“Is that what happened dear?” she asks me.
“Yes, something like that.” I chuckle.
My family, or rather her. I can always count on Shelby to save the day in some way.
Any reprieve from Mama is only felt momentarily because here comes Lucille and Prince De Longsell. Up close he looks even more like 007.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” Lucille bubbles rushing up to me to give me a hug. It’s fake and probably for show in front of the prince, but hey. I hug her too to be cordial. At Christmas when we saw each other she told me it was because of my fat hips why most men are put off by me. She knew she was being a bitch.
“Congratulations to you both,” I say.
“Thank you. Bree this is Philip, my fiancé.” Lucille points to Philip who takes my hand and plants a kiss on my knuckles.
“Great to meet you Bree,” he says, and he sounds exactly how I expected him to sound. British and like he really could be James Bond. “I’ve heard so much about you.” he smiles fondly at Lucille when he releases my hand.
“Really? All good I hope.”
“Of course,” Lucille cuts in.
“The way I heard it we might be at your wedding next,” Philip says. “Where’s the lucky man?”
“He’s not here,” Mama kindly fills her in, much to my embarrassment. “She’s not with him anymore, so it looks like there will just be the one wedding this year.”
Thanks Mama.
I cut her a sharp glance but she’s already looking at me the same way.
“Oh God, what happened?” Lucille asks, insincerity laces in her tone in a way that makes my blood heat.
She is loving this. I can see it in her eyes.
“I—”
“You know Bree,” Mama cuts in. “Same old nonsense.”
“Mama, please.” My brows knit together.
“Don’t mama please me. There’s no word of a lie in anything I said and if you keep on the way you are, you’ll get left on the shelf.”
Please black hole swallow me now.
Could she be any more embarrassing? Maybe that’s what she wants to do though. Embarrass me so I’ll eventually live up to the daughter she wish she had.
“I’m really sad to hear, Bree,” Lucille says. “I do hope you still enjoy yourself. At least you have your little friend.”
Quinn stiffens beside me. We’re the same height, but tonight I’m wearing higher heels.
“Cake anyone?” Shelby cuts in before anyone else can grab their ticket to take a dig at me. “I made a sponge cake.”
“Sure,” I reply.
God help me tonight. please.
I have a feeling this is just the beginning and before the end of the night the whole family will know I’m no longer with Liev.
And I can’t tell them why.
Chapter 8
Bree
I was right.
The word spread like wildfire. Except it didn’t take as long as I anticipated.
It happened sooner. Much sooner than I thought and there was no getting out of the questions once they hit.
I managed to leave early. That was the best thing about the evening and the only thing I can claim to being clever about.
Mama didn’t speak to me for the rest of the night. She was madder than a wet hen and I barely saw my father too. I reckon she saw him and stopped him from speaking to me like she always does when she can’t have her own way.
Anyone would think I did something to her, and she made a point of avoiding eye contact as if I could embarrass her anymore by just looking at her.
I get that she had her hopes high to heaven Liev would be the guy I finally settled down with, but if Ethan thought I was clueless when it came to Liev, I wonder what he’d think of Mama.
Now I have a splitting headache that feels like my head got run through by a rocket.
It’s eleven thirty in the morning. I’m meeting Shelby for lunch. We’re going to the pizzeria, but she wanted to meet at the stationary store first.
I walked into Jane’s Paper Tray five minutes ago and decided to hang out by the pen aisle until she gets here. I knew Shelby would want to talk about last night, so I was open to meet. Who I wished had called me was Mama, or even my father but I don’t expect to hear from him either. when my mother is upset with me he’d rather tend to her first than hear my side of the story. His excuse is he’s the one who has to live with her. Happy wife, happy life then check daughter.
Thank God I have Shelby, and Quinn.
Quinn, bless her heart, she was cool last night and there for me even in the height of craziness. I’m so glad I didn’t go by myself.
I reach for a fountain pen and look at the sleek design of the body and the nib.
I’m bored out of my mind, and I have to at least look like I’m browsing.
“What’s so interesting about the pen?” Comes a voice I’ve heard more often in my nightmares than not.
I whirl around, facing Ethan and my breath stills.
We don’t usually run into each other. When we do he always catches me off guard.
Now he’s looking at me with an amused expression, waiting for an answer.
Today he’s dressed in a black long-sleeved t-shirt and ripped jeans. It’s more casual than I’ve seen him in a long time. I guess this is the weekend version of him—the Sunday Ethan.
His hair is also neat-ish like when he’s working but there’s a ruffle to it. The way I imaged it would look if he’d just woken up like that—or something else I shouldn’t be thinking.
“Nothing.”
“You were looking at it like there was something about it.” He smiles and when he inclines his head a lock of hair falls over his eye in that cool bad boy way it did in high school.
“It’s a pen, there’s nothing about it.”
“You staying out of trouble?”
“Of course, I am. I’m not usually in trouble.” God, is he talking to me because of the same trouble? Why is he in here?
“Okay, just checking. Can never be too careful.”
“No, I suppose not. How come you’re in here? Did you run out of pens?”
My heartbeat kicks up a notch when he suddenly leans past me and reaches for a bottle of ink and a fountain pen.
In the moments he hovers before me I’m wrapped in the scent of sandalwood, musk and patchouli. It’s like some aphrodisiac because I suddenly conjure what it might feel like to be wrapped around him, or in him. I don’t know where the hell the thought comes from but he’s staring at me like he can read my mind.
I hope he can’t.
He holds up the ink.
“I needed this,” he says.
“You actually use that?”
“For contracts. They always look better when you sign with a fountain pen, especially a house contract.”
I nod humoring him. “If you say so. Are you buying a house?”
“Selling.”
“You’re moving?” I blink a few times at the prospect.
“No such luck. I’m selling one of my houses.”
Houses? I don’t know anyone with more than one home. I knew his family had some wealth but honestly, I didn’t really probe that deep to get the full details.
“How many houses do you have?”
“A lot. My old man left me some property.”
“That’s cool.” We stare at each other and of course that awkward silence fills the space between us because the universe doesn’t recognize the civilized people we’re attempting to be.
What throws me even more is the way his eyes drop to my lips and linger there. Usually when he finds something on my face to stare at I ask him what his problem is. I hold back, grateful I did when his gaze flicks back up to my eyes.
“You know, if you were interested in that pen, I would say get it. It has a fine point so it would improve your writing.”
I’m slow to catch on what he’s saying because I’m trying to be on my best behavior. When I catch his
meaning though my brows snap together.
“What’s wrong with my writing? There’s nothing wrong with it.”
“Darlin’ if you’re happy with it then far be it from me to criticize.”
“You are such an arrogant—”
“There you are, Bree.” Shelby’s voice cuts me off.
Perfectly timed she waltzes over to us, and Ethan smiles brightly at her.
“Detective Carson, I do hope you aren’t bothering my niece,” she drawls flicking her hair over her shoulders.
She’s well aware of the history I have with Ethan, and I can see she’s gearing up to give him a dose of butter in true Shelby style.
“No ma’am I was not.”
“Oh good. In that case you should stop by the salon for some cake and tea when you’re next passing by.”
Cake and tea?
Is she serious?
Okay maybe the tea part I get, but Shelby must know from the look of Ethan that the man has probably never had cake in his life. That body in all its athletic glory has most likely never seen sugar. In high school he played football and now he probably eats weights for breakfast.
“Thank you that would be nice. I’ll let you two enjoy the rest of your day.” He dips his head, and I don’t miss the lingering gaze he gives me before he walks away.
When I look at Shelby, I find her staring at me with intuitive eyes and one hand set on her hip.
“Is that fine specimen of a man why you broke up with Liev? Because if it is, I’d completely understand, and I think all would be forgive when it comes to your mother.”
I roll my eyes at her. “No, why would you think that. That’s Ethan Carson remember?”
“Yes, I do, and I still maintain that boy treated you like hell because he liked you and it looks like he still does.”
She’s wrong on all levels. I thought she could have been right at one point, but that analysis went right out the window as soon as Ethan met Amelia Montrose and fell head over heels in love with her.
I never knew much about her, only that she wasn’t like the skanks I was used to seeing him with. Because she came on the scene when he was at the end of his stay at Wilmington High, I just thanked God there was someone else to turn his attention away from me. I heard she died years later, and they were still dating while he was at college. I knew that must have been hard for him.
“Guys always tease girls they really want,” Shelby says with a chuckle.
“Shelby please. I really need you to be my aunt right now.” My voice breaks showing the suppressed emotions and I’m thankful when her face softens. I really don’t want to talk about Ethan and the past right now.
“All right honey. Come on, let’s eat then you tell me everything. I got some brochures you can look at later for your business.”
“You mean our business, right?”
“No. This is your thing and I’m gonna work with you to make your dreams come true. That’s what I’m gonna do. Now let’s go.”
Half an hour later we’re seated in the restaurant with a bottle of wine and the best pizza this side of town.
I open up to her and pour out my heart telling her all that happened to me whilst swearing her to secrecy.
We spend the day together and I feel better by the time I get home. So much so I open the bag of brochures she got me and start looking through them.
A few hours into my search I open the Hot Property magazine and when my gaze lands on a home that looks like it could be the house from the Steel Magnolias my heart swells.
The more I look at it the more I feel like it’s the one.
It’s called Pine Valley Lodge and is an eight-bedroom house with four bathrooms and four acres of land in Pine Valley. The value is over a million dollars but it’s currently under offer because parts of the building need to be restored. The owner is accepting offers of anything upward of two hundred thousand. That’s a shit cheap bargain.
My credit has been good for the last couple of years and while the salon isn’t doing well by my standards it’s doing well enough to get me a mortgage. I checked the other day. If I offered the minimum and used the remaining money I have to fix the place up I could really do my day spa.
It could happen for me.
The house looks like it’s whispering to me to get it. I see my dreams unfold from the picture and for the first time in forever, I hope.
I hope and I pray to whoever is listening that I could get this house and put the spell of shit that followed me behind me.
Quickly I take a picture and send it to Shelby and Quinn then I email my interest to the realtors. I also give Shelby’s cellphone just in case I’m with a client and miss the call.
Chapter
Nine
Ethan
“I still can’t get over what you did to Bree.” Bryce laughs as he walks into my office.
Only God knows why I told him. Maybe I needed someone to tell, and I knew Logan would kill me if he knew what I’d gotten up to.
Maybe me telling Bryce about my immature shit was another reason why karma decided to get my ass. I met with him about Liev’s case the day before I saw my grandfather.
I’m in no mood for jokes this morning not even about Bree’s fine ass, because I’m no where closer to figuring out how to get my grandfather to drop his crazy idea of marriage.
Admittedly it was interesting to see Bree yesterday. I haven’t ran into her for a while. The last two times when I could have, I just watched her from afar, completely unknown to her.
Yesterday was different for some reason. I didn’t just want to watch.
“I know it’s time to stop that shit, isn’t it?” I smirk.
“You wouldn’t be you if you did. Here’s all the paperwork.” He holds out an envelope to me. “We are officially done with everything to do with Liev and his circle of assholes.”
“Hallelujah.”
“I just need you to sign off those documents and fax them to my office.”
“I’ll have them over to you by lunch time.”
“Good stuff.”
He takes the seat in front on me and the smirk on his face transforms him into the Bryce I’ve always known. Not the bad ass lawyer who would wipe the floor with you in court.
“So, I was thinking of Vegas, but I was also thinking about Bree.”
He knows not to think about Bree. The last time we spoke about Bree was not good and it still irritates me because he went out with her.
Bryce is one of my closest friends, but I know what he’s like when it comes to women. And this isn’t the case of the pot calling the kettle black.
I love a beautiful woman on my arm and in beneath me in my bed. But there’s a difference between a man like me who doesn’t do relationships and a womanizer.
That’s what he is, and he became that way after his sister’s death.
He thinks none of us know he was left broken after her death and he blamed himself because she killed herself, but we know. I know and I get it, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to feed his bad habits. And definitely not with Bree.
“What about her?” I ask setting my elbows on the edge of my desk.
He straightens up and smiles.
“I just wondered if you’d calmed down from your high horse yet so I could ask her out again.”
I see red again. the same flash of heat that struck me when Logan told me Liev was with Bree. Again, Bryce is a friend but he’s another example of the poor choices Bree has in men.
I calm myself down enough to answer him. “No. I have not calmed down, Bryce. I will still shoot your dick off if you go near her.” I speak with such nonchalance it takes him a few moments to see I’m serious as fuck.
“Why? You’re obviously not into her.”
“Are you?”
“I like her, and she liked me too.”
She did like him, but I don’t believe for one second he liked anything more than her body. Again, I get it. I like her body too. It’s stared in many
dreams and fantasies, but at least I can control myself.
“Tell me you don’t just want to bang her and dump her,” I say “You just want that date because you didn’t get her in bed last time. I know you, Bryce.” I give him my fiercest don’t-bull-shit-me stare and he backs down.
He bites the inside of his lip and grins. “You know me too well.”
“Now that that’s clear I don’t think I need to say anymore.”
“Fine, but you know if she happens to come my way there’s nothing I can do about that.”
“Goodbye Bryce.” I could say another thing or two, but I decide against it.
We just closed a case, and I didn’t want to spoil the euphoria.
If he mentions it again, though, I will.
“All right Ethan, see you in the week.”
He gets up and leaves. I watch the door close behind him and I stare for longer that necessary getting lost in my thoughts. There’s so much uncertain shit happening to me. Every time I see her or hear her name, I feel like I’m being pushed toward her—drawn to her.
That southern belle is the least of my worries at the moment.
She still has my sweatshirt. It still gets to be closer to her than I’ll ever be.
Logan stares at me in shock from across the garden table and sets his beer bottle down on the wooden surface.
I’ve just finished telling him about my Grandfather’s terms and conditions of my getting the business. I got to his house about an hour ago, deciding I had to speak to someone other than my mother who is livid at me for making up Miranda.
She thinks it pushed him to come up with the plan.
I don’t think it did. I know my grandfather more than she does. He’s old fashioned and proud of it.
“I don’t know what to tell you. Have you spoken to him about it?”
“Several times and now he won’t speak to me unless it’s to set the dinner date he wants to have with Miranda and me.”
Logan laughs. “Jesus Ethan, you and your craziness. Why the hell did you make up a girlfriend?”
“Come on, you know why. He was always trying to set me up with this ones daughter and that one. I couldn’t stand it and the women weren’t my type.”
Out of Bounds: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Sinful Bachelors Book 2) Page 5