My Chance (Chance #2) (19 page)

“Thanks for the ride. I’ll talk to you later.” I shut the door. I was irritated. Maybe I was annoyed with Brett and his insensitivity, or maybe I was peeved with Alex’s comment. Whatever it was, I just wanted to get inside my apartment.

“Aubrey, wait.”

I turned and looked at my beautiful man. I didn’t care how mad I was, he was still the most handsome man in the world. I crossed my arms.

He put his hand on my elbow. “Hey, are you mad at me? I didn’t mean anything by that. I wouldn’t do that to you. I made a promise, remember?” He held up my left hand. “I love you. I don’t know why Brett did what he did tonight. I do know that he’s really hurt. Julie isn’t the only one in pain right now.”

“I’m sorry. I just don’t understand guys. How could he do that? How could you do what you did to me? I need to go.” I turned in haste to avoid his answer, stumbled on the curb, and almost fell. Alex’s arms wrapped around my waist to steady me.

Julie came over. “Aubrey, are you okay?”

I stood stock-still in Alex’s arms.

He turned me around and grabbed my face. “Look at me.”

Our eyes met. “You have nothing to worry about, do you understand?” he said. “You have my heart and my soul. You’re my life. Please let me stay with you.”

“Okay.” I looked at Julie. “Is that all right with you?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I’m freezing my tits off out here.” She shivered and giggled.

There’s my friend.

Julie and Alex ended up spending the night. I loved having both of my best friends there.

I woke up to soft kisses trailing up and down the back of my neck.

“Waking up with you in my arms has to be my best dream coming true.” His voice was gruff, and he sounded sexy as hell.

I rolled in his arms and looked at him. “You’re my dream. I just feel horrible that Julie is in a nightmare. She has to be wondering if Brett is alone.”
God, I hope he’s alone.

“I don’t know, but I hope he is too. I know Nikki, and I’m sure she was willing and ready.”

I felt a chill go down my spine. “I hate that you know that, and I hate that I know why you know that.” I started to leave the bed, but Alex stopped me.

“Hey, that was a long time ago. She meant nothing to me, and you mean everything to me.” He pulled me in and hugged me as if I was falling out of a plane and he was my parachute.

I held on as tight as I could. I loved when I couldn’t tell if I was feeling my heartbeat or his. But I needed to check on Julie. I kissed him and got out of bed. I threw on my robe and walked into my living room to find an empty couch with a folded blanket and a note.

Aubrey,

Thank you for letting me crash here. I needed to know, so I'm going to Brett's. I know you don't agree with this, but I need to see it for myself. Please don't tell Alex. Just tell him I went home. I don't want him to think I'm a stalker. Thank you for everything. I love you and will call later.

Julie xoxo

“Shit.”

“What’s the matter, babe? Where’s Julie?”

“She left.” That wasn’t a lie.

“Oh, I hope she’s okay.”

I muttered, “Me too.” I prayed she didn’t see Nikki. I looked over at Alex, who was making coffee in the kitchen. I wrapped my arms around him. “Do you have to go to the club soon?”

“Yeah, I wish I didn’t. I’m still thinking I should sell it. I don’t know. What do you think?”

“I don’t want you to. It’s yours. Not to mention it’s where we met.” I kissed him.

“Will you be okay today? What are you going to do today?”

“I’m going into the office. I need to talk to Brian and see what the plan is. I should have gone back yesterday, but I knew Julie needed me.” My chest hurt. I wasn’t anxious; I was just filled with worry for her.

Alex tilted my head up. “I know you’re stressed over what Julie saw at the club, but if it’s meant to be, it will be. I know that he loves her. I just hope they can find a compromise.”

“I don’t know. She’s really broken up. I’ve never seen her like this. She’s even waiting to see—” I snapped my mouth shut.

“She’s waiting to see what? Is she at Brett’s? Please tell me she isn’t going there to see if he’s alone.”

I shrugged. “Go to the club so I can get ready for work. I’ll call you later.”

Alex’s lips were on mine, and he pulled me into a hug. “I’m sorry this is happening.”

“Me too. I’ll see you later.”

Alex left, and I got ready to go into the office. I walked to the subway and called Julie on the way. She didn’t pick up, which made me nervous. I hoped she was already at work. The walk from the subway station to Walker-Stone was short, but it was getting colder. I wished I had taken a cab. The office seemed busier than normal when I got in.

Mark was by the break room. “There she is, my favorite copy editor!” Mark hugged me. He kissed the top of my head.

That probably wasn’t the best office protocol, but I didn’t care. I missed working, and I missed working with my friends even more. “Hey there, handsome. Is Julie here?”

Mark handed me a cup of coffee. “Yeah, she just got here. She doesn’t look good. I asked her what was wrong, but she didn’t want to talk about it.”

“Probably better that you don’t know because you’d want to kick Brett’s ass. I’m going to go see her.” I walked away from Mark, but he followed on my heels. I turned toward Mark. “She’s really hurting over Brett right now.”

Mark looked at me as if he was ready to come out of his skin. “What happened? If Brett hurt her, you’re right; I’ll want to go kick his ass.”

“They had a disagreement. Julie thought going to the club last night would make her feel better, but it made her feel worse.” I tried to walk away again, but he wouldn’t let me get too far. “Brett was at the club, but he wasn’t alone. Julie was devastated. She went by his place this morning to see if he was alone, and I need to find out what happened.”

“Holy shit! You’d better tell me what happened. What the hell is wrong with these guys? First Alex pulls crap on you and now Brett?”

“Please don’t bring up what happened with me and Alex,” I said. “That was as much my fault as it was his.”

Mark shrugged. “I don’t like seeing my best friends upset. Alex is a good guy, but the jury’s still out on Brett.” Mark turned and walked to his desk.

I looked into Julie’s office. She was looking out the window. I knocked on the open door. “Can I come in?”

She turned and smiled. “Hi.”

“Hi, yourself. So what happened?”

Julie let out a long breath. “Nothing happened. I decided on the way there that I didn’t want to know. I don’t think I can take it. What pisses me off more than anything is how upset I am. I don’t do this. I don’t pine or get hurt. This is why love sucks.”

My heart broke for her. “Love doesn’t suck, Jules. Sometimes it just takes a little compromise.”

“So I should, as Brett put it, ‘fuck’ him and be his girlfriend and nothing more? How long? Forever?”

“I don’t know.” I had no idea what to say that would help her.

Julie sat at her desk. “I know, and I can’t do that. I thought that’s what I wanted too, to be with Brett and have a great time. He told me he loved me. This isn’t love, is it?”

I shook my head. “No, it isn’t.”

“Anyways, we have a meeting today with them about
Amoureux.”

That was news to me. “We do? Since when?”

“Since Alex just called me and said they would be here at one.”

“Oh, okay. Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I need to be professional. It is what it is.”

I stood to leave, but before I did, I walked around the desk to give Julie a hug.

I went back to my desk and tried calling Alex, but it went to voice mail. I was nervous about our meeting, and I wondered why he hadn’t told me. I looking over the other pending projects on my desk, and before I knew it, a small white orchid plant was placed by my computer. I looked to my right and there he was, wearing black slacks and a deep blue shirt that made his eyes look even more amazing than they were. I beamed, and then Brett appeared. He looked good too, but he looked tired. I hoped he was tired because he’d been up all night worrying about Julie. I couldn’t stomach thinking that he was tired because he was up all night with Nikki.

Mark was behind them. “I have the conference room ready. Right this way, gentlemen.”

Alex took my hand and kissed it. “Sorry I didn’t tell you about this. You’ll understand once we get in there. If it makes you feel better, Brett just found out too.”

“Okay.” I noticed Mark and Brett talking, and Mark didn’t look pleased.

Alex and I sat at the conference table across from each other, waiting for Julie and Brett to join us. Brett sat next to Alex, and Julie came in shortly after and sat next to me.

She pulled out her notepad and pen. “So, Alex, what can we do for you?”

Alex cleared his throat, stood, and walked around the table. “Nothing. I’m sorry to have deceived you all, but I don’t have any marketing needs at this time.”

Julie looked at him as if he had two heads. “Why are you here?”

“I’m here because this is the only place I could think of that you and Brett could talk without killing each other. Aubrey and I are getting married soon, and I’d like our best friends to get along. Our engagement party is coming up, and I don’t need you two taking aim at each other. Aubrey doesn’t need the stress. If you two can’t find a common ground, then I’ll take Aubrey away and elope.”

“Alex! You can’t force them to talk.” His heart was in the right place, but the conference was about to go badly.

“No, it’s okay,” Julie said. “This is good. I have a question for Brett, and his hopefully honest answer will clear all this up.”

Brett looked at us and then at Julie. He leaned back and looked nervous. “Okay, what do you want to know? Do you want to know if I love you? Because the answer is yes. If you want to know if I miss you, that answer is yes too.”

Julie ran her hand through her hair. “No, actually. I need to know if you slept with Nikki last night.”

“What? Why do you need to know that?”

“Tell me.” Julie’s voice was strong, but I knew the wrong answer would devastate her.

Brett looked down and let out a deep breath. He looked right into her eyes. “Yeah, I did. Feel better now?”

Julie picked up her notepad and pen. She stood and looked at Brett. “No, I don’t, but thank you for your honesty.” She walked toward the door, stopped, and looked at us. “Alex, I appreciate what you tried to do here. Although I doubt this is the way you wanted it to go, I’m glad you brought us together. This way everyone knows how my ex-boyfriend, who claims to love me, shows his love. I promise your engagement party will be beautiful and won’t be dampened by our issues. Same goes for your wedding.” Julie looked at me. “I’ll be your maid of honor, Aubrey. I wouldn’t miss that for anything in the world.” She turned and looked at Brett. “Don’t worry, Brett. When you and I walk down the aisle that day, we’ll be walking away from the altar, not toward it.”

Julie left, and we all stood there staring at each other.

“I’d better go too. I’ll walk you guys out,” I said.

I kissed Alex good-bye and thanked him for trying. I sat at my desk and dropped my head in my hands. I was going to go see Julie, but her door was closed. Mark came to my desk, and I told him what had happened. It didn’t brighten his mood toward Brett. When the day ended, I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Julie and I walked out together.

“Want to come to my place? We can order pizza and watch a movie,” I said.

“No thanks. I need a drink. I’m headed over to the club for happy hour. Want to come?”

I couldn’t believe she wanted to go there. “Sure, I guess. I don’t want to stay long, though.”

We took a cab. The club was busy but not too busy. Brett and Mike were manning the bar, so I told Julie to grab a table and I’d get our drinks. Thankfully Brett was busy, so Mike made our drinks. I was about to grab them when I felt arms around my waist.

“Baby, do you know how sexy you look? Do you know how badly I want you on this bar… naked?”

A shiver shot down my spine. I left the drinks where they were and turned to see the face I loved. My lips were on his in an instant. “
Amoureux
.”