Reed's Reckoning (33 page)

“No! You told me things that night meant for me only. You weren’t mourning her at all.”

“Yes, Alex I was. I don’t remember anything except feeling the burn of whiskey and thinking of how to find her the next day.”

“You’re lying! You told me the woman that would own your heart would be beautiful, smart, and share your dreams. She needed to understand your job and be able to handle the demands. You wanted a family as soon as possible. I’ve done all that, Reed; I’ve even made it so we can have a baby as soon as you’re ready!”

“That wasn’t you! It was Ari. She had everything I wanted.”

“No! You kissed me and then I held you while you slept. I promised you I would become that woman.”

“You mean I passed out.” I reach in my wallet and throw some money on the table to cover the cost of the coffee we ordered. “I’m done here, Alex. You’ve obviously held onto a delusional dream for years. I’ve never had feelings for you and you caused extensive damage in your quest to land something that was never yours to begin with. I want you to stay away from my family and me. Stop your vendetta against Ari. Quit following me. Don’t come near anyone I love again.”

“You don’t mean that. You can’t. You walk away from me you’ll regret it. I’ll ruin your reputation. Surely she can’t be worth all you’ve worked for.”

“If you think that then you really do need professional help. Stay away from us.” I try to reel my anger in as I stand up and start to walk away. My phone chimes with a text and Trey’s name flashes across the screen.

T— Something’s up. Photographer setting up on corner facing door.

“How can you do this to me Reed Matthews after all this time?” she yells after me and I turn to see her crying openly with people staring at us. A few people grab their phones and start taking pictures. “All these years I’ve been here for you and now you just walk away? What about the baby we could be having?” Murmurs fill the small diner and people look at me disgusted.

I keep walking trying to control my temper. The photographer across the street, starts snapping pictures. It hits me, she set me up. I pull out my phone and text Luke and Trey telling them to meet at my house in twenty. Then I drive by the McDonalds to make sure Ari and Davis are still there. I relax a bit when I see her SUV in the parking lot, but wonder if I need to start thinking about protection.

The guys are on my back porch waiting for me. I give them the rundown of my meeting and try my best to figure out what the hell to do. I plan on telling Ari everything but really want to calm down first. We’re discussing Alex’s delusional mentality when Sophie runs around the corner frantically.

“Where’s Ari?” she asks breathlessly, panic written on her face.

“Not home yet, why?”

“This is not good. Shit, shit, shit. Reed, you need to sit down. I need to show you something. I’m not sure what is happening but it’s not good.”

“Can you just spit it out, Soph, you’re killing me. I’ve had a shitty morning.”

“That may explain this. Don’t think I’m crazy, but when you and Ari got back together, I started following your social presence. And today you blew up.”

“I don’t have a social presence unless you count what the team or endorsements put out there.”

“Yes, you do, and today they went balls to the wall crazy. Someone got a hold of Davis’s original birth certificate and posted it. Then there are pictures with you and Alex at breakfast. Most of them are you walking away and her crying. The captions are not good.” She shows me some of the pictures on her phone.

“I guess that explains my last thirty minutes in hell.” Ari says tearfully from behind us.

I spin around and anger builds in my chest. Her eyes and cheeks are puffy. She’s trembling in the doorway. Davis is running around behind her acting normal.

“Angel, what’s wrong?” I go to her and pull her to me. She wails against my chest. Sophie comes up and hugs her from the other side. To my surprise, Luke does the same. She’s shaking so hard, I’m sure he can feel it through Sophie’s small body.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Trey grab beer and water out of the fridge. We stand there for a few minutes until Ari calms down a bit and pushes back. We give her room for some air and she wipes her face several times before speaking.

“The party was going great until the end. The parents were all hanging out, discussing our summer, then it got very quiet. I went to get a drink and when I came back, no one would stand next to me and the looks started. Some of the mom’s I don’t know well, started whispering so I called Davis to go. I had a gut feeling it was about us. When I was putting his shoes on Travis came over and said he didn’t believe a word and to hold my head high. I still had no idea what he was talking about until another mother made the comment ‘It’s women like me that give all women a bad name’. She went on to say intentionally trapping a man with a child, especially when he is already involved with someone is a low blow.

“I got out of there as fast as I could. Davis questioned me the whole way home why we didn’t say goodbye.”

I sit her down in my lap and rub her back soothingly.

“Reed, I take it this morning didn’t go well?”

“No, babe, it didn’t. I’m not really sure how to explain it. It was more than stalker tendencies. She was obsessed with me.” Even though I don’t think it’s the right time, I tell her the whole story.

Sophie’s phone buzzes constantly with news feeds. I finally give her a look and she turns it off.

“You know, Reed, never in a million years, did I expect to be made out as ‘the other woman’. I knew people would make assumptions about us, but I didn’t think I would have to defend myself against someone you don’t even like.”

“Ari, you never have to defend yourself. You don’t say anything and I’ll take care of this.” As if on cue, my cell rings and I see my agent calling.

“Connor, now’s really not a good time.” I don’t even greet him.

“I suspect not considering your local popularity just plummeted in the matter of a few minutes. I’m not sure of all the details, but it sounds like you scorned your longtime girlfriend.”

“That’s bullshit. You know I never had a longtime girlfriend. Until Ari there hasn’t been anyone.”

“What the hell is this then?”

I sigh and excuse myself to walk away and tell him the story; Connor listens without interruption. When I’m done, he is silent for a minute making me nervous.

“Okay, Reed, my professional advice is to make a statement. I’ll have someone call you later and you can say something brief and vague dispelling the rumors and asking for privacy regarding your family. For my personal advice, get your family and get back home. Get a state of the art alarm system in your house and make sure you’re protected. Remember the incident with the player in Tennessee a few years ago? That was nasty and he was seeing that woman. Remember Selena? The president of her fan club claimed to love her and shot her in the back. Obsession does strange things to people.”

“Shit, you’re serious aren’t you?” A chill runs up my spine. I’d never think Alex was dangerous, but I’m not taking a chance.

“Fuck yes. Your reputation can be repaired. But I don’t want to see anything happen to any of y’all.”

“Alright, tell the PR Rep to call and I’ll give a statement for you to release.”

I hang up and see Ari has calmed down and is sitting back with a beer in her hand. An idea pops in my head , and I know I need to act now. I make my way around and get a koozie then sit next to her. They all look at me questioningly.

“Okay, I need to take care of some things. I’ll be making a short statement today denying involvement with Alex and asking for privacy.”

Ari nods her head and doesn’t argue.

“Trey, you have your piece on you?”

“Yep.” He slides his shirt up to show his gun.

“Can you stay here with the girls for a while? And can you check with your contacts and get me two bodyguards. I want someone on Ari and Davis when they’re not with me, and someone watching Katy.

“Luke, I need you with me the next few hours. I’ve got some things to handle and need your help.”

No one says anything, so I decide to get it all out. “Ari, I’m getting a security system put on my house and we need to go there next week until things calm down. I need you to tell Phillip you’re starting to work from home immediately.”

“That won’t be a problem. I’m not working at all after Monday,” she says softly.

All heads swing to her and she tells us about her meeting with Phillip yesterday and their plan for Monday. I know it’s not the time, but I want to scream how fucking proud I am of her.

She and Sophie decide to lie on the back patio to avoid any people on the beach, and I grab my keys and motion to Luke to follow. Before I leave, I press Ari’s body against mine and capture her mouth. I stroke my tongue against hers delicately trying to erase the pain from earlier and don’t stop until a throat clears behind me.

She smiles faintly and tells me she’ll be alright.

When we get into the car Luke looks at me wanting to know what the hell is going on. “Operation Matthews just took a huge hit and I need to get it back on course. You’re gonna help me.”

He nods and smiles widely. “Fuck yeah. And by the way, I want that bitch Alex to pay.”

“Is he already in bed?” Reed asks when he walks through the door.

“Yeah, he fell asleep watching a movie. And it is like nine at night. Where have you been?” I answer annoyed.

“Wow, someone is grouchy.”

“Reed, I love hanging out with my best friend, but today I needed you. You make your demands about bodyguards and us moving next week and then take off to God knows where for over eight hours! And poor Trey. I think he had enough girl talk for a lifetime. You owe him huge.”

He laughs at me and shakes his head. “Yeah, I saw him in the driveway and he told me my fee doubled today.”

“Seriously, Reed! Where have you been?”

He tugs me up from my spot on the sofa and wraps his arms around me with his hands resting on my waist. I try to remain annoyed but the warmth of his breath against the sensitive skin on my neck softens my resolve. I don’t return the embrace even though I want to.

“Sweet Angel, don’t be upset. I had some business to take care of. I hated being gone, but it couldn’t be helped.” He kisses lightly over my collarbone. “I’ll tell you everything, but I want you in the hot tub. Meet me out there in five minutes.”

He steps away and goes outside without waiting for an answer. I change into my suit and grab two towels from the bathroom and a pink note falls to the ground. I pick it up and read ‘more beautiful when naked’ in Reed’s handwriting. It’s been a few days since I’ve found one of his declaration notes and it makes me smile.

When I get to the back patio, I freeze. Most of the decking is covered in lanterns with candles. The area with the hot tub is still bathed in darkness and Reed’s sitting on the edge, waiting for me. I walk to him slowly and wave the post it.

“I figured if you were reaching for a towel you’d be naked. So it seemed like a good place for a note.” He tells me.

“You are very clever, Mr. Matthews.”

“I’ll be right back. Don’t get in yet.” He runs into the house and I watch confused.

A few minutes later, he comes out in his bathing suit. He slides in the water and motions for me to join him. I drop the towels and ease in the warm water. He fidgets a bit and then pulls his shorts out of the water and lays them on the deck. Before I can ask what he is doing, he yanks me to him and removes my bottoms in one swift motion.

“What are you doing?” I hiss trying to get them out of his hands.

“Shhh. Remember when I told you I had plans for you in this hot tub? Well, tonight I’m going to show you those plans.”

“We can’t! Someone will see.”

“Baby, it’s dark and no one can see in the water. I’ll let you keep your top on but only because I don’t want anyone to see what belongs to me.”

He situates me on his lap where his hard length fits between my ass cheeks. His hands move to my stomach and he holds me in place. Goose bumps cover my skin when he starts to lick, suck, and blow lightly on my neckline.

“Okay, babe, time to fill you in. I went into Jacksonville. I had some stuff to take care of. I want Davis to have his own room, so I picked out a few bedrooms sets for you to look at. Once you choose what you want, it’ll be delivered to the house. Then I went and bought another gun. I used to have a concealed license but let it lapse. Now I’m getting another one.”

I tense against him. No way do I want a gun in the house with Davis.

“Before you freak out, we’ll figure a place for it to be out of his reach.”

“I still don’t think it is necessary, Reed. It goes against what I believe to have a gun in the house with small children.”

“Ari, do you think I would ever allow anything to happen to you two? I’d fucking lay down my life for you. Connor made me realize today that obsessive people get desperate and do evil things. I’m keeping the gun.”

“Okay, but I don’t like it.”

“Noted.” He continues kissing along my exposed skin while his fingers run random patterns on my stomach. I wiggle against his lap and he hisses.