Bad for You by Weston Parker
24
BRITTANY
As I watched Tristin going off again, my stomach sank to my shoes. I had Archer with me now, which was miles better than being in this hostile territory by myself, but he wasn’t the man I wanted to be with.
Then you should’ve gone with Tristin, a voice chided in my mind, but I shook it off. I hadn’t realized how many people would be here, all clamoring for a piece of him. Having me with him would only slow him down, and perhaps even damage their opinions of him.
“Selena is a demanding taskmaster, huh?” Archer joked, leaning back against the railing with his beer in his hand. “That lady scares the shit out of me.”
You have no idea, buddy.“Yeah, she’s definitely something alright.”
“You look upset,” he said after pausing for a beat. I felt his gaze drilling into the side of my face, but I couldn’t look at him. Not when it was clear he was reading me so well already. “Want to talk about it?”
I shook my head at first, but then the nervousness and uncertainty took over my decision-making. This was Tristin’s friend, and from his lack of questioning about who I was or what the nature of my relationship was with Tristin, I assumed he already knew about me. Which meant Tristin had confided in him. Which—to my angst-riddled mind—meant I could probably trust him too.
The next thing I knew, I was spilling my guts to him even though he was a complete stranger to me. “I hate being here. It makes me feel inadequate in every way. Maybe if I’d known we were coming to the coast for this party, I’d have felt differently about it, but he didn’t tell me. I could’ve packed a more appropriate outfit, at the very least.”
I took a deep breath and then continued my rambling rant, still without even looking at the poor man I was pouring my heart out to. “I feel like he ambushed me with it, and I really don’t like that feeling. Maybe I wouldn’t have agreed to come if he had told me before, but at least then I’d have felt like I had a choice in the matter. We were already here, just down the road, when he told me about the party.
“To make matters worse,” I said, barely pausing to breathe as I picked up steam, “Selena made this horrible comment about how I could’ve at least put in some effort with my clothing. It’s obvious she doesn’t want me here. I shouldn’t have come and knew it.”
Archer was a surprisingly good listener, staying quiet while his eyes and the expression on his face made it clear that he was focused on me. He was frowning by the time I was done, my chest heaving and my cheeks flushed from how upset I was.
“I’m sorry about all this,” he said finally. “Tristin didn’t bring you here to make you miserable. In fact, his intention was quite the opposite.”
He rolled his head on his shoulders, looking slightly pained when he lifted his face again. “He probably should’ve given you a heads-up for packing purposes, but you should know how excited he was to spend the weekend with you. You could’ve shown up here in ratty old pajamas and he wouldn’t have given a damn, but I get it. This is a tough crowd to impress.”
“I don’t even really care about impressing them,” I said honestly. “All I want is to not be the one everyone is looking at and wondering what the heck I’m doing here.”
“Again, I really don’t think that’s the way Tristin is looking at it,” he replied, his dark eyes open and more apologetic than I’d have expected. “He’s proud to have you on his arm regardless of what you’re wearing. The guy has been flying fighter jets not long after he graduated high school. I don’t think he’s given much thought to dress codes at society parties in years. You’re the only thing that’s important to him at this particular party.”
“That might be, but he still has a job to do here, and I feel like an intruder.” I wrapped my arms around my waist, wishing that we could just go back to yesterday.
Everything had felt so damn perfect when it had been just us, the gorgeous rental house, and the beach. Archer might not have known me very well, but he seemed to read me like a pro. After swallowing the sip of beer he’d taken, he pointed the open end of the bottle toward the door.
“If you’re really not enjoying yourself, you should go. He really wouldn’t want you to stay if it’s making you this miserable to be here. Trust me when I say that he doesn’t want to be here either. Go back to the house, and I’ll let him know you’ll be there when he’s done.”
“I can’t do that, can I?” It seemed terribly rude, and it wasn’t something I’d usually even consider, but it wasn’t like anybody would really miss me if I slipped out. “Won’t Tristin and everyone who saw me arriving with him think I’m ditching him if I just leave?”
“Nope, I’ll cover for you with anyone who asks. I know how these things can be. I’ll keep people thinking you’re hanging around. As for the man of the hour, let me handle him. I’ll make sure he knows where you are.”
It took me all of five seconds to make up my mind. “You know what? I think I’m going to take you up on your offer.”
“Want me to give you a ride back to your place?” he asked.
I shook my head, suddenly feeling a million tons lighter now that I knew I would be leaving soon. “It’s not far. If I walk down the beach, it shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes to get there. A walk sounds like a really good idea to me right around now.”
“Fine, but let me put my number in your phone. Let me know when you get there, and call me if you run into any problems.”
Dutifully fishing the device out of my purse, I handed it over and watched him key in his number. I kept his contact open so I’d remember to send him a message as soon as I unlocked my phone and saw it there, then sneaked out.
There were two sets of stairs leading off the patio down to pathways that connected in front of the house. I took the staircase closest to us, pretty sure no one even noticed me slipping away. The pathways were covered in vegetation, in some places even forming natural canopies, effectively cutting me off from prying eyes as I made my way to the beach.
I felt bad for leaving Tristin, but he’d barely been at my side, and I didn’t want to hang around like a bad smell while I waited for him. Archer would let him know I was gone and safe, so he wouldn’t have to worry about me while he carried out his duties.
All the way back to our house, I thought about how disappointed I was that the weekend had turned out this way. It wasn’t just the weekend either. It was everything.
The further away I got from the Ramsey mansion, the more I battled with the overwhelming feeling that I’d made a mistake. Just because I’d always fantasized about getting a second chance with him didn’t mean it ever should’ve happened.
Selena had been right all those years ago. I didn’t fit into Tristin’s lifestyle of the rich and famous, and I never would. Despite how easy things were when it was just us, that wasn’t the way life worked.
People didn’t live in these isolated bubbles where nothing and no one else mattered. Especially not people like Tristin. The man was at the helm of a multinational company. His family was very well-known where we came from and for good reason.
I needed to stop lying to myself. He wasn’t just my Tristin, the boy-turned-man who’d been my best friend and my first everything. He was Tristin Lucas Ramsey, the heir to what might as well have been the throne in the aviation industry. A fighter pilot, war veteran, and newly minted CEO who I never even should’ve met. If his grandfather hadn’t had the public school philosophy, I never would’ve met him.
When I finally pushed open the doors at the house, I shook the sand off my feet and headed straight for the room. While I got my overnight bag out of the closet and started packing, I also pulled up the bus schedules on my phone.
There was a stop not far away from here that went to the main terminal in town. The next bus to Raleigh departed in a little over three hours, which gave me enough time to finish packing, wait for Tristin, tell him I was leaving, and get there on time.
It was tempting to just text him to let him know I was going home, but I couldn’t do it. Not after everything we’d been through and the way I’d broken up with him the first time around. He deserved better than that this time.
A proper explanation and an actual goodbye.
Of course, I didn’t know how long he’d still be at the party. If I had to, I’d text him for now and talk to him in person once he got back, but it would be a cleaner break if we could both just leave it all behind us right along with the memories of this weekend and what it might’ve been.
I’d never just leave without a word, so once I was packed, I set my bag down by the front door and reclined on the couch with my phone. I pulled up an e-book on my reading app and tried my best to get lost in the world the author had created.
Thoughts of Tristin kept me from becoming completely immersed in the story, but at least reading helped pass the time. Sooner than I’d thought he might be back, I heard his car in the drive, and then the door banged open.
He stormed into the room with a wild expression on his face, his eyes wide and his hair standing up as if he’d been tugging at it. His chest was heaving, and he was muttering under his breath. A frown tugged at my brows. I was wondering what had happened to make him look this way when his darting gaze finally spotted me as I sat up on the couch.
“Brittany. Fuck. You scared me,” he said, rushing over and sinking down to his knees in front of me. “I thought you’d be gone. Archer told me you’d just come back here, but I thought…”
As he trailed off, he blew out a deep breath and scrubbed his hands over his face. He must’ve seen my bag at the door with the movement, because panic suddenly blew his eyes wide open again, and he grabbed both my hands, looking up at me imploringly.
“Don’t leave, Brit,” he murmured, a dark, stormy gaze fixed on mine as he tightened his hold on my fingers. “Please don’t leave. I made a mistake by not telling you about the party earlier, and then I made an even bigger one by taking you when you so clearly didn’t want to go.”
“I’m never going to fit into your world, Tristin.” I turned my hands in his so our palms were pressed together, my voice quivering as I tried to say what I needed to. My pain shone from his eyes as he stared up at me, putting together what I was about to say before I’d even said it.
“Don’t do this, baby,” he said, literally begging on his knees. “Don’t leave me again. We’re just getting started. I don’t give a fuck about that world. You are my world. Please stay. I’ll make it up to you. I promise. Just give me a chance to do it.”
I inhaled deeply, struggling with the fact that he was on his knees for me. My heart was pounding, pleading with me to do what he wanted and stay. In the back of my mind, however, I saw Selena’s sneer when she saw me walking into her home. I saw the way those people had looked me up and down, and I remembered how it had all made me feel like I’d never be good enough.
“I’ll stay,” I said finally, cautiously deciding to listen to my heart instead of my head. “I’ll stay here with you for the rest of the weekend, but I want you to really think about it, Tristin. Think about your duties to your family and the company. Think about those people you do business with and what their expectations of you are. Think about your future and what you want out of it. Think about everything, and then let me know once you’ve decided.”
“I don’t need to think about it,” he said firmly, his chin up and his shoulders open wide. His eyes bored into mine with fierce determination and absolute resoluteness in them. “Coming back was me fulfilling my duty and meeting their expectations. We have nothing to do with that, and we never will. The only thing I want out of my future is to build a life with you. You are my world, Brittany. Nothing will ever change that.”
