Free Saved by Kelly Elliott

for
the first time in more than a year. I never wanted this feeling to
end, but I knew that it had to. As much as I wanted, there was no
way I could ever let Josh Hayes into my heart. Never.

CHAPTER NINE
    ARI
    I woke up from a terrible
nightmare. Fuck a duck! If I had one more dream about Jeff and Rebecca, I
swore that I would never go to sleep again. I looked over at the
clock. It was 6:30. Jeff must already be up and out for a
run.
    I picked up my cell phone and called
Amanda.
    “Hey sweets. What’s up?” Amanda said. She
sounded like she couldn’t breathe.
    “What the hell is wrong with you? Oh god! Are
you having sex?”
    Amanda laughed. “No! I’m at the gym, running
on the treadmill. It’s something you should be doing, Ari.”
    “Yeah, whatever, bitch. I need you today. Are
you free?”
    “Yep, Brad is helping his dad out, so I’m
free the whole day. Why? What’s up?”
    I took a deep breath and then started to tell
Amanda about my plan.
    “Holy hell, Ari! Are you fucking nuts?”
    “No, I’m not nuts. I really don’t think this
baby is Jeff’s. I have to see her, Amanda. I have to find out why
she picked now to tell him that she’s pregnant. I need to see her
with my own eyes. Manda…please do this for me,” I begged.
    “Gesh, Ari. Damn it. Okay. What do I need to
do?”
    “Meet me at Haylcyon in thirty minutes. I
found out yesterday that Crysti is working this morning. Then, you
and I are having lunch at Hula Hut today.”
    “Oh shit. I have a bad feeling, Ari, a very
bad feeling about this.”
    “Just shut up, and get your ass over to the
coffee shop. Parking is a bitch, so just pay to park.”
    I hung up with Amanda and started to get
dressed. I didn’t have time for a shower, so I just threw my hair
up in a ponytail and tried to make myself look somewhat
presentable. Thank God I kept clothes over at Jeff’s. I picked out
a pair of black capri pants, a light blue tank top, and flip flops.
Now, I was ready to get to the bottom of this Rebecca mess.
    Just as I was walking into the kitchen to
grab a bottle of water, Jeff came through the front door.
    “Hey, baby! What are you doing up this early?
I thought that maybe we could continue with what we started last
night,” Jeff said as he walked up and wrapped his arms around
me.
    Even sweaty and stinky, he smelled like
heaven. The warmth from his arms relaxed me immediately. He would
freak out if he knew what I was going to do today.
    I let out a small laugh. I
had to catch my breath. Damn, he’s so
handsome . I reached up on my toes and gave
him a kiss, filling it with as much passion as I could. I wished we
could just go back in time and admit how we really felt about one
another instead of acting so stupid. Rebecca wouldn’t even be a
second thought right now.
    “Wow. What did I do to deserve that?” Jeff
asked kissing the tip of my nose.
    My heart was
breaking. Please, God. Please don’t let
this baby be his.
    “Nothing.I just wanted to kiss you. Do I need
a reason to kiss you now?”
    Jeff threw his head back and laughed. “Nope!
Feel free to kiss me anytime or anywhere you’d like baby.”
    I giggled and reached for my purse. “I have
to go. I’m meeting Amanda for breakfast, and then I think we’re
going shopping.”
    Jeff’s smile disappeared as he ran his hands
through his hair. I knew he was so torn about meeting Rebecca on
his own, and I couldn’t be mad at him. He needed to meet with the
bitch to get this over with. My hands started to shake.
    “Ari, I really don’t want to meet with her
today. You believe that, don’t you?”
    Holy hell. I wanted to throw up just thinking about him
seeing her again.
    “Of course, I know you don’t want to meet
with her, but….but you have to. You have to do this and just get it
over with. I’m sure that it’s gonna be okay. Just meet with her,
hear her out, and then we’ll take it from there. If she’s seven
months now, then she’s due around the middle of August. We