Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

“Mama, do koala bears make sounds like dis… RRROAR!”

Andy is snuggled into my side as we lay in bed. The jetlag drains me, and I’m barely able to sleep on the plane. Now, with my baby in my arms, I feel at home, my eyes slowly dozing off.

“Adriana, why don’t I take him so you can catch up on some sleep?” Lex is sitting on the edge of my bed, making a silly face at Andy, causing him to giggle.

“No.” I yawn. “It’s okay. I’ll try to stay awake until tonight.”

“That’s ten hours away,” he points out.

Shit, that’s a long time.

“Hmm, okay, maybe you can take him for an hour…” I feel myself dozing off, but the chime of my cell goes off, and my eyes quickly open, frantically grabbing my cell to read it.

Julian:You did what you had to do.

Great. Now I feel like shit. I contemplate sending him a text, but with my brother watching me, I decide to send it later. He must have seen my face change and immediately starts questioning me.

“Something wrong?”

“Was just waiting on some news from a supplier,” I lie.

“What news?”

Nosy bastard. “About some new fabric. I’m tired, Lex.”

He tickles Andy and asks him if he wants a piggyback ride. Andy happily agrees, and before they have left the room, the last thing I remember is the click of the door.

It takes me four days to recover and get back into the routine of things. Andy is extremely clingy, which is understandable, so I decide to keep him home to spend some time with him. Getting back into our normal routine is a lot harder than I expected.

Julian hasn’t texted me after that, and I don’t know how to broach the subject. I miss him a lot, I know that much. I want the Julian I know, the one who sends me random texts in the middle of the night making me laugh in stitches. We both need space, I guess. The days I spent with him were surreal and feel like a dream. We were both on vacation. Now, the reality of every day is a different scenario altogether.

On Friday night, Charlie invites everyone for dinner. I’m not going to refuse since it’s Mexican-themed, and Charlie makes the meanest enchiladas I’ve ever tasted. Andy and Amelia busy themselves watching Nemo in the playroom, giving us adults some time to eat in peace.

Seated at the end of the table is Lex, beside him is Charlie, Rocky, and Nikki. Eric, Kate, and I sit on Lex’s other side, hogging all the cheese while Charlie places the food on the table. She swats our hands, but poor-mannered Eric sticks his finger into the cheese erupting in a mini argument.

“Have I told you lately how much I love LA?” Rocky says, chomping on a mouthful of food.

“You spent the day at the beach. All you did was look at fake tits,” Nikki huffed.

“Is that what you did at the beach?” Charlie turns to Lex.

Lex shoots Rocky a fierce glare. “I wasn’t involved in that.”

Rocky roars in laughter. “Dude, you were the one who pointed out that famous porn star.”

Our heads turn to Lex, who not even with his smart mouth can talk his way out of that one.

“Oooh, which one? Is it the one with all the tats and the piercings on her hoo-ha?” Eric asks.

“Yeah… which one, dear?” Charlie quizzes Lex.

He pulls Charlie into him. I turn away, not wanting to witness their display of affection. It only reminds me of what I don’t have.

“If you have something to say, you need to share it with the table,” Eric chides.

Lex begins to open his mouth, but Charlie covers it with the palm of her hand. “He doesn’t need to share it. Besides, you’re eating tacos, Eric. Need I say more?”

“Dirty bastard.” Eric turns to Lex. “Lucky we aren’t eating fish tacos.”

“Did I tell you about the time in college when I dated this girl, and her beaver smelled like—”

“Oh my God, Rocky, we’re eating,” Charlie moans. “And yes, you’ve told us that story before. You still have the full feast despite feeling like you were deep-sea diving in the docks.”

Everyone at the table laughs, including Nikki. My laughter is short-lived as everyone happily chats away. I find myself spiraling into a funk, and the worst part yet, I can’t even vent. Except with Eric, only now noticing that Tristan is absent.

“Where’s Tristan?” I whisper to Eric.

“Oh, he had um… some errands to do.”

“At eight o’clock in the evening?”

He nods, then swiftly changes the subject.

The sound around me drowns out as I swirl the food on my plate, unable to concentrate on anything but Julian. Why hasn’t he called me?

“You okay?” Charlie mouths over the table.

“Just tired,” I lie again.

Kate wipes her mouth, directing her conversation to me. “So, Adriana, tell us all about your trip to Sydney.”

All heads turn my way. Lex places his fork down, giving me his undivided attention.

“It’s a beautiful country. The weather is warm, and the people are friendly. The shop I looked at was to die for, just waiting on Charlie to read the fine print, and if all is well, I’m ready to sign.”

“What else did you do?” Charlie asks.

Julian, I want to say. My sadistic side is laughing like a lunatic at the thought.

“Spent most of my time in the city doing tourist stuff. Oh, I took some surf lessons at Bondi. The water is—”

Lex interrupts me. “You hate sports, Adriana. Anything athletic. What possessed you to do that?”

I roll my eyes at him. “Lex, surfing isn’t athletic. It’s something on my bucket list, plus the teacher was hot,” I add to make the lie more believable.

“Now you’re talking,” cheers Kate.

The ringing of my cell stops the conversation at the table. I lean into my purse and see his name flash on my screen. Lex is watching me intently as I grab my cell and excuse myself from the table, practically running outside.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” he replies.

There’s a lot of noise in the background, and I try to figure out where he is, but it slowly disappears.

“Where are you?”

“Publisher party.” His voice becomes clearer as he moves to a quieter environment. “Adriana, I miss you.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “I miss you, too. This week has been hard without you talking to me,” I admit.

“I’m sorry, I was a jerk. It’s been hard on me, too. I just… I am frustrated, you know?” he slurs his words.

“And drunk?” My conscience tells me not to ask if he’s high. He said that he wouldn’t touch that stuff again, and right now, I trust his word.

“Yeah, maybe a little. Adriana, I can’t stop thinking about you. How beautiful you are, the smell of your skin, the way your face glows when I’m inside you.” It may have been a drunken ramble, but it’s exactly what I need to hear. I know I’m blushing, and phone sex is super-hot when you’re not at your brother’s house.

“I, um…” I lower my voice and move further into the yard. “I can’t stop thinking about you. All of you. I’m shit at phone sex, but to make a long story short, when you’re back, you’re mine for at least the first twenty-four hours.”

He laughs. “You’re shit at phone sex, but knowing you want to fuck me for twenty-four hours straight satisfies me plenty.”

I hear the door creak open. Nikki has moved onto the verandah, prompting me to end my call.

“Listen, I gotta go. I’ll call you when I’m home, okay?”

“Okay, and Adriana?”

“Yes?” I reply quietly, eyeing Nikki as she waits for me patiently.

“Never mind.”

I don’t want to let him get away with that answer, but with Nikki hovering, I have no choice but to hang up.

I place my cell in my back pocket and walk toward Nikki. We both stand on the deck before Nikki talks. “Everything okay?”

“Yes, not sure why everyone asks me that. Did Charlie send you out here?”

She smiles, playing with her ponytail which distracts me. “Charlie is still probing Lex about the porn stars on the beach.”

I laugh out loud, Nikki following, but my head is elsewhere.

“Adriana, I know we don’t talk as much as we used to, but I’m here, you know. Any time you want to chat.”

What’s this about? Dog sniffing the trail? Okay, pretty fluffy cute dog sniffing the trail.

“Thanks for the offer, Nikki. Really, I’m okay,” I reassure her.

“If there’s something you need to get off your chest, I promise not to say anything to anyone.”

I shoot back defensively, “Have you been speaking to Eric?”

“Uh, no, but I did run into Tristan earlier.”

“Oh…” I play dumb. “How is he?”

“Good. He’s perfect for Eric. Really grounds him. But listen, that’s not what we—”

We are interrupted as the rest of the group walks outside. Rocky starts rambling on about something which leads to a conversation involving Elijah. Everyone stops and turns to look at me.

“I’d really appreciate it if you guys stopped doing that. I’m fine.”

“Sorry,” Rocky says.

“Let’s go inside for dessert,” Charlie says. “It’s homemade blueberry pie and vanilla bean ice cream.”

“See, this is why I love LA.” Rocky places his arm around Charlie as the rest of the group follows. Eric stays back.

“I haven’t spoken to you about your adventure Down Under. Give me the juice,” he probes.

“Eric, this isn’t the time. Not here, at least.”

He lets out a loud gasp and covers his mouth. “You got laid!”

“Eric… shh!”

“Batman got some kitty!”

“OMG, Eric. That’s so crude, even by my standards.”

The back door opens once again with Lex carrying a bag of trash. He looks our way, his eyes darting with curiosity, and I know he really doesn’t need to take out the trash. Considering he despises housework, it’s blatantly obvious what he’s doing.

“Let’s go in. We’ll talk later.”

Back inside, everyone is happily eating dessert. I notice the time is after nine and tell everyone I need to head home to get Andy to bed. After a number of goodbyes, I head off home.

A little later I pull into my driveway but feel somewhat odd. Andy is fast asleep in the back of the car, and something warns me to look around. The neighborhood is quiet, a few cars parked on the street which belong to residents. There’s a faint glow of light coming from the streetlamp. In the distance, I can hear the sounds of birds or even bats.

I focus on a rustling sound, the tree in front of the yard, and I see a shadow.

Holy shit, this is it!

I’m being stalked!

I am about to grab the broom on the porch, ready to defend us when I hear my name being whispered, and the shadow moves away from the tree, walking toward me.

Shocked, second-guessing my imagination, I walk toward the figure.

“Batman?”

His familiar laugh confirms my suspicion, and I immediately run toward him, jumping into his embrace as he squeezes me tighter than he ever has before. I bury my face into his neck, and his scent of aftershave reminds me how much I miss him.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were at a publisher’s party?”

“I was. In LA. You never asked that, smarty pants.”

“You got me there.” I examine his face. Even in his intoxicated state, he is deliciously handsome. I’m unable to hide the smile on my face as he grins in return. Just when I thought all was lost between us, he places his warm lips on mine, and I melt into him.

Finally, he is home.