Pressing Adalyn Read online

  She was working in one of our studios, working on the choreography to one of the video games we’d been commissioned, and I stood back watching her for a few minutes before I approached. She really was a very graceful dancer, and watching her in her element like this she looked much happier than all the other times I’d seen her. Maybe I was being too hard on her. If anyone should be willing to give second chances, it should be me.

  Right as I resolved to offer an olive branch, she spotted me and she immediately looked angry but that quickly turned to something akin to…guilt? If she actually felt bad for her behavior then this talk would definitely go over a lot smoother.

  “Hi Adalyn,” she whispered as she approached me, never once making eye contact.

  “Carrie,” I replied curtly.

  “I’m actually glad you’re here. If you have a minute…I mean would you mind to…” she sighed frustratedly. “Can we talk?” she finally huffed out.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. We were so uncomfortable and horrible at this. I thought she would get mad at my laughing, but she surprised me by joining in.

  “I’m sorry, I suck at this. I just want to apologize. Do you have a minute?” Her eyes looked genuine and I was glad to know this was going to be easier than I thought. Maybe Carrie and I stood a chance of actually becoming friends.

  I followed her over to a couple of folded chairs that were set off to the side and accepted the bottle of water she offered me, thankful to have something to do with my hands other than fidget.

  “I’m sorry,” we both started at the same time, sending us both into a fit of laughter again. “You first,” I said, taking a drink of my water.

  “I’m sorry for how I’ve treated you, Adalyn. I’m not sure how much of my history Stacy or my brother has told you, but it’s still no excuse for how I’ve behaved. I’m just basically a toddler, I have a hard time sharing. I felt threatened by you with Stacy, I was afraid I’d lose my best friend, when I should have been trying to get to know you. I was hoping maybe you could give me another chance. That maybe I could make it up to you somehow. I see how much my brother cares about you and if the two most important people in my life both care about you so much, then you must obviously be worth it. I just hope one day you can forgive me.”

  All my anger and resentment towards Carrie in that moment dissipated. She looked small and afraid and I couldn’t find it in me to still hate her.

  “I’ve already forgiven you, Carrie,” I smiled as she looked up in surprise. “I understand what you’ve been going through. I can’t say that it’s necessarily okay how you acted towards me, but I get it. No, Ian didn’t tell me much about your past, he said it was your story to tell and I hope that one day you and I can become close enough that you will feel comfortable enough with me to open up about it.”

  I reached out and took her hand in mine. The gesture probably surprised me more than it did her, but I loved Ian, and I wanted to be a part of his life in every way. That included his family, and she looked so vulnerable that I couldn’t help but want to reach out and comfort her.

  “I love your brother. I don’t have to tell you how amazing he is. And you were probably right when you said, I probably don’t deserve him.”

  “Adalyn, I was way out of line saying…”

  “No, it’s okay,” I said, interrupting her. “It’s the truth. And honestly, there might not be a woman on this earth who actually does deserve someone like Ian. And for some crazy reason, I am lucky enough to be the one who he chose to love. I won’t ever take that for granted. I want you to know that I will always cherish his love, and I will spend my life trying to be the person he deserves.”

  I wiped away a rogue tear that escaped and gave an embarrassed smile at my show of emotion.

  “I’m not usually emotional like this, but I guess love will do that to you,” I laughed weakly. “I want us to be close, Carrie. I was hoping you would want that to.”

  “I would really, really love that Adalyn,” Carrie said as she jumped up and down in her seat excitedly. She looked so youthful that it was almost hard to believe she was the same age as me.

  “Okay great, because I need your help with something”

  Carrie and I spent the rest of the day working on the upcoming fundraiser our company was sponsoring. We only had two weeks to make all the changes necessary and it was probably going to require almost all of our free time just to make our plan happen. We had to contact all the vendors and planning coordinators involved and had to swear everyone to secrecy.

  Convincing Carrie to help me hadn’t been nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be. Then again, our entire relationship had taken a complete turn in the days that followed our heart to heart as well. Once we hashed out all of our concerns and cleared the air, the conversation came easy between us. And the more time we spent together the more she grew on me. I truly liked Carrie and found myself regretting having not taken the time to do this with her sooner.

  Keeping Ian from finding out what we were doing had been tricky, but my blossoming friendship with Carrie was a good cover. As the fundraiser neared, I became increasingly nervous. I kept waiting for a hitch in the plan, a snag in the code, for someone to accidentally spill the secret to Ian. But that wasn’t the only thing I had to worry about. Not only was I worried about us actually being able to pull off our plan, but I would be in the same vicinity as Maggie. From what Carrie had told me, there was almost definitely an altercation in my near future.

  Not that I wouldn’t love the chance to bitch slap her, but this fundraiser was going to be a special night for Ian. At least, I hoped it would. So as much as I would really, really love to put Maggie in her place, I would have to be the bigger person.

  A couple days before the event Carrie and I went to pick up Stacy and take her shopping to get dresses for the event. We still hadn’t told Stacy what was going on. She was seriously the worst secret keeper. Ever. Don’t tell Stacy anything you don’t want repeated. But time was running out and she would need a dress so we had no choice.

  I’d been staying with Ian since the day I told him everything and had been spending so much time with Carrie with all the planning that I hadn’t really had a chance to see Stacy very much, and seeing her running down the stairs from her apartment towards the car threw a pang of guilt into me. Then she opened her mouth and all that guilt dissipated.

  “Move, bitch. You don’t get to disappear for weeks and then get to sit shotgun. Back seat, baby.”

  Groaning, I got out of the passenger side of Carrie’s car and moved to the back.

  “Alright, so you sluts need to tell me where we’re going on this mystery girls day out that I called off work for. Not that I mind playing hooky, but I’d like to know what I’m doing today that’s such a secret you couldn’t tell me over the phone.”

  Carrie looked at me in the rearview mirror and we exchanged a knowing glance.

  “Okay, seriously. I’m glad you guys made up and are in love now and all, but I don’t like feeling left out. Someone better start talking or I’m going to start throwing some high fives to your faces.”

  We spent the drive filling Stacy in on our plans. By the time we finally finished, she was already cussing us out.

  “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe you guys. You’re such bitches. Why would you leave me out? I could have helped! Were you just afraid that all my ideas would have been better than yours? Whatever. I’m not talking to either of you all day. And every dress you try on I’m going to tell you makes you look fat,” she huffed as she pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

  Carrie and I planked her on either side of her and wrapped her up into a big group hug.

  “What happened to you, Adalyn? Keeping secrets from me and now hugging? It’s like I don’t know you anymore. It’s freaking weird.”

  “Oh, come on,” I said, linking our arms and guiding us into the boutique where we were going to be trying on dresses. “I’m still me, just an improved ver
sion. It’s just been too long since we hung out. Let’s fix that today and try to enjoy ourselves getting prettied up. My treat.”

  That got her. “Fine, if you’re paying then I’ll forgive you.”

  I’d really missed my friend.

  “I am really dreading this fundraiser tonight.”

  “Don’t be that way, Ian,” I said as I straightened his tie. He was devilishly handsome in his black designer suit. As handsome as he was in a suit though, I preferred Ian in his goofy t-shirts and glasses. “It will be fine. I can handle myself. Maggie isn’t going to cause any issues and this is an important event for the company.”

  “I know,” he sighed, wrapping his arms around my waist. “I just don’t know why she’s coming tonight. The last time she was at this event was the night she cheated on me. And while in retrospect it turned out to be one of the best nights of my life because it finally opened my eyes to how horrible she was, I still have no desire to see her. If she so much as looks at you funny, I might not be able to control my actions.”

  I yanked on his tie and pulled his mouth to mine in a quick, rough kiss. “I know you’re tough, Kent, but I can handle myself. I’m pretty bad ass, too, so if she knows what’s good for her, she’ll stay far away. Trust me, I’m not worried, okay? Let’s just try to have a good time. It’s amazing what you do for these kids and you deserve to enjoy yourself.” I turned to take one last look in the mirror then threw my lip gloss into my clutch. “Are you ever going to tell me the story behind why you founded this charity?”

  “It’s a long story, and I promise one day I’ll tell you. Helping kids with HIV is just important to me. The treatments for that illness are so expensive and a lot of the kids don’t live nearly as long as they should get to. If I can bring a little bit of happiness to their lives, then it’s worth it.”

  “You’re such an amazing man, you know that, right?” I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck and pushing onto my toes to kiss his neck.

  “If you keep kissing me like that then we won’t make it to the charity at all,” he laughed as he gave me a chaste kiss and slipped his hand into mine.

  Chapter 31

  Ian

  The ride to the charity event was both excruciatingly long and entirely too quick. I berated myself the entire way there for being this worked up over the possibility of seeing Maggie, but it honestly had nothing to do with her. Things with Adalyn were so amazing and I hated risking letting anything get in the way of that. Maggie was a mean, callous person and Adalyn did not deserve to be on the receiving end of that just because she’s with me.

  I never found out why Maggie did what she did. I never really cared to find out for myself. Once the initial shock wore off the only thing I wanted to do was thank her. It didn’t matter why she hated me and treated me the way she did, it just mattered that she was finally out of my life. It hurt to think about Carrie though. How she could do that to her when Carrie had always treated her like a sister.

  Carrie had been so devastated when she found out. Not just over what Maggie had done that night, but because I had never told her how Maggie treated me. Maggie was always very careful to not show her true colors in front of others and I felt I was doing the right thing by not worrying Carrie with my own personal feelings. Not to mention the fact that I spent a lot of that relationship in denial.

  Adalyn had been squeezing my hand, supporting me in silence, the entire ride. I didn’t even realize the limo had come to a stop in front of the hotel holding the event until Adalyn gently ran her hand down my cheek, pulling my face towards her.

  “We’re here.”

  “I’m sorry you have to see me like this. I’ve seen Maggie several times since that final night, and it was never difficult to just ignore her, but she’s a loose canon and I don’t know how she’s going to react when she sees you.”

  “Ian, I’ve told you a hundred times, quit worrying about me. I’m not going anywhere, she isn’t going to scare me off. If anyone will be running off scared it’s her.”

  I gave her a nervous laugh and moved to open the door to exit the limo since the driver apparently wasn’t going to do it for us.

  “Hold on, one last thing before we go in,” Adalyn said as she pulled on my arm. She started to undo my tie.

  “Ummm…as much as I would seriously love to have sex with you in this limo, there are about twenty photographers waiting right outside this limo for us and a line of people waiting to pull up.”

  She laughed and shook her head at me while pulling my tie from my collar and pushing my jacket off of my shoulders. I sat there, watching her slowly undress me, mesmerized by the excitement in her eyes. If we weren’t about to have sex then why was she having me get naked?

  “Adalyn…seriously, what are you doing?”

  “Tonight is an important night, Ian. Important because this charity is dear to your heart, and important because this will be the first time we are out as a couple, announcing to the world that we are together. And I want to mark this special night by spending it with my boyfriend. My real boyfriend, not the pretend version of him.”

  “Uhhh…yeah you are just confusing me even more. You’re going to have to do better than that.”

  As she finished unbuttoning my dress shirt and pulling it off to reveal the t-shirt I had been sporting under my suit, she slipped off my dress shoes and pulled my black converse out of a bag sitting on the seat next to her. Then she held out my suit jacket to slip my arms back through.

  “You are going in there as Ian. Ian the person, brother, friend and amazing boss. Not as Ian the suit wearing, business deal making, Armani wearing robot you pretend to be,” she explained as she put my own shoes on for me.

  “Adalyn…I appreciate the gesture, but this is a really classy event. Everyone in there is going to be very dressed up and like it or not, I will actually look like an idiot if I go in there dressed like this. This charity is important and I need people to take me seriously if I want them to keep donating.”

  “People take you seriously because you are brilliant, kind and successful. You are all of those things without your suit, too, Ian,” she explained as she pulled out a contacts case from the bag and handed it to me. Before I could object, she pulled out my glasses as well. “Take out your contacts and wear these, Ian. It’s not a request,” she giggled as she mussed up my hair.

  I couldn’t help laughing as I acquiesced to her demands and took out my contacts. “What about you? Won’t you feel silly looking so amazing in your dress, standing next to a grown man dressed like a teenager?”

  “How do you know what my dress looks like? I’ve had this long coat on all night, for all you know, I’m wearing a clown costume.”

  “Are you wearing a clown costume?”

  “Well, no…I’m wearing this…” She pulled off her coat to reveal a tight fitted graphic t-shirt, similar to mine, a short plaid skirt and knee high gym socks. Pulling out a pair of Converse, matching to mine, she slipped them on and pulled her loose, wavy hair into a high ponytail. Then she slipped on glasses with thick black frames like mine to complete the look.

  I couldn’t hold in my laughter. “What in the world are you wearing, Adalyn? You look like a naughty nerd straight out of a porno.”

  “Good, that’s what I was going for,” she said smugly, lifting her chin proudly in the air.

  “Do you even wear glasses?”

  “Well, no, but these make me look super smart, don’t you think?” she giggled as she pulled them down to the tip of her nose with one hand and wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

  I pulled her into my arms and kissed her long and hard, showing her with my caresses just how much I loved her for doing this.

  “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I am seriously the luckiest guy that ever lived. And even if we get laughed out of this place tonight, it will still be the best night of my life. Well, it will be the best night up until the night you say ‘I Do’ and become my wife.”

  Ada
lyn sucked in a sharp breath and her eyes widened in surprise. “No, don’t worry, I’m not proposing right now. But don’t for one second think that that won’t happen soon. Very soon.”

  A few weeks ago a statement like that would have had Adalyn running far away from me, shutting me out entirely, but not now. She looked at me with love and admiration shining in her eyes, and all I wanted in that moment was to turn around and take her home and have her in my bed all night.

  “Oh, no you don’t, mister,” she said as she hopped out of the limo.

  “What?”

  “I know that look. As turned on as I am right now, we have a party to get to. Time is of the essence, Clark Kent. Let’s go.”

  As we approached the hotel, hand in hand, the cameras went crazy. Since Maggie, I hadn’t taken a date to a single event. Any women I had chose to see, in any capacity, I had done so in private. It had given the tabloids plenty to speculate about. Was I a hopeless bachelor or a closet homosexual? Personally, I didn’t care what they thought.

  I did, however, care about Adalyn getting hurt. I was more than aware of how ridiculous we looked walking into a formal event dressed like characters out of a ‘Revenge of the Nerds’ movie, but it was hard to get too caught up in those thoughts when I had Adalyn on my arm. Whenever she was near me, the rest of the world seemed to fade away.

  Still, I was showing everyone a completely different side of me. A side I had kept hidden for so long that it made me feel exposed. Years of Maggie berating me and putting me down had messed with my mind more than I had ever realized before Adalyn. Yet here I was, this amazing woman next to me, encouraging me to be whatever I wanted to be. It was liberating and for the first time in probably my entire life, I was a hundred percent comfortable with who I was.

  Questions were being thrown out at us as we walked past the cameras, but Adalyn’s smile never faltered. The way she squeezed my hand told me she was feeling a little overwhelmed, but it never showed on her face. She was by far the bravest person I’d ever met.