Scared of Forever (Scared #2) (12 page)

I don’t get that
impression.
Not at all
.
In fact, the only people I’m beginning to suspect are liars here
are her and Blake.

“And I don’t know
how pleased Blake would be if he found out that while he was hard at
work last Saturday, you spent the day with his brother.” Eliza
continues, giving me a sideways glance.

“How did you—?” I
stammer, suddenly flustered.

“It doesn’t
matter,” she says, quickly cutting me off. “Tyler will do
anything to destroy his brother’s happiness. Ever since Blake stole
his last girlfriend.”

There
it was
. Unknowingly, Eliza Carson has just provided the
confirmation I needed of Tyler’s account of his and Blake’s real
fight. She had provided credibility to the very person she was trying
so hard to discredit. And called her golden boy out as a liar, to
boot.

I smile back, careful
to avoid displaying any kind of reaction. “I’ll keep your words
in mind,” I say. “As for spending time with Tyler, he is my
future brother in law, after all. And Blake trusts me.”

“Oh honey,” she
laughs. “I’m sure he does. But mentioning that you have spent any
amount of time with his brother would be a mistake on your part,”
she finishes ominously.

I can’t entertain
this artificial excuse for pleasantry any longer. I have two choices
at this point. I can walk away, or I can defend my position. Usually
I would say my goodbyes and walk away.
But
not this time.

“You know, Eliza, I
don’t question Blake’s constantly working late, sometimes walking
in the door at two a.m. I think I have more of a reason to distrust
him than he does me.”

“My dear, that’s
the life you take on when you marry a doctor. I haven’t stayed
married to his father for this long by being suspicious and curious.
You’ll just have to realize that, like his father, there may be
times where he sleeps at the hospital in the on-call rooms for a week
because of his schedule. And you’ll
have
to accept that,” Eliza reprimands. “And not question it.”

Like
fucking hell.
I may have been able to understand that
before all these moments of reasonable doubt started presenting
themselves to me. Before I started to see the holes in all Blake’s
stories. Before the last lie became exposed to me by none other than
his own doting, sociopathic mother. I decide, at that very moment,
like the defiant child that I am, that my mission in life, is to
spend as much time with Tyler as possible. I think he may be the only
one in this family not shrouded in deception.

I say a polite goodbye
to Eliza and turn on my heel, walking into the beauty salon. It
unnerves me that she knows where I was on Saturday. That I was with
Tyler
. I wouldn’t be surprised
if she had me followed.

Mac turns his head as I
walk in. “That better not be donuts, honey, or you’re gonna fuck
my diet right up!”

“It’s a ball gown,”
I say. “From my future mother in law.” I roll my eyes, still
irritated at the conversation we just had. I frown defiantly. “I’m
not wearing it.”

“Oooh,” Mac
exclaims. He considers himself a fabulous fashionista. “Wipe that
ugly scowl off your face and try it on!” he yells.

“Where’s Janie?”
I ask.

“Not in today, and
we’re light on clients, so we have all the time in the world for
you to model that dress!” Mac explains.

Grabbing the box, I
walk into one of the treatment rooms.
Arguing
with Mac is pointless
. He nags better than most of the
women I’ve ever known. I open the box and gasp. The dress is made
of a perfectly colored lemon silk. I finger the delicate fabric
before carefully lifting it from the box. The fabric swishes as it
gently falls before me.

I stare in awe at the
luminous material. The dress is strapless, the open back draping down
elegantly. I think it may reach the very bottom of my back. Across
the exposed back are a series of braided silver chains. The gown
looks like it’ll hug my frame tightly, until it splays out
elegantly at my knees.

Though I hate to admit
it, I am excited to try it on. I slip the dress on and close my eyes
as the soft fabric caresses my bare skin. There isn’t a mirror in
this room, so I have to walk out into the shop to see how it looks.
Mac is standing near the front door, talking to someone. I can’t
quite see who from this vantage point. The door shuts behind me, and
Mac turns. Revealing Tyler.

Mac squeals, though I
don’t react. But my eyes are fixed on Tyler. He stands completely
still, his eyes capturing mine, not wavering.
I’m
suddenly frozen
. Frozen by the way his gaze warms me, so
tenderly. Mac looks between the two of us, his head shooting back and
forth like a psychotic carnival clown game. Realizing how this must
look, I quickly avert my eyes.

“You promised to stop
stalking me,” I say with a small smile.

“I did, but you
dropped this,” Tyler replies, raising his hand, exposing my single
house key on its worn silver ring.

“Oh.” I say,
embarrassed that I was so sure of myself.

“You look beautiful,”
he says.

“I like the dress.
I’d like it more if it hadn’t come from your mother, though,” I
spit.

“I try never to
compliment my mother, but she chose well.” Tyler says, giving me an
approving smile. “Although, it is a little formal for work.” The
drooling Tyler has now disappeared, and the familiar smart ass is
back.

“It’s for some
charity thing on Saturday.” The tone in my voice makes my
abhorrence of the pretentious parties very obvious.

“I sympathize,”
Tyler says seriously. “I’d better go.” He turns towards the
door to walk out.

I open my mouth to say
goodbye, but Mac beats me to it.

“You know, I don’t
really need Emily here today. In case you can’t tell, it’s like a
zombie apocalypse in here. Dead as hell. Why don’t you two kids
take the day off?” Mac shoots me an
or
else
glare.

“Janie won’t be
impressed,” I rebut.

“I’ll tell her it
was my idea,” Mac replies.

“What if it gets
busy?” I counter.

“Then I’ll
entertain the waiting clients with my witty charm, and they’ll
forget that I took two hours to wax their eyebrows,” Mac replies
firmly.

“What if—” I
start.

“What if what?” Mac
asks.

Tyler leans against the
countertop, a small, satisfied smile playing on his lips.

“I’m sure Tyler’s
busy,” I say.

“Are you busy?” Mac
asks Tyler directly.

“Not a damn thing on
the agenda,” Tyler replies, shooting me a now-smug smile.

“You’re loving
this, aren’t you?” I reprimand, glaring at him.

“I have no ulterior
motives! I’m just lonely,” Tyler laughs with a hand over his
heart. “I can lie and tell you I’m busy, if you prefer.”

“No!” I scold.
“I’ve had enough of your family’s lies.” I then stomp, silk
in hand, to the room to change. “Mac, can I see you for a minute?”
I call as I walk through the door.

Mac follows behind me,
an angelic look on his face.

“What are you doing?”
I whisper-shout. “Don’t encourage him!”

“Honey, I don’t
need
to encourage
him. You are doing a good enough job of that already. Or are you
choosing to ignore that moment back there when the two of you looked
at each other and time fucking stood still? I almost felt embarrassed
bearing witness to all of that eye-fucking,” Mac replies
sarcastically.

“I am engaged to his
brother!” I spit.

“Looks like you
picked the wrong one, then. Consider this day a gift from your fairy
godmother!” Mac says before turning on his heel and sashaying out
of the room.

I could lie and say I
don’t want to leave with Tyler. Lie and say that I’m only going
because I want to gather more intel on his family. But the truth is
that I don’t feel connected to anyone else in this town in the same
way. Even after the short period of time I’ve known him. I need the
type of friendship that Tyler and I have. Then maybe,
just
maybe
, I can see enough goodness in the Carson family to
actually want to be a part of it.

I almost lost every
ounce of composure I had when Emily walked out of the room in that
dress. She was perfect.
Angelic
.
Her hair piled up on her head in a messy bun, a face fresh with
hardly any makeup, no shoes. The delicate silk wraps itself around
her body, clinging to her like a second skin. There was never a more
perfect picture.

Truthfully, she had me
the moment she laid her gorgeous and startled brown eyes on me for
the first time at the apartment.
I
was so fucked
. The way her hair fell softly down her back.
The way she smiled, so innocently; too innocently to be a part of my
messed up family. And I did say a prayer of thanks to whoever
designed her body. It was the stuff dreams are made of, namely mine
these last few nights. I had come undone the day I met her. And yes,
I had placed myself strategically throughout her daily life so we
could run into each other a few times. I couldn’t get enough of her
smile, her laugh, or the way her eyes and mouth rounded out when I
said something that shocked her. And the way, after that kiss on the
beach the other day, she had brought her fingers gently to her lips
every so often. I hoped that I was responsible for the memory.

I almost kiss Emily’s
coworker when he forces her to spend the day with me. I felt a little
awkward when he looked as though he was undressing me with his eyes,
but hey
, whatever
works. I inhale sharply when she turns and exposes the open back, the
silver chains across it revealing her soft, bare skin.

I should have been gone
by now. I passed up my last job, and for an aspiring freelance
photographer, that was probably a huge mistake. But I had to stay in
the city a little longer. I stand against the counter, waiting for
Emily to change. Mac walks over and sits behind the computer.

“I don’t like your
brother,” he says abruptly.

“Well, that makes two
of us,” I say, looking up.

“My question is, how
did you manage to fall in love with his fiancée?” he replies
directly.

How
do I answer that?
“I am not in love with my brother’s
fiancée,” I defend, slightly more passionately than I had
intended. “I’ve only known Emily for a little over a week!”
Like that actually matters.

“Oh, so you look at
all of your family members with such wanton lust?” Mac teases.

“I obviously know
what my family’s like. I’m just trying to be her friend.” I
say, knowing it’s a lie.

“Try harder. Look,
your brother’s an asshat. I don’t know you. You may be one, too.
Who knows?” Mac shrugs his shoulders dramatically. “But before
you start a cock war over this girl, remember that winning the fight
is not worth more than the prize.”

“Effectively, you’ll
break my balls off if I hurt her,” I surmise. “You’re
threatening the wrong brother here.”

Before he can reply,
Emily walks out of the treatment room, box in hand.

“I’ll take care of
this,” Mac says, taking the box from her hands.

“No wearing my
dress!” she teases, punching him in the arm.

Truthfully, I actually
had a million things to do today. I had just wanted to drop her key
off. That was the real reason for my visit, but I had since
instantaneously cleared my schedule. I’d take spending a day with
this girl over just about anything in life.

We walk for a few
blocks before she asks, “Where are we going?”

I laugh. “I thought
you knew.”

“I was following
you,” she says, mouth agape.

“Blind leading the
blind,” I say. The euphemism is not lost on me. “Okay, close your
eyes,” I command.

“Why?”

“Trust me,” I
reply, spinning her around twice.

“Now open them, and
we’ll do the first thing you see,” I say as she steadies herself.
We stand at a traffic light, surrounded by cinemas, theatres, cafes,
restaurants, Laundromats, even an adult shop or two.

She points and opens
her eyes. I follow her line over to a small theatre. “Is that even
open?” I laugh. Mottled and half-ripped off posters riddle the
double doors, which are presently ajar.

“You said the first
thing I saw,” she teases.

We walk over to the
entrance. Emily looks excited, and I like that she’s just herself
around me. When Blake tried to knock me out on the day we first met,
I saw her face when she saw him. She immediately righted her posture.
Smoothed her clothes. Brushed back stray hairs with her hand. I felt
in that moment, that the person I had just met had disappeared, and
in her place stood a woman so incredibly uncomfortable in her own
skin.