Park Avenue Player(53)

He ran his hand through his already-messed-up hair. “Look...clearly I’m confused. My feelings for you are carnal, and sometimes they feel…uncontrollable. That doesn’t change the fact that it shouldn’t have happened. That was a close call, but I’m thankful it stopped us from making a mistake we can’t take back.”

That pissed me off.

“So, you would’ve slept with me and then called it a mistake? What would’ve happened, Hollis? You would’ve gotten your fill, gotten to experience the thrill of sex with me, and then told me it could never happen again? You were going to fuck me.”

“I don’t know what would have happened. Clearly, I’m not thinking with my brain.”

That’s for sure. “Do me a favor, Hollis. Stay out of my life, okay? It’s one thing if you don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be anything more than business associates. But if that’s the case, don’t manipulate things—like you did making me late for my date tonight. That’s not fair. You can’t have it both ways.”

Hollis neither confirmed nor denied intentionally ruining my date with Benito.

He simply said, “I won’t interfere in your life.”

“Thank you.”

Then he let me walk away without stopping me. I wished he had. I wanted him to prove me wrong, to admit he had feelings for me, that he was so jealous of the prospect of me dating someone else that he couldn’t help but interfere.

But instead, in typical Hollis fashion, he closed up, once again making me feel like I was the crazy one for believing there could ever be something between us.

***

Sometimes Bree had trouble sleeping and stayed up late. I wondered if she’d be up for a visit tonight. So I texted her, and she responded that I should come over. She told me to use my key to let myself in.

She was sitting on the couch when I entered her house. She looked like she’d lost more weight. The fact that she’d stopped the experimental treatments was starting to show. I didn’t like this one bit.

She coughed. “What happened tonight?”

I spent the next several minutes making myself a cup of tea and telling Bree the whole story of my humiliating encounter with Hollis and the near-miss of Hailey finding us.

“So, wow. He definitely likes you.”

“Did you not hear anything I just told you? He used the whole experience to reiterate what a mistake it would be if we ever crossed the line. It was like he felt Hailey’s arrival was a warning of danger from God.”

She shook her head. “He’s just scared, Elodie. It’s so clear to me. He obviously has feelings for you that go beyond the physical if he went through the bother of sabotaging your date. He just hasn’t admitted it to himself, let alone you.”

“See, I don’t see it that way. He’s egotistical. It’s not so much that he wants me for himself. He just wanted to get me back for walking in on his date. He was angry and frustrated at my calling him out on his behavior, and that led to the lapse in sanity that was our make-out session. It’s rare that we’re ever alone, and I honestly think for him, it was just sexual.”

“I don’t know if I believe that.” Bree covered her mouth as she coughed again.

“Are you okay? Can I get you some water?”

She held out her hand. “I’m fine.” Yet she continued to hack.

My friend was such a trooper. I hated that she had to live with that horrible disease. I poured her some water anyway and handed it to her.

“Okay,” I said, examining her face to make sure she was good before continuing to vent. “The worst part is, I had to cancel a date with a perfectly good man who does want to spend time with me.”

“How did the guy take it? What’s his name again?”

“Benito. I told him I had no choice, that my boss never came home to relieve me. Hopefully, he doesn’t think I’m making it up.”

“I’m sure he’ll jump at the chance for a rain check this weekend. But honestly, be careful how fast you move with anyone else. I still feel like things with Hollis could change. He seems extremely weak when it comes to you, and I would hate for him to come around, only to find you with someone else.”

“Well, that would be his problem.”

“Except that I think it’s Hollis you really want. I don’t think you’d even be pursuing the online dating thing if it weren’t to escape your feelings for him.”

She was right. And that sucked.

“It doesn’t matter what I felt for him...and I say felt in the past tense because after what he pulled tonight, I’m more determined than ever to get over it.”

I looked for more logical excuses to push past my feelings for him.

“And you know what else? He’s a workaholic. I’m looking for a family man, someone who’d put me and my child first. Even though he was forced to take Hailey in, Hollis isn’t naturally that type of guy. It’s becoming more obvious by the second that he’s all wrong for me.”





Chapter 24




* * *





Hollis – 7 years ago




Anna and I were getting ready to go out to dinner when I decided to bring up something that had been on my mind.