Trust Me (19 page)

The scents of food permeate the suite as I hear someone moving around in what I assume to be the kitchen area down the hall.
It’s probably Sam
. After arriving late last night, we all quickly retired to our rooms. Damien had his revenge on me in the bedroom through his sexcapades after the joke I played on him. Thinking back, I laugh.

We are all standing at the top of the stairs.

I lean in to give Damien a kiss. “Good night.”

He looks at me quizzically.

Answering his silent query, I say, “I’m going to stay with Sam and catch up. You know, girl time.” I give a shrug as if it is to be expected, and I start walking to my friend, giving her a wink in the process.

Before I make it three steps, he swiftly picks me up and slings me over his shoulder. “I don’t fucking think so. Night, Sam.”

She laughs at his barbarian manners as he strides toward our bedroom. She calls after us, “Night, guys. Keep it down.”

My face flames as Damien slaps my ass. My best friend knows I’m about to get down and nasty with my boyfriend.

She yells even louder, “You’re in for it now, Allison.”

Traitor.

“You’re mine tonight, Alli.”

The dark sensuality of his tone has me excited for what he has in store for me.

He finally let me go to sleep sometime after four in the morning, not that I am complaining by any means. If that’s the punishment he dishes out, he can guarantee himself more hard times in the future.

As I enter the kitchen, Sam is fixing a plate from an array of foods at the breakfast bar. Her pink sorority shirt and green sweatpants are adorable.

Hoping to avoid any innuendos, I cheerily greet her, “Good morning, sunshine. Did you sleep well?”

Sam turns to face me, smiling coyly. I know then that my plan has failed.

“I sure did. I would wager, being in Vegas and all, that I got a lot more sleep than you,” she says.

I blush.
Geez, I hope she didn’t hear us.

“Thought so. I must say, if the state of your hair this morning is any reflection on the sex you had last night, then I would bet you must be feeling mighty fine. Dreadful sex hair is the best.”

Automatically, my hand moves up to fix the craziness resting on top of my head. Deciding the best way to end the innuendos is to go along with it, I quip back, “Well, all I can say is that the P fits into the V very well.”

I smile playfully at her, and we both bust out into a fit of giggles. It’s silly to be juvenile about penises and vaginas, but being around my best friend brings out the adolescent in both of us.

“Damn, I’m so jealous. My V needs some P.”

We start laughing again as we finish filling our plates before we head over to the glass breakfast table.

She continues, “In all seriousness, how are you doing with all of this?” She waves her fork around the room, emphasizing her point.

“Honestly, I go from one extreme to another. On one side, I am so overwhelmed with how fast our relationship is going and with everything that accompanies Damien’s life. I wonder, why me? And then, on the other extreme, I don’t want it to slow down at all. I am ready to jump headfirst into anything that comes my way. That only sends me back to the other side, and the cycle repeats itself over and over again. Oh, I am such a mess about this whole thing.” I sit down with a humph and try to calm myself down. A freak-out on the day of the big gala is not a good idea, considering all the mingling we will be doing.

“Oh my gosh, you’re in love with him.”

My head snaps up at Sam. She’s holding her hand up to her mouth, just staring at me.
Good grief, I must stay calm.
At her spoken words, regardless if I have admitted them to myself or not, the freak-out is on the verge of breaking free.

“What…no…why…no…how…what makes you say that?” Sputtering like a buffoon, my voice is all squeaky and dry as I try to form something coherent.

What if Damien sees how deep my feelings are, and he isn’t ready for them? My crazy emotions might just ruin this yet.
I’ve been trying to block out the L-word from my mind, but it’s right there, front and center, demanding to be dealt with now.

Sensing my impending meltdown, Sam leans over and grabs me by the shoulders. She gives me a little shake to bring me back into the here and now. “Allison, I have known you practically my whole life. If I were in your shoes, you would sense if I were in love. You might not push the issue like I do, but you would still know how I felt. I doubt he has a clue at this point.”

What she says has merit because I would know the exact moment something changed within Sam. When she and Greg broke up, I knew that something major had happened. She’s right that I don’t push. We complement each other in that way, which is one of the many reasons we are so close. It’s been over three years, and she still hasn’t shared what happened with Greg, but I am convinced that she will tell me when she’s ready.

“Allison, it’s going to be okay. From what I can tell when I see you two together, Damien is as head over heels about you as you are about him.”

“It terrifies me.” My voice is just above a whisper.

She reassuringly pats me on the shoulder. “Just continue being yourself. If it’s meant to be, it will happen. Have you told him about your plans yet?”

“No, not yet. I intend to tell him soon. He knows we need to talk, but I told him I wanted complete privacy. Alone time with him has been hard to come by unless it’s in the wee hours of the morning. At that point, I’m too tired to have the conversation.”

She’s giving me that mom look, like my mom used to give me when I stalled on things. “Well, just make sure you guys keep communicating. If you love him, he needs to be a part of this journey, too. So, what’s on the schedule today?”

“The hairdressers should be here late this afternoon, but until then, there are no plans. It’s just you and me, babe.” Taking a sip of my drink, I try to calm my nerves.

“Good. I have some tips on sex positions you can try out with Damien.”

When I spit out my juice, she laughs hysterically.

Girl time is interrupted by none other than Mr. Wonderful himself with Ben in tow. Ben looks professional as always. He’s wearing a plain gray suit and white shirt. Damien is wearing dressy khaki slacks with a black button-up shirt. He’s simply irresistible, and I’m so glad he’s mine. I cannot hide the smile that spreads across my face as he strides over to take a seat next to me on the couch.

“Hey, ladies. How has your morning been?” Leaning over, he gives me a light kiss.

After I give him another quick kiss, I respond, “Great. Sam and I have been catching up.” The way he always gives me his full attention makes my heart skip a beat.

Sam starts to rise. “I’m going to go take a shower before the hair and makeup team arrive, and then I’m going to respond to some emails about the sorority event last night. That’ll give you guys some time to talk.” Sam looks at me meaningfully.

Well, if that doesn’t send a strange signal to Damien, I don’t know what will.
I’m watching Damien’s response as he looks at Sam’s retreating body.

A voice sounds from the other side of the room. “Sir, we need to get going to our next appointment.”

Why do I always forget that Ben is around?
Damien has now turned my way again, and he is eyeing me up and down. Ben also looks my way. I feel a little self-conscious with all eyes on me.

Damien doesn’t take his eyes off me when he gives the next order. “Ben, cancel my meeting. I’ll be spending the rest of the afternoon with Alli until it’s time to get ready for the gala.”

I don’t want to be a distraction from his work. “Damien, that’s not necessary—”

“Alli, I’m canceling them. Ben, make it happen.”

His tone has that finality to it, and I know that it is not worth arguing over. Part of me is excited to get more time with him. When I smile at him, he, of course, returns his affection by stroking those small circles on my hand.

“But, sir, the—”

“Excuse us, Alli.” Damien gets up, and Ben follows him out of the room.

I only hear murmurs, and I can’t necessarily make out what they are saying. From his tone, I discern that Damien is laying down the law.

Striding back into the room by himself, Damien comes to me, grabs my hand, and leads us out onto the balcony before shutting the door behind us.

As the door clicks, I try to reiterate my earlier point. “Damien, you don’t need to cancel your meetings for me. We have plenty of time.”

He completely ignores me as he pulls me to a two-person chaise lounge off to the side of the balcony. This is a more private area that has a screened-in shade with some kind of reflective surface on the outside. It keeps the sun at bay and outside eyes from looking in. I immediately relax into his side. I feel both excited to be with him and guilty because he probably has a bajillion things to accomplish, and we can talk when he has a free moment.

“No, it’s fine. We need to talk about a few things before tonight anyway.”

Oh gosh, if that doesn’t ratchet up a girl’s anxiety, I don’t know what does. Is there something he needs to talk about?

“There’s nothing to be nervous about, baby. We just need to make sure we take time to talk about the important stuff. All this other shit doesn’t matter if we aren’t okay.”

How does he know I’m nervous?

He answers my silent query, “You slip on this perfectly neutral face, and it seems like nothing is bothering you. I’m sure it’s something you’ve practiced in the last year with people being so concerned about how you were doing. When we first met in Miami, I thought your indifferent attitude was because you weren’t interested. We’ve both brought each other back to life, baby. There’s no reason to hide your feelings from me ever, regardless of what they are.”

“You thought I wasn’t interested in you?”
I’ll focus on this for the time being.
His first observation hits a little too deep to delve into at this point.

He grabs my hand with both of his before unleashing those deep blue eyes on me. “Yes, but I still pursued you. From the moment I saw you at the pool, I knew we had to meet.”

Pulling away slightly, I sit straight up and look at him.
Has he confused me with another girl? That would be beyond uncool.
“We didn’t meet at the pool. We met on the beach.”

He shakes his head.

“What are you talking about? You were on the beach, unwinding, and I mauled you when I was taking pictures.”

He stares pensively at me for a minute. He’s calculating his response, just like he did that first night at dinner. Both his hands start rubbing those soothing circles on my hand. At this point, they are only semi-soothing because my nerves are at Defcon 1.

“Well, actually, I saw you before then. I had a meeting in your hotel that morning, and I saw you down at the pool. I wanted to approach you then, but you were giving some guy, who was trying to strike up a conversation with you, a clear fuck-off vibe. So, I waited until I had a moment to arrange a more mutual introduction between us.”

It’s as if he’s speaking Greek. “Whoa. What? You mean all that at the beach—the evening stroll to unwind from a busy day and not knowing where I was staying—was a lie? What the hell? I know I was evasive with my first and last name, but I was honest with you.” My blood is boiling at the deceit, and my heart hurts from the lie. I wrench my hands free, stand abruptly, and start pacing the length of the balcony. I don’t even know how to process this.
He played me. Damn it! How could I have been so naive?

As I continue walking back and forth, tears are burning my eyes, trying to break free. Damien is watching me closely but not advancing on me.
That’s probably a good idea, buddy. This hurts. Bad.

When I pass by the doors, they open suddenly, and I jump. I must look distraught because Ben’s face softens for the smallest instant before I turn to the balcony rail and look out toward the Vegas skyline.

I can hear Ben behind me as he clears his throat, and then I listen to Damien’s footsteps approach Ben’s location. The blood starts pounding in my ears, and their conversation becomes a garbled sound as I focus on my situation.
He played me, he used me, he…I just don’t know what to make of it all.
The rushing in my ears stops, and I hear Ben reply to whatever Damien has just said.

“Yes, sir.”

Then, the doors close behind me. My brief moment of reprieve has past.
I’m in love with a lie. Our whole relationship…is a lie. What else has he not been truthful about?
In the middle of taking a deep cleansing breath, two arms come around on both sides of me, effectively halting any movement as I continue looking into the Vegas skyline. I try to move away, but the cage is trapping me in. When I feel his embrace, tears start to fall freely from my face.
My heart hurts so much. How can a man who has been so in tune to my needs do this? Has this been a game the whole time?

“Alli, listen to me.”

I try to break free again, but his arms move in closer, completely limiting my mobility. In no way is he hurting me, but I feel trapped. I refuse to speak or look at him right now.
It may be a little childish, but what the hell? So is a fake beach run-in.