The One Left Behind (The One Series) (30 page)

One night I was sitting at the bar alone minding my own business. I assume it was time for Brooklyn to take a break. She walked up beside me and said, “You look a little wound up. Let me help you relax.” Then she bit my earlobe. She grabbed my hand and led me to a supply closet. Real classy.

She immediately dropped to her knees and pulled my pants down. She sucked and licked with such expertise she could do this for a living. Part of me wondered if she did. After she finished me off, she licked the corners of her mouth. I didn’t know if I should applaud or be disgusted by her eagerness. Oh, well, it’s not like I was bringing her home to meet Mom.

We both left the closet after I straightened my clothes. She had a very pleased grin on her face, and I have to admit I was feeling pretty good too. I mean, who doesn’t after a blowjob? As soon as we step back into the bar, the guys who were sitting around me start to clap. I’m almost a little embarrassed for Brooklyn until she takes a bow. Wow. Again, I feel like I should be appalled by her lack of modesty and open sluttiness.

Things were pretty constant between Brooklyn and I. I would go to her apartment a few nights a week, fuck her, then leave. I guess the status quo was no longer working for her because one night she got pissed.

I had just finished screwing her up against the wall—I had gotten over the whole “I don’t want to look at your face” thing—when I set her down and started getting dressed. I picked up my keys and told her I would see her later. That’s when the shit hit the fan.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I looked at her stunned.

“What? You didn’t fake those orgasms, did you? You got yours, several times, and I got mine. What’s the problem?”

“You! You are the fucking problem. I’m not a whore, you know?” She puts her hands on her hips as she shouts at me.

Still confused, I try to tread lightly by saying, “I never said you were.”

“Then why do you do that? You fuck me and then immediately leave. The first night you at least stayed the night. Granted you bailed on me before I woke up, but at least I didn’t feel as used.”

“Look, Brooklyn. We both know what this is and what it isn’t. Don’t make this into a bigger deal than it needs to be.”

“See, you’re treating me like a whore!” She’s clenching her fists at her side and I can tell she’s getting pretty pissed. Well, I guess it’s best to nip it in the bud. I really don’t need to be having sex with this girl anyway.

“I’m not treating you like a whore. If I did, I would have left some money on the nightstand.” I have a blank expression on my face as I say this to her, and this sends her over the edge. She picks up an empty beer bottle sitting nearby and chucks it at my head. I move out of the way just in time.

“Fuck you, Colin! Go find someone else to put your dick in. Maybe that girl won’t care that you use her. I sure as fuck do!”

I don’t even respond. I just turn around and walk out.

A couple days later I run into Jeremy. When I say run into, I mean he showed up at my doorstep unannounced again. He comes in and sits on my couch and starts to surf the channels on the TV.

“What’s up? Is there a particular reason you came by other than to take over my TV?”

“Nah, not really. Just wanted to talk.”

I wasn’t buying it. He had an agenda. “Okay…”

“Did you get some text messages from Addison about a week or so ago?”

Fuck. I do not want to have this conversation today. It’s killing me to stay away from her and not return her messages, but I’m so ashamed of my actions and I’m not ready to face up to them yet. “Uh, yeah. Why?”

“Two things: first, you didn’t tell me and second, you didn’t respond?”

“No, I couldn’t. What would I say to her? Sorry for calling you a whore and offering to fuck you. Can you forgive me? Yeah, I’m sure that would go over real well. How’d you know about this anyway?”

“It just so happens I ran into Addison today.”

When he doesn’t elaborate I say, “Okay, and…”

“She asked how you were doing which I thought was strange considering. But then she told me that she had tried to reach out to you and you never responded. You’re a dumbass.”

“Why am I a dumbass? She’s moved on. What else is there to say? I’m tired of beating this proverbial dead horse.”

“I think she wants to make amends. I think at first she thought this was the type of person you have always been. Since the accident you haven’t been yourself and all she sees is this new, self-destructive Colin. She doesn’t know that your current behavior is out of character for you. Apparently, Colby and Damon have told her that as did I. So she wants to clear the air and make a fresh slate.”

I think about this for a moment. Jeremy’s right. All Addison can remember is the asshole version of me that drinks too much, carries large amounts of resentment, and verbally lashes out at people. And she doesn’t even know what I’ve been doing with Brooklyn. That would surely not improve her impression of me. None of those thing are me though. I need to get off this current path I’m on and cope in a way that will allow me to heal and move forward with my life.

“You’re right, Jeremy. I’ll text her later and apologize for avoiding her and see if she wants to get together.”

“Good.” Jeremy says, getting a cocky grin on his face. “I should have been a shrink. I’m amazing at this shit!”

I just shake my head at him. He’s too much sometimes.

Jeremy leaves a little while later. I’m staring at my phone hoping it’ll tell me what to say to Addison. No such luck. It’s time to man up.

Me: Hey, Addison. I’m sorry I didn’t reply to your texts. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t avoiding you. I feel awful about what went down. If you’d like to get together to clear the air let me know.

Addison: It’s okay. I’m ready to put this behind us and move forward in trying to build a friendship. If you’re free tomorrow I could meet you for lunch.

Me: Lunch sounds good. Just let me know when and where. And thank you.

FOUR MONTHS HAVE passed since my accident and in that short time so much of my life has changed. New York was great. It was the most fun I ever had going there. Pierce always finds ways to make things exciting. We arrived home late at night and were beat when we got back to my place. We both took a quick shower and passed out.

***

I’m waiting for Lexi to stop by and drop off Ali and I can’t wait to see her. Which reminds me, I have to hide all of Pierce’s shoes that he left out. Moments later the doorbell rings. I open the door and am greeted by Lexi and Ali, who is pawing at my leg. I lean down to give Ali a kiss and unhook her leash. As Ali takes off I notice Lexi has a small box in her arms. I take the box from her and move aside so she can come in.

“What’s in the box?” I ask looking at her in puzzlement.

“Oh, a bunch of toys. I was taking Ali for a walk and we passed a pet shop and I may or may not have spoiled her rotten,” Lexi says as she looks a little guilty.

I eye the items in the box and snicker. Spoiled was not even close to all the crap that was in there. She has a bedazzled food and water bowl with her name on it, some toys, and about ten bags of different kinds of treats. There is even a pink bedazzled collar in it. I shake my head at Lexi and set aside the box.

“Thank you so much for watching her. We didn’t want to board her and leave her alone with people she didn’t know.”

“Oh, it’s fine. She is such a good dog. I don’t know what Pierce is talking about with the shoes though. She didn’t eat any of mine.”

I laugh. “Well, she only eats Pierce’s shoes. Colby and Morgan are coming over for lunch and then we’re going to lay out on the beach. Do you want to join us?”

I notice Lexi start to play with her hands as she answers nervously. “I can’t. I have plans, but next time.”

Picking up on the change in Lexi’s demeanor I ask,” Oh no problem. What do you have planned today?”

“Oh, you know, just some of this and that,” she says avoiding eye contact.

“You’re going to meet a guy, aren’t you?” I say as I cross my arms eyeing her expression.

Lexi starts twisting a strand of her hair and her eyes are darting around the room. She’s clearly nervous or hesitant to tell me and I want to try and help ease her mind, so I relax my stance and say, “Hey, it’s okay, Lex. You can talk to me about it, and maybe it will make you a little less nervous when you see him.”

“I’m not nervous to see him. I’m nervous my overprotective brother will find out,” she rolls her eyes as she talks about Pierce.

“Why? Pierce loves you and he would want you to be happy.” I walk over and sit down on the couch and pat the cushion next to me, gesturing for her to join me. She comes over and slumps down into the seat.

“Okay, here it goes,” she starts with a sigh. “About a month ago I was in the area and decided to visit my brother for lunch. I brought him his favorite and we ate in his office. When I was leaving his office, I hit the button on the elevator and as the doors were about to close I heard someone yell out, ‘Hold the door.’ I did and in walked this gorgeous guy. He was tall and sexy with a deep, glistening tan and the most unique gray eyes I’ve ever seen. I mean a total stud.” She has a dreamy look in her eye and I’m half expecting her to start fanning her face.

“He thanked me and we exchanged names, and shortly after that the elevator stopped. I’m getting a little panicked but Garrick took charge and hit the emergency call button. The man on the other end told us it would be about an hour before the service man could get it fixed. We were talking for a little while and it got a little hot in there. I don’t know if you know this about me, but I’m slightly claustrophobic. The longer we sat there the more freaked out I became. I was trying really hard not to break down in front of this gorgeous man I just met, but eventually it started getting to me. I was sweating and having a hard time breathing. He placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and helped me relax. He was able to talk me down from my panic attack and was very soothing. Next thing I knew, we locked eyes, I looked at his lips, and I crashed my mouth to his. I don’t know what came over me in that moment, but it definitely kept my mind off of the broken elevator and it was fixed by the time we pulled away.” Lexi looks down like she’s a little embarrassed that she admitted to making out with a complete stranger, but then a small smile creeps across her face as she’s remembering the encounter.

I’m still trying to process what she just told me. I can’t imagine kissing a person I had only talked to for thirty minutes, then a thought occurs to me, “Lexi! What if he was married?” I ask incredulously. I’m actually really stunned by her story.

“I checked for a ring as soon as that man stepped on the elevator.” She shrugs nonchalantly.

“And what if he had a girlfriend?”

“Addison! Would you let me finish?! I can finally talk to someone other than Colby about this and you keep cutting me off!”

“Wait, Colby knew?!” I shout. Now I’m even more shocked that my best friend kept this from me and that Lexi would tell her before me.

“Well, she’s not dating my brother, so yeah.” I’m slightly offended that she thinks I wouldn’t keep a secret for her and am about to argue my case when she holds up her hand and continues, “and before you get mad that she didn’t tell you, I swore her to secrecy. Now if I may finish…” she says as she waits for my reply. I nod. “I started kissing him and when it finally registered in my mind that I was attacking this poor guy in the elevator who might have a girlfriend, I started to pull away. Well to my surprise, he pulled me back into him and kissed me again. When I managed to break the kiss I said, ‘I guess it’s safe to assume you don’t have a girlfriend?’ He made a grunting noise and said no and starts kissing me again. Next thing I know the elevator starts moving.”

“Well, I don’t really know what to say. I mean if that happened a month ago things are obviously going good I assume.”

“Yeah, they are.” She smiles brightly at me and I’m glad that she seems so happy.

“So, what’s the problem?” I’m still a little perplexed on why this is a big secret. There’s gotta be more to the story than that since her face drops when I ask this question.

“I thought Garrick was a client of Pierce’s, but it turns out he works for him. Like as in his right hand man kind of works for him. I had no idea since Pierce always refers to his closest work companion as ‘Rick’, so I never put the two together. I told Garrick that I didn’t want my brother knowing. Pierce is so overprotective and I’m not ready for him to know and I don’t want to cost Garrick his job if we don’t work out.”

“I don’t think Pierce would ever do that. He is a respectable business man and you know that.” I’m sure Pierce wouldn’t be too pleased if things didn’t work out between them, but I seriously doubt he is the type that would fire a close colleague over something like that.

“I know, just please don’t tell him. I will when I’m ready,” she pleads.

Before I can answer her my door swings open and in walks Morgan and Colby. We all say our goodbyes to Lexi and I lean into her ear as I hug her and reassure her that I won’t say a word to Pierce. I feel the tension leave her shoulders with my promise. After eating a quick lunch, I grab a pitcher of margaritas and lead the girls to the chairs I had laid out on the beach. It is the perfect day to sunbathe. I fill up our cups and recline back on my towel.