The One Left Behind (The One Series) (26 page)

She looks around the room, finds my eyes and smiles. She saunters over toward me and gives me a big kiss. She grabs my hand and leads me to the bed. She sits on the end and I stand between her legs. I push the few hanging strands of hair behind her ear. I kiss her mouth and slip my tongue inside. I stroke it gently until I elicit a moan from her. I move my way down her neck and over her collarbone, savoring every inch of skin. I move back up her neck and kiss her behind her ear causing her to shiver. I can hear her breathing speed up and I know she wants this as much as I do. I still want to make sure though.

“Are you sure about this? I don’t want all of this,” I say as I gesture around the room, “to make you feel pressured. If you don’t want to, just say the word and we’ll wait.”

She nods her head while looking into my eyes, “I’m more than ready. Come over here and make love to me.”

So I do. We spend the next several hours exploring, tasting, feeling, and memorizing every part of each other. It is the most sensual yet erotic moment of my life and I know it’ll never be this amazing with anyone else. She is my match in every way and the connection we made that evening is beyond any other I could ever imagine. After we’re both completely sated and exhausted, we cuddle for the last remaining moments until the sun starts to peak up through the shadows. I can’t picture my life getting any better than this.

God, I love this girl.

And with that thought, I get up and punch a hole through my wall. I walk to the fridge, get some ice and go back to bed where I can sleep to escape my sorrows.

CLOSING THE DOOR to Colin’s house behind me, I hear something smash against the door, causing me to flinch as I hurry down the driveway to my car. I am so stunned by Colin’s outburst. And what the hell was with him driving past my house? Is he stalking me now?

And that kiss. It’s bad enough he kissed me, but I kissed him back. I don’t know why I did it. It’s like my body was on autopilot as I reacted to him, but I do know there were no sparks there. Not like the sparks and butterflies I feel when I kiss Pierce. The fact that there was no emotional reaction when Colin kissed me makes me wonder why I was ever with him. He obviously drinks too much and has anger issues, and I just don’t see why I would be with someone like that. I need to get the hell out of here and fast.

Driving home I call Colby. Pierce is the first person I wanted to call, but he’s under a lot of stress with this New York expansion and I don’t want to burden him. Plus, I don’t want to tell him that Colin kissed me over the phone. He deserves to be told to his face since he’s been nothing but kind to me, so I owe him that. Colby answers on the first ring. She sounds like she is still sleeping.

“Hey, did I wake you?” I ask her.

I can hear Colby yawn. “Yeah, but that’s okay. I needed to get up. We had a late night.”

“Sorry for waking you. I can call you back.”

“Addison, what’s wrong? And don’t say nothing. I’ve known you long enough to know when something is bothering you.” She says this in a stern voice that I know leaves no room for sidestepping.

“Well, I just had a huge blow out with Colin.”

“How huge?”

“Like he will probably never speak to me again huge.”

“Okay, start from the beginning.”

“Well you know when I texted you two nights ago and told you Pierce told me he loved me?”

“Yeah, and I also remember that you shut your phone off and I had to wait till the next day for details, but go on.”

“Well, you know we slept together. What you didn’t know, and what I didn’t know either, was that Colin chose that night to drive by my condo and saw Pierce’s car in my driveway at four thirty in the morning.” I start to chew on my lip as I think about Colin driving by and seeing Pierce’s car in my driveway.

“Shit,” she says under her breath. I can tell by her tone that she knows this is bad too.

“Exactly. I asked him if we could get together today because I wanted to tell him about Pierce. I didn’t want to lead him on in anyway, so I wanted to tell him that we were seeing each other. Of course I was going to leave out the part about us having sex. Well, imagine my surprise when he already knew and said, and I quote, ‘Are you fucking him?’ I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to hurt him. I know I must have looked like a deer caught in headlights, but I really wasn’t expecting that, you know? That’s when he told me he saw Pierce’s car there. After that, he called me a selfish bitch, a whore, and offered me a meaningless fuck session. I mean, who says that?!” Replaying the words in my head ignites a fire in my stomach again. He had no right to name call and try to deliberately hurt me.

Colby is silent for what seems like five minutes which is rare for her. Finally, she says, “I honestly don’t know what to say.”

“Oh, that’s not all. He kissed me.” I hear Colby let out a small gasp before I continue, “the crazy thing is I kissed him back. I don’t know what came over me, but I didn’t pull away. The worst part about it is I felt nothing. Nada. He pushed me away and told me he didn’t want me, especially after I was with Pierce. He might as well have said he didn’t want sloppy seconds with the way he said it and looked at me.” The sheer disgust written all over his face was almost painful to look at. That one look said it all; he thought I was a slut.

I wait for some sort of comment from Colby, but I’m only greeted by silence so I hold out my phone to make sure I didn’t lose her. When I see the call is still connected, I put it back to my ear. “Colby?”

“I’m here. Sorry. I’m just at a loss for words and really blown away by all this.”

“Well, that’s a first,” I murmur.

Colby sighs before saying, “I have never heard or seen Colin act like that. Ever. I’m a little taken aback. He must have finally reached his breaking point. I mean this is very out of character for him. I almost wouldn’t believe you were talking about Colin if this was coming from anyone else.”

“Not helping, Colby,” I deadpan.

“Right, sorry. I’m just really shocked. Look, as much as I like Colin, I just want you to be happy. If you’re happy with Pierce then I will do my best to support that. But you need to be more understanding of Colin’s feelings. I’m sure everything he said to you was coming from a place of hurt. If you feel nothing for him, then that’s how you feel, but you need to give Colin time to adjust. It might take some time. Does moving on with Pierce make you a whore or a selfish bitch? No. What does is turning off your phone after texting me juicy gossip like you did the other night.”

We both laugh and I love Colby for trying to make me feel better.

“I love you and thanks for listening to me. You’ve made me feel a lot better.”

“That’s what besties are for. Text me later to set up a girl’s night. Lord knows I need one. The stress of Damon’s family is taking its toll on me.”

We hang up as I pull into my driveway. Even though Colby’s words were helpful in making me see this from Colin’s perspective, I’m still kind of upset by the whole fight. I walk into my condo and throw my keys and bag down. I decide to text Pierce hoping he can brighten up my day.

Me: I need you. Are you busy?

I hit send and walk over to the couch and stare blankly at the TV waiting for a response from Pierce. I keep checking my phone every few minutes and am a little sad that he hasn’t responded. Maybe the whole ‘I need you’ was a little too strong and he got weirded out by it. Fifteen minutes later with no response, I hear a knock at my door. I get up off the couch and open it to see Pierce standing there with a bouquet of blue calla lilies. I am so emotionally raw from earlier, that having him drop everything to come here makes me break down crying. Pierce pulls me into his chest and steps into the house closing the door behind him. He starts stroking my hair telling me it will be okay before picking me up and carrying me into the bedroom. Sitting me down on the bed, I crawl into his lap and he continues to stroke my hair as I cry myself to sleep.

I wake up two hours later and notice a set of warm arms wrapped around me. Pierce is still here. He didn’t leave me. My eyes feel swollen and I have no doubt in my mind they are since I have been crying all afternoon. I look up at Pierce, who is still sleeping, and take in how handsome he is. He managed to take off his suit jacket and unbutton his shirt. I don’t want to wake him since he looks so comfortable and stress free. As if he can feel my eyes on him, he says, “You know, if you weren’t so hot I would be a little creeped out that you’re watching me sleep.” His eyes are still closed and a crooked grin stretches across his face.

I feel my cheeks heat up as he opens his eyes. He leans up and places a kiss on my forehead. “I’m sorry. You just looked so peaceful I didn’t want to wake you,” I say.

“Never apologize for being you, especially to me.” His words touch my heart deeper than he would ever know. After having my character attacked by Colin, this is exactly what I need to hear.

“So tell me. What is wrong? I don’t like seeing you cry,” he says while pushing my hair out of my face and lightly running his thumb below one of my eyes. His eyebrows are pinched inward letting me know that he’s concerned for me.

I begin to tell Pierce about what happened earlier. I tell him how I was going over to tell Colin that we decided to take our friendship to the next level and were dating, and about Colin’s outburst and how angry he was. Before I can continue Pierce gets a very serious look on his face and asks, “Did he hurt you?”

“No, not physically at least,” I say as I trail off. “His words stung a little, but I mean what did I expect? I just broke his heart again.” I look down at my hands.

“It doesn’t matter if you broke his heart or not. He’s a man and men don’t talk to women that way. Especially a woman they are supposed to love.” I guess he has a point. For the first time, I see anger on his face as he takes in what Colin said to me. I know I have to tell him about the kiss and I am dreading it.

“Well, there’s something else I need to tell you too. He, uh, he kissed me.” I’m ringing my hands in my lap and look up at him through my eyelashes afraid of his reaction.

Pierce takes a minute to digest what I just told him. His body stiffens up and I immediately feel guilty. I shouldn’t have let that kiss happen. Why didn’t I push him away? My biggest fear in this moment is that Pierce will doubt my feelings for him.

“Did you kiss him back?” his body is still rigid and his jaw is slightly clenched.

I sigh and hang my head low, ashamed of my answer. “Yes.”

Silence again. I may not know what Pierce is thinking, but I do know silence is never a good thing. I try to intercept whatever line of thinking is going on inside his head and begin to speak, “Pierce, it was a mistake and I should have never let it happen. I didn’t—” Before I can continue Pierce looks down at me. I see the hurt in his eyes and it guts me. I don’t blame him. He just told me he loved me and I said it back and now I’m kissing my ex fiancé.

“I know we just started dating, and I know it happened kind of fast, but I was cheated on once before and I won’t go through that again. I love you and want to be with you, but I will not tolerate cheating. So I need to know, after you kissed him, did you feel anything for him? Did it make you remember anything, because if it did and you want to be with him I won’t stand in the way of your happiness.” He breaks eye contact and looks down at the floor.

I didn’t think it was possible to love Pierce any more than I already do, but after what he just said my heart is bursting open with the love and affection I feel for this man. He is willing to let me go if it’ll make me happy, showing what a selfless person he is.

I grab his hands and hold them tight while looking him in the eye, “No, when he kissed me I don’t know why I kissed him back. But in a way, I’m glad it happened because I felt nothing and all that was running through my head was you. How I get butterflies every time our lips touch and how I am never just satisfied with one kiss. I always want more from you and I will keep on taking till there’s nothing left to take. There’s that spark between us and that was missing when Colin kissed me. I know I messed up and if you give me the chance I will fix it. I don’t love Colin. I love you. I want you. I choose you. That is, if you still want me,” I bite my lip nervously as he studies me. I know he’s making sure I am completely certain about my decision. I release one of his hands and place mine over his heart. “This right here. This is what I want. The only thing I need is your love and I’m sorry if I made you doubt that. But please believe me when I say I love you.”

Pierce places his hand over mine and gives me a kiss. I feel some of the tension in my shoulders relax when our lips connect briefly. I’m about to wrap my arms around his neck when he picks me up and throws me over his shoulder and starts to carry me towards the bathroom.

“I love you,” he says.

I’m hanging upside down as I ask, “Are we okay?”

“More than okay,” he replies and I can hear the smile in his voice. I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. God, I was so nervous about his reaction. I swear I was sweating the whole time waiting for him to get upset with me. I’m
g
lad he is so understanding and we are able to move forward.