Arranged love

GRAVE

“YOU LOST THEM again?” Cross asks me as he stands in my bedroom at the Royal Suite in Kingdom.

“I had them in my bag,” I growl, shuffling through my closet. I don’t plan on coming back here tonight before me and April go to dinner, so I needed to grab some clothes.

He sits down on the edge of my bed. “And you didn’t take them?”

I snort. “I would know if I had taken an entire bottle of pills last night.”

He shrugs, flipping his Zippo open and closed. “Maybe April took them out.”

I shake my head. “One, she didn’t know they were there, and two, she wouldn’t have had the chance. She sucked my dick on the way to her house, and the moment we arrived, we went straight upstairs to her room. After we were done, she passed out and never left. It had to have been her brother.”

“But why would he steal from you?” he asks. “He has to know that you’d find them missing, put two and two together and then beat his ass.”

“Yeah, well I think we’ve established that he doesn’t think most of the time.”

“True.”

“I’m going over to the Airport to talk to him before I go to April’s.”

“Want me to go with you?” he asks, standing.

“Nah. I won’t be there long.”

_______________

I sit at the round table inside the Airport, having a conversation with Trey when my cell vibrates. I remove it from my pocket and put in my code. It’s a text from April.

April: Red or black?

Me: Do I get pictures to choose from?

April: Nope. Choose. Red or black.

Me: Black.

She reads it but doesn’t reply, so I lock my screen and place it back in my pocket when the door opens and Lucy walks in. I never did reply to that video she sent me. I deleted it, and that was that. She tried to confront me before I fought last night, but I ignored her then too. Lucy is a smart woman, and I thought she would catch on, but obviously, I was wrong.

Trey’s cell rings, and he pushes away from the table to answer it in the office, leaving us alone.

Lucy stands there with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face. She licks her lips as they travel down to my jeans. “Well, hello, sexy.”

“What are you doing here?” I ask her. “Working tonight?”

“Nope. Came by to get my check.”

Lie. She gets paid in cash. Nightly. But whatever. I’m not going to call her out on it.

“Going out tonight?” she asks, plopping down beside me, looking over my button-down shirt and jeans.

“Yes.” No reason to lie to her. I promised April dinner.

I watch her stick her bottom lip out. “I was hoping we could hang out.”

“I have plans,” I state, reaching out and taking a drink of my water. It’s amazing that I haven’t had an alcoholic drink in over a week.

“With who?”

“Since when do you care who I spend my time with?” I ask. April mentioned Jimmy coming into Roses today and ordering her flowers. I was hopeful that meant they were fucking, and she’d get off my back, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

She averts her eyes to the table. “Well, I was talking to Trey, and he said that you paid off a debt for a guy. And that you asked Tanner to leave his sister alone.”

I roll my eyes. Fucking Trey. He can’t keep a secret to save his life. That’s another reason I quit hanging out with him. “That doesn’t concern you,” I state.

Instead of getting mad, she reaches out and touches my arm.

I pull away. “I need to get going.”

She reaches into her shorts pocket and pulls out a pill bottle that I know contains ecstasy. The same one from the night in her penthouse after we gambled here. “I wanted to party with you tonight.”

I shake my head. “Can’t.” I pull out my cell when I feel it vibrate again.

It’s a picture from April. Opening it up, I see her standing in front of a full-length mirror in a little black dress with black heels on. She has the front of her hair up in a high ponytail the rest is down and curled. Her makeup’s done heavy with the black liner just how I love it and her lips painted dark.

“Do you love her?” Lucy asks.

I remove my eyes from the picture to meet hers. Lucy looks like she hasn’t been to bed yet. She probably hasn’t. Her dark eyes are cloudy, her makeup messy, and I know she’s high. Lucy never goes a day without a fix. Sometimes, it’s just weed, and others, it’s something more.

“I don’t know her.” I lie. I’ve never hid things from Lucy because we both understand what we are-fuck buddies, and that’s it. So for her to be this concerned about where I’m going tonight and who with is a big red flag. I won’t give her any reason to confront April. Because that’s exactly what she would do. And April already questioned my involvement with Lucy earlier in my office today. I don’t want Lucy going to her and saying anything that can get me in hot water with April.

“Have you fucked her?”

“Jesus, Lucy.” I push my chair back from the table. “That is none of your business.”

She doesn’t look the least bit angry. Drugs will do that to you. Numb you to everything. I know. That’s why I did it. I stand and reach out to the glass of water on the table and down what’s left of it, needing to get the fuck out of here.

“Hey, man.” Trey re-enters the room, pocketing his cell. “The kid is fighting here tonight.”

I grind my teeth and look at my watch. “What time?” I have an hour before I have to pick up April.

“Seven.”

I nod and sit back down in the seat. “I want his ass in here the moment he arrives,” I snap. I’m going to beat his ass before he even enters the ring. He’s not going to take drugs from me. He’s not going to be doing drugs at all. I won’t allow him to do that to April. She already has enough going on.

“So … you’re staying?” Lucy asks, her voice full of excitement.

“Not for you,” I growl, my good mood gone to shit.All rights © NôvelDrama.Org.

APRIL

I pace my living room, my eyes on the clock hanging on the wall. He’s two hours late. I haven’t called his cell once. He never responded to my picture. He was talking to me and then just vanished. I’ve never been ghosted before, but I’m pretty sure this is what it’s like.

I’m furious. So fucking pissed that he stood me up.

And that I fell for it in the first place. Things were going well, right? Did I say or do something that made me look desperate? Or in love? What could have scared him off? He’s been just as clingy as I have and seemed generally interested. I’ve been blown off before, and he never once made me feel unwanted or that he needed space. I would have backed off and given it to him.

Did I say something last night while I was drunk? Honestly, the night is kind of blurry. I remember his fight. Me being turned on. The drinks. Then I went home with him. Gave him head. After that, shit gets foggy. So I could have said something to him but wouldn’t he have mentioned that to me this morning when he woke me up and kissed me goodbye? Why make plans if he wasn’t going to show?

That can’t be it. He seemed fine at lunch today. I did bring up Lucy, though. So fucking stupid of me! I should have just let it go. But, again, he seemed fine. He fucked me right there on his desk, we had lunch and then he walked me down to my car. Kissed me goodbye with a promise to see me tonight for dinner.

My cell rings, and I run to it. I see its Jasmine. “Hello?” I snap.

“Hey, where are you?” she demands. I can hear the sound of her car in the background, letting me know she’s driving.

“At home.”

“I’m coming to get you. Get dressed.”

I look over my black dress and sigh. “Unfortunately, I am. Where are we going?”

“Well, I just got a text from my ex. Remember him? Trenton? He said that he thought Grave was dating my friend, you, and I said yes. He proceeded to tell me that Grave is at the Airport …”

I fist my hands. “Fighting?”

She ignores my question. “Didn’t you guys have a date tonight?”

“Yes.” Alexa had tonight off, and we were going to go have a girls’ night, but Grave wanted to take me to dinner, so I dropped them for him. Big fucking mistake on my part. “I’ve been waiting two hours for him. He blew me off for the fucking Airport?” My next thought is he did it to spend time with Lucy. She works there.

“Yeah, Trenton said he’s fucked up. Bad. I tried calling Cross, but he didn’t answer. Bones’s phone went straight to voicemail, and I don’t want to bother Titan. I spoke to Emilee earlier and they were coming back early.”

I bow my head, running my free hand through my hair. “What are you saying?”

She lets out a long breath. “I’m saying that this is the time you choose, April.”

“Choose what?” I ask, but I’m already throwing my purse over my shoulder.

“If you’re going to fight for him or not.” She pauses. “I was told he was seen with Lucy.”

I swallow the knot that forms in my throat. My heart beating faster at her statement. I was right. He’s with her. But … we had agreed we were exclusive, right? That was what he established at lunch today. This is my fault. I expected too much from him. A guy like Grave doesn’t settle down. He’s been fucking Lucy for years now. Isn’t that what the girls had said? If he won’t commit to her, then he won’t commit to me.

He stood me up to be with her. Why not just tell me he couldn’t make it? Or be honest and say hey, I don’t want to go out with you tonight, someone better came up?

Making up my mind, I decide that I’m going to tell him in person to go to hell. “I’ll be waiting for you outside.”