“I thought we made headway last night, Lucky. I don’t understand what’s going on.”
“Are you joking? You’re the one that spent last night with Angelique.” I hissed furiously.
“Angelique slept in my bed, and I slept in the spare room.” Zane frowned. “How could you think I spent the night with her.”
“I don’t know.” I didn’t want to tell him I had been snooping around the door the previous evening.
“Lucky, I like you.” He sighed. “What more do I have to do to show you that?”
“I have one question for you.” I took a big gulp and faced him. “Did you date Braydon’s exes?” I watched as the annoyed expression left his face and a blank tired expression replaced it. And that was when I knew. There was no other explanation. It wasn’t just some big coincidence. “It’s true, isn’t it? You went out with Braydon’s exes?”
“I asked you to trust me.” He looked away and walked to the door.
“Just tell me the truth, did you date Braydon’s exes?”
He stopped at the door and turned around and looked at me with a bleak expression. His stare was blank and he looked as cold as an ice statue. “Yes.” The word was direct and firm, and just as quickly as it came, he was out of the door and walking down the stairs. He had no explanation and no comforting words to give me. It was as if he didn’t even care about how his words would affect me. But then, of course he wouldn’t care. Zane Beaumont was incapable of love. He had already told me he didn’t want a relationship. I was the fool that had thought that I could change that. I could make him see how great love was. When in all reality, I was only a fool, nothing else and nothing more.
***
Most women would have hopped on a plane and gone home if they had gone through what I had. But I decided to stay. I decided to stay for a two reasons. One being that I didn’t have the money to go anywhere. The other was that I really like Mr. Johnson, and I really wanted to make this documentary and do this research. Sidney Johnson was a part of history. He had gone through what I read about in my history books. There was no way I was going to give up this opportunity. Not for a cold-hearted guy like Zane. I knew that it would be hard—just thinking about him hurt—but I knew that it would be just as bad if I weren’t with him.
I took out my notepad and went downstairs to Zane’s dining room. I sat at the table and made notes from our meeting yesterday. There was something about the Johnsons’ love story that inspired me. I think it was because love changed his destiny. Betty’s love made Sidney want to be a better person. When everyone else in his family had given up, when all the odds were down, he persevered and made it through. What had happened to his family had been truly horrible. Residential segregation had been a bad thing,—was still a bad thing—but he had still made something of himself. The power of love was truly great. As I scribbled my notes on the page, I realized that I wanted this documentary to focus on the positives that had come out of Jim Crow and our horrific past. I wanted the documentary to celebrate those who had beat the system and toppled the odds. I wanted it to be uplifting. I wasn’t sure how Zane would feel about the change and I was scared. I knew that he wanted to make it to celebrate his brother and his work, but I wasn’t sure if he would be open to veering slightly off track. I was passionate about the changes I wanted to make, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to have that conversation with him.
I must have spent a few hours writing, because I didn’t notice that Zane was still out until my stomach started grumbling. All of a sudden, I felt cooped up and alone in the house. I didn’t want to be here by myself. I didn’t want to go through his fridge and make myself something to eat. It felt too intimate being in his house without him here. I closed my eyes and tried to forget everything that I had learned within the last 24 hours. I didn’t want to focus on the dull ache in my heart that made it hard for me to breathe and focus.
I picked up my phone quickly and dialed Braydon’s number before I could change my mind.
“Hey, sweet pea.”
“Hi.” My voice was low and unsure. I didn’t know what to say.
“Is everything okay?” His voice was concerned. “Sorry I left last night, I was kind of out of it.”
“That’s okay.” I sighed. “Angelique was out of it as well. She stayed the night.” Why didn’t you take her home with you, I wanted to scream.
“She plays hard, she falls hard.” His voice was light. “Want to go grab some lunch?”
“You read my mind.” I laughed, as my stomach growled again.
“Need a ride or will you meet me there?” He was hesitant. “I don’t want Zane coming after me with a shotgun.”
“You can just pick me up. I’ll be ready in half an hour.”
“I’ll see you then.” Braydon hung up the phone, and I stared at it, wondering if I had made the right decision. There was something about Braydon that I couldn’t quite figure out. He was always friendly, and always seemed genuinely happy to see me, but there was something that was a little off about him and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Normally, I would have avoided him, but after Zane had banned me from talking to him and the whole Zane dating all of his exes thing, I had decided to continue to see him. It was like I was caught up in some sort of twisted hurricane and I couldn’t get out.
***
“I hope you like tacos.” Braydon grinned as we drove up to a tacqueria. “They aren’t expensive, but they sure taste good.”
“I love tacos.” I laughed, surprised at how at ease I felt with him.
“Shall we try one of each?” He asked, licking his lips. His hair had started to grow back and he looked surprisingly sexy.
“I don’t know if I can eat that many tacos.” I shook my head.
“I’ll finish all the ones you can’t eat.” He grabbed my hand and led me to a table. “Sit here and I’ll go order.”
“Okay.” I sat down and looked around me. There was nothing impressive about this hole-in-the wall Mexican restaurant and that was why I loved it. Braydon could have taken me anywhere to try and impress me. I had been expecting a swanky place in Beverly Hills or Hollywood, but he had taken me to a gritty part of Korea Town and we were sitting at an old wooden table. I realized that I didn’t really know Braydon. He was turning out to be a guy I would never have associated with a big-time Hollywood star.