The Price of Love (A Price Novel Book 1) (12 page)

Slayde squeezed my hand. “You OK?” he asked. I guess I was being too quiet. I was still mulling over the girlfriend comment.
Had he told her that I was his girlfriend?

“Yes, I’m fine,” I reassured him.

Once we were in the air, Slayde leaned over to me and said, “About what happened the other night — ”

I interrupted him. “Do we have to talk about that?”

“Yes. I need to know what you want.”

I wasn’t sure how to answer that. I couldn’t very well say that I wanted to take him back to LA with me and have perfect tan babies with him.
Or could I?
“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean, do you want to be with me when you go home? Can I come back when I’m finished in Paris and be with you?” Maybe Lexi knew more about what Slayde wanted than I did.

I looked down. “Yes, I’d like that.” I knew I was blushing again.

“Why are you acting like it’s a bad thing? It’s not. Being separated for a few days is gonna suck, but I’d rather see you two or three days a week than not at all. Wouldn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Is that how you feel? Be honest with me. I need to know what is going on in that pretty head of yours.”

I smiled. “I obviously can’t help how I feel about you — ”

He cut me off. “Why do you want to?” He leaned away from me, and looked at me as if he were angry. His eyes got squinty, and he raised his eyebrows. “Am I not good enough for you? I know I’m not as smart as your doctor friends at school, but I think we have a really good thing going on.” He must have noticed his reaction had upset me because he softened his tone and rubbed his hand down my cheek.

“Slayde, don’t be ridiculous. I think you’re very smart. I’m not into any of those guys anyway. You make me laugh.”

“I feel like I make you cry.” He was very matter-of-fact.

“You’ve never made me cry.
I
make me cry. I’m just sensitive, I guess. I don’t know why. No matter how strong of a façade I try to have, my tears always sell me out.”

He smiled and kissed my cheek. “I just want to know where we stand. I want to be with you and only you.” My stomach was doing backflips; I couldn’t believe this was happening. I could feel my face get hot again, but I wasn’t going to let myself cry. I looked down to try and control my emotions. I guess I paused too long, because Slayde asked, “Do you want to date other people?” He looked me in the eyes.

Even with the seriousness of his mood, I had to laugh. I couldn’t believe he would think that. “No. I don’t want to date other people, Slayde.”

“So then, we’re all good?” he asked, his expression softening and the right side of his mouth turning up into that adorable smile. I nodded, and he was happy Slayde again. “OK, enough heavy stuff. Let’s just relax and enjoy this trip.” He grabbed my hand and turned on the huge TV in the plane and started a movie. Letting out a sigh of relief, I leaned over and put my head on his shoulder.

I looked up and smiled at him. I couldn’t believe this was actually happening. You could never in a million years have gotten me to believe that Slayde Price would ask me out, much less want to date me exclusively and take me on his dad’s private jet on a trip with his family. I could’ve died right then and have lived a full, happy life.

The airport we flew into was tiny. I would only consider it an airport because there were six other planes parked there. It was in the middle of nowhere, but of course there was a car waiting to pick us up.

We took a fifteen-minute ride down a little narrow road with lush vegetation on one side and a gorgeous view of the ocean out the other. I was trying to soak it all in. Of course, Lexi, Taylor, and Slayde had been there a thousand times, and they were talking about something else. I wasn’t sure what. I wasn’t listening. I had to see everything I could. I knew I might never get the chance to come here again.

As soon as we got to the villa, we all bailed out of the vehicle. The villa itself sat on the side of the cliff overlooking the Ligurian Sea. It was three narrow stories and painted a bright yellow like many of the surrounding villas. The kitchen and a sitting area were on the first floor. There were two rooms and a bathroom on the second floor and one room on the top floor. The bottom-floor rooms led out onto a huge patio overlooking the ocean. It was the most magnificent, breathtaking thing I’d ever seen.

Once all of our luggage was inside, we were greeted by a woman who seemed to be in about her fifties. She spoke no English. Lexi began to have a conversation with her in Italian. I was impressed to see that Lexi spoke very fluent Italian.

Lexi turned to us. “Taylor, your room is on the second floor, across from mine. Slayde and Arden, your room is on the third floor. That is, if you don’t mind sharing a room with each other. If that makes you uncomfortable, Arden, you can have Taylor’s room, and she can sleep with me.”

Taylor gave me a very strong “you aren’t taking my room” look. I could tell Lexi caught it too. “Whatever works for everyone is fine with me,” I said. I knew I was blushing. I didn’t mind sharing a room with Slayde, but what did his mom think of that?

“Of course she’s comfortable sharing a room with him. Hello, she lives with him,” Taylor blurted out, surely irritated with the idea of having to share a room with her mother. Lexi gave her a stern look. I was a little embarrassed.

“Oh, Taylor, chill out,” Lexi said and headed down the hall to her room.

When we got upstairs, I was immediately drawn to the balcony that overlooked the ocean. It was the most exquisite thing I’d ever seen. The water was the most beautiful emerald color, and I could see all the way to the ocean floor.

Then I noticed there was only one bed in the room. Slayde must have read my mind, because he said, “Are you really going to make me sleep on the floor?” He laughed.

“I guess not, but it really bothers me that your mom thinks I’m shacking up with you. She must think horribly of me.”

Slayde was laughing, but I didn’t think it was very funny. “Are you serious? She doesn’t think any such thing. She knows we aren’t sleeping together. I told her you made me pinkie promise not to touch you before you would even agree to stay with me. She asked me if I thought you would be OK with this arrangement before she even got to Paris.”

I thought that was interesting. They had discussed this before she even got there. So she must know more than I thought she did. She must have liked me at least a little, or she wouldn’t have invited me. Unless she only did so to make Slayde happy, but I didn’t think that was it.

“And what made you so sure I would?” I asked.

“I wasn’t, but I had to try.” He laughed and pulled me on the bed and started kissing me. After a few minutes of that, I knew I had to stop before I couldn’t. I tried to get up, but he pulled me closer to him.

“Slayde, let me up. Seriously, she probably thinks we’re up here having sex right now.”

“Then let’s not disappoint her,” he laughed.

“Slayde Price,” I squealed and tickled him. I knew he wasn’t really teasing, but I chose to pretend he was.

That night, we had supper out on the patio overlooking the ocean. This was no doubt the most beautiful place I had ever been. Lexi raised her glass and said she wanted to toast to us all being together and having a great week. Taylor was the only one who didn’t have wine, but she had a wine glass of water, and she raised it to toast with us.

“I wish your dad were here,” Lexi said.

“Well, that’s just the theme of your life, isn’t it?” Slayde said. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe he was speaking to his mother that way.

“Slayde, you know your dad is busy, and he wishes he were here with us,” Lexi said calmly, but I could tell she was shaken by his tone. She looked down at her hands and fidgeted with her rings.

“Yeah, whatever — if he wanted to be here, then he would be here.” He looked angry. Taylor just kept eating, acting as if nothing were going on at the table that wasn’t routine.

Lexi excused herself to go get more wine. I kicked Slayde under the table, and when he looked at me, I gave him a funny look. He shrugged and started talking to Taylor about what she had been doing all summer.

When Lexi returned, she seemed composed and began to talk about what we wanted to do while we were here. She and Taylor decided to go shopping early in the morning, and Slayde and I decided we were going to sleep in and meet them in town before lunch.

When we got into bed, I went against my better judgment and asked Slayde about what had happened at dinner. “Slayde, if it’s none of my business and you don’t want to talk about it, I understand, but what is really bothering you about your dad?”

He lay there for at least a minute before he answered. “My dad’s just never around. Mom always makes excuses for him. She acts like it doesn’t bother her, but I know it does. I hate to see her sad. She shouldn’t have to sit around waiting on him to want to spend time with her when it’s convenient for him. That’s not the way it should be. He should be doing everything he can to be with her. Neither Mom nor our family is his first priority, and it makes me sick. I don’t so much care if he spends one second with me, but Mom and Taylor do, and I hate him for that.”

He paused for a second, and I thought he was finished talking about it, and then he sighed. “When I was little, Mom finally had enough of Dad’s crap. She wasn’t just tired of him being gone but hurt that he didn’t even try and find ways to make time for us. I remember when he was home, I would lie in bed and listen to them yelling at each other. I thought we would be better off without him, and I was only eight. When she finally left him, I remember feeling relieved, not sad. I knew he was shocked when she left, and he started trying to fix things. But it was just too far gone at that point.

“They got divorced, and it wasn’t long before she remarried. The guy she married was another baseball player, named Jacks Moore. He was one of my dad’s teammates and a friend. Thinking about that now, I can’t imagine what in the hell she was thinking. I have to believe it was to get back at Dad, and it worked. He was crazy jealous. Dad and Jacks ended up getting in a huge fight, and the owner traded Jacks. So Mom and I had to move to Seattle. Mom was furious. She loved living in LA and didn’t want to move.

“For the next year or so, Dad came to visit a lot, and I stayed with him all the time. He came to as many of my ball games as he could, especially when Jacks wasn’t there. I guess he probably just checked Jacks’s schedule and made a point to be there when he wasn’t, so he could talk to Mom. I remember being on the field and seeing him sitting in the stands with her and wondering why he couldn’t do that before they got divorced.

“I was little, but I remember Jacks talking about wanting to have a baby and being really excited at the idea. I didn’t know any better, and I said something about it when I was with Dad. He freaked out. He started calling Mom all the time and showing up at the house when Jacks was gone. It wasn’t long before Mom left Jacks. Now, thinking back, I think Dad hated her being married to someone else, and the whole baby thing probably put him over the edge. Like that made it final or something. I don’t know.

“I felt really bad for Jacks. He was a super nice guy, and I thought he treated Mom well. I remember him crying and begging her not to leave, but I guess she still loved Dad. We didn’t move back in with Dad at first, but it wasn’t long before they got remarried and Mom got pregnant with Taylor. Dad bought a jet to make things easier, and they were for a while, but eventually he was back to being too busy for us again. And thirteen years later, here we are.”

I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t believe he had shared all of that with me. It made me feel special that he would share that.
I guess his life isn’t as perfect as I thought.
He rolled over and wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. I could tell his cheeks were damp. I held him close to me and went to sleep.

When I opened my eyes the next morning, Slayde was staring at me, smiling. “How long have you been staring at me? That’s creepy.” I pulled the covers over my head.

“Only a couple of hours,” he said. “You are so beautiful when you sleep.”

I shot him a crazy look, and he laughed. “I’m only teasing you. I just woke up. So, are you ready to get up? I’m starving. I’m sure Mom left food downstairs.”

We went downstairs, and there was a note on the counter.

— S&A, Breakfast is in the fridge. Have fun, be good, and I will see you at the restaurant at 12:00. Love, Mom

We went to the refrigerator and found a whole bowl of cut-up fruit, some yogurt, and freshly squeezed orange juice. I popped a couple of bagels in the toaster and sat down with Slayde to eat.

I’m not a morning person, so I let Slayde do all the talking during breakfast. He seemed to be back to his happy, normal self, and I was glad of that. After we finished, I cleared the dishes and took them back into the kitchen, but of course he wouldn’t let me wash them, because “someone else will do that.” I swear, I had never had anyone clean up after me, and it just felt weird, but who was I to argue?

I picked out my favorite sundress and went to the bathroom to get ready. When I came out, Slayde was already dressed, sitting out on the patio, getting a little sun.

“You ready?” I asked.

He stood up and gave me a hug. “Waiting on you.”

As we were leaving, we met the same lady from the day before coming into the house with groceries. She asked Slayde something, in Italian, of course, and he answered her. I was shocked. I was learning a lot about Slayde Price.

We were a few minutes late meeting Lexi and Taylor at the restaurant. “Sorry we’re late,” I said.

“Slayde’s always late,” Taylor said. Again he messed her hair up. “
Slayde! Stop!
”

“Both of you stop!” Lexi said. Then she stopped the waiter and ordered a glass of wine.

After we finished our lunch, Lexi asked, “What are y’all’s plans for the rest of the day?”

Slayde smiled. “Just wander around. See what we can get into.”

“Well, Taylor and I are going shopping. Don’t get into anything too serious.” She smiled at us, and then she and Taylor left us there.