I walked into the garden and placed the bottle of wine and two glasses on the table before taking a seat opposite Kelsey, who had her head hanging back between her shoulders, her face tilted towards the sun and a huge smile on her face.
She looked up at me as I sat down. ‘This is some amazing place you’ve got here, Alana. I could get used to this,’ she said with a sigh.
‘You’d never leave New York,’ I laughed as I poured the wine.
She shrugged. ‘Maybe I would. For a house like this,’ she grinned at me. ‘Or the right guy?’
‘What?’ I smiled at her. ‘You’d seriously consider moving to L.A?’
‘New York isn’t as much fun without you. The landlord has put the rent up again on my apartment. I hate my job. I kind of feel like I need a fresh start.’
‘But, you love the city,’ I reminded her.
‘So do you. Or at least you did. Would you move back there now?’
‘No,’ I shook my head. ‘I hated it here when I first arrived, but now it feels like home.’
‘I can see why you love it here. It’s beautiful. And Alejandro – well he’s hot!’ she laughed. ‘And he has so many hot bodyguards too,’ she flashed an eyebrow at me.
‘Hmm. So, you and Hugo? Tell me everything.’
‘Oh, he’s as hot as hell. And when we were on the plane over here, while you and the panty melter were otherwise engaged, we had a bit of a kiss and well, you know? But since we landed in L.A, he’s been super professional and as much as I try to tempt him, he’s not biting. I suppose he has a lot going on with trying to find out what happened to Alejandro’s father?’
‘Yeah. I guess they’re all kind of busy right now.’
‘Does Alejandro have any idea who is responsible yet?’
‘No,’ I shook my head. ‘At least not that he’s told me anyway. And I’m sorry that you’re practically on house arrest here. I’d love for us to have gone out while you’re in L.A. Alejandro has an amazing club, but he says it’s just too risky right now.’
Kelsey nodded. ‘Don’t worry, honey. I totally understand. It’s no hardship being confined to this house anyway.’
‘I know. But you’re only here for a few days. I’d have at least liked to have shown you some of the sights.’
Kelsey placed a hand on my knee. ‘Will you stop worrying. This isn’t your doing. I’m a big girl and if I want to get out of here, I will, but I’d rather spend my last two days here with you, by this beautiful pool. Do you think we could encourage Hugo to come out here and have a swim?’ She lifted her sunglasses and gave me a cheeky wink.
‘I think he might consider that a dereliction of duty,’ I laughed.
‘But he’s your bodyguard. If you’re in the pool too, then isn’t he doing exactly what he’s paid to? Oh, I wish he’d offer to guard my body,’ she sighed.
‘Maybe the next time you visit, he won’t be so distracted with work,’ I suggested.
She smiled at me. ‘Oh, do you think? Maybe we could all go out to Alejandro’s club. That would be awesome. Clubbing with my girl and her hot bodyguard,’ she giggled.
‘You are man crazy,’ I said as I swatted her playfully on the arm. ‘I’m sure you’ll forget all about poor Hugo as soon as you’re back in New York.’
‘Oh, I don’t know honey, those eyes and those biceps are kinda hard to forget.’
‘I seem to recall you saying that about Logan Woods not so long ago.’
‘Oh, well he turned out to be a complete asshole didn’t he? You always had his number though, Alana, You’re such a great judge of character when it comes to men. I always pick the crazies or the complete assholes.’
‘Well, I’m not sure you’re entirely right about that,’ I laughed.
She took off her sunglasses and looked at me while she took a sip of her wine. ‘Actually,’ she frowned. ‘You hardly ever dated at all, even in college. Not since Bobby Conroy broke your heart.’
‘Exactly, I didn’t pick well there, did I?’ I flashed my eyebrows at her.
‘Jerk!’ she snorted.
‘Hey, did I tell you I ran into him the other week. He’s some tech millionaire now.’
‘Really? Bobby the jock a tech geek? No way!’
‘Yes way. He was the keynote speaker at some convention at the hotel.’
‘I bet Alejandro loved that,’ she started to laugh. ‘You running into your handsy ex-boyfriend.’
‘He is not handsy,’ I insisted.
‘Whatever! So, did Alejandro like him?’
‘No,’ I grinned at her. ‘Not even a little bit.’
‘Good,’ she said as she raised her glass in a toast. She read magazines as much as I did, and knew all about the legions of women Alejandro had dated before me. I had also told her that we bumped into them frequently.
‘You certainly seem to have picked a good one now, though,’ she said with a smile. ‘He adores you, honey.’
I smiled back. ‘You think?’
‘Girl, I know! He can hardly keep his eyes or his hands off you. And why wouldn’t he. You’re a knockout. But, it’s more than that. The way he looks at you. It’s everything,’ she sighed dramatically. ‘Every woman deserves a man who looks at them the way Alejandro looks at you.’
I smiled at her. ‘Sometimes, I can’t believe he’s my husband, Kels. He is just … he is everything I have ever wanted, and everything I didn’t even know I wanted rolled into one hot package of fine ass man!’
‘Speaking of a fine ass man,’ Kelsey nodded towards the French doors and I looked up to see Hugo walking out into the garden.
‘I’m signing off, Alana. Hank, Ray and Max are here in the house and the patrols are outside as usual. Lucia is studying in her room and Mr Montoya asked me to tell you that he’ll be home after dinner so not to wait for him to eat.’
‘Thanks, Hugo,’ I said.
‘You fancy sticking around for a quick drink, Hugo?’ Kelsey asked as she lifted the half empty wine bottle.
He cleared his throat. ‘I’d better not,’ he said but his eyes were drawn to Kelsey’s legs as she crossed them, exposing the skin at the top of her thighs in her short sundress.
‘I’ll see you tomorrow, ladies,’ he mumbled as his cheeks flushed a light shade of pink.
Kelsey stared after him as he walked back into the house. ‘Oh, I would climb him like a tree,’ she said as she fanned herself with her hand.
I laughed at her. Having her here made being confined to the house so much easier to bear. I suddenly remembered that she had to go home in two days and felt a wave of sadness.
‘What time is your flight on Monday?’ I asked.
‘Eight am. I’ll be home in time for my shift on Monday night.’
‘I’ll miss you.’
‘I’ll miss you too, honey. But now that I know my bestie has her own freaking jet, you can send it for me next time I have some time off work,’ she said as she poured us each a fresh glass of wine.
‘Sounds like a great plan.’
‘Hey, I meant to tell you I saw your mom last week.’
I swallowed. I hadn’t spoken to my parents since the morning I had confronted my father and he had admitted that Alejandro had paid him three million dollars to marry me. He had sold his only child and I had told him that I never wanted to see him again. I had no idea if my mother had even found out about my visit that morning, but she hadn’t contacted me either way. I was done with the two of them, but it was hard to cut them out of my life, even though I knew it was the right thing to do.
Kelsey had no idea about what had happened with my parents, or the fact that my marriage to Alejandro hadn’t started out anything like the fairy-tale she believed it to be.
‘How was she?’
‘She didn’t look well, to be honest. She asked how you were. When was the last time you spoke to her?’
‘It was a while ago. We kind of had a falling out. Well, me and my dad did.’
‘And your mom took his side, like always?’ Kelsey asked with a roll of her eyes.
‘I’m not even sure she knows about it. But, she must know something as we used to speak a couple of times a week. Who knows what my father must have told her? But, I’m done with them, Kels.’
She nodded at me. ‘You deserve to be happy, Alana, and I don’t think you ever really were in New York. Not like you are here. I think your father had a lot to do with that.’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked her. She had never mentioned anything like this to me before.
‘He always had you working for him, covering his ass, or playing some angle so he could score votes. Remember when you had to cancel on our trip to Cabo at the last minute because he had some emergency he needed your help with. Or the time we were supposed to go upstate for Heather Jensen’s bachelorette and he asked you to look after your mother because she was sick and he was going out of town? There were so many times just like that, Alana. He never let you live your life.’
I frowned at her. I’d never really thought about how many times I’d had to cancel plans to help out my parents. But, it happened a lot. ‘I’m sorry, I must have been a crap friend, Kels,’ I said as I felt the tears pricking my eyes.
‘No you weren’t,’ she said as she placed her hand on my arm and gave me a reassuring squeeze. ‘You were always there for me when I really needed you, and I know you always will be.’
‘Always,’ I said as I held up my wine glass. ‘I love you, Kels.’
‘Love you too, honey,’ she smiled as tapped her glass against mine.
