Society Girls: Waverly (14 page)

“I like her, too. I don’t want to take you away from the rest of your guests, so how about we compromise, and talk after the party?”

“Can I hold your hand and kiss you until then?”

“No, but I might dance with you later.”

“I had to ask.”

“And I had to say no. You hurt me. I love you, but I can’t pretend like you didn’t shatter my heart.”

“I’m going to do everything I can to put it back together.”

“Go mingle. I’ll see you later.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

W
averly

“Later” comes sooner than I expected it to, when I find myself seated at Knox’s table for dinner. It’s his parents, teenage cousin, Cohen and his date, another woman looks really familiar and is currently glaring at me, and the two of us. I notice Knox glaring back at the woman, and his mom is smirking. I don’t know what’s going on, but this meal is sure to be interesting. Nice and cozy, too.

“It’s nice to meet you, Waverly. My wife hasn’t stopped raving about you,” Mr. Edwards tells me.

“It’s great to meet you, too, Mr. Edwards.”

“Please call me Joe.”

“Can you move so I can sit next to Knox?” the woman asks me, interrupting what I was about to say.

“No, Gwen, she cannot,” he says, his jaw clenched tight.

Gwen? She’s Gwen? The Gwen who cheated on Knox and broke his heart? No wonder she looks familiar. I haven’t looked at her picture recently, but I still should’ve known. Just goes to show how much being near Knox messes with my mind.

This twist is definitely unexpected, though. I study her, trying to see something there that makes us alike enough for Knox to have loved us both. She’s blonde, thin, and stylish. I can dress myself, but that’s about all we have in common. Well, Knox, but I don’t think we’re on the same page with him, either.

“I want to talk to you,” she says with a pout.

“First of all, we have absolutely nothing to talk about. Second, why the fuck are you here?”

“She begged,” Gretchen tells him, “and I thought it would be fun.”

“Of course you did,” Joe says.

Knox’s cousin lets out a squeal, and we all turn to look at her. “It’s him! You really got Wayne from Storyside to come here, Aunt Gretchen!”

“Of course I did.”

I turn to look at the bad boy of pop music, who just happens to be bandmates with Stella’s husband, Kace. Kace’s brother Brett is dating her assistant, Kevin, so we see the entire band fairly often. Wayne also hooks up with Jenysis, another recruit from the Society, on a regular basis. We’re not close friends, and he used to try and hit on me before he started up with Jen, but we get along really well.

He winks as he makes his way to our table. “Hiya, beautiful,” he says as he leans down to kiss my cheek.

“Hi, Wayne. I didn’t know you’d be here tonight.”

“Mrs. Edwards asked me, and then I heard you’d be attending. You know I have a weakness for hot redheads.”

I roll my eyes. “Especially ones with posh British accents.”

“Well yeah, but she’s not talking to me right now.”

“That won’t last long.”

It never does. He and Jenysis fight and then fuck. Or fuck and then fight. It’s their thing.

“One can only hope. In the meantime, I get to hang with you.”

“Or not,” Knox says, not disguising his anger.

“Don’t worry, swim boy, she won’t let me anywhere near her panties. Not even before I started enjoying her friend’s company on a semi-regular basis.”

“Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t introduce you to anyone.”

I rectify that, and he takes a seat between me and Knox’s cousin. There’s one more chair open, and I’m not surprised when Isa comes over to sit in it. After she’s been properly greeted by Wayne, of course. That man oozes charm like it’s being created in his body, and he just has to get it out into the world. At least when he wants to be charming.

“I’ll let you near my panties, Wayne,” Gwen says with a sigh. If she bats her eyes any harder, her fake eyelashes are going to fly off.

“What happened to coming here to talk to me?” Knox asks, and I feel a little jealous until he squeezes my thigh. Ah, he’s just calling her out.

“Oh. Well. I mean. He’s
Wayne
.”

“Rock star trumps swimmer. Got it.”

She looks torn, while Wayne watches her with one eyebrow raised. Knox sits back, and crosses his arms, watching and waiting. “I’m sorry, but yes.”

“Works for me,” Knox tells her, leaning over to kiss me lightly on the mouth. I let him, because…well, because I want him to.

“You ready to go, Wayne?” Gwen asks, standing up.

“Not sorry, but no.”

“But I’m guaranteeing you’ll get laid.”

“I have no problem getting laid, honey.”

“You’re really turning me down?”

“I really am.”

She storms out, and I look over to my friend as he pushes his hands through his hair, and lets out a long breath. “Never a dull moment when you’re around.”

“Not if I can help it,” he says, and then looks at the sweet girl next to him. “You’re gonna dance with me all night, right? Help me keep the chicks like that one at bay?”

She looks like she might faint as she nods, and I start to laugh until I see Isa’s face go hard. Her eyes go to me, and she nods, letting me know Knox’s stalker has arrived. We thought she might show up here, but we weren’t sure. We
are
ready for her, though.

K
nox

Waverly looks tense all of a sudden, but I don’t have a chance to ask her about it because Cohen asks her to dance, pulling her to her feet before she can answer. His date looks pissed, and I’m not feeling too charitable towards him at the moment either. Waverly looks worried as I catch her eye, and I get up to go to her.

Halfway across the dance floor, I get stopped by a girl who looks vaguely familiar. I try to just smile and keep moving, but she’s not having it. “Dance with me, Knox.”

“Um, thanks, but no.”

I feel something pressed into my side, and look down to see a gun. Whoa! “I want to dance with you.”

“Okay. Sure. Let’s dance.”

I place my arms around her loosely, but she pulls me closer, and since the gun’s still pressing into me, I go along with it. I try to turn on so I can let Waverly know something’s wrong, but this chick isn’t going to let that happen.

“Stop looking at
her.
You’re with me now. And forever. We’re going to live happily ever after.”

No, actually, I’m probably going to die soon, because God knows, I’d rather die than spend eternity with anyone other than Wave. “Where have you been?” I ask, hoping she’ll tell me how I know her.

I’m pretty sure she was either a suck or a fuck, but I’m been with so many thin blondes, they all started to look alike. I know that’s bad, but it’s how it was. Until I met the curvy redhead who changed my world for the better. Feeling like I might die makes me realize I can’t live without her. If I live through this, that is.

“I had to go away. It was supposed to be you, Knox. Why wasn’t it you?” she wails, pressing the gun into my ribs so hard it hurts.

“I-I don’t know.”

“You don’t love me.”

“I don’t know you well enough to love you.”

“But I love you.”

What the hell am I supposed to say to that? Should I thank her? I’m way out of my league with this girl, and there’s no relief in sight. Until there is.

“Can I cut in?” Waverly asks, a smile on her face that doesn’t reach her eyes. Cohen is standing behind her, looking nervous.

“No. Go back to
him
. Knox is with me now.”

“Oh sweetie, I don’t share, so I’m gonna need you to back off my boy.”

“He’s mine!”

“Not in this lifetime, but you can try again in the next one.”

“You bitch! I hate you!”

“I’m not exactly loving you, but I will give you one more chance. Walk away.”

The girl spins towards Waverly, lifting the gun as she goes. I freeze as Wave does some crazy hand move that puts the gun in
her
hand, and then takes the girl to the floor. The crazy one is flailing and yelling as Martha come out of nowhere, and punches Wave.

Her head snaps back, but she doesn’t loosen her grip. Isa is there, a gun in her hand now, too. “Back away from her, Martha.”

“She ruined everything!”

“Your plan was ruined long before me. Your goddaughter here made some bad choices. You do need to tell us where the baby is, though,” Waverly says to her.

“Baby?” I ask starting to freak out.

“It should’ve been yours,” the chick on the floor yells to me. “Why wasn’t it yours?”

Once again, I’m frozen, and don’t know what to say. Waverly takes care of it for me with one word. “Karma. Now, tell me where the baby is.”

“Why?” Martha yells. “Why did it have to be
him
. It was supposed to be Knox and not some washed up hanger-on.”

“But it wasn’t.”

“Wait. Oh my God. Now I recognize her,” Cohen says. “It was a little over a year ago, and she sucked off Knox, and then I fucked her.”

“Yes,” Isa says.

“You knew? You knew this crazy chick had my baby. Did you know?” he asks Waverly.

“We found out before we left Africa.”

“You didn’t tell me?” I ask, because how could she keep all of this from me. From us?

“We were trying to catch her. That wasn’t going to happen if you went looking for her. Martha would’ve tipped her off.”

“I have a baby,” Cohen says, dropping into the nearest chair.

“Yes, and we need to find him”

“It’s a boy?”

Waverly nods, and then cocks the gun, placing it at the throat of the woman she’s holding. “I will blow your fucking head off, and torture your godmother to within an inch of her life, if you don’t tell me where that baby is.”

“He’s in my house. Don’t kill her. Please don’t kill her,” Martha begs.

Cohen runs for the door, and I follow him out. I can’t believe he has a baby, and I really can’t believe Waverly didn’t tell us. When we walk into Martha’s place, the baby is sleeping in one of those portable playpen things. He’s so tiny, and Coh pulls in a sharp breath as we stand over him.

“He’s mine. What do I do with him?”

“You love him.”

“I don’t know anything about babies.”

“We’ll learn.”

“You have trials coming up. Shit. I don’t know if I can go with you. I don’t even know if I can have him now. What if I’m not on his birth certificate, and they don’t let me keep him.”

“I don’t know about the birth certificate, but I do know no one’s taking him from you. And as for trials, we’ll figure something out.”

I don’t know how long we stand there, just staring at the little guy, before my mom comes in. She puts her arms around Cohen, and he holds her tight. When they let go of each other, she looks down at the baby with a big smile on her face. My parents practically raised him, so it’s like she got her first grandchild. I should feel a little jealous, but all I feel is worry for my friend. We’ll all help him, but all of a sudden finding out you have a kid…well, I don’t even know how that must feel.

“Waverly and Isa just handed Martha and her goddaughter off to the police.”

“What’s her name? The woman? I can’t remember her name,” Cohen says, running his hands over his face.

“Barb.”

“She looks like a Barb.”

“How are you both being so calm. Waverly lied to us. She knew you had a baby, and she knew who was threatening me.”

“She was doing her job,” my mom reminds me. “A job you didn’t tell me about. We’ll talk about that later, though. She was amazing, though, wasn’t she?”

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I’m not going to let her hide behind that excuse. She may have been amazing, but that doesn’t change the fact she didn’t tell me anything.”

“It’s not an excuse, man, so knock off your bullshit. She was hired to protect you, and she was doing that. I have no doubt that when she found everything out, she did what she had to in order to make sure my son was safe, too. If Martha had any inkling she knew, who knows what the two of them would’ve done.”

“Cohen is right. Just from what we saw tonight, it’s obvious they had some plan that went wrong, and it made them both a little crazy.”

I know they’re right. “Yeah, I guess. I still don’t like it, but I understand it.”

“She felt bad about it. She’s been acting weird around me, and I thought I’d just pissed her off. Now I know it was because she couldn’t tell me.”

The baby wakes up then, and starts crying. Cohen looks scared, but when my mom nods at him, he reaches down and picks up his son. It takes a minute of rocking, but like must recognize like, because he snuggles into Coh’s chest, and goes back to sleep. My friend is smiling like he won his first Olympic medal, and I know he’s going to be alright. We all are.

W
averly

I can’t believe I’m in a mall. Well, since I’m with Matisse, I can
believe
it, but it’s not my normal choice of how to spend the day. Ken went with Cohen to jump off cliffs, and Teesy really wanted me to hang out with her. Isa offered to take over at the pools for the day, so here I am, sitting in a chair while Matisse tries things on.

“There’s got to be something out there you want to try on,” she yells over the dressing room door.

“Nothing in here is going to fit me,” I inform her.

“Shit. Why didn’t you say something? We can go somewhere else?”

She comes out of the dressing room with nothing in her arms, and pulls me up and out of the store. “There aren’t a lot of places that carry clothes for women of my stature.”

“Well, there should be.”

“You’re not going to get an argument from me.”

“Good, because we’re going to find some things for you.”

Two hours later, I collapse into a chair at the food court. Canal Walk Mall has something for everyone, including us girls in the double digit sizes, and I have the shopping bags to prove it. Matisse is equally laden down, and we both want food.

“Do we really want fast food?” she asks.

“No. We should go to Cape Town Fish Market after we rest for a minute.”

“Do they have sushi?”

“Yep. I looked up the menu online.”

“Perfect. Just give me another minute.”

“This shopping thing was your idea.”

“I know. I’m just out of practice with all the studying I’ve been doing.”

“Sexy studying with Ken, or other stuff?”

“Both,” she says, flashing me a wicked grin.

“You can tell me all about it while we eat,” I say, forcing myself up and out of my seat as she does the same. “Well, not the sexy stuff, but how your other lessons are going.”

Once we’re at a table outside on the covered patio with drinks and sushi ordered, Matisse picks our conversation back up where we left off. “It’s hard. I know it has to be, because we’re training to save the world, but damn. All these classes, even the ones I think I know, are just kicking our asses.”

“Has anyone told Reina? Maybe she needs to slow down on the timeline.”

“We’ve talked about it, but no one wants to upset her or freak her out while she’s pregnant.”

“I’ve worked for Reina for a few years now, and trust me, she’ll want to know you’re all struggling to keep up.”

“She sees our grades.”

“Yes, but you’re all excelling in at least one thing, so it won’t be so apparent.”

“You’re so lu—,” she starts to say, but stops.

“Go ahead and finish your sentence.”

I can tell she doesn’t want to, but I motion for her to go ahead with it. “I was going to say you’re lucky because you can test out of almost everything. But that’s an asshole statement.”

“No, it’s how you feel. The other girls too, huh?”

“We love you, Wave, and we hate how you learned it all, but yeah, we’re a little jealous.”

“Does it help to know that I’m struggling hard with research? Like seriously, it’s kicking my ass.”

“Actually yes, I do feel better. I can’t wait to tell everyone else.”

I roll my eyes, and smile at her. “I’ll help all of you when I get back. Promise.”

“Thanks. I’ll tell them that, too.”

“As long as you promise to talk to Reina.”

“Always a catch.”

“Not a catch when it’s the right thing to do.”

“I want to be you when I grow up,” she jokes.

“Please don’t. That would freak out Ken—and me, knowing you’re with him.”

I shudder, and she’s the one laughing now. “Okay, I’ll just be a little like you.”

“Much better.”

“Enough about me. Tell me about you and the swimmer.”

“He listens to me, understands me, loves me, and gives me lots of orgasms.”

“Good for you, Wave.”

“Yeah, it is.”

We talk some more about the Society, our guys, and our friends while we eat. After, she convinces me to make one more pass through the shops to make sure we didn’t miss anything. Once she’s satisfied, we fill up their rented Range Rover with all of our bags, and head back to the house. I never thought I’d have fun shopping with another girl all day. But then again, I’ve discovered all kinds of new things about myself these last few weeks. Maybe coming back here was exactly what I needed.

K
nox

Isa fit right in at the gym, although she didn’t run while I lifted, like Waverly normally does. She was glued to her laptop, her fingers flying over the keys. I don’t know if she found something, but she was definitely interested in what she was looking at. In fact, I have to actually touch her shoulder to get her attention when it’s time to go home.

“Sorry, Knox. I get caught up in my work sometimes.”

She throws her computer in her big bag, and pushes her glasses up further on her nose as we walk out. If I hadn’t seen her throw Elani to the ground and threaten her, I probably wouldn’t believe she did it. She looks like a meek librarian who wouldn’t hurt a fly.

“What?” she asks/

“I was just thinking about you being a lot tougher than you look.”

“Thanks. I try hard to keep my badass bitch side hidden most of the time.”

Cohen bursts out laughing as Isa and I smile at each other. “You’re a cool chick, Isa. Are you sure your marriage is a happy one?”

“So happy, and he has a few sex medals to prove it.”

I choke on the swallow of water I just took, and shake my head. “Damn girl. You’re just full of surprises.”

“I know,” she says with a wink.

I try not to think about how good that bout of laughter felt as I drive us back to the house. Today was rough, and while Isa may have been too caught up in her work to see it, Cohen didn’t miss a thing. We’re going to have to talk privately when we get back, because I don’t want him saying anything to Wave about it. Everyone’s entitled to one bad day. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

When we walk into the house, Isa grabs Wave before I can even kiss her. I don’t know what she found, but it must be good. Or bad. Either way, I’m sure I’ll hear about it soon.

I can see Matisse and Kendrick swimming in the big pool, and Martha’s gone, so Coh and I have the privacy we need to talk about today. “I know I sucked. It was just an off day.”

“You don’t have off days.”

“I couldn’t focus when I was in the pool.”

“You were thinking about Waverly.”

“Yes.” More specifically, I wasn’t thinking about my realization last night that she’s more important to me than swimming.

“You know I love her, but you can’t let this happen if you want to keep competing. No one has ever distracted you from your goals before.”

“I’ve never been in love before.”

“Gwen?”

“Now that I know Wave, I realize what I had with Gwen was never love. At least not the kind of love I’m feeling right now.”

“You could quit.”

“There are too many people depending on me, even if I wanted to, which I don’t.”

“If by ‘people’ you mean me, then you should know I’ve turned down a few jobs already this year.”

“I
do
know. I also know I’d probably still have some endorsements, even if I quit, so there’d be things for you to manage. It’s not just you, though. I have the travel team here, plus everyone else back home. Not to mention that I want this. I
want
to go to one more Games.”

“Then you’re going to have to figure out how to balance Waverly and swimming. Or you’re going to have to walk away from her.”

“How do I walk away from the love of my life?”

“You don’t. Make it work somehow.”

I nod, and head into my room to change. Throwing on a t-shirt and board shorts, I go outside, and stick my feet in my private pool. All I can think about when I look at the pool is making love to Waverly in it last night. That’s what I thought about when I was in the water today. I couldn’t block her out, and that’s a problem.

I mean it when I said I don’t know how to walk away from her, but I also don’t know if I can make it work like Coh told me to. It’s not as easy as he makes it seems. Nothing worth having is supposed to be easy, but what happens when there are two things you really want—you really
need
—and they can’t go together? Can I ask Wave to wait while I pursue my dream? Or do I give up my old dream for my new one? I have a little bit of time to figure it out, if I even can.

W
averly

“I found something today,” Isa says, because of course she did.

“I swear I was trying. I just suck at research.”

“If you sucked, you wouldn’t have already been following the thread I picked up on.”

“Really? It was something I found?”

“Yes. Now focus.”

“Okay,” I say, as I do a mental fist pump.

She opens her computer, and shows me what she found. My jaw drops as she flips through the different screens, piecing everything together. I may have had a hunch, but this is all her, and I’m genuinely impressed. Inspired too. I want to be as good as her, and with her as my teacher, I think I have a shot.

“Ainsley’s team is working on tracking her down, although with the help she has, it will be hard to stop her from getting back into Knox’s house.”

“We can’t let that happen. She’s obviously unstable.”

“Aiden is on his way to San Diego now. He’ll make sure the house is secure.”

“Good. What do we do now?”

“Nothing, unfortunately. Unless she shows up at one of the places she’s used her credit card, we have to wait for Ainsley to find her. If anyone can do it, it’s her, but like me, she has to rely on information she finds, so it could take some time.”

“We have to keep him safe.”

“We’d do that even if you weren’t in love with him. You’ve done a great job, Wave. Yes, you can use some more practice with research, but you’re on the right track.”

“Thanks, Isa. It means a lot coming from you.”

“You’re welcome. Now, let’s go find some food. I’m starving.”

“Can we tell Knox?”

“Not yet. We don’t want him accidentally saying something to someone who might tip her off.”

“You think someone is working with her?”

“Besides the obvious person, no.”

“It’s going to hurt him when he finds out who her helper is.”

“Sometimes that’s unavoidable. I’m sure he’ll take hurt over death.”

“Well, yeah. That’s a given.”

I know I have to listen to Isa, and not tell Knox yet, but I hate keeping anything from him after I bared my soul last night. Hopefully, I’ll be able to tell him soon. In the meantime, I’m glad we’re working to keep him safe. That’s the most important thing.