Read The Bet (Addison #2) Online
Authors: Erica M. Christensen
“Addison…wake up. We’re about to land.” Lucas whispers as he brushes my hair out of my face. I open my eyes to find my head resting on Lucas’s arm. My body jolts upright and away from him. Drool is dripping from my mouth, and of course I see it on his arm. How embarrassing…I quickly wipe it off of his arm and my face, rub my eyes, and throw my hair up in a messy bun.
“I am so fucking sorry. That’s disgusting.” My eyes are wide. He starts to laugh and the look in his eyes is just weird. Too sentimental at a time like this.
“It’s okay, Addison. I thought it was kind of cute.” He lightly rubs my shoulder. Cute? Is he nuts? A woman falling asleep on a guy she basically just met and drooling all over him is not something I would consider cute. “Your idea of cute is absolutely absurd.” I roll my eyes and give a playful smile. My stomach rumbles.
“Please tell me food is one of the first things on our agenda for this evening.”
“Yes, I was hoping you’d say that.”
A shuttle took us from the airport to the resort. Once we pull up to the resort and get out of the shuttle, the sound of the waves greet us as well as the refreshing scent of the ocean itself. The shuttle driver hands us our luggage and we walk into the beautiful resort along with a few other people. We get our room keys and enter the elevators.
“I’m excited to see the room. This place is beautiful.” Lucas shuffles the room key in his hand.
“I know, I can’t wait to go to bed!” I yawn.
“Bed? Are you kidding me? We’re on vacation, Addison,” Lucas squeals.
“This is not a vacation, Lucas. This is business. We’re here for work.” A smirk travels across my face. He returns the smile and holds the elevator door open for me. Once we reach the room we’re shocked to find how big and beautiful it was. A jacuzzi tub in the corner, a huge flat screen TV, a ginormous window, and a balcony overlooking Isla Verde Beach. There was only one problem with the room…there was only one bed. One fucking bed. Are you kidding me? I’m going to kill Shelly or John, or the both of them. Whoever the hell set this whole thing up is just begging to be murdered.
“Only one bed. Hmm…looks like I’ll be sleeping on the floor or we can toss a coin.” Lucas breaks the awkward silence.
“This is ridiculous. Abso-fucking-lutely absurd. Did your uncle do this?” I question hastily. Lucas sets his bag down and takes off his flannel shirt. It’s clear to see he’s been working out a lot in the past three months. His muscles are looking a lot larger than they were before, or at least from what I remember. I shake the thought away.
“I’m not sure, Addison. It’s not that big a deal.” He stretches his arms over his head and yawns, then removes his white t-shirt and throws it on the chair next to the big window. He walks out onto the balcony.
I put my luggage on the bed and open it up to find something cute to wear if we really do happen to go out tonight. I mean, we are staying in a hotel with a casino. I reach in the side pocket to grab my makeup bag and feel a tiny square box. I pull it out and open it up. There was the locket from Stephen…an ache grows in the pit of my stomach. I place the box back into the side compartment and walk into the bathroom. Three months later and it still hurts like it all happened yesterday. Sometimes I regret ignoring his calls and text messages. What if he didn’t go through with the wedding and was trying to reach out to me to tell me that? What if he really did just want us to run away together? The ache in my stomach grew and spread to my head. Great, a migraine…I turn the shower on and while letting it warm up, I clip my fingernails and undress, then step into the hot, steamy shower, letting the hot water spray over my face, washing the tears away as fast as they come down. The past is unchangeable and I think that’s what hurts the most. We can’t erase anything and we can’t paint it as a perfect portrait. The past is the past and that’s all it will ever be. People think it’s the memories that haunt us and hurt us, but they don’t. The past itself haunts and hurts us, solely because there isn’t a fucking thing we can do about it.
“You look beautiful.” Lucas gulps and looks me in the eyes, careful not to let his eyes drop to my body. I’m wearing a fitted white dress and coral pumps. My dark brown hair is curled and falls past my shoulder blades.
“Thanks. You don’t look too bad yourself.” I brush past him and zip up my suitcase and put it in the closet. “Are you ready?” I ask.
“I’ve been waiting on you.” He walks toward the door and opens it for me.
“Go on ahead of me. I know how this works. I get to walk ahead of you so you can stare at my ass. Right?” I lightly punch his arm and walk out before him.
“That’s not what the plan was…Just using the midwestern manners my momma taught me.”
“Oh, I know how you country boys work. Your midwestern manners don’t fool me.”
“We’ll see about that.” He bites his bottom lip and laughs.
I’m almost positive this bet we made is not going to pan out the way we originally planned. Keeping my lips off of him might damn near be impossible.
There are bright LED blue lights all over the restaurant, the chairs are silver, and the tables are made of a light colored wood. Everything about the place is very modern and beautiful.
“Have you ever eaten sushi?” I ask, trying to make conversation. Lucas scrunches his nose at me.
“That’s what this place is? You’re making me eat sushi for our first date?” Our first date…did he really just call this a date? Oh my goodness, I’m going to die.
“I wasn’t under the impression this was a date. This is business. We can’t mix business with pleasure.” I retort.
“Excuse me, Miss Addison. How are we going to get thirty dates in if we don’t count every day of this week as a date? We’ll do something different each day, whatever you want to do.” He grabs my hand and holds it. I pull my hand away and open up the menu, skimming it and not making eye contact with him.
“Okay fine. This will be our first date, but what happens if we don’t go on thirty dates before something happens?” I ask awkwardly, still looking at the menu.
“Are you telling me something could happen between us before we go on thirty dates?” I can hear the enthusiasm in his voice. I look up at him and playfully glare.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself…what if something happens on like date twenty-nine?”
“I’m just thrilled you’re implying there’s even a possibility of something happening between us. Jesus, I thought it was all just a joke. I didn’t think you were actually attracted to me.” His cheeks are a little red under the scruff on his face, but his eyes beam pure happiness.
“Why wouldn’t I be attracted to you? Don’t play dumb. Don’t try to just squeeze a compliment out of me. You’re clearly a very attractive man. I’m sure all the cowgirls go nuts over you at all those rodeos.” The waitress comes to our table and drops off some waters, then gets our order.
“Those girls at the rodeo don’t compare to you, Addison.”
“Oh, likely story. Damn, you’re just a smooth talker, aren’t you?”
“I’m being honest.”
“Right. And what makes me so different from the girls at rodeos? We all have vaginas. That’s all men care about, right?” I sigh and look around for the waitress, hoping the food would be here soon so I didn’t have to talk anymore. Anger is building up inside me and I don’t know why. Lucas seems like a nice guy, but are there such things…honestly? Highly unlikely.
“Addison, trust me. Something draws me to you. I don’t know what it is. I can’t really explain it. I just feel inside that you’re a different kind of girl.” Lucas leans in closer to my side of the table. The waitress drops off our sushi rolls and cocktails.
“Please, just be quiet and eat. This is our first date. I’m not trying to talk about a future with you.” I shove a sushi roll in my mouth. God, this is delicious. The conversation is not, but this damn sushi roll is amazing.
“I wasn’t trying to talk about a future with you, Addison. Is it that hard for you take a compliment and trust someone?” He takes a swallow of his beer.
“As a matter of fact, it is. I don’t take compliments very well and to be completely frank, I don’t even trust myself, so what makes you think I’m going to trust a goddamn stranger? I’m done with this conversation. I just want to eat, drink, and play a few slot machines, then sleep.” Lucas lets out an agitated sigh and takes his first bite of sushi.
“Whatever you say, princess.”
“Blackjack, all right!” The dealer, Kate, applauds Lucas. I glanced over at the other people playing at the table. One guy reminds me of Chris Farley, but he has red facial hair. The other guy is a little frail old man, and the third person is a beautiful woman. She looks like she might be a retired model. Lucas takes a big swig of his beer and looks down at the card table. Kate is showing a jack of clubs. Lucas is betting $1,000 on this hand. The guy who looks like Chris Farley is betting $5,000. The other two are betting the minimum bet, $100 a hand. The dealer sets a king of hearts in front of Lucas and a king of spades on top. Stay, stay, stay.
Without hesitation, he looks the dealer in the eye and says, “Split ’em.” The other players sitting at the table start laughing.
“Ha, goddamn amateurs.” The woman snickers.
“What the fuck are you thinking, Lucas?” I blurt out. He cocks his head up toward me and gives a smirk.
“Don’t worry, doll. I got this.” Doll? Really? The dealer splits the cards and sets an ace of diamonds onto the king of hearts. My heart just dropped to the pit of my stomach. Are you kidding me? He’s got twenty-one!
“Yes!” Lucas whispers to himself. I don’t see how he’s not screaming from excitement. The dealer places a seven of clubs onto the king of spades.
“Please stay, please,” I whisper to him.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” he whispers back to me. There is more meaning behind those words, I feel, but I’m not going to draw any attention to them and make things awkward.
“Hit.” Lucas looks at the dealer. Everyone at the table grunts at his idiotic decision.
“Are you kidding me? You’re an idiot, Lucas!” I yell at him. The dealer flips over a queen of hearts. He busted. He fucking busted.
“Ah, bust.” Kate takes his $1,000 in chips.
“Let’s go, now,” I scold. Lucas smiles and wraps his arm over my shoulders, pulling me close.
“Lighten up. It’s just money. I wanted that to happen.” I peel his arm off me and start power-walking ahead of him.
“Okay. Go pout, Princess.” Lucas laughs. Ugh! He drives me nuts and this is only the first night. This week can’t go by fast enough. I turn to look back at him. That smirk stretches on his face, his fingers run through his messy blond hair. Why does he have to be so damn attractive? This sucks.
“Give me the room key,” I demand.
“Don’t you know how to ask nicely?” He grins and holds the room key out of my reach. I try to grab the key, but he moves it away from me. My flailing arms surrender.
“Fine. You win.” I sigh.
“No, no, no, I don’t want to win that easily. It’s not any fun that way.” Lucas holds the room key about three inches from his face, taunting me, trying to get me to grab it from him.
“Take it.” He smiles. My hand bolts for the room key and just as quickly he moves the room key out of my reach. My heel buckles beneath me and Lucas catches me by the small of my back. I glance up at him and our lips are nearly touching. If he kisses me, I win.
“I didn’t know you had that much to drink. Do I need to carry you to the room again?” He pulls his face away from me and helps me get my balance.
“What do you mean…again?” I snatch the room key from his hand and we both head back to the hotel.
“You were pretty wasted…you really don’t remember anything from that night, do you?” Shit. I did sleep with him. Fuck.
“I really don’t care to talk about it. Whatever happened, happened. That was then, this is now. I’m not like that anymore. So please don’t be getting any ideas.” Lucas stops walking and grabs my wrist.
“What do you think happened? Nothing happened, Addison.” His eyes are honest, but how can I just trust a stranger’s words if I can’t even trust myself?
“I don’t know what happened. I don’t remember anything, really. Just the bet, and then waking up naked in a hotel room the next morning with a pounding headache and my clothes scattered all over the floor,” I admit.
“Let’s just talk about this in the room.” Lucas takes a few steps forward, then comes to another stop. “Addison, nothing happened. Honestly…I may not know you that well, but I would have never done anything to hurt you.” There’s a magnetic pull coursing through my veins that is completely unexplainable. I don’t know him, he doesn’t know me. Yet the desire to wrap my arm around his and kiss his shoulder is so strong.
“Thank you.” We start toward the room again. My phone vibrates so I pull it from my clutch. It’s a text message from Stephen.
Stephen: Addi…Will you talk to me yet?
I hit delete and place my phone back in my clutch. My body shivers and the urge to cry is creeping up my throat.
“Are you going to open the door? I mean you almost murdered me for the room key, so I assume you were really excited about using it to open the door.” I shake the thought away, swallow my tears, and swipe the room key. We enter the room and I go straight to my suitcase to pull out something for bed. I hadn’t planned on sleeping in the same room as Lucas, so of course all I brought for bed are oversized t-shirts, a pair of pickle boxers, and another pair of boxers that are bright blue with little illustrations of bacon, toast, and sunny side up eggs. Super hot. Lucas walks into the bathroom. I undress myself and throw on a t-shirt that I still have from high-school, and the pickle boxers. Lucas opens the door and I dive for the bed, frantically pulling the covers over my bottom half to cover the boxers. Lucas walks out of the bathroom in a pair of Calvin Klein boxer-briefs. My eyes daringly float to his package and of course there it is. A perfect, long outline of his manhood. I take a deep breath and inhale my spit. I begin to choke.
“Dear Jesus!” I cough out. Lucas runs to the fridge and grabs a small bottle of water and rushes over to me.
“Are you all right?” He opens the water and hands it to me. “Take a drink.” After I drink, I hand the bottle back to him. Lucas twists the cap back on and sets it down on the nightstand next to me.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just choked on some spit…thanks.” My eyes are still watering and I let out a couple smaller coughs. He grabs a pillow and lays it down on the floor, walks over to the closet, and pulls down a thin blanket.
“You can sleep in the bed if you want, I can sleep on the floor,” I offer. Quite frankly I wouldn’t be opposed to him sleeping in the bed with me…not like that, but just to have a strong warm body next to me. I can’t even remember what that feels like.
“No, the queen needs the king bed.” He winks and lies down, covering himself up.
“Oh okay, well, I can’t argue with that.” I turn the light off, and we lay in silence for a couple minutes. It’s in the middle of the night and we have to wake up early, but I just have that feeling I won’t be able to fall asleep. “What happened that night?” I let out a sigh, bracing myself to hear things I’ll be ashamed of and hate myself for.
“Addison, nothing happened. I got us a cab and booked you a hotel room. I carried you to the room and once we walked in, you started undressing yourself and went into the bathroom. I ran to the bed and pulled the covers down for you. You stumbled and fell in the bathroom, so I went in and picked you up, put you in the bed, and slept in the chair next to the bed to make sure you didn’t vomit in your sleep and choke to death or something. Then I woke up in the morning and left. I called a couple minutes before check-out time to check-out of the room.” I shudder from the thought of me being a drunken mess, butt ass naked in front of him, falling down and him touching my bare body.
“Ugh! I’m so sorry. I wish you never had to see me like that,” I whine. “Thank you though, honestly. Thank you for not taking advantage of me. I’m honestly surprised you didn’t say anything about me trying to make any advances on you…I don’t know why I let myself get that way. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay…you did try to kiss me though and I turned you down because it would ruin the bet.” Lucas snickers. “Honestly though, Addison, please don’t be sorry. I can tell by the way you carry yourself, the way you nervously bite your nails and twirl your hair, the way you were crying in the shower tonight…you’ve been through a lot and I want to know your story. I want to know you, everything about you.” A rush of emotions engulfs my body. I pull the blankets off of me and walk over to where Lucas is lying on the floor. Bravely sporting my pickle boxers and an old high school t-shirt, not caring one bit how unsexy I look. His eyes connect with mine and he pulls the blanket up and reaches up for my hand, an invitation to lie next to him. He pulls me close and my head rests on his bare chest. “I’m not sure what brought you to me or brought me to you on New Year’s Eve or why we’ve been brought together again. I don’t know what this feeling is…but I know I care about you and I don’t even know you. I feel like I do, though. I feel like I’ve known you my whole damn life.” His voice trails off. The moon is shining through the window, lighting up his perfect face. He’s staring up at the ceiling, thinking. “I’m sorry, that was really cheesy, but I didn’t know how else to say it.” Lucas looks over at me and nervously smiles. Butterflies swarm my stomach. It’s taking everything in me to not kiss him. I lift my head from his chest and scoot up, to look down at him.
“It’s okay. I kind of dig cheesy.” He pulls me back down to him and brushes my hair out of my face.
“Do you know how badly I want to kiss you again?” His breath warms my lips. My fingers start to tremble.
“So do it,” I whisper.
“I can’t, it’ll ruin everything.”