Page 90 of Free to Run
I feel like I’m going to be sick from seeing Alison’s sweet beauty tangled in my sheets to Melody’s crazy draped across my office couch.
This is what Hell looks like.
36
Alison
Istep out of the elevator on the executive floor of Hudson Investigations, absorbed in my cell phone. I’m texting Corinna about everything and nothing. She’s probably flat-out laughing as I’m blathering on about how the sky seemed brighter today when I was out on my run. How the flowers seemed brighter. Smelled better. In New York.
It must have been how well I slept after Keene finished making love to me because that is exactly what it was.
Love.
Fingering the diamond Keene placed around my neck so reverently, I kiss it. I shiver in memory at the way my heart swelled in my chest. The way he laved his tongue around it before raising his head and sipping away at the tears on my cheeks.
It’s heady.
It’s nerve-racking.
It’s forever.
I think I’m going to tell him early. After seeing all of those black-and-white photos in his condo, I just want him to know. I can picture the collage of us up on his wall so easily, especially with the spaces that have the pictures of our baby in them.
I smile to myself when I reach Keene and Caleb’s receptionist’s desk but find it empty. Sailing past, I reach for Keene’s office doorknob. It turns.
And I freeze.
Everything freezes. Except for the naked woman in front of me who’s kissing my man.
Or the Keene I thought was my man.
I don’t know what triggers their separation. Is it just a need to come up for air? Do they sense they’re no longer alone? Is it a sound I make as my heart bleeds out on the cream carpet of Hudson Investigations?
There’s one thing I know I’ll never forget though—the look of triumph on her face.
I whirl for the door.
“Alison!” Keene roars. The brunette steps in his way.
I never thought I’d have a reason to thank her as I fly through the executive suite.
Suddenly, Caleb’s office door opens, and I hear him shout, “Alison, wait! Keene, hold on a damn minute. Let me get her!”
I run through the glass doors into the foyer, just as the elevator doors open. Charlie steps out, and with one quick scan of my face, his turns murderous. Holding the elevator for me, he whispers, “Ali, what did he do?”
“Just let me go, Charlie. Please, please, let me go,” I beg. The tears are falling hotly. I need to go before Keene makes it past Caleb.
Charlie holds the doors for another second, two, three. He glances over his shoulder and sees Keene shove Caleb out of the way. “I’ll be in contact, baby girl,” he whispers before letting the doors go.
I won’t be, I think as my heart pounds out of my chest, waiting for the doors to close. Come on, faster. Faster.
They close just before Keene gets to them, but not before he can miss the ravaged look on my face.
The elevator is moving so fast, my head is spinning. Maybe I’m motion sick. How did I never notice how fast it moves before? Or is that the floor that just dropped out from under me? Suddenly, I’m heaving so hard, I turn in the elevator corner and vomit everything from last night’s dinner.
Oh, God. What do I do?
Exiting the elevator, I burst out into the lobby. Quickly reaching the street, I step into the hustle and bustle near Rockefeller Center and slam into a hard wall.
