Beauty from Pain (28 page)

“
What has she done?”

“
Countless
things, but the most recent include the fire at
C
halice and the crop poisoning
at
Margu
erite.”

“
I didn’t know about a
poisoning.”

“
She’s the
reason I had to leave
A
valon after Christmas. She hasn’t been able to find me since
I came to Wagga Wagga. I think I evaded her after the fire
at
C
halice and
that’s why she poisoned
Margu
erite—to bring me onto her turf
at Lovedale.”

“
That’s where she’s
from?”

“
It is, but I didn’t give her the
opportunity to find me. I had a private investigator locate her
first so I’d have the upper hand. I contacted her and told her to
meet me in our old spot. She thought she was coming because I
wanted to rekindle our relationship. I confronted her about the
fire and the poisoning, but of course, she denied doing
either.”

“
Did you sleep with
her?”

“
Hell no, but not because she
didn’t try. I turned her down and told her there was someone else.
She didn’t take it well, so we didn’t part on good terms.
Convincing you to leave me was her way of proving she could fuck
with my personal life.”

“
She almost succeeded. I would’ve
left last night if I’d had a place to go. I was going to the
airport this morning to make arrangements to fly home.”

I kick off my shoes and crawl into bed next to
Laurelyn. I need to feel her against me to prove she isn’t gone. I
don’t tell her how glad I am she’s still here or about the fear I
had when I thought she was leaving me. Maybe she already knows. If
she does, she doesn’t mention it. She lets me pull her close, and
I’m content with simply holding her in my arms after almost losing
her.

33

Laurelyn Prescott

I’m almost glad Audrey came. Lachlan is forced
to give me insight he would’ve never volunteered. I now understand
why he’s so secretive about his life, and I can’t really say I
blame him if that’s the kind of bat-shit crazy he’s had to deal
with.

We don’t talk after I tell him about how I was
going to leave. He holds onto me like he’s afraid I might get up
and sneak away in the night. He was scared when he thought I was
leaving him. I heard it in his voice and saw it in his
eyes.

I somehow make it to sleep with him wrapped
around me, and he’s still holding on when my phone vibrates on the
nightstand at seven o’clock. I’m sure it’s Daniel calling to see if
I’m ready to leave.

Lachlan rolls away from me and grabs it before
I’m able to make a move. “Daniel, Miss. Beckett won’t be needing
you to drive her this morning after all.”

After he ends the call, he rolls back to me.
“You’d be leaving me right now if I hadn’t come home
early.”

He’s right, yet I don’t want to admit it, so I
say nothing. He pulls me close again, the same way he held me all
night. “We have two more months together. Please, don’t plan to
leave again unless it’s a mutual decision.”

“
Okay.”

“
Promise me, Laurelyn. I don’t
want to worry about coming in and finding you gone one
day.”

“
I promise.” He relaxes with my
assurance and I know this is the end of it. He’ll never bring it up
again because he believes me.

“
What would you like to do today?”
he asks.

“
I wasn’t expecting you to be
here, so I asked Addison to meet me for lunch before the whole
Audrey thing happened.”

“
That’s fine. I seem to have
fallen down on my office work since you’ve been around, Miss
Beckett. My books could stand a little catching up.”

“
Mr. Henry, you’re blaming your
lack of productivity on me?”

“
Only my lack of concentration,”
he explains. “It always seems to be on you these days.”

“
Then it’s probably a good idea
for me to get out of your hair today.”

“
Let’s call it a girls’ day out.
You and your friend can shop or whatever it is you do when you’re
together.”

I shrug because I don’t really have any extra
money to spend. My budget is super tight after my lingerie spending
spree before Christmas. “I don’t really need anything.”

He gets out of bed and takes his
wallet from his pants. He places several hundreds on the nightstand
under my phone.
Wow, that really makes me
feel like a hooker.

“
When you buy for yourself, you’re
buying for me because I like you in nice things.” He leans down and
kisses my mouth. “I’m taking you somewhere next week, so buy some
new things for our trip.”

“
Where are you taking
me?”

“
New Zealand. It’s a business
trip, but we’ll have plenty of time to play while we’re there, so
buy some sundresses and a few new swimsuits. I’d like to request
skimpy bikinis.”

No freakin’ way. Addison will be so jealous.
“You’re taking me to New Zealand?”

“
Yes. I have some business at one
of the vineyards and my boss has a house on a private beach. He’s
letting us stay there a couple of nights.”

“
Lachlan. I don’t even know what
to say.” And I don’t. I’d never get to do anything like this on my
own. I wouldn’t have been able to come to Australia if Addison’s
parents hadn’t bought my airline ticket.

“
There’s only one word I want to
hear.”

“
Yes?”

“
That’s the one.”

I hold my arms out and he lets me hop on him
with my legs around his waist as I squeal. “We’re going to New
Zealand,” I squeal in excitement.

–––––

I call Addison when I’m almost to the apartment. I
don’t plan on going up because I don’t want to run into Ben. “Hey,
I’m a block away. Are you ready to come down?”

“
I need five or
ten more minutes.”
Of course she does.
She’s never ready on time. Won’t I ever learn to tell her to be
ready thirty minutes earlier?

“
I’ll wait in the car.”

“
No way. Come up,
please.”

I know I shouldn’t, but I agree against my
better judgment. “Okay. Buzz me in, but please hurry.”

Daniel stops in front of the apartment.
“Addison isn’t ready so I’m going up. I shouldn’t be
long.”

I reach for the handle, but it doesn’t work.
Child safety locks, I guess. They’re probably activated because
Daniel knows I don’t give a rat’s ass about having a door opened
for me. I’m not helpless. I can open my own door, but that’s not
the way Lachlan wants it.

Daniel appears displeased with me
as he lets me out the car.
I think he
doesn’t approve of me going up to the apartment because he knows
his employer won’t like it.
“I won’t be
long, Daniel.”

“
I can’t tell
you what to do, but you know he won’t like this.”
Daniel knows about my run-in with Ben, maybe not
the specifics, but Lachlan has told him
something.

“
I’ll hurry.”

“
Take your phone and call me if
you have any problems. Anything at all.”

Great. I have Lachlan and Daniel wanting to
kick Ben’s ass. “I’ll take it, but don’t worry. I’ll be
fine.”

“
I’ll worry
until I see you come out of that building safe and sound.”
What did Lachlan tell him?

“
I’ll be ten minutes max,” I
promise.

“
Make it five.” He sounds
irritated.

I knock on the door and Ben answers. He gives
me a crooked grin, but he’s embarrassed. He should be. “Hi,
Laurelyn. Please, come in.”

I walk into the apartment and I can’t remember
a more uncomfortable moment in my life. I stand there trying to
think of polite conversation, but I can’t come up with anything I
want to say to the man who called me a whore after he tried to kiss
me.

“
I’m gonna walk back and check on
Addison.”

He touches my arm as I walk by and I go stiff.
“Can I please have just a minute?”

I pull my arm from him. I don’t want to do
this, but I feel like I have to because he’s my best friend’s
brother. “I’ll give you one minute.”

“
I’m not saying it’s any kind of
excuse for what I did, but I was really drunk New Year’s Eve. I
never would’ve acted that way otherwise. I just wanted to tell you
that I’m sorry.”

“
Apology
accepted.”
That’s all he’s getting from
me.

I walk to the bedroom I once
shared with my best friend and she’s sitting on the bed, ready to
go. She jolts when she sees me in the doorway.
I knew this was a total set-up.
“Don’t be mad, Laurie. He wanted to see you so he could
apologize and I knew this was the only way.”

“
You lied to me.” As I accuse her,
I think of all the half-truths I’ve told her about Lachlan and
decide it might be a good idea if I’m not too quick to call the
kettle black. “But it’s okay. I understand why you did
it.”

“
I had to, Laurie. He’s been so
sick with himself since it happened.”

“
Well, it’s over now. I told him I
accepted his apology.”

“
Thank you, Laurie.”

–––––

Addison and I haven’t seen each other since I moved
out, so we have a lot of catching up to do. We decide it’s best to
do it over cheeseburgers and shakes at the fifties diner on the
square.

“
So, how’s it going with the
suit?”

That name is all wrong for him now. I’ve
rarely seen him in a suit since those first few days. He’s all
sexy, rugged wear these days, but I choose to not debate it with
her. “He works a lot of hours, but things are good now.”

“
What does ‘now’ mean?”

Do I really want to discuss Audrey with her?
Yes, I think I do. She’s my best friend. I need to get this out and
tell someone about it. “One of his bat-shit crazy exes came to see
me last night while he was out of town.”

Addison sits up straighter, ready to hear the
juicy details. She loves a good catfight. “What happened? Did you
have to whip her ass?”

“
She walked in the house like she
owned the place and told me she was his wife and mother of his
children.”

I suspect she’s seeing the same red flag I
saw. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Right? “And is
she?”

“
No, but of course I believed her.
You know how I am when it comes to men. I don’t trust
them.”

“
Laurie, how do you know she’s not
telling the truth?”

I’m playing with the napkin in my lap, tearing
off small pieces and rolling them into little balls. “I packed my
stuff and had it by the door so I could get out of there first
thing this morning. He came home early and then the shit got real
when he saw I was leaving. Addison, he called his mother and woke
her at three o’clock this morning so she would vouch that he isn’t
married.”

“
That’s good, right?”

“
The part about being single is
good, but what happened afterwards was unexpected.” I’m not sure
this uncomplicated relationship thing is going to stay that
way.

“
Chillax, Laurie. Sex is sex. Roll
with it and have fun. Stop trying to make it complex.”

I’m not trying to make sex with Lachlan
complicated. “We didn’t have sex.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Did he tell you
he loved you or some bullshit like that?”

“
No, we didn’t talk.”

“
If you didn’t talk and you didn’t
have sex, what did you do?”

“
He just held me all
night.”

“
Psst. That sounds boring as
hell.”

“
But it wasn’t. I liked
it.”

“
You need counseling.” Addison can
be such a dude sometimes.

“
You’re my best friend. You’re
supposed to counsel me when I lose my way.”

“
Honey, you lost me on this deal
back when you said you didn’t have sex.” She shrugs her shoulders.
“I got nothing for you.”

“
He’s taking me to New Zealand
next week.”

She punches me in the shoulder. “Shut the hell
up. No way.”

“
Yeah, he is.” I reach into my
purse and hold up the money he gave me. “We’re staying at a house
on a private beach and he wants me to buy new clothes and swimsuits
for the trip.”

Addison’s eyes widen. “Shit! How much money is
that?”

“
I don’t know. I didn’t count
it.”

She reaches over and takes it from my hand to
thumb through it. “The suit gave you a grand to buy bikinis and
flip-flops.”

I remind myself of what Lachlan said. When I
buy for myself, I’m buying for him because he wants me in nice
things. “I feel guilty taking his money, but I can’t afford to buy
the things he wants me to have for the trip.”