Seducing My Best Friend (Fated #3) (7 page)

I was so excited I couldn’t even open the door. I was too busy
beaming like an idiot, jangling my keys in my hand and fumbling at the lock.
Finally, I remembered that I had to turn the key and shove the door with my
shoulder at the same time to open the damn thing.

Still, as weird as it sounds, it felt good to feel flaky.

There had only been a few times in my life when I was so excited
about a guy or a kiss or a lingering hug that I felt ditzy, and this was
certainly one of them.

It felt deliciously feminine to be the object of such a sexy
man’s desire, and the fact that the man was Aiden, who I’d been crushing on for
the better part of my life, made it so much more intense.

And that slow, soft kiss in the car made it seem so real. Not
like the orgasmic sex we had on Saturday which was entirely surreal, not of
this planet, and barely believable even though I saw it up close. The sex we
had on Saturday was the Loch Ness Monster. Elusive, mysterious, hard to fathom.

But that kiss. It was as real as the Black-Eyed Susans in my hand.
It was tangible, lovely, light. And we were sober, which mattered because it
meant our getting together wasn’t a drunken mistake.

And by the time I climbed the stairs to my apartment, I was
feeling all the dangerous feelings I was most afraid of, and I was feeling them
for the person I promised myself I would never feel them for.

It seemed to me like the perfect time to borrow one of Fiona’s
Xanax, except I didn’t want to numb the feeling for a change. I wanted to know
it, to own it, especially considering how long I’d resisted it.

I set the flowers on the counter and grabbed the vase off the
window sill. I couldn’t remember the last time we actually had flowers to put
in it. As a result, it was full of magazine clippings of hairstyles Fiona and I
liked, but I took those out and shoved them in a Ziploc bag. 

“Fiona?!” I called as I cut the ends of the flowers off with the
kitchen scissors.

Maybe she wasn’t home yet. I knew she was working a later shift,
but I thought she would beat me home since I’d gone for ice cream.

No matter. I was happy to relish the warmth radiating through me
from that creamy, chocolatey kiss. And I loved this inappropriate side of
Aiden. He was so presumptuous, so forward.

I mean, where did he get off saying those things to me? It was
hard to take him seriously, but I knew better than to think he didn’t mean it. He
wasn’t the kind of guy that minced his words.

“Fiona?!” I called again.

No. Definitely not home yet.

I arranged the flowers, set them prominently on the counter, and
took a few steps back so I could admire them.

I wouldn’t normally be this excited. Usually if a guy showed
genuine interest, I kept my cool, kept my distance, and didn’t get my hopes up.
But the guys I was used to seeing didn’t have Aiden’s character, his integrity.

That’s why I never took them seriously. Because humoring my obnoxiously
feminine emotions was the fastest way to a broken heart.

But Aiden wouldn’t hurt me, would he? Was he even capable of
using me or dismissing me the way so many guys had in the past? I mean, he said
himself that he cared about me like family.

And maybe he was right. Maybe we could make this work.

God, when he asked if I’d ever thought about us getting
together, I wanted to bop him on the head.

Of course, I have you idiot! How could I not think about it over
the last fifteen years?! Was his inability to cop on sooner just because guys
developed later than girls? Was he just slow on the uptake?

Whatever it was, I didn’t want to dwell on it. I wanted to dwell
on the fact that he’d finally noticed me, and more importantly, that he liked
what he saw.

After all, there was no one whose company I enjoyed more, and the
thought that I might get to spend more time with him filled me with a stupid,
shameful joy. I blew air out between my lips. I needed to calm down.

It was just a kiss… and an invite to his family’s biggest bash
of the year. Still, it was one thing for me to get my hopes up on the inside.
But there was no reason to gush to Fiona about how excited I was. Just in case
something bad happened.

Cause I didn’t want to be pitied, especially by her. Plus, if
something went wrong with Aiden, she was all I’d have left.

I heard the key in the door and looked up.

Fiona burst in with a red nose, her eyes puffy from crying.

“Oh my god- are you okay?”

She shook her head.

I backed away from the flowers and walked around the counter.
“What’s wrong?”

She tried to speak, but her lips just shook as she wrapped her
arms around me and cried against my neck.

I placed a hand on her head and held her tight. “Fiona, talk to
me. What’s going on?”

“I didn’t know what else to do. I just reacted.”

I couldn’t even understand her as she hiccupped between breaths.
“Shhh. Calm down. Take a deep breath.” I turned her towards the sofa. “Sit.”

She slumped on the couch and put her head in her hands. “I
fucked up, Lucy. I fucked up big, and now I’m totally fucked.”

I rubbed her back. “What happened?”

“I got fired,” she said, bursting into tears again.

“What?! How?”

“Chuck. He fired me.”

“Why would he do that?” I asked.

“Cause I kneed him in the balls.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Cause he grabbed me. He grabbed me and he tried to grope my
breasts.”

“Fuck.” My eyes started to burn.

“So I reacted,” she said, leaning forward. “I’m so sorry I-“

“You have nothing to be sorry about. Look at me.”

She stared at me through puffy eyes.

“Nothing. Okay? You did the right thing.”

“But now I’m unemployed. How am I going to pay my share of the
rent?”

“Don’t worry about that,” I said. “I have plenty of savings.”

“The savings are for your salon.”

“And emergencies. Like this.”

She leaned against my shoulder.

“Why were you even alone with him? I thought we agreed not to be
stupid.”

“I was only going to be alone with him for two seconds, and Katie
had a date so I let her go.”

I shook my head. “Jesus.”

“I know.”

“Did you call the police?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Cause I was too busy telling Chuck what a spineless, dickless
bastard he was while he writhed on the floor holding his nuts.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Really?”

She nodded.

“I think we should call the police or get some legal advice or
something.”

“I just lost my job. I can’t afford legal advice.”

“It doesn’t matter. We can’t afford to let him get away with
this.”

“I know. All the way home I just kept thinking what if it was
Katie?”

“To be honest, that almost would’ve been better cause she’s only
seventeen.”

“Lucy!”

“I’m just saying.”

“I know, but still.”

“We’re going to get this guy,” I said. “We have to.”

It made me sick to think I hadn’t been kissing her
all these years, and my groin ached over what I’d been missing out on.

At least I was kissing her now. Well, not right
now… fucking Fiona.

But that’s okay. The important thing was that
things were great and that I would be seeing her soon.

I threw my car into my space and jogged across the
street to pick up some milk and eggs, the only two foods I couldn’t live
without besides protein shakes, and headed back towards my building.

The phone rang when I was half way across the
street.

“Miss me already, do ya?” I said without looking
at the caller id.

“I don’t even want to know,” Claire said.

I winced. “Damn it. I thought you were someone
else.”

“I think that goes without saying. You sounded
even more smug than usual.”

“My bad. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to know if you had any good news
for me.”

“Well, I haven’t decided not to humiliate you in
your speech if that’s what you’re asking.”

“No,” she said. “I knew better than to hope for
that.”

“In that case, you’ll be pleased to know that Lucy
said yes.”

“That’s wonderful news.”

“So please call off the dogs.”

“Will do. I have to call her back anyway.”

I lingered outside the door of my apartment
complex and squinted up at the evening light as it squeezed between the
buildings in the alley across the street.

“And before I forget, she said she’d do your hair
if you wanted her help.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, she said you could pay her in free drinks.”

“You really think she doesn’t mind?”

“Not at all. Though I’m a little surprised you
don’t have someone.”

“Well, Mom said Ricardo would probably do it, but
I was hoping my hair wouldn’t be bigger than the cake, ya know?”

“I’m sure Lucy can do it however you want.”

“It would be nice to tell Dave that at least one
thing about this wedding was actually affordable.”

“Should I tell her she’s got the job?”

“Yeah, why not? Lucy’s vibes will be good for me
on the day.”

“She’ll be happy she can help.”

“If she does a good job, she could get a lot more
work out of it, too. Three of my sorority sisters are getting married in the
fall.”

“Sounds expensive.”

“That’s what Dad said.”

I shrugged. “Is that all you were calling about?”

“Pretty much. Plus, it’s nice to hear your voice.
You’re the only person that doesn’t have a million questions for me right now.”

“Cause I’m an answers guy.”

“Fair enough. Chat soon.”

“Later.”

I slipped the phone in my back pocket. I couldn’t
wait to tell Lucy the good news just as soon as I got the milk in the fridge.
And the thought of my sister and Lucy being happy because of an idea I had was
almost enough to have me skipping to my door.

But as soon as I stepped in my apartment, I
deflated like a cheap balloon. “What are you doing here?”

Chelsea was sitting on a barstool in one of my
collared shirts. It was open, and I could see her skin all the way from her
collarbone to where her hands were holding the stool between her spread legs.

“I’m surprising you,” she said. “And by the look
on your face, I’m doing a good job.”

I dropped my keys in the bowl and walked to the
fridge, determined not to let her get a rise out of me. “You got me,” I said,
keeping my eyes on the fridge as I crossed the floor. “I wasn’t expecting you
to come crawling back.”

She made a pouty face and slid off the stool,
following me around the counter.

I opened the fridge and put the whole grocery bag
in.

When I closed the door, she was standing beside
me, doing nothing to keep my shirt from billowing open and revealing a hairless
pussy which was highlighted by her skimpy tan lines.

“Ohh,” she sighed. “I missed you looking at me
like that.”

I swallowed. “What do you want, Chelsea?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“I’d guess, but you won’t like what I have to
say.”

“Try me,” she said, leaning against the counter
until a crease formed between her meager breasts.

“You want me to call the cops and have you
arrested for breaking and entering?”

“No,” she said. “And it’s not breaking and
entering if I have a key.”

“About that, I’m going to need that b-”

“Ahh ahh ahh.” She wagged a finger in my face.
“Not so fast. Keep guessing.”

“You want me to break up with you again because it
was so much fun the first time?”

“No,” she said. “And we didn’t break up, Aiden. We
had a fight.”

“No. We definitely broke up,” I said. “I can tell
because there’s all this money in my bank account and food in my fridge that
wouldn’t be here if you still were.”

“Ouch.” She looked down. “That really hurts. But
I’ll give you one more guess.”

I shrugged. “Shit, I don’t know what you want,
Chelse? To humiliate yourself?”

“No,” she said, running a hand up my arm. “Not
unless that’s code for letting you come on my face.”

“Jesus.” I took a step back. “Have some
self-respect, will you? You’re better than this.”

“So are you,” she said, taking another step. “We
both are. We’re better together.”

“What is this really about?” I asked. “You need
money or something?”

“No,” she said. “You want me to tell you what I
want?”

“Yeah, like five minutes ago.”

She tilted her head at me. “I want you back.”

“Not happening.”

“I want to have the dirtiest, raunchiest, roughest
make up sex we’ve ever had, and then I want everything to go back to how it
used to be.”

“Not going to happen,” I said. “But thanks for
stopping by.”

“Come on, Aiden,” she said, pulling the shirt open
so her tits were less than an arms’ reach away. “Don’t you miss this?”

“I don’t know how to tell you this,” I said. “But
I don’t miss anything about you at all.”

Her lips fell apart.

“And as far as this-” I gestured to her naked body
in front of me. “Well, you’re a beautiful girl, but you’re too skinny.”

She gasped and pulled the shirt closed around her.
“How dare you! You know how sensitive I am about that!”

“I hope someday you can forgive me for my honesty.
Now give me my keys and get out.”

“That’s not fair! You have no good reason to throw
away what we have.”

“Actually, I have more than eight good reasons.”

“Eight?”

“Yeah, eight, the number of times you cheated on
me in the last two months of our relationship.”

“So I made a mistake.”

I rolled my eyes.

“But at least I can admit it. At least I’m not a
hypocrite.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I found another woman’s panties in your bedroom.”

“Fuck. How long have you been here?”

“You want to tell me what that’s about?”

“I think the panties speak for themselves.”

“So you admit you cheated on me, too?”

“I see what you’re trying to do here, but I was
never unfaithful to you while we were together.”

“But you’ve been unfaithful since then.”

I shook my head. “Whatever. You’re right. I’ve
been cheating on you since we broke up.” I couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s not funny.”

“It is from where I’m standing.”

“Here’s what I propose-”

“That you leave and don’t come back?”

“No.” She took a deep breath through her nose.
“That we call it even and start again with a clean slate.”

I put my hands on her shoulders. “It means a lot
to me that you want to give this another chance. Unfortunately I don’t.”

“But-”

“Remember the last time we talked? How you said I
was too nice? That it was so easy to cheat on me? Do you really think I should
give you another chance after you said that stuff?”

“But I love you.”

“Well, if I thought your words meant something,
I’d be flattered. Now if you would kindly give me my key and my shirt.”

“Will you at least think about it?”

“No.”

“I’m going to take that as a maybe.”

“Don’t.”

“Say maybe or I won’t leave.”

“Maybe,” I said.

She smiled, held up my key, and put it on the
counter.

I snatched it and finished my thought. “Maybe I’ll
have amnesia and forget what a selfish, unfeeling bitch you are. Then maybe I’ll
take you back.”

Her jaw dropped.

“But don’t count on it.”

She crossed her arms and fumed as I walked to the
door and opened it.

“Hey close that! I’m not even dressed!”

I closed it and started to count. “10…9…8…”

She took my shirt off, threw it over the chair,
and walked over to her crumpled dress on the couch.

“7…6…5…”

She slipped it over her head, smoothed it down,
and grabbed her purse.

“4…3…2…”

She stopped in front of me. “You have my number,”
she said softly.

“Can I give you some advice?”

She nodded.

“You’re in the wrong profession.”

She crinkled her face.

“You should be an actress.”

She smiled.

“It might be a good way to capitalize on your
multiple personalities.”