The Arrangement: The Seduction (Kindle Worlds Novella) (9 page)

I take a quick run upstairs, dress and run out the front door.

Chapter Eight

The last few weeks of college crawl by. I hate being pathetic, and it’s not something I am willing to do, no matter how badly my heart is breaking. So I push myself through review sessions and finals. I keep up with work at The Tavern, and I continue to submit my resume and hope for a job interview. At this point, I’ll take anything that pays fairly decently and keeps me busy and unable to think.

Because when I think, I fall apart. It’s impossible to believe I fell for another man’s lies. I can’t fathom how I could have been so stupid. If I look back, this time the signs were there. Neon and flashing.

Zach showing up at the bar, watching me for weeks without making a move.

Zach just happens to show up when I’m attacked in the parking lot, playing savior, ingratiating himself into my life.

Zach being my bodyguard, my shadow.

Zach not making a move sexually until I make one first. That’s where I get hung up. Why? If he wanted to use me to get to Sean, why did he wait? Why did he let himself get close to me? Why not make a video that first time we slept together and be done with it? His actions with me are at odds with his plan to get revenge. He behaved like a man falling for me as hard as I fell for him.

I fell in love with you, Chloe.

He’d said so that last night. I shake my head hard. “Dumb, dumb, dumb.” Because he’d said other things too.

Get her out of here. Take her far away from me.

I shiver at the vivid memory, so strong I can practically hear his voice. I need to stop looking for the good and remember the reality. The video hard drive with us having sex that Sean took from the house and I watched him destroy. I didn’t watch this one, and Sean didn’t make me the way my parents had with the first one.

He merely pulled into a dark parking lot, walked out to the back of his car, and with a hammer he just happened to have, he smashed the recorder to bits. Nobody would be viewing naked pictures of me a second time.

I owe Sean for saving me from myself … even if I am having a hard time looking at him the same way. Another reason I have to keep busy or fall apart. If I think about what Sean did to Zach’s sister, how the poor woman is in a mental hospital because he— I shake my head to rid myself of the images that haunt me. I don’t want them in my brain. So I push them away. But then memories of Zach intrude.

I rub at my pounding temples. I have no time for this today. Today is graduation. I don’t know if my parents will show up or not, but I will be there. I plan to walk across that stage, get my diploma, and begin the next stage of my life.

Which includes living with Callie, who has been gracious enough to invite me to sleep on her sofa until I get my bearings. She lives close enough to The Tavern that I can walk at night, and in another step of independence, once I am out of the dorm later today, I’m handing my parents my car keys. Or mailing them home.

I’m on my own. And very much alone.

#

Being toward the end of the alphabet, I’m used to being called last for attendance and at big class gatherings. So I sit in the back rows of students. We are all dressed in black caps and gowns, the only contrasting color the occasional gold cord and sash to acknowledge graduating with honors. I’ve managed that despite everything, and I lift my chin up, reminding myself to be proud.

Finally the dean reading names reaches the Rs and my row. We stand and walk toward the stage single file.

I hear my name. “Chloe Reynolds.”

Reminding myself to shake with my right hand, accept the diploma with my left, I walk across the stage, handle the exchange, and smile.

A little while later, we turn our tassels. Toss our caps. And students search for their family and friends. Friends I do have, and I hug and kiss the few people who have been a part of my life these past four years. The ones who’ve been nice and stood by me. Ignore the ones who snickered and laughed behind my back. Sex-tape girl graduated just like the rest of them.

There’s no family to greet me or hand me flowers. No one to hug or congratulate me. I tell myself it’s fine. I didn’t expect my parents to come.

Liar. I’d hoped they’d show up and surprise me with a change of heart. Tell me they’re proud of what I’ve accomplished.

I shake my head and laugh. That’s about as likely to happen as I am to pick a guy I can trust.

“I’m glad to see you can still laugh.”

The familiar voice snakes through me, taking me off guard. I spin around in shock. “Zach?”

He walks toward me. He doesn’t look like the man I know. He’s wearing dress slacks and loafers. They’re Gucci and expensive. His pale blue button-down shirt gives him a more sophisticated air than I’m used to, but surprisingly, the look suits him. He carries a bouquet of roses in one hand.

“Congratulations, Princess.” He holds out the flowers.

I accept them with shaking hands. “Thank you.”

“I’m sure you have plans, but I was wondering if we could talk for a few minutes?” He sounds uncertain.

I’m confused. I’m as drawn to him as ever. He’s handsome, sexy, the same man who protected me … yet he’s not. He’s a sophisticated stranger, and I realize there’s more about him I still don’t know.

I shake my head. “I don’t.”

He exhales a long breath. “Yeah. Well, it was worth a shot.” He turns to go.

“Wait. I meant I don’t have plans.” I draw a deep breath and remind myself I don’t do pathetic. But this is Zach, and he knows everything. “There’s no one here for me but you,” I say.

His green eyes flash with anger on my behalf. I recognize that look because I’ve seen it in his gaze so many times before. It’s that realization that allows me to hope.

He’s here, after all. And I’ve been miserable. Could there be more between us than revenge? Can I forgive him if there is?

“Can I take you somewhere to celebrate?” He’s hesitant, bracing himself for rejection.

I draw a deep breath and nod. “I’d like that.”

We’re back to uncomfortable and wary around each other, and I don’t like it. Does that mean I’m breaking down and forgiving him already?

I turn in my cap and gown and meet him at the parking lot. We settle into his truck. The warm, familiar scent of his cologne wraps around me, and he starts to drive. I don’t ask where we’re going, but soon I see we’re headed out of the city, upstate.

I turn to him, confused. “I don’t get it.”

“You will.”

I blow out an impatient breath, which makes him laugh.

“I missed you,” he says, suddenly serious.

I glance at my hands. “I missed you too. But I don’t understand—” I cut myself off. What can I say? I don’t understand what between us was real and what was a lie? What was forced and what meant something to him?

Because it was all true for me, and it meant everything. I swallow over the lump in my throat.

“Revenge is a lot easier in theory than in reality,” he says into the silence.

I remain quiet.

“I wanted to avenge what he did to my sister. I wanted to make sure he never forgot that he destroyed someone good and real. Someone who meant something to other people.”

I nod. I couldn’t speak if I wanted to, and right now I don’t.

“Once I decided you were the one I needed to get close to, I looked into you. I had a plan. But as I watched you at work, I knew you were special. I couldn’t bring myself to make a move. And I couldn’t bring myself to walk away. Both for my sister’s sake and because I was drawn to you.” He flexes his fingers around the wheel, opening and closing his hand.

“Then I was attacked.” I can figure out that much.

“I couldn’t stand to see that bastard’s hands on you. I went crazy.”

I close my eyes. “I remember.”

“And then I got to know you. Really know you. You weren’t just beautiful but you were good. I wanted to get to know you better … for me. Everything between us was real,” he says.

I choke back a low moan. I needed to hear that so badly. I open my eyes. Tears are dripping down my cheeks, and I wipe them with the back of my hand.

“But?” I ask. Because I know there’s more. He installed the cameras, so obviously there’s more.

“Just like I said, every time I let down my guard, every time I forgot I was supposed to have an agenda, something would happen to remind me. Ferro called you. He showed at the bar. I visited my sister. And was forced to remember.”

“And the cameras? The video?”

He groans. He pulls the car off an exit on the Hutchinson River Parkway. The sign says Town of Scarsdale. I’m vaguely aware that we’re now in a wealthy area.

My brain is scrambling to catch up with where he’s taking me and to keep him talking. “Zach?”

“The night I saw you and Ferro at the bar, I okayed the install. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I never am when it comes to him, and seeing him with you, it was like waving a red flag in front of an already enraged bull.”

I wrap my arms around myself, and he lowers the AC. “Chloe, just because the camera was there didn’t mean I would have let the video go viral. It was a stupid, impulsive act that night, just like yelling at you was. You were pissed at me, and I couldn’t stand it. I sent flowers, chocolate; I just wanted to make things right. When you agreed to come over, I wasn’t thinking about revenge or videos. I was just thinking about you. Me. Us.”

I want to believe him so badly. He’s done nothing to make me think he doesn’t care. Our meeting was set up but since then? What has he done except take care of me?

“Are all our secrets out in the open?” I ask.

He hesitates. “Almost.”

I swallow hard. “What could be left?”

He turns onto a tree-lined street where houses are hidden, and the ones I can catch a glimpse of are huge. “This is mine,” he says, turning into a nearly concealed driveway and pulling all the way through to a massive home built from stone, with a four-car garage attached.

He stops the truck, and I climb out without waiting for him. He joins me out front. “The Queens house?” I ask.

“My grandfather’s like I told you. He left it to me. I loved the old man, so I never sold it.”

“How do you afford this?” I sweep an arm toward the stone mansion in front of me.

“Like I told you, I dabble. I have my PI license, but I’m in business too. I did well with stocks and bonds, and now I do consulting from home.” He shrugs sheepishly.

“Why lie about it?” I ask him.

“Would you have trusted me if you thought I was wealthy like your parents? Or were you drawn to me because of all we had in common?”

I blink back tears again. “I was drawn to you. The guy in jeans and a tee shirt—”

“That is me. I’m dressed up today for your graduation. I didn’t want to embarrass you in front of everyone by showing up dressed like I didn’t give a damn when I do.”

“The guy who cooks—”

“Again, I do. You’ve seen it for yourself. I just have a much bigger kitchen here. State-of-the-art. I think the chef in you will love it.”

He pivots me around until I’m facing him, and he looks into my eyes. “You know me. All of me. More than anyone else in my life knows. I confided in you about Grace, and I don’t talk about her to anyone.”

I manage a nod. “I want to believe I can trust what I feel for you, but I’ve been burned badly.”

“By me too. I know this.” He grasps my wrists and holds on. “But I meant what I said that last night. I fell in love with you. And I’ve never said that before to anyone.”

I can’t hold back anymore. I don’t want to. “I love you too,” I say and throw myself into his open, waiting arms.

I’m not sure how long we stand in the driveway, arms wrapped around each other. I just know I need to feel his hard body against mine until I believe I’m here with him, he’s real, and he’s mine.

He eventually releases me. “I want to show you around.”

“Okay.”

“Question.”

I tip my head and look up at him. “What plans did you make for when you move out of the dorm?”

“Umm … I was going to sleep on Callie’s couch until a real solid job came through and I could afford a place of my own.”

Without warning, he drops down on one knee. “I know it’s soon, I know you probably want to live life on your own for a while, but I also need you to know I’m in this for good.” He slips his hand into his pocket, and suddenly I’m looking at a ring.

A real diamond engagement ring. “It’s here whenever you’re ready to wear it,” he tells me. His hands are trembling as he holds out the gorgeous sign of his intentions.

Oh my God. He’s here, he’s real, and he’s offering me something I’ve always wanted but never ever had the courage to dream I’d have — someone who loves me unconditionally. Who will be there for me in good times and bad. I’ve never had a real family in my life, and this man is offering that to me. And if it weren’t something he truly wanted, he wouldn’t have come back to me. Which means this is all real for him. I know it. I feel it in the deepest part of me. And it’s that knowledge that strips me of my fears and lets emotion and my love for him take over.