The UN Series Complete Box Set (63 page)

“Courtney. You know I love you. I’m sorry for what I said regarding you and Josh.” Angel looks from Courtney to Josh. “I know you feel differently about him.”

I smile knowing that Angel just repeated the same words Josh had once said to me.

“I’ve just been emotional lately,” Courtney admits. Josh gives her a little nod before she turns back to Angel. “I’ve decided to locate my father,” she finishes quietly.

“That’s great, Court!” Angel says excitedly. “You know I am here for you no matter what. I will help you however I can.”

Courtney nods as she starts to cry. Angel moves to sit by her and pulls her in for a hug. Josh and I stand to walk to the kitchen giving the girls their privacy.

I let out a breath watching them now cry in the living room as they hug one another. “I’ve always wondered if all women were like Angel; emotionally unstable. Now I guess I have my answer.”

Josh lets out a little laugh. “I don’t know. I’ve only had one other relationship, and my ex was always such a stone cold bitch.”

I nod my head in agreement, watching the girls talk quietly.

“You know she didn’t leave me,” Josh speaks, pulling my attention away from the girls.

He looks down to the floor then takes a deep breath. “That night of my birthday.” He looks up to me. “I heard her come on to you. I heard all the things she said about me. Thanks for being a true friend and turning her down.”

“Uh?” I stutter as I remember throwing a house party for Josh’s birthday the beginning of this year.

I walk out of my bathroom to find her lying on my bed in her signature skinny jeans and tight fitting top that shows off her chest. “What are you doing in here?” I ask, looking around. “Where’s Josh?”

“Out there drinking,” she says, twirling a piece of hair around her finger.

“Why are you in here? Get out.” I point to the door.

She slowly pushes herself off the bed and walks toward me. I stalk over to the door and start to open it when she pushes it shut with her hand.

“I’m not ready to leave.” She presses her hands against my chest.

My jaw clenches at the audacity of this bitch. I grab her hands and spin her around pushing her back against the door.

“Hmm,” she hums, “I like it rough.” She smirks.

“You think I want you?” I laugh. “You’re engaged to my best friend.”

“I won’t tell him. Come on, Slade, give me that ride all the girls brag about.”

“It’s his birthday you fucking bitch,” I grit through my teeth.

“Trust me. It will be worth it.”

I tighten my hands around her wrist. “I would never fuck you. Even if you begged me,” I growl, pushing away, letting go of her wrists. “Now get the fuck out of my room.”

She takes a step away from the wall. “I know he’s fucked around on me.” I have never wanted to slap a woman, but I sure want to right now.

“Josh would never fuck around on you, he loves you.” I look her in her eyes. “Although, I don’t know why.”

She gives me a little laugh. “Love has nothing to do with wanting to fuck someone, Slade. You are a prime example of that. Come on. You can do whatever you want with me.”

Grabbing her arm tightly, I open my bedroom door. “Right now, all I want to do is throw you out with the fucking trash. Where you belong.” I push her outside and slam the door shut behind her.”

I had stayed in my room for a few minutes trying to figure out a way to tell my best friend that his fiancé was in my room trying to persuade me to fuck her. But when I came out, I couldn’t find him.

“I’m sorry, Josh. I wanted to tell you the next morning, when I saw you, but you told me she had left you. I knew how much you loved her. I didn’t want to make it worse.”

“I know,” he says quietly. “When she came out of the room I was standing there and confronted her about what I had heard. She said you tried to seduce her.” He rubs his hand over his forehead. “Even if I had not heard what was said on the other side of that door, I still wouldn’t have believed her. In all honesty, I didn’t want you to tell me. I left the party right after that knowing you would tell me.” He shrugs. “I just didn’t want to hear it. I thought it would just be easier to tell everyone she left me.”

“Why did you let her talk all that shit about you?” I grit my teeth now, pissed that he let her do that to him. The very next day she had started talking shit about how he had been cheating on her. The bitch just wanted people to feel sorry for her and she knew Josh was too good of a guy to bash her fucking ass. I knew it was all a lie, but I still saw the hurt in his eyes when someone believed the rumors she was spreading.

“Because she may have broken my heart, but I still had my dignity. What was worse? Her telling people I cheated? Or that she tried to sleep with my best friend and I was too stupid to ever even suspect it? There were probably more than I care to know about who didn’t turn her down.” I stand there speechless. After all this time, he always knew. “I wanted them to know anything but the truth.”

“I’m sorry you had to hear it,” I say sincerely. I always hated that bitch. She was a whore. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a girl being a little slutty, since that was the kind I fucked around with, but then you get into the ones that use you. That was what she was. One the entire town knew about, but for some reason, she chose Josh to have a relationship with. He fell for her, hard and fast. I was not going to tell him not to go the relationship route with her. I mean, I’m a prime example. I fell for someone who has changed my life forever. It only took a phone call and seeing her in a bathroom one night to change my mind about what I wanted out of life.

“No worries, she was a mistake. And you learn from mistakes.” Then he starts to laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

He nods, looking down at my shirt. “It looks like you got some,” he teases.

I crinkle my brows somewhat confused. “Huh?”

He points to my shirt. “It’s inside out. It wasn’t that way at the club.” He chuckles again.

I look down and sure enough, it’s inside out. I reach up and pull it over my head before putting it on the right way.

“So the twins didn’t get you in trouble?” he asks with a smirk on his face.

“Oh, they did.” I laugh, recalling her rant in the car on the way home.

“Why do you find that amusing?”

I start to answer, but the girls get our attention as they start to walk toward us with smiles on their faces.

“I’m going to cook pancakes,” Angel states.

“Isn’t it a little late to cook pancakes? Aren’t you tired” I look down at my watch to see it is two thirty.

“It’s now Sunday. We can sleep all day,” Angel tosses at me offhandedly.

We all walk into the kitchen as she starts to whip up some breakfast.

*****

“Okay,” Angel says, getting our attention, “now that it’s only us, I want to know about the bet.”

I take in a deep breath hoping that this does not start another fight between us.

Josh starts shaking his head when Courtney speaks. “Josh had to get his dick pierced,” she says with a smile on her face.

She pats Angel’s back as she starts choking. “What?” she says in a high pitch voice before her eyes land on mine.

“You made him get his dick pierced?” She looks at me accusingly.

I look from Josh then back to her. “Hey, he took the bet.”

“I thought I was going to win.” Josh shrugs. “Slade would have done it if I had won.”

Angel points at me. “You would have had to pierce your dick if he would have slept with them?” she asks, wide-eyed.

I nod. “Yep.” It was not the best bet, but hey, we were drunk and trying to cheer Josh up. It was right after his ex-fiancé had left him. Well, that’s how we had thought it went down. What other way to cheer him up other than sleeping with twins?

“Hmm,” she says as she gives me a small smile. “Interesting.” I have a feeling she is wishing I would have lost. She turns to speak to Courtney. “Anyway, are you going to tell your mom about looking for your dad?”

“No. I’m going to do it on my own. You know she’s a drama queen.”

“All girls are,” I tease, making Josh and I both laugh.

“What?” Angel eyes us both. I just shake my head. “You think I’m a drama queen?” she asks, arching an eyebrow.

“No,” I state immediately before that comment gets me in trouble.

“Well, he did use the words ‘emotionally unstable’ a minute ago.”

I look at Josh in shock. “I can’t believe you just threw me under the bus like that,” I say in disbelief.

“What?” he asks offended. “You did.” He shrugs trying not to smile.

I narrow my eyes at him. “Yeah. In private,” I snap. I look over to Angel ready to plead for my life when she and Courtney start laughing out loud. I shake my head and smile as Josh joins in. I watch the love of my life laughing with her best friend, the same friend that not three hours ago she was yelling at in a parking lot. I realize what I said earlier was wrong. The reason her emotions are everywhere is because she loves with all she has. When she’s mad, you had better run for cover because she is damn sure going to let you have it. But when she’s happy, she will give you one of those breathtaking smiles that convey all is right in the world.
My
world. And that smile is addictive. You will do anything to see it.

*****

SAMANTHA

I open my eyes in our dark room and lay there silently for a few seconds. Then I hear the noise again that woke me. Since I can’t see a damn thing due to the darkness, I reach over to feel Slade, still sleeping beside me.

“Slade,” I whisper, trying to wake him. When he doesn’t respond I get out of bed. I know we had a chance of storms early this morning, so maybe that’s what I heard. I look over at my phone to see it is almost six in the morning. We have only been asleep for maybe an hour. Courtney and Josh had stayed and visited for quite a while.

I grab Slade’s t-shirt from the foot of the bed and slip it on. I’m going to go get a glass of water from the kitchen.

As I’m walking down the hallway, I hear glass break and someone cuss softly.

I stand there frozen for a few seconds as my heart beats wildly in my chest. I know that was not Slade, as he is still in the bedroom behind me. It sounded like it came from in front of me near the kitchen.

I try looking around quickly, but it’s too dark to see anything. I reach out my right hand and feel a doorknob. Once I realize I’m in front of Slade’s office, I dart in and shut the door quietly behind me. I lean up against it as I try to stop my heart from pounding.

Someone is in our house!
What the hell? Shit! I should have tried harder to wake Slade, but I didn’t think there was a burglar in the house!

I slowly turn the lock on the door and run over to his desk, thinking I will use the phone to call the police. My heart sinks when it has no dial tone. This is worse than I thought. This was planned. But the question is what are they planning on doing?

Shit!
I have to get back to Slade before they go in our bedroom but I can’t walk back through the hall unarmed.

I open his desk drawer and grab a few pens. I hold one up and then throw them to the floor. What the hell do I plan to do with a pen? Color them to death? I go over to his closet and open it up. I catch sight of a baseball bat and grab it.

I slowly walk back to the door and place my ear to it. I don’t hear anything, so I slowly unlock the door and peek out. It’s too dark for me to see anything, but I will feel much safer once I get back to our bedroom. I just need to wake Slade and get to my cell phone.

I step out into the hallway as I hold onto the bat for dear life. As I take a step toward our bedroom, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Before I can turn around a hand covers my mouth. I try to scream while I try to swing the bat around, but an arm goes around my stomach and pulls me backward.

“Shh. It’s me, Angel,” Slade whispers into my ear.

I relax as he pulls me back into the office.

He releases me and shuts the door once again. “Where in the fuck have you been?” he demands in a quiet voice as soon as the door is closed.

“Really?” I hold up the bat. “You want to have this conversation now? A noise woke me then I tried to wake you.” I squint in the dark trying to make out his face.

“And when I didn’t wake up, you decided to go attack an intruder with a bat?” he snaps.

“No. I didn’t know there was someone in the house. I—”

“We don’t have time for this,” he says turning away from me. “The police are on their way. I need to go and see if someone is still in the house.”

I bite my bottom lip, not wanting him to leave me to check the house. “Please don’t,” I say shakily. I don’t want something to happen to him.

He ignores my plea as he goes over to his closet. He reaches up, grabbing a small black case from the top shelf. He lays it on his desk and unlocks it, pulling out a gun. He releases the clip and checks it before sliding it back in.