The Unexpected Series (Unexpected #1-3) (77 page)

He works with Braden.

He works with Braden.

Shit!

He works with Braden.

I stand there, unmoving, and watch Wendy pull the ice away from him and place a gentle kiss to the side of his mouth.

I swallow back the bile rising in my throat and give him a disapproving look. I didn’t think it would hurt to see something like that, especially when I put him in the friend zone, and now that I know he works with Braden, there is no probability of us ever becoming more than that. I won’t mess with their careers.

Rather than stand there looking like an ass, I pull my phone out of my purse and purposefully walk to the side of the stage to a quiet spot. Before I can hit send on Noelle’s number someone snatches the phone out of my hand and whips me around.

When I get my bearings, I find Ryder’s dark blue irises heating up with what, I don’t know. Anger? Lust?

“Why do you keep running, Hadley?” he asks, his voice just high enough so I can hear it above the music.

“I figured you were busy with your girlfriend.” I spit out causing him to smile.

“She’s not my girlfriend, but your little boyfriend not only played me the past couple of months but took a swing at me.” His tongue darts out and over his swollen lip.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I breathe out, his nearness is undoing me. “And how’d he play you?”

Both hands wrap around each of my wrists and he steps closer. My rapid breathing shows how affected I am by him and in this moment I could care less if we got caught like this. Even if it was by Braden. His mouth speaks into my hair. “I told him about you, Hadley. When I first transferred to BGPD back in August. He never mentioned you were his.” His leg moves between mine nestling itself between my thighs. The slit of my dress giving way and exposing one of them. “Hell, before he knew your name he even told me to go for you. Told me you weren’t engaged so you were fair game.”

“Go back to Wendy,” I say trying to distract him from making me come by just the brush of his leg. My resolve fading quickly.

Ryder’s head falls to my shoulder. “Are you jealous? My God, Hadley, tell me you’re fucking jealous.”

My body and my mouth betray my mind because I turn my head and whisper into his ear, “Yes.”

“She’s just a friend.” He growls.

I turn my head, exposing my neck. “So am I.”

He releases my left wrist and grabs the exposed skin of my leg pulling it up, his thumb brushing up the inside of my thigh. A tingling sensation follows the trail of his fingertip.

“Yes, but I don’t want to taste her. It’s not her skin I want on my tongue,” he says bringing his mouth to the edge of mine. I tilt my chin up bringing us to the same spot we left at the bar. The same spot at the hot tub. The point where all we would have to do is move a millimeter and our mouths would collide. I can’t take it anymore. Despite saying I want to be friends, despite Ryder working with Braden–I want him.

The music stops and the DJ announces last call. Ryder slowly drops his hands and pulls back. Our eyes meet. “I’m coming over tonight,” he says, his tone implying it’s a threat. “I’d like to hang out with my
friend
.”

T
he event ends and since I was accosted next to the dance floor and left with soaking wet panties I’m rushing to get everything cleaned up. Noelle ignored my pleas to come help me and told me to put my big girl panties on. I finally found Janie, apologizing for the way I had acted the past couple of weeks. Thankfully, she understood. I don’t see Braden again but his friend’s wife told me after everything that went down he left, which I’m thankful for.

When I finally arrive home, I start a warm bath after putting my dress on the hanger and place a robe over my body. Walking into the kitchen, I pull a bottle of wine off of the wine rack and open it. When my glass is thoroughly poured I turn to go back to the bathroom when someone knocks softly on the door.

“One second!” I yell running to my room and slipping on a pair of shorts and a tank top over my head. After turning the water off in the bathroom I run over to the door and swing it open, a smile dancing over my lips. I wasn’t sure he was actually going to come but I’m surprised at how excited I am that he did. My smile drops when I find not Ryder, but Braden standing in my doorway. Even drunker than before.

I try to slam it shut on him but he blocks it and trips as he crosses the threshold. “Hadley. Let’s talk,” he stammers.

“Ha!” I laugh, picking up my wine from the counter. “You’ve had three weeks to talk and now you want to. Get out.”

“No,” he says, leaning up against my table, most likely to keep himself from falling on his face.

“Yes. Or I’ll call the cops.” I threaten but even I laugh at that. He is the police and so is Ryder, who I now really hope doesn’t show up anytime soon.

He slumps into the chair, his tie gone and the top three buttons unfastened. His eyes are glazed over and his blond hair sticks up everywhere like he has been running his hands through it. I walk over to the kitchen getting him a glass of water and handing it to him.

“I hope you didn’t drive here, Braden,” I tell him taking a seat in a chair across from him.

He takes careful sips as he watches me.

“So, you were Ryder’s partner?” I ask and he nods. “When did you find out he knew me.”

I can smell the alcohol from across the table as he speaks. “I found out the day you got the flowers from him.”

Surprised, I grab my chest, cringing at the thought of Braden knowing for that long. I should have told him about the flowers but I had thrown them away after Ryder left. That was the day I came home to him making dinner and he claimed my body.

“He was a rookie and I was taking him under my wing. Fuck, I even told him to go for you.” He lifts the glass up waving it around, spilling some on the table.

My fingers drum against the table. “Why didn’t you say something to him? To me? I mean, you’ve been somewhat possessive our whole relationship and you didn’t say a word.”

“Sergeant,” is all he says.

I stare confused. “What does that mean?”

His hand glides through his hair making it more of a mess. “I’ve been working towards Sergeant for a while now.”

A sense of pride consumes me. I know he has been working hard to get promoted and I had no idea. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to surprise you, Had.” His head falls down, defeated. “I wanted to tell you after I got my chevrons and when I found out our new hire was your ex boyfriend from high school I almost lost it. I couldn’t though. I needed to keep my head on straight to get promoted. So, I put in for a new partner and thought after that day you would never see him again. I guess I was wrong.”

He stands up abruptly and walks to the bathroom. My phone buzzes from the counter. I check it, finding a text from Ryder.

Ryder: On my way.

My body tenses with panic. I can’t have Ryder come over when Braden is here.

Me: Can you stop by tomorrow? Braden is here. He’s in bad shape and needs to talk.

Ryder: No. I’m coming over.

Me: Please, I promise I’m fine.

Ryder: Call me when he leaves. I’ll wait up.

As I wait for Braden to return I think about what he said. He was up for promotion and didn’t tell me but if he would have told me he worked with Ryder, I could have made it easier on him. Even though I asked Ryder back then to leave me alone I would have never let him into my life this much the last month knowing that it could possibly hurt Braden’s career if he flew off the handle with jealousy.

The chair scrapes across the floor with Braden’s return. He looks better, like he splashed some water on his face and fixed the craziness of his hair.

“Feel better,” I ask grabbing his glass and refilling it.

When I sit back down Braden takes my hand into his. I don’t pull away but it feels foreign, like we’ve grown so far apart nothing feels the same.

“I got it,” he says, squeezing my hands lightly. “I made Sergeant.”

A proud smile takes up half of my face. “I’m so happy for you. When did you find out?”

He blows out a breath, letting go of my hand. “The Friday we were supposed to meet. That was why I was late.” He looks up to the ceiling like he is searching for something that isn’t there. “I got promoted and the boys kidnapped me and took my phone. I was late because they wanted to congratulate me. Then I pull up to find Ryder’s car and your car in the parking lot. I walk in to find you two on the same side of the booth. God, Hadley my heart sank.”

There are no words to describe how much I hurt for what this man saw. “Braden,” I plead. “Nothing happened. I promise.”

“I know, Hadley. I know because my text stopped you. I watched you two get closer and closer.” He shakes his head side to side as if he is erasing the memory. “So I sent that text and you two jumped apart. After that I went outside and waited in the car.”

“Braden.” I reach out for his hand but he pulls it off the table and places it in his lap. “I’m sorry.”

It’s all I can say. Nothing I do can make any of this right and nothing he says can fix any of this at the moment.

Silence fills the air, and I’m unsure what to say or do. I apologized, but it doesn’t feel like enough. Maybe I should call him a cab? I don’t know.

“I saw you tonight and you looked so beautiful, baby.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a box. “I just wanted to drop to one knee and give this to you.”

A hitch in my breath causes me to literally choke up. He places the unopened box on the table just staring at it. Part of me wants to see what’s inside, though I have an idea and the other part of me doesn’t.

He twirls the box around. “I’ve had this for two months now but was just waiting for the perfect time. I was going to give it to you the same day I showed you my chevrons. Can you imagine how it felt to carry this around knowing the person I was going to ask to marry me was lying? Too bad all of the extra effort I put in the past few months wasn’t worth it.” He pushes back in his chair–picking up the box.

“I felt like we were falling apart.” I try to reason.

He shakes his head as he looks at the floor. “I did too but I didn’t want him to have you.”

I straighten my shoulders. “So all that extra attention wasn’t because you wanted me but because you didn’t want him to have me?”

He doesn’t answer my question but only lifts the box from his side. “You don’t deserve this.”

I watch, mouth agape, as he walks to the door. I’d stop him but his last words of me being undeserving simmer in my thoughts.

“Braden...”

His hand comes up to stop what I was going to say. “Don’t.”

I nod holding the door open for him. He places a kiss on my cheek and eyes me with disgust. “That’s the last time I will ever touch your lying, dirty skin. I wasted time and effort getting you to comply. I hate that my time invested in you was for nothing.”

With his last, harsh words he leaves.

Before I know it tears are streaming down my face. I run to my bed and crawl under the comforter hoping to keep the world away. It’s just too much to process.

Tonight put the final nail in the coffin on our relationship. How do you come back from this? Two people who hurt each other over the past couple of months.

All those things he did for me was in vain. 

I throw a pillow over my head.

~~

A
n extremely loud banging awakens me. I try to pry my eyes open. They are sealed shut from all the crying I did last night. The noise gets louder and I jump up, throwing the covers off of me and stomp to the front door. Taking a glance through the peephole, I find a wide-eyed Ryder waving a Styrofoam coffee cup in front of him.

I pull the door open, immediately grabbing the cup out of his hand and walk to my couch. Placing it down onto my coffee table, I lay across the couch, covering my eyes with my arm. I can hear his laugh get closer, and my legs are lifted up and then back down onto Ryder’s lap.

“What time is it?” I growl, but it turns more of a moan as his fingers go to work on my tired feet. Those heels did me in last night.

“Seven,” he says, his first word since walking in, making it sound sexy.

I peek out from under my arms, stealing a glance at him as he eyes the length of my legs. His left hand continues the ministrations on my feet but the right draws circles on top of my skin. He catches me watching him and smiles.

He looks relaxed and refreshed. His eyes glow against the rising morning sun and his dark hair is perfectly managed. He’s wearing a dark long sleeve shirt that must have been underneath the jacket he was wearing when I answered the door.

“You never texted me,” he says, no worry to his tone.

I sit straight up but he doesn’t allow me to move my feet. “I forgot. I’m so sorry.”

His hands glide over the smooth skin of my legs. “It’s fine. I made sure he left last night before I went home.”

“You were here?” I ask as I pick up the coffee and lift it towards him. “Thanks for this by the way.”

He smiles. “You’re welcome and yes. I wanted to make sure that there was no trouble but I left after he did. I hope that was okay?”