Underestimated (72 page)

cameras in there too?” I asked.

“Of course,” he replied. I didn’t mind. I laughed

and shook my head.

“Will you call me later?”

“You call me when you land.”

“I will. I love you, Drew.”

“I love you too, baby.”

I thought about calling Dawson, but changed my

mind. One, I didn’t want Drew to know that I was calling

him, and two, I wanted to surprise him. He wasn’t

expecting me for two more days. I knew it would be later

when I got home. I thought I would just show up at his

house.

I showered and walked downstairs to wait for

Gary. I opened Drew’s office door, and Celeste was

sitting at Drew’s desk. I wasn’t expecting to see her there.

I had assumed she was with Drew. She was on the phone

barking orders. I thought she sounded a lot like Drew. I

felt sorry for the person on the other end. She smiled and

waved me inside. I didn’t really want to talk to her. I was

just going to leave Drew a little note on his desk.

I listened while she talked.

“I don’t care. If I wanted your excuses, I would

have asked for them. You take care of this, and you take

care of it now. Do I make myself clear?”

Wow, she was beautiful and powerful. Was she

doing my husband? That was the question that I wanted

answered. I was sure that she was. She was gorgeous,

strong, and proud. She was a female version of Drew.

“Sorry about that,” she smiled and sat in his chair

once she hung up.

“Um, it’s okay. I was just going to leave Drew a

note. I didn’t know you were here. I will just text him.” I

wasn’t sure why, but I was intimidated by this women.

“Sit down, let’s talk.”

What the fuck? I didn’t want to talk to her. I didn’t

even like her, and I sure as hell didn’t like her spending

more time with my husband than I did.

I sat. Just like I would have had Drew told me to. I

didn’t speak. I wasn’t about to speak first. I had no idea

what to say to her. We had never even spoke before, other

than the polite, hello, how are you?

“How’s the pregnancy coming?” she asked.

“Oh, moving right along,” I awkwardly replied.

She smiled. “Morgan, I hope you don’t think that

there is anything going on between Drew and myself.”

What the hell? Did I make it obvious? I decided to

be honest.

“I do worry about the two of you traveling and

spending so much time together. Things happen,” I point

blank told her. She laughed. The bitch laughed. I mean

really laughed. She thought I was being silly. I could tell.

She stood and took her purse from the hook on the

closet door. I wondered what she was doing when she

pulled out a picture of the cutest little blonde haired boy

ever.

“This is my son, Vincent,” she said. I smiled at the

little guy. He was adorable and had her blonde hair and

emerald green eyes. She was married. I hoped she was

happily married, but still, even married people slipped.

“This is my companion,” she said handing me

another picture of her, the little boy and another beautiful

dark haired female.

Oh my God. She’s gay.

I looked up to her smiling down at me.

“I promise, nothing would ever happen between

your husband and me. He’s not really my type,” she

teased.

I smiled. That made me feel so much better.

“Does Drew know?”

“Yes, he knows. I told him on the very first

interview.”

That bastard.

After talking to Celeste for almost an hour, I

decided that I liked her. She even made me feel important

when she answered the phone and told three different

people that she was busy and would get back with them.

She didn’t ask too many questions, but I was sure

that she was aware of our situation. She had to know. She

knew that I was never around. I wondered how much

Drew had disclosed. Did they talk? Did he confide in her?

Marta knocked on the door letting me know that

Gary was there for me.

“Here, give me your phone,” Celeste, requested,

standing.

I handed her my phone, and she programmed her

number.” If you ever need anything, you give me a call. I

am here if you need to talk.”

I smiled and thanked her. I wasn’t sure how to

respond. I was a little shocked. I couldn’t believe that

Celeste was gay. It was a load off of my mind, none the

less. I hoped that she didn’t say anything to Drew about

our talk. I was going to keep letting him think that I thought

he was doing her.

Chapter 27

I wasn’t too excited about surprising Dawson

anymore. It was almost eight before I was finally dropped

off at my door. I was exhausted, my feet were killing me,

and I was freezing. I wanted a hot bath and my bed. I

would show up at the station the next day and surprise

him. The only surprise that I cared about was how good

my bed was going to feel.

I had just stepped out of the shower when my best,

annoying friend came popping into the bathroom, calling

my name.

I wrapped myself in a towel just in time.

“I thought you weren’t getting home until Friday,”

Lauren said, dropping her flannel pants and pissing in my

toilet.

“I decided to come home early,” I couldn’t even be

mad at her. I missed her audacity. Only Lauren would

unlock my door, burst into the bathroom while I was

naked, and drop her pants in front of me.

“What?” I asked, wondering what the glare was all

about.

“You were with Drew,” she demanded, following

me out.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked,

sliding on a pair of panties and a night shirt.

“You’re an idiot, Ry. You have no idea how much

that man loves you,” she stated.

“Yes. I’m sure I have a pretty good idea. What is

your problem?”

“Did Drew give you the hickey?”

“What?” I hadn’t seen a hickey and had even

showered in front of a full length mirror. It was all

steamed over, but still.

“Yeah, right below your collarbone.”

I pulled my shirt out to look.

Fuck. Shit. Fuck. I’m going to kill him.

“Lauren, you can’t say anything to Dawson,” I all

but begged.

“I can’t believe you, Riley. If you don’t want him,

tell him. Stop letting him think that you are going to marry

him, and he’s going to live happily ever after.”

“I do want that, Lauren,” I assured her.

“So, you’re going to divorce Drew now?”

Shit.

“Lauren, you have no idea what this is like for

me.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. You’re right, Ry. I

have no idea how hard it must be for you to keep two good

looking men going. You poor little thing.”

“Don’t do this, Lauren. This is really none of your

business.”

“You are absolutely right, Riley or Morgan or

whatever the hell your name is. It is none of my business,

but it is Dawson’s. Are you planning on telling him that

you just spent the last three days fucking your husband?”

“Really, Lauren?” I was speechless. I didn’t know

what to say. She was pissed.

“Yeah, Ry. Really?” she replied and left me

standing dumbstruck in my room.

I pulled my covers back and crawled into bed with

my cellphone.

“You stupid son of bitch,” I yelled as soon as

Drew answered.

“Why am I a stupid son of a bitch now?” he asked.

“You know why. I can’t believe you did this again.

My best friend just stormed out of here pissed as hell

because you had to go and leave your mark again. What

the hell is wrong with you?”

“You didn’t mind last night while I was doing it.”

“I hate you, Drew Kelly,” I stated. I did hate him. I

was sick of him swooping in and out of my life and

screwing everything up.

“That’s too bad because I love the shit out of you.”

“It’s not funny, Drew,” I pouted.

“I’m sorry.”

“You are not, you’re…whoa,” I stopped when the

baby’s foot almost came out of my stomach.

“What’s wrong, Morgan?” Drew asked alarmed.

“Nothing, the baby just kicked me.”

“That’s because he is pissed off at you.”

“No. He’s pissed off at you for upsetting me.”

“No. He’s pissed off at you because you are

making me miss it all. You should be in my bed, and my

hand should be right there.”

Well, shit…

I was at my wits end. I couldn’t take either one of

these men anymore. I needed to get away. I needed a

break. My daily talks with Drew, sneaking off to meet him,

lying to Dawson, Lauren thinking any of it was her

business, I couldn’t take it. I was going to lose my mind if

I didn’t decide on one of my men soon.

I stayed on the phone with Drew until almost

eleven. I couldn’t hold my eyes open for one more second

when I finally told him I was falling asleep and would talk

to him the next day.

Although I did sleep well, I felt like a horrible

person when I woke. I felt bad for betraying Dawson, I felt

bad for leading Drew on, I felt bad for being a bad friend

to Lauren and I felt bad for having Star lie for me.

I got up, dressed and headed into town. My first

stop was to see Star. I needed to talk to someone that

wasn’t going to judge me.

We took our coffee and headed to her office.

“Talk to me,” Star said. She knew something was

up.

“Star. Help me. I don’t know what to do, and I

don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.”

She sipped her coffee and peered over her cup. I

couldn’t read her. Was she mad at me too? She sighed and

sat her cup down.

“What’s your heart telling you, Ry?”

“I don’t know,” I whined. I had decided just the

day before that I wanted Drew, but now that I was back in

Misty Bay, I wanted Dawson.

Star took a sheet of paper and drew a line down

the middle. I snickered a little. I had watched Drew do

this same Ben Franklin close so many times on different

prospects. I knew what she was doing.

“This is Dawson, and this is Drew,” she

explained, writing their names at the top. “Only pluses

first,” she said. “Tell me one reason why you love

Dawson,” she persuaded with her pen ready to begin.

I went through a long list of why’s. He was sweet,

he loved me, he could read me like a book, he knew how I

liked my tea, he was there for me when I needed him, he

had never made me feel beneath him, I went on and on.

Star had the whole side of the page filled. I could have

probably thought of a few more, but I figured that was

enough. She moved her pen just below Drew’s name and

looked up to me waiting to start.

I snorted and sucked in a deep breath.

“Drew is so damn good in bed,” I said. Star

smiled and wrote, great lover. “I can’t feel up a whole

page with Drew, Star.” I told her honestly. “Drew drives

me insane. Drew can push every button that I have. Drew

makes me laugh when I feel like I am ready to fall apart,

the sad part is, he doesn’t mean to. His scent, his lips, his

eyes, his touch, they all drive me crazy. I wouldn’t say that

is love, just something about him. Drew makes me want to

swim with sharks. Dawson makes me realize the safer

alternative.”

“Like what?” Star asked, she had stopped writing

and was just listening now.

“Like feeding goldfish,” I laughed. It was the truth.

Dawson made me rationalize before I did stupid things.

Drew lived in the moment. Dawson would have never

climbed up that rock wall, let alone had sex in the open

universe.

“Can you talk to one more than the other?” she

asked, tapping her pen on the desk in a slow tap, tap, tap,

motion.

I thought for a second. “Not really. I mean, I guess

I tend to keep silent more with Daw, I feel like I care

about hurting his feeling more so than Drew. I don’t have a

bit of problem telling Drew where to go. I don’t really talk

to Dawson like that. He would never talk to me like that.”

“I see,” she replied.

“You see what?”

Star sat back and crossed her arms. “I think you

know who you want to be with. I think you have known all

along, and I think that you are afraid that the one person

who could fix the pain is the one who caused it.”

“You think I should choose Drew?”

“I think you already have,” she spoke, honestly.