Reed's Reckoning (26 page)

“Are you fucking insane, Cara? I hardly think you are wallowing when you keep pleading your case and insulting Ari in the process. As for Jack, I wouldn’t say I’ve totally forgiven him. His lack of judgment put a gaping hole in our friendship, but he didn’t deceive me on purpose to
go Greek
!”

“You—”

“NO! Stop talking, just shut up. I can’t deal with your bullshit right now. You asked me if we could talk and I said no, but you’re still here so let me lay it on the line for you. You had your chance to walk away, but now you will listen to what I have to say.”

I chug the rest of my beer and reach for another one. Then swallow half it in one tug.

“Do you remember Draft Day, four years ago? You couldn’t go, but Mom and Jack were with me. I had spoken to possibly four teams that wanted me and had no idea where I’d end up. I was swept up in the press; all the sports talk interviews, the magazine articles, my picture was on a billboard in Times Square. I was paraded around the city with the rest of the number-one class. People shouted and screamed at us like we were celebrities. It was surreal.

“The minute Jacksonville called my name and mom hugged me, it all sank in. When I got to that stage and shook the commissioner’s hand with my new team jersey over my arm, my mind flashed to two people, Dad and Ari. Not Mom, not you, not any of my coaches, or teammates, just Dad and Ari. I became a multi-millionaire that night. We celebrated with the best champagne we could order. I partied around the city before catching a flight to my new home and team the next day.”

“Oh my God.” Cara’s voice cracks.

“Yeah, now let me tell you another story about that same day. A brokenhearted twenty-one year old Arianna sits on the sofa in front of the television. She makes her best friend Luke stay with her all day watching the footage surrounding the draft. She’s roughly seventeen weeks pregnant, put college on hold, and has moved home. Her life is in shambles and she holds onto her stomach everywhere she goes to protect her baby.

“So she watches me all day strut around New York City with a smile on my face and women screaming for me. When my name is called, Ari watched me hug mom, fist pump with Jack, and head to the stage to start my new life. She loses it. Her heart swells and breaks again at the same time. She watched the man she loved so much achieve his dream and at the same moment move on without her after promising her the world.

“So she’s surrounded by Luke, Sophie, and her grandma now and is inconsolable. Her tears soak through her best friends shirt and sobs shake her body. For the first time in a while, she isn’t holding her stomach to protect our baby, she is too stricken. Her grandma noticed the blood first. Ari was bleeding and they were concerned she was having a late miscarriage. She refused any sedative in the ambulance and became stoic. She thought she killed our baby. Thank God, she was okay, but she was put on bed rest for a while and also given a mild anti-depressant. The doctor wanted her to see a psychiatrist, but she declined. She vowed to everyone in her life she would get better and be the best mother to our child. She later told Luke, she knew when my name was announced, our lives and dreams had been a fairytale she would never see come true and she hated herself for believing them. She never really questioned where my supposed girlfriend was because of the idea of an open relationship.”

“That is devastating.”

“You think that’s bad? Let me finish up this little bedtime nightmare for you. Ari did get better. She read books about parenting and healthy pregnancies. She did everything in the world to keep my baby alive after almost losing him, which she found out could have resulted in hemorrhaging and killing her too. But even though she was taking care of herself, she shut down emotionally. No one could get through to her. Her grandmother had a stroke and begged her to find me to let me know, but besides the draft, Ari’s last memory was of me taking a girl into my room when she showed up at my apartment to tell me about the baby. So when my son was born, he had only one parent listed on his birth certificate, and it isn’t me. My own flesh and blood is legally listed as having a mother only.”

I finish my beer and reach for another. My run is going to suck in the morning, but hopefully Ari will go easy on me. We sit without saying anything, but Cara cries quietly. When she starts to hiccup, I can’t take anymore.

“Go back to your hotel, Cara. I’ll drop Mom off after brunch.”

“Where does this leave us?”

“Right now, there is no us. I’ll let you know if I’m ready to talk.”

I leave her outside on the porch and lockup the house. I turn off the small lamp and watch Cara walk around the house in the darkness. The engine of mom’s car starts in the driveway and I listen as she pulls away.

Jack’s watching TV in the small den, he looks at me and sits up when I walk in. “I heard your conversation.”

“Was that because you’re nosy or because I was loud?”

“I didn’t know who you were talking to so I opened the window for a sec. When I realized it was Cara, I shut it. But not before I listened to you retell the story. It was more devastating listening to it come from you than Luke.”

“Yeah, probably because of how much I love her. He may be her friend but it’s a different scenario when you love her like I do.”

“I can see that. So what’s next?”

“Hopefully to have her in my hot tub tomorrow night when all you fuckers are gone and tell her how sorry I am. Then I move to the next phase in my plan.”

“Gotta hear this, it outta be good.”

I smile and him and fill him on the steps in ‘Operation Matthews’.

We had an eventful and emotional day. It was hard to sit with Reed while he retold the story of my breakdown, but he wanted his mom to know the extent of the damage Cara had been a part of. When we went for a run, it helped ease some of the tension, but he was still on edge. Luke decided to stay and go to the beach again but Jack left before we went to brunch.

Amy doted on Davis and cried when we dropped her off. She promised to come a few days before the Fourth of July so she could help Katy and me with the food. I learned really quick that I would need triple the amount of food with the football players that were coming. Bobbie called and informed us that Lamar and Dwayne bragged about the party to a few other guys and the list of players grew.

Davis fell asleep unusually early, but then again he had an exhausting weekend. As soon as we laid him down, Reed turned on the hot tub and told me to put on my suit. The idea of relaxing in the warm water sounds wonderful and I want the time alone with him. He’s been distracted all day.

The hot tub is placed on the back of the patio with a perfect view of the ocean. I lean into the jets and let them pound into the muscles in my lower back. Reed slips in, hands me my wine, and lies back in the crevice.

“Besides the obvious shake-up, did you have a nice weekend?” he asks me cautiously.

“I did. I remember your mom being sweet, but she is hilarious. I think her and Katy can get into some serious trouble if together for long periods of time.”

“Yeah, she’s a riot when she wants to be. She’s also a bit over the top.”

“She told me what you said to her the day you were there for Cara’s accident. About me needing a lawyer because you were coming after me.”

“She’s got a big mouth.”

“I thought it was sweet, a bit scary, but still sweet.”

“I got a call from Trey on Friday but never called him back until this afternoon. He uncovered the shit with Alex and Cara. There were several other girls involved but I didn’t know their names. I told him about what went down here too. I can’t help it but something still isn’t right. There’s a gap in the story.”

“I agree. I can’t figure out what, but it’s nagging at me.”

“Well, let it go. Trust Trey and me to get to the bottom of it. I have much more important things to talk to you about.” He moves around so he is basically straddling me but the water makes him weightless. “No way, buddy. Having sex in your pool, in the dark, and an isolated area is one thing. I won’t do it in your hot tub with the sun still shining.”

“I wasn’t thinking about that, but now that you mention it, maybe I can persuade you.”

“No, what do you need to talk to me about?”

“I want to call my lawyer tomorrow and put my name on Davis’s birth certificate. I’m sure there will be some things you need to sign. I’ll take care of the details.”

“Okay.” I don’t even hesitate. His face lights up with happiness for the first time since Friday night.

“Another thing, I need you to tell me why you named him Davis.”

“You know why.” I say softly.

“No, I know you were in a fragile state of mind and thought our fairytale was over.”

“It was for you,” I whisper. “Besides trying to talk myself into another name, I knew you would be devastated if you found out about him and I broke the Matthews tradition. I remember you telling me the first-born son was given the grandmother’s maiden name. You told me all the time that your mother couldn’t wait to have a ‘Davis’. So even as hard as I tried, I knew I couldn’t do that to you. I didn’t know we would ever reconnect, but if Davis wanted to know about his biological dad, I was going to tell him.”

“Angel, it means the world to my mom and me. Thank you.”

I can tell he wants to talk about more but leans in and kisses me deeply. I get lost in his embrace and lift closer to feel his skin against my chest. This isn’t just a kiss of need or hunger; it’s full of passion and intensity. He’s communicating how important it is that I remembered his family tradition. I let him control our movements but try gracefully to rearrange my legs so that I straddle him instead. We grind against one another for a few minutes until I remember where we are. I lean back slowly catching my breath and stare into his crystal blue eyes that are swimming in desire.

“One day very soon, I have plans for you in this hot tub. But now, I want you in the bed.” He lifts me up and gets the towels on the banister. I hop down and wrap myself up while he does the same then leads me to the bedroom.

I’m surprised to see the bed has been pulled back and is covered in pink post-it notes. There are dozens of them stuck everywhere. When I get closer, I see a word written on each one in Reed’s handwriting.

Love, Cherish, Adore, Exquisite, Devine, Amazing, Treasured, Beautiful, Extraordinary…

“Every single one of those notes has a word that describes how I feel about you. I would have covered the walls with more of them, but I ran out of paper.” He curls around me from behind and sets his chin on my shoulder. “For the rest of our lives together, I will tell you how important and loved you are. You will never feel like the scared and abandoned twenty-one year old again.”

“Reed—”

“No, Angel, you told me on the beach a few weeks ago that there were three worst nights of your life and one was when your parents died. I know now the other two have to do with me. You will never have another night like that if you stay with me.”

“Where would I go?”

“With all the shit that happened the last few days, I’m scared you’ll end up blaming me for my sister’s actions. The way this all went down and her showing up with Alex may trigger something in you. I saw the look of horror on your face.”

“It’ll be okay. I’m trusting you, Reed, with my heart. It’s yours again, I’m not sure if it ever wasn’t. But we both need to move on.”

“Agreed, now how about you let me start proving to you how loved you are?”

I bite down on my lower lip and turn into him. Without moving out of his embrace, I untie the strings on my top and throw it to the side. His eyes grow and he grins down at me. “I’m all yours.”

“Forever, Ari, you’re all mine forever.”

Monday mornings are never fun, but they are more bearable when Reed is around to help with Davis. He offered to take him to school so I could go in a little early. The emails have already started coming in this morning regarding a high profile new client. Phillip also sent me a message about a luncheon as well. I pour my coffee into a travel mug mentally tackling my to-do list.