Forever Careless Read online

  "I just thought I would say hi."

  "Did you follow me?" I ask, curious as to why I see him everywhere now.

  "Don’t flatter yourself, sweetheart. It was good to see you, Audrey. I will be the one leaving you this time." He smirks and gets up making me wonder what just happened. A pair of giggling girls follows him out of the bakery. He turns and winks at me, I cringe on the inside.

  With that I decide to go home. I pull into my driveway and walk inside to find Olivia dressed to impress. She's shoving keys and lip gloss into her purse.

  "Well, well Olivia. Where are you going so dressed up?"

  "Adrian is taking me out tonight." She says with a smile behind her soft voice. Adrian’s knock stopped me from getting the juicy details. I walk upstairs to change into my new comfortable pink sweats and scroll through my Netflix titles. My phone buzzes with a text from a strange number.

  Audrey I hope you don't mind I got your number from Olivia, Kellen

  Do I mind? He's incredibly gorgeous and recently drafted. But also a player? The cons outweigh the pros. Oh I mind.

  What would happen if it told you I do mind?

  He responds almost immediately. I'll be there in 10.

  I'm in complete shock! Kellen is coming to my house? He asked Olivia for my phone number? Has anyone cleaned this damn house this month? I jump up quickly to make my home presentable for a guest. After I'm semi satisfied with my work a knock draws me from my anxiety attack. I pass by the mirror and kick myself for not making myself look decent. Another text comes in from Olivia.

  Be careful with him. She would give my number and address out to a guy and then tell me to be careful with him.

  "Come in," I yell. Kellen casually strolls in with a pizza box.

  "Hey Audrey, I brought your favorite." He is wearing a black v neck shirt with athletic shorts. His hair is still damp from a shower and I take in his fresh alluring scent.

  Come again? I cock my eyebrow at him expecting an excuse that never comes. I open the box to find Spinach Pepperoni pizza.

  "Wow. Thanks, Kellen, this is great." I breath out, irritated Olivia gave him so much information. What else she told him?

  "Audrey, was that positive feedback from you?" He shakes his head in disbelief.

  "I'm full of surprises," I mutter back. He grabs my hand and leads me to the sofa with the pizza box in his hand. I stare at my hand feeling flushed. How does he have such an effect on me when I barely know him?

  "What's it going to be tonight?" He says before taking a bite of pizza. I stare at him and our interlaced fingers. What? "What movie?" He nods to my flat screen. Oh. Pull yourself together, Audrey.

  "Let's watch a scary movie!" I say with excitement. I see him moving uncomfortably on the couch.

  "Are you scared?" I tease and nudge him with my elbow.

  "Can I sleep in your bed?" The corners of his mouth turn up making his dimples show. I turn my head before I agree to his suggestion.

  "I’ll pick out the movie," I say with a glare, hoping he doesn't press that issue too much. I don't trust myself around him.

  "So tell me about yourself, Audrey," he says as I flip through movies.

  "I'm a senior, a business major. I have to take over my families publishing company in New York next August. Hmm you never how boring you are until you try to explain yourself to someone." I giggle.

  "You have to take over the company? What would you do as first choice?" He watches me thoughtfully. I shift to turn in his direction so I can look in his blue eyes.

  "I've never had that option. My dad passed away three years ago and my mom doesn't want to run the company so I will be CEO on my own." I sigh and try to shake the anxiety from my mind. I don't want to think of moving back home. “I don’t want my dad’s company to be sold.”

  “Do you think he would want you to sell it to be happy or run it because you have to?” When I don’t answer he continues,” I’m sorry about your dad. I lost both of my parents at a young age and lived with my aunt and uncle since then." He says in a nonchalant tone but I can see the hurt in his eyes before he glances back to the TV. “What’s the company?”

  “Henson Publishing,” I rack my brain for a response to his heart breaking secret instead he comes to my rescue.

  "Let's watch the original Halloween!" He says.

  I can't help but to smile that he chose one of my favorites. The opening credits roll on. Cue the theme music and I can't help but to have a huge grin on my face. Kellen does a perfect girl scream impression and yells at the TV. I look at his face to see the most content look and happiness in his eyes. Is this the same guy that Olivia tells me to be careful with?

  The sound of his husky laughter is music to my ears. I've never felt so relaxed and happy with anyone else. Kellen turns and catches me watching him; I bite my lip and try to play it off. He throws his arm around my shoulder to bring me in closer. I lay my head on his perfectly sculpted body and the heaviness of my eyes gets the best of me.

  I awake before my alarm. That is the worst feeling in the world. I jolt up when I realize I'm in my bed. Kellen must have brought me up after I fell asleep on him last night. I smile when I think back to my night with him. Who knew Kellen Reeves could be so laid back and fun? I glance at my phone to find two new messages.

  Audrey, I trust you're doing well in school. Keep in touch. X Mom

  She's always dry and to the point. I type a quick response and move onto my next message.

  I had a fun night, Audrey. Btw you're snoring gives horror movie screams a run for their money.

  I throw down my phone and gasp. I do not snore! Do I? He knows what he's doing, jerk. I decide to not reply for awhile. I’m pulled out of my personal horror from Olivia's door shutting. I jump out of bed and make it into the kitchen to ask her a million and one questions about Kellen.

  "Good morning Audrey." Her voice is raspy from her night. I will avoid details at all cost of her evening with Adrian.

  "Kellen came by last night," I tell her, my tone is thick with accusation. She stops pouring her cereal to smile up at me.

  "I heard." She smiles and continues with her morning routine. Getting details out of her might be harder than I thought.

  "He texted me and surprised me with my favorite pizza. Liv, do you know anything about this?" I walk over to where she's standing and grab the cereal box from her. She smiles innocently and shrugs.

  "He's been asking Adrian about you. He finally asked me yesterday and I gave him a little insight. That's all." She shoves past me to sit down at our breakfast bar.

  She sights and hesitantly looks at me, "Audrey, be careful with him. He's a close friend of Adrian's but he disposes of women quickly. I don't want to you to get hurt. He's nothing like William. And please, Audrey, don't tell him you're a virgin." Her tone is soft and she speaks to me like I'm a child.

  "We are just friends, Liv." I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in. I remind myself I already knew this but I still didn’t like hearing it."William was three years ago. I've changed since I've dated him and I realize I haven't dated since. I have to focus on school I don't have time for a social life."

  "I know, Audrey. Just promise me you'll be careful.” I nod my head knowing she's right. I hang my shoulders in defeat and go up stairs to get ready for class. I spend extra time fixing myself this morning. I tell myself it’s because I want to look nice for school. I pick up my phone to check time. Uh oh! I yank on my flats and head to my Beemer.

  ∞

  My 9:30 class lets out early. Forty five minutes until my next class with no distractions. I walk outside and collapse on a bench it's such a gorgeous day I can't wait to get home and get in my pool.

  "I thought you might like a coffee." I look up to see Kellen grinning with his signature side smile and offering me a small plastic cup. He looks handsome as usual in a white t shirt tight enough to show off his biceps and dark wash jeans. His dark hair is hidden in a baseball cap.

  "Oh,” Is the
only thing I can manage to say. Is he always this nice? It’s the nice ones that you have to watch for, I remind myself. Olivia's warning immediately comes to mind.

  "I thought you might need some coffee. You seemed exhausted last night." He says nudging my shoulder. The innocent touch causes the butterflies to stir within me.

  "This first week back is kicking my butt." I tell him. I leave out that he's mentally exhausting me and that I’m having a mild panic attack from his surprise visit.

  "Can I take you out tonight?" He takes a seat beside me and catches my eyes.

  “Why are you here?” I blurt out.

  “I wanted to ask you out,” he laughs. “I just saw Adrian and his girlfriend. She may have mentioned where you were.” I almost tell him that Olivia is definitely not tied down to him but I let it go.

  "I shouldn’t go out tonight." I don’t know if I’m trying to convince myself or Kellen.

  “Are you busy?” When I don’t answer he continues, "I’ll pick you up at eight.” He walks off leaving me to question why I didn’t turn him down when my mind is telling me to run, far away, from him. Maybe I should have told him that I won’t straddle his lap and make out with him on this date. That would’ve changed his mind! I’m sure that’s all that he’s used to.

  I take a sip of my coffee and attempt to dive back into highlighting important sections of my notes but my mind is failing me now. Kellen is being suspiciously nice to me and I want to know what’s going on inside of his mind.

  I never saw Kellen while he was in college, but I heard all of the stories about his girls. I can’t help but wonder if he has a motive for this. I’m not sleeping with him so if that’s the reason he needs to knock it off. I throw all of my notes together and storm off from the bench after my anxious mind convinces itself that Kellen is only trying to sleep with me.

  ∞

  I step out of the shower and stare at my long, blonde hair before I decide to let it dry straight. Curling my hair takes more time than I have. Besides I’m not trying to impress anyone, I tell myself.

  I towel my body off and pull on the black leggings and cheetah top. I look at myself in the reflection and apply make-up. I highlight my check bones, put on a coat of mascara, and pink lip gloss before slipping on flats and walk downstairs.

  “Where are you going so fancy?” I hear Olivia yell when I pass by the downstairs bedroom we turned into an office to do our homework in.

  “I kind of have a date,” I tell her. I was hoping to avoid telling her about my second run in with Kellen.

  This has her attention. She tosses her pencil down on her book and walks out of the room to find me patiently waiting on the couch. “Spill everything,” she takes a seat beside me. “Is it that guy that got your number at the bar?”

  “I ran into Kellen Reeves today. Do you know anything about that?” I give her a pointed look and she grins. “He asked, and no he told me that we were going out tonight.”

  “I’m sure you were forced into this,” she rolls her eyes. “You look too good to say that you aren’t excited about the date.”

  A knock at the door rescues me from attempting to downplay my feelings about this date. Olivia saunters over to answer the door, he walks in and she grins devilishly behind him. I drag my eyes from her to see Kellen dressed simply in a v-neck shirt and jeans. He still manages to look perfect.

  “You look beautiful,” he tells me.

  “Thanks,” I murmur, feeling nervous about the night. “Where are we going?”

  “Bowling,” he simply says and opens the door and gestures for me to follow him.

  “Bowling?” Olivia and I question at the same time.

  “Yes, bowling. Are you ready?” I glance in Olivia’s direction for help but she puts her hands up and walks in another room.

  “I don’t know how to bowl,” I tell him when we walk out from my house.

  “I’ll teach you,” he laughs. “It’s fun, they have a bar and pizza.”

  “If you say so…” I shoot him a look. “Let’s take my car.”

  “Lead the way,” he follows behind me. I open the garage to reveal my BMW and Olivia’s Audi waiting for someone to drive them. “Please tell me this is yours.” I glance at him to see that he’s basically drooling over Olivia’s car.

  “No, I wish.” I laugh at him. “We have to go in my piece of junk,” I tease him.

  A twenty minute drive turned into a thirty minute drive after I missed our turn. I slide out of the driver seat and glance around the parking lot. The place is run down is the first thing that comes to my mind. I follow closely behind him as he walks to the desk and buys our games.

  “We have number eight,” he points in the direction. “Meet me over there. I’m getting pizza, want anything else?” I shake my head no.

  I walk to the lane that has the eight on it and toss my purse down. There is a rack full of bowling balls on my right, I bend down and inspect each one before choosing the lightest one I can find. Kellen walks to the table closest to our lane and sets the two plates on the table.

  “Did you put our names in?” He nods to the screen that I didn’t notice until now. I shake my head and he shrugs. “We can leave them as numbers.”

  He walks over to the rack of bowling balls and reaches down to the bottom row and pulls the heaviest one out. I gesture for him to bowl first hoping to get an idea how to do this. My eyes follow each of his movements, when he releases the ball I peek around him to see the ball streak down the lane and knock over every pin.

  “You’re up,” he grins at me. I could ask him for help but then I would look desperate. I decide to play it safe. I mimic all of his moves but as soon as I let go of the ball it’s not as graceful, it doesn’t go as fast, and it ventures into the gutter leaving all of my pins standing and mocking me.

  “Not bad for your first time,” he tells me.

  “I’m a sore loser,” I warn him and he laughs.

  “Me too,” he tosses the ball down the lane and knocks over every pin again. “It doesn’t look like I have to worry about losing tonight.” His devilish grin makes me question if there is a hidden meaning.

  I glare at him and this time I knock over two pins. “You bowl better when you’re pissed off. Maybe I should do it more often,” he says when I turn around to wait for my ball to return.

  “I don’t think you have to try. It’s a natural thing for you.”

  And that’s how our games go. I pick up on the game quickly but I’m not good enough to beat him, or come near his score. After the game we walk to the table where pizza is waiting for us.

  “Good game,” he tells me and I glare at him as he takes a seat beside me. When he catches my eyes he chuckles, “not bad for your first time.”

  “Yeah, watch your back next time.”

  “You grew up in New York with… Adrian’s girlfriend?” He asks after he takes his first bite.

  “Olivia,” I correct him. “And yes, I’m from New York,” With no desire to return.

  “Sorry I’m not good with girls;” he stops midsentence. “I’m not good with names.”I look at him with disgust because I know what his line of thought is. “Not you,” he tells me.

  “Oh, I’m different, right?” I roll my eyes at him.

  “You are,” he agrees with me. His phone buzzes, his face falls when he looks at the screen, “Hello.”

  I pick at the pizza in front of me and try to not make it obvious that I’m listening to his conversation. Why did he look so upset when he looked at the caller?

  “Can this wait?” He asks, clearly pissed at the person on the other end. “Okay, I’m on way.” He shoves his phone in his pockets and throws his food in the trash. “I’m sorry, something came up.”

  “I had a good night,” he tells me as he parks my car in the now empty garage. “It was…different.” He grins to me.

  “What do you mean?” I ask curiously.

  “Never mind,” he shakes his head. “Are you busy next week?”

&
nbsp; “I have classes,” I give him a confused look. I reach into my backseat to grab my purse. I need to get out of the car.

  “I have out of town games and I have to leave tomorrow but I have a day off next week. Can I take you out again?” He looks nervous.

  “Yeah,” I smile at him and open the door to get out of the car. “Do you want to come inside?”

  He looks at my house and back to me before he shakes his head,” I can’t,” he finally says. He walks over and pulls me in a quick hug before walking off.

  I walk in the back door of my house and kick off my shoes. My mind replays our evening as I walk up the stairs and into my bedroom. We went bowling, we didn’t go to dinner and there was no physical contact. Maybe this wasn’t a date.

  And the call he received…. It hits me like a ton of bricks. My mind flashed back to each call that Olivia and I have done to get out of bad dates. This wasn’t a bad date, right? It was awkward, of course, all first dates are awkward. I remind myself that I’m talking about Kellen Reeves. He was probably disappointed my clothes were still on and had someone call.

  I toss my clothes on the floor and pull a long t-shirt from my closet. I tear back my purple sheets and fall into bed, my eyes remain on the ceiling, my mind replays small details of our short and uneventful night, and sleep never comes. Being turned down by a man whore is an ugly thing.

  Chapter three

  I pull into my driveway and look up at my Spanish style two story house. This house is far too big for Olivia and me but I will miss it when I move back to Long Island. I sigh and will myself to not think about it anymore.

  The sun is beating down on my back as I walk to my house. I trek upstairs in search of my black bikini. I quickly tear out of my clothes and pull on my bikini and grab my notes as I head out to the pool. This is the distraction I need to keep my thoughts from going to Kellen and the terrifying idea of a date with him tomorrow.

  My phone buzzes when I reach the edge of the pool; I look down to see an incoming call from my mother. I let it go to voicemail. I wish I could tell her that I don't want to run the company. Maybe she would understand. I would love to take time for myself after I graduate. I haven't had the chance to find my calling or what I want to do with my life. Not that it matters, I guess. Olivia yelling at me brings me back to reality.