Love Rekindled (Love Surfaced) (21 page)

Audrey: It’s okay. I’m here working anyway. Don’t be a stranger.

Me: I won’t. Thanks again.

I tuck my phone in my pocket and find Taylor waiting at the front doors for me. There’s something in her eyes. She’s worried about what I’m doing, who I’m texting.

“Everything okay?” she asks as she places her hand on the pool cue shaped handle.

“Yeah. I had another thing planned, so I cancelled it.” I reach for the door handle at the same time her hand drops.

“Oh, we can go do that. I don’t care what we do.”

“No, I’d much prefer my hands on you, even if it’s on a dance floor in front of forty people.”

“Me too.”

I pull the heavy wooden door open and Taylor sneaks under my arm to enter the bar.

The lights are dim over booths and tables with a square-shaped bar smack in the middle of the room. In the back are the pool tables I played at when I’d return from college for the holidays. At the exact moment I remember the late nights Tanner and I would have here when we’d be home, my eyes scan the room, finding a few faces that graduated years after me. It hurts that I’m the old man now.

“This is a nice place.” Taylor checks out the crowded dance floor where people are jumping around to some eighties song.

“Come on.” I lay my hand on the small of her back, leading her to the side where I spot an empty booth.

Once we’re snuggled in, Taylor eyes the deals in the plastic holder.

“Oh, margaritas are on special.”

My eyes search out the waitress.

“And they have Heineken, Brad. Is that still your favorite?” She continues to read the specials insert.

I stop looking to give her my attention.
Slow down, Brad,
I tell myself.

“Yeah, they are. What about you? You always loved Seven Up and Raspberry Vodka.”

“I don’t keep hard liquor in the house, so I’ve turned into a wino, but I think tonight—”

The waitress comes over, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

“What can I get you?”

I release a breath of relief that I don’t recognize her. “I’ll have a Heineken and she’ll have a Seven Up and Raspberry Absolute.” She jots it down, nods, and walks away.

The two of us sit there, Taylor fiddling with the plastic holder and my hands glued to the side of the bench. All of a sudden, it’s awkward between us.

“So . . . ,” I say, and she giggles the most soothing and relaxing laugh.

“Mind if I come over?” I nod to the place next to her on the bench.

“And be one of those couples?” Her nose crinkles, but I stand and slide next to her.

My arm swings around her shoulders. She pretends to scoot away, but I keep sideling up to her until she’s blocked against the wall.

“There’s no running away from me,” I whisper, and her hand lands on my chest.

“I think I’ve realized that. Brad,”—she presses her fingers to my lips—“don’t hurt us.” Tears brim her eyes. She’s putting herself on the line for us and she wants me to know this is my final chance.

I hold up two fingers, even if I was never a Boy Scout. “I promise.” I mean those two words more than anything. Hurting them is not an option this time around. “May I kiss you now?”

“You may.” Her finger drops from my lips and my mouth descends on hers, shielding her body with mine.

I softly press my lips to hers, sliding my tongue through her parted ones for a taste. My hands mold to her cheeks while her fingers fist my shirt, making my breath hitch. Like she’s always done, Taylor makes me forget where I am or what I’m doing with one kiss. We’re lip-locked in a passionate kiss that causes me to want more of her.

I draw the kiss to a close and rest my forehead against hers. “I’ve missed you,” I say.

“Oh, honey, I’ve missed you too,” another voice, not Taylor’s, says from across the table.

My head jerks up and Taylor quickly straightens so her back is pressed to the back of the booth. I grab Taylor’s hand in mine to protect her, as though this girl won’t still try to eat her alive.

“Bayli.”

Taylor

“SO, THIS IS HER.” HER
beady little eyes look me over like I’m scum under this bar table. “I don’t see the competition, honey.”

Brad’s hand clamps on to me as though he’s afraid I’m about to bolt. This girl wants to play, we’ll play.

“You didn’t tell me your . . . ex was so polite.”

His head swings to mine, and then a slow smirk develops as he realizes, I’ll play her game.

“Did he finally find you in that trailer park?”

I ignore the scab she’s picking off of my wound. “I’m surprised someone of your status would be here. Trying to find yourself a new guy to manipulate?”

A fake laugh escapes her throat and her jaw cocks to the side. “Oh, honey, that’s the difference between us. I don’t have to look for men. They wait in lines for me.”

I withdraw my hand from Brad’s and wrap it around his neck. I inch up and kiss his cheek. “Neither do I.” The satisfaction that the guy we have in common left her for me is too grand to hide. Especially with her grandiose mean-girl attitude.

“I wouldn’t call him much of a man. I heard he’s on the unemployment line.” She cocks her head to the side, as though she gets some sick happiness knowing she got Brad fired.

“It’s a good thing we’re not together then,” Brad speaks up for the first time since saying her name. He must have been dumbfounded.

“Yeah. You know I really shouldn’t be with a has-been. Oh, wait . . .” She begins to slide out of the booth. “I mean, a never-was.”

She stands and I choke on the little bit of saliva in my mouth.

Her hands slide over her stomach at the same time the waitress brings our drinks to the table. I reach for mine immediately, downing half of it in one gulp.

“Bayli?” Brad asks her, his voice quivering, exemplifying the emotions flowing through my veins.

She looks down. “Didn’t I tell you? You’re going to be a dad.” Her hands pat her stomach and half my drink sprays across the table as my heart plunges to my stomach.

The only part I love is that Brad looks down at me, like we’re a couple and he needs me there to support him if this really is the case. That or the fact he doesn’t understand why all these women are hiding kids from him.

“Are you serious?” he asks her, his hand turning cold in mine.

She laughs, releasing a conniving and scary noise. Bile surges up my throat. “No. See, I always knew you were a loser, so I had a back-up.” She holds her hand up in the air. “You just saved me from having to hide the fact that you would have been raising a kid that wasn’t yours.”

Brad’s hand slides from mine and he moves out of the booth, towering over Bayli. His eyes bear down on her taunting ones. “Your parents tried to sue me for the cost of the wedding. Your dad got me fired from my job. And you were already knocked up with someone else’s kid. You’re sick.”

I watch the show in front of me, wishing Brad and I could have one drama-free night.

Bayli shrugs her shoulders. “You left me two days before the wedding. Fuck yourself, Brad. Go take your trash,”—her eyes veer to mine and then back to his—“and start a new life in loserville.”

Brad’s head falls back and a hollow laugh flows out of him. “Your originality in trying to be a bitch needs a lot more work.” He digs into his pocket, pulling out his wallet. “I’d give you this twenty to find class, but,”—his eyes slowly look her up and down—“obviously, there are some things money can’t buy.” He tosses the twenty on the table and holds his hand out for me.

“Excuse us. I’m going to take my beautiful girlfriend home and screw her until she’s hoarse from screaming my name. Good luck with the whole baby thing.” His eyes fixate on mine until I clutch my purse and grab his hand. He tugs me out so fast, I fall into his arms. “You wonder what the competition is?” He snakes his arm around my waist, snuggling me nice and close to him. “There isn’t one, because Taylor is so out of your league, you’ll never even skim the surface of where she is. Oh, I should introduce you two.”

“That’s okay.” Bayli narrows her eyes at us and twists to walk away.

“This is Taylor, the love of my life. Taylor, this is my ex, Bitchy Boob-job Bayli.”

With a cough, I conceal my laughter, which is begging to escape.

“Grow up, Brad.” She stalks off toward the dance floor and ends up with a few girls, who I assume are her friends.

“You first,” Brad calls out, but she doesn’t hear him. With the fact that none of her friends turned around, it’s obvious she didn’t tell them she just saw her ex with another girl.

“Let’s find another bar, shall we?” Brad turns to me and I nod. He grabs his jacket from the booth and leads me across the dance floor.

I feel her eyes on me, and I honestly worry that the baby in her belly could very well be Brad’s. I’m surprised he didn’t second-guess it at all. Especially when I do the math in my head.

The cold air burns my face when we step outside, but the chill expands my lungs to suck in much-needed oxygen after what just happened.

Brad’s quiet on the way to his truck, and he opens the door for me. I climb in and patiently wait for him to get in. His key is in the ignition when I lay my hand over his.

“Brad?”

“It’s not mine, Taylor,” he answers the unasked question.

“How can you be sure?”

The idea of him having another kid out there is like a knife to the chest, but it’s not a deal-breaker for us to get back together. Then again, after what I had to endure in that bar in the last five minutes, I can’t really imagine a lifetime of it.

“I didn’t sleep with Bayli in the last two months before our wedding date.”

His head hangs like he’s ashamed while I want to jump up and down in my seat like it’s my twenty-first birthday and I’m about to walk into my first bar.

Calming myself down, I try to act concerned since he’s so upset about it.

“Why?”

He remains silent for a few seconds. “I knew I shouldn’t marry her, but you know, I always wait until last minute to confess to anything. I made excuses about business trips and having to stay at my apartment, said I was sore from the gym, anything to get me out of it.”

I want to laugh, and now I get the part where he said he was going to go home and screw me. It was twisting the corkscrew into Bayli more.

“Oh.” I try to sympathize, while my insides are bursting with joy.

“There’s another reason.” He gives me his attention, and I suck in my lips to keep them straight.

“Oh.”

“I kept envisioning you, and it felt wrong. I said your name once, and I started making excuses after that. Believe me, Bayli knows exactly why she lost out to you.”

Unable to hold back my enthusiasm that Brad really was thinking about me, I climb over his center console and straddle him in his seat.

His hands seem unsure of where to go, so he pins one on the gear shift and the other on the door handle.

“Relax.” I kiss his forehead and he instantly eases more into his seat.

“Forget her,” I say, kissing his nose.

“She had some truths in her digs.”

My hands move up to hold his chiseled jaw, the dimple in his right cheek not showing because of his frown. “There was no truth to what she said, Brad. She never saw what’s in here.” My hand slowly moves down to cover his heart. “She never saw what I see every time I’m with you. You’re working on finding your way; don’t let her ruin that progress.” I move my hand back up to his cheek because the minute that dimple appears, my lips are smashing on his. “Remember that sweet girl, who’s asleep, waiting for her mommy and daddy to come home? She knows her daddy, and you know what she thinks of him?”

“What?” His unenthusiastic response shows how unconvinced he is.

“He’s the bravest, strongest man, who loves her. So, I think you have at least four women, who believe in you.” I hold up my fingers. “Em, Piper, your mom, and me.”

“You believe in me?” The honesty pouring from those caramel eyes could undo me and my pants.

“So much, Brad. So much.”

The dimple makes an appearance, and unable to control myself, I crash my lips to his. His hand lands on the back of my head, pulling me into the kiss, and I grind my center against his crotch. He matches my rhythm and our teeth collide as we’re unable to quench our thirst for one another.

“God, Taylor, I want you so bad.” He tugs my hair, spurring my lust on, so I capture his words with my mouth as I dive in to kiss him deeper.

His hands glide down my sides until he cups my ass, pressing me into him. Moans and groans escape from both of us. Abruptly, I’m pushed away as he holds my head in his hands.

“Not here. Not now,” he says, and I sit back as much is humanly possible with a steering wheel pressed into my back. His right hand stays on my cheek in a tender caress. “The first time we’re together again, will not be in my truck.”

“We could fool around,” I say seductively, and he sucks in a big breath.

“How about I take you home and properly feel you up in my parents’ basement?” He winks and my body melts.

“Sounds good. I may even let you venture south.” I raise my eyebrows.

“Me too.” His eyes veer down to his crotch, so I reach down and rub the hardness with my palm.