Dirty Flirting [Part Two]

by Ava Alise

  “He wasn't.”

  “He was!”

  “Not until he met you, and I won't let you do that to Drex.”

  I run both of my hands through my hair as anger boils through me.

  She's fucking insane. Granted, I believe that if I had responded better to her warning, things would have been different. I fault myself for that, yes, but this… this shit she's talking right now is pure insanity.

  “Tara. You seriously need help,” I yell. “Why are you even here?”

  “To end this,” she says.

  “Whatever.” I scoff, rolling my eyes as I reach down to retrieve the phone from my pocket. It's a good time to call Drex because this shit is going to get ugly fast and the last thing I want to be doing right now is fighting with a dripping wet pregnant girl. My fingers turn up empty as I feel for a pocket that isn't there. I forgot I changed into the dress and my phone is still in the bathroom. When I raise my head to face Tara, I scream, because instead of looking at her, I'm staring down the barrel of a gun. The wind is knocked out of me as I scramble away, falling into the wall.

  “What are you doing?” I gasp.

  “I tried so hard,” she says, moving closer. “I tried everything I could think of to get him to leave you,” she says. “But he won't.”

  “Tara. Please, just think about what you're doing?”

  “I’ve tried everything!” she yells. “But not for the baby, not for Liam, not for me. Even after I threw myself at him.” She scoffs. “It didn't matter.” The sound of her cocking the gun immediately causes tears to well up in my eyes. It's sick, she's sick. This girl is going to kill me.

  “Tara,” I say again, trying to remember how to breathe and talk at the same time. “Put the gun down. You don't want to do this, you're about to be a mother. Think of the baby... of Isabella.” The expression on her face changes slightly.

  “You know her name,” she says. “Of course you know her name. You know everything, don't you Kelsa?”

  I really don't know what to say at this point because it doesn't seem like anything that comes out of my mouth will help the situation. So I just stare wordlessly and pray like hell that Drex walks through the door.

  “What else do you know, huh? Do you know how I felt seeing my brother lying dead on the floor, especially after I told you to stay away? Do you know how horrible it feels to watch one of my best friends become possessed by you and your lies? Your manipulation?” she yells as she inches closer to me with the gun.

  “Please,” I say. “I'm sorry.” My body stiffens as I press back into the wall, wishing I could get further away from her.

  “Oh. Now you apologize. Stupid bitch,” she says, slapping me hard across my face. The tears that were already running from my eyes come full force. I consider running, I consider fighting back, but would I be fast enough? Will she pull the trigger? My pulse races as I take in shaky breaths.

  “You wouldn't kill me,” I say. “Not here. This could be a home for Isabella, where she sleeps, where she plays. He already has clothes for her, a bassinet… this might be her home.” I'm holding her gaze, trying to appeal to her sense of love for her daughter. “Or what about Drex? Shooting his girlfriend isn't the way to create the relationship you two will need to raise a child together.”

  She continues to glare at me, and for a second I think she's considering my words, but then a smile comes across her face and she laughs. “Fuck Drex. He doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself… and you. Even when I told him he had to choose between you and the baby, the asshole still wouldn't walk away. Joke’s on him though, because now he loses you and the baby!”

  “What do you mean me and the baby?” I ask. Tara’s stare is dark and unsettling, it's fucking terrifying. I'm usually good at reading people and zeroing in on their weaknesses, but she's seems like her mind is made up.

  “What do you mean me and the baby?” I repeat.

  “The baby is Aaron's. I’ve known for a few weeks now. The doctor wanted to do genetic testing because Isabella is high risk for Down syndrome, since he had to sample the fluid around her, he agreed to go ahead and do the paternity test. Aaron was a match.”

  “And you didn't tell Drex?”

  “I didn't tell him because I just knew that once I gave him the ultimatum he would choose his child. But no. No…. I see that this is the only way to get rid of you.”

  She pulls in a deep breath and quickly closes the few feet that were still between us, then she presses the gun to my head.

  “You just keep taking and taking,” she growls. “I’m going to give you one last chance. Leave Drex. Don’t answer his calls, talk to him at work. He is dead to you!” she yells.

  I’m choking.

  I’m trying to respond, but I can’t as the fear takes over.

  “I…I…”

  “Tara, stop!” Drex’s voice echoes through the room. My tears distort his image, but I know he's walking toward us.

  “Back off Drexel!” Tara yells over her shoulder.

  “Drex,” I choke.

  “If you touch me, I swear I'll blow her fucking brains out.”

  “I'm not… ok,” he says holding his hands in front of him. “It's going to be ok.” He steps around her, backing against the wall to position himself next to me. I'm trembling as a river of tears flow from my eyes. I don't know if he's talking to her or me but I feel like I might pass out.

  “See. Look, I’m not going to touch you.” He takes his jacket off and drops it at our feet. “Just let her go.”

  Tara's eyes don't move from my face. My terror is all consuming and it takes awhile for me to realize he's holding my hand.

  “Just let her go,” he repeats. His shoulder comes in contact with mine as he presses against it. “You're pissed at me right now.”

  “No. It's definitely her I'm pissed at.”

  “Look at me Tara,” he says. “Look!” Her breathing is heavy as she glares, but eventually she blinks and looks at him. “This isn't you. This is pain, it's not anger.”

  “Oh fuck you, Drexel! I'm sick of you telling me how I feel. I know what I'm feeling,” she screams. The pounding of my heart echoes through my body and a cold sweat trickles down the back of my neck. I don't know if I can do this, if I can continue to stand here. My legs feel like rubber. Their voices seem to get further and further away, but then I notice the slow constant pressure that Drex is pushing against my shoulder.

  “I get it.”

  “You get what?”

  “I miss him too,” he says. “Every fucking day, I miss Liam.” Her mouth closes and she swallows hard, blinking tears away. Drex’s constant pressure has slowly begun to shift me to the right and she doesn't notice the gun has moved slightly away from my forehead. He keeps her attention as he speaks.

  “I hated myself for a long time because I left after your father died. I wasn't here for you, or for him.” She's starting to tremble as if she's about to cry. He continues to move us slightly, so now if she fires the gun it will hit closer to my ear, but it’s still a deadly shot. “I let my family down. He was one of my best friends and I had no fucking idea how much he was hurting,” Drex says. Tears now fall freely from Tara's eyes and her shaking has intensified. Please… please don't let this gun go off.

  Her finger is still resting on the trigger and the slightest flinch could end me. “I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry, Tara.”

  I'm trying to be quiet, praying she doesn't notice the gun is now pointing at the space between Drexel and I, but my breathing is out of control as I fight hard to swallow my sobs.

  “I couldn't stop thinking that if I had been around to listen more, to help more, things would have been different. I went dark for a long time.” Tara’s crying is now audible, and though she brings one hand to her belly, she continues to hold the gun in the other.

  “I wasn't there for him either.” She chokes, wiping away her tears. “He was my brother.”

  When she drops her head to wipe her eyes again, Drex takes
the opportunity to bump me the rest of the way until the gun is now pointing at him. Due to her distress, it’s pointed slightly lower and aimed at his upper chest.

  “We didn't know,” Drex says. “We didn't know how bad things had gotten for him, but we do know that he loved us. He wouldn't want us to hate ourselves forever,” he says. “It was that thought that brought me healing.”

  Tara continues to cry as the gun shakes, but she's moved her finger off the trigger. I start to inch away a little further, and just when I'm considering lunging at her, clarity comes over her as she realizes what he's done. He distracted her long enough to take my place. Her eyes snap to me, but before she can move the gun, he pulls it from her hand.

  “No!” She cries. “I should have been there! But she was.” She glares at me. “He told her everything, he let her see… everything. Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't he make me listen?” I'm still trembling as I watch her break down. Both of her hands hold her belly as she pulls in deep breaths, trying to slow her tears.

  “I know how it feels to wish circumstances were different. To wish you did more, to want to go back in time and fix it, but holding it all in and living in pain isn't going to bring him back. It won't give us the chance to change anything. All we can do is live like we know he’d want us to and learn from our mistakes.” Drex says.

  My legs buckle and I slide down to the floor hugging my knees.

  “Oh God,” Tara sobs. She begins to look unsteady, so he wraps an arm around her as she buries her face in his chest. “I'm sorry.”

  “I'm sorry too,” he says. His eyes find mine and I nod to let him know I'm ok.

  “I didn't want to believe he was sick,” she cries. “If I could continue believing it was her fault, then I didn't have to feel the full weight of how horribly I failed him. But that couldn't work if you loved her.” Drex turns from her and looks down at me and I can see just how much he loves me in this moment. He tried to take my bullet.

  “I do love her. So fucking much, Tara,” he says turning back to her.

  “Yeah,” she sighs. “I'm sorry Kelsa.”

  I look at her and nod. Forgiveness is pretty far off for me. I mean, she held a gun to my head. But all things considered, I can entertain the idea that one day things might be civil between us. Just not tonight. I look away from her and my eyes drop to his coat lying in a heap next to me. A small black box sits on the floor next to it. I reach over and grab the box, bringing my gaze back to Drex. Tara moves on wobbly legs to a nearby chair and sobs into her hands. Drex slides down the floor next to me with a thud, pulling me to his chest.

  “I'm sorry, baby.” He kisses my forehead. “I'm so sorry.” My tears wet his skin as he feathers kisses all over my face. His hands roam through my hair as he presses his lips to mine.

  “You took my place,” I say. I can barely get it out as I speak through the tears. “You stepped in front of a loaded gun for… for…” My tears take over yet again as I try to wrap my head around the thoughts and feelings that are racing through me.

  “For you,” he says, placing his forehead against mine. “And I'd do it again.”

  Our lips crash together in passion, in intensity, in love. This is my place, he is my home. I understand everything now, why people live for this, why people die for this type of love. It's so big, so intense, like a cross between truly living and barely breathing, and it’s worth every second.

  My tears slow and I gaze into his emerald eyes, then I slowly pull away, looking down at my hands. When he notices me holding the black box he smiles.

  “Open it.”

  I stare at him as I try to blink away my tears. “Is this…” My words fall from my lips at the feel his hand on mine.

  “Open it, gorgeous.”

  I'm shaking as I pull it open, revealing a princess cut diamond engagement ring. It's beautiful and I'm so shocked that I just continue staring at it. It feels like the air has been sucked from my lungs. It's hard to speak. He brings a hand to my chin, tilting it up and kissing me gently on the lips.

  “Marry me, Kelsa.”

  I don't know if I want to cry, to scream, to kiss him. A gasp leaves my lips when he pulls the ring from the box and fingers my left hand. I bring my gaze back to his and whisper.

  “I love you,” I say, a large smile spreading over my face.

  “Yes.”

  Kelsa

  “Is that the last box?” Drex yells from the bedroom.

  “Haha. Not even close.” I laugh.

  A month has gone by since he asked me to marry him and things couldn't be any more perfect. The plan was to wait until after we were officially married to move in together, but it didn’t take us long to change our minds. We have spent every night together since he proposed. One of us would always end up doing the “walk of shame” in the morning and it got old. I can’t wait to start my life with this man, and I won’t lie, I’m not a bit concerned that we’re going to “shack up” before marriage.

  Our engagement night was pretty intense to say the least, Tara sobbed uncontrollably for over an hour. I thought she was going to go into labor with how distressed she was. She confessed that the gun wasn’t loaded and she only hoped to scare me away. We ended up driving her home and going to Drex’s parents’ house for dinner afterwards. He wanted to cancel dinner but I needed to get out of that apartment. I needed air and I didn't want the memory of our engagement night to end with Tara holding a gun to my head, loaded or not. Though I'm sure it's something none of us will ever forget.

  The tears started the moment I walked into his parents’ house and they didn't stop for most of the evening. These tears were completely different from the ones earlier though, because they were tears of joy, of happiness. Both Renee and Cameron were there, along with his parents and Amy Benton. They were shocked to see that I was already wearing the engagement ring and I couldn't believe everyone already knew about his plan to propose. The entire night was surreal and emotional.

  It was easier than I imagined talking to his family about William when Amy bought him up. No one faulted me for what happened and I was floored that Amy was so accepting of me.

  “Drex loves you. That means you are a part of us, don't ever feel like you don't belong,” Amy said.

  Tara started therapy to help her better deal with William’s death and little by little she has been coming around. Things will be weird between us all for awhile but maybe one day things will heal. Drex was hurt to learn how Tara lied to him about Isabella, and needless to say, it has put an additional strain on their friendship.

  I was a little concerned about leaving Renee at the apartment alone. She’s still considering taking the position as lead designer with the smaller firm and that may mean less money at first. Cameron had just begun to zero in on a few apartments and was preparing to move, but agreed to take over my entire portion of the lease and move into my room, at least until Renee decided on her career move. I’m happy he decided to stay because I really want Renee to be ok. As much as I’m going to love every minute of being the future Mrs. Adams, I’m really going to miss seeing my bestie every night.

  I slide a large brown box down the hall to our bedroom and into the large walk-in closet. Drex is rearranging his clothes to make more room for mine. Drex’s bulldog, Lucy, lazily pokes her head up from her large plush dog bed and watches me from the corner of the room. It took me a while to get use to her size but she’s hard not to love.

  “We're going to need a bigger place,” he says, looking at my box.

  “You think?” I laugh. “We’ll have to move anyway, we only have one bedroom.”

  He snaps around, staring at me with wide eyes. “Are you trying to tell me that you’re…”

  I don’t follow immediately, but when his gaze falls to my stomach his confusion becomes all too clear.

  “No!” I exclaim. “That’s not what I meant.”

  A large rush of air leaves his lips and I can’t help but laugh.

  “Not that I wouldn�
�t be happy for us,” he amends quickly. “It’s just… coming off all that Tara stuff, I was a little caught off guard.” I’m still laughing as he tries to explain away his initial reaction. He’s so cute, fumbling over his words.

  “Baby.” I laugh. “It’s ok, seriously, I’d be a little freaked out if I was pregnant right now too. Maybe a little less freaked out than you, but still.” He smiles, hooking an arm around my waist, pulling me to him.

  “Oh, you’re just hilarious.” He trails big playful kisses from my cheek to my neck, causing me to squirm away.

  “Creep,” I tease once I’m out of his grasp. He chuckles. I can’t believe how wrong I was about love. The terror. The trepidation. Love isn’t scary, it’s magical. Fully submitting yourself to its power and owning it feels better than anything I could have ever imagined. It feels like flying. Knowing that no matter what, I can lean into my feelings and know they will be reciprocated, that he’s not going to run, he’s not going to make this ugly. With him, I’m met with only the best feelings, it’s something I can’t describe. Its home and the future is bright.

  Turning from him, I take a few steps toward the closet door, unable to stop the smile that’s lingering on my lips.

  “Kels,” he says.

  “Yeah?”

  “I want you to have all my babies one day.”

  My heart melts as I walk back to him, pressing my lips to his.

  “Every single one.” I say.

  Hey guys,

  Kelsa and Drex, man I love this story. I hope you enjoyed it, I swear, it was so much fun to write. This may be the end of their story, for now, but you will definitely be seeing them soon in the final installment of the series. Renee is up next and this thing she has with Cam… let’s just say it may end up being my favorite story of the series.

  If you need just a bit more of Kelsa and Drex and want to be the first to know all the updates regarding my books, I am currently offering a sexy extended epilogue for readers who sign up for my newsletter.

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