Around the World in 80 Men Series: Boxed Set 21-30 (10 page)

“Stick,
I'm not gonna lie, I think this whole thing has been good for you.”
She heard Cedric agreeing in the background and Morgan rolled her
eyes, then laughed.

“How
could you see any light in this whole situation?” She took a
small bite of bread, then laughed at her strange friends.

“You
know you're not going to marry any of these men tomorrow, right?”
Cedric answered for Angel.

Morgan
pressed her phone between her cheek and shoulder so she could cut
into her steak and nodded silently to herself, then agreed out loud.
“Of course not.”

“Sticky, I've seen you cry over Finlay, cry over Tanner, feel
hurt, feel jealousy, cry over Kole...your emotional roller coaster
with these men, Boo....it's got to stop.”

“Thanks
for the walk down Misery Lane, Angel,” Morgan sighed and took
her first bite of steak. “What's this have to do with the
ring?”

“Because
that damn ring might have finally taught you a lesson... that cryin'
over bitches that you ain't trying to marry is going to make you
crazy. I thought about it, Boo, and you need to find the silver
that's lining this messed up situation.”

*****

“Always
a fucking lesson, isn't it?!” The following morning, Morgan
was still angry about her brief conversation with Cedric and Angel.
She stood in front of the steamed bathroom mirror and scolded her
reflection in a way that she wished she could scold.... someone.
“Maybe I don't want to learn a lesson, maybe I just want to..
to... live my fucking life!” She stormed out of the warm room
and into the cool air conditioned main room of the large suite. Once
there, she fell to her knees and held her towel tightly around her
chest with one hand as she attempted to find something to wear for
the day. “Not that I plan to go anywhere!” Her mood had
just worsened when the sound of thunder nearly shook the massive
building.

Ian
was working again, and she was stuck to entertain herself for the
day. She wished that he was there to help with the entertaining
part, because she had been an emotional disaster since she woke that
morning.

“What the hell do I want?” Her question had struck a
chord, one that needed hammered a lot more if she planned to shake
the feelings that had taken over since the ring first arrived. She
saw something in her bag that made her feel as if her hand had moved
on its own to retrieve, her yellow ugly shirt.

“Oh,
Gran.... what's wrong with me?” She wiped the tears that began
to fall freely down her pink cheeks, and thought of the old woman's
smile that would greet her in the kitchen each morning. “I
don't want to settle down, not now... so why do I get so upset when
things aren't going well?” She pulled the cheap cloth to her
chest and wrapped her arms around herself as she let the question
flow from her heart, and down her face. Her grandmother's words were
finally heard in a memory that surfaced through her pain. It was a
day that Morgan had started a new school, and was terrified to begin
the seventh grade without knowing a single person. Her Gran pulled
her to the side of her old worn brown rocker, and held her hand
tightly as she gave her the only advice that she could.

“Morgan,
whatever you focus on... will expand. If you only think about how
hard it will be, then that's what your day will be like. If you
focus on how exciting it is to meet new people, and take on new
challenges, then that's how it will go. Choose what you focus on
carefully, because your mind is what will lead you through this
life.” She laughed as she remembered skipping up the stairs to
her new school, and smiling at a group of girls that turned out to be
some of her best friends throughout middle school.

“You
were always so smart, Gran.” Morgan put the shirt back in the
side holder of her suitcase, and grabbed her purple tank to match
with her denim shorts for the day. The memory of her grandmother was
exactly what she had needed, and the final piece to her current
puzzle was slowly being slid into place.

“I'm
not afraid of love, I'm afraid of losing it once I have it.”
She looked around the empty room as the reality of her situation
became more clear. “I avoided the men, because.....,”
she took a deep breath and put her hand over her mouth, “I
thought they would reject me if I didn't give them what they wanted.”
It was exactly what she'd done all her life, but she did it with
trying too hard to please them before they even wanted something from
her. Fear of rejection. It was that simple. She laughed through
her tears as she realized how easily her problems could be solved
with a simple change in how she viewed things. “Thank you,
Gran.” Morgan looked up, and looked beyond the ceiling of the
pristine penthouse.

She
spent the next hour listening to the rain as she took her time in
getting dressed. Her mind sorted through the details of the last
week, and the weight of the world grew lighter with each passing
moment. By the time she was finished, most of her issues had been
worked through concerning the whole proposal fiasco.

The last thing she needed to do, was call Finlay Campbell, tell him
about the ring, and decline his proposal. If it wasn't him, then it
no longer mattered, as she was ready to put it all behind her and
deal with the mystery when the sender made himself known. It was a
new step, one that she hoped would teach her how to stop being afraid
of losing the people that she loved, and just love them while she had
them in her life.

She
stood in front of the large glass doors and watched the rain fall,
mentally promising herself that her jealousy and torment was a thing
of the past. Emotional turmoil of what a man did or didn't do,
wouldn't be allowed in her new world, never again. She would start
fresh, and if she lost any of them from her life, she would find a
way to just be grateful for the love she had with them, and not the
things that she was fearful of missing out on. The new and improved
Morgan was ready for her day, and her new outlook, as she left the
hotel on that stormy day in Puerto Rico, feeling as if the book of
life had just handed her another chapter.

Chapter
Nine

“
Did
you call Finny Fin?” Morgan had called angel Thursday morning,
and she laughed at his blunt question. She had sent several long
texts to her best friend, and even a few voice mails to explain her
new outlook, and apologized to the man for not seeing that he was
right sooner than she did.

“You
don't even say hello?” She knew that he was curious, but his
tone was casual which told her that he really didn't care about it as
much as he had earlier that week.

“Hello.
Did you call Finny Fin?” Their laughter took hold and Morgan
could even hear Cedric giggling in the background and PoPo shouting,
'Finny, Finny, Finny!' “Ah, Sticky... that shit doesn't matter
anyway, you sound like a new bitch so it's all good.” It was
true, Morgan was much happier since her personal awakening, and both
Angel and Cedric could tell the difference in her texts and then tone
of her voice.

She
did confess that she'd called the Scot, but he was out of service and
didn't want to leave a message about proposals on his voice mail.
“But, I'll try again next week... or not.” The men
laughed at her casual tone, knowing that she'd gotten beyond her
grief over declining marriage to...
someone
. Morgan also
quickly changed the subject, and asked about their week together, in
which she was thrilled to hear how well things were going for the new
couple. “I'm so happy for you two! We'll all have to get
together and celebrate soon!” The men quickly agreed, and
everyone promised to work out the details when they could find the
time.

“Stick,
I was thinking... maybe you shouldn't call Fin-lay-me-down. Like you
said, if it was the big hunk of meat, he can bring it up. If it
wasn't, no harm done, right?” Morgan's brows came together in
confusion at Angel's turnabout concerning Finlay.

“Uhm...
yeah, that was my plan in the beginning, remember? You were the one
that said I should call him.” Morgan sat on the green and
white striped lounge chair as she waited for the man to explain
himself.

“Ya,
I did. But now that you have this new fanfuckintastic attitude about
it, I say... leave him out with the tighty whiteys! He doesn't need
to know.” She giggled loudly, enough to send several birds
scurrying from the rooftop, and agreed with the man once again.
“Send me the ring too, Boo Boo. You don't need that shit
bringing up more misery. I'll give the little bastard back when you
figure out who sent it.” Morgan nodded through her laughter,
and agreed to that as well.

“No
problem, I'll overnight it today. The sooner, the better!”
She stretched her legs out in front of her, and sighed heavily after
her much enjoyed bout of laughter with two of her most favorite men.
“I should go, but I'll call you soon. I love you, Angel.”
She blew a few loud kisses into the phone, and ended the call.

Angel's
eyes moved up and found Cedric's blue beauties shining back at him.
His eyes moved back to his phone as he placed it on his dresser. “I
love you too, Boo. That's why I sent the fuckin' ring.”
Cedric nodded, and put his arm around Angel.

“It
worked. She got over her bullshit with all of them, and she's
finally going to be happy. No more tears for any of them, and she
has you to thank for it.” He ducked his head down and forced
Angel to make eye contact.

“I
hope so, because if she ever finds out it was my ass that put her
through that, she'd fuckin' kill me. But I plan to take your skinny
ass down with me, cuz you paid for the damn ring.” They both
laughed at their wicked ways, and Cedric fanned himself theatrically
as Angel confirmed that the ring would be returned soon.

They
both had worried about Morgan, the stories that she'd told Cedric and
the roller coaster of torment that Angel had ridden with her, had
forced their hands to take action. The men had secretly devised a
plan to make Morgan realize that she wasn't even close to marriage,
and that, in turn, would force her to face her fears and move beyond
the petty relationship drama that she'd gone through since she
started her new job. It was actually Cedric who had told Angel a
story about Jordy in his younger years. The man had proposed to a
beautiful young woman, and the whole thing was a fiasco from the
start. The woman refused his proposal, and had also began to examine
her own life and what she truly wanted. It was a stretch, but the
memory had such an impact on Cedric that he was convinced that it
would work.

“You're
lucky she's sending that ring back, cuz that bitch was expensive!”
Angel laughed at the memory of Cedric sending photos of engagement
rings through at least thirty texts until they both agreed on the one
that Morgan received. Cedric, as it turned out, was a very wealthy
butler who wouldn't miss a few thousand dollars, but Angel was still
grateful that Morgan would do what they both assumed she would; send
it to Angel 'until the mystery was solved.'

“I'm
glad she is too, but we both got what we wanted... and that's for her
to be happy with herself. So, it's all worth it.” Angel
nodded, and wiped a tear from that began to fall down his perfectly
bronzed cheek.

He
took a deep breath and shook his head. He could finally stop pushing
her to make a breakthrough, and the relief he felt was almost as
great as his fear of Morgan finding out the truth.

*****

“Too
far. Too cold. Too wet,” Morgan mumbled to herself as she
looked across all of the available dots on the map in the database.
She'd been so caught up the ring drama that, once again, she failed
to choose her client in a reasonable time. Then again, it was a good
thing she'd forgotten about it because she hated choosing clients in
a bad mood. “Not. Today. Though.” Morgan clicked the
button on her mouse with each word, zooming in on the map of Europe.
She was in a much better mood, a great mood even.

Her
need for another amazing burrito had brought her back to the stand
near the hotel and it was the perfect place to catch some sun and
have a nice lunch while she planned her next job.

“Excuse
me, could you hand me those napkins?” A woman's voice, an
American voice, brought Morgan's eyes upward from her laptop. The
woman wasn't talking to her, but just the slight reminder of home
made the decision for her.
Home. Wherever that is.
She missed
home
, that much she knew. The foods, the scenery, the trees,
even the transportation. Morgan loved traveling, more than anything
else, but a part of her just wanted to be back on her own turf.