Everything She Needs (The Everything Trilogy) (3 page)

“It’s okay Lily. She doesn’t know what happ
ened between us.” Thank God
.
I felt relieved and guilty all over again that we’d had oral sex that one time when we were drunk.

“What the hell happened?”

Will ran his hand through his hair and leaned back against his black leather headboard. “She’s gone, Lily.” I bolted upright.
Gone? Gone where?  Gone as in he’s finished with her?

“You
are finished with her?” He sat forward and ran his hand across his head.

“After I took you to the airport, we went out to lunch together.  She ended it with me, telling me she was getting back with some old boyfriend. She punched me
cuz I wasn’t upset.” He chuckled. “I guess I shouldn’t have worried about ending it after all.”

I let what he was telling me sink in. He had been th
inking of ending it with Saffy. Will had told me that he wasn’t going to continue to see her the night we’d been together.  It was me that encouraged him to try to resolve their issues.

“I’ll call her, don’t
worry, I’ll try hard to support her when I get back.” My whole plan for being in Miami revolved around Saffy.

“
She went home to Oklahoma City. She asked her dad to try to sort out a transfer for her.” I was absolutely stunned by this. I really thought I knew Saffy well.

“I need to call her
, Will. I don’t mean to cut our call short, but I need to find out when she’s coming back in January.”

Will dipped his head towards the
screen. “I just told you, she’s transferred college, and according to Holly, she’s definitely not coming back.”

I snickered. “Of course she’s coming back, Will, you’re just a boy.”

I was scrolling through my texts trying to see if Saffy had sent me anything else, whilst he was chatting. “Oh, one more thing before you cut and run,” he added.  My eyes flicked back to the screen.

“Yeah?”
Will’s face looked tense.

“He’s been here looking for you.”

I bunched my brows. “Alfie?”

Will nodded
. “Who else?  He came here to my house. I don’t know how he got my address, Mandy maybe? He said he needed to speak to you, and it couldn’t wait.”

I sat in silence for a few moments. “Thanks Will. I’m glad I’m not there, I don’t think I could f
ace him after the other night.”

Will’s jaw tightened. “I’m glad you’re there a
nd not here too, in that case.”

I
t felt weird to hear him say that, so I tried to lighten the mood. “You are? I thought you were going to miss me,” I teased.

“I miss you like I’d miss my heart beating, honey. However, if it keeps you away from him, I’d rather you were there.” I didn’t reply, no
t sure how to take his comment.

I hoped it wasn’t because Will had developed feelings for me
. That would definitely complicate our working relationship in the future. I finished the call before our conversation could get any weirder and called Saffy.

The call went straight to vo
icemail, so I left her a message to call me back. Two minutes later I got a text message.

Saffy
: Sorry Lily, I really don’t want to talk about it, but the guy I was dating before I went to Florida asked to get back with me. It was really complicated before, but we’ve worked it out, and I’ve moved back here to move in with him. Don’t hate me. X

I sat in stunned silence until my adrenaline connected with my brain
, and I was extremely pissed. I could feel my blood rising, and I fumbled to punch out a text telling her that she was being ridiculous and to get her ass back to Florida after the break.

She certainly wasn’t considering what I had gone through to get over there and share an apartment with her in the first place.

Before I sent it I had an attack of guilt about Will and me. Why the hell hadn’t she talked with me about this?

So instead my tentative text I sent simply said,

Lily: I’ve moved halfway around the world to spend time with you. Can I at least have an explanation?

Saffy: I’m transferring to OKU to do Biology. My dad has sorted it out for me. I don’t want to come back, Will and I weren’t working. Besides, James… I always thought he was the one, we dated before and he left me brokenhearted. He knows he loves me. We’re good together.

Lily: What about your commitment to Holly and me?”

Saffy: I don’t expect you to understand it, Lily, but we were leading very separate lives anyway. I hardly ever saw you. I was just hanging around you and your music buddies.

I already understood that she felt left out sometimes when Will and I were writing or arranging some sets, but we were careful to include her in almost everything else.

Lily: What is Holly saying to all of this?

Saffy: She said that we’re no longer friends.

Saffy knew that the rent wasn’t a problem for me, but that wasn’t the point. She had just disregarded me.  I thought I knew her well, and she was turning out to be someone that I really had no clue about at all.

Lily: It sounds to me like you had this all figured out, Saffy.

Saffy: Yeah, I kind of did but didn’t know how to tell you. Sorry :-(

Just like that
, Saffy was gone from the life that we had planned for almost two years. I was mad, but it gave me hope that I wasn’t the only one that made bad decisions where men were concerned.

I’d like to think that I wouldn’t have thrown my friends to the
lions over a guy though.  Then again, who was I to judge her since I had let her down too, with what happened with Will?

Still, I was speechless
.  Saffy had never mentioned anything about this guy before. I was definitely seeing her and Max in a completely different light.

Between
Saffy and Max, I’d been let down badly.  Max, Saffy’s twin brother, had also played me for a fool, when he had an affair with me before I found out about his girl in Nashville.

I threw the cell on my bed and let out a growl of frustration. Almost eight years we’
ve been friends and she couldn’t even speak to me about this.

One thing was for sure, I couldn’t let my parents know about it until after I was back in Florida. They would probably be able to talk me out of going back, the way I was feeling right now, and I didn’t want to make any hasty decisions.

Elle left to do some shopping, and I decided to focus on getting ready to party in London with my friends. So I pushed everything else to the back of my mind.  By the time I headed out for my night of fun, I couldn’t wait to see everyone, especially Jack.

When I stepped
outside, the nighttime temperature was almost freezing, and there was an icy wind blowing.  My bones ached because I couldn’t stop my body from shivering as I made my way to meet them. I had butterflies about seeing everyone again.  No one or nothing was going to put a damper on my evening with them.

I was just about to cross the road when I ground to a halt. I caught sight of all my friends sitting at a huge round table on the other side of the Chinese restaurant window.  We had been meeting at the same place every Christmas Eve for the past five years.

The restaurant’s red and gold decor looked so rich, warm, and inviting.  Maybe I was being sentimental, and it just seemed that way, because I loved the people that completed the picture I was staring at.

As usual, Elle was the life and soul of the party from what I could see.  All eyes around the table were focused on her, engrossed in her animated storytelling.  She must have said something funny, as they all reacted at the same time, throwing their heads back, mouths open, laughing.

Maddie put her hand to her mouth; she does that when she giggles, and all their upper bodies appeared to rise and fall as they shook with laughter.

David obviously almost choked on his drink from his reaction, and everyone’s head snapped around to look at him whilst Lauren slapped his back.

A wave of love, the love I had for them, hit me  I really needed to feel their familiarity more than ever. In the three months since I’d left, my life had been crazy.

I wondered if they would be able to
sense my mood, and how differently I viewed my life after all the issues I’d faced since the last time we had been together.

The only fly in the ointment I could see tonight was Sam, who was sitting next to
his sister Elle.  He had an empty chair beside him that was presumably mine.  This was the one hurdle I needed to get over now that I was home.

A short burst of adrenaline pushed me forward in the direction of the restaurant.  I took a deep breath
, and when I saw a break in the traffic, I ran across the street.

It was starting to rain
, and I pulled my cashmere coat tighter around my neck against the biting cold wind.  When I reached the door, I placed my palm against the brass door panel and pushed the heavy door to make my way into the restaurant.

The heat inside hit me immediately, enveloping me.  The aroma of Chinese spices wafted around the room
, and I could hear the clanking of silverwear on plates as people ate.  A waiter in a black suit and white button-down shirt stood grinning widely at me.

Before I could speak, David called out, “Lily! Over here.” He beckoned me with his arm, and I smiled at
the waiter, pointing at the group.

“My friends
,” I cooed.  I made my way to the table, and all, except for Maddie, stood to greet me.

My eyes were drawn to her
, and I noticed that she was nursing a definite baby bump that wasn’t there when I left.  “Someone’s been busy!” I smiled, nodding at her swollen belly. Maddie blushed, and I immediately sympathized with her.

The dinner itself was absolutely delicious.  We ate a Chinese banquet, which consisted of most of the dishes on the menu, such
as noodles, tiger prawns, various rice and chicken dishes, and wonderful banana fritters in syrup for desert.

The guys were quick to compliment me on my appearance, and I felt a little self-conscious at being the focus of the group for a while. We had all co-existed for so long that it made me feel uncomfortable and a little out of things.

Jack, the charmer of the group and my very best friend, gave me a wolf whistle. “Damn, Lily, just when I thought there was nothing you could do to look any hotter you disappear overseas and come back sexier.” I grinned at his compliment.

Nothing Jack said could ever make me feel uncomfortable.  He ha
s been around me since I was four years old, and we sat together at our first group table in school.  In fact, I would go as far as to say out of everyone, even Elle, he was the one person I could tell anything to, and he’d still have my back.  We have a fierce loyalty to one another.

I was conscious that Sam tried to get my attention for himself on more than one occasion.  I played this off by being involved in
conversations across the table.

I was also thankful
, in a strange way, that he was sitting next to me, because it meant that I had no awkward eye contact to deal with.  “Okay, time to get clubbing!” Elle shouted.

After a couple of hours sitting down at dinner, Maddie groaned. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to head home, Paul is getting home at
ten pm, and we’ve got a quiet night planned.” I hugged her after helping her into her coat.

“You look radiant, sweetheart
,” I whispered to her.  She hugged me back, squeezing me tightly.

I knew the pregnancy wasn’t planned
, and she was scared, but she was in love.  She’d been in a long-term relationship with Paul for the last three years. It was kind of off and on, but for the past three months they had settled into life as a couple.

I knew he adored her
, and he had a great job in merchant banking.  They wouldn’t want for anything.  We promised to catch up for some one-on-one time before I headed back to the USA.

Jack flagged down a cab for her
, and once she was on her way, we headed for the Tube station to go clubbing.  We chose The Ministry of Sound night club, because it was an old haunt for all of us over the years.

Plus, Elle knew the door guy so he had added us to the list, and it felt great not to be standing
outside in the cold waiting in line to get inside.

I noticed that it had
been revamped since the last time we were here, and it was much more up-to-the-minute in its vibe, with some great popular DJ’s.

The music vibrated up through the floor and into my body
, and I reacted by dancing to the beat on the spot.  I was a bit like a baby in that respect. I loved watching how babies just instantly start to bob to the beat.