First Lies (The Second Life Series) Read online

  Wes looked shocked. He clearly came from a lifestyle where what I described just didn’t happen. He exhaled, “You’re mother just spoke so highly of you.”

  “Yes, yes she does, and she always will,” I looked down at the floor, the corner, anywhere but at him. “For a few years, I didn’t see her. That’s when things were getting really serious with Dennis, and she decided he was more important than her children. I was in high school during that time; you know, the most awkward time for a young woman. Well, she’d never come to my games or anything, but every time I’d run into her friends they’d tell me about how my mom would constantly brag about me and Nick. She fakes being a good mother for appearances. She pretends to be supportive of our choices when really she has no idea what’s going on. I’m sorry that she was able to fool you so easily.”

  Wes stared at me, examining my features, probably searching for some shame in my eyes. I sincerely envied him. He was so put together and sophisticated. He lived in a gorgeous home and worked an honest job to pay for it. Best of all, he had a close relationship with his family members. I wonder if he knew how lucky he had it.

  “Listen,” I began, feeling suddenly exhausted, “I’m really tired. If you want me to leave, I understand, but I have to get to bed soon.”

  “You’re not leaving,” he said in a light but firm voice. He grabbed my hand in his and led me upstairs into a bedroom. Perhaps if I wasn’t so tired, this act would have had more of an effect on me. He was so gentle and caring with his touch. We entered his bedroom. Again, this room was cluttered with labeled boxes, but again it was a beautiful space with crown molding and expensive details. In the center of the room, there was a large bed. “This is my room. Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be sleeping downstairs on the couch.”

  “No, please,” I gripped his hand hard with some of my last bit of energy. “I don’t want to kick you out of your bedroom, and I don’t want to be alone tonight.” My voice trailed off at the confession. Gloria had been there every other time I had had a seizure. She’d always spend the night with me. I didn’t know what it was like to be alone after one. I didn’t want to wake up by myself. “I can go shower and clean up. Please, just don’t leave.”

  Wes analyzed me. He looked me up and down and nodded shortly. He said, “If you want me to stay, I’ll stay. You can shower if you want. The bathroom’s right through that door.” He pointed to a closed door, and I smiled at him.

  I went into the bathroom with my bag and locked myself in. Like the rest of the house, the bathroom was adorned with high end fixtures, but it was extremely bare. I disrobed myself and looked into the large mirror at my naked skin. I had heavy bags under my eyes and dark bruises were already appearing on my thighs and side. Damn, I must’ve hit the floor hard. I looked like hell.

  I turned on the water and climbed inside the steaming shower. The water drenched my hair, matting it to my skin. I grabbed some shampoo and scrubbed it clean. After a nice scrub down, I started feeling like myself again. As great as I felt doing coke, I always felt like such a scumbag when the stuff wore off. I guess it also didn’t help that I had a seizure earlier. I shook my head in disbelief. I can only imagine how that must have looked.

  After a good couple of minutes, I turned off the shower and toweled myself dry. I tugged my sweatpants and tank top back on, feeling fresh. When I walked back out to the bedroom, Wes was already lying in bed under the covers. I gulped. Suddenly, I felt uncomfortable sharing a bed with this particular stranger. It was ironic though. Just last week, I was kicking myself for not sleeping with him the night before.

  “Thank you again for staying,” I said in a hushed voice. I climbed into bed next to him and faced the opposite direction. I was too scared to touch him. All of my insecurities from before Jersey was born came back and settled on my shoulders.

  “You’re welcome,” he responded in an exhale.

  I stared out the window, listening to his rhythmic breathing. He wouldn’t have sex with me tonight anyway, not after all he found out. At the end of the day, he was just being a really nice guy. He couldn’t possibly have any interest in me. Through his eyes, I was a coke whore dancer. Oh, and according to our first date, I was a bitch, too. This guy was a saint. He deserved a medal for looking after me.

  Let’s face it, Adriana. This one was just too far out of my league.

  Chapter 6

  My eyes fluttered open, and for a second, I panicked. I woke up the next morning to the smell of pancakes. I wasn’t in my bedroom, and then it hit me, I had slept over Wes’s house. Shit! I sat up and shot my gaze over to a clock across the room. It was nearly noon. I was scared that I’d slept in too late. I hope that I didn’t ruin any plans of his.

  I grabbed my things and made my way down the stairs in a dash. Wes was in the kitchen, hovering shirtless over the stove. His body looked fabulous. Sweatpants clung to his hips in the most endearing way. His exquisite abs were sheer brilliance. I wanted to run my hands over his whole being. My mouth was salivating in response.

  Stop! I yelled at myself in my head. I rubbed my eyes with my fingertips and concentrated hard. I had been staring at him like a gorgeous, seductive piece of meat. I had to concentrate on something else.

  I sniffed the air. The smell of food was intoxicating. It was only now that I realized how hungry I was. Carefully, I opened my eyes. He shot a smirk in my direction. It made me melt. He was ridiculously good looking. I wanted to kick myself for not having the courage to try something with him last night. That probably would have been my last chance to ever be physical with him.

  “Good morning, I thought this would wake you up,” he looked at my bags in my hands and frowned. Did he want me to stay? “Do you have to go now? I made enough for the both of us.”

  “Um, no,” I answered cautiously. I put my things down next to the island and took a seat on a bar stool. “I was scared that I was making you late for something. I’m sorry for sleeping in. Working my hours, I normally get up around two.”

  “It’s fine. I don’t have any plans until later,” he answered. His eyes lit up as he spoke. “So you reminded me that I was being a bad host. I never offered you anything to eat or drink last night. You’ve got to be starving.”

  “A little bit,” I said, but my stomach growled in response to the smell, contradicting me. I was starving. “Okay, maybe a lot a bit. It smells great.”

  “It better,” he laughed; it was musical and bright, nothing close to the tone he had last night. “I own a diner in Medford. I bought it a year ago from a guy declaring bankruptcy. One of the first things I did after the sale was finalized was learn how to make an amazing breakfast. It’s weird because my dad was a chef. You would have thought that I would have bothered to learn a thing or two from him, but I never took the time to.”

  “Did you grow up in the area?” I asked as he served me a plate of pancakes. He poured me a glass of milk and set down some butter and syrup next to that. “Did you always live in Jersey?”

  “Not at all,” he answered after serving himself. He sat across from me on the other side of the island. It was a little bit easier to ignore his perfect physique with my stomach so empty. This was the best breakfast ever. Not only did it taste amazing, but I had a chiseled God sitting across from me. Okay, so I didn’t say I was doing a great job at ignoring his fantastic good looks. “I grew up in Rhode Island. Most of my family still lives up there. I used to go to Princeton with my older brother, Garrett. After we each graduated, we stayed up there for a few years. Then, I had this amazing opportunity to buy a bar about four years ago, so we went in on it together. He backed me financially, and I made all the managerial decisions and changes. Shortly after the purchase, I moved to Cherry Hill, so I could be at the bar day in and day out. It was a great investment. I love it.”

  “What did your mom do?” I asked between bites. I couldn’t believe how amazing these tasted. I’m pretty sure he added cinnamon. It was heaven.

  “She’s a VP at the headquar
ters of a bank in Rhode Island, something in corporate operations,” he shrugged, seemingly disinterested by his mother’s career. “Garrett’s probably going to work with her soon. He just finished getting his doctorate in finance and wants to go back North. He misses home.”

  “Do you miss home?”

  “I do,” he answered, “but not enough to go back. I’ve been successful here. I’ve made friends here. I visit Rhode Island a lot anyway, and my family comes down all the time.”

  “Is it just you and your brother?” I asked with genuine enthusiasm.

  Wesley’s hair was in a mess around his head. I wanted to run my fingers through it; it looked so sexy. His answer pulled me away from the fantasy, “No, Garrett and I are the only boys. We have three sisters. I’m the youngest. Garrett’s next. He’s two years older than me.”

  “Are you close to your sisters like him?”

  “To an extent,” he stood up and went to the fireplace. He picked up a frame off the mantle and pulled down a picture of him with his siblings. They were dressed in thick coats, hats and gloves, surrounded by snow. “My oldest sister is Jane,” he pointed to the tallest woman. She was dressed immaculately in riding boots and sharp, designer clothing. Diamond earrings hung from her ears and long, golden hair fell down her shoulders. She was effortlessly gorgeous. It was almost intimidating. Judging by her current style of clothing, it looked like we’d be friends although she was clearly old enough to be my mother. “She and I are really close. She’s almost twelve years older than me, so she was always looking after me. Garrett and I always got along because we were the only guys and close in age. My other two sisters and I are close, but we don’t have that same relationship. Don’t get me wrong. I love them to death it’s just we don’t have that much in common.” He examined the expression on my face. “What about you? Is it only you and your brother?”

  I nodded slowly thinking about Nick all the way up in Boston. Our relationship was becoming strained, “Yes, it’s only me and Nick. He hasn’t been really talking to me that much lately.”

  “Why’s that?” Wes asked.

  “We used to be really close. I mean, he’s my big brother,” I laughed dryly. “I used to fly up to Boston to see him almost every month. He seems happy there, or at least happier there than here. Well, this past year I’ve been making an effort to become closer to my mom. She got in a car accident last December, and I thought she died. If you saw the accident, you’d swear it was a miracle that anyone made it out alive. Well, she did, and I realized that I didn’t even know her. When Nick found out, he was angry. He never said he was writing me out of his life, but he just kind of stopped talking to me recently. He hates my mom.”

  “That’s incredibly selfish,” Wes responded. “I don’t understand what your relationship with your mother has to do with him. He chose to disown her for whatever reason. What does that have to do with you?”

  “Nick thinks I should hate her more than him,” I said without looking into Wes’s captivating eyes. “She was out of my life longer than she was out of his.”

  “What about your dad? Are you guys close to him?”

  “Yes, definitely,” I said quickly, thinking about my superstar father. He did everything for us. I couldn’t be more grateful. “I love my dad so much, and I miss him every day. Before he moved to Virginia, I used to come into Jersey more often, and he’d come into the City to see me all the time. He was constantly flying up to Boston to see Nick, too. Honestly, I’m not sure how their relationship is doing. I guess I should ask my dad the next time I talk to him.”

  “I wish I met this girl on our first date,” Wes said with a smirk. “She’s much more stimulating than the person I met.”

  “I’m sorry about that,” I said, cringing at the memory. “I’m still getting used to dealing with my mom and her unique approach with things.” I rolled my eyes. “Maybe, if you don’t mind, we could do a do-over. I’m not working tonight if you’re free.”

  I gulped at the suggestion. I had never asked a guy out before in my entire life, yet here I was doing it for the first time under these conditions. If he said no, I really couldn’t blame him. I seriously put him through the ringer last night.

  Wes scratched the back of his head and pulled out his phone. He started clicking a couple things, “Tonight isn’t great.” He shook his head. My gut twisted. “I have a dinner to go to at seven.” He looked up at me and smiled. “Do you want to come? You can be my date if you’re up for it.”

  “Are you really asking out a cocaine sniffing stripper to an event right now?” I laughed almost in disbelief.

  “Yeah I am,” he shook his head laughing, almost like he didn’t believe it himself. “I have a feeling you’re more than that. Want to prove me right?”

  “Text me the information, and I’ll meet you here,” I stood up and got my stuff together. “I should probably go, though. I’ve got some things to do before tonight.”

  “Great, be here by six. It’s a black tie function,” he said as he walked me to the garage where my car was parked. “I’ll see you later.”

  I waved goodbye and climbed into my car. The whole ride back to Philly I couldn’t stop smiling. I don’t know what changed between Wes and me, but I liked it. Before I knew it, I was in my apartment scurrying around in my closet. I suddenly stopped at the buzz from my intercom system. I ran to the front door.

  “Hello,” I said a bit annoyed.

  “Adriana Lorena Ward!” The voice shrieked over the system, and I suddenly regretted answering the damn thing. If I could run and hide, I would have. “What the hell is the matter with you? Let me up right now!”

  I pressed the buzzer, and Gloria was in my apartment faster than I’d ever seen before. She looked furious. I gulped at the realization that I hadn’t talked to her once since I left Lux. She had probably received a million phone calls from people at our job asking how I was doing. All I could do was grin awkwardly.

  “You did coke last night!?” She fumed. I looked up and down the hallway. Luckily, no one was out there. I grabbed her by the arm and yanked her inside, shutting the door behind us. “I can’t fucking believe you! You swore you’d never do it again after last time!”

  “Well, I wanted to,” I said nonchalantly. I wasn’t letting her kill my mood. I sat down on the couch and waited for the lecture to commence.

  Gloria threw her hands in the air, “You had a seizure! You could’ve died!” It was true, but I didn’t. “You didn’t even tell me! I’ve been calling you all fucking night and morning. What the hell is the matter with you?”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, rubbing my temples. “Listen, I had a really long night. I don’t need to hear about my dumb decisions.”

  Gloria sat down next to me and exhaled slowly. She leaned against me, resting her head against my shoulder, “I was just so worried about you. Lou told me everything. He said your eyes rolled to the back of your head, and you started shaking like crazy. It reminded me of when I found you the last time…” I almost overdosed that time. She said I was foaming at the mouth. “Where were you today anyway?”

  “I spent the night with Wes,” the room got quiet when I told her this. I felt the need to explain. “He was at the club last night with some friends. He recognized me, and then I passed out on stage. When I came to, he and Charlie were in the office fighting over whether or not I was going to the hospital.”

  “Well, good, he was the only logical person there,” Gloria seemed calmer. Her breathing was slower, but there was still a bite to her tone. “What happened?”

  “I didn’t want to go,” I said with annoyance. “I was fine. I just needed to sleep it off, but Wes wasn’t having that. I made a deal with him that he could take me home to make sure I was okay if I didn’t have to go to the hospital. We ended up going back to his place because he didn’t have any other way to get back to Jersey, and it was just easier.”

  “Did you have sex with him?” Gloria asked.

  The memory of him
shirtless in the kitchen made my legs wobbly. I should have had sex with him, “No, I didn’t. He found me dancing at a strip club seizing from coke. Would you want to sleep with me?”

  “Point proven,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “So I guess that means you’re done with Mr. Wesley Holden?”

  “Not quite,” I beamed. I had never acted like this before. I was giddy. Yes, that was the appropriate word. “He asked me to be his date to a black-tie event tonight.”

  “Only you could pull off something like that,” Gloria shook her head in disbelief. She exhaled and stood up. “Okay, let’s get you ready for this thing.”

  Chapter 7

  I was dressed in a white floor-length Roberto Cavalli gown that hugged my body perfectly. It was a mermaid style with a deep V cut in the back. My curled hair cascaded down my right shoulder and a diamond clip my grandmother had given me pieced it together. My makeup was dark, and my full lips were covered in a light, shimmering pink gloss. I felt spectacular. Wes was going to drool after me.

  I drove my car expertly through the City into New Jersey wearing my pumps. There were so many late nights where I forgot to change out of my heels into sneakers that I’d become spectacular at driving in these things. I pulled up at the townhouse and climbed out of the car.

  “Hey,” Wes was at the door before I could knock on it. He was dressed in a black tux and bow tie. His hair was slicked back in dark waves, and when he smiled, I spotted slight indentations of crow’s feet. I don’t know how that made him sexier, but it did. “You look beautiful.”