The Price of Love (A Price Novel Book 1) (21 page)

“Not so hard,” she said. “It feels good to be home.”

“Where are your parents?” I asked. “I know they didn’t just drop you off.”

“I couldn’t get so lucky.” She laughed. “They are parking the car and bringing my stuff up.”

“What stuff? You were at the hospital, not on vacation.”

“I know, but I acquired stuff while I was there, you know.” She held her arms out. “I haven’t seen you in a few days. What have I missed? Is Slayde still here?”

“No, he left two days ago, and I’ve been studying for a huge test we have on Friday ever since.”

“So, I guess you lost your study buddy, huh?” she said and laughed wildly. I didn’t find it that funny. I was sad that Eric and I would not be friends anymore, but I was also angry that he’d put me in this position in the first place.

“Ugh, what did you hear?”

“I heard Eric was being a punk, and Slayde kicked his ass.”

“I wouldn’t say he kicked his ass, but they did get in a fight. It was awful.”

“Well, Josh and Karen said Slayde kicked his ass. Now why did I have to hear that from Josh and Karen and not from you?” she asked.

“Sorry, it wasn’t the highlight of my weekend. That’s for sure. I wish it hadn’t happened, but I guess we can’t undo it. I saw Eric in class yesterday; he does have a black eye. He didn’t even acknowledge my presence in the room.” As angry as I was that Eric had acted that way, for some silly reason I had started feeling kind of hurt that he had ignored me. Not that I wanted to speak to him — but I didn’t start this. So the fact that he felt the need to be rude to me was ridiculous.

Milly thought that was too funny. “You can’t say he didn’t deserve it. He walks around like he runs this dorm. He acts like you’re his property, and it’s about time someone put his ass in his place. Slayde is awesome. I love it.”

“What do you mean? He doesn’t act like he owns me.”

“Yes, he does, honey. Why do you think you rarely get asked out? It’s not because there aren’t tons of guys interested. It’s because they are scared of Eric. And don’t even get me started on the whole Blake thing.” Milly had it in her head that Blake had only quit calling because of Eric last semester, but I wasn’t going to argue with her. Arguing with Milly was pointless. You’d never win.

“That’s just crazy. Nobody is scared of Eric, and no one asked me out because I’m boring,” I said.

“That’s right, you’re boring. You may be delusional, Arden, but you aren’t boring. Now let’s order some pizza. I’m so sick of hospital food I could puke.”

Her parents walked in with her stuff. Her mom had a bag with Milly’s clothes on one arm and a bag from the hospital with medicine and toiletries in it on the other. Her father was struggling to carry four potted plants. I grabbed one to help him out. “Milly, you need to eat something healthy. No pizza,” her mom said. Milly rolled her eyes.

“Hey, Mrs. Adams,” I said. She came and kissed me on the top of my head.

“Now, where is that handsome new boyfriend of yours? Dr. Adams and I need to check him out,” she said.

“He’s already gone back to New York,” I said.

“Well, that’s a shame. I would have liked to have met him properly,” she said.

After her parents left, Milly and I pigged out on pizza and ice cream. We stayed up late talking, and she made me retell every detail about everything that happened between Slayde and me, from the very first day in Paris to the present. She tried to blame her minor head injury for making her forget everything, but I knew she just wanted to hear it all again.

“I’m good, aren’t I? I told you that he was exactly what you needed,” she laughed.

“What are you talking about?” I was confused.

“I’m talking about the day you were crying. I showed you that Calvin Klein ad and told you that he was what you needed to get the stick out of your ass.” I guess she could tell I was still confused. She grabbed the magazine and flipped through it until she found the ad. “See!” she said, turning the magazine around so I could see. I almost passed out. The new Calvin Klein model was Slayde.

I
t’s one thing to have a gorgeous, talented boyfriend, but it’s a completely different thing to have him in his underwear on billboards all over the country. Now that I knew Slayde was the new Calvin Klein model, I saw him everywhere. In magazines, on billboards — it was just ridiculous.

Milly and I had gone to the store to stock up on toiletries and junk food when we noticed three girls in front of us looking through the magazines in the checkout line, and Milly elbowed me and nodded at them. They were looking at that damn ad. Or I should say they were staring at my boyfriend in his underwear and making a scene.
Really?

I looked at Milly and rolled my eyes. She smiled and whispered, “At least they have good taste.”

That didn’t make me feel much better, but it wasn’t like I could do anything about it. So, like all things I found unpleasant, I chose to ignore it.

We hadn’t even gotten all of our food put away in the dorm when my phone rang. It was Slayde. He sounded really down. “Well, guess who’s playing Jake Brandon?” I immediately felt terrible for him. I’d never even thought about the fact that the part might go to someone else.

“Uh, who?” I asked quietly, walking into the bathroom for privacy.

“Me!” he shouted so loudly that it scared me, and I almost dropped my phone into the toilet. He was laughing. “Ha, I got you, didn’t I? You thought I didn’t get it.” He sounded so excited, and I was happy for him, but I was still recovering from him yelling in my ear.

“You definitely got me. That’s great, babe. I’m so happy for you. So, what does this mean exactly?”

“I don’t know all the details yet, but at least I’ll be in LA. I will work a lot, but I can see you all the time.”

I smiled. That did make me happy. I would just have to deal with his kissing other women later.

*****

Once they started filming, Slayde was extremely busy and worked long days. But he kept his word. He spent every free second he had with me. If he had to work on the weekends, I would go to the set with him and study in his bus while he worked. He had bought a huge bus to rest in while he was working. He said the little trailer the studio provided made him claustrophobic. Whatever. I didn’t think he needed it, but it came in handy when I was there.

At school, I was getting ready for finals and felt so ready for Christmas break. Slayde would be finished filming then and have a few weeks off. He and I were going with his family to Breckenridge to snow ski for the holidays.

My mother hadn’t even stopped what she was doing to argue when I called and told her I was going to Colorado with Slayde and would not be going to my grandmother’s for Christmas like I had my whole life. I had prepared myself for that and told myself I wasn’t going to let it bother me that she was such a crappy mother. I just accepted that that was who she was, and nothing I could do would ever change that. I would have rather spent my holidays with Slayde and his family, anyway.

I was going to get to see my little sister Isabelle after Christmas. It had been almost nine months since I had seen her, and I missed her dearly. Isabelle was the only one of my three sisters that was anything like me. She was also short and thin, with the same green eyes and blond hair as me, but she usually kept hers in a cute little bob. You would definitely look at us and know we were sisters. She and I were going to New York with Slayde before we had to go back for spring semester. I just had to get through the next three weeks and take my finals before I was a free woman for four whole weeks.

*****

I was on my own for my birthday because Slayde was out of town. He had had to fly to Curaçao to film a scene for the movie. But I had never been a big fan of my birthday, anyway. I had never had a reason to be. My mom worked so much when I was a kid that I was lucky if she even remembered, so it was just another day to me. I knew Milly wouldn’t let me get away without some type of acknowledgment, though.

I woke up to find Milly already gone. I thought,
That’s strange —
we usually went to class together, and I had thought we could have a birthday coffee beforehand.
Maybe Milly forgot what day it is.
Shrugging, I went into the bathroom to get ready for class.

When I got out of the shower and sat down to put on my makeup, I noticed a card on my dresser. I knew it hadn’t been there the night before.

Slayde wouldn’t be back for a few more days. I did wish he were there with me, but that was because I always wished that. Today wasn’t different just because it was my birthday. Opening the drawer, I found a blue box from Tiffany. Inside was a beautiful bracelet with an
A
engraved on one side of a charm and
ZSP & EAS forever
on the other.

My eyes filled with tears. I was the luckiest girl in the world. Even though he wasn’t there with me on my birthday, he loved me enough to make sure I knew how he felt first thing that morning.
This is going to be a great day.
I put on my bracelet, finished getting dressed, and hurried to class.

Milly, Karen, and Josh were all waiting for me in our normal little section of the classroom. They all stopped talking, smiled, and watched me walk over to them, which meant they had been talking about me. Milly was smiling the most widely. She must have put the card and bracelet in our room for Slayde. “Happy birthday!” they all said together. I couldn’t help but smile.

We still had a few minutes before class; Milly and Karen were admiring my bracelet when Eric sat next to us. I hadn’t spoken to him since the incident in my dorm room.

He must have started listening to Milly and Karen talk about my bracelet, because he laughed under his breath, which pissed me off.

“What are you laughing at, Eric?” I knew I should have ignored him, but I wasn’t in the mood to let him get away with his arrogance today.

“Nothing, but at least when he breaks your heart, you can probably get a pretty penny for that on eBay. There’re thousands of girls that would love to have him — I mean, have that bracelet from him.” The professor walked in at that moment, so I couldn’t respond. Milly gave Eric an ugly look, and I was fuming. Slayde was right. Eric was a disrespectful ass. From then on, I would stay away from him.

After class, Slayde called and wished me happy birthday, but he was only able to talk for a second. I really didn’t want to get off the phone with him; I was still really upset by what Eric had said. I shouldn’t have let him get to me like that, but I did.

I was sitting at my desk studying when Milly came in from class. She went into the bathroom and turned the shower on. “Come on. Get up. You can study later.” She opened our closet and started pulling out dresses and throwing them on her bed.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Hello, it’s your birthday. I always take you out for dinner on your birthday. It’s tradition.”

“Since when did that tradition include me taking another shower and putting on a dress?”

“Just get up and start getting ready. We’re going to be late.”

“Late for what, Milly?”

“I’m taking you somewhere nice. So I had to make reservations. So get moving.”

I really wanted to stay home and watch movies and eat junk food, but since she had made reservations, I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. So I went along with it.

As we were driving, I asked, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see!”

“I hate surprises. Just tell me, Milly.”

She shot me her “Drop it, OK?” look, and I knew it was a waste of energy to try and make her talk. When we got to the restaurant, I was shocked. It was the restaurant Slayde had taken me to when we first started dating. I didn’t remember telling her that — what a coincidence!

We pulled up so the valet could park her car, and I grabbed her arm. “What are we doing here? This is expensive.” She didn’t answer me; she just rolled her eyes and got out of the car and gave her keys to the valet. I followed.

Milly gave our information to the maître d’ and she took us to a room in the back. When she opened the door, I saw all of my friends inside. “Surprise!” they screamed. I felt tears well up in my eyes. Grabbing my hand, Milly turned me around and said, “Happy birthday!” Slayde was standing behind me — and I really did start to cry. He kissed me and squeezed me.

“I thought you were on some island or something.” I whispered.

“I was, but I couldn’t miss your birthday.”

I couldn’t believe he had flown all the way home for me. I couldn’t quit smiling. “I love you!”

“I love you more.” He kissed me.

I thought,
This is the best birthday ever.
I wouldn’t have traded places with anyone in the world. I loved my life.

Slayde and I went straight to his hotel after supper. He wasn’t going to be able to stay long — he’d have to fly out at the crack of dawn. Coming home unexpectedly in the middle of filming had probably cost him a fortune, but of course he acted like it was no big deal.

When we got to our room, flowers and candles were spread everywhere. “How do you always do this?” I asked him.

“Do what?”

“Make everything so special?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He smiled and threw me onto the bed.

*****

The next Thursday, I was expecting Slayde, who was flying back from Curaçao. He only had a three-day break before he had to go back. I had to study that night, so he was planning to just stay in our dorm. We would go to a hotel the next day, after my classes, so we could have some alone time.

As usual, we were having a study group in our room. Eric and I hadn’t spoken since my birthday, but I found out Josh had invited him over to study with us. The thought of Eric and Slayde in the same room gave me a nervous stomachache.

“I really don’t know if having Eric over here is such a great idea,” I said to Milly.