Fated - A Mermaid's Curse 2 (10 page)

She smiles her approval.

“
Come on, Mike and I will make sure that you and Blake don’t have to stay at this dinner for long.”

“
Thank you,” I say.

“
My pleasure. I’m always happy to do anything that will piss off Crawford.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When we walk to the living room, I see Blake talking to Mr. Jones and he looks tense.

“
Carol,” says Mr. Jones. “Are we ready?”

Blake turns to look at me and his eyes widen.

“
You look beautiful,” he says as he walks toward me, placing his arm around my waist.

Mr. Jones smiles at us and sighs. “I wish there was a way to keep you out of this dinner, but as you know, we need your signature, too.”

Blake nods and turns to me. I can tell he’s tense and concerned.

“
We’ll wait in the car while you talk,” says Mr. Jones.

He waits for Carol and opens the front door for her. She gives him a look and I can tell that she’s not happy at all.

“
What’s wrong?” I ask Blake.

He takes a deep breath. “Mike said that because of Mikaelis’ relationship with Brooke’s dad, it is best if we just play along like we—we are still engaged… at least until the papers are signed. I hate to ask you this more than anything, but it’s just for a few minutes. As soon as everything is signed, I’ll come up with an excuse and come back here.”

I swallow the lump in my throat and for some reason, well… because I don’t trust Brooke, I say that I still want to go. I tell Blake he can say that I’m a family friend if he wants. It sounds crazy even as the words leave my mouth, but I can’t just sit here and wait.

“
Are you sure?” he asks.

I look down, avoiding his gaze. “Yes, I’m sure.”

“
I’m so sorry, Arianna. I’ve been thinking some things through and I was talking to Mike earlier about some ideas to get us out of this situation. I know my dad will never truly leave us alone.”

I look back up at him. “Are you picking her up?” I ask and I can hear the anger in my tone.

He shakes his head. “She’s meeting us there, but I want to call her on the way to let her know that you are coming and explain the whole situation.”

“
Okay,” I look down and fight back the tears.

Blake nears me and kisses my forehead.

“
I wish you knew how sorry I am.”

“
I know,” I whisper.

Blake walks me to the car. Mike and Carol both look surprised. We tell them what we agreed on and they don’t seem too happy about it. “Are you sure that is a good idea, sweetie?” asks Carol.

I nod. “I can’t just sit around and wait.”

She nods in understanding. “I wouldn’t be able to either.” She smiles sadly at Mike as he drives away.

Blake sends Brooke a text message along the way and I sit there, staring at the window and wondering how we got here… how we got to this point where we have no choice, and we really don’t because I can’t even think about leaving Blake and I can’t ask him to leave his family, well, part of his family, for me.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

When we get to the restaurant, Blake opens the door for me, and extends his hand to help me out of the car. As I stand in front of him, he asks, “Are you sure?”

I shrug.

“
We’ll get out of here as soon as possible and take a cab back to the house,” he promises.

“
Okay.”

We look over and see Brooke talking to a tall blonde man who doesn’t seem much older than Blake. I remember seeing him at the hotel the other day. Brooke looks over and waves us over, then her gaze falls on me and she smiles.

Blake reaches over, putting his hand on my lower back, but pulls away as he realizes what he is doing. Once we get to Brooke, she moves toward Blake, putting herself in between us. She reaches over, placing her arm around his waist. She then looks over at me and smirks.

I must look uncomfortable because Mikaelis looks at me and clears his throat.

“
Oh,” says Mr. Jones. “I’m sorry. This is Arianna, Arianna, this is Jonathan Mikaelis.”

He reaches for my hand and brings it to his lips. “It’s a pleasure,” he says as he looks up at me. I find myself staring at his green eyes and remembering a place that I didn’t want to remember. His eyes are the same color as most of my kind and it makes me feel even more awkward.

“
Nice to meet you,” I say.

“
Arianna is a friend of Blake’s family,” says Brooke. “I believe at some point she even dated Owen, didn’t you?” she says referring to the rumors that were going around during her and Blake’s engagement party.

“
No,” I say defensively. “That wasn’t true.”

Jonathan laughs. “Well, I’m glad. Owen shouldn’t even be allowed to talk to someone like you. I swear I’ve never met a bigger player. No offense, Blake.”

Blake watches the interaction and I see that he is as uncomfortable as I am. “Well, we should go inside,” says Blake.

We walk in and the lights are dimmed. We follow the waitress toward the back where we have a private room. Somehow, Blake and Brooke ended up in front of me, and at some point, she reached for his hand and he took it. Carol ends up stepping next to me and laces her arm through mine, giving me a sympathetic smile.

At the booth, Blake, Brooke and Jonathan sit on one side and I sit right across Jonathan, with Carol next to me and then Mr. Jones.

Brooke is clingier than I remember her ever being, but I know she’s doing this to provoke me. And Blake, well, his eyes never leave me and I have to look away so that Jonathan, who watches me attentively, doesn’t notice that there is something going on.

“
So, let’s get this done,” says Mr. Jones, “and then we can relax and drink.”

“
Nonsense,” says Jonathan. “Let’s eat first. I’m starving!”

“
Yeah, me too,” says Brooke as if she senses that Mr. Jones was trying to get us out of here.

Just then, the waitress comes over and asks what we’d like to drink.

I ask for a glass of water. Everyone orders their drinks, and when she gets to Blake and he asks for a coke, Brooke laughs. “Honey, please. You don’t have to impress me by doing this.” She looks over at the waitress and smiles, “He’ll have a Jack and Coke.”

The waitress looks over and him to ask for his approval. “Just bring me a glass of wine instead, please.”

Brooke smirks. “Still better than coke.”

Brooke also orders an alcoholic drink and I give her a puzzled look. Last I heard she was pregnant by some guy that she had been cheating on Blake with.

I shake my head and stare at the menu, which is filled with seafood and I think I’m going to be sick.

“
So, Arianna, what brings you here?” asks Jonathan.

“
Just visiting. I like to travel.” It’s not necessarily a lie.

He nods and watches me as I go back to the menu and bite my bottom lip as I do, trying to figure out if there is anything that I can eat.

“
Is there something wrong?” asks Jonathan.

“
I don’t really eat seafood.”

He looks at his menu. “Well, I hear their pasta is good. Maybe you can just ask them to make yours without it.” he suggests and smiles up at me.

I focus my attention on looking between my menu and Jonathan because honestly, I can’t stand to look at Brooke all over Blake anymore, but that only makes things worse.

I notice Carol looking from Blake’s direction to me. “Arianna,” she says. I think I left something I need in the car. Would you mind coming with me?”

“
Of course not.” I get up and follow her out. As soon as we step out of restaurant, I welcome the fresh air. I didn’t even realize how much I needed to be out of there.

Carol stands there for a minute.

“
I thought you needed something from your car?“

“
I’m sorry, sweetie. Blake looked like was about to burst out of jealousy. I had to get you out of there.”

“
Jealousy?”

“
Yeah, well, Mr. Mikaelis can’t take his eyes off you,” she says.

“
Oh, I didn’t—I wasn’t trying to make Blake jealous on purpose.”

“
It’s okay. Sometimes jealousy is a necessary evil to make guys realize what they have,” she pauses. “Come on, let’s go in. I need to freshen up my makeup.”

We go in and step into the bathroom by the entrance of the restaurant, and I’m glad that we don’t have to go back to the table just yet.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

BLAKE

I knew this was a bad idea, but now… I can’t even blame her for not even looking at me, especially with all the attention that Mikaelis is giving her. Fucking douchebag. Brooke is not helping either. I told her what this meeting was all about, but every time I pull away from her, she clings back to me. I keep reminding myself that we’ll be done soon and this will be the end of it, but I can’t do this much longer. I fucking swear… I’m about to lose my freaking mind. I glance at Arianna again and she looks above the menu over to Jonathan who is trying to start a conversation with her yet again. I have my fists clenched. I feel Brooke’s hand over my thigh and slowly moving up, and this is it, I’m about to stop all of this when Carol looks at Arianna and asks her to go outside for a moment. Brooke giggles and moves her hand away. I relax and based on his expression, so does Mike.

As soon as they step away, Mikaelis looks over at me.

“
She is gorgeous. Is she dating anyone?”

I say yes at the same time that Brooke says no.

Mikaelis looks at us confused.

“
Don’t listen to him,” says Brooke as she smiles. “Us girls talk about these things. She isn’t seeing anyone at the moment.”

Mikaelis nods and takes a sip of his drink that the waitress just brought over.

Brooke takes a sip of her drink and makes a strange noise.

“
Is everyone okay?” asks Mikaelis.

She takes a few deep breaths. “No, I actually don’t feel very well.”

Mikaelis looks from Brooke to me. “She doesn’t look too good, man. Here, let’s sign those papers. Maybe you should take your girl home.”

“
Thank you, Jonathan,” says Brooke. “You’re so considerate.”

“
Actually,” says Mr. Jones. “I drove Blake over, maybe I should take Brooke home and come back?”

For a second I feel like I can breathe again. Then Brooke says, “Well, Blake can drive my car. It’s no big deal. Besides, you’re staying over at my hotel tonight, right babe?”

I sit there, frozen.

“
You know… to make sure I’m okay,” she nudges me.

Mike looks as pale as a ghost.

“
Of course,” I lie. I know once I get Brooke away from here I can go my own way, so I just agree to it.

Mike gets the papers out. We sign them and as I make my way out of there with Brooke, I can’t even look at her.

“
What the fuck, Brooke?” I ask as soon as we step out of the restaurant.

“
What?” she asks in an innocent tone. “I really don’t feel good.”

I walk toward her car.

“
That was uncalled for.”

“
What was?” she asks.

“
ALL OF IT, BROOKE! I thought you were with that guy from the restaurant. Just let me be.”

She laughs as we get to the car. “What? You thought I would marry him?”

“
Well, he did get you pregnant,” I say in a sarcastic tone.

She shrugs. “I would never marry him, Blake. Come on…he works at a restaurant,” she says as if that explains it all.

I shake my head. “So what are you going to do?”

“
Aw. He suddenly cares. Maybe you can help me raise the baby. No one will ever know it’s not yours.”

The word ‘it’ doesn’t sit right with me… in fact, nothing she does or says sits right with me and I can’t believe I ever agreed to marry her in the first place.

I open the driver’s door for her.

“
What? You’re taking me back, right? I’m not lying. I really don’t feel good.”

“
Fine,” I say. “But I’m not staying.”

She smiles. “If you say so.”

She walks over to the passenger seat of her rental car. I get in and I drive off, speeding my way to the hotel where she is staying.

“
You know,” she says, “Sooner or later you’ll realize you’re making a huge mistake and you’re going to come running to me.”