The Avoidance of Love (The Daniels' Sisters Book 2) (3 page)

“Are you sure you’re ready, Mara?” Patrick sounded as nervous as I was which made me feel better.

Patrick Coulson had been my secret boyfriend for the last eight months. He had wanted to tell everyone that we were going out, but I wasn’t so sure. I was eighteen. When the relationship ended, and I was sure it would at some point in time, I didn’t want everyone to know. I didn’t want anyone to know I was sad about it or to pity me. I’d had enough of that already when people found out my parents were dead. Pity was the most smothering emotion I had ever encountered. Most of the girls I had seen around school had eventually split with the boys they thought they were going to be with forever. They had been gutted by the break up. I didn’t want to be one of them so I kept him at a distance.

At first, Patrick thought I was insane, but then he saw it as a mission to prove to me wrong. He knew that soon, I would want to tell everyone. Now, here we were in his bedroom and I was about to lose my virginity.

“I’m ready, Patrick. I want to do this with you.” I fumbled for the button and zipper on his jeans while he kissed me.

It was all awkward, but eventually we got there; he was gentle and tried his best to make me feel as comfortable as possible. He eased himself in slowly, and when he could see I was in pain, he whispered sweet words in my ear.

Patrick took me home afterward. As I got out the car, he took my hand. “Thank you, Mara. Tonight was perfect, and I hope it was for you, too.” He looked so cute as he sat there waiting for me to respond. I think my heart doubled in size for him. I hadn’t made a mistake in giving him something so precious after all. He had waited until I was ready to let him in closer.

“It was perfect for me, too, Patrick.” I leaned in to kiss him to affirm what I’d said. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”

After I walked into my house, I found Tara in her room studying. Her bedroom was the one before mine and she had left her door open.

“Hey, you’re back late. Everything ok?”

“Yes.” I couldn’t stop smiling. Patrick and I had never said
I love you
to each other, but I did love him in my own way and I think he felt the same. Tara left her books and followed me to my room.

“Are you ok, Mara? Not that I’m not happy with you smiling, it’s just that you don’t do it that often or this much.”

I couldn’t contain it any more. “I’ve been seeing Patrick Coulson for the last eight months, and tonight we slept together. Tara, it was perfect.”

Tara looked stunned.

“Say something.”

“I don’t know what to say. I had no idea you were going out with anyone. Lana thought you were going to announce that you were a lesbian or going to join a nunnery. She couldn’t decide. I’m happy for you, Mara. It’s nice to see you smiling.”

“He makes me happy, Tara. I’ve always thought that if you fall in love with someone, at some point, something bad would happen to ruin it all. But I actually think he’s the one for me Tara.” She left me in my room with my thoughts and eventually I fell asleep with the biggest smile on my face.

The next morning, I couldn’t wait to get to school to see Patrick. I was finally ready to be open with our relationship. When I got to school, something felt weird. As I walked down hallway, I saw a couple of glances in my direction that I couldn’t decipher. I was just about to turn the corner when I heard him. He was talking with his friends.

“Yeah, she finally gave it up. The ice maiden let me have it, and oh my god, was it worth the wait.”

“I can’t believe you waited that long. I couldn’t be around that moody bitch for that long and not want to kill myself. She makes my balls freeze the way she looks at you sometimes.” That was Martin, Patrick’s best friend, talking. Patrick laughed. My heart shattered at his amusement at his friends joke. It wasn’t a joke. It was what they thought to be true. I heard the names people called me. Bitch. Ice Maiden. Queen Castrator. I didn’t think Patrick believed them though.

I hadn’t wanted to fall in love with anyone. Patrick wanted to show me that he was worth falling in love with, but it had been a lie. It had all been a plot. Love just made you do foolish things. It left you open to heartbreak, because eventually everyone leaves. If I had just kept myself focused on my books and school, this would have never happened.

I felt the anger bubbling in me. Rage consumed my mind and my heart. I waited until his friends left before I approached. He was smiling at me and then I saw the understanding on his face. He knew that I had heard. I got as close as I could to his face without touching him. I had so much I was going to say to him but it never materialized. My fist was swinging, and it connected with his nose before I had a chance to process a second thought.

“Stay away from me.”

I turned and walked to my next class, leaving him to nurse what could have possibly been a broken nose. Who cared? I never spoke to him again and eventually the rumors died. I decided then I wouldn’t make the mistake of getting my heart involved where men were concerned ever again.

I headed back to my desk and buried myself in work for the remainder of the day.

“He was totally hot wasn’t he?” I hadn’t even noticed Coops sitting in front of my desk.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about Coops.”

He let out an exasperated sigh.

“You would have to be blind not to see how sexy he is. The man stands like a pole waiting for you to climb him.”

I looked up at Coops at this point. He had the little smirk that I loved on his face.

“Coops, I’m pretty sure he’s straight and, in any case, it doesn’t matter how sexy he is; we’re not taking him on as a client.”

“Why not?” He whined and pouted. It was adorable.

“Coops, his ideas are ridiculous. Who in their right mind wants a racetrack right next to their house? It’s absurd. We have a reputation to uphold and the only thing Mr. Bryce would do is jeopardize that.” I hoped that Coops believed the crap that I was spouting. He knew as well as I did that as long as the client was paying good money it didn’t really matter. The truth was, he made me feel uncomfortable and I didn’t want to be around him. I was willing to turn the revenue for that reason alone. There would be other contracts.

Coops was laughing and I couldn’t understand what I had said that was so funny.

“You have no idea who he is, do you?”

“Should I?”

Coops ran out the office laughing and came back moments later with a magazine in his hand and slapped it down in front of me. Mr. Bryce was on the front cover.

“He’s the current MotoGP champion!”

I looked at him puzzled.

“MotoGP!” My expression did not change. “ MotoGP. Super-bikes. Going super-fast. Vroom vroom!”

I laughed and flicked through the article about Jace Bryce winning the British Motorcycle Grand Prix this year. At least the racetrack requirement made sense now.

“What are you doing with this magazine anyway, Coops?”

“I have two older brothers and a dad that tried their very best to make me manly when it became increasingly apparent that I had a different ideas than they did when it came to men. It was quite fortunate that while they were dragging me around to watch different sports, I actually enjoyed watching MotoGP and not because the men looked hot in leather. We still go to loads of races together as our bonding activity.” Coops chuckled to himself clearly remembering something amusing from his past. “ Anyway, Jace Bryce is hot stuff right now in the racing world. I can’t believe you didn’t accept his request. I guarantee that would have been enough to build your dream house.”

I sighed, knowing he was right. “The business is built on classy endeavors, Coops. You know this. Not some little boy’s outlandish fantasy. I can’t lose my integrity just so I get my dream house.”

Coops rolled his eyes. “I’m knocking off; are you coming.”

“No. I’m going to get on with this pile of work on my desk. My nephew is coming this weekend, so I won’t be able to get through anything then. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Ok, workaholic. Text me when you get home, so I know you’re safe.”

“I will.”

Coops left, and I spent the next few hours plowing through my work. I got home not long after midnight and just managed to take a shower before crashing across my bed. The last coherent thought I had was how perfect Jace Bryce’s mouth was and how much I wished he’d kiss me.

THE NEXT EVENING was my turn to have my sisters over at my place for our regular dinner and catch up night. With us all at various points in our careers and lives in general, Dana thought it was important for us to make a concerted effort to meet up regularly to spend time together. We rotated whose house we went to just to mix things up. Each of us did things differently.

Dana normally ordered Chinese food in and we sat on the floor eating and watching a movie. Tara, always the experimentalist, usually tried new concoctions of food types flung together with the hope of producing something edible. It was a godsend that Dana always brought her Chinese menu with her on those nights. Lana liked do things the proper way so she would order in catered food, butlers (of course, in the buff) and fine wine. Her rationale was that she enjoyed treating her sisters, but I’m pretty sure she liked giving the waiters a bonus afterward—one they wouldn’t forget in a hurry. There was only so much fast-food, inedible food, and naked men I could take, so on my nights I cooked a three-course homey meal for my sisters that made the evening just enough for me to relax and enjoy myself.

It was about half way through the main course, beef bourguignon, when we were discussing how work was going for each of us that the topic of Jace Bryce came up.

“So how’s work coming along, Mara? How far are you away from the dream house? I can’t wait to get my claws on it.” When I raised my eyebrow in her direction, she added, “From a design perspective only.”

“It’s coming along slowly. I just need a few more solid contracts and I should be there. Maybe another year or two and I’ll have the money I need to start the build. A huge design contract would be great but with the recession everyone is cutting back, and it’s really bad for business.” The only reason it had taken this long was because I saved half of everything I earned, never touching it unless there was an emergency. Funnily enough those emergencies were never my own. Between making sure that Dana was supported with taking care of Jacob and ensuring that my grandparents received treatment in private hospitals whenever they needed it, I had never been so glad for my savings account.

“A friend of mine was looking at designing a new house. I gave him your details. His name’s Jace Bryce. Did you hear from him?”

I choked on the mouthful of wine at the mention of his name. Lana eyed me curiously.

“He did come by the office yesterday, but I couldn’t help him. Could you believe he wanted to build a racetrack next to the house?” I paused to take another large gulp of wine, remembering how it felt when Jace Bryce held my hand in his, the way his lips had gently caressed the skin on the back of my hand. Lana was watching me expectantly. “I don’t need my company linked to the monstrosity that he wants to create. I won’t compromise . . .”