With Love, Alex: Fairlane Series #0.5 Read online

  “Thank you,” I murmured as sleep started to pull me under.

  From across the room, I heard what sounded like Matt speak. “Is she awake?”

  “She was,” Jenner answered back gruffly. “You’re so fucking stupid man. What were you thinking?”

  When he was closer, Matt spoke again. “Don’t start in on me. You don’t think I feel bad enough as it is?”

  Their voices faded with each word spoken to the point that I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or not. No longer were they speaking in whole sentences, but a word here and there.

  Asshole.

  Phone.

  Friend.

  Texting.

  Out.

  Something soft touched the fingers of my broken arm and my knuckles feather light before my hair was brushed back from my face and a soft whisper was murmured in my ear.

  “I’m sorry.”

  8

  Moving On

  “Now that the kids are off playing with all their new toys, we can finally talk,” Taylor said peering at me over her coffee cup.

  Unsure what she wanted to talk about, I took a sip of my coffee stalling. It’d been close to two months since the wreck, and I was still rocking my pink cast. Taylor knew everything that had happened that weekend. Once I got home and assured Mason that I was fine and that nothing bad would ever happen to me again, we snuggled the rest of the day and night. My words hadn’t reassured Mason in the slightest, every night I found him sneaking into bed with me and holding my hand as he fell back to sleep.

  The guilt of not being able to be there when Mason got home still ate at me. The worry that had been in his eyes for a full week straight and that I still got a glimpse of every now and then wrecked me. We were a team, and I’d let him down.

  Needless to say, Ryan and I were back to one hundred percent. He was there for Mason and me when no one else could. Actually, all my friendships blossomed as I had to rely on my friends more in that first week than I ever had before. It made me realize that asking and having to accept help wasn’t such a bad thing.

  Jenner and I had become great friends. Once I finally woke up in the hospital and could stay awake longer than a couple of minutes, one of my doctors informed me that they’d be keeping me overnight since I had a concussion and that it would be advisable that I didn’t fly back home. That was not what I wanted to hear. The only thing I wanted was to be home with Mason, so I may have freaked out and panicked until Reeves came to the rescue offering to drive me back to Missouri. I wasn’t sure then or now how he managed to convince the production of his movie to let him off for the week, but somehow, he succeeded, and I loved him dearly for it.

  After the first time I woke up, Matt never came back to the hospital, and I hadn’t heard from him. At first, I thought it might have been a dream, but when I asked Jenner, he grudgingly confirmed Matt had been there.

  “That cup isn’t going to refill itself.” Taylor laughed, her voice tinkling as I tipped my cup draining it of the one drop that was left.

  “I don’t know what you want to talk about. You know everything.” And she did, so why was she giving me a look that said I might not know everything. I wasn’t sure how that was possible since it was my life and she lived so far away. What could she know that I didn’t?

  Peering into the living room to see Jack and Ryan watching whatever football game that was on, Taylor turned her attention back to me with sad eyes. Getting in late the night before, we hadn’t had a chance to talk, but we’d talked every day on the phone since my accident. I’d been cleared to fly from my doctor, but I wasn’t ready to fly just yet, so Ryan and I had split the driving and entertained Mason as we traveled the thirteen hours it took us to get from Missouri to Florida. It’d been a long day, and I was happy that we were staying for a week instead of having to drive back in only a couple of days.

  “Have you been on the Internet much?” Taylor asked nibbling on the side of her finger. Right away, I knew she was nervous. Nibbling on the skin around her nails was something Taylor only did when she was anxious.

  “No,” I answered shaking my head. “You know how the month of December is. In my free time, I’ve been shopping or wracking my brain trying to figure out what to get Mason and everyone else for Christmas. Or I’ve been on the phone with you, Jenner, Anna, or Becca.”

  “I still can’t get over the fact you met and became friends with Anna Jenson and Becca Matthews. I hate what you went through with Matt, but if it weren’t for him, you’d never have met them or Reeves. It blows my mind that while I’ve been stuck here, you’ve been hanging out with celebrities. If it were anyone else but you, I’d hate them.” We both laughed at that. Taylor didn’t hate anyone. She was one of the nicest people I’d ever met, and I didn’t think it was in her to hate a soul.

  “I think they feel sorry for me. Why else would they befriend me?”

  “Because you’re awesome. I mean come on why wouldn’t they? Just because they’re famous doesn’t make them any different from you and me. Except for their paychecks.”

  “I know that, but I only met them the once. Anna spoke only a few words to me at the party. Now she’s calling or texting me every other day. It’s surreal.”

  While I’d been married to Decker, I had no friends until Mason had started kindergarten and I met Taylor. Shortly after we separated, Ryan and Dawn came back into my life. I’d never had a lot of friends growing up and suddenly, I had more than ever. It was hard for me to accept that for some strange reason a couple of elite celebrities wanted to be my friend. It wasn’t that I was in awe of them because of their status when getting to know them I felt sorry for them and what they had to deal with on a daily basis. It was that it didn’t make sense. I knew there were plenty of people out there that would die for the chance to be their friend and I was sure they had plenty without me being a part of the mix.

  “They are calling you now and seem to be genuine because you’re you, and who wouldn’t want to be friends with you.”

  “You’re buttering me up, and I want to know why. Spill it.” I joked with her, but the strain on her face told me I’d hit the nail on the head.

  “So,” she drew out the word and refilled her coffee. “The other day while I was waiting in car line to pick up Ben, I got there a little early from being out shopping. Since I had some time to kill, I thought I’d see if there were any more pictures of you on the internet. Did I tell you I’ve been saving them to my computer?”

  How many were there that she thought she should possibly start saving them?

  “No, you never mentioned it. I know about the Halloween party ones. Are there more?”

  “There was one from when Matt picked you up at the airport the last time you were there, but that’s all I found,” Taylor answered before she started to chew on her finger once again.

  “That doesn’t sound bad.” I shrugged. “What else was there?”

  “Everywhere I looked the media, press or whatever you want to call it only had nice things to say about you.”

  That was a good thing, but no reason for her to chew her finger down to the bone.

  “Did you see something bad about me? If so, I don’t think I want to hear about it right now. Maybe in a couple of months when I’m not still kicking myself about going there in the first place.”

  Leaning over, Taylor wrapped my hand in hers while giving me a sympathetic smile. “Honey, you’ve got to stop beating yourself up. How were you to know anything would happen let alone that you’d get in a wreck?”

  “I shouldn’t have risked it. Not over a guy a barely liked. I was stupid and desperate to move on with my life. I could be dead right now, and Mason would be stuck living with his father.” Even now, every time I thought about it my eyes would threaten to tear up, but I willed them back. I didn’t want Mason to see me crying on Christmas Day.

  “We’ve been over this, and that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. When I was online looking to see if there were any more
pictures of you, I came across something else.”

  “Taylor,” I laughed because how much longer could she draw this out. “You’re killing me here. Whatever it is I can take it just tell me.”

  “There were pictures of Matt with another woman,” she answered, looking down at her sock clad feet.

  “That doesn’t surprise me. I haven’t seen or heard from him since I woke up in the hospital.”

  “No.” She shook her head, while wearing a frown. “It was after the Halloween party and before your last trip there. At first, I thought it was just gossip. You know how celebrities can’t be seen with anyone or they’re automatically fucking them?” she eyed me from across the counter. “That’s what I thought this was until I looked at a few more sites. He was caught outside a club lip-locked with some woman with his hand up her skirt. I think it was only a few days after you visited.”

  Blowing out a breath I didn’t know I was holding; I closed my eyes. “I wish I’d known this before. If I had there’s no way in hell, I would’ve visited there that second time.”

  “I know and I’m sorry. If I’d known I would have told you.” Taylor promised.

  “I know you would have. Was she at least pretty?” I asked because if he was going to make me look like a fool, I hoped whoever she was, she was pretty.

  “She was okay I guess. I can show you if you want.”

  I stood from the stool where we’d been sitting across from each other. Whenever we were at Taylor’s house, we were always in the kitchen. Normally we started off by eating or making our kids something to eat and never left. That day was no exception.

  “If I don’t look now, I’ll always wonder what she looked like, and I don’t need any more what if’s or doubts in my life.”

  Giving me a sideways hug, Taylor and I moved over to the area where she had her laptop set up on her kitchen counter. It didn’t take her long to find the website. She had it bookmarked making me wonder how many times she’d looked at the site. On it, there were multiple pictures of Matt with a tall Victoria’s Secret model. I guess if you were going to get kind of cheated on she was the one you wanted it to be with. There was no competition. Her legs went on for days, and her body was tanned and toned with her hair and makeup perfectly done. We looked nothing alike. Where I was short, blonde with blue eyes. She was tall with black hair and grey eyes. Whoever she was, she was gorgeous. There were pictures of them going into the club together hand in hand and as they left where he’d pushed her up against a building with his tongue down her throat and hand up her skirt.

  Below the pictures there was a rundown of when the paparazzi had first sighted me with Matt as we made our way into a restaurant the night before Becca’s Halloween party, to seeing us outside her house as we waited to get into the party, and as we left with Reeves. They even had a shot of when Matt had picked me up at the airport just as Taylor had said. Underneath the time line of pictures and their speculation of when our relationship started and ended was a blurb that reinforced I was stupid to think of giving Matt a shot in my life.

  ‘We’re not sure what to say about this. We were all hoping here at Weekly Enforcer that this small-town girl was going to be the one that settled Matt Ryan down. We had hoped, and we hate to say it but, “We told you so.”

  “Ouch.” I couldn’t hide my flinch as I reread and looked over the pictures from Weekly Enforcer’s website. Not only had Matt almost killed me, but he also cheated on me. Why the hell had he wanted me to visit him if he was already fucking someone else? Was that why he had freaked out about me talking to Reeves?

  It didn’t matter anymore. I would never see him again. If I did, I was going to punch him in the face.

  It was true I’d heard the rumors that Matt had cheated on his wife and that was why they’d gotten a divorce a few years ago, but they were only rumors. When Becca talked about the way Matt had been acting and that she was concerned for him, to me that didn’t scream that he’d cheated. For me, it said that he had wanted the relationship. It wasn’t as if when I met him, I was planning on having any kind of association with him or even sleeping with him. We’d never talked about his marriage only his kids and that he didn’t get to see them as often as he liked. Knowing all this I was happy that I hadn’t opened up about Mason or my marriage. Not that I talked to anyone who I came upon about what an asshole my ex-husband had been.

  “I’m sorry, honey.” Taylor rubbed my back as she closed the laptop preventing me from reading the article a third time.

  When Ryan walked into the kitchen, I was still in Taylor’s arms with her rubbing my back. I felt like a big baby and stupid for being upset, but that was how I felt, and I was going to have to deal with it. Luckily, I was with my best friends when I found out.

  “What’s going on?” Ryan asked looking around to see if he could find a clue as to what could possibly be wrong.

  “Taylor showed me an article on the Weekly Enforcer that was about Matt.” I tried to explain as I pulled away from Taylor.

  “And? Did he say he was sorry for being an ass?”

  “No, and I doubt he ever will. Instead, it showed him out with another woman while we were together.”

  “You know you can’t believe everything you see, and they’re always trying to make it something it’s not.”

  Laughing bitterly, I smiled sadly. “There’s no misinterpreting this. He had his hand up her skirt and his tongue in her mouth.”

  His eyes widened for a second before he hid his shock. “No, shit?”

  Laughing bitterly, I replied. “No, shit.” Shaking my head, I grabbed my cup and poured myself another cup of coffee and doctored it until it was just the way l liked it. It was either that or booze, and it wasn’t even noon yet, so I thought coffee was the safe bet. At least for now.

  “What a fucking asshole.” Ryan looked me over with a cautious eye. “Are you okay? I know you were done with him, but it’s still got to be hard to see that shit.”

  “It sucks that I look stupid, but I’m not going to dwell on it. I did learn a thing or two from my short time with Matt, but that part of my life is over, and I need to move on.”

  Holding up her coffee cup, Taylor clinked it against mine. “To moving on.”

  “To moving on.” We cheered.

  Want to know what happens next with Alex?

  Continue with HOLLYWOOD REDEMPTION (available now).

  Click here for more details.

  Did you enjoy With Love, Alex? If so, please consider leaving a star rating or review. Reviews mean the world to authors especially to authors who are starting out. You’re review could be the deciding factor or whether or not someone else buys my book.

  Thank you for reading my debut novella and I hope that you’ll read more of my books.

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  Acknowledgments

  April (my book bestie) - Thank you for encouraging me from day one to follow my dream. I can’t tell you what your friendship means to me. The only thing I would change is our zip codes.

  Becky (my lady) - Thank you for reading my first draft and loving it. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t have had the courage to move forward.

  KB 101 - Alyne, Molly, Kelsey, Kara, Syd, Jessa, Grahame, Catherine, Larissa, Emma, Tracy, Saxon, Richelle and Clare- fate brought us together to make such a wonderful group. From day one, I loved you all and we instantly clicked. Thank you for all your support with answering all my questions and listening to my problems.

  I learned so much while writing this book from all the wonderful people in Alessandra Torre’s Inkers group. Thank you Alessandra for starting the group and being such an amazing champion to all writers out there.

  Thank you to everyone else who shared and helped me through this amazing journey.

  About Harlow

  Harlow Layne is an emerging author of small-town and Hollywood romance
. This is Harlow’s first book.

  Harlow wrote fanfiction for years before she decided to write Luke and Alex’s story that had been swimming in her head for years.

  When Harlow’s not writing you’ll find her online shopping on Amazon, Facebook, or Instagram or hanging out with her family and two dogs.

  Also by Harlow Layne

  Fairlane Series

  Hollywood Redemption

  Hollywood Fairytale - (October 18, 2018)

  Unsteady in Love (Holden and Prue’s story) Date to be announced.

  https://www.harlowlayne.com

  To stay up to date on all of Harlow’s releases subscribe to her newsletter: http://bit.ly/2M3Ci29