I downed the drink right before a few security guards came my way, accompanied by Tiffany. “That’s him. Get him out of here.”
“I’m going. I’m going.” I held up my hands, showing them that I wasn’t going to give them a hard time. “I know when I’m not wanted.”
They escorted me out of the building and back into the rain. I walked down the long, winding driveway, my hands in my pockets.
How had I ended up here? Usually, I was the king of the show, but today, everything had crashed and burned. For once in a long, long time I was starting to like a woman, only to have her hate me. I shook my head. What was I even saying? I had lost the ability to have such feelings the day Melissa stepped out of my life. My heart had frozen over and nothing would ever be able to thaw it, even if I spent the rest of my life in the burning pits of hell.
Great, now I sounded like one of those sappy poets.
Shaking my head, I just tried to forget about everything, but it was like Amanda’s face had been etched into the back of my eyelids.
Reaching my car, I searched my person for my car keys, but they were nowhere to be found. Great… they must have been in my jacket, which was still inside. There was no way I could get them after what had just happened. Guess I was walking home tonight.
It was going to be a long, long night.
As I walked, the night replayed itself in my mind. For some reason, I kept harkening back to the moment when I was dancing with Amanda. My arms around her slender waist, my lips pressed against hers, our bodies in perfect sync. It all felt inexplicably… right.
It was as if she had gotten through to me somehow, broken through the hardened exterior I had built up through the years. And now, she was gone. All because I took a con too far.
If I was smart, I would have hidden the jewelry.
If I was smarter, I never would have taken it in the first place.
Chapter 13
Amanda
I was tending to the garden in the back when I heard a car pull up in the driveway. I straightened my back, wiping the sweat from my brow. I had spent the entire day in the garden, finally tackling the weeds that threatened to overwhelm my prized roses. Back when I was still married, the rose garden had been one of my favorite hobbies. I would grab my wide-brimmed hat and my trowel, and I would spend all day outside.
Roxie would play in the backyard, chasing butterflies or simply rolling around in the grass until her fur was dyed green. Those days had seemed perfect.
Now, I was all alone and it felt bittersweet. Even my roses seemed to be suffering, their usually bright red color fading with a sickness I couldn’t treat.
At the sound of a car door closing, I got up. As I crossed the kitchen, the doorbell rang. I tossed my dirty gloves in the sink and took off my hat. I wasn’t expecting anyone.
I opened the door. To my surprise, David was standing there, wearing his old leather jacket – the one I had told him to get rid of years ago. “What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, my fingers tightening around the doorknob.
“May I come in?” He asked.
“No, just tell me what you want.” I didn’t need this man back in my life.
“I just wanted to talk to you. I know the divorce didn’t go very smoothly, but that’s no reason for us to hate each other.”
“Are you kidding me right now? Leave.” I was about to slam the door in his face when he stuck his hand out.
“Amanda, stop being so stubborn.” He pushed past me and sat down on the couch. “Why don’t you get me a beer so we can talk like civilized people?”
“Why don’t you get your own damn beer?” I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest. “You haven’t changed one bit.”
He rolled his eyes. “Now I know why I cheated on you.” He mumbled under his breath before he walked into the kitchen.
The comment made me angry, but at the same time, very insecure. So I had been the reason we broke up after all? I bit my lip, not sure whether to be angry at David or myself. I started to wonder if there was something I could have done to salvage our marriage. Guilt wrapped around my chest, threatening to squeeze my lungs until they popped. Had I been a bad wife? Had I driven him to infidelity?
When he came back to the living room, I was overwhelmed with a flurry of different emotions. “Where’s that new boyfriend of yours? I heard you two had quite the fight at the party.” He snickered, taking a swig of his beer. “I could’ve told him to stop wasting his time with you.”
I ground my teeth at his remark. “Did you come here to talk about something or are you just going to insult me?”
“Calm down, calm down. I just dropped by because I figured I owe you an apology.”
I narrowed my eyes in his direction, growing suspicious. David never apologized.
“I have to admit that I wasn’t the best husband. I should’ve talked to you instead of sneaking behind your back. You didn’t deserve to go through that.” He said, his voice low like he was being sincere.
Slowly, he leaned forward, placing his bottle on the table. “Do you really mean that…?” I asked, a little uncertain, but the thought of making amends with the man I once loved was all too tempting. I didn’t want to live the depressed little life I currently had. Maybe, if David and I could make up, then everything would go back to the way it was before…
“Absolutely.” He sat down beside me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “I miss you. Now, why don’t we go to dinner tonight, like the good old times? We can enjoy some good food, some fine wine, and talk like adults.”
I bit the inside of my lip at his offer, studying his face, trying to determine whether this was some kind of a trick or if he genuinely wanted to make things right. “You’re not trying to trick me or anything, are you?”
“Of course not. Why would I do that?” He smiled, flashing a set of pearly whites. “I still care about you, Amanda, that’ll never change.” He rested his hand on my thigh. His touch nearly made me cringe, but at the same time, I was desperate for a sense of normalcy in my life once more. I wanted this to work, even though, deep down, I knew it never could.
***
The restaurant we went to was new. “I’ve never been here before,” I said, just trying to make small talk after our awkward car ride. We didn’t exactly have much to talk about. So, we spent most of our time listening to David’s horrible CDs, filled with low-quality country music. I hated country music.
“Yeah.” He shrugged, letting the door slam in my face.
Now that we were divorced, it was as if all his little habits that I used to ignore while we were married, were intensified tenfold, making me hate him just a little bit more. I started to wonder why I had agreed to this in the first place. Was I really that desperate?
At the table, David hid his face behind the menu. “Go easy on what you order. I’m not here to spend a fortune on my ex-wife.”
“What’s your problem? You ask me to dinner and then you treat me like crap. If I knew you were going to be like this, I would’ve never agreed to come.”
He placed the menu down and leaned forward. “Look, sweet cheeks. We both know that things between us will never work out.”
“I don’t know why I married you in the first place. It’s obvious that you’re nothing more than a jerk.”
He stared at me, his hands turning into fists. “I’m just going to ignore that comment and be the better person here.”
“Ha. You, the better person? Don’t make me laugh.”
The waitress arrived and stood there, noting the hostility between us. “Uh… hi… my name is Harmony. I’ll be your waitress tonight. Can I start you off with a drink?”
“I’ll have a water,” David answered in a gruff tone of voice.
“I’ll have a Margarita. Salt the rim for me, please.”
“Coming right up.”
David waited for the waitress to walk away before he grabbed my wrist, tightening his fingers so hard that I thought I was going to bruise. �
��Hey! Let me go!” I said, raising my voice.
He let go, slumping back into his seat. “Why the hell did you do that? I told you not to pick anything expensive. You’ve always had it out for my money, haven’t you?”
I laughed. “If I was really after your money, I would’ve taken you to court for all the alimony you still owe me. Speaking of which, I still haven’t seen a dime since the divorce.”
“Always hounding me for alimony and then you say you’re not a gold digger…”
“I didn’t come here so you can keep insulting me.”
“Then tell me, why did you come here?” He asked, his sharp jaw jutting in my direction. “What did you expect?”
I hesitated, fidgeting with the tablecloth in my lap. “I just thought that maybe, we would finally be able to handle things like two grown adults instead of bickering back and forth, but I guess we’ll never really get past that phase, will we?”
“Well, I’m not the one being a spoiled brat, begging for money.”
“Please, you’ll never see me beg you for anything.” I was quickly getting irritated at this point. The small flicker of hope that I had back at the house had been snuffed and now, all I wanted to do was reach across the table and strangle this man. Yet, I couldn’t quite bring myself to lash out at him.
“Then stop asking me for alimony. It’s not like you need the money.”
“Did you forget that we still have twenty years left on our mortgage? I don’t make half the money you do. Sure, I could survive for a while, selling off some of the stuff around the house, but the judge said I deserve to maintain the same lifestyle I had while we were married. So tough luck, but you’re just going to have to pay me.”
“You can choke on a –“
He was cut off by the arrival of the waitress with our drinks. “Do you know what you would like to order?”
“Yeah… I want the…” I browsed the menu quickly. “The lobster.” It was the most expensive item on there.
Chapter 14
Luke
I sat down at the bar in my usual spot. “What’s up with you? You’ve been coming around a lot lately.” Bill was already filling up a glass for me.
“Nothing.”
“You’ve been saying that for the past three weeks.” He placed the drink in front of me. “You’re really starting to make a dent in my tip jar… especially since you never pay me.”
“Sorry. Things have been a little… rough lately.”
Bill raised his eyebrow in question. “Tell the truth. You finally fell for a girl again, didn’t you?”
“Shut up.” My fingers tightened around the glass. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You know, it’s not healthy for you to keep everything bottled up inside. One of these days you’re going to explode.”
“Why don’t you serve some of the other customers or something?”
Bill sighed, but eventually left, refilling the drinks for a couple at the end of the bar. They had their heads close together and their fingers intertwined. I looked away quickly, my stomach tying into a knot.
I had to break this curse.
I had to get back into the business, but every time I tried to pick up a woman, Amanda always came to mind. She was haunting me and I didn’t know how to shake her. I downed my drink and stared at the empty glass, seeing my own reflection.
She had done something to me. She had changed me. For once, it felt like I had found something worth fighting for and I let it slip right through my fingers.
“Do you want another?” Bill asked.
I pushed the glass in his direction.
“Are you ever going to tell me what happened?”
I sighed, knowing he would keep nagging me. “If I tell you, will you leave me alone?”
“Maybe.”
“Honestly, I don’t know what it is. I’m not sure how she’s different, she just is. The last girl I was with, Amanda, she discovered my ruse. You remember Penelope? Well, she was at the party we went to. The next thing I know, she throws her drink in my face and pulls out the jewelry I had snagged from Amanda’s home. Of course, I was instantly labeled a thief and Amanda threw her drink at me too before running out.”
“Ouch.” Bill frowned. “What did you do?”
“That’s the thing. This wasn’t the first time a girl realized that I’m not so nice, but usually, I just let them go and move on to the next one… but with Amanda, I chased her. I actually wanted her to forgive me, to give me a second chance so I could try and be a better man.”
Bill laughed. “That’s a first.”
I glared at him. “But, she hates me now.”
“Have you tried calling her? Knocking on her door? Maybe if you tell her the truth – and I mean the truth, not the lies you come up with – she’ll believe you. Tell her about Melissa.”
“No, she wouldn’t believe me. She’ll think anything I say is a lie. Trust me, you didn’t see the look on her face. I broke her.” I finished off my second drink, feeling a pleasant warmth spreading through my body. Lately, alcohol was the only thing that could get me through the day. It was starting to become a problem.
“Hey, it was just a suggestion. I know you’re not the most honest of people, but you got to start somewhere. Even a simple ‘sorry’ might help you out.”
“No. She made it very clear that she never wants to see me again.” I shook my head. “All these years of using women has made me into such a jerk… Was I always like this?” I asked, running my fingers through my hair.
“You’ve always been kind of a jerk,” Bill said with brutal honesty. “But, you were never out to hurt someone… at least not until Melissa broke your heart.”
I got up suddenly. “Stop talking about her. She broke my heart, sure, but she didn’t destroy me. I’m not some pansy who gets his heart broken and lets it ruin his life, okay? Screw her. And screw you too.” Angry, I was about to walk out when I spotted a head full of beautiful blonde hair.
I couldn’t be sure, but it looked just like her. I stood there for a moment before I stepped forward.
“You’re a real jerk, you know that?”
“Well, at least I’m not some fat broad who’s out to leech her ex-husband’s hard-earned money. You’ve always been a failure, haven’t you, Amanda? That’s why you married me because you knew you’d never be able to get a good enough job to get you the life you wanted. You’re just a conniving bitch. I should’ve left you a long, long time ago.”
There was silence between the couple.
My blood started to boil. I was going to kill that man for talking to her like that. Without thinking, I marched up to the table and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket.
“Hey, what the fuck is your problem, buddy?” He said, trying to push me away.
I pulled him even closer until our faces were only inches apart. “You will apologize to her, right now,” I growled.
“Apologize?” He laughed. “Why would I apologize to that stupid cow?”
Unable to control my anger, I put him down, only to punch him as hard as I could. He went flying into the chair behind him. The cheap wood splintered and cracked under his weight. Before he could get up, I lunged at him, swinging my fists at his face. “Don’t you ever – ever – talk to her like that again.” I was losing control, my rage taking over, turning me into a monster.
There was blood everywhere. I think even a few of his teeth went flying across the restaurant floor.
People were starting to gather around us, looking horrified, so horrified that no one dared to even try and pull me off. It was like the whole world was in a state of shock at the sight of my brutality.
Finally, Amanda grabbed me. “Stop! You’re going to kill him!” She yanked on the back of my shirt, nearly choking me.
I got up, about to take her face into my hands, when I realized they were covered in another man’s blood. “Amanda…” Our eyes locked. “You can’t let him talk to you like that. Look, I know what I did wa
s terrible and that you’ll never forgive me, but you can’t let yourself be verbally abused like that… You deserve so much better. You’re beautiful, smart, successful… you’re the most amazing woman I’ve met in a long, long time and I was a fool for ever trying to take advantage of you. You got to believe me when I say that I never meant to hurt you. It was a mistake. The biggest mistake of my life…”
She looked like she was about to say something, but just then, a pair of officers had stepped into the restaurant. Roughly, they grabbed me, pulling my arms behind my back. I was handcuffed right in front of the only girl I was trying to impress. If she didn’t hate me before, I had no doubt that she hated me now.
Pursuit: A Bad Boy Romance Page 9