Chasing Paradise (Chasing 3)

“Lucy doesn’t want me; or have you forgotten? Besides, everything is set. All I have to do is show up at the location they want me to show up and it will be done. My family’s flying to Spain next week to get to know them,” Toby huffed out, looking like he was having a difficult time breathing.

“Shit, Toby!” Sienna screeched behind me, walking towards Toby before hugging him, tears falling from her eyes. “Think this through; once you go through this, there’s no going back.”

“What’s the point? The woman I love doesn’t want to be with me so why not marry for the sake of my child? I want something to live for, Sienna. My life’s been really bleak since she left; I’m shattered and pretty much gutted that she could survive living without me.” He gave a dry chuckle, shaking his head as if he’d gone mad, which he truly had from where I was standing. “Hell, wouldn’t it be odd if I ended up falling for Amelia in the end? What a twist that would be.”

“You’ve completely gone mental, mate, if you’re wishing for one second to fall in love with a trollop.” I paced, moving towards the windows, barely managing to contain the turmoil inside. “Let me speak to her father. Just tell me you don’t want to go through this farcical arrangement and I will fix it for you.” Toby was my best friend; one that I could always count on, no matter what, and I wasn’t going to let him go into a trap of a marriage because the woman was with child. I was sure Amelia Mendoza and her family had a price.

“Bloody hell you will, Knightly!” Toby thundered out, frustrated. “She carries my child. Why shouldn’t I be a part of that?” He looked away, calming down. “Besides, Amelia isn’t all that bad. She just needs getting used to. At least she couldn’t get enough of me in the bedroom. I suppose that’s a decent incentive.”

Hearing him now, I could truly see that he was giving up on Lucy. The prideful blonde beauty would certainly be affected when she heard the sad news, although the real question was, would she finally come to her senses and beg him to come back?

~B~

“Babe?” Sienna crawled closer, kissing my jaw before sighing. “Can we talk… about Kyle?”

Cristo Santo! I tensed, knowing that this was not a subject I wanted to discuss with her when I hadn’t seen her in weeks. “What about Matthews?” I hissed out, closing my eyes and thinking that I was going to detonate soon. Each time I heard his name, the devil in me took over and I simply wanted to tear him apart, limb by limb, until he was no more. The man was the scalawag who’d tried to take her away from me. The thought of him shagging her erupted like a blasted outbreak of hives. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I was going to be in a shambles soon if I kept on going with this off-putting tribulation.

“He arrived yesterday. I know how you feel about him and I don’t blame you for feeling and reacting the way you do each time you hear his name.” Sienna pushed herself up with her hand, watching me while her face contorted with pain. “I’m still going to see him and have him as a part of my life.”

The hell she was! “You ought to be joking, surely? After what’s happened due to that cretin’s relentless meddling, you still want to see him?”

“I know this angers you, but you must understand that he’s been my best friend since I was young. He was my rock, and at one point, he was my everything.”

Bloody f**k! Will he ever go the f**k away? He was such a vile creature that my tongue couldn’t even manage to utter his name without my detonating. I loathed the man that much.

Sienna cupped my face, slowly guiding it to meet her gorgeous eyes. “I love you. The depth of my feelings cannot be fully expressed because words aren’t enough. I know it’s not fair, however I have to ask something of you that will be extremely difficult to do. I want you both to get along and be civilized with one another.”

“Like bloody hell I would be conversing with that twit!” I grated out, growling as I slid off the bed, naked. The effervescent high I had been on after making love to Sienna had certainly worn off. She was asking for the impossible! In my blasted foul mood, I went inside my walk-in closet, pulling off a pair of black, drawstring pants and putting them on before striding towards the bedroom again.

Sienna was still on the bed with the sheet barely concealing her nakedness, aggrieved at my reaction. “Blake?”

Even when my insides were being wrung about, twisted like a bloody tornado, I still went to her side and gave her forehead a peck. “I’m going to be in my study.” I would quite possibly drown my sorrows away and murder Matthews in my head a million times while I was at it.

“Don’t shut me out, please. Don’t do this.”

“I need to think. I promise you, we’ll discuss this tonight.”

She nodded in agreement. “I love you.”

“And I, you, mi amore.” Someway, I had to find a solution to this problem. Kyle Matthews being welcomed into my home, spending holidays with us, being a part of our lives. The thought was enough to put me into overdrive. I needed a drink to douse my body in liquid fire because I was going mad. This was one of the keys to making Sienna happy. I had to do what was best her. What was best for us. I knew this, yet I was still having a hard time capitulating to the very idea.

Two hours later, I was still in my study, pondering what Sienna had bombarded me with as well as the major catastrophe that was Toby’s life.

As for Kyle, even though he was the vile cretin who’d tried to break us apart, he was part of Sienna’s life before, so some way— somehow—I had to find a common ground to stand on with him and to put away the hatred that I felt for him, just to make Sienna happy. By far, this was the hardest thing I had ever considered, though for the woman I loved, I’d walk through Heaven and Hell just to put a smile on her face. As long as she was mine, as long as Kyle knew where he stood, I could somehow tolerate him, but only for a shortened amount of time.

Toby, on the other hand, was a man who was simply lost. I understood his situation most because it felt like it had been just yesterday when Sienna had broken up with me and left for LA with Matthews. That feeling of dejection and worthlessness rotted you from the inside out and utterly poisoned your way of thinking. It was a wretched thing, however it happened to the best of us.

Finally, I decided to retire for the night and join Sienna. I had promised that we’d speak tonight and I intended to fulfill that. Our relationship was shifting and I wanted it to be a mature one. We had played enough games to last a lifetime and I certainly did not want to carry that into our marriage.