Infinity & Always (17 page)

Tears
stream down my cheeks ruining my makeup completely. I have no words
to say to him to describe what a beautiful gift it is. He winks at
me, lifting the bottom of his shirt he wipes my face.

“I
don’t know what to say,” I blink, away more tears.

“You
don’t have to say anything darlin’, I know.”

He
pulls me into him holding me close whispers soft words to me, “I
love you, Knox Porter.”

“Yeah?
I love you Bailey Mortenson, more than I could ever say.”

New Year’s Eve

Max

We
arrived in New York about an hour ago and I’m starting to
question myself. Why did I come here? Do I want to know what she has
been doing for the last couple of years? Do I want to meet her
friends?

Because
I’m an idiot – yes – and yes.

When
the cab pulls up outside of a brownstone, I am quickly reminded how
successful and rich Paige is. I’m not holding it against her,
but I actually forgot there for a minute. Paying the cabbie, I climb
out stretching my legs. Paige and Bailey climb out of the other cab
while Knox and I grab our bags. Two days, I should be good – it
will be okay. We agreed to spend tonight in Times Square and then
help Paige pack up her stuff tomorrow before she moves back to the
West coast.

“Fuck,
my balls are frozen.”

Knox
says stopping beside me. I hadn’t even noticed the cold until
he mentioned it.

“You
okay?” his voice is concerned as he throws his arm over my
shoulders.

“Yeah
I guess,” looking at him he nods, understanding that I’m
not okay, but I don’t want to talk about it right now.

“Come
on you two!”

Bailey
calls out, waving at us from the top of the steps. Knox gives me a
reassuring squeeze and we head up to the door. I honestly don’t
know what to do, if it weren’t for him I probably would be
freaking out even more. We follow Bailey through the door into a
pretty house. The floor is carpeted with a thick, deep burgundy
carpet and the walls are painted a cream color.

I
walk into the kitchen surprised that it’s quite large. The
floor is wooden and it has a small center island with four chairs.
There is no table, which seems odd, but there are plenty of pictures
on the far wall. I don’t want to look at them. I don’t
want to see her in the arms of another guy even if it was a long time
ago.

“So
anyone for a drink?” Paige asks, opening the massive fridge.

Looking
over at Knox, I bust out laughing. He looks like he just saw a hot
naked chick. “You just creamed yourself didn’t you?”

“Fuck
off,” he says, staring at the subzero.

“Darlin’
we’re getting one.”

He
says to Bailey while pointing at the fridge. We take our beers and
sit around the island. Paige opts to stand on the other side so she
can talk to us. She tells us we are meeting her friends tonight for
dinner then we can all head to watch the ball drop. I really don’t
know if I want to go, my feelings for her never went away and now I
am being assaulted left and right.

“Do
you mind if we shower first?” I ask, needing to just say
something and get away at the same time.

“Oh,
yeah let me show you. I have one guest shower so if you guys want
that Bailey can use mine,” she says.

I
follow her up the narrow stairs watching her ass sway, taking a deep
breath I force my eyes off of her and stare at the end of her hair
instead.

“Here
you go,” she pushes open a door to a bathroom then the one
across from it. “This is where you can sleep, so just throw
your stuff in here.”

“Thanks,”
I mumble, stepping into the room, she nods then leaves me alone. I
want to reach out and pull her back, but I can’t, I won’t.
The room is a weird grayish cream color, it’s not ugly or
anything just something unusual. Opening my bag, I pull out my
clothes for tonight and wash bag. Kicking off my shoes and socks, I
pull off my t-shirt and toss it on the floor too. Grabbing my bag, I
open the door and run smack into her. Her face hits my bare chest and
she stumbles back a little.

“Shit,
are you okay?”

“Yeah
sorry, my fault I was just getting extra towels for you,” she
points to the bundle sitting on top of the toilet.

“Oh,
thanks.”

Stepping
around her, I quickly close the door and run my hands through my
hair. Fuck! Why did she have to touch me? All I want now is to feel
her hands all over me. Stripping down I turn on the shower and have a
quick shave, then hop into the cool water, memories of us together
flood my mind.

“Fucking
traitor.”

I
moan looking down at my rock hard dick, gripping it in my hand I get
to work relieving myself of the stress and torment being around her
causes. When I’m done picturing her fucking me, I cum hard and
almost shout out. Leaning my head against the wall while I ride the
wave, I bite down on my fist. My breathing is shallow and I’m
so annoyed at myself, it’s been months since I allowed myself
the pleasure of her memory.

I
even tried to date someone last year. I never told Knox or Bailey
though. Amanda was nice, she was opposite to Paige, and I was happy
about that. She loved sex, like really loved it, every time we
decided to go out I’d pick her up at her house, but we never
made it on our dates. We would just fuck in every room and drink
afterward. It helped numb the pain, but after about the tenth ‘date’
I never went back.

“Hey,
you almost done?”

Knox’s
shouting startles me and I turn off the now cold water. Wrapping a
towel around myself I pull open the door. Knox takes one look at me
and frowns pushing my chest until I step back inside and he closes
the door.

“Are
you sure you’re going to be okay?”

He
looks really concerned and I nod trying to make a joke of it. He
tells me to stop acting like that and I cave.

“No,
I don’t think so bro, it’s hard, harder than I thought it
would be.”

Sighing,
I grab another towel and dry off my chest and arms. “I want to
fucking scream. How am I going to deal with her friends?”

“You
have me, Max, you don’t have to deal with anyone.”

“I
know, thanks. I’ll be fine it’s just tonight and
tomorrow,” I tell myself. We walk back into the bedroom and
Knox gets ready for his shower.

“Why
are you in here?” I ask, dropping my towel and grabbing my
boxers.

“We
have to share the room bro, just like old times,” he grins at
me, kicking off his own clothes.

“Where
is Bailey sleeping?”

“With
Paige, she only has this room other than her own,” he answers.

“Cool,
I guess we are having a threesome tonight,” I joke, getting a
punch on the arm.

“Never
fucker.”

Knox
laughs on his way out. I’m always busting his balls about us
and Bailey. Getting dressed in my new black jeans and blue shirt, I
slip on my new boots Bailey got me for Christmas and head downstairs
to wait. I can hear the girls laughing as I pass by another door,
taking note that it’s Paige’s bedroom.

Taking
a seat in the kitchen I look around. I have no clue what to do with
myself so I grab a beer from the fridge. The fridge is stocked with
food, which makes no sense considering she is leaving tomorrow or the
next day. Taking a swallow, I walk over to the pictures on the wall,
from afar it looks like a jumbled mess but the closer I get I start
to recognize some of them.

There
are some of us all in the bar, the band, Bailey. Paige and Bailey.
Paige and some other chicks, Paige and some dude. Clenching my jaw, I
take in every detail of the picture, trying to read what it means.
They look like they are laughing with arms slung around each other,
both of them are turned towards the camera, but their bodies are
pressed together. Moving on I scan the rest and notice he is in a few
of them, fuck! What am I doing?

Walking
away from the wall of horror, I sit at the island and Knox joins me.
After about fifteen minutes, we hear the girls laughing as they walk
down the stairs. Bailey enters first and I have to say she is a
beautiful looking chick, her dress is short and black, and my brother
is fucked. Shaking my head I chuckle at him, she never lets him down
when they are going out. I know she loves dressing up for him and
misses it.

Paige
follows her and I almost lose my own shit. Her hair is pulled back
off her face, and falling over her shoulder in big curls. It matches
her eyes, a honey color with streaks of caramel that make you want to
sink into them. Her dress is a little longer than Bailey’s but
not by much and her long legs are capped with sparkly shoes. I
quickly gulp down the last of my beer almost choking myself.

“Ready?
We can walk to the restaurant, it’s only two blocks,” she
says.

Following
her out, we walk down the cold ass streets of New York. Knox is
holding Bailey tight and I have to admit I’m fucking jealous as
fuck. Paige shivers a little so I move closer at least she can have
some of my body heat.

“Thanks,”
she smiles at me. We stop at a crosswalk and she links her arm
through mine to cross the road. I don’t say anything to her
when she doesn’t let me go. We walk into a nice place the
dining room is full and we wait for about five minutes before we are
seated. The table is set for eight people, I sit down beside Knox,
and Paige takes a seat beside Bailey so we are across from each
other.

A
few minutes later a waiter takes our drink order and two people join
us. Paige introduces them as Claire and John. They sit down beside
her, leaving the two seats beside me free.

“Andy
and Trevor are running late, you know what traffic is like today,”
Claire tells Paige. She nods and sips her wine and the girls start
talking. Knox turns to me.

“You
good?” he whispers.

“Yeah
so far,” I answer, just, as the seat beside me gets taken.

Turning
my head I notice a raven-haired beauty situating herself beside me,
her eyes are huge like a puppy dog and she smiles at me. The dude who
sits next to her looks at me, it’s the fucker from the picture,
and I instantly dislike him. The chick crosses her bare legs. I
notice she is wearing a very revealing skirt and top. Her eyes meet
mine and she slowly draws them down the length of my body and back up
to my eyes.

“Well,
Paige, where were you hiding this one?”

She
asks, with a British accent. Her lips are full and pouty and my dick
twitches just thinking of sliding in between them.

“I
wasn’t,” Paige snaps, drawing my attention to her. I
swear I see a look of hurt cross her face before she turns away.

“So
I’m Andie, with an
ie
and this is my brother Trevor,”
she says, holding out her hand. Taking it, I shake it.

“Max,
my brother Knox and his fiancée Bailey.”

Andie
smiles at them then turns her full attention to me. She shifts her
body so that I can see right down her low cut top and force myself to
keep my eyes up. The waiter brings her a drink and she sips it while
watching me. She is one of the sexiest chicks I have ever met and I
bet she knows it.

“So
how’s work, Andie?” Paige asks.

I
can hear the slight annoyance in her tone, but if Andie notices she
doesn’t let on.

“It
was okay, a little boring without my helper,” she smiles at
Paige. I get the feeling we are missing something here.

“I’m
hardly your helper,” Paige replies sounding bored.

“Come
on girls, not tonight.”

Trevor
finally opens his mouth. Paige glares at him and I know that look all
too well. My girl is getting ready to fight, and I, for one am loving
it.

My
girl? What the fuck am I saying? The meal is a little weird; Knox
keeps glancing at me and me, him. Once it’s done, Paige pays
for us all and it rubs me the wrong way; none of these fuckers even
offered to pay. On the way out I take her elbow and stop her.

“Why
did you pay? I thought we were paying for ourselves.”

“Oh
it’s okay, don’t worry about it,” she smiles at me.

We
walk outside into the biting wind and she quickly squeals. Laughing,
I am about to wrap my arm around her when douchebag does it. Trevor
the fucker, his sister grips my arm and attaches herself to my side
as we walk to a bar down the block. I can’t help but notice
that these places are pretty high end and I’m wondering why we
are going to them. Paige knows we don’t give a shit about this
type of stuff considering the type of bar we own.

We
walk into the place, which is jammed. Paige offers to get the first
round and it pisses me off. I am about to step in, but Bailey beats
me to it.

“I’ll
get it, you got dinner,” she says, over the noise.

We
order the drinks, finding a table near the back we let the girls sit
down. Andie turns around so she is facing me and makes sure I notice
her.

“So
how do you know Paige?” she asks, keeping her eyes locked on
mine.

“How
do you?” I ask, not wanting to get into history here.

“Oh
she and my brother,” she nods over to Trevor the fucker.

“Oh
right, I thought you worked together.”

“Ha!
No silly, they work together, but I work in the same building.”
She shrugs.

“What
do you do? Computers too?”

She
laughs at me, throwing back her head back like I just cracked the
funniest joke ever. Her hand trails down my arm and she smiles again.

“I’m
a model, my agency is housed in the building with the nerds.”

I
nod in understanding, well pretending to. I know the kind of chick
she is, a man- eater, and someone who wants what she can’t
have. My eyes are drawn to Paige, who looks uncomfortable with
Trevor’s arm around her shoulder. Finishing my drink, I put the
bottle down on the table and make my way around to her.