Seductive Chaos (Bad Rep #3)(73)
Author: A. Meredith Walters

After the meeting, we were all left full of the warm fuzzies. I was back with my band. We were doing this together. And even though we still had stuff to sort out, we would get there.

“Maysie and I are planning to stay in the city for a few days. Why don’t you all stay too? I think it would be good for all of us to be away from the shit for awhile,” Jordan suggested.

“I’m not sharing a room with you two. I’ve had to listen to you one too many times as it is,” I replied, grimacing.

“We know you stand outside the door and listen, perv.” Jordan hit me in the back of the head. But it wasn’t done maliciously. It was the sort of joking reserved for friends.

“Let’s do it. I could use a little Big Apple madness,” Garrett said.

Mitch and I agreed.

We met up with Maysie at a tiny café across town. She was relieved when we explained how things had gone down and she had even given me a hug when Jordan told her how I had fired Jose.

“I never liked that guy,” she admitted.

“So what are we going to get in to?” Mitch asked, rubbing his hands together like a lazy Bond villain.

“I don’t know. There’s Broadway. Or Madison Avenue! I’ve always wanted to go to Saks!” Maysie exclaimed. The guys and I exchanged looks.

Then we all grinned. “Let’s go clubbing!” I announced, followed by a riotous cheering from my friends.

Maysie rolled her eyes.

Later that night, after we had checked into a cheap hotel on the Lower East Side, I sat with my phone in my lap, debating whether or not I should call Vivian.

I wanted to call her. I really did. I wanted to tell her everything that had happened.

But at the same time I wasn’t sure I had a right to.

There was a knock on my door and I called out, “Come in!”

Maysie poked her head around the door.

“You busy?” she asked.

I waved her in. “Not at all.”

“I wanted to talk to you in private for a minute without Jordan or the other guys around,” she said, pulling a chair out from the desk in the corner and having a seat.

“I always knew you wanted my body, Mays. You just have to ask and I can make you a very happy woman,” I teased, giving her a wink.

Maysie groaned. “Do you ever give it a rest?”

“Nope,” I responded, grinning devilishly.

“Okay, I’m just going to put this out there, because I don’t know when I’ll ever have a chance to again,” she began.

“Now I’m intrigued. Do tell.” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees.

“If you f**k over Viv, I’ll cut you like a bitch,” she warned, her eyes flashing.

Shit, I hadn’t expected her to say that.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“You heard me, Cole. I’ve watched you treat her like a damn yo-yo for years. I know Viv comes off tough but she’s not. She’s sensitive and vulnerable and you can’t use her like a freaking toy you want to play with when it suits you. She cares about you. A lot. Though I’m not entirely sure why.”

“Gee thanks, Maysie,” I muttered.

“I’m serious. We’re going out tonight on the town. And you’ll do what you always do. Pick up a random girl, not thinking about the person back in Bakersville who hasn’t hooked up with anyone in over two years because she’s hung up on you!” Maysie was pissed. She looked ready to take my head off. But what she said shocked me.

“Viv hasn’t been with anyone in two years but me?” I couldn’t believe it. I had convinced myself that she had messed around. I hadn’t been able to fathom a woman like her not being with someone who would treat her right. The way she deserved. The way I had never been able to treat her.

“No, ass**le, she hasn’t. So please remember her when you’re out tonight. Think about her feelings before you take some random back to your hotel room.” Maysie got to her feet and was ready to leave.

“Hold on a sec,” I called out, stopping her.

“I haven’t been with anyone but Vivian in a long time, Mays.”

Maysie gave me the yeah right look.

“I’m serious. I haven’t wanted to. I know I haven’t been the best guy. I know I’m arrogant and full of myself. I know what you think of me. But you need to know that I don’t want to hurt Vivian ever again.”

I took a deep breath.

“I love her, Mays,” I admitted quietly.

Maysie’s eyes widened. Why was everyone so shocked when I said that? It was almost annoying.

“Well shit,” she said.

“Yeah, shit indeed,” I agreed.

“Then why are you here and not back there with her?” Maysie asked.

“Because I’m not sure she’ll have me,” I told her, admitting my biggest fear.

Maysie snorted. “Oh she’ll have you. No need to worry about that.”

I shook my head. “You don’t understand. I told her I loved her. I laid it all out there but she doesn’t believe me. She doesn’t think I have it in me to commit to her.”

“Do you blame her?” Maysie asked.

“Fuck no, I don’t blame her! I just don’t know what to do to convince her.”

Maysie sat down beside me on the bed and patted my back. “You poor, lovesick idiot. Girls aren’t that hard to figure out, you know,” she tsked.

“Then do tell, oh wise lady!” I begged.

“You need a grand gesture. Something that will surprise her. Something Vivian won’t expect. Get romantic with it. Be cliché. We love that stuff.” Maysie smiled.

“Be cliché. I don’t get it,” I mused.

Maysie rolled her eyes. “Guys are so useless.”

She pulled her wallet out of her purse and opened it up. She handed me a ticket.

“Kimble Foundation’s Third Annual Fundraising Gala presents Our Fading Blue.” I looked up at Maysie in confusion. “I don’t get it.”

Maysie pointed to the ticket. “That’s the gala Vivian has coordinated. It’s fancy and a big deal. And what’s more important is that Vivian will be there all dressed up and looking fabulous. You need to rent yourself a tux, get your ass to that gala and sweep her off her feet. That, Cole, is your grand gesture.”

I grinned. “You are one smart cookie. Jordan is a lucky man.”

Maysie grinned back. “And so are you.”

I looked down at the ticket, thinking of Vivian, my smile threatening to split my face in half. “Yes I am, Maysie.”