Read The Bet (Addison #2) Online
Authors: Erica M. Christensen
Today is the day. I am meeting Lucas…while completely sober. Lord help me through this. What the hell do I wear? What do I even say to him? I walk over to the pile of clothes spilling out of my laundry basket and throw everything on the floor. I sit in the middle of the pile hoping the perfect outfit will magically float up in front of me. My phone vibrates on the nightstand, so I get up to see who texted me.
Hilton: I’m feeling really nauseous today. I might be a little late, I’m sorry.
No worries. Hope you feel better soon!
I sit back down on my knees in front of the pile of clothes. A mint green top catches my eye. I go into my closet and pull out my cream colored blazer and dress pants. This will have to do.
***
Shelly picks me up every morning for work since I don’t get my license back for a while. I feel like I’m fifteen again, so close to having my driver’s license yet so far away.
“Did you want to stop and get coffee before we go in?” Shelly offers.
“Is that a serious question?” I ask.
Shelly takes a sharp right into the parking lot of Java Stop. “What do you want? The usual?”
“No, I think I’m just going to drink it black today. Dark roast, please.” Shelly raises her eyebrows at me.
“Are you sick?” She asks.
“I just feel like I need strong, black coffee today. We have a big day ahead of us, Shelly. After today, nothing will be the same again, so why not start the day with a change?” Shelly rolls her eyes at me and looks toward the drive-thru menu to order our drinks. I dig through my purse and take out my chapstick. There’s nothing worse than a man noticing you’ve got dry, cracked lips. He doesn’t want to kiss sandpaper, he also doesn’t want to kiss lips smothered in sticky lip gloss. Always keep chapstick on hand, always. Shelly pulls up to the window and grabs our drinks from the barista. She hands me my coffee.
“There’s your dark roast, black coffee. I can’t wait to see you try to choke it down and pour half a bottle of your hazelnut creamer into it once we get to the office.” She chuckles.
We pull into the parking garage and my nerves start going crazy. You know the butterfly feeling you get when you’re nervous? Well, I don’t get that…I get the nervous shits. Coffee was probably not my brightest decision today…I don’t know how I’m going to survive this meeting.
Shelly and I walk into the conference room and find Hilton setting out a stainless steel coffee pitcher along with styrofoam cups, sugar, and creamer packets. Thank goodness she wasn’t late. I would have forgotten to get all of that ready and Shelly would have probably had a fit.
“Hilton, don’t we have any nice mugs you could put out instead of styrofoam?” Shelly asks crisply.
“Um…uh…I’ll go check…I’m sorry, Shelly.” Hilton gathers the styrofoam cups and walked toward the door. “Do you need me to bring anything else?” Hilton asks meekly.
“If we don’t have any mugs, go buy some. Lucas will be here in an hour. You realize he’s John’s nephew, right?” Shelly questions firmly. Hilton briskly walks out of the conference room. Shelly roams over to the window and opens the blinds.
“Do you think this makes it too bright in here?” she asks.
“I think it looks just fine in here, Shelly.” I take a sip of my coffee and gag. “How in the world do people enjoy black coffee? It tastes like asshole!”
“I truly don’t want to know how you know what asshole tastes like, but is it too early to say I told ya so?” Shelly snorts. I roll my eyes at her and laugh.
“I’m going to get some creamer.” Once I arrived at the break room I see Hilton and Garrett sitting at the table together, chatting.
“Hey Addi! I was just stopping in here for a quick snack. I’ll get the mugs right away.” Hilton quickly stands up, as if I had just caught her doing something she shouldn’t have, and pushes the chair in. She grabs an empty wrapper off the table and throws it away.
“You could have eaten your candy bar while doing that simple task you know, instead of sitting here chatting with someone from the IT department.” I probably shouldn’t have been so bitchy toward her, but I’m pissed she’s talking to Garrett. Not because I like him, because I don’t. But she’s going to be bringing a baby into this world. She needs stability and Garrett is far from stable. He’s a gambler and a drinker. Garrett is not a fatherly kind of guy.
“I’m sorry, Addi.” Hilton’s eyes widen and she briskly leaves the break room. I glance over at Garrett and notice he’s staring at me as he takes a big gulp of his coffee.
“May I help you?” I ask bitchily. He sets his mug down on the table and bites his bottom lip.
“You may.” He winks then opens up his poker book.
“You’re a pig, Garrett. Had I known you’d turn into this I wouldn’t have ever given you a chance.” He starts laughing cockily.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Miss Addi.” I remain silent as I pour my creamer and strutted out of the door.
Shelly nervously paces back and forth along the conference table. She thinks she’s nervous…she has no idea. I’m going to shit my pants when Lucas walks in here. There is a knock on the door, which stops Shelly in her tracks and almost sends shit running down my leg.
“Oh my God, Addison, he’s here…” Shelly whispers as she smooths out her skirt and pats the sides of her hair. My stomach begins to gurgle even more. God, I hope he doesn’t hear it. I hope I can keep all gas that exits my body silent and unscented. The door opens…in walks Lucas. Tall, fit, dark blond hair, a scruffier face than in his photos, and a plaid button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up exposing his tattoo sleeves. I did everything I could not to look him in the eyes and somehow block him from seeing my face. Shelly introduces herself and offers him a cup of coffee. Shelly nods toward Hilton to make him one. Hilton walks over to the coffee pitcher with a mug in her hand.
“Excuse me, miss. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be a pain in the ass but do you have any paper or styrofoam cups? I’m weird about drinking out of glassware that isn’t my own.” I look toward Shelly to see the look on her face. Her cheeks are slightly pinker than the color of her blush. Hopefully she feels like a bitch for jumping down Hilton’s throat about the coffee mugs earlier.
“Oh, I’m so sorry about that, Mr. Boyd. Hilton will run and grab a styrofoam cup.” Shelly shoots a look at Hilton as if to tell her to hurry. Hilton races out of the room.
“I didn’t mean to bother…but thank you, ma’am,” Lucas says politely. “And who’s this?” Who’s this? He’s referring to me. Oh my God…No…we cannot make eye contact. I look up at Lucas, right into his bright blue eyes that fades to a light brown right around his pupil. My heart is racing, stomach is gurgling a thousand times more and probably louder than before as well. His eyes widen as he notices it’s me. Lucas places his hand out to shake mine. My palms are sweaty. I cannot shake his fucking hand. My hand reaches out for his. His palm was callused, I’m sure due to riding bulls…but his fingers are soft, as was the back of his hand.
“Addison, but you can call me Addi.” I smile awkwardly.
“Pleasure to meet you, Addison…Lucas, but you can call me Luke.” He winks.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Lucas.”
“Okay, introductions are over, let’s get to work. Please have a seat, Luke.” Shelly motions toward a chair in front of her. Lucas pulls the chair out and sits down. The door opens and Hilton walks in with a styrofoam cup; John follows behind her.
“Good morning, everyone!” John’s voice echoes through the room. John is a fairly big guy. He’s tall and husky. His voice is loud and deep, and at times he’s extremely obnoxious. But John is absolutely hilarious and he doesn’t even try to be. He walks over to Lucas and squeezes his shoulder then pats him roughly on the back.
“How’s my big guy doing? I don’t know why I call you big guy, look at those tiny muscles! You’ve got arms as big as a five year old’s.” John laughs hysterically at his own joke.
“What’s up, old man? Looks like your cookie duster is a little grayer than it used to be.” Lucas gives him a nudge and laughs.
“I’ll ship your ass back to Iowa if you don’t watch it!” John hollers jokingly. “Let’s get to the point of this meeting so we can all go grab a bite to eat.” He points his finger at me. “Addi, as you know, you’re going to be my nephew’s publicist. I know this whole thing is new to you, it’s new to all of us. Luke doesn’t have any rodeos or photo-shoots to attend within the next week, so we’re flying you two out to San Juan, Puerto Rico-o-o-o for a marketing and publicist convention!” He fist pumps the air and throws his hands up at us, waiting for our excited reactions.
“Excuse me?” I gulp. “There’s no way I’m going to Puerto Rico for a week by myself with a fucking stranger! Pardon my language, John. But seriously…you’re joking, right?” My body is heating up so I take my blazer off, exposing my arms.
“No, Addi. I’m not joking! This will be great. You guys can get to know each other, learn a ton of new things for this project, and then you can work on getting those pasty white arms tanned. You live in Florida and you still look like you’re living in Iowa.” He laughs hysterically at his own joke yet again. I didn’t think it was funny at all, but for some reason I can’t hold a chuckle back. John is a dick, but he means well and his laugh can make anyone happy.
“I can’t wait. When is our flight?” Lucas interjected. Shelly opens her planner and pulls out an envelope and hands it to me. She looks over at Lucas and her smile stretches from one two-carat princess-cut earring to the other.
“Tonight.”
John has a limo sent to pick me up from my apartment at 6:30 p.m., our flight departs at 8:50 p.m. A few hours’ notice is not enough for a woman to get her shit together for a week long trip to Puerto fucking Rico! However, only being at the office for a couple of hours was pretty nice. I lug my floral suitcase down the apartment stairs and out the door.
“Miss Allmon, let me take that for you.” The limo driver grabs the suitcase from my hand. I don’t think he was expecting it to be so heavy. “Are you moving to Puerto Rico?” He laughs from his plump stomach.
“I only had four hours to prepare for this trip. I kind of just threw everything I owned into the suitcase.” Once I get into the limo there is a bottle of champagne sitting in ice. Ooh we’re getting real fancy now. “What is your name?” I ask the driver.
“Jeffrey,” he barely gets his name out before he lets loose a big sneeze. I wonder if I can keep myself from drinking the whole bottle before we get Lucas…
After fifteen minutes of driving we pull up to a condo on the beach. Jeffrey gets out and walks to the back to open the trunk and make a phone call. Shortly after, Lucas comes out of the condo wearing cowboy boots, tight, but not too tight jeans, a flannel shirt, and Ray-Bans, carrying a medium sized leather carry-on bag. Good Lord…please, have mercy on my soul. I’m about to lose the bet this week…well, if I haven’t already. That will be one of the first things I ask him once we get some time alone together. I’m not sure how exactly I’ll bring it up, maybe I’ll be blunt about it. Like, hey, did we fuck New Year’s Eve, because I woke up completely naked in a hotel room that a man paid for. Were you THAT man? Or what the hell happened, I need to know. Yeah, I think that’s a great way to bring it up.
“Good evening, Miss.” Lucas winks as he steps into the limo. “Ooh, champagne. Fancy. Want a glass?” he offers.
“Fine minds must think alike. That’s the first thing I noticed when I got in here too!” I laugh nervously. My stomach begins to gurgle. No…this cannot be happening. I cannot have the nervous shits during this flight or during this trip at all. Oh God…wait…we’re not sharing a room, are we? We can’t. I can’t poop in the same confined space as him! Jeffrey gets back in the limo.
“Feel free to help yourselves to some champagne. Mr. Boyd requested it for you two, to celebrate this new journey and to loosen you guys up before your flight.” Lucas grabs the bottle of champagne and pours two glasses full to the brim. He hands one over to me, careful not to spill.
“You realize you’re not supposed to fill them that full, right?”
“What does it matter? We’re going to drink the whole bottle anyway.” He takes a slurp off the top. I nod at him in agreement and take a sip of mine.
We get to the airport and stop at the little café to get a cup of coffee. He gets a black coffee and adds his own cream and sugar. I get a hazelnut coffee, of course, with cream and sugar.
“What gate do we need to be at?” Lucas asks, sipping the little bit of coffee out of the stirrers before throwing them away. I pull the tickets out of my purse.
“B5.” I place the tickets back in my purse. “How’s your coffee?” This is so awkward. This is absolutely horrible. Just think how nervous you are before your first date…now think of what it would feel like to be stuck with your first date for a week straight with no one else around. He could be some crazy rapist hidden under a billion dollar smile and nice manners.
“Tasty. How’s yours?”
“A little too hot still, but I’ll let ya know.”
We walk away from the cafe and check out the monitors to see if our flight is departing on time. 8:50 p.m.—on-time. Good. We take a seat in the chairs by our gate, luckily it isn’t hard to find. I pull out my phone to text Hilton.
I’m going to die. Seriously. What the fuck.
Hilton: It’s only a week. Just think…a week after you get back we have a baby appointment! :)
Aw can’t wait! I wish you could have come with.
Hilton: Me too! Text me when you land.
People start lining up at the door to board the plane. I hand Lucas his ticket. We walk through the line and down the long hallway. Of course they tell you to watch your step, and what do I do? Oh, I fucking trip while getting on and Lucas grabs me to help steady me.
“You know, they say watch your step for a reason.” His hand was still on my waist. Then he realizes and quickly pulls away. Oddly, I wish he would have left it there.
“Ugh. Shut up,” I pouted.
We walk down the aisle trying to find our seats. Lucas puts our bags up above in the overhead compartment. Lucky ass Lucas happens to have the window seat. We sit down and buckle our seat belts, then watch as people crowd through and bump into each other with their baggage and elbows. Once everyone is seated, the flight attendant, Jennifer, goes through all of the safety precautions. Lucas stares out the window, not paying attention to a single word Jennifer is saying, but thankfully he’s sitting back so I’m able to look out too. It’s pitch black outside, besides the lights that are on the runway and some city lights we can see in the distance.
“Are you ready?” He’s beaming with excitement.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”