later! ;)
She felt disappointed. She had been looking forward to seeing him after the long hours of being stuck at the computer editing photos and polishing her article for a magazine. Just as well, she thought as she kept going. It would be nice to grab something to eat since she had not packed lunch. Just as she was about to push open the door, she caught a glimpse in the window and froze.
Her heart stuttered frantically in her chest the second she realized who the two people talking in the window were. She made a sound like that of a wounded animal and turned around heading blindly into the street when a car horn honked too close. Suddenly she found herself airborne and then landed on something hard and warm.
“Seraphina! Are you alright?” Cole asked frantically as he ran his hands over her body looking for any damage that might have occurred.
Too choked up and shocked to talk, she pushed him away and unsteadily stood up. “Get away from me.”
Cole’s face paled as he saw the look of resignation on her face. “Wait… I can explain.”
Her near accident had drawn a crowd around them and among them stood Brandi who watched the pair like a hawk. Seraphim swallowed the bile that rose up and started to walk away when Cole grabbed her arm.
“Let go,” she said through gritted teeth. She needed to get as far away as she could from him before she did or said something awful.
“Please,” he pleaded. “It’s not what you think.”
Had it been someone else, she would have laughed. They all said that when they got caught. Did they think women were so stupid that they could not string events together? Why had she believed him the first time? Of course. She was in love with him. She was blind to any faults of his that might have been showing. Sobs wracked her body as she found privacy and the pain started.
“What’s wrong?” May St. John asked, staring at her son with concern. He’d been acting oddly ever since they’d sat down for lunch. She threw Antony a nervous glance. “Cole?”
Cole jerked his head up and found his mother and Antony staring at him in consternation. “What happened?”
“That’s what we were asking you,” Antony said, putting down his fork.
“Wha--... Nothing happened.” Cole frowned and caught another of his mother’s nervous glances directed towards Antony. “Is everything okay with you two?”
“Of course. Why?” May asked, alarmed.
Cole shook his head. “Good. That’s all that matters.”
“Sweetie,” May placed her hand on Cole’s. “You’ve been frowning ever since you came here. What’s going on? Is it us? I thought you were okay with that. That’s why we waited until we thought you’d be okay with it. You don’t have to fear hurting our feelings… Just tell us, please?”
“I-I… No, mom!” Cole rushed to explain. “I don’t have a problem with you guys. I swear. I couldn’t be happier for you. And it’s about time, too! I don’t why you waited so long to do this…” He suddenly trailed off and his eyes widened. “You waited for me?!”
May swallowed and looked at Antony for support. He jumped in immediately. “You were always so possessive of her and didn’t take kindly to any little attention I showed right from the beginning. We didn’t know how you would take it if we got married so we decided to wait until you warmed up to the idea of us…”
Cole could not believe that the two most important people in his life had put a major event in their lives on hold just because of him for so many years. It was true that he had not always favoured Antony but any boy at that age would have viewed a male in his single mother’s life as a potential threat. Also, at the time he and his mother were still recovering from the sudden death of his father.
However, as time passed he was grateful for having Antony in his life. He eventually saw him as a father figure even though he never used the term to his face. Regret filled him for being the cause of another misunderstanding that had probably hindered the couple’s life. Twenty years was a long time to wait to get married.
He stood up from the table and pulled his mother into a hug. “I’m sorry, mom. I had no idea that you felt that way,” he mumbled, feeling once again like a small boy who had done something wrong and was being reprimanded for it. “Maybe at first, I wasn’t warm to the idea of you two, but I gradually grew fond of Antony. I mean, he was always there for you and me. How could I be against that?”
May hugged her son tightly and rubbed the top of his head comfortingly. “We’re not blaming you, sweetie. As long as we have each other and you, we are happy. That’s all that matters. We didn’t need to get legally married to be happy, because we are married in our hearts. It’s just a formality now, you know?” She grinned at him, pleased to see the look of doubt vanish from his face.
“Do you have a date for the wedding?” Antony asked as he cleared the table.
The mention of a date brought Seraphina’s name to his mind and his heart twisted painfully. He had not heard from her since the day outside the café. He’d been calling her continuously but it always went straight to voicemail. He went by her apartment but her roommate always shut the door in his face with a deadly look. It had been two weeks of slow torture – a first for him.
His mother steered him outside and gave him a look that demanded answers. Sighing, he told her everything – from the accidental bump-in at the psychic’s to the last day he saw Seraphina.
“Oh, Cole!” his mother said sadly as he finished with a woebegone expression on his face. “Why are you men so thick sometimes?”
He did not have an answer to that.
“You really like her?”
He nodded.
“Would you be willing to scale a mountain for her just to retrieve some dirt?”
That was a rather odd question but he found himself giving a positive reply rather fiercely.
May clapped her hands. “This girl…Seraphina, what a beautiful name by the way… I can’t wait to meet her! She believes in this psychic, yes?”
“Yes. She had a rather different view of the world, mom. I think it’s more beautiful from her side.”
She nodded sagely. And then turned away to wipe a stray tear.
“Mom!”
“I’m happy,” she smiled up at him. “You seem to have found a woman that makes you yearn, finally.”
Cole mumbled under his breath and stared at the grass beneath their feet. He did not know whether it was love he was feeling or guilt at having caused Seraphina pain, however unintentionally. He thought about a future with her and surprisingly did not find himself alarmed at the prospect. He had never been in a relationship before, so he did not know what it entailed for him but he was willing to figure it out with her if she forgave him for his stupidity.
“Fix things soon. I want to meet her before the wedding!” his mother told him just as he was leaving. “Promise me you’ll fix this.”
He would fix things. Even if it meant him believing in things he had never believed in before. He could do at least that much for a woman who brought energy into his life once more.
Seraphina stared listlessly at the photos from her camera roll. They were not good. She had
never done such bad work before. She resisted the urge to bang her head against the desk. At this time, any type of pain would be good because she was getting tired of feeling so numb. During the first week, she had hurt so much that everything opened her floodgates. Blaming the constant redness of her eyes and nose on a sudden cold, she managed to get through work. But her head was not in the game.
She felt awful about the way she had behaved with her best friend who had only been looking out for her. When Seraphina showed up at the apartment that night wearing a makeup-streaked face and the fancy dress, Carli had not said a word. Instead, she had pulled her into a tight hug and gotten her out of the dress before supplying her with a bucket of ice cream and her favorite TV show. Carli had kept her company the second time as well – through all the crying on the bathroom floor, the getting drunk and throwing darts at Cole’s face. She even prevented her from calling him to tell him that she hated his guts. That would have been contradictory since Seraphina had fallen too hard for him and now it hurt. Too much.
It was like she was gasping for air and every time she tried to take a gulp of fresh breath, it burned. She painfully realized why they called it a broken heart. It was the most agonizing thing anyone in the world could suffer from. She wished it to end during the nights when she lay alone in her cold, empty bed and sharp pain twisted her heart.
Worse was her broken belief in the universe. The psychic was wrong. There was no happily-ever-after for her. She was doomed to die of a broken heart. All her beliefs about true happiness and joy in the moments of life crashed to the ground when she walked out on Cole. She had gone through worse things in life before but having held the happiness in her hand and then having it snatched away seemed like the worst.
She hoped against hope that it was only a nightmare. That she would wake up to find everything in her world still intact. She was disappointed every time. The nightmare was quite real and she had no idea how she was going to recover from it.
♥●●♥
Chapter 11
Ethan stared at his boss and friend in frustration. Ever since he’d messed up things with Seraphina, Cole spent his days getting drunk or getting crazy ideas. He was worried about which would kill him first: the ideas or the alcohol?
“What do you think of parachuting into the savannah?” Cole asked him without turning around from his desk.
“It’s a crappy idea,” Ethan said bluntly.
“You said that about all my ideas,” Cole huffed.
“Because they were all crappy.”
“You don’t know how to live.” Cole twirled the pen between his fingers before striking against something on the paper in front of him. “Life should be lived on the edge or it is no fun.”
Ethan snorted but did not say anything.
“Do you have something to say? Then please say it.”
“I have nothing to say, sir,” Ethan added the last part with a note of derision.
A dark eyebrow lifted up. “Your tone says you have something to say, Ethan. Just spit it out.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“I concur. But why?”
“You need to get your head out of your ass and do something about your woman instead of moping around.”
Cole bristled and threw his friend a glare that would have wilted any other person. “I’m not moping around.”
“The gentleman doth protest too much.”
“I can’t fix things with the threat of a police case over my head.”
“Really?” Ethan said sarcastically.
“She won’t talk to me. How do you fix things with someone who won’t listen to you?”
“Excuses…excuses.”
Controlling the urge to throw something at Ethan’s head, he turned away once again to stare at the list of ideas. In the time he’d been away from Seraphina he had come up with numerous crazy ideas to distract himself and bring back the lost pulse from his life.
Ethan was right. The man always turned out to be right. It was quite an annoying habit of his since their college years. That was where they had met and that was the beginning of a legendary friendship. Ethan came from an impoverished background and did not fit among the elite students. He had gotten into the system through merit just as Cole had. At first, they ignored each other on sight but one day Cole found the other students bullying Ethan in the locker room. If there was one thing Cole could not stand, it was bullies. After putting all of them in their places, Cole took Ethan under his wing. Since then they were inseparable. Gradually, Ethan developed a stronger attitude, one that was not punctuated by insecurity and self-loathing.
They both graduated from the same classes but while Cole had a keen interest in business, Ethan’s interests lie elsewhere. Cole watched his friend struggle to make a living as an artist and then finally abandon it to join the army. He had returned a changed man – more hardened from his term serving in war-infested areas.
When a crisis had struck and Cole had gotten caught in the middle, Ethan was there to help him this time. He was then offered a job at Cole’s company as his bodyguard and as someone who would be remotely in charge of all other aspects of security. He had accepted it only after he was certain that Cole actually believed in his abilities and was not doing it because he was a friend.
Cole valued Ethan’s opinion and knew he needed to do something before he lost the fight forever. Wheels began turning in his head as he started to formulate a new plan.
“Coming out?” Mark asked just before leaving. “We’re all going for drinks at Ol’ Harry’s.”
Startled, Seraphina quickly closed the window she was browsing and forced a smile on her face. “It’s alright. You guys go have fun. I want to turn in early.”
Mark frowned, scanning her face. “Are you okay? You seem a bit off these days.”
“You know what to say to a girl, Mark.”
He flushed and nervously tried to retract. “I didn’t…”
“I was just messing with you… I’m okay.” She flashed him another smile, and this time it did not seem that fake. “You should go enjoy your night.”
She was the last one to leave the office. Just as she reached the lobby, her phone rang.
“Did you leave yet?” Carli’s excited voice came over.
“Was just going. Why?”
“Stay put. I’m picking you up.” That was all she said before the phone went dead.
“Hello?” Seraphina frowned and dialed back. “Why are you picking me up?”
“Can’t I be nice to you?”
“Carli…”
“I’ve a surprise for you. Now stop asking so many questions and wait for me.”
Seraphina shook her head in bemusement and took a seat outside the building. Carli was up to something but she was too tired to protest or even think of what she likely had in mind. Two minutes barely passed when a car honked at her.
“Thanks,” Seraphina murmured, getting inside.
“You can thank me later.” Carli seemed more excited than her usual self. She was definitely up to something.
“We are not going home, are we?” Seraphina asked suspiciously.
“Nope,” Carli and grinned.
She pulled the car into an empty parking lot and reached to retrieve something from the backseat.
“Is this where I run screaming from the car because you have something ominous planned for me?”
Carli threw her a funny look before shoving a bag into her arms. “Change.”
“What?” Glancing inside, Seraphina sucked in a deep breath as she saw the contents. “Carli… Wow!”
“It’s for you. Now, change! We’re due for some fun and I don’t want to be late.”
Seraphina opened her mouth to argue. She did not want to go along with whatever Carli had planned. All she wanted to do was go home and take a nice, long bath and then sleep. She really needed sleep. Her mind did not think so much when she was asleep. If she was lu
cky, she did not dream either. But she saw the excited look on her friend’s face. Carli would be disappointed if she said no. Also, she had not been much of a friend to her recently. This was the least she could do.
Crawling into the back seat, Seraphina changed out of her work clothes and slipped into the gorgeous dress. It hugged all the right curves and felt great against her skin. Carli flicked on the car light as she fixed her make-up.
“It would have been more comfortable to dress up at home but I would have had a hell of a time dragging you out. This was more effective,” she said with a smirk.
“Your mind works in mysterious ways, Carli.”
Carli rubbed her hands together in a devious manner and started the car. “You’ll be happy with its working, sister.”
“You know I don’t dance, right?!” Seraphina yelled into Carli’s ear the second they stepped inside the noisy club. It was one of the fancy ones that had a long line outside but Carli just walked up to the front of the line, had a word with the bouncer and was let in with a nod and a huge grin.
“Seraph… More than half of these people here don’t know how to dance. It’s not stopping them!”
A few daiquiris and tequila shots later, Seraphina found herself on the dance floor, letting the music move her body. A guy moved in from behind and gyrated his body against hers, causing her to jerk in surprise. But the buzz of the alcohol was setting in and instead of pushing him away, she grew bold and ground against him.
She put all her energy into dancing. All the anger, resentment, sadness and frustration – all those ugly emotions – she focused them in her body movements. She had never danced so wildly in her life before. She was doing so in public now. Unaware of how long she had been on her feet and how many drinks she’d had since then, she started to feel a bit clouded.
Carli’s face and voice swam in and out of focus as the woman tried to steady her. “How many ...?”
Seraphina did not feel good. Her stomach started cramping and her mouth tasted funny. A throbbing began behind her eyeballs and she felt too giddy.
Romance: He Done Her Wrong (Cuddlesack Queens #2) Page 21