The Arrangement Anthology (64 page)
Read The Arrangement Anthology Online
Authors: H. M. Ward
Tags: #Romance, #Contemporary, #Fiction, #New Adult, #Adult, #Anthologies, #New Adult & College, #Collections & Anthologies, #new adult romance
“That’s not a reason.” I hold onto his hand, but pull it away from my cheek. Keeping his hand in mine, I look at our fingers. They intertwine perfectly. There’s no awkward hand holding, where you don’t know whose fingers go where, and he doesn’t have cactus hands that are covered in calluses. He’s perfect for me. He knows it, I feel like he knows it, but he’s holding back. I smile grimly and look up at him. “After last night, I thought we had a shot. I mean, I really thought you might say yes, but I guess I was wrong.”
“I don’t follow.”
I pull the ring from my pocket and place it in his palm. “I bought this for you. I was going to propose.”
CHAPTER 10
My voice catches in the back of my throat and I take a deep breath to muffle the sound. Then I smile too brightly and continue to talk, like it’s for the best even though I’d rather be shot in the head. “Some things aren’t meant to be, I guess. Maybe we’re too alike,” I shrug and talk to his feet. “I mean, we’re both so fucked up that it’s amazing we haven’t been committed. Getting married would probably just make life harder for both of us. It’s not like it’d fix anything, and just because you love someone—well, it doesn’t mean anything. Love isn’t enough, is it?” I glance up at him and see Sean shake his head.
He looks down at the ring in his palm and turns it over, examining the carved band and the stone. “You picked this out for me?” I nod, like a despondent teenager. If I throw in a ‘whatever,’ I’d nail it. He lets out a slow rush of air and tilts his head to the side, looking back at me. “Why the pattern and stone? It’s an interesting choice for a wedding band.”
Tucking a piece of hair behind my ear, I take it back from him and run my finger over the pattern. “It’s woven together, string by string, just like life. Sometimes it seems like those little threads snap and we’re left hanging. Marriage weaves them together, so even if one string breaks, there are others to hold us up.”
“And the stone?”
“Blood binds, but so does pain. I don’t know. We’ve both been through so much that we’ve bled our hearts out and have nothing to show for it. Maybe that sounds morbid, but that stone looks like a drop of blood. It reminds me of everything we’ve been through and that we’re still standing.”
I smile at him shyly and pinch the ring between my thumb and index finger. I hold it up to the sunlight and watch the stone turn bright red. “I was going to ask you to share my life.” I take a deep breath and look over at him. Sean’s eyes are on the ring, sparkling in the sunlight. His jaw is locked tight, like I said something horrible. I brush his arm with mine and smile at him. “It’s fine. I’m not going to ask you.”
“You’re not?” His eyes flick back to mine.
“No.”
“Then, why’d you show me and tell me all that?”
“So you’d know what you are missing.”
“Avery,” he says, reaching for me. But I step away.
Pocketing the ring, I glance up at him with a soft smile on my face, feeling less fragile than a moment ago. “It’s fine. Buy me when you come to town, or do what you did last night, but you have to realize that I’m going to have other clients eventually. Marty can’t buy me every weekend.”
As soon as Marty’s name comes out of my mouth, Sean looks livid. “Marty?”
“Yeah, Marty. I was with him the night before last.”
Sean’s entire body tenses. He tries so hard to hide it, but he can’t. Out of all people to be threatened by—Marty? Seriously? Sean’s fingers stretch and bend, as he cracks them one by one. “Anyone else we know?”
Is he jealous? Oh my God, he’s sexy when he’s like this. I realize that I’m lighting a firecracker with a blowtorch, but I do it anyway. “Henry Thomas. He seems to have an issue with you. Gabe beat the shit out of him when he took it out on me.”
That does it. Sean snaps. He steps towards me and pulls me into his arms, crushing me to his chest. It wasn’t the reaction I was going for, but I don’t protest. His hands grip the back of my head fiercely and when he pulls away he looks a little scary. Okay, very scary. His head twitches ever so slightly as all the muscles in his neck strain so tight that they’re ready to pop. “Thomas hurt you?” The words come out one by one. I feel the muscles in his arms flex and relax over and over again, like he’s trying to calm himself down but can’t.
“A little. It scared me more than hurt me. Why does he hate you?”
Sean presses his eyes closed and pinches the bridge of his nose. “He had something that I wanted a few years back. I took it. He hates me and the feeling is mutual. The only reason I sold him that patent was because of you. I wanted to make you happy, but seeing you with him killed me.” Sean looks down at me with a hurricane of emotions in his eyes. “Fuck, and you were with Marty, too? I’m not going to be able to let that guy walk around with his nuts intact, you know that, right?”
“Amber is trying to get me to do a threesome…” I look up into his eyes with my face totally blank. I don’t know why I said it—to get a reaction I guess, but Sean just laughs and turns his back on me.
He starts to walk back toward the house. I follow after and fall into step beside him. “Are you?”
“Am I, what?”
“Are you going to do it?” He shakes his head. “Forget it. Don’t tell me. You’ve probably done worse than that for Black, by now.” He looks over at me with question in his eyes, like he wants to know, but doesn’t.
“I was going to ask you to marry me even though you have some serious issues with sex and call girls. Are you really going to condemn me for being one of those call girls?”
Sean grins at me and shakes his head. “You fucked me in more ways than you will ever know.”
“Oh, I think I do.”
“No, you seriously don’t. I haven’t…” his voice drops and he stops. Sean leans in close and rests his hand on my arm. “There’s been no one. I can’t even tell you how badly I need to feel what that kind of sex makes me feel, but Avery—I can’t. You freakin’ broke me. I sent a hooker home last night.”
“Last night? Wait, what? You were with a hooker last night?”
He nods and looks over at me, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. “Yeah, well, not for long. I didn’t realize it until she got there, but I didn’t want her. I wanted you.” I blink at him over and over again. He sees the look on my face. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Everything. The things he’s said that don’t make sense start to snap into place. I’m almost too afraid to ask, but I do it anyway. “Uh, Sean. What’s your cell number?”
He looks over at me. “Why?”
“Just tell me.” He does. The number doesn’t match the one in my phone from last night. “Is that your only phone?”
“Yeah…” he’s smiling at me, waiting for a punch line that doesn’t come. My mind reels, as I realize what’s happened. The guy last night, all the messages, the things I typed, the pictures, and videos. Oh God. Horror washes across my face as I stare blankly. I broke every rule Black has, thinking I was doing it with Sean, but it wasn’t him. Sean tilts his head to the side and catches my eye. “Avery, what’s going on?”
My heart pounds harder, slamming into my ribs. Oh my God. “Someone hired me last night, and pretended to be you.”
COMING SOON:
THE ARRANGEMENT VOL 10
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THE ARRANGEMENT SERIES
This story unfolds over the course of multiple short novels. Each one follows the continuing story of Avery Stanz and Sean Ferro.
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Table of Contents
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by H.M. Ward
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form.
Laree Bailey Press
First Edition: Sept 2013
The Arrangement
Vol. 10
PTER 1
There are many levels to the depths of Sean Ferro’s anger, but holy shit, I never expected this. The man just stands there, on the sidewalk, and stares. It’s like a nuke went off inside his head. Sean’s big blue eyes don’t blink, as his jaw becomes tighter and tighter.
Tipping my head to the side, I try to catch his eye
. Nothing. Leaning forward, I poke him. “Uh, Sean? Not to be a diva, but I’m the one who should be freaking out right now, not you.” And I am. I refuse to think about it right now, which is the only reason why I’m still calm. Denial is the best drug around.
That wakes him up. The muscles in his thick neck are strained like cords of rope. “Of course. I’m being unreasonable. Completely. This doesn’t bother me at all. I mean, why should it? Why would I be upset if the woman I love is having three-ways with her roommate, sleeping with that dick Henry, and doing her best friend—who said
he was gay until rather recently? It shouldn’t matter at all. Of course not.” Sean lets out a rush of air and presses his palms to his face and looks up at the sky as if thinking,
why me?
“You tied me up and pretended to have a gangbang.” I glare at him with my hands on my hips.
Sean peeks out from between his fingers and laughs. “Holy fuck, Avery.” He starts laughing those light little laughs that sound more crazed than anything else. “I’ve never met my match. Not with business or in the bedroom, but you—we’re neck and neck on the crazy scale, aren’t we?”
I wave him off and grin.
“Psh, you own the crazy scale, Sean. The Urban Dictionary entry for nucking futs is a picture of you.” Folding my arms against my chest, I stare at the cracks in the sidewalk. How is it that this guy seems so right for me? We’re both deranged lunatics. I’m pretty sure I’m committable and I know he is. I flick my gaze up and catch him staring at me. “What?”
Sean’s trying not to smile. His lips keep twitching as his eyes dart between my gaze
and the grass. “Nothing.” He lets out a sigh and all the tension leaks from his muscles. Sean steps toward me, but he doesn’t touch. The tension between us is thick. My body responds to him and remembers his caresses. “Tell me how someone pretended to be me last night. I’m guessing you were blindfolded or something.”
I make a face and look away, wishing I could hide behind that bush
down the street again. Being stupid is one thing. Admitting it later is another. Why is everything always crystal clear in hindsight? Avoiding his gaze, I say, “Uh, something like that. Listen, I can handle that on my own. Don’t worry about it.”
“No,
you don’t understand. It’s
my
problem when someone impersonates me, especially if he took advantage of you.”
“I’m a hooker, Sean. I don’t think things work like that anymore.” But I thought they did. I feel played, but the guy paid, so does it matter who it was? I honestly don’t want to start tu
rning over stones to see who did it, because I know I won’t like what I find. Every day with Black becomes worse than the day before. I need a new job, but I’m so close to graduation. The end is within sight. I just have to hold out a little longer. I’m almost done.
Sean doesn’t like that answer. I can see it in the set of his shoulders before he answers.
“Avery, people will treat you the way you expect them to. This is unacceptable. What were you doing that you couldn’t—”
Mel choses that moment to emerge from the house. “That is one fine house, Ferro. At least you’re not a total asshole,
cuz anyone who does stuff like this for his brother can’t be all bad.” Mel looks at me and then Sean. “What’d I miss?”
“Someone
impersonated me to get to Avery.”
My hands slam onto my hips and I glare at him.
“Wow, thanks Sean. What if I wasn’t going to tell her that?”
Sean’s voice deepens as he glares at me.
“If you say, ‘
You’re not the boss of me
,’ I’m going to throw you over my shoulder and spank you senseless.” The look on Sean’s face is dark and brooding. I know he means it. My response is so totally wrong, but a giggle pops out, so I press my hands over my mouth and look away, horrified.
M
el rolls her eyes and turns from us. “You two are into the freaky shit, and I don’t wanna hear it.”
Sean steps directly in front of me and looks down. “Avery is staying with me for a few days.”
“No, I’m not!”
“Yes, you are. It’s not
negotiable.”
Slouching, I tip my head to the side and counter.
“Sean, you’re being a dick.”
“I am a dick.” He lowers his face to mine, so we’re nose to nose. “And i
t doesn’t matter what you say, Avery, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
“Black won’t let me stay with you.”
“Black doesn’t have to know.” Sean glances at Mel and adds, “Does she?”
Mel makes an offended noise in the back of her throat and bristles. “Why you
gotta be like that? I’m not tattling on you two if you want to fornicate, but Black does have eyes everywhere. In a couple of hours she’ll know where we are and what we’re wearing. She’ll know Sean’s here.”
I glance up at him. Part of me want
s him around. I want things to go forward, but this isn’t forward. It’s like a barn dance and I think we’re spinning in circles, forever stuck in the same damn spot. “I can’t afford to piss off Black. No one has done anything to me. The guy didn’t hurt me, Sean, and I’m a call girl. I did my job.”
Yeah, keep telling yourself that Avery. You don’t feel violated. Of course not.
I’m having trouble swallowing that lie. “I’ll just head home and—” My phone chirps, so I fish it out of my pocket and look down at the screen.
There’s a message
from Marty:
Better sit down, Avery. Saw this and thought you should know. It’s bad. People recognize you. Call if you want to talk.
Sean and Mel are arguing, but their voices turn to noise as apprehension fills my stomach. I press the link and a video starts. Mortified, I look away and try not to cry. One of the videos from the other night—a full body shot of me pleasuring myself—is online. Being a call girl for Black is one thing. I’m a whore, but no one else knew about it. I could live with that, sort of, but this is unthinkable. Without blinking, I shove the phone at Sean and walk away. My feet move down the tree-lined street as horror rises up and drowns me. I don’t realize how hard I’m trying not to cry until I feel Sean’s hand on my shoulder. I stop in my tracks and turn, unable to look him in the eye.
Sean doesn’t speak. He takes me in his arms and holds me against his chest, tangling his hands in my hair as he comforts me.
My throat is so tight that I can’t swallow. I can’t breathe. There have already been hundreds of views and the video hasn’t even been there for a whole day. My mind is collapsing brick by brick.
When Sean speaks, his voice has a deep gentleness about it that makes me want to believe every word he says.
“I’ll take care of it. That will be gone within the hour. Avery, listen. I need you to tell me everything. I’ll fix this, and make it so the guy who fucked with you will wish he’d never been born.”