Oceans Apart: Book 1 Page 5

  It was the kind of thing I’d always wanted to do with a boyfriend, but Brad hadn’t been really interested in the farmer’s market or the way the food was made, and he’d never really understood why I spent so much time and money making things that we could just go get from a restaurant. No matter how many times I’d explained it wasn’t about just having the food, he never seemed to get it.

  From the enthusiasm he’d shown, I was sure Tristan would have, but that wasn’t an option.

  Time passed by faster than I was used to while I worked and got to know him, and soon enough we’d made use of online world clocks to decide that it was easiest for him to talk to me around two in the afternoon my time when it would be ten at night his time.

  I could easily get away with chatting on Skype messaging while I was working, and he would be winding down for the night. Things went a lot faster after that, and I started to feel even closer to Tristan than I’d ever expected.

  About a month after we’d first met, and after another run-in with Helena in the elevator on her way back up to the seventh floor from lunch, I told Tristan about Brad. I hadn’t been planning to, but Helena had looked at me and smirked before getting off the elevator, and I’d discovered that yes, being acknowledged by her was worse than being ignored.

  Ginny :P: I wish there was some universal sign men had to wear when they were assholes. So everyone else would know that they were assholes, you know? It would make things so much fucking easier.

  Tristan: Hey the same thing could be said for women who are assholes. I know a couple who would need a sign.

  Tristan: Was some guy an asshole to you recently?

  Ginny :P: Not really recently. About six or seven months ago. He cheated on me with someone who works in the same building as I do and I just saw her in the elevator.

  Tristan: Really? Someone you have to see all the time? Talk about inconsiderate.

  Ginny :P: You know what would have been really considerate? Him not cheating on me.

  Tristan: Well, yeah, that is a good point. But think about it this way. At least you didn’t waste any more time on someone who had the capacity to hurt you like that in the first place, yeah?

  I’d never thought about it that way. I’d been so concerned with thinking about what I’d lost; it hadn’t even crossed my mind to focus on the fact that it might have been a good thing.

  Because if Brad really loved me, he wouldn’t have cheated. Even if Helena was “too hard to resist” or whatever other bullshit excuse he had come up with, he wouldn’t have even looked her way if he’d actually been in love with me the way I wanted him to be.

  Ginny :P: Thanks for that. Really. I never thought about it that way. I guess I spent a lot of time wondering what I could have done better to make him want to stay with me.

  Tristan: Nothing. Even if you were a bad girlfriend, which I doubt, he could have had the decency to break up with you right out instead of betraying your trust. The movies and shit made it seem like it was something that just happened spontaneously. Oh no, there’s a hot lady here and I can’t control myself even though I’m in a relationship!

  Tristan: But it doesn’t work like that. You don’t just forget that you’re with someone. It’s a conscious decision to do the wrong thing.

  Ginny :P: Speaking from experience?

  Tristan: I’ve never cheated if that’s what you mean. I’ve just been hurt too.

  Ginny :P: Really? Someone hurt you?

  Tristan: Why is that so surprising?

  Ginny :P: I don’t know. I guess I can’t really see why someone would want to.

  Tristan: I could say the same for you. You deserve much better than that, you know.

  Not even Kari had told me things like that after it had happened. She’d been more concerned with making sure I got revenge, but even now, months after the whole thing had gone down, I found myself wishing someone had told me it wasn’t my fault. Because it was like a weight was lifted from my shoulders.

  It wasn’t me.

  I wasn’t the reason for Brad cheating on me, which maybe meant it wasn’t my fault I was alone now. What I was looking for, someone I could trust who wanted to be with me for more than just one night — it wasn’t too much to ask.

  It put a smile on my face for the rest of the week.

  We went back to lighter conversations after that, until a couple more weeks went by and Tristan dropped a revelation of his own.

  I never pried for too much information about his life, getting the sense there were some things he didn’t talk about for good reasons. I understood about being private, especially with someone he didn’t actually know all that well, even if that was changing every day.

  But it was nearly two months in when he told me more about himself.

  Tristan: So I haven’t been entirely honest with you.

  Ginny :P: …about what? Oh, god, is the accent fake? I knew it was too good to be true. You live in Burbank, don’t you?

  Tristan: You’re a dramatic sort of person, you know that?

  Ginny :P: Yes.

  Ginny :P: So what did you lie about?

  Tristan: Who I am, I guess. My name isn’t really Tristan Lee. Well, it is, but there’s more to it. I’m Tristan Lee Armstrong.

  I frowned and read the message over again. Clearly, that was supposed to mean something to me, but I was just confused.

  Ginny :P: I don’t know what you’re trying to say.

  Tristan: Really? I guess it would mean less over there. Google Armstrong Construction. I’ll wait.

  Ginny :P: Ooookay.

  Surprisingly enough, I didn’t even have to type the whole thing out before autocomplete was suggesting the name to me. I clicked the first link and found myself inundated with information about the company and pictures of the office building they worked out of and the many different projects they had worked on in Europe.

  “Wow,” I breathed as I clicked through, looking at everything. I smiled when I saw a picture of Tristan on one page of the site, the title “Senior Project Manager” under his name with a little blurb about his job.

  Ginny :P: Okay, that’s actually impressive. You must be loaded then.

  Tristan: I’m not loaded. My parents are loaded. There’s a difference.

  Ginny :P: Makes sense. Well, thanks for telling me. I can see why you wouldn’t want too many people to know about this. Hard to tell who likes you for you and who wants to get close to Daddy’s money, right?

  Tristan: Exactly.

  Ginny :P: Your secret’s safe with me. Mum’s the word, I promise.

  Chapter 8 — Tristan

  Oceans apart from Ginny, in my apartment, I stared at the screen. That was by far the least excited reaction I’d ever had to someone discovering who I was, but it excited me. Ginny knew, and unless she was a good actress, it didn’t change anything for her. She still thought of me the same way she had before she’d found out.

  The two of us had been talking back and forth for weeks, and the more I learned about her, the more I wished…

  Well.

  Wishing for that was dumb. I wasn’t used to not getting what I wanted. Not that I’m spoiled or anything, but money talks. It just didn’t talk to her, and that’s why it surprised me that I wanted her so much. Usually there had to be at least some kind of physical connection between me and a woman before I started thinking about her all the time, and I’d never even kissed Ginny properly. Although sometimes I really wished I had while I was with her. At least so I would have something to think about when I lay in bed alone at night.

  Mike often made fun of me for how distracted I seemed these days, and he teased me about having my mind stuck on a girl thousands of miles away, but he didn’t know how right he was. Sometimes at night I found myself thinking about her and what it might be like to wake up next to her and feel those soft curves, to smooth her hair back from her face, to kiss her awake and compliment her cooking.

  It wasn’t like me to pine after things I couldn’t hav
e, because usually, I could have just about anything I wanted. But for whatever reason, Ginny Peterson was in my head, and there was nothing I could do to change that.

  I wasn’t sure I wanted to change it at all.

  Chapter 9 — Ginny

  Another Friday rolled around, and Kari and I were at our usual club. For whatever reason, having someone like Tristan to talk to gave me more confidence than I usually had. I didn’t spend nearly as much time fretting about what the men at the bar or on the dance floor thought of me, and Kari seemed to approve of that.

  “Look at you, looking all sexy,” she complimented me as we made our way from the dance floor to the bar. “That dress is gorgeous. Your hair looks great. What’s got into you?”

  It was more revealing than I usually wore, but I’d seen it in a shop window on my way back from the market one weekend and hadn’t been able to resist buying it. It was black with a halter-top bodice, a wide black bow going around the back of my neck to keep it up. The skirt had little polka dots in lavender on it, and it flared around my knees, showing off a lot of leg. I’d paired the dress with some strappy black heels that added three inches to my unimpressive height, and I could actually feel the difference.

  Kari always radiated confidence, but now for the first time in a while, I felt like my best friend didn’t outclass me. “Girl, you’ve been raggin’ on me forever to get some confidence and now you question it? Give me a break,” I teased, shaking my ass for effect. “Are you jealous?” I couldn’t put my finger on what the change was, but I was sure it had something to do with Tristan. Just…the way he talked to me, complimenting and making me feel like I mattered…It did something to me, and apparently, this was the result.

  If so, I was more than fine with it.

  “Me jealous? Gin, you know I would never be jealous of you.” She wrapped her arm around me and giggled. “You’re my best friend. When we work it, we work it together!” she laughed, shimmying to the music. Yes, she was my big, beautiful BFF.

  When we reached the bar, Kari ordered a Jack and Coke, and I debated before deciding that I wanted something sweet and blended. I was getting ready to tell the bartender what I wanted when a smooth voice interrupted.

  “Let me guess. Strawberry daiquiri.”

  I’d recognize that asshole’s voice anywhere, and it was a good thing I didn’t already have a drink in my hand or I would have dropped it. “Brad?”

  He grinned, and my heart twisted. It was the same grin he always used to throw me when he thought I looked good, like when I was fresh out of the shower or when I was dressed up for a date or a night out with Kari. It started with him looking me up and down, and then his lips stretched slowly into a smile that took over his face. I used to get tingles from his approval, but now, I was thankful the feelings were stale; I just wanted to get away from him.

  “You look really good, babe,” he said. “How’s things?”

  I looked over at Kari, who seemed to be as speechless as I was. Neither of us had been expecting to run into Brad ever again.

  Apparently, persistence was going to be his thing, because he was leaning in closer and reaching out like he was going to touch me.

  “Don’t,” I said firmly, taking a step back. “What do you want?”

  “Well, you haven’t been returning any of my calls, so I figured I’d come talk to you face to face. Wasn’t sure if you and Kari still came to this place, but I heard you talking about it the other day, so…” He shrugged.

  Kari and I traded glances again. “What do you mean you heard us?” Kari demanded, folding her arms and moving to put herself between Brad and me.

  “You two were walking back to the office from the Chinese place on Monday, and you were talking about it.”

  I was horrified. Brad said it so nonchalantly, but there was no real reason for him to have been anywhere near us when we were having that conversation. “Are you following me?” I asked.

  “Maybe. I don’t know what else you expect me to do, Gin. I’ve been trying to talk to you for months now, and you won’t take my calls. Goes straight to voicemail, and you don’t call me back. How else am I supposed to get a hold of you?”

  “What do you even want?”

  Brad frowned. “You, of course. What else would I want? I told you the bitch from your office didn’t mean anything to me. She wasn’t a replacement for you. She was just…stress relief, yeah. She was fun for the time being, but there’s no way she would be as good as you. So what do you say? You let me buy you a drink, and then we get out of here? We can go get all-you-can-eat pancakes or something.”

  “No!” I said it louder than I’d meant to, but the music was deafening, no one else seemed to be paying attention to what was going on. “I don’t want to go anywhere with you. I don’t see why you can’t take the hint. If someone doesn’t answer your phone calls, it means they don’t want to talk to you, Brad.”

  “You don’t mean that,” he said, and this time he did grab my hand, trying to pull me closer.

  “No, I really, really do. Stop acting like you didn’t cheat on me. You did this. Not me.”

  “It didn’t mean anything, babe,” Brad insisted, tugging on my arm. “You know it didn’t. I didn’t even mean for it to happen.”

  Tristan’s words flashed across my mind, and I snatched my hand back, moving out of Brad’s reach. “No,” I said firmly. “You don’t get to say that. You knew exactly what you were doing when you let her in and let her suck your dick. It wasn’t an accident. Her mouth didn’t just conveniently fall onto it. If I meant anything to you at all, then it wouldn’t have happened. You would have told Helena to fuck off and not let her do it…But you didn’t. You let it happen. And now we’re done, do you understand me? Don’t call me, don’t follow me around. I don’t want anything else to do with you.”

  I didn’t even pause to see the look on his face before turning on my heels and making my way through the crowd. I couldn’t tell if Kari was following or if she’d stayed behind to give Brad a piece of her mind as well, and at that moment, I didn’t care.

  Once I’d made it outside, I sucked in a deep breath, then pulled my phone out and opened up Messenger. The world clock app told me it was about seven in the morning his time. I didn’t want to disturb him, if he was still sleeping, but I needed to talk to him now.

  Hey, I typed quickly.

  You’re probably asleep since it’s Saturday morning. But I need to talk to you.

  There was no reply and I was considering giving up, texting Kari to see if she was ready to leave. Right as I hit send, he replied.

  Tristan: Hey. Everything alright?

  I sighed in relief.

  Ginny :P: Not really. I’m sorry I woke you up.

  Tristan: Don’t worry about it. I was getting up in an hour to head to the gym anyway. What’s going on?

  It took me a minute to type with the way my fingers were trembling, but I managed to get out a long message about seeing Brad, how he had apparently been following me, and how it creeped me out. Typing it out helped me calm down a little, and I was really hoping I’d gotten worked up for no reason. I didn’t want to think Brad was dangerously psycho.

  Tristan: …that’s concerning. Are you going to go to the police or anything?

  I bit my lip and thought about it a minute. It wasn’t like Brad had tried to hurt me or anything. He was just…overly persistent. Maybe he would leave me alone after this.

  Ginny :P: I don’t think he wants to do anything bad. He just wants me back.

  There was another few minutes’ pause before Tristan messaged me back.

  Tristan: It’s up to you, but I think you should be on the safe side. Him following you around and you not knowing and then him not seeing the problem with that is kind of worrying.

  He had a point, but…

  Ginny :P: I think it’ll be okay. I’m mostly just pissed off that he tried to tell me that he didn’t mean to cheat on me.

  Tristan: He knew what he was doing.
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  Ginny :P: I know that now. I’m going to try to find Kari so we can get out of here. Thanks for talking to me.

  Tristan: You’re welcome. Just be careful, alright? If he keeps coming around or you see him again, you really should consider calling the cops.

  I sighed. That would be such a hassle, but I could admit that he was right.

  Ginny :P: I will. I promise. Have a good workout!

  After Tristan had said his goodbyes, I scrolled through my phone to find Kari’s number so I could find out what she wanted to do, but luckily, my best friend was making her way out of the club already, coming to stand beside me on the sidewalk in front of the club.

  “You okay?” she asked, resting a hand on my shoulder.

  “Yeah, I think so. I just…really wasn’t expecting to see him. I mean, I know we live in the same city, but still…does this qualify as stalking?”

  Kari shrugged. “I don’t know the technical definition of stalking. We could look it up at work. I don’t think we could have him arrested for being at the same club as us.”

  “Right,” I sighed. “And it’s not like we have any proof he was following us. He could have been lying about that. I mean, we do come to this club a lot.”

  “Yeah, well, I told him you’re better off without him. He didn’t look too happy about it, but he went to go dance with some other girl, so maybe he got the hint. If not…I guess we’ll deal with him when it happens.”

  “I don’t know what else we can do. Tristan thinks we should go to the police. Or I should, anyway.”

  Kari made a face. “Of course you’ve already talked to him. Isn’t it like some ungodly time in the morning over there?”

  “Not really. It’s like seven tomorrow.”

  “Oh, that’s not too bad,” she replied.

  “Can we just go?” I asked. I was tired, and I didn’t feel so confident anymore. I found myself looking around as people walked past us, wondering if Brad was lurking in the shadows ready to pounce.

  “Yeah, probably a good idea,” Kari agreed. “Let’s get out of here.”