Big Apple Dreams (17 page)

“I will. I’m sorry,” I said again.

“I will see you shortly,” he said.

“All right.”

I hung up the phone and let my head fall back against the seat.

Great.
 

When we finally arrived at the correct building, Chris instructed the driver to drop me off at the back entrance. I was beginning to feel like I shouldn’t have come at all. When I got out, there was a woman waiting for me, a box in her hands.

“I’m Chris’s assistant, Eliza,” she said smoothly. “He said to have you join him in the grand hall after you put on this gift he got you.”

“Another gift?” I asked in disbelief.

She opened the box to reveal a beautiful and obviously expensive jewelry set.

“I can’t take that,” I protested.

“You can’t go in without it,” she said shortly.

“Are you serious?”

She only started at me, the box still open in her hands.

“Fine,” I grumbled, taking the necklace from her and putting it on first.

She led me through the building after I passed her inspection, slowing down as we came to a closed door.

“The party is on the other side,” she explained. “Luckily, this door is also near the restrooms
, so your story will seem plausible.”

“Is he really that upset I’m late?” I asked her.

“You’re this building’s broker’s girlfriend. When people see you, they will make assumptions about him. So, yes, your lateness will reflect on him. If I were you, I would go to the grave insisting I was in the bathroom.”

I looked at her in shock, not knowing how to respond to such a statement.

“Go!” she said, opening the door and pushing me through.

It clicked shut behind me quickly
, and I took a second to gather my surroundings. When my eyes landed on Chris, I let an easy smile fall into place and tried to gracefully walk over to him. I felt like I was in a show, trying to fool everyone into thinking I was someone else.

“Mara!” Chris said warmly when he saw me, stepping away from the older couple he’d been speaking with. “Are you feeling better?”

“Quite,” I said, the smile still in place. “I think I just needed to sit down for a few minutes.”

“Do you need to leave?” he asked, taking my hand.

“No, no,” I said, laughing. “I’m much better now, thank you.”

“You make sure you keep taking good care of her,” the older man said, taking the woman’s hand. “They don’t make them pretty like that very often!”

“Oh, I will, Mr. Young,” Chris laughed, pulling me to his side. “I love my Mara very much. Whatever she needs, I’m there.”

It took everything in me to not frown
, or push myself away. If this was a show, I definitely didn’t want to be a part of it.

Unfortunately, the rest of the evening went the same way. Chris kept telling everyone how much he loved me—something he’d never actually said to me—and that he was so lucky to have me. By the end of the night, I’d just about had enough. As we were visiting with the potential buyers, the wife asked me what I did for a living.

“She’s an area manager for a department store chain,” Chris said smoothly.

I looked at him, unable to even express the disgust I was feeling at that moment.

“Chris,
dear,
” I said shortly. “I’m not feeling very well. I think I’ll go out and get some air.”

He looked at me in surprise, quickly masking his irritation as he nodded.

“Of course. I will join you shortly.”

“Excuse me,” I said to the couple before stepping past them and heading for the back door I’d been let in through.

By the time I made it outside, I was all but shaking with anger. I couldn’t believe that Chris had basically changed who I was in order to appear in a better light with his clients.

“What the hell was that?” he asked, bursting through the door and coming down the steps to me.

“I could ask you the same thing,” I fumed.

“I was working and making a good impression. You were dorking around and doing whatever you felt like!”

“Whatever!” My blood was starting to boil as I looked at him. “I did a fine job of playing your perfect little trophy girl.”

“You were late!” he yelled. “And you kept giving me that stupid look whenever I would talk to people about you. Don’t think I didn’t notice it!”

“I’m sorry!” I yelled back. “But you’ve never once told me you love me. I don’t think you should lie about your feelings for a job!”

“Oh, you do it all the time,” he scoffed. “Running around on stage, kissing other guys for your pretend job as an actress.”

“Okay, so now I can be an actress?” I demanded, folding my arms and stepping towards him.

“Don’t even complain about that,” he warned, stepping to the side and walking behind me as he loosened his tie.

“What is so bad about being an actress?”

“It’s not a real job! You’d be homeless and starving to death if it weren’t for your real job as a waitress. I’m not about to tell the premier citizens of the city that my girlfriend is a waitress! Thought it might explain why you were late!”

“I had a once in a lifetime audition opportunity,” I screamed. “I couldn’t pass it up!”

“I can’t do this anymore,” he said gruffly. “I’m tired of you continually picking that stupid dream over me.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked in disbelief.

“You can’t come over because you have class. You can’t go on a date because you have an audition. You’re late to the biggest night of my life because you couldn’t pass up one stupid audition! You make me look bad because you’re upset I don’t want to share your failing pursuit with my customers!”

His voice rose with each example while he stepped towards me, stopping when he was right up in my face.

“I’m done,” he continued. “You have to choose. Me or acting.”

I looked at him, still in shock, the air around us sparking with the anger coming from the both of us.

“Me,” I snarled, leaning towards him until he backed up. “I choose me! I choose the dream that I came here to pursue! I choose the classes and the auditions!”

He looked at me for a moment, uncontrolled fury on his face. Hostile silence grew between us as I waited for his response.

“You are so stupid, Mara,” he said calmly, fixing his tie as I stood there, shaking in anger. “You think you can still be an actress? Look at all of your failed auditions. No one wants you. You could have had everything you ever wanted. I would have gladly given it to you. But now all you’re going to have is a job as a waitress and a dream that will never come true.”

He walked past me, heading back inside without even looking my way.

“We’re done,” he said as he went through the door, slamming it behind him.

I stood there, looking at the ground for a moment longer before I ripped the necklace from my throat, screaming. I threw it to the ground, picking up my skirt, and kicking the trinket into the gutter next to me. The earrings came next, followed by the bracelet.

Angry tears fell onto my face as I ran down the side street and into the subway station on the corner. I did my best to keep it under control as I rode back to my apartment, ignoring the looks everyone was giving me. My silent battle over what he’d said to me waged in my mind.

I wish I would have punched him right in the face, and then kicked him while he was on the ground,
I thought bitterly.
How did I stay with that jerk for so long?

My stop came up and I got off calmly, holding myself together until I finally opened my front door and went inside.

I turned around and leaned on it, my forehead welcoming the coolness of the wood. Unable to hold it in any more, I started crying again. There were angry tears over how I’d been treated, but hurt tears mixed in as well.

What if he’s right? What if I literally just lost everything I had going for me?

“Mara?”

I turned around in shock, not knowing anyone was in the apartment with me.
My heart practically stopped beating when I saw who it was.

“Evan?”

Chapter Twenty

“What are you doing here?” I sputtered, wiping my eyes hastily.

“I came to see Lizzy,” he said haltingly. He looked as if he might take a step forward but then decided against it. “Are you okay?”

“Like you care,” I said, hurt layered on thick in my tone.

“What are you talking about?” he asked in surprise.

“Just leave me alone,” I said bitterly, picking up my skirt and heading for the bathroom.

“Mara, no,” he said, moving to block my path. “What’s going on? What happened that’s upset you so much?”

“Chris and I had a fight,” I said shortly.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

“No,” cried harshly. “No, I don’t. If you can’t care enough to tell me you were leaving yourself, or to tell me goodbye, or to even talk to me at all, then you don’t get to know about this!”

I shoved past him and went into the bathroom, locking the door behind me before
he could get in.

“Mara, don’t do that,” he sighed.

“Why are you even here?” I asked again. “You talk to Lizzy all the time. You know she’s at work, and then going out for the night.”

“I didn’t know that,” he said, an angry edge to his voice. “I have the week off and wanted to come see my sister. And you.”

I looked at myself in the mirror, my mascara running under my eyes a little and my hair having lost its bounce. And in that moment, I didn’t care one bit. I didn’t care that the man I loved and lost was standing on the other side of the door. I didn’t care that I’d just been screamed at by a man who spent the evening telling everyone within hearing distance that he loved me. I didn’t care that I’d had the best audition of my life hours before. I only cared that I was angry and needed some way to let it out.

I flung the door open and pushed a very surprised Evan back with my hand, bearing down on him like a bull seeing red.

“You came here to see
me
? You couldn’t care less about me! You’ve avoided me, ignored me, left me, hurt me—” I kept going on and on, unable to hold back all of the emotions that he’d put me through.

And he just stood there taking it, a sad look in his eyes. All I could think about was how angry I was that he still looked as good as ever in his
all black clothing. I should have been kissing him and telling him how much I loved him, instead of having to put up with his lies.

“And to top it all off, you made me want to leave Chris,” I said, my fury growing stronger. “Chris, who never did anything to me until tonight.”

“What?” he asked in shock, practically falling over at my last statement.

“It’s true,” I said softly, my anger suddenly deflating as it was replaced by the horrible realization of what I’d just said.

“I made you . . . not want to be with him?” he asked hesitantly.

“Yes,” I said, deciding to just go with it and let everything out finally.

“You wanted me?” he asked again.

“Yes,” I said exasperated. “I wanted someone who wasn’t my boyfriend. There, does that clear it up enough for you?”

He looked at me for a minute, his mouth opening and closing as he searched for what he wanted to say.

“I
’m . . . sorry,” he finally said.

“Oh.” My heart felt like it had been punched. I
’d half expected him to return the feelings.

I guess I was wrong.

“Not for all that,” he said, hesitant again. “But for what I’m about to do.”

He stepped toward me quickly, grabbing my waist and pulling me against his body
. I could feel the rapid beating of his heart as he placed my hands on his chest and leaned in, lips hovering just over mine.

“Forgive me,” he said softly.

His mouth crushed against mine as he released my hands and wrapped an arm around my waist. His other hand brushed over the neckline of my dress and onto my shoulder before entangling into my hair.

I didn’t exactly know what was happening, only that I didn’t want it to ever stop. My heart sang to be touched by him, to feel his breath mixing with my own.

I fisted my hands in his shirt, pulling him closer to me, if that was even possible. I wanted to know every part of him, to kiss his lips, and call him mine forever.

His hand left my hair and reached down, picking me up and cradling me in his embrace as he carried me across the room. He stopped at the end of my bed, which had been left down in the day’s excitement.

He set me down, his lips breaking away from mine as he looked into my eyes, a desperation in his own.

I stood on my tiptoes and wrapped my arms around his neck, bringing our lips together softly. His hands slid up from my waist, finding the zipper of my dress and slowly pulling it down.

“Mara,” he said, pulling away some.

“It’s okay, I promise,” I said, hating the uncertainty I saw on his face. “We can stop if you want to.”

His hand brushed against my face, and I leaned into it, turning to kiss his fingers. They trembled slightly, from what I didn’t know. I just wanted him to know that everything was okay.

I knew when he decided what to do because his other hand slipped inside the
back of my dress, fingers brushing over my skin. He kissed me, again, with renewed strength, pushing me back until I was sitting on the bed.

He released me for a second then, pulling his own shirt over his head and throwing it onto the floor.

I had never seen anything so perfect. It wasn’t just that he was fit and about to do something with me I’d never done before. It was seeing him this way and knowing that I loved him so much. I felt like I might explode from the joy of finally finding out he felt the same way about me.

He put his hand on my shoulder
, and I leaned back, scooting up further onto the bed until I’d left my dress to fall to the floor. I felt another thrill of excitement as he climbed on top of me, resting his body against the length of my own.

As his lips met mine once more, I laughed on the inside. How quickly I’d gone from being so hurt and angry to perfectly happy and content.

All I ever needed was here in Evan. I loved him, and now we were together. And in that moment, I never wanted to leave his side.