Taking Chances (Blackrock Book 2) (52 page)

“Yeah,
it’s a good day.” I kiss his waiting lips then rest my
head on his. About twenty minutes later Max and Paige join us both
looking flushed but Max looks a little pissed as well.

“Ready
to go?” he asks grabbing his shirt and tugging it on. Paige
picks up her top turning her back she pulls it over her head. I look
at Knox and he frowns.

Standing,
we pick up our picnic and head back home; both Max and Paige are
quiet and are staring out their respective windows. Sliding my hand
over I link my fingers with Knox’s and give him a small smile.
His thumb rubs across my wrist as he drives into downtown. Once at
the apartment Paige jumps out of the truck and takes off.

“You
want to take off with Max for a while, babe?”

He
nods smiling at me. “Yeah, do you mind?”

Leaning
over I give him a kiss. “No, text me later and we can grab
dinner.”

Sliding
out of the truck, I walk around to the back where Max is staring at
Paige’s retreating back.

“Hey
Knox want’s you.” I kiss his cheek then walk into my own
building, giving them some guy time together.

After
another shower, I make my way over to Paige’s, banging on her
door until she opens it.

“Hey
what’s up?” she asks with big puffy eyes.

“I
need a favor,” I say stepping inside and holding out a tube of
skin cream.

“What’s
that for?” She looks confused until I lift up my shirt showing
her my back and she laughs, “Oh my god Bailey, you’re
raw.”

Nodding,
I look over my shoulder. “Yeah, it fucking kills; now help.”
She smears cream on my back and I sigh at the cooling effect of it.
Raising her eyebrow as she hands me the cream I smile. “Tree
bark.” we both laugh. “Okay, come on. Let’s get the
only thing that will solve this pain.” Slipping on her shoes,
we leave and walk into downtown to the ice cream parlor.

“So
you want to talk about it?” I ask, mixing my ice cream in the
bowl with the candy I poured in.

“I
told him I really do love him but he flipped out calling me a liar.”

Looking
up from the mess I am making I quirk my eyebrow. “What? Max
flipped out?”

She
nods and smirks. “Yeah, the calm one went Knox on me.” I
laugh at her.

“So
why did he call you a liar?”

She
chews on some candy from her bowl looking out of the window. “Because
I told him at spring break I didn’t love him, but I really
wasn’t sure back then, and he had only come out of hospital so
I didn’t want him to feel like he had to stay with me because
of the baby.” Sighing, I move from my seat and slide in beside
her giving her a hug.

“What
a mess we are.”

She
looks at me. “Why are you a mess?” I fill her in on all
the happenings of the last few days and the court drama making her
eyes pop out. “Oh my god Bailey, you should have called the
police.” Shrugging, I pull my ice cream over to me.

We
stay there for about an hour.

“Paige,
my back is on fire.” Throwing her head back, she laughs at me
with tears rolling down her face. “It’s not funny.”

She
nods her head wiping her eyes. “Oh, it is so funny.”
Leaving the ice cream parlor, I use my t-shirt to scratch my back by
twisting the hem up and down. Paige slaps my hand and lifts it up
then drops it. “Okay, so it’s not funny. Maybe we should
go to the emergency room.”

Gaping,
I spin to her. “It’s that bad?” She nods, biting
her lip. “Fucking horny asshole,” I moan as we stomp the
three blocks to the hospital. Paige keeps giggling at my ranting
telling me it took two and I could have said no ‘tree-some’.
I fill out the paperwork and wait to be called; it must be a slow day
for the doctors because I am called after twenty minutes.

Sitting
the room, I sigh as I pull off my shirt and put on the horrible gown.
Paige sits on the corner on one of the plastic chairs grinning at me.

“What?”
Shaking her head, she pulls her lips tight when none other than Dr.
Mitchum strolls in looking surprised to see me.

“Bailey,
back again so soon?” he smiles.

“Yes
I hurt my back,” I answer while Paige stares with her mouth
hanging open.

“Let
me see what the problem is.” Stepping behind me, he opens the
gown and sucks air in through his teeth. “How did this happen?”
his question is genuinely perplexed.

“Tree
bark,” I answer keeping my voice low he steps around to look at
me.

“Tree
bark? Were you rubbing up against it?” he jokes, making Paige
burst into laughter and me turn a deep shade of crimson. Paige covers
her mouth and bends her head down while her shoulders shake still.

“Okay,
let me fix you,” Dr. Mitchum says grabbing some gel and
squirting it on his hand. He rubs it gently on my back making me sigh
as the cooling gel stops the pain.

“Oh,
that feels so good,” I say breathlessly as he applies more
rubbing slowly again. Paige gapes at me.

“Feel
better?” he asks, close to my ear and I nod thoroughly enjoying
the cooling effect of the gel. Man, Knox is so dead; he better be
applying this stuff all night if I am to get any sleep. Dr. Mitchum
stops with my cooling massage smirking at me then pulls off his
gloves. Standing in front of me he smiles.

“Now
I will give you a prescription for the gel and if you run out you
know where I am.” Nodding I take the paper from him, but he
holds it a little longer brushing his fingers off mine.

Paige
mouths ‘what the fuck?’ from behind him then clears her
throat.

“Okay,
well get better soon and stay away from tree bark.” He nods
then leaves. Pulling on my shirt, we walk back out onto the street.

“Well,
well, well I think doctor Mc hottie was trying to get into your
pants.” Paige nods at me as we walk back home.

“No,
he wasn’t. I already turned him down months ago.” Her
steps freeze as she looks at me.

“Tell
me everything now!” she demands so I do; I tell her about when
Max was here and he asked me to dinner.

When
we get back to the apartment she is laughing. “Oh my gosh! Do
not let that fiancé of yours know that story.” Giving
her a hug, we say goodbye.

“I’m
home,” I call out stepping into the apartment hearing laughter.
I walk towards the sitting room finding Knox, Max their cousin and
her friends all sitting around having fun eating pizza and drinking
beer.

“Well,
this looks like fun. Can anyone join or is it invite only?” I
aim my question at Knox with a pointed look.

Max
waves me in. “Have a seat, sis.” Smiling I sit on the
floor beside him because all the other seats are taken. “Where
did you go?” Max asks me handing me a slice of pizza as I cut
another look at his brother.

“I
was with Paige then I ended up in the emergency room.”
Shrugging I take a bite of the cold pizza and put it down.

Knox
frowns at me. “Why didn’t you text me?”

“I
was busy with Dr. Mitchum.” Taking my pizza, I excuse myself to
heat it up followed by Knox.

“You
okay, darlin’?” he asks looking at me.

“Yeah
I’m great, babe. Fucking starving but great,” Throwing
the pizza in the trash I open the fridge and take out chicken to make
a sandwich and Knox grabs the bread.

“Go
back inside, and entertain your guests and leave me alone.”

He
closes the door quickly turning on me. “What the hell is wrong
with you? That’s my fucking cousin. I didn’t have a
problem with you and Roger,” he snaps at me, running his hands
through his hair.

“Yes
you did and if I remember correctly you broke up with me after four
hours.” Pushing past him I put the chicken back in the fridge
and walk down to my room not hungry anymore. Pulling off my t-shirt I
twist my hair up into a messy bun.

Knox
storms in and stops, staring at my back. “I’m sorry
darlin’.” Taking off my shorts I slip on my running gear
and sports bra because I can’t take the material rubbing off my
back.

“Where
are you going?”

Pulling
on my shoes, I stretch out my legs. “I’m going for a run
because my lovely fiancé was supposed to take me to dinner,
but decided to have pizza with his cousin and her friends.” He
links his fingers resting them on his head and closes his eyes he
lets out a breath, “Let me guess, you forgot.”

Brushing
past him, I march into the sitting room grabbing my iPod from the
dock; Max looks at me and winces because he knows I am pissed.

“Later,”
I say as I leave them to enjoy their dinner. Knox frowns as I walk by
and ignore him. Making my way to the field again I blast Nickleback
and run out my anger at him.

I
run for a long time until the sun starts to set and my legs feel like
jelly. Smiling, I walk back to the apartment; I feel much better but
I’m still hungry and mad. Walking back, inside I hear their
laughter again, and jump into the shower. Once I’m out I call
Paige.

“Hey
you need me to put more cream on you?” she snickers when she
answers.

“No,
I need you to come to dinner with me; just us so get your glam on.”

She
agrees to meet in an hour. I curl my hair into waves and put on my
full face of makeup, false eyelashes included. Looking through my
closet, I grab my short black dress and my five inch heals add some
perfume. I Open the door just a Paige knocks.

“Hey.”
I give her a hug inviting her inside.

“Did
Knox put the cream on?” she asks smiling at me.

“No,
he doesn’t even know I am home,” I say walking into the
music room where some of my stuff is still in boxes. I rummage
through them until I find my small black clutch then walk into the
kitchen to transfer some of the contents from my big purse.

Hearing
girls laughter, Paige frowns at me. “Who’s that?”

“Their
cousin and her friends.” Paige looks livid and opens the door
to the sitting room stepping in behind her. I see them watching a
movie.

My
heart hurts, as I look at Knox, Paige stares Max down. “Okay,
you lot have a good night,” I say from behind her making Knox
turn his head. “And you” I point to the chick whose
fingers I almost broke, “keep your fucking hands to yourself.”
Grabbing Paige, I drag her down the hall followed by Knox.

“What’s
going on? When did you get back?”

Paige
shakes her head him. “You two are the fucking worst
boyfriends..” she is so furious she can’t even finish the
sentence as we leave. Walking to the French bistro we are seated
straight away. “What was that about?” Paige asks looking
hurt and I shrug.

“Don’t
know, they have been like that all week.” We order our dinner
and talk about NYU and my court hearing, which I don’t want to
talk about.

“Good
evening ladies.” Both of us turn seeing Tony the owner of
Black’s nightclub smiling at us.

“Hello,”
we answer smiling.

“Are
you ladies enjoying your meal?” We nod and he smiles. “Well
I would love to see you both tonight at the club. I can have a lounge
waiting for you.”

I
look at Paige and she smiles. “Yes, we would love to join you
tonight,” she answers.

Tony
lifts my hand and kisses it then Paige’s. “Well
princesses, I will see you both at ten.” Winking, he walks
away.

Paige
sighs and smiles at me. “We will be having some fun tonight.”
Clinking glasses, we both laugh. After our dinner we walk down to
Black’s, getting lost but eventually find the right dingy
looking street.

The
doorman looks down at us from his lofty height. “Password,”
he says gruffly Paige and I look at each other.

“Shit,
I forgot to ask,” she says to him. His eyes lift up from us,
and he ignores us completely.

“Princesses,”
I say hoping that was it. Looking down, the doorman gives us a
sparkly silver wristband then opens the door.

“Oh
shit, was that why he was acting like that?”

Paige
asks as we make our way down the stairs and I shrug.

“No
idea, I just guessed,” I laugh.

Stepping
onto the dance floor its smoky from the fog machine and the music is
thumping so loud I can feel it in my chest, feeling hands slip around
my waist I turn finding Tony smiling.

“This
way,” he says holding out his hand for us to walk. He takes us
to a smaller room than the one we had before but it is well stocked
and decorated in blues and purples.

We
sit down and he introduces our waiter to us who is drop dead
gorgeous. Paige and I exchange glances and both smile like maniacs,
he brings us a shot each while he takes our orders.

“So
how is Knox?” Tony asks looking at my ring and me.

“Good
thanks.” Taking my hand he sighs wistfully.

“You
managed to tame him.” He chuckles before leaving us to enjoy
Marshall our waiter and the club. I order more shots Paige and I then
hit the dance floor,

“Hopefully
prince charming won’t come storming in at the last hour.”
She giggles at me. Dancing feels so good just letting go to enjoy the
music we dance for about an hour straight before going back to gawk
at Marshall as he brings us our drinks, checking my phone I see no
texts or calls from Knox so I put it away.

“So
are you all set?” I ask Paige raising my voice over the loud
music.

“No,
not really but I am going.”

I
nod looking at her “I’ll miss you!” I shout hugging
her to me.

“I’ll
miss you too, Bailey.” Squeezing me back we pull away with
tears swimming in our eyes.

“Come
on, more shots. This is my going away party to you.”

We
down two more shots and go back to dancing. After midnight we just
sit in the room drinking and talking to Marshall about his job and
school. He makes us some weird concoction that has us both wobbling
in our heels. We dance for the last hour and I am feeling a bit
better after that drink we take a bottle of water to go and head
towards the exit where Tony stops us.