The Beginning of Us (149 page)

Authors: Alexis Noelle

Finally, after about fifteen minutes of bawling my eyes out, I wiped my eyes and leaned on his shoulder. “Sorry about that.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

“Why do I feel so guilty?”

He wiped away another set of tears that were falling down my face. “Because you’re a beautiful person. You’re sister made her own decisions.”

“Stosh, she’s not going to stop trying to get to us. Hurting her is going to cost us.”

He leaned over and kissed me. “She’s never going to be able to touch us. I’d die before I ever let her hurt us again. Besides, maybe she’s learned her lesson.”

I felt content with his words, because, for the time being, we were safe. We had years before we had to worry about Ivy. It was plenty of time for us to be prepared.

“Let’s go home.”

He kissed me one more time before pulling out of the parking lot. “I thought you’d never ask.”

The End!

Where I

Need to Be

By

Kimberly Knight

No portion of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or

distributed in any print or electronic form without

permission. This book is a work of fiction and any

resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and story lines are created from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The subject matter is not appropriate for minors. Please note this novel contains profanity, explicit sexual situations, and alcohol consumption.

WHERE I NEED TO BE

Published by Kimberly Knight

Cover art © by Knight Publishing & Design, LLC and E. Marie Photography

Formatted by Fictional Formats and Knight Publishing & Design, LLC

DEDICATION

For my family, friends,

and to all who have supported me

through this crazy journey.

CHAPTER ONE

When life hands you lemons, they say to make lemonade. Well, life just handed me a whole lemon tree. Three weeks ago, I felt like nothing in my life could go wrong. I was in Hawaii with my best friend, Ryan Kennedy, her boyfriend, Max, and who I had thought to be the love of my life, Travis.

Travis and I met almost two years before at a New Year’s Eve party that Ryan invited me to. Her boyfriend had just made partner at his law firm and threw a huge party at his house to celebrate his promotion and ring in the New Year.

Travis was an attorney at the firm as well and I would like to say it was love at first sight, but looking back, it was never love. I was instantly attracted to Travis but it had taken us a few dates to actually click. He had short brown hair, green eyes and a sweet, innocent, charming side to him. The side that opened doors for you, pulled out your chair and even cooked and cleaned up after himself. I thought I had met the one.
Wrong
.

“Alright, Spencer Marshall, it is time to get your
ass
off the couch and start acting like you have a life again,” Ryan said as she came storming into our house stomping on the hardwood floors with her heels. She stopped walking when she reached the couch I was sitting on—the couch which was starting to grow accustomed to my daily and nightly ritual and had formed the perfect indention of my butt. “You’ve been moping around here for two weeks and I’m no longer going to let my best friend waste her life away over a guy.”

“Go away!” I shouted at her as I stuffed my face with a spoonful of mint chocolate chip ice cream. “I’m fine.” Ryan was right though, I needed to stop moping. My mom always told me that no man was worth my tears. But in all honesty, after dating someone for almost two years, aren't you allowed a few tears and some depression after you walk into his office and find him banging his secretary on his desk? I had just wanted to surprise him and take him to lunch. I didn’t realize he had a surprise for me, too.

“Tomorrow night I’m going to scope out that new gym Club 24 that opened near my office. My boss is writing a story about it and asked me to use the free two-week membership pass we got to do some research and get the low-down so she can use it in her article for the website.”

I worked as an Executive Assistant to the CEO of a start-up internet company based out of San Francisco called
Better Keep Jogging Baby
or better known by our website, www.bkjb.com. Our company was dedicated to providing fitness and nutrition information to the world.

“Spencer, you better or I will kick your ass when you get home and drag you to the gym with me on Tuesday morning.” Ryan and I met our freshman year of college at UC Santa Cruz nine years ago when we were eighteen. Over the years, I’d learned that her threats were really promises. She was
not
kidding.

“Alright, alright, I’ll go pack my gym bag…after I finish this bowl of ice cream.” Ryan rolled her eyes at me and I stuck my tongue out at her. I appreciated her support and enthusiasm, but I had never been a morning person and I wasn’t about to start now.

*~*~*

My Monday workday dragged on and on, and all I wanted to do was go home, get in my PJs, and watch
The Voice
. When five o’clock rolled around, I honestly had half a mind to bypass the gym and do exactly that. I remembered Ryan’s threat, and I sure as shit didn’t want her waking me up at 5:00 a.m. to go to the gym before work. Regardless, it was part of my job, and at least my boss had promised me extra vacation hours for doing this for her.

Alright, time to get this shit over with.
Club 24 was an up and coming chain and I needed a new gym anyway. I used to go to the gym with my ex, Travis, or as Ryan liked to call him now, Trav
Ass
. I really hoped that I would never have to see him again, so thankfully this gym opened over a month ago and was close to work and home.

The gym was packed with the usual after-work crowd, but there were two treadmills open next to each other. Claiming one of them for myself, I popped in my iPod ear buds and started to walk briskly for my warm-up. Listening to music while running always seemed to clear my head and right now I needed to let my mind go numb.

After running for five minutes, I thought I was going to pass out. I envisioned myself rolling off the treadmill as I had seen a few times on
The Biggest Loser
. That was all I needed with this packed gym. I slowed the treadmill back down to walk for a few minutes to catch my breath. Shortly after that, I noticed that someone had stepped onto the treadmill next to me.

I glanced to my right and that’s when I noticed
him
for the first time. Trying not to get caught staring, I eyed him with my peripheral vision. Always a plus to have eye candy when you’re doing something you really don’t want to do. He was about six feet tall, appeared to be around my age of twenty-seven, had chestnut brown hair that was just long enough to have a messy spiky look, and broad shoulders…and oh wow—a smile that made my heart stop.

Of course, he caught me staring.
Shit
.

I reached for my phone and quickly texted Ryan.

Me:
OMFG, I have my very own Gideon Cross at the gym. Hot guy running on the treadmill next to me! :)

Ryan:
Jealous! Don’t tell Max, LOL…I want all the details TONIGHT.

When I looked into the mirror in front of me, I noticed that my face was bright red. It was either from being exhausted on the treadmill or from being caught checking him out—probably a mixture of the two. After a few minutes of walking, I thought to myself,
Alright, you can’t let this guy think you’re that out of shape
. I sped back up to what I considered an energetic pace and started jogging again.

It had been at least a month since I had been to the gym. Before I discovered Trav
Ass
having a nooner with his secretary, Misty, we were in Hawaii.
What a sad cliché, right?
Little did I know that when Travis said he was getting texts from work, he really meant texts from Misty about what she couldn’t wait to do to him when he was back home.

After another twenty minutes of jogging—and a few covert glances to my right—I couldn’t take anymore. I stopped the treadmill and wiped it down. While backing off the treadmill, I peeked at
his
ass.
What a perfect ass
…Yep, my endorphins were flowing now. Taking a few steps towards the locker room, I glanced over my right shoulder to find him staring at me.
Holy shit
. Our eyes met and he gave me that heart-stopping smile he flashed when he first got on the treadmill. More a smirk than a smile, it still made my heart skip a beat.

*~*~*

Ryan was waiting for me when I walked into our house. “I ordered Chinese. It’ll be here in ten. Go shower and then we can veg and you can tell me all about this
hottie
.”

“There isn’t really much to tell.”

“Anything is better than nothing. I’ve been with Max for three years. I need to live the single life vicariously through you now.”

“Gee thanks,” I said, and we both giggled.

After getting out of the shower, I smelled the aroma of the Chinese takeout Ryan had ordered.
Great, I just went to the gym and now I’m going to have a 3000 calorie meal.

“What’s on the menu tonight?” I asked as I walked into the kitchen and started opening the Chinese take-out boxes on the breakfast bar. Ryan’s parents owned the house and rented it to us. They’d remodeled it for us as a graduation present and the kitchen was one of our favorite rooms. It was spacious and modern with stainless steel appliances and granite counter tops, but its white oak cabinets also gave it a homey feel.

“Only our favorites—Kung Pao Chicken, Broccoli Beef, Fried Rice and Cream Cheese Wontons.”

Yep, that was an easy 3000 calories each.
I gave an inward sigh.

“Alright, spill,” Ryan demanded as she forked a piece of broccoli and bit into it with a crunch.

I paused to dip a Cream Cheese Wonton in sweet and sour sauce before stuffing it in my mouth. Savoring the creamy filling with a bit of tangy sweetness, I licked my fingers and sighed in contentment. “Like I said, there isn’t much to say. I went to the gym and there was a total hottie running on the treadmill next to me.”

“Well, what did he look like?”

I reached into the cabinet and grabbed a couple of wine glasses for us. Retrieving a bottle of chilled Moscato from the wine fridge, I poured a glass for each of us. I handed one to Ryan, we went to the living room and sat down on the floor by the coffee table. “Well, I’d say he’s about six foot, around our age, with kind of short light brown hair...you know, just how I like them, and a smile…man, that smile makes me melt. I couldn’t stare long enough to get a good look though. I just hope he’s there again tomorrow.”

Ryan continued to quiz me, but as I had told her repeatedly, I had been at the gym for less than an hour and hadn’t even spoken to him. I had just snuck a few glances here and there. Well, hoped I snuck a few glances; I was caught a few times.

After polishing off all of the food and watching a two hour episode of
The Voice
, I was beat. “Alright, I’m going to call it a night. I’ll see you tomorrow when I get home from the gym,” I said as I walked into the kitchen and put our dishes in the dishwasher.

“Wait, we forgot about our fortunes,” Ryan said, tossing a fortune cookie to me.

Not only did we sometimes play the lotto numbers on the fortunes, but it was also tradition to add “in bed” at the end and giggle like little girls. “Oh right. What does yours say?” I asked as I cracked mine open.

“Courtesy is contagious… in bed.”

“I bet Max would like that fortune for you,” I said, laughing at her.

“I bet he would, too,” she said, laughing as well. “What does yours say?”

“Be prepared to receive something special…in bed.”

Ryan snatched the fortune out of my hand. “I bet that hottie at the gym has something to do with this!”

“Yeah right, I’m sure I will never see him again or get up the courage to talk to him.”

“Uh huh. If you don't talk to him by the end of the week, I'm going down there.”