Dare Me Forever (16 page)

Thankfully, he played
along right away. “And you. Please call me Ryan.” He smiled that
cheeky grin, massaging my hand with his thumb.

What the fuck was he
doing here? How did he know
her
?

Miranda put her hand on
Ryan’s shoulder, probably upset that she wasn’t the one getting
attention for that one split second.

“Amy, remember how I
mentioned my new business venture? Well I am investing in MORGAN
properties. Ryan is the company CEO, and he couldn’t meet any other
night. I thought why not combine business and pleasure,” she
practically purred.

Oh spare me. And wasn’t
Hunter’s father the CEO? I was totally confused. “Are you sure I
should stay? We could very well find another night, Miranda,” I
said, trying not to sound too hopeful.

But of course that
would be too good to be true. “No, no,” Miranda insisted. “If I
am going to get into bed with this fellow, I want your approval.”
She chuckled.

Leave it to Miranda to
make everything sexual. My face twisted into a forced smile. “I
think you mean business partners, Mother,” I said through gritted
teeth. I knew Ryan would never go for her, but I’d never thought
many horrible things that had happened with her were possible either.

Ryan looked at me,
trying to signal something, but I could hardly see straight. I was
too upset to figure out how this could have happened, let alone read
his secret messages. Did he think I’d suddenly become telepathic?

Whatever was happening
between Miranda and Ryan, I knew my mother. She could never just make
it about business. She’d keep trying to tempt him, or just try to
undermine me all the time. I didn’t want her knowing a thing about
my personal life. If she was going to stay in the picture, there was
no way Ryan and I could continue doing whatever it was that we were
doing. I could feel my eyes beginning to water with frustration.

I finally meet someone
where I feel something more real, more important, than I’ve ever
felt, and then it was ruined. By
her
. Like always.

I sat numbly through
dinner, saying enough “
yes
” and “
mmhm
”s to make
it seem like I was listening. Easy enough. Miranda never really cared
for conversation—what she really wanted was an audience.

I was completely
distraught. Memories kept flashing in my mind, forcing me to relive
everything my mother had ever done to me, everything she had taken
from me. She had ruined the best parts of my life before. I couldn’t
even imagine what she would do to this.
No,
I thought as I
placed my fork down and took a sip of water.
Stop thinking like
this.
But I couldn’t stop myself. I blinked away tears.

Ryan kept on trying to
get me to look at him, offering more wine, asking me how I was
enjoying my dinner, but I could barely look his way. How could he
think going into business with her was a good idea?

Dinner couldn’t be
over fast enough. As I picked at my cobb salad, I kept feeling
twinges of irritation striking my stomach. I couldn’t do this. I
pushed away my salad only half eaten. Before the check was paid, I
stood up from the table.

“Miranda, Ryan, it
was a pleasure. But I have to go. I have an early morning.” I tried
to smile in their direction while I picked my purse off the floor.

“Let me walk you
out,” Ryan demanded.

Miranda put her hand on
his arm again. “Ryan, please, Amy is a big girl and we have a few
more details to go over. Stay here. Good night, Amy. Thank you for
coming.” I was dismissed.

I walked away as
quickly as possible so no one would see the tears that had been
threatening all evening start to pour down my cheeks. Whenever I
found someone, or something that made me feel truly happy, Miranda
always found a way to corrupt it. I ran to the valet, and thankfully
the car pulled up quickly.

Jumping into my Bug, I
locked the doors, and sobbed.

Amy

An hour after I’d
gotten home, put on my softest Maroon 5 tee-shirt, and poured myself
a nice glass of wine, I heard a car pull up and park outside my
house. I peeked out the window and sure enough it was Ryan’s car.
He quickly disentangled himself from the seat belt and was
determinedly walking up to my door. If I wasn’t so upset about what
had happened at dinner, I’d be totally turned on by the way he was
so aggressively walking towards me.

What I really wanted to
do was pretend I wasn’t home. As hot as he was walking up the path,
I was so incredibly upset. As he rang the doorbell, I sighed. I knew
I’d have to deal with this sooner or later—might as well get it
over with. Hoping my eyes weren’t bright red and swollen from
crying, I opened the door.

He stood before me, his
face hurt and full of longing. I couldn’t look into his eyes, but I
couldn’t look away either.

“Amy, we both know
this is something special and different,” Ryan said, his voice low.
I met his gaze and saw he was speaking the truth. “If I had known
she was your mother, if the business didn’t need this partnership,
I’d cancel it right away. But I can’t.” His voice grew harder
as he mentioned business.

“I can’t be with
you,” I said. The words felt like poison, making me hate my lips,
my tongue for uttering them. “Not that we are together, but you
know this, whatever this is between us, can’t continue. I can’t
have Miranda in my life. And if we keep dating, she would never
leave. She’s your business partner. I can barely spend a whole hour
with her without breaking out in hives.” My voice trembled, and I
tried to keep it steady. “Besides, who knows where this would have
gone anyway, right?” I asked, trying to sound certain and
confident, but the pain pounded beneath my words like a heartbeat.
I’m sure Ryan could feel it.

“Stop.” Ryan put
his hand on my arm.

“Listen,” I said,
drawing my arm away. I needed him to understand. This wasn’t a rash
decision or an immature one. It hurt more than I could describe, but
it needed to be said—and he needed to listen. “Miranda ran out on
us,” I explained. “She left my brother and me alone. As a kid, I
was raising him, making ends meet to support us. After a year or two,
I was making it work. I missed my father like crazy, but my friends
were incredible and I was dating Hunter. And his family became like
my own family. I’d missed that so much.”

Ryan’s eyes narrowed
at the mention of his name. “I didn’t know you dated him.”

“This isn’t about
that,” I said, a touch of impatience in my voice. “Yes, we were
together in high school. But it wasn’t just Hunter, it was really
his family too. They took me in, had us over for dinners, gave us the
care we were missing. Miranda would come to visit, and sometimes,
even come to the Morgan’s house for dinner. I don’t know how she
could show her face.” My voice started to tremble again. I put my
hand against the door frame to support myself.

I took a breath before
pressing on. “And then one day, I was meeting Hunter at his house.
The backdoor was always open and the Morgans always made me feel like
it was my home, so I went in. I was waiting for Hunter downstairs,
but then heard someone upstairs. I thought I was there alone, so I
walked towards the noise. That’s when I saw them.” I paused for
half a moment. I felt like I was on a tipping point, on the verge of
something huge. Did I dare to tell Ryan this?

“Miranda was in
Hunter’s bed,” I said, my voice stony, “fucking Jim Morgan.
They didn’t see me and I tried to get out of there as fast as I
could. I guess he thought using his son’s room made it less
immoral. Like he wasn’t ruining his marriage bed.

But then I sensed
someone behind me. Mrs. Morgan must have gotten home and heard the
same thing, and she’d quietly come up the stairs. I could just see
how much it hurt her—it was written all over her face. She’d only
been a wonderful, sweet, and generous presence in my life, and then
Miranda had to go and ruin it all. I didn’t know what to say and I
felt horrible intruding on her in that moment. I ran back downstairs.
Miranda wasn’t happy with just ruining my life. She had to destroy
their family too. And ruining my safe haven—the only place I had
left.”

“Oh Amy, I am so
sorry.” Ryan slowly rubbed my shoulder.

I took a deep breath,
trying to keep my voice steady but unable to stop the pain from
resurfacing. “And then a few weeks later, Mrs. Morgan told me it
was too hard for her to see me around the house. That she was
mortified at what we’d seen and seeing me all the time—well I was
just reminding her of it, twisting the knife. She asked me to please
not come over anymore. I never told anyone. But I was devastated. I
lost the only family I had.”

I looked at Ryan, met
his green eyes. I
needed
him to understand. “I’d never ask
you to compromise the business, but you have to understand: that
woman ruins everything good in my life, and I just can’t go through
that again.”

He grabbed my hand and
pushed me through the door so that we were in the living room, not
outside anymore. The door swung shut behind us. Grabbing my face
between his hands, he stared into my eyes. I could see the intensity
and want in his gaze. My heart nearly stopped as he leaned in.

He slowly kissed my
lips, then under my ear, and along my jaw, and made his way back to
my lips. It was tender. He put his full lips against mine, slowly
teasing them open with his own. I felt the kiss all over my body. I
had to stop this before I lost my resolve.

Tears were slowly
falling from my eyes, and must have been spilling on his handsome
face. I placed my hand on his chest and gently pushed him away. I
didn’t want him to see me cry.

“We can’t do this.
She’ll ruin me. She’ll ruin this. She always does.” I walked
back towards the door, and started to open it. I gestured for him to
leave but he just stood there.

“Ryan, good night.”

He still didn’t move.

“Leave, please,” I
repeated.

He looked at me, really
looked into my eyes and whispered, “We should figure this out.
Don’t shut me out.”

But couldn’t he see?
I didn’t have a choice.

Ryan

I left Amy’s,
dejected and angry. Why in bloody hell was the one investor I needed
her fucked up mother? I felt like the universe was messing with me. I
got into the car, and drove towards the hotel.

I couldn’t get Amy
off my mind. Being with her only made me want more of her. She was
everything and more, and I’d never felt like this about anyone. Not
to mention the sex, it was brilliant.

Maybe if I could figure
out why the company’s money was disappearing, I wouldn’t need
Miranda. I didn’t know how to prove my suspicions but I needed to
figure it out. Perhaps I could save things. Who was I kidding? Even
if I got to the bottom of this, it wasn’t like the missing money
would be waiting for me at the end of the fucking rainbow.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I
racked my brain for some way to save the situation. I needed Amy, and
I also needed her mother’s fucking money. I needed to do a better
job of explaining to Amy where I came from and what this kind of
project means. I never shared my history with people I dated. I never
wanted their pity, or even their compliments at how I’d made it
against all odds.

But if anyone would
understand, I knew it would be her.

I called her phone. It
rang and rang, but she didn’t answer.

Amy

“You know I love you
Amy. But Luke isn’t a kid anymore and you can’t hide behind
taking care of him to keep your life on hold.” Jamie bit her lip,
which she always does when she is worried. I was sitting on the edge
of her couch, trying to keep myself together.

“I’m not putting my
life on hold.” My voice was unsteady as I spoke. I wasn’t hiding
behind Luke. I was being smart. I wiped my face with the edge of my
Maroon 5 shirt. And what did she know anyway? She never had to raise
a child when she was a child herself. “But I do know that I want
someone who isn’t involved in any way with my mother. What kind of
person would think working with Miranda is a good idea? Plus he never
told me he was CEO of MORGAN Properties. What else isn’t he telling
me?” I said raising my voice.

Jamie looked away, and
then back at me. “Well maybe you should ask him,” she said
quietly. I was sick of her advice. There was nothing left to talk
about. I didn’t care. Ryan was going to complete this partnership
with Miranda and there was nothing I could do about it. I just
couldn’t go out with him anymore. Easy as that. And luckily I found
this out before things got too serious.

I’m sure I could
forget about him. I mean I’d only known him a few weeks. I’d had
a fine life before he walked into it, and I could definitely recover
after saying goodbye. Surely I could find someone else wonderful and
hot. I tried not to think of our incredible connection—if I did, I
would start crying again. And I didn’t want to deal with Jamie’s
knowing looks or sympathy. She was and is an incredible friend, but
no one can understand what it’s like to have a mother like mine…and
how for my sanity I need to stay as far away from her as possible,
and anyone associated with her.

Jamie put her hand on
my shoulder. “Ames, I’m only going to say this one more time, but
I’ve never seen you so happy as you’ve been the last few weeks.
I’ve never seen you like someone so much.”

I felt hot tears on my
cheeks.

“It’s your time
now.” Her voice was soft. “You need to live a little.”

I looked away. Jamie
just didn’t get it. And I knew Cat wouldn’t get it. And I
couldn’t bother Luke about this now that he was on his own. The
only person who I wanted to call who I thought--no, who I
knew
would understand--was the one person I couldn’t talk to anymore.