“I know some of those girls.” I shook my head in disbelief. “I’ve seen him with some of them in the diner.”

“I’m sorry, Lucky. I didn’t mean to make your life a Hollywood movie.”

“I need to go, Braydon.” I stood up. “Thanks for telling me everything.”

“Can I take you out to lunch tomorrow?”

“I don’t know.” I looked at his earnest face and felt something in me click. Wasn’t Braydon the type of guy I had always told myself to date. “Maybe, call me tomorrow, and I will let you know.”

“Awesome.” He pulled me towards him, and gave me a big hug. He smelled like sun, sand, and beer. But he was warm and soft, and I felt comforted by his embrace.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” I gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked through the living room quickly. I needed to go to bed. I just wanted to be by myself. I didn’t care if I was being rude by leaving the party early. These weren’t my guests and none of them had been particularly nice to me. I certainly didn’t owe them anything. They were Zane’s guests and I didn’t care if he thought I was a bad co-host.

I walked quickly through the room and ignored Gina’s shrieks of “Lucia, Lucia.” She was lucky I didn’t turn around and tell her shut up. I ran up the stairs and was about to sneak into my room when I saw that Zane’s door was slightly ajar. I’m not sure if it was shock or curiosity that caused me to walk up to the door, but I creeped to the door quietly and peeked inside. I saw Zane sitting on the bed and he was caressing Angelique’s cheek. The beautiful blonde was lying in the bed and saying something. I leaned in to get a better glance and I saw tears running down her face. My breath caught and I tried hard to hear what they were saying.

“I don’t blame you, Angelique.” Zane’s voice was tender. He leaned towards her, but I couldn’t see what he was doing. “My heart is broken too.” He sighed as he pulled back. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same.”

“I’m sorry,” Angelique whispered, and I wanted to burst into the room and scratch her. You had your chance bitch, I wanted to scream. Let him go. I won’t break his heart. My breath caught as a sob escaped me. I stepped back quickly and walked to my room. I closed the door and locked it, and then went into the bathroom. I ran the bath, stripped off my clothes, and turned off the lights before I stepped in. The tears started streaming down my face as soon I got into the tub. I submerged my face in the water and sobbed as I lay there. I sobbed with abandon and confusion.

Why had Zane been dating all of Braydon’s exes? Had he been sleeping with me just because Braydon had shown an interest in me? It would make sense after all. He had been coming to the diner for months and he had never been anything other than cordial and friendly to me as a server. He’d never shown any extra interest or asked me out. He hadn’t shown me any interest until I had gone to the party and he had seen me with Braydon. Immediately after that, he had taken me to his house, taken care of my car, given me a job, and seduced me. He had changed my life and everything had gone so quickly. How had I gotten myself into this situation? This was why my Last Boyfriend Plan had been in place. It was to save me from unneeded heartache. It had been in place to protect me. But I had thrown it away in a heartbeat, just to be with him.

I had, once again, allowed my emotions to supersede my brain. I had known that Zane Beaumont was bad news. I had known that a guy like him would only break my heart. And now, here I was, heart broken.

I had a made a mess of everything. I scrubbed my skin as I lay in the bathtub. I couldn’t believe I had withdrawn from my classes. What was I thinking? I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths. It’s going to be okay. You’ve gotten through worse. I repeated over and over to myself. I should be happy for Zane. He had his true love back now. It seemed to me that he and Angelique were made for each other. I’d never seen him that tender and caring towards anyone before.

I yawned and closed my eyes as I leaned back in the tub. I felt so tired. I thought I heard a banging on the door, but I was too exhausted to get up and check. All I could think of was Zane on a different date every week. And all of the girls were Braydon’s exes. I had scoffed at them when I saw them. I had thought they were all so dumb. I had felt superior to them, knowing that he came in with a different girl every week, but the joke was on me. It was me who had believed I could change him. It was me who was sitting here with a broken heart. And all I had been was another notch in his bed. Another girl he had taken away from Braydon. I sighed and turned over and realized I was still in the tub when I swallowed some water. I sat up quickly, spurting out water, and jumped out of the tub. I wrapped myself in a towel and walked into the bedroom, too tired to put on any pajamas. I jumped into the bed and sunk into the sheets. I felt lonely without Zane there to snuggle with. I missed him. I started crying again. How could I miss him this badly already? I hated him. I wanted to scream and shout at him. How could he have done this to me? As I drifted back to sleep, I realized that I could stop Zane from thinking he had won. If I went back to Braydon and dated him, then it would show Zane that he hadn’t stolen me from him. He wouldn’t have won. That’s what I have to do, I thought to myself as I fell into a deep sleep. I have to date Braydon.

Chapter 14

“Lucky, open up.” A voice was shouting through the door and I groaned from under the covers.

“Stop banging,” I shouted back, without opening my eyes.

“Open up the door.” Zane’s voice was furious and it sounded like he was going to break the door down.

“Okay, okay. Hold on.” I groaned as I got out of bed. My head was aching and I was still wrapped in my towel. “Good morning to you too.” I greeted Zane and he rushed into the room.

“Where is he then?” He ran to the bed, opened the closets and then ran to the bathroom. “Where is he?”

“Who are you talking about?” I shook my head puzzled.

“Braydon. You both left the party at the same time and you locked the door.”

“I had a bath and went to bed.” I rubbed my eyes and took in Zane’s disheveled appearance. “Did you sleep in your clothes last night?”

“Did you sleep in a towel?” He grabbed my shoulders and looked down at my face. His eyes looked wild and crazy, and for a second I was worried that he was losing it. “Why are your eyes red?” He frowned.

“I don’t know.” I looked down.

“Wait a second.” He rushed back into the bathroom. “The tub is still full. You didn’t fall asleep in the tub, did you?”

“Kind of.” I admitted sheepishly. “But I—”

“Lucky, do you know how dangerous that is?” His voice rose. “Why do you seem to have no concern for your life?”

“I woke up and went to bed.”

“After you fell asleep in the tub. A tub that is full of water, I may add. Do you know how many people have died in bathtubs?”

“This isn’t a horror movie, Zane.” I joked, but he didn’t crack a smile.

“You may not care about your well-being, but I do.” He turned away from me. “I’m going out for a bit.”

“I see.”

“I have to take Angelique home as Braydon just left her here.”

“She stayed the night?” My voice cracked.

“Yes, of course.” He sighed. “She slept in my bed.”

“I see.” I wanted to cry again, but I wasn’t going to let myself break down in front of him. “I suppose you are back together now?”

“What are you talking about?” Zane’s voice was loud and angry.

“Zane dear, are you ready?” Angelique popped her head through the door. “I borrowed your shirt, I hope you don’t mind.”

“It looks better on you than me, so of course, I don’t mind.” He smiled at her softly. “Go downstairs and I’ll meet you in a few minutes.”

“Okay.” She left the room, with her blonde hair swinging and I stood there in despair. This was truly turning into a nightmare.

“Are you going?” I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of hearing pain in my voice. That was reserved for me alone.

“I thought we made headway last night, Lucky. I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“Are you joking? You’re the one that spent last night with Angelique.” I hissed furiously.

“Angelique slept in my bed, and I slept in the spare room.” Zane frowned. “How could you think I spent the night with her.”

“I don’t know.” I didn’t want to tell him I had been snooping around the door the previous evening.

“Lucky, I like you.” He sighed. “What more do I have to do to show you that?”

“I have one question for you.” I took a big gulp and faced him. “Did you date Braydon’s exes?” I watched as the annoyed expression left his face and a blank tired expression replaced it. And that was when I knew. There was no other explanation. It wasn’t just some big coincidence. “It’s true, isn’t it? You went out with Braydon’s exes?”

“I asked you to trust me.” He looked away and walked to the door.

“Just tell me the truth, did you date Braydon’s exes?”

He stopped at the door and turned around and looked at me with a bleak expression. His stare was blank and he looked as cold as an ice statue. “Yes.” The word was direct and firm, and just as quickly as it came, he was out of the door and walking down the stairs. He had no explanation and no comforting words to give me. It was as if he didn’t even care about how his words would affect me. But then, of course he wouldn’t care. Zane Beaumont was incapable of love. He had already told me he didn’t want a relationship. I was the fool that had thought that I could change that. I could make him see how great love was. When in all reality, I was only a fool, nothing else and nothing more.

***

Most women would have hopped on a plane and gone home if they had gone through what I had. But I decided to stay. I decided to stay for a two reasons. One being that I didn’t have the money to go anywhere. The other was that I really like Mr. Johnson, and I really wanted to make this documentary and do this research. Sidney Johnson was a part of history. He had gone through what I read about in my history books. There was no way I was going to give up this opportunity. Not for a cold-hearted guy like Zane. I knew that it would be hard—just thinking about him hurt—but I knew that it would be just as bad if I weren’t with him.

I took out my notepad and went downstairs to Zane’s dining room. I sat at the table and made notes from our meeting yesterday. There was something about the Johnsons’ love story that inspired me. I think it was because love changed his destiny. Betty’s love made Sidney want to be a better person. When everyone else in his family had given up, when all the odds were down, he persevered and made it through. What had happened to his family had been truly horrible. Residential segregation had been a bad thing,—was still a bad thing—but he had still made something of himself. The power of love was truly great. As I scribbled my notes on the page, I realized that I wanted this documentary to focus on the positives that had come out of Jim Crow and our horrific past. I wanted the documentary to celebrate those who had beat the system and toppled the odds. I wanted it to be uplifting. I wasn’t sure how Zane would feel about the change and I was scared. I knew that he wanted to make it to celebrate his brother and his work, but I wasn’t sure if he would be open to veering slightly off track. I was passionate about the changes I wanted to make, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to have that conversation with him.

I must have spent a few hours writing, because I didn’t notice that Zane was still out until my stomach started grumbling. All of a sudden, I felt cooped up and alone in the house. I didn’t want to be here by myself. I didn’t want to go through his fridge and make myself something to eat. It felt too intimate being in his house without him here. I closed my eyes and tried to forget everything that I had learned within the last 24 hours. I didn’t want to focus on the dull ache in my heart that made it hard for me to breathe and focus.

I picked up my phone quickly and dialed Braydon’s number before I could change my mind.

“Hey, sweet pea.”

“Hi.” My voice was low and unsure. I didn’t know what to say.

“Is everything okay?” His voice was concerned. “Sorry I left last night, I was kind of out of it.”

“That’s okay.” I sighed. “Angelique was out of it as well. She stayed the night.” Why didn’t you take her home with you, I wanted to scream.

“She plays hard, she falls hard.” His voice was light. “Want to go grab some lunch?”

“You read my mind.” I laughed, as my stomach growled again.

“Need a ride or will you meet me there?” He was hesitant. “I don’t want Zane coming after me with a shotgun.”

“You can just pick me up. I’ll be ready in half an hour.”

“I’ll see you then.” Braydon hung up the phone, and I stared at it, wondering if I had made the right decision. There was something about Braydon that I couldn’t quite figure out. He was always friendly, and always seemed genuinely happy to see me, but there was something that was a little off about him and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Normally, I would have avoided him, but after Zane had banned me from talking to him and the whole Zane dating all of his exes thing, I had decided to continue to see him. It was like I was caught up in some sort of twisted hurricane and I couldn’t get out.