One Simple Step (Journey Series) (15 page)

I pulled my phone out to check for any messages, and felt even worse when I didn’t see any pop up from Nick. I thought for sure once he got rid of Kara for the night, he would call or at least send me a message explaining that weird encounter. But no. Maybe things weren’t really going in the right direction for us like I thought.

“I’m gonna swing by my hotel real quick. I have something I need to give you before I leave town.” Teddy threw the car into reverse, and I crossed my arms tightly over my chest.

Was it what I had been waiting for to come, and still hadn’t? Teddy hadn’t uttered the word divorce since he had shown up tonight, but he knew that’s what I wanted. The car was filled with an uneasy quiet all the way to Teddy’s hotel. Once we parked, he ran over to open my door and I reluctantly got out of the car.

“Do I really need to come in? Can’t you just run in and get whatever it is?”

He shook his head sharply without looking back at me and headed towards the main lobby of the hotel, jabbing at the button several times once we reached the elevator. I hurried to catch up with his quick pace once we reached his floor, and he slid his key into the card reader.

“What’s the rush?” I asked, rounding the corner into his room and letting the door shut behind me.

I was quickly caught off guard when he twisted me around, and flattened my back against the wall. He sucked in a deep breath before smashing his mouth against mine and letting out a loud groan. I tried to free my body from the death grip he had on me, but he wasn’t budging an inch.

“Stop fighting this, Ally,” he whispered hoarsely against my lips.

“Teddy—” I shouldn’t have opened my mouth because that’s exactly what he had been looking for.

His tongue pushed in quickly, and I couldn’t help the sigh that escaped at his familiar taste. Cigarettes and the mints he always used to cover them up because he knew that I hated him smoking, though he never once tried to quit.

I attempted to pull away once more, but it was a lost cause. His hands were everywhere on my body as he reacquainted himself with my mouth. I wouldn’t say that I wasn’t willing, but I also couldn’t help but think about Nick. Nick and I were together, right? This was wrong, this would make me a cheater just like Teddy, and I hated cheaters. But at the same time, the image of Nick and his ex, Kara, popped into my head, making me sick to my stomach.

My head tipped back on its own when Teddy’s lips and tongue dropped down to my neck. “You taste so fucking good,” he snarled against my skin before pulling my earlobe between his teeth. His hands dropped down from my hips and worked in a frenzy to find the hem of my dress, pushing the material up around my waist.

His hand slid down, and he traced the edges of the lace between my thighs, before pushing a finger under the material. “Always so wet for me, baby.” My panties were soon sliding down my legs, and Teddy kicked them away.

What in the hell was I doing? I watched Teddy as he flicked the button on his pants open and they fell to the ground. It felt like I was in a twilight zone or something. It should have been Nick standing in front of me like this. But he didn’t want me…

Teddy grabbed onto one of my legs, wrapping it around his waist, grinding his hardness against me, and leaned down to touch his forehead to mine. “I missed this so fucking much.” He thrust his hips into me once more, right at my entrance, and it made me wonder exactly what he had missed.

Was it me, or was it just the sex?

Sex between Teddy and I had never been a problem. In fact, that’s really how our relationship first started. One drunken night after he had played a show, in the grimy hallway behind the stage, up against the wall—just like this.

I didn’t really know that sex could be something more until I met Nick. He made me feel special, paid attention to my needs before and after, and our relationship wasn’t solely based on it.

“Teddy, wait.” I pulled my hips back as much as I could, and he paused, the tip of him just hovering at my entrance. “What’s my favorite color?”

“What, Al?” he huffed, dropping his head against my forehead.

“What’s my favorite color?” I repeated slowly, and he groaned again, clearly agitated by me needing to ask the question as he shifted my body against the wall.

“Pink. Now can we save the talking for after—”

“No.” I let my legs drop, and Teddy pulled back, letting my body slide down to the floor as he looked down at me, his eyebrows raised in confusion. “It’s black, because everything goes with black.”

Nick knew the answer within five minutes of meeting me.

“Sorry, Al, I just figured it’s pink since you’re into all that girly shit. Why in the hell does it even matter? Unless…you’d rather me take you against the floor?” A wicked grin spread across his face as he kneeled down, and attempted to hover over me, but I quickly pushed him away.

“It matters because you never cared enough to know. That’s why it matters. I bet if we played twenty questions about me right now, you wouldn’t have a clue about half of them. Don’t you see a problem with that?”

“Ally—”

“Stop!” I held up a hand to wave him off as he attempted to reach for me again. “I can’t let this happen, Teddy. I didn’t see any problems between us before, but now that we’re through, I can see our relationship in a different light, and it wasn’t working. It just sucks that I had to catch you cheating on me to figure that out.”

He gave me a guilty look before letting his head fall against the wall, looking up at the dark ceiling. “I swear that was the only time, Al. And it was the worst fucking mistake of my life. It made me lose you, and I’ll hate myself forever because of it.”

“Don’t hate yourself.” I grabbed his hand and gave it a small squeeze. “You’re a good guy, Teddy. Just not the best husband. No offense,” I added when he snorted loudly.

I pushed my dress down as I stood up, and bent over to slide my underwear back on. “I’m trying to move on, Teddy. I met someone, and things are good, I think.”

“You met someone?” I looked over to see a deep frown on his face. I hated that he looked so sad, but he would eventually be able to move on, and someday be happy.

I ducked my head as I tried to find my heels, and hoped to avoid the angry glare that flashed through his eyes.

“Tell me it’s not that asshole I met tonight. What was his name, Franny?”

I rolled my eyes, and lifted my hand to stifle a laugh. It was kind of entertaining that Teddy thought I was dating Danny, when in fact, I thought they had been pretty similar when we first met. It was kind of ironic that he thought he was an asshole.

“No, he wasn’t there tonight,” I lied, not wanting to tell Teddy the real truth. Luckily, he hadn’t arrived any earlier.

“Well, the guy must be a dumbass then if he let you out of his sight. Are you really sure you’re happy? We could work on things, Al, I know we could. Hell, I’d even quit the band if you wanted me to.”

I shook my head, and gave him a sad smile. He really was trying. “Teddy, I would never want you to do that. I’m sure Nick had a good reason not to be there tonight, and I’m actually kind of glad you didn’t meet like that. I think you need to move on, too. I’ll be able to forgive you one day for the cheating, but I won’t be able to forget, and I don’t think I could live with myself if I stayed with you. I would be miserable.”

“I wouldn’t want that for you, Ally,” he quietly replied. “I’ll call my lawyer's office and get the papers drawn up for—” He took a deep breath, and let it out, his shoulders slightly relaxing as he finally said the word. “For the divorce. Whatever you want, it’s yours. I’ve already put you through hell, so you deserve anything. Plus, you were basically our manager for the past couple of years, and you never asked for a dime.”

“Okay, Teddy,” I whispered.

I knew this was the last time that I would see Teddy for a while. The last time he showed up unannounced didn’t give us any closure, and I shouldn’t have been too surprised that he had shown up again.

I was glad that we talked things out, but I was disappointed in myself for letting it go so far between us. I was a little proud of myself for having at least enough sense to stop it from going all the way.

Now, I just needed to face Nick. I could have just ruined everything by that one simple mistake. What if there was a perfectly good explanation for him being with Kara tonight? Or what if they were there to talk about getting back together? My stomach twisted up at the thought, and I could feel a lump growing in my throat. Teddy was all of a sudden pushed to the back of my mind, and Nick was the only one I could picture.

I just hoped that he hadn’t decided he was better off stuck in the past, than moving toward a future with me.

I needed to see where we stood, and what in the hell had gone on with his ex. I knew I wasn’t much better after what happened, and that if our relationship were going to go anywhere I would have to be honest and tell him everything. And I wasn’t so sure that after he heard
everything
he would even want me.

Chapter 16

Nick

Kara:
don’t be an ass. Sign the papers

A choked laugh rumbled in my chest, and filled the empty room as I read Kara’s message over for the fifth time. Wow, she really had some balls. How did I not see how big of a bitch she was over the years? I was really wondering if she had a heart. If she did it was probably black, just like everything else about her.

I knew laughing wasn’t really appropriate for the whole situation, but I had no fucking clue what I was doing here. Why did I agree to meet her again? No, if I had put it off any longer, who knows what the hell she would have done? She probably would’ve just given up, and moved on.

And then, Ally had been at the one restaurant I never expected them to be at. I figured she would’ve taken her friends to Clammy’s since it was our usual hangout. My friends were there with her, too, so I’m sure I looked like a complete ass showing up with my ex. I couldn’t even look at Ally, my stomach hurt so badly with the guilt of how things appeared.

Kara was in rare form as well, so when I saw Ally weaving towards our table, I cringed, not wanting her to have to deal with Kara. Ally was too good of a person to deal with that shit. I could tell she was drunk just by glancing at her, and she was looking sexy as hell in a tiny black dress that flared at her hips and barely covered that ass of hers.

I wanted to do very bad things to her. Or just get the hell out of there and go somewhere quiet, just as long as I with her, but Kara stunned me into silence and we had to finish what we started. There was no way in hell I was leaving there without getting the full story from her.

I knew Ally’s friends and her brother probably thought I was a jackass for not coming back over with her, but I couldn’t risk Kara taking off on me, or getting pissed that I left her too long. Her mood swings were at an all-time high that night.

Things with Ally and I were a little awkward the next day, to say the least. I invited her over to my place for dinner, and she agreed right away. I was honestly a little worried that she would never talk to me again after the way I treated her. I had been a complete asshole.

I remember every word of the conversation we had when she first showed up. “So, are you and...Kara getting back together?” She swallowed thickly, trying to avoid my eyes, but I could see hers were filled with unshed tears. I would be beating myself up forever about putting those tears in her eyes. I didn’t want to ever see her like that again.

I’m sure she was probably thinking the worst. I mean her own husband just cheated on her, and here I was, never mentioning a word about meeting up with Kara. It probably looked pretty damn suspicious.

“No, Ally.” I had grabbed her hand, lacing it with mine, and holding it tight to my chest. “I can’t apologize enough for last night, it was a dick move, and I should’ve just told you what was up.” She bit down on her lip that had been trembling slightly, and I ran my thumb across the smooth skin of her cheek. “I’m sorry. The only person I want is you.”

“That’s all I needed to hear, Nick.”

She didn’t ask why I had met with Kara, luckily, and I didn’t give her any explanation. I’m sure she wanted to, but I was glad she didn’t, even though I know I owed it to her. I wasn’t ready to. That seemed to help things out between us, but then she hit me with the bombshell that her ex had shown up the same night.

What a clusterfuck.

It must have been after I left because if I would’ve seen him, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere. She shared some details of their night that I really didn’t care to hear.

Ever. Again.

I could tell Ally felt guilty because once she started telling me exactly what happened, she couldn’t stop. I was glad she was being honest with me, but not that honest. Did I really need to know that she was basically naked, about to have sex with the guy, and then put things to a stop? She didn’t say it, but I felt partially responsible. If it hadn’t been for the way I treated her, would it have gone that far? But it still pissed me off, even if I was going to take some of the blame. My jaw tightened as she kept talking, and I could feel my teeth clenching together.

The important thing was that she stopped, but that didn’t mean I could process it that easily.

“I couldn’t do it, because of you, if I had, it would have ruined everything,” she explained.

She had been right, too. It would have ruined everything because no matter how much I loved Ally, I wouldn’t have been able to trust her, and you can’t have love without trust in my book.

“Just give me a minute, Ally.” I pressed my fingertips into my eyes, trying to stop the images of her with some other guy from popping into my head. It was pretty damn hard. I shook my head before opening my eyes, and seeing Ally standing there looking defeated. I wanted to reach out to tell her everything was okay, but right then, I couldn’t.

“Nick—”

“Stop,” I snapped, instantly regretting how it came out, but thinking I had a right to be upset. “That’s a lot of shit to process, and I don’t really know if I can handle it.” Her mouth dropped open at my harsh tone, but she didn’t say anything, just sniffed loudly, and gave a slight nod of her head.