Tough To Love (5 page)

Chapter Five

Sage made it halfway down the hallway toward the elevators when the realization of the situation hit her. Rally had finally found a way to make her wish she never had a crush on him. Why did she ever think he wouldn’t take her up on what she had been tossing in his face all of these years? She held out hope, for longer than she should have, that a part of him might actually love her, but that wasn’t true.

After their confrontation, she was done with him. It was time for her to get rid of these stupid feelings. She wasn’t going to wrap her heart around one man anymore. Rally made his intentions very clear about not wanting her, so why would she keep going back from more? She was done wasting anymore of her time involving herself in his personal life.

Stopping in front of the elevators, Sage cursed when she noticed the out of order sign. “Damn it! What else could possibly go wrong for me today?”

“Has Rally finally driven you so insane that you’re talking to yourself in deserted hallways?” a rich voice asked with a hint of laughter.

Twirling around, Sage’s face lit up with excitement. “Julian!” she screamed and ran into the waiting arms of the gray-eyed hunk she loved as much as Shawn.

Wrapping his strong arms around her, Julian Messener spun her in a complete circle. “Hey, gorgeous,” he breathed by her ear. “Care to tell me who has gotten you so twisted up in knots?”

“It’s no one important. I can’t believe you’re back in town. I thought you weren’t coming back until next week. I was going to cook you this special dinner and invite you out to the house,” Sage said, leaning back in Julian’s embrace.

“You know I don’t need any of that. However, I’m sorry I missed your graduation, short stuff,” he apologized. “I couldn’t get away from the seminar any earlier, but I did bring you something back.”

Sage couldn’t hold back her enthusiasm. Julian always gave her the most unique gifts. Over the years, she had filled up her hope chest with them. “Where is it?” She ran her hands all over Julian’s body, but came away empty-handed.

“I thought you said that you bought me a present,” she pouted, smacking his arm.

“I did.” Julian laughed, grabbing her hand and planting a soft kiss inside her palm. “It’s back at my house. I thought you’d might like to have a belated graduation dinner with me tonight. I was going to give it to you then.”

Julian is such a good guy
, Sage thought silently as she studied her friend from underneath her lashes.

She constantly focused on how drop dead gorgeous Rally was, but Julian was a very handsome man and it was about time she started looking at him with new eyes. For the past five years, she had tunnel vision for Rally, never noticing the shoulder she had used for her problems belonged to a hunk.

Standing six feet, two inches, Julian Messener was most women’s fantasies come true with his rugged good looks. Dark brown hair that almost looked black was cut close to his head, making his gray eyes even more hypnotic.

He was a few years older than Rally, but he acted so much younger, which made him so much fun to be around. He had become her best friend when he took over her driving lessons from Rally.

What she loved the most about Julian was that he was clueless about how good-looking he truly was to the opposite sex. He acted more like an average Joe than the hottie everyone else saw.

Why couldn’t I have fallen in love with Julian instead of wasting so much time with Rally?
Wait….maybe this was her second chance to find a new love with Julian and bury her crush on Rally once and for all.

“I would love to have dinner with you tonight.” She grinned. “You can tell me how that special project of yours is going.”

The shock on Julian’s face as he gazed at her was a surprise. “You remembered me talking about my new mentor program,” he exclaimed, wrapping his arm around her waist.

“I love listening to you talk about your job. I wouldn’t be who I am if Rally hadn’t taken me in. He has been a perfect mentor. It’s because of him that I went to college and graduated with a double major.”

“So, you only think of Rally as a mentor and nothing else?” Julian asked, squeezing her shoulder. “The last time I heard you still had this enormous crush on him and you hated seeing him with Vanity.”

Brushing Julian’s arm off her, Sage took a couple of steps back from him. “You’re wrong. I never had a crush on Rally,” she lied. “I appreciate what he has done for me, and I guess people mistook my gratitude for something it wasn’t.”

“Do you expect me to believe that lie?”

“I’m not lying,” Sage denied, wanting to end this conversation.

Julian chuckled. “If you say so. Where’s that old timer at, anyway?”

Sage glanced back over her shoulder at Rally’s office and fought down the memory of what happened earlier.

“He’s still in his office working. I’m taking an early lunch,” she replied, staring back at Julian. “Go on in. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you. He wasn’t expecting you back from your trip this soon.”

“Rally can wait. I want to know what’s wrong with you. You aren’t acting like yourself at all.”

“I’m fine. It’s best you go now before Vanity comes back from her shopping trip and drags Rally’s attention away from you. You already know how much she hates to share him with anyone.”

“Some things never change,” Julian exclaimed, shaking his head. “I’m gone for six months and the two of you are still fighting over Rally. Does he know how lucky he is to have two gorgeous women wanting to spend time with him?”

She appreciated that Julian called her gorgeous. Sure, she knew she was attractive with a little cuteness mixed in, but she knew she wasn’t in the same category as Vanity’s exotic beauty.

“I’ll pay you later for saying that,” she teased and stepped around him, heading for the stairs.

Taking a step to the right, he blocked her path. “Stop being so hard on yourself all the time. You are a gorgeous woman. Hell, you’re ten times better looking than Vanity with your spunk and honesty.”

“Spunk and honesty isn’t what men want,” Sage complained, “I’ll bet those two things aren’t on most men’s top twenty lists.”

“Don’t worry about those guys. They aren’t worth your time.”

Sage had a hard time swallowing the line Julian was trying to spoon feed her. He was almost as bad as Rally. She hadn’t forgotten they were called
Double Trouble
when she was younger
.

She remembered how they would sneak girls into the house when Rally’s parents weren’t home. Once when she was around ten years old, she had snuck downstairs with Shawn and found Rally making out with his girlfriend.

“Don’t you dare lie to me,” she uttered. “You were a part of the
Double Trouble
team. Back then neither you nor Rally was interested in spunk or dry humor. I remember Tori and that other brunette girl that were only your ‘weekend dates’.”

Julian’s dark eyebrows arched mischievously over his gray eyes. “We were teenagers having a good time back then. Rally and I didn’t know any better, but we’re adults now. We both know the value of finding a respectable woman and keeping her. I wouldn’t ever let a good female go for a one night stand.”

Sage adored Julian, but he wasn’t going to make Rally’s attitude toward her look any better. Rally was a man who got pleasure from having pretty things and that’s why he was so drawn to Vanity. She was a perfect addition to help start his family.

She really didn’t think it mattered to him how rotten Vanity was on the inside. Right at this moment, Vanity had Rally were she wanted, at her side and, more importantly, in her bed.

“Julian, you might have changed over the years, but Rally is still the same person. He doesn’t want any substance in his women. He wants someone who can keep his family proud of him.”

The loud growling of Sage’s stomach made her realize that she had spent a better part of her lunch break talking with Julian. She was still starving, so she had better leave or she wouldn’t get anything to eat.

“I hate to cut this reunion short, but I need to get something to eat. I skipped breakfast and now I’m so hungry I’d sell my new purse for a candy bar,” she said.

“Hey, I wasn’t trying to keep you this long. I only meant to say hello and then check on my old buddy, but you looked lost when I came out of the stairway,” Julian told her. “I had to find out what was wrong with you.”

“Nothing is wrong with me. I was just thinking about making some much needed life changes. It’s past time I grew up and started doing things on my own.”

Wrapping his hand around her upper arm, he tugged her towards the steps. “You know what, short stuff,” Julian said, “I’m going to change my plans and treat you to lunch. If you come back a little late, so what? Let Rally do something for himself for once.”

She hated for Julian to spend all of his time with her and not go see Rally after he came all of this way. The youth center where he worked was almost an hour drive to Rally’s stockbroker firm.

“Are you sure? I can wait and tell you about my problems over dinner tonight.”

“My mind is made up, and don’t go breaking my heart. So, do you want healthy or junk?”

“Junk, of course,” Sage grinned. “I want a cheeseburger, curly fries soaked in ketchup, and a vanilla malt.”

“Throw in a side of onion rings and I’ll take you to
Taylor’s
,” Julian teased, moving his hand from her arm to the middle of her back.

“Lord, are you trying to make my butt bigger?” Sage laughed, poking Julian in his washboard stomach with her elbow.

“I think your ass is as perfect as the rest of you.” Patting her on the butt, Julian pushed opened the door to the stairwell and ushered her out.

****

Rally stood frozen in the hallway watching as Julian flirted with Sage as they left and went down the stairs. He didn’t like seeing his friend’s hands on Sage’s body. She might be too naive to know what Julian was up to, but he wasn’t. “I don’t know what you’re playing at, Julian,” he mumbled under his breath, “but Sage isn’t yours to toy with. I won’t let you take advantage of her.”

Chapter Six

“Well, how was your lunch? It must have been pretty good since you are forty-five minutes late. Did it cross your mind to bring me something back? I was the one here answering the phone while you were doing God knows what.”

Hanging her purse on the coat rack, Sage peeked at Rally from the corner of her eye. Why wasn’t he out having lunch with Vanity? It was usually part of his daily routine. He was never back at the office this time of the day. He could have just left and let the answering service answer any phone calls.

“Honestly, I didn’t think about bringing you anything back from lunch. You’re usually out with Vanity, so it would have just been a waste of food. The last time I checked, I wasn’t a mind reader or a psychic, sorry.”

“Sure, you are,” Rally snickered, closing the distance between them. “Did you have fun with Julian or were you going to leave out that you had lunch with my old friend?”

What was up with Rally? Why was he up in all of her business like this?

He never cared in the past when she had lunch with Julian. He was coming off like a jealous boyfriend or something. Sage smiled at her thought before quickly wiping it from her face. Rally would never be jealous of her going out with Julian. He was just probably pissed she wasn’t here to answer the phone while he drooled over Vanity.

“I’m not going to ask how you knew I was with Julian. For someone who keeps finding ways to push me out of his personal life, you sure are in mine all of a sudden. What’s up with that?” Sage demanded, shoving past Rally. She went over to her desk and dug underneath it for a banker’s box.

Placing it on a small table next to her, she started picking up her personal items and placing them inside. She ignored the stunned look Rally gave her while she worked at getting the space cleared of any reminders of her and ready for the new person. She had been working for a few minutes before Rally actually spoke to her.

“What are you doing?” Rally questioned. “It’s the middle of the day. I don’t think this is the best time to be redecorating your desk. I need you to take care of some things for me.”

Is he serious
? Had he really forgotten their argument and what he told her that quickly?

She looked at him for a spilt second and then went back to working on clearing off her desk again. “I’m not cleaning,” Sage replied, placing the four leaf clover paper weight with a few other items in the banker’s box.

Sage swallowed down her moan as Rally’s muscular arm brushed against her bare arm as he reached inside the box and picked up the paper weight. Lord, would she ever be able not to want him?

Rally was like the air she breathed, but she had to get him permanently out of her mind. He wasn’t interested in her. So, it was time she found a deserving man that wanted her.

“I can’t believe you still have this,” he said, pitching it into the air and catching it. “I gave this to you on your sixteenth birthday. It was such an inexpensive gift, but you loved it so much.”

Taking the four leaf clover away from Rally, she placed it back into the box. “Yeah, it was for the collection I had in my room, or did you forget?” Sage stole a look at him and cursed how her heart jumped a beat when Rally’s green eyes held hers.

“Of course, I didn’t forget,” he replied. He placed his hands on her shoulders and eased her body to his. Rubbing his nose against the back of her head, he whispered. “Sage, I apologize for what I told you earlier. I didn’t mean it. You know how I am. Why don’t you place everything back and sit down?”

Pushing down her emotions, Sage shook off Rally’s touch. She was leaving and there was nothing he could tell her to make her stay here a moment longer. It was time she proved to him that she no longer needed his support for anything in her life.