The Games We Play Vol. 3 (Riley Grayson) (7 page)

But he couldn’t shake the fact that Ali was beginning to bring out his true feelings. He thought about it long and hard: when was the last time he allowed his heart to be involved? He couldn’t remember. He’d tucked it away a long time ago and had only kept it purely physical. Ali wasn’t making him chase her just for the thrill of it. She wasn’t
playing
hard to get. She really, truly was hard to get.

Riley could only assume it was because she was beginning to feel the same for him. Her actions this morning made it clear she wasn’t going to put up with his shit. She was a challenge, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, a girl was giving him a good challenge.

More than that though, she was hands down the best sex he’d had in a very long time—and Lord knows he’d had plenty of sex. She seemed to intuitively know exactly what he liked, how he liked it. They were good together. No. They were
perfect
together. Fantastic, even. He smiled, remembering how she even took charge last night. Damn that was awesome!

And now he had to decide exactly how far he was willing to put himself out there for her. It would be so easy to chase after her, apologize, turn on his charm and get back on her good side, wouldn’t it?

Maybe he should just give her a day to calm down. Then he’d call her. But they were supposed to get on his bike and take a drive up the coast today. As crazy as it sounded, he had been really looking forward to that. He was going to take her to someplace private and special, surprise her with a romantic picnic, and, if he was lucky, make love to her again.

“God, I feel like a fucking girl!” he shouted to the empty room just thinking about it all.

All right. That was it. She wanted to walk out of his life, he was going to let her. For a while anyway. Let her wonder for a few days where he was and what he was doing. Then maybe he’d call her or show up at her apartment.

Or maybe he wouldn’t. Maybe he’d wait for her to come crawling back to him. He couldn’t be the one doing the chasing. He needed to remain solid and continue to be himself. Sooner or later she would be back, if past girls were of any indication.

Oh, who the hell was he kidding? Ali wasn’t going to crawl back to him. That wasn’t who she was. She didn’t play those kinds of games. No. If he wanted her again, he’d have to go after her. There was no other way. Well, that wasn’t going to happen today. He was going to lock himself in his studio for the day and try his hardest to just forget about her altogether.

***

“Hey. I didn’t expect to see you home so—what’s wrong?” Hilary asked as soon as Ali walked through the front door and she saw her face.

Ali sniffled and wiped at her tears. She still couldn’t process everything that had happened. How could she possibly try to explain it to Hilary? Where should she start?

“Ali.” Hilary got off the couch and walked over to stand in front of her friend. “What happened? Did Riley hurt you?” Her eyebrows lifted in defense. “I swear to God, if that prick so much as—”

“No.” Ali shook her head. “Riley didn’t do anything to me.” That was the truth. Kind of. He didn’t
physically
hurt her, and if she hadn’t snooped at his message she’d still be with him right now. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t fully blame him for that message. She knew from very early on that he was a womanizer, a player who seemed to have a different girl in his bed every night. That was partially what made him so attractive. She needed to know why women were completely gaga over this man. Was there really a man out there who was as good as they claimed?

“Then what the hell is wrong? Why are you crying and shaking?”

“My dad,” Ali sobbed.

Hilary wrapped her arms around Ali and Ali cried on her friend’s shoulder for several minutes until she was finally calm enough to try to speak.

“C’mon, let’s sit.” Hilary guided Ali to the couch and they both sat. “Tell me what happened.”

Ali nodded and took a deep breath. “When we left here last night, Riley took me to this great little restaurant by the water. We had a really good time. Really good,” she repeated, smiling as she remembered their dinner and how flirtatious it had been. He was probably that way with every girl he took out, she suddenly realized. She pushed that thought from her mind and continued. “Things were perfect. But when we left the restaurant, I saw my dad.”

Hilary laughed. “Oh man. Running into your dad is the fastest way to kill the evening, huh?”

Ali gave a sad smile. “Yeah, especially since he was there with another woman. On a date.”

“What?” Hilary’s eyes widened as she practically shouted the word. “Are you sure?”

Nodding, Ali said, “Yeah. I’m positive. I saw him kiss her and—” she scrunched up her face, “he grabbed her ass.”

“Oh God.”

“Yeah.” Ali sighed. “He didn’t see me. I made sure of that. But I know what I saw. Hil, my dad is having an affair. He has to be. It just doesn’t add up. None of it.”

“Okay, you don’t know that.” Hilary took Ali’s hands and gave them a reassuring squeeze. “Maybe you just misread the situation.”

Ali yanked her hands from Hilary’s grip. “Misread the situation?” Ali stood and paced, tears rolling down her face. “How could I possibly misread my father grabbing a woman’s ass and sticking his tongue down her throat?”

“I don’t know.” Hilary sighed and shook her head. “So, it does sound like he’s having an affair, but before you get so upset about it, maybe you should just go talk to him. Ask him yourself. Or better yet, go straight to your mom. Don’t give your dad the chance to try to get out of this or to try to convince you to lie or something.” Hilary lifted her eyebrows, giving her friend a very encouraging look.

Ali stopped pacing and nodded. “Yeah.” She sniffled. “Yeah, you’re right. I have to talk to my mom about this. God. Telling her what I saw is going to break her heart.”

But Ali knew this was something she had to do. Her mom deserved to know the truth. Ali knew firsthand how much it hurt to learn someone you loved and trusted had betrayed you. Pat had done it. And so had Riley, in a way. Ali was fed up with it. Disgusted with the way men thought they could just use women for sex and have no concern for their feelings. Geeze, why did her life suck ass all of a sudden?

“So, what happened with Riley last night? After you saw your dad?”

Ali smiled despite herself. “Riley was great. He knew how upset I was, and he offered to take me home if I wanted. But I knew if he did I’d just sit around and stew about my dad, so I went with Riley instead.” Ali went back to the couch and sat, letting her body slump into the soft cushions. “He took me to a hotel.” She smiled. “We spent all night in bed.”

“I bet you did. I’ve heard stories about that boy.” Hilary laughed. “Well, how was it?”

Ali’s smile grew and she let herself get momentarily lost in the memory. “Wonderful. In fact, it was perfect. I felt like we made a real connection last night.”

Ali’s smile suddenly faded as dark clouds washed over her face. “But?”

“It was ruined this morning when he got a text of some naked girl he’s apparently been fucking, and I was stupid enough to go snooping on his phone when he was in the shower.” Ali covered her face with her hands and forced back a sob. Everything was so bad. Her life was spiraling out of a control. She felt foolish for being so vulnerable and ignorant. Choking on her tears, she needed to not allow herself to invest so much energy in crying over Riley Grayson. He wasn’t worth it. “And here I’d been, like an idiot, waiting around for him while he was out screwing anything with tits.”

“Oh my God.” Hilary cupped her hand over her mouth. “Ali, sweetie, I’m so sorry.”

Ali remained silent, refusing to give in to the emotions that wanted to break free and consume her. She didn’t know what it was about him, but she wanted him. Desperately. Clearly her feelings were all one-sided, though. All Riley wanted her for was a convenient booty call he could dial up whenever he couldn’t find some other willing participant.

“But in all fairness, you two aren’t a couple. You’re not dating. You haven’t made any commitments to each other.” Hilary stopped before making any more assumptions. “Have you?”

Ali shook her head.

“Then he’s free to do whatever he wants. And so are you,” Hilary said softly, her voice soothing.

As much as Ali didn’t want to admit it, Hilary was right. Ali had no control over what Riley did. He was a single guy with an arsenal of willing women at his disposal. Who was Ali to think she had something special, something that would make him change his ways, make him want to be faithful to only her? She still didn’t understand what he saw her. She was so clearly not his normal catch.

“Yeah, I know,” Ali said after several moments. “Still. It hurts.”

“I know.” Hilary put her hand on Ali’s knee and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “He was a rebound fuck, Ali. Just someone to get your mind off Pat and help you move on. That’s all, remember?”

“Well, he definitely got my mind off Pat.” Ali laughed through the lingering tears. “But now my mind is on Riley. I ran out on him this morning while he was in the shower.” She hung her head. “I didn’t even stick around to say goodbye. I was just so mad.”

“You can’t get so involved. You got what you went looking for and it would be a whole lot easier to just leave it at that, don’t you think?”

Ali just sat there in a ball squeezing her knees to her chest.

“Are you going to call him?” Hilary asked when Ali didn’t say anything.

Ali shrugged. “I kinda hope he’ll call me.”

By the look on Hilary’s face, Ali knew she hoped neither one of them would call anyone. “And if he doesn’t?”

Ali gave another shrugged response. “Then I’ll know for sure that everything he said to me last night was just in the heat of the moment, that they meant nothing.” Ali stood and quickly added, “I’m going to shower and change, and then go talk to my mom.” She didn’t want to sit here any longer and have to tell Hilary everything Riley had said last night. It was too painful to even think about, let alone share with anyone, even her best friend.

“Well, if you need anything, let me know.” Hilary hugged Ali before Ali left the room.

“Thanks, girl.”

Ali sat in her parents’ living room and looked back and forth between them. She’d really hoped to talk to her mom alone, but that wasn’t going to happen. She twisted her hands in her lap, sighing heavily. She knew this was going to be difficult, but now it was just getting awkward and making her feel like a fool for even getting herself involved in her parents’ relationship.

“Allison, sweetie, are you all right? You look very pale. Are you ill?” her mother asked with concern.

“No, I’m not ill.” Ali smiled. Her response was a half-truth. At least she wasn’t physically ill like her mother assumed, but her constant flashbacks of her dad with that woman were making her want to vomit.

“Then what’s wrong?” her dad asked. “You’re starting to worry us.”

Ali gave another heavy sigh. She couldn’t even look at him without seeing him in her mind’s eye with that other woman. She wanted to yell and scream in his face, ask him what his problem was, why he didn’t love Mom and how he could do such a thing and think he could get away with it. She wanted to pound her fists against his chest and slap his face. She wanted to do so many things to him but she couldn’t. She didn’t have it in her. All she could do was tell him to leave. “Dad, would you mind if I talked to Mom alone? This is kind of private girl stuff.” She laughed nervously.

Her father sat motionless for a moment, clearly not wanting to grant her request. He had always been an active participant in Ali’s life, overbearing in many regards. His love was often mistaken as dislike, and as a result Ali’s relationship with him was never as easy as it was with her sister. Then, after another few moments, he said, “Allison, you’re not pregnant are you?”

“What?” Her eyes widened. “No. Of course not! Jesus H. Christ, Dad!”

Her dad shrugged his shoulders and held up his hands as if saying his assumption wasn’t entirely off mark. Her mom shot her a fierce look, disgusted by her language choice. When everyone’s emotions calmed, both of her parents sighed with relief.

Ali shook her head. Of course they’d automatically assume she’d make a mistake like that. They always assumed the worst. That was real nice. Her father stood with a nod. “I’ll be in my study.” He kissed her mom on the top of the head and left the room.

Ali wanted to scream at him not to touch her, not to act like he cared when he obviously didn’t. What a phony. But she kept her mouth shut, like she did most of the time around them, and waited until he was out of earshot. “Do you think we could go out to the sun room?”

Her mom cocked her head to one side. “Honestly, Allison, what’s going on with you? You’re acting crazy.”

Who do you think I get it from?
she wanted to say. “Mom, please?”

Ali stood and went to the sliding glass door that led to a screened in room overlooking the backyard. She remembered how her parents would sit out here, side by side, holding hands while Ali and Jada played in the yard. She had so many good memories of her parents and they all seemed to flood back suddenly. Family summer barbecues, playing catch with her father while her mother sat smiling at her kids; tons of memories and none that Ali wanted to remember in light of this new information. How naïve Ali had been to think she had this perfect, loving family.