The Price of Love (A Price Novel Book 1) (9 page)

“Why is that?”

“I don’t know. I guess because she makes it complicated.”

“Only you can change that,” Slayde said, giving me a quick peck on the lips. “Well, you or me. I have no problem explaining things to her. In fact, maybe that’s the best idea. And when she throws her little fit, like we both know she will, you can stay with me!” He smiled. “What do you really think she’s going to do? It’s not like she can stop us from being together. Can she?”

“I wish it were that simple. Maybe you can just write her one of your little notes.” I giggled.

“You didn’t answer my question.” He let go of my hand and folded his arms against his chest.

“No, I guess she can’t, but I would prefer to not have her angry with me for the rest of my life.”

“I think you should just go in there and say, ‘Hey, did you sleep with Brady when we were dating?’ And after she tells you how sorry she is, blah blah blah, you can say, ‘Well, I’m going to date Slayde, so I guess you won’t mind.’ And then it’s over. She knows. What can she say to that?” he asked.

That wasn’t a bad idea. “I guess there wouldn’t be much she could say.”

After we grabbed some supper, I decided to go back to Kenedy’s so I would be there when she got back. We were nearing the apartment building when we saw her, standing in front of their building, having what appeared to be a serious conversation with a girl with dark hair. As we drew closer, and I recognized who she was talking to, I felt a pit in my stomach — it was Kinley. At that same moment, Kinley made eye contact with me, and she nodded in our direction.

Kenedy whirled around and glared at us. Her face was blood red, her lips were pursed in a firm line, and her brow was furrowed. She was furious. Slayde also apparently recognized the look on her face, because he immediately stepped between us. “Don’t start this here, Kenedy. I mean it. You’re going to embarrass yourself,” Slayde said, quietly so that no one else would hear. He grabbed her arm as she tried to get around him.

“Let me go, Slayde. You can’t protect her forever,” she screamed. I hated seeing her so upset. I felt really selfish. I wished I had told her myself instead of letting her find out like this. Maybe it wouldn’t have been as bad.

“Yes, I can, and I will. If you want to go talk about this, that’s fine, but you aren’t going to attack her. And we aren’t going to do this here.”

“Fine,” she huffed. And we followed her to her apartment. My stomach was in knots. I wasn’t looking forward to this, but at least it would finally be out in the open.

I didn’t even have the door shut before she started yelling at me. “How could you do this to me? You’re my sister. Sisters don’t go behind your back and sleep with your ex-boyfriend. I can’t believe you would do that. I have more respect for you than that.” She was a lot taller than me, and she was standing over me, two inches from my face, screaming at the top of her lungs. I had a strong urge to hunker down and cover my head. It wasn’t beneath her to throw a punch. I’d seen it.

Before I could defend myself, Slayde got between us again and said to her, just as rudely as she was speaking to me but not as loudly, “Oh, really? You have more respect for her? Is that why I caught you screwing her boyfriend? Who the hell are you to talk about how sisters should treat each other? She’s been making herself sick over your feelings this whole time, and for the life of me, I don’t know why, because you don’t care about anyone’s feelings but your own.”

As much of a selfish bitch as she was to me, I still felt bad. I did love her. I did care about her feelings. She was my little sister. I said, “Kenedy, I never meant to hurt you. Whether you’ve hurt me in the past or not. I still don’t want to see you hurt, but I can’t help how I feel about Slayde. I can’t turn it off. I’ve tried.” Tears spilled out of my eyes, and I wished like hell Slayde weren’t hearing this. “Please understand. I don’t want to lose you, and I don’t want to choose. Please don’t make me choose.”

After what seemed like a million years, she finally said, “I can’t look at you right now. I think you should stay at Slayde’s,” and she walked out of the apartment.

I packed my stuff while Slayde waited in the living room. As soon as I walked out of her room, he grabbed my shoulder and looked me in the eyes. “It’s gonna be OK. She’s your sister. She won’t stay mad at you forever. As much as I dislike her, I know she has some good in her. She loves you, and she knows you’re right.” He kissed my forehead and grabbed my stuff.

I was numb. I didn’t know what to think. She didn’t say she was OK with it, but I guess it didn’t matter if she was or not. She didn’t even apologize for the Brady thing. That was kind of crappy, but maybe after she calmed down she would.

The next afternoon, when I was reading through one of my books for next semester, Slayde came in from his photo shoot extremely excited. “I’ve got a great idea,” he shouted. Sometimes Slayde reminded me of a five-year-old boy with a new puppy. He was always overly happy and excited. He was adorable on top of being gorgeous. It was a deadly combination, as far as I was concerned.

“OK, what is it?” I asked as he plopped down next to me on the bed.

“Let’s go to Amsterdam.”

“What? Where did that come from?” I asked.

“I think you should see more than just Paris while you’re over here. It only takes a few hours by train. We used to do it a lot when I first got here. We can just go for two nights. It’s stuff you can’t see in LA, that’s for sure. There’s the Van Gogh Museum, the Red Light District, and the Anne Frank House. It will be so much fun. What do you say?”

“I say OK!”

Slayde got online and reserved us a hotel room, and we packed our stuff and left that afternoon. I was super excited about going with him.

It was almost dark when we got to Amsterdam. We dropped our bags with the concierge and headed out into the city. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised.

We stopped to eat at a quaint restaurant that served deli sandwiches. When we got our food, I noticed a cigarette on the corner of each of our plates. “Why did they put these on here?” I held it up to show him. “I hate cigarettes.”

“It’s not a cigarette. It’s a joint, see?” he explained.

“What?” I must have had a horrified expression on my face because he started laughing.

“It’s legal here. It’s not a big deal.”

“But it looks like a regular cigarette. It’s not all rolled up crappy like the ones back home.”

“Because it’s legal. They have machines that roll them just like cigarettes.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.” He was laughing again. “You don’t have to smoke it. You can throw it away.”

“Are you gonna smoke it?”

“Well, I was, but now you’re making me feel bad.”

“I don’t want you to feel bad,” I said.

“Look, I’m not trying to be a bad influence on you or anything. It’s no big deal. I won’t smoke it if you don’t want me to.”

“I don’t care if you do, but I’m kind of scared to. I don’t think I’ll like it.”

“You won’t know until you try it.” He lit it and handed it to me. I couldn’t believe I was going to do this.

It burned my throat a little, but I didn’t cough like you always see people do on TV when they smoke for the first time. After a few minutes, I did feel funny. Kind of like I was drunk but really happy. He was right. It wasn’t so bad.

We left the restaurant and decided to head back to the hotel. We got a little off track and ended up in a seedy part of the city. “Look what else is legal.” He gave me a guilty little grin.

“Oh, hell! Please don’t tell me you want to get a prostitute just because you can.”

He thought that was hysterical. “
No!
But the look on your face was priceless.” After he had laughed for a minute, he stopped and asked, “Do you really think I would have sex with a hooker?” He looked a little offended.

“You had sex with my sister.” I put my hand over my mouth as soon as I said that, and we both almost died laughing.

“You do have a point, but believe me, I was very careful.” He winked at me. “You are always going to think badly of me for that, aren’t you?”

“No, but is she the only person you’ve slept with?” I must have been high. I would never have been comfortable discussing this with him if not.

He hesitated and then shook his head. “No.” I thought I had embarrassed him. He wasn’t looking at me when he answered, and his cheeks looked a bit flushed.

“Are you serious?”

“Well, you asked. Don’t ever ask me something you don’t want to hear the truth about, and I’ve obviously had sex with you, remember?” He was laughing again.

“That doesn’t count,” I scoffed.

“What do you mean it doesn’t count?” He stopped laughing and looked at me like I had insulted him.

“I just meant because we don’t remember, it doesn’t count.” I looked away, embarrassed.

He laughed. “Oh, it counts, baby, and I think we should do it again, so we do remember. Since we already have to count it.” I didn’t say anything. I was pondering the logic behind that when he interrupted me. “You never had sex with Brady? Really?”

“No, I never had sex with Brady.”

“No wonder he slept with everyone else,” he said and blocked my punch. We were both laughing at this point. “I’m just kidding. I really didn’t mean that.” Normally that would have pissed me off but not tonight.

“You’re saying I deserved it? Is that what you are saying?” I was trying to act pissed, but I kept giggling.

“No. I’m just playing. I really figured you had, though. I mean, you dated for a long time.”

“I just never wanted to.”

“What? You never wanted to? Or you were too scared to?”

“Ummm, both. I never loved Brady. I was just used to him, I guess. When he first asked me out, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to, but he was persistent, and eventually I gave in. I never really had any chemistry with him.”

He stopped and kissed me right there in the street. Then he looked down at me with his hand still on my cheek and smiled confidently. “Like you do with me?” My heart was pounding, and I was trying to catch my breath. He was exactly right. I couldn’t say anything. I just smiled.

When we finally made it to our room, I noticed there were two queen beds
. He didn’t have to do that.
It’s not like I would have made him sleep on the floor, but he probably wasn’t so sure about that. This was probably for the best. I remembered what happened the last time we shared a bed.

I was lying in my bed when he came out of the bathroom and lay beside me. “Can I at least lie with you until I’m ready to go to sleep?”

I really wanted to snuggle with him but was afraid I wouldn’t have the willpower to stop at snuggling. But I didn’t want to tell him no. “I guess so, but don’t start thinking that you’re back in the Red Light District. There’s not enough pot in Amsterdam to get me to have sex with you.”

He knew I was picking on him. “OK, I guess I will plan our next trip to somewhere like Colombia or Cuba. You obviously have to be on some serious drugs to sleep with me.” I hit him with my pillow, and we laughed.

Before he left my bed, he leaned over and kissed me and looked me in the eyes. “All joking aside, I really am glad you came with me. I love being with you.” He kissed my forehead and climbed into his own bed. I was tempted to tell him to stay in mine, but I chickened out.

It took me a few minutes to fall asleep. I couldn’t quit thinking about all the fun we’d had that day and all of the sweet things he’d said to me. It made my stomach do flips just replaying it all over in my head.

When I woke up the next morning, he was still sleeping, and he looked so peaceful. I couldn’t imagine waking up next to that every morning. Whoever ended up with him was going to be so lucky. He wasn’t just unbelievably beautiful, but he was also a good person. He really was. My grandmother would have said that he was just as beautiful on the inside, and she would have been right.

I was glad I had gotten to know him. He was different than I had previously thought. I always knew he was a nice guy, and I’d never heard anything bad about him. I already knew he was smart and funny, but I didn’t know how humble and kind he was. These qualities were very strong in him. He had good character and integrity. He wasn’t boastful or proud, and he had plenty of reasons to be. He was very down-to-earth. I was falling for him hard, and I knew it.

When he got up, we decided to go sightseeing. We visited the Van Gogh Museum and took a canal tour around the city through the locks and the tunnel under the city. It was amazing, and I was extremely glad that I had come. We were exhausted when we got back to the hotel, but later that evening, Slayde insisted we should go back out to see the Red Light District. “You have to do it. You can’t come to Amsterdam without going out at night. We’ll grab a bite to eat and then go. How does that sound?”

I had seen only a glimpse of the Red Light District the night before. Once we were really there, it was unreal. The women in the windows were naked for the most part. They didn’t care if a man was alone or with a woman — they tried to get him inside. The drunken men in the streets weren’t much better. You couldn’t walk down the road without someone shouting at you or trying to grope you. It was crazy.

After we got back to the room safely, I was glad that I had gone. It was something I would never see in LA, that was for sure. “You used to go there a lot?” I asked.

“Not a lot, but a few times.”

“With who?” I asked. Not that it was any of my business, but I was curious.

“Just a bunch of guys from my building.”

“And you’re sure you never slept with a prostitute?”

He looked at me like I had three heads or something. “Are you kidding me right now?”

“Well, I was just checking.” I smiled.

“Do you really think I have to pay someone to have sex with me? Do I appear that desperate? Because I can assure you, I’m not.” I didn’t know what he meant by that, but I could tell I had really offended him. He was almost raising his voice, and he sounded pretty annoyed. I hadn’t meant to offend him. I really just wanted some reassurance that he wasn’t that kind of guy. He had seemed very comfortable there.