Tied - Part One (12 page)
Authors: Ellen Callahan
There were girls in the apartment, too. That made my heart take a little plunge. Were his good luck girls here? Would he rather spend the night with one of them?
The thought made my stomach churn.
Careful
.
The apartment was crowded, and I heard him before I saw him. “Didn’t they try to hook you two up?” he asked.
“Yeah,” a familiar voice chuckled, “Not sure what they were thinking.” That sounded like Surly, his other close friend. Mallet’s best friend. “She’s nice but she’s got a real stick up her butt about something.”
Who were they talking about? I spotted them on the couch - Lockett seated, Surly leaning on the arm. A couple girls in tight dresses lingered nearby - one even sat at Lockett’s other side. She draped one leg over his.
He rested a hand on her knee. I recognized her. Cara, from the bar. “Not as high up there as you thought, though,” Lockett said, giving Surly a playful shove. “I managed to fuck her. I think you owe me a few bucks for that one.”
If my heart dropped before, it plummeted to my shoes now.
I saw it all in slow motion. Surly’s bored half-smile when he turned his head to face one of the girls. Cara running her fingers lightly up and down Lockett’s neck. She leaned in, baring more cleavage than I even had.
“No way.” Surly shoved him back. “There’s a statute of limitations on that sort of bet.”
I forced my feet to move. “What bet?”
They both turned at the same time. Their faces fell when they realized it was me.
“What bet?” I asked again. I kept my voice steady though my fingers trembled with rage.
Surly was on his feet in a flash. “Just a stupid joke between guys, Katherine,” he said, “It wasn’t-”
“I asked Lockett.” Surly’s mouth clamped shut and he backed away.
“Sweetheart, it was just-”
“Don’t call me that.”
“It was just a joke.” He stood and rounded the couch. When he reached for me, I jerked away.
Is that what I am? A joke?
“Sleeping with me was a joke?” Cara covered her mouth and pretended to muffle a giggle - one that I clearly heard.
“No. Surly made a joke about it-”
“Why are you even talking about it? It wasn’t his business!” I realized the party around me had grown quiet. Was I shouting? Some of the other girls stepped closer to witness the scene, exchanging curious grins. “Everyone was right. I should have stayed away from you.” I placed a hand over my chest. I couldn’t take this. I was just a joke to him? My heart ached - how stupid I’d been.
I gripped my suitcase handle tight and fled the apartment.
“Katherine,” he called. I heard the door slam behind him as I jogged for the elevators. I pressed the button over and over frantically but he reached me in just a couple long strides.
“Stop,” he said, covering the button with his hand. “It was just guy talk. We say stupid shit all the time.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Just a silly bet about some uptight girl with a stick up her ass. No big deal.” I clasped both hands on my suitcase’s handle and stood in front of the closed elevator doors, mentally willing it to speed up.
“He didn’t mean that. I didn’t, either.” He touched my arm and I jerked it away.
“Do you place bets on all the women in your harem?” I snarled, then immediately snapped my mouth shut. I didn’t want to be one of those jealous crazy girls - he had warned me not to get attached and I’d agree to it. I took a deep breath.
The elevator dinged and the doors split open. I stepped inside and tried to bodily block him from following, but he effortlessly crowded me in against the back wall.
“She’s nothing,” he said.
“Nevermind her. It isn’t my business.”
“It kind of is.” He crowded me into the corner, towering over me. He placed his hands to either wall. I was blocked in. Surrounded by him. “I wasn’t paying attention to her. Or any of them. You’re all I’ve been able to think about.”
God, how good it would feel to sink against him, to be wrapped up in his arms. His warmth called to me. But I resisted. I had to. “You told me not to get attached. You told me you don’t do attachment. You yourself said that you’re a player.”
“I am.” He leaned in, his face near mine, his lips just a breath away. I shivered. “But right now I only want to play you.”
“You’re only saying that because I’m walking away.”
His lips brushed mine, softly, just once. Then again. Then he was kissing me, so gently and tenderly that my anger started to melt. His arms were like bars to either side of me, tense and hard and immovable, but his lips were impossible soft.
The doors slid open on the first floor. I pushed against his chest; he broke the kiss but he didn’t move his arms. “Come back upstairs,” he said.
I wanted to. My body heated and pulsed with anticipation just imagining what sensual wonders would be in store.
What a terrible time to find my backbone.
“No.” I couldn’t let this happen. I couldn’t get involved. Patrick was right, it was too soon, and Lockett was too wrong. “I can’t. I’m sorry.” I ducked beneath his arm and backed away, out of the elevator and into the lobby. My heart screamed at me,
don’t, don’t!
But it was time to stop listening to my heart. It mislead me at every turn. It had driven me into the arms of how many bad boyfriends? It twisted me into giving up how much of my life to my mother’s demands? And now it wanted me to give in to this fighter. This player, who made jokes about me with his friends, whose flock of female followers had a damn nickname.
He would just hurt me, unintentionally I was sure but I was so tired of hurting. “You leave me alone, Rob Lockett. You keep your hands to yourself and you pretend I don’t exist if you have to. You’re just… you’re too bad for me, Rob. And I’m too much of a mess for you. I’m sorry.”
“Katherine.” His voice cracked. His fucking voice cracked. I clamped my hands over my ears, abandoned my suitcase, and ran out of the lobby and onto the street.
I didn’t know where I was headed but I couldn’t bear to listen to him for another moment.
I had to let him go. For my own health. For my own sanity. I had to let him go.
This was the first part of the four-part series, Tied. Get excited - the rest of Katherine’s and Lockett’s story is coming very soon!
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Ellen’s very first series is available on
Amazon and on Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited!
Follow Alexa’s and Mallet’s story:
She's a college grad trying to find herself in NYC; instead she finds him - the cocky MMA fighter with the filthy mouth. One wink is all it takes to turn her world upside down.
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A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Hello, readers and romance fans! Thank you so much for checking out my book - I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it!
It’s a tough world out there for an indie writer and there’s a whole lot of competition. If you enjoyed this story, please share it with your friends or leave me some love right there on
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http://www.authorellencallahan.com/
About the Author
Independent author Ellen Callahan reads and writes edgy contemporary romances. She is also enthusiastic about baking cookies and loves rock music - the louder, the better. When she isn’t writing, she’s spending her time with her three rambunctious nephews.
Ellen can be found in New York City, chugging coffee and walking too fast while forgetting where she was supposed to be going in the first place. If she look confused, it’s okay, she’s just working on a plot point. Please point her towards the nearest subway station.
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