One Song: book two in the one series

by Best, Victoria J.

  I closed my eyes. Mom was right to be angry with me. I was pissed at myself. I wondered how much Natalie told her.

  “What did she say when she came in?” I asked with caution as I approached, taking Christopher from her arms. I hugged him close, inhaling his baby smell.

  “Everything. She told me everything that hateful boy said about her. How could you let him talk about her like that, Rhys James Beckett? How?”

  The weight of my mom’s reproach crushed me like a thousand-pound weight. She was right.

  “I was so angry with him that I was afraid I would knock him out if I spoke right away. And by the time I was ready to say something, it was too late. She was there and she heard everything.” I hung my head with the shame I felt for my actions.

  “You need to talk to her. You need to apologize. I have never seen someone’s soul as crushed as I saw hers when she came into this house this morning. She kissed the baby and retreated into the room. I had to practically beat out of her what happened. I was worried when I saw her come through the door because you two weren’t supposed to be home until tonight. That was when she told me everything, and I told her to rest.”

  I hung my head lower, the ramifications of this eating me up inside. What if she didn’t forgive me? What if she told me to leave and never come back? How would I live without her and Christopher?

  41

  Natalie

  A soft knock sounded on the door, but I didn’t answer it. I just remained in my bed, arm thrown over my eyes, as I replayed Todd’s words in my head over and over. The more I heard them, the more I began to believe them. I was a bitch. I was manipulative and mean and vile. But it wasn’t those words that hurt me the most, it was that Rhys didn’t deny it. He didn’t defend me, didn’t disagree with Todd. Rhys believed it too, and that was what I was most afraid of.

  He saw her, the old Natalie, and that was my biggest fear.

  The knock came louder, and I moved my arm to stare at the door. It was probably Tammy, trying to see if I needed anything. I should have kicked her out, being that she was Rhys’s mom, but I couldn’t. She soothed me when I was sobbing and telling her the story, and when she offered to watch Christopher so I could lie down, I said yes. Tammy didn’t agree with Todd. That gave me a little bit of solace, but not enough to pull me from this funk.

  Because Rhys did agree with the things Todd said.

  “Nat?” Rhys’s voice called out from behind the closed door.

  My heart sped up. What was he doing here?

  “Go away, Rhys,” I yelled, my voice hoarse from crying.

  “No, I need to talk to you.”

  “The time for talking has passed,” I said. He would know what I meant.

  “Fuck,” he muttered, but I could still hear him. “Fine. If you won’t let me in, I’ll tell you from out here. I fucked up. I should have said something to that asshole when he said those awful things about you, but I was so shocked and angry, I was afraid I would hit him if I didn’t give myself a minute to cool down.”

  He paused and I could hear him tapping gently against the door. “You know what though? I wish I hit the fucker. I really do. Now that I keep thinking about it over and over, I wish I put my fist right through his face.”

  I sat up at his words. He wanted to hit his friend? Rhys had been friends with Todd since high school.

  “Nat, please,” he said softly, his voice pleading.

  I sighed, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. Todd was an asshole, but he wasn’t wrong. I was all those things he said, once upon a time. But maybe I was wrong about Rhys.

  I stood up, padding quietly to the door, and pulled it open. Rhys stood there, resting against the doorframe, chagrin on his face. His dark blond hair was disheveled, standing on end on the top of his head, like he had been running his fingers through it all night. But he still looked sexy as hell.

  “I’m so sorry about what Todd said. But I’m sorrier that I didn’t defend you right away. I’m sorrier I let him say it at all. You aren’t any of those things that he said, Natalie. You’re kind, giving, and accepting. I’m not sure where he got the idea otherwise. I guess from your former assistant that he’s been fucking when he’s in New York.” Rhys shrugged slightly. He searched my face for an answer, and an acceptance of his apology.

  I shook my head. “No, he’s not wrong, Rhys. I was all of those things, before I had Christopher. Before, I was vile and manipulative and cruel. I treated my employees like shit. I was so lonely and bitter, I tried to make those around me feel smaller, just so that I could feel better. But you know what it did instead? It only made me feel worse about myself, which made me treat them even worse.

  “Once I had Christopher and I almost lost him, I realized how horrible I was, to everyone. I tried to make amends, I tried to apologize to as many people as I could. I guess Jessica still didn’t forgive me, but I don’t blame her. If I were her, I wouldn’t forgive me either. Todd’s words, they didn’t hurt me, not really, because I now know I was that person before. The thing that hurt me the most was that you didn’t tell him he was wrong. Because it made me believe that maybe I was still that person, and you didn’t really love me the way that I thought you did.”

  Rhys closed his eyes a beat, tilting his head back before he opened them up and met mine again. “You’re wrong, you know, about who you were before. I don’t believe you were ever any of those things. Do I think you treated people the wrong way and made some bad decisions? Sure, but we all do. You were lost, alone, and trying to find your way for years after your mom’s death. Your dad should have helped you with that but instead, he pushed you to be his mini when he should have taken care of your emotional well-being. That’s what fathers are meant to do.

  “You weren’t a terrible person before, Natalie and you certainly aren’t now. Even if I had met you then, had been with you then, before Christopher, I would never have believed any of those things that Todd said. That’s what I want you to know. That’s what I’m trying to say.”

  We stood in silence after his declaration, our eyes locked just like before, just like always, just like the night we met. I knew he was right, even if it took me this long to see it. People like Todd and Jessica were never happy unless others were miserable, despite the way someone treated them. I wasn’t one of those people. Making people miserable made me even more so.

  “You’re also wrong about something else,” Rhys continued, moving further into the room, his arms shooting out to wrap around my waist before I could step out of his reach. “I love you more than you think I do, not less.”

  “What?” I gasped out the word as our bodies fit flush against one another, my arms going instinctively around his neck.

  “I love you, Natalie, but I think you already knew that. I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you in that alley.”

  It was my turn to close my eyes. This was the moment I had been waiting for since the night before. This was what I wanted. This was what I deserved.

  “I love you too, Rhys. From the moment I heard you sing on that stage in The Garden.”

  He raised an eyebrow at my words. “Yeah? Even before we met? You’re always trying to one up me,” he said with a laugh.

  I chuckled. “It’s true. And that song you wrote for me, the one you performed last night, I love that too.”

  “You figured that one out, did ya?” He was smirking, his mouth only millimeters away.

  I nodded, unable to answer him because his mouth was so close to mine. I didn’t want to wait any longer to taste him, so without saying another word, I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. He devoured my mouth, pushing his tongue between my lips. We kissed each other with a newfound urgency, need, and love. We kissed each other until we were breathless and panting. Until all uncertainty and doubt disappeared.

  Epilogue

  Natalie

  “Come to mama, Chris,” I called, as Christopher hung on for dear life to the edge of the coffee table.

&n
bsp; For the last two weeks, he had been about to take his last steps but was afraid to let go. At eighteen months, he was more than ready to walk on his own, even with his few delays from being born so premature. It was my job, mine and Rhys’s, to make him feel like he could do it even though he was afraid.

  “Come on, Chris, let go and walk to Daddy,” Rhys said next to me, holding out his hand.

  We exchanged a look, sitting there on the floor of the living room, our backs to the plush couch that had traveled all the way from New York for our little family to have comfort. Rhys had been living with us in the LA house for the last four months, after his last tour with the band—which was now down one man—ended.

  “Think he’s ready?” Rhys asked.

  I nodded. “He was born ready. Right, baby?” I directed the question at our son, who had the cutest look of concentration on his face. He looked so much like Rhys with his brow furrowed, it was unbelievable.

  “Come on.” Rhys coaxed Christopher again, leaning a little closer so he would feel safe when he let go.

  I watched them—my boys, so much alike—with love swelling in my chest. Rhys and I hadn’t talked much about where we would go from here, but we knew we wanted to be a family. That was good enough for me for now. I wanted Christopher to feel safe and loved, and having Rhys here with us did just that. I didn’t need him to be my husband if that wasn’t what he was ready for. I knew he loved me and Christopher, and that was enough.

  I looked back at our son as he let go of the table with one hand, his little body bobbing as he worked his way up to letting go completely. He was going to do it today, I could just feel it. I wanted to take my phone out and record, but I was afraid I would miss it if I looked away, so I left it in my back pocket.

  Finally, and with determination, Christopher let go of the table and toddled towards us, falling into my arms with a squeal of glee.

  “He did it!” I yelled, lifting him up into my arms as I stood.

  Rhys was beaming, tears in his eyes, as he watched me spin our son around. I looked down at Christopher, something catching my eye on the back of his onesie.

  “What’s on his shirt?” I asked Rhys with confusion. “Is this a new onesie?”

  Rhys gave me a look and shrugged. I rolled my eyes at him and turned Christopher around to look at the back of his shirt. As I read the words printed on the back, my jaw dropped and my eyes flicked to Rhys.

  “What?” I said, my voice high.

  “Well, will you?” Rhys asked, pulling a box out of his pocket and opening it up.

  I looked between him and Christopher’s shirt with confusion. On the back of the apparently new onesie, the words WILL YOU MARRY DADDY? stared at me. My eyes flitted back to Rhys where he stood, holding a ring box open, with the question he asked still lingering in the air between us.

  “Marry me, Nat, so that we can finally be a real family,” he finally said.

  I nodded. “Yes, Rhys. I’ll marry you.” I managed to say the words through the tears that clogged my throat.

  Rhys smiled broadly, rushing towards us and grabbing both me and Christopher into a bear hug, spinning us once before setting me down again when Christopher called out in protest. He fumbled with the ring, slipping it onto my finger with shaking hands, before capturing my mouth for a long kiss. I kissed him back with a passion and love I never felt for anyone before. I kissed him with gratefulness for finding me in that alley the night I thought my life was spiraling out of control, because it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

  And we deserved every second of it.

  Stay tuned for a sneak peak of book 3 in the One Series

  One Chance coming early 2020

  Sign up to receive an email from Victoria J. Best when One Chance goes live.

  Sign up here

  * * *

  Turn the page for a sneak peak!

  One Chance-Prologue

  Nicolette

  I did it again. Let myself do it again. Here I was, on the floor of the shower, knees to my chest, sobbing and I didn’t even know his last name. I vowed to stop, to tell someone about it, to tell my therapist about it but I never did. Old habits die hard and I dealt with my grief and my pain by self-sabotaging. Anonymous sex was my version of cutting. This was the last time, it had to be the last time because I didn’t think I could handle it anymore.

  My phone buzzed from where I left it on the bathroom vanity. It was Liza. I just knew it was because I abandoned her, again, for a guy. A guy I didn’t even want to see again. A guy who I was pretty sure wouldn’t care if he ever saw me again. Another sob ripped through me and I hugged my knees closer. The water was turning cold as I sat there under the stream, the ice cold pellets felt like needles in my back. I had to get out of here because if I stayed in here much longer the guy, Mason he said his name was, would come looking for me.

  That couldn’t happen.

  Taking a deep breath I stood, shut the water off with one flick, and wrung my hair out. I opened the shower door and searched for a towel, relieved that there was one on the rack and I didn’t have to look far. Quickly drying off, I pulled my clothes on with the same speed, put the towel neatly back on the rack, grabbed my phone from the counter and slipped from the bathroom as silently as I could. As I was leaving I caught a glimpse of myself in the large mirror above the vanity and cringed. One-night stands didn’t look good on me.

  I didn’t bother to wake the guy and tell him I was leaving, it wasn’t like he cared anyway. The Uber I ordered on the app was at the curb when I reached it and I climbed in swiftly, not even looking back at the building I just exited. I wouldn’t ever be going back.

  * * *

  Henry

  “I’ll have another scotch,” I waved a hand at the waitress and ignored my cousin’s derisive stare. He had no business judging me when he barely had his shit together.

  “Another, Harry?” My cousin Jackson mumbled, raising an eyebrow.

  I snorted. “Why the hell not, Jax? It’s not like I have a job to go to tomorrow. You and mother made sure of that.”

  I tossed back the scotch, it burned all the way down but I didn’t care. Another few and I wouldn’t feel it anymore. I wouldn’t feel anything.

  “Is that really so smart? You know Aunt Bea is making you go to a meeting tomorrow.”

  “Fuck her and her meetings.” I didn’t really mean it, but I did.

  Jackson gave me another judgmental look before blowing out a long sigh and turning away from me. If he didn’t want me to drink, why the fuck did he ask me to come to this club? Maybe I wouldn’t have another anyway, especially since Mother was making me go to a meeting in the morning. But when I looked up to tell Jax that I decided not to have another drop of alcohol tonight, he was gone.

  So much for the ‘support system’ he and mother were always talking about. I couldn’t remember the last time she supported me, her or my father. But Jax, he was their golden boy, their golden ticket to fame and fortune. Mother and Father always made sure Jackson was happy.

  Somehow they forget about their actual son.

  I shrugged, because it didn’t matter. I was a grown ass man. I was tired of feeling sorry for myself and playing by their rules.

  “Another scotch, please. Actually, make it a bottle,” I shouted to the waitress over the music in the club.

  If I was going to get sloshed, I was going to do it right.

  One Chance-Chapter 1

  Nicolette

  I noticed his eyes first; the green so bright they almost looked like shining emeralds, beacons of light calling me in like a moth to a flickering flame. The rest of his features registered little by little, only highlighting the previous one; the strong jaw, the dark hair combed slightly to one side, the nose that was slightly hooked but only made him look more handsome than silly. And there was an air about him, an aura, something else I couldn’t determine but made me feel drawn to him the way I had never felt before when meeting a man the first time. Usually, the d
efault when I met a man was if he could numb my pain. But this time, this man, made me want things I never thought I would ever want. I froze in my tracks in the middle of the restaurant, Liza to my right.

  This man made me want to fix all that was broken inside of me just with one glimpse.

  “Nic, are you ready?” Liza grabbed my arm to pull me toward the table where the two men sat.

  I shook off the weirdness, pretending to be my usual perky self, for Liza’s sake. Inside I was reeling, unable to calm the somersaults in my stomach. I needed a drink.

  As we sat down, introductions were made, though Liza was acting off in her own way now. His name was Henry, Henry Radcliffe-Rogers, and I had the misfortune of being set up with his cousin, Jackson.

  “I think maybe our parents may have made a mistake,” he whispered to me while I glanced in my peripheral at Liza for the fifth time. She was acting so strange.

  My stomach fluttered when he spoke to me directly for the first time. His voice was smooth like molasses, it felt like a caress and I got goosebumps from the sound.

  “Really?” I asked, playing coy, but I was sure he could see right through me.

  “I think we’re better suited for one another, don’t you?”

  I turned to look at him fully now, shifting my body away from my friend and towards him. His emerald eyes were boring into mine, so brilliant they almost made my own amber eyes ache under their stare. There was so much I wanted to say to him, to ask him, the whole event completely out of character for me.