The Last Boyfriend (22 page)

***

“I hope you like tacos.”
Braydon grinned as we drove up to a tacqueria. “They aren’t
expensive, but they sure taste good.”

“I love tacos.” I laughed,
surprised at how at ease I felt with him.

“Shall we try one of
each?” He asked, licking his lips. His hair had started to grow
back and he looked surprisingly sexy.

“I don’t know if I can eat
that many tacos.” I shook my head.

“I’ll finish all the ones
you can’t eat.” He grabbed my hand and led me to a table. “Sit here
and I’ll go order.”

“Okay.” I sat down and
looked around me. There was nothing impressive about this
hole-in-the wall Mexican restaurant and that was why I loved it.
Braydon could have taken me anywhere to try and impress me. I had
been expecting a swanky place in Beverly Hills or Hollywood, but he
had taken me to a gritty part of Korea Town and we were sitting at
an old wooden table. I realized that I didn’t really know Braydon.
He was turning out to be a guy I would never have associated with a
big-time Hollywood star.

“Okay, here we go. We have
carnitas, lengua, carne asada, shrimp, fish, and chicken.” He
carried the plates back to the table in a delicate balancing
act.

“That’s a lot of food, but
they all look delicious.” I reached out, grabbed a shrimp taco, and
took a bite. “Oh my, this is amazing.” I laughed as sauce ran down
my chin. “Oops.” I grabbed a tissue and wiped it away, and Braydon
laughed.

“I’m glad you like them.
This is my favorite place in LA.”

“Really?” I was even more
surprised.

“Yeah, Noah and I used to
come here every other day.” He laughed. “Good times
man.”

“So what happened to
Noah?” I questioned, deliberately keeping my voice light. “I know
that he passed away, but what happened?”

Braydon froze as he was
eating and his brown eyes turned dark. “Zane told you he
died?”

I nodded
silently.

“Wow, I’m surprised. He
never talks about Noah.” He wiped his mouth, and took a sip of his
Horchata drink. “Noah was one of my best friends you know. Zane
always hated that. I think that’s where the jealousy
started.”

“Because you two were
friends?”

“Because I kind of took
him away from Zane. Since their mom left them, it was kind of them
against the world, but then Noah started branching out. He wanted a
life outside of the Beaumont walls, you know. He was flash and
cool. But he also had a softer side. Zane is just intense and crazy
all the time.”

“Not all the time.” I
frowned. “He can be light and happy at times too.”

“Wow, you really drank the
Kool Aid, huh?” Braydon grabbed my hand. “I don’t need to know what
happened with you and Zane, I don’t actually want to know. But
trust me when I tell you, he is not a good guy. He’s not like us,
Lucky. He can’t just enjoy life and be happy.”

I sighed at his words. “I
just don’t understand. Did Noah commit suicide or
something?”

“No.” Braydon jumped up.
“Hold on, I need to get some more napkins and water.” I watched as
he walked away quickly, and sighed when two teenage girls ran up to
him, gushing and asking for his autograph. I didn’t understand the
secrecy behind Noah’s death. Why did no one want to talk about it?
I knew how hard it was to open up after a loved one has died. I
didn’t want to talk about my parents for months, but if someone
asked me what happened, I wasn’t hesitant or secretive. I saw
Braydon signing one of the teenage girls’ t-shirts and picked up my
phone to check the time. I groaned when I saw five missed calls and
three texts from Zane, demanding to know where I was and if I was
okay. “I would hardly be able to text you back if I wasn’t okay.” I
mumbled to myself. I pushed my phone back into my bag without
answering any of his texts. I was 22 years old and Zane was not my
keeper. Let him go jump off a cliff or something I told myself. I
couldn’t keep up with him and his moods. And I didn’t think I
wanted to know if he had only used me to get back at
Braydon.

“Sorry about that. Those
girls asked for my autograph.” Braydon stood at the table. “I’m
really sorry about this, but do you mind if I take you home now? I
have something I need to do.”

“No problem.” I jumped up.
“I should be getting back. By the way, did you find out if
Angelique got home okay?”

“Angelique?” Braydon
looked at me in surprise. “She’s a big girl. I’m sure she got home
fine.”

“She was really sick.” I
frowned. “You—”

“Shit, what did she say?”
He leaned towards me angrily. “Did she say I gave her something?
She’s lying. I’m not—”

“Stop.” I help up my hand
in confusion. “I have no idea what you are talking
about.”

“Oh. Sorry. Forget what I
said.”

“What did she take
yesterday?” My mind started churning. “Is that why she was sick?
Was she on something?”

“How am I supposed to
know?” He snapped and he drove off while I was still buckling my
seatbelt.

“Did you guys take drugs
before you came over?” My voice rose. “You were acting pretty weird
last night as well.”

“If you mean, did we smoke
some pot, then yeah. Doesn’t everyone?”

“I don’t.” I frowned and
bit my lip. “You guys weren’t high on weed. I’m in college,
remember? I’m around potheads every day.”

“Lucky. You’re starting to
annoy me.” Braydon’s sweet tone was gone. “I thought you were a
cool girl and I came all the way from Miami to make sure you were
okay.”

“I never told you to
come,” I protested, now irritated.

“I’m looking for a wife.
Someone who is ready to commit. I thought when we first met that
you were a possibility, but I don’t think you are. Zane has
poisoned you obviously. I don’t want to deal with this shit
anymore.”

“Whoa, what just happened
here?” I looked at him like he was crazy. “I’m not trying to be a
bitch, but I’m not even interested in you like that, Braydon. And
that has nothing to do with Zane. You came on way too strong.
You’re a nice enough guy, but you will never have my
heart.”

“I don’t want your heart.”
He laughed manically. “You’re not cut out for our crowd, Lucky.
Take my advice, leave Los Angeles and go back to Miami. Zane is
going to eat you up and chew you out. And you’re going to find your
heart ripped out and dumped on the side of the road. And you know
what? You’re going to have no one to blame but
yourself.”

I bit my lip and looked
out the window as he continued driving. I wasn’t going to respond
to his vile comments. Braydon’s true personality was coming out and
it wasn’t pretty. I was so glad that I had chosen Zane over
him—even if Zane couldn’t commit and was just using me for some
sort of sick revenge plot.

“Thanks for the ride.” I
jumped out of the car and slammed the door without looking back. I
ran up to Zane’s front door and paused as I realized I didn’t have
keys to get in. “Fuck.” I muttered and wondered if I should ring
the doorbell or call Zane. Before I could even make a decision, the
door opened and Zane was standing there in front of me with a
furious look on his face.

“Where have you been?” His
voice was deceptively low. “I have been calling you all day. I have
been going out of my mind with worry for you.”

“I went—”

“And was that Braydon?
Didn’t I tell you not to see him? Didn’t I tell you to stay away
from him?”

“He just—”

“He’s bad news, Lucky.” He
shouted, his nostrils were flaring and his face was red. “I don’t
know what else I have to tell you to get it through your skull. He
is bad news. I don’t want to have to worry about you as well. I’m
already worried about Angelique.”

“I’m sorry I’m not your
precious Angelique.” I blurted out, angry at his patronizing
tone.

“Are you trying to make me
angry, Lucky? Are you trying to make my blood pressure rise?” He
sat on the couch and I sat down next to him, hoping he would calm
down. “If anything had happened to you ….”

“We just went to lunch,
Zane.” I sighed. “I get it, I really do. He’s not a good guy. I saw
it today.”

“Oh my God. What did he
do?” Zane jumped up. “Did he give you anything?”

“No.” I shook my head. “We
just went to get tacos and then he had to leave.”

“He most probably had a
dropoff.” Zane said cynically.

“What?”

“Nothing.” He sighed and took a deep breath. “You can’t just
leave like that Lucky, I was
so
worried.”

“Worried about what? I’m a
big girl. I can look after myself.”

“I wasn’t worried that you
were hurt, Lucky.” He turned towards me. “I was worried that you
had left.”

“I would still work on the
documentary if I left.”

“Fuck the documentary,”
Zane cursed, and paced up and down. “I was scared you left me. I
was worried all night, and then this morning, I didn’t know what to
say or do. And I had to take Angelique home, and she had to go get
some prescriptions. And I hurried back to apologize for how I spoke
to you yesterday and you were gone. And my heart constricted. I was
so worried. And you didn’t answer your phone. Why didn’t you answer
your phone? I thought that you went back to Miami. That maybe you
were done with me. That I was too fucked up for you.” He came and
sat back on the couch and stared at me, the intensity in his eyes
made them look like shining sapphires. “I don’t want you to leave
me, Lucky.”

“You don’t even know me
really.” I heard my voice talking, but it didn’t sound like me.
“Why would you care if I left?”

“Why would I care?” He
laughed bitterly. “Maybe because you’re the first person I think
about when I wake up in the morning. You’re the reason why I stayed
in Miami for so long. I lived for those dates on Friday. I used to
think it was because I was finally getting solid information, but
it was because I got to see you. You don’t realize it, but you are
such a beautiful and bright human being. Seeing your face every
Friday was the highlight of my week.”

“I don’t know what to
say.” My heart was soaring at his words, but I was scared to get my
hopes up too high.

“When I was younger I used
to read this poem by William Wordsworth and—”

“Not ‘I Wandered Lonely as
a Cloud’?” I spoke up excitedly.

He nodded. “You know
it?”

“I wandered lonely as a
cloud, that floats on high o’er vales and hills,” I
began.

“When all at once I saw a
crowd, a host of golden daffodils,” he continued, and held my hand.
“That’s my favorite poem.”

“It’s mine as well.” I
said shyly.

“I’m used to it being me
against the world. I always had to be strong. I had a brother I had
to be strong for. I never wanted him to see me sad or depressed.
But I was lonely.”

“I’m sure Noah appreciated
it.”

“Noah wanted me to get out
there.” He sighed. “Ironically, he wanted me to be weak, he wanted
me to open my heart. That’s what he did. He fell in love. Over and
over again. And he got his heart broken and he would retreat into
himself, but then he would get better. He always got
better.”

“A broken heart is a part
of life, Zane.” I sighed. “You shouldn’t avoid relationships
because you want to avoid pain.”

“It killed him, you know.”
Zane’s voice was pained.

“A broken heart killed
your brother?” I frowned, very confused. “How?”

“He never got over it. I
think this time, he thought she was the one. He was so in love with
her that when she dumped him, he needed something else. Something
that I couldn’t give him.”

“I’m sorry.”

“He thought he could
fly.”

“What?”

“The night he died, he
thought he could fly.”

“I don’t
understand.”

“He turned to drugs.” Zane
sighed. “He was on Angel Dust, you may know it as PCP, and one
night, he thought he saw Angelique waiting for him on a cloud, and
he jumped off the roof of a building to join her because he thought
he could fly.”

“I’m so sorry, Zane.” I
squeezed his hand and tears welled in my eyes.

“It’s not your fault.” He
sighed. “There are so many things I wish I could change. I wish I
had been there for him more, I wish I hadn’t been so closed off. I
wish I would have killed Braydon the first time he tried to offer
me drugs.”

“Braydon?” my voice rose
in surprise.

“That’s why I didn’t want
you close to him. Braydon is a drug dealer.” Zane sounded
angry.

“But he’s an
actor.”

“He doesn’t make enough
money to keep up his lifestyle, so he deals drugs as well.” Zane
frowned. “I’ve been trying to get enough dirt on him so that he can
get prosecuted as a drug trafficker. He’s responsible for my
brother’s death.”

“Angelique was your
brother’s girlfriend?” I hoped he wasn’t mad that I had changed the
subject away from Braydon, but as soon as he had mentioned her
name, my heart had stopped.