The Stranger Next To Me

by Vasser, LaShawn

  Yes, she was gorgeous and she knew it. That perfectly smooth chocolate skin, her chestnut brown hair that hung in wavy curls that came down to her chin, those big brown eyes framed in long lashes put both men and women under her spell.

  Beauty, brains and confidence were a lethal combination. Her confidence was like no one she’d ever met before. Even in high school, women twice her age didn’t have that level of confidence.

  While most girls were still wearing their training bras, Sabrina had a nice pair of breasts, long shapely legs, a small waist, with a nice round ass…as a freshman. All the guys in school thought she was hot! Whereas, Tasha didn’t really start getting curves until her junior year and didn’t get a nice pair of breasts until her senior year.

  As smart as Sabrina was it was her lack of discipline that got her into the most trouble. Lots of people lacked self-control but when it came to men, Sabrina didn’t have any. That was a reality that took a while for Tasha to accept.

  Tasha had hoped when Sabrina married Tim that she’d finally learned to control that part of herself. But, no she quickly realized that wasn’t the case when she caught her on the terrace with her soon to be brother in-law during the rehearsal dinner.

  She remembered it like it was yesterday although It had been a little over four years ago. Tasha scanned the private dining room of the Italian restaurant. She couldn’t have been more pleased with how the rehearsal dinner had turned out. She’d done her level best to make this process stress free for Sabrina, which meant taking it all on herself.

  However, the laughter, the sound of wine glasses clinking together as everyone toasted to the bride and groom while being surrounded by family and friends made it all worth it. Sabrina finally seemed happy. She’d been beaming from ear to ear all night. She was going to be an incredibly beautiful bride, and this time…her marriage was going to work.

  Even though it had been a struggle to get the groom’s family into town for the rehearsal dinner, they’d made it. There were moments during the planning when both she and Sabrina wondered if they would even show up for the wedding. But, his brother Craig, his sister Jenny and Daniel, and some of his other family members had flown in for the wedding on his private plane.

  Tonight was the first time since they’d started dating that Sabrina shared a room with his entire family. They sat at a long table intermingled with Sabrina’s family. Tasha observed how everyone interacted. It was obvious that his family was a family of means. Just like it was obvious that Sabrina’s family was middle class through and through. Yet, they all still seemed to be getting along fairly well.

  A delicate looking young woman smiled at Tasha. She bore a striking resemblance to Tim. Most likely, it was his sister, Jenny.

  “Hi, I’m Jenny.”

  Tasha held out her hand for a handshake, “Hi. You’re Tim’s baby sister right? I’m Tasha Stevens, sister to the bride.”

  Most of the people there thought they were sisters. Although they weren’t related by blood, they were sisters in all the ways that mattered. They’d been joined at the hip for the most part ever since they’d met. They had shared almost everything with each other including the night Sabrina met Tim.

  “I know. My brother Craig has mentioned your name often. I can finally put a face to a name.”

  “Yes, Craig Horne. I’m really happy you all were able to make it.”

  “Considering, they’ve only been dating for three months, I’m surprised we’re having a wedding at all.”

  Tasha thought that was pretty rude but decided to ignore the comment.

  “Well, they seem to be very happy and know what they want so we can’t really knock them for that.”

  “Hmm…that’s definitely one opinion of it. So, how long have you known Sabrina?”

  Her question sounded innocent enough but Tasha knew Jenny was trying to get background for the family. Tasha couldn’t be mad that everyone was curious.

  She wanted to ease their fears, so she gave Jenny a warm smile, “I’ve known Sabrina since I was about fourteen years old.”

  Jenny took a sip of her champagne, “Ahh…so you know where all the bodies are buried.”

  The negative energy was strong and Tasha didn’t want to feed into it. She decided not to take that comment as a veiled insult. “Well, as far as I know there aren’t any bodies. But, I can tell you that Tim has made Sabrina happier than I’ve ever seen her before. And, he seems pretty happy too.”

  Jenny took another sip from her glass, “Well, money has a tendency to do that to people.”

  This time there was no other way to take that comment other than an insult. Was she really trying to insinuate Sabrina was a gold-digger?

  “It’s interesting you should say that because one thing I know for certain is that Sabrina is not interested in Tim’s money. She does very well on her own. But, you’re right to a certain degree. Money can cause people to do a lot of things but it has never been able to turn assholes into angels.” Tasha got up from the table and walked away. How dare she try to insult Sabrina to her!

  Just as Tasha was walking away, Sabrina’s dad stood up and tapped on his wine glass…clink…clink…clink, “I’d like to propose a toast to my daughter and Tim.”

  Sabrina had disappeared. She was no longer sitting next to her fiancé. Everyone turned around looking for her. “Tim, where is your fiancé?”

  He laughed, “She was here a moment ago. You can’t image how challenging it was to convince her to marry me and now I see it’s going to be even more of a challenge to keep up with her too.” Everyone started laughing.

  Mr. Links made eye contact with Tasha before he spoke again, “Tasha can you find Sabrina? For those of you who haven’t met Tasha, she’s like a second daughter to me and the one who organized this lovely event.”

  Tasha smiled warmly at Mr. Links. He was so much like a father to her especially since her own was no longer on this side of the living.

  “Of course. I’ll find her.” Tasha thought she would check the balcony first since a call was coming through on her cell phone.

  She looked down to see it was her boyfriend, Eric. They hadn’t been dating long, but she had such high hopes for this relationship. Tasha walked outside so she could hear him.

  Once she was outside, she quickly realized that she wasn’t alone. She heard the sounds of clothes rustling, deep breathing, and kissing.

  Someone whispered, “Wrap your legs around me!”

  Whoever it was probably should go get a room. But, Tasha smiled to herself because it must be nice to be so hot for someone that you couldn’t wait to be together. When the moans started it was obvious they were having sex. They were making love right out on the balcony only hidden behind two tall potted plants and the darkness of the night.

  How was she going to answer her phone without them knowing she was there? At first Tasha felt like a pervert for listening, but they were the ones having sex on a balcony in a public place. If anyone should feel embarrassed it should have been them.

  Tasha turned her back to where she knew the couple was hidden and answered her phone but spoke softly, “Hey.”

  “Hey babe. I’m sorry but I won’t be able to make it to the rehearsal dinner tonight. I’m going to be in the office late. I promise I’ll make it up to you tomorrow.”

  She was disappointed but not surprised since Eric had already told her he may not be able to make it. The muffled sounds of the couple’s grunts and groans reminded her that she still had company on the balcony. They were so into each other that they didn’t even notice she was there. However, Tasha couldn’t ignore them because they were getting louder and by the sounds of things picking up the pace of their love making.

  Tasha froze when she heard the sound of a woman trying to hide her orgasm.

  She closed her eyes and thought to herself, “Oh god.” When Tasha finally found her voice, she whispered, “Eric, I’ve got to call you back.” Then, she disconnected the call.

  Seconds late
r the sound of a male’s voice finding his own release followed. Tasha was rooted to where she stood. She’d never prayed so hard in her life to be wrong. The moments it took for them to pull themselves together felt like an eternity. Even though her back was still to them she heard the moment they came out from behind the plants.

  “Oh sit!”

  Tasha knew that voice anywhere and slowly turned around to see a stricken look on Sabrina’s face. The three of them just stood there not knowing what to say.

  Tasha looked from Sabrina’s guilt ridden face to the man she was screwing at her own wedding rehearsal dinner. Then, as if things couldn’t go from bad to worse, the door to the balcony opened.

  Tim stood there smiling from ear to ear, “Here you are. I see you found my lovely fiancé. Everyone was wondering where half my wedding party had gone. Sabrina your dad wants to make a toast to us before they shut the restaurant down.”

  Sabrina smoothed down her dress as her eyes pleaded with Tasha to keep her mouth shut. “Tasha found me. I have the beginnings of a small headache and wanted to come out for a little quiet. It’s so noisy inside.”

  Tim looked genuinely concerned, “You okay?”

  Her voice was surprisingly calm, “Um…yes. I’m fine.”

  He seemed relieved as he walked further onto the balcony towards her. Wrapping her up into his arms he turned to the man who only seconds before had been screwing his fiancé.

  Without an ounce of guilt he spoke, “I just came out here for a smoke but was rewarded by sharing the company of both these beautiful women.”

  Tim looked lovingly into Sabrina’s eyes. “I can’t argue with you there. However, Daniel…your wife is looking for you too.”

  Daniel nodded to his brother-in-law, “Yeah…if I’m out of sight for even a few minutes she’s ready to launch a search party.” He decided not to light his cigarette and went back inside.

  Tim kissed the side of Sabrina’s head, “We should probably go back too.”

  “I’ll be inside in a minute honey. I just need to talk to Tasha for a second.”

  “Don’t be too long. I’m enjoying making my brother crazy with jealousy over my beautiful fiancé.” He kissed her cheek and went back inside.

  It took everything within Tasha not to strangle Sabrina. She couldn’t wait for Tim to be out of earshot. “Have you lost your damn mind Sabrina? You’ve done some low shit but this takes the cake. Your rehearsal dinner with his BROTHER-in law?!”

  “Shhh…he might hear you! And they don’t even like each other.”

  “Are you serious? Now you’re worried about somebody hearing you! Anybody could have walked out here and caught you. I heard everything! What were you thinking? Tim could have caught you.”

  “Can you calm down for one minute? I made a mistake but no one has to know anything about it. Daniel’s not going to say anything and if you don’t, we can just pretend this didn’t happen.”

  “Sabrina, is it not registering that you just slept with your fiancé’s brother-in-law on the eve of your wedding with him not even ten feet away?”

  The first sign of emotion from Sabrina after everything was frustration with Tasha. “How many times do I have to tell you that Tim and Daniel can’t stand each other? And, I didn’t plan this. It just happened.”

  Tasha rolled her eyes, “Well, I should hope you didn’t plan this. How long? How long have you been cheating on Tim with him?”

  “Don’t look at me like that Tasha! I met them around the same time when we went to Palo Alto. But, this is the first time Daniel and I have been together since that trip. Like I said we didn’t plan this it just happened and it won’t happen again.”

  Tasha hissed at her best friend, “That was the random hook up from when we went on vacation? Jenny’s husband? Nothing ever just happens Sabrina! You can’t keep using that tired excuse. My god…you’re getting married tomorrow! If you can’t be faithful…why are you getting married?”

  “Would you please keep your voice down? You are overreacting. But, if I have to spell it out for you…I’m marrying Tim because I love him. I love Tim.”

  Tasha stood there looking at Sabrina like she had two heads. She was speechless.

  “Stop looking at me like that. I’ll need you to cover for me while I get to a bathroom and get cleaned up. I can’t go back in there smelling like sex.”

  Tasha had helped Sabrina cover up a lot of things over the years but this took the cake. She literally stood there with an incredulous expression on her face as Sabrina left walking through the balcony doors back towards the party as if nothing ever happened.

  Chapter 27

  Tasha released a pent up breath as her thoughts returned to the present. Tim took his eyes off the road for just a moment to look over at her thoughtfully.

  “You haven’t said much since we got on the road.”

  She tried to smile but failed miserably. Being next to him was harder than she’d even anticipated. Tasha pretended that she was worried about the weather. “I’m fine. Just hoping we can get to the cabin before we get caught in this weather.”

  Tim knew she was lying but wasn’t sure if he should call her out on it. Sabrina told him that she and Eric had broken up. He figured she was upset because of her breakup with Eric but he hoped she was upset because she still had feelings for him.

  The last thing he wanted was for Tasha to be hurt in any way. But, there was a big part of him that was glad she was available. “Tasha, I hope we can get past this awkwardness. We were friends once. I hope you know you can still talk to me about anything.”

  Tasha continued to look out the window. She wouldn’t look him in the eye. He didn’t need to know that being around him was still as powerful and painful as the last time they’d been together. She was licking her wounds but they weren’t over Eric.

  “Is Eric going to meet us at the cabin tomorrow?”

  Why was he pushing? It was obvious with her short answers she didn’t want to talk. When she turned to look at him, it was plain as day that he knew.

  “Sabrina told you.”

  “There was a time when you would have told me. We were once friends. I miss that.”

  “A lot has happened since then.”

  He understood, “Yeah, can’t argue with you there. But, does that mean we won’t ever be friends again?” Now he was lying to himself because he wanted much more than friendship. All he wanted to do was pull the car over and kiss her senseless.

  Tasha whispered, “How? How do you propose we do that?”

  Tim sounded frustrated, “I don’t know. Couldn’t we just start off by talking?”

  He turned his eyes back to the narrow little road. They were a couple of hours into their four hour drive, the clear sky started to change…turning an ominous shade of gray.

  Tasha remained silent.

  “So, I’ll ask my first question again? You okay?”

  Tasha wasn’t but she was going to be fine. And, it was probably best to let him think her mood was because of her breakup. “I’ll be fine. He was just smart enough to end things before we continued to make some really big mistakes.”

  They drove a while longer in silence. As evening approached, the purplish orange sky had already been ominous but now it was downright evil looking. Tasha was just glad that old broken down looking bridge didn’t fall into the river when they crossed it.

  “This weather is scary.”

  “Yeah…it’s a good thing the cabin is right around the bend.”

  Just as the winds started to pick up and it started to rain, Tim’s Range Rover pulled up in front of the cabin. He got out of the car and ran over to Tasha’s side. After helping her out of the truck, the sky completely opened and they were met with a down pour of freezing rain.

  They got soaked as they ran from the car to the cabin. Once inside, the winds picked up so fiercely that tree branches were flying through the air. A couple even knocked up against the cabin.

  Once inside, it was cold and dark.
Tasha’s clothes were sticking to her skin and it was making her tremble. Nowhere did she read of an upcoming storm before they left. As a matter of fact, she’d checked the weather forecast all week and it never mentioned anything about a storm brewing.

  Tim rubbed his hands together, “It’s cold in here. Let me get a fire going. I’ll go back out to the truck and get our bags in a few minutes. Can you check and see if there is any power?”

  Tasha felt around in the dark for a light switch and flipped it on. The power worked.

  She was so relieved, “Oh thank god. We have power.” However, the lights flickered on and off. “The way this storm is raging we might not have it for long. We should probably eat something just in case it goes out…otherwise we might be having s’mores for dinner.”

  Tasha went over to the kitchenette area. The chill between them was starting to thaw…even if only just a little. “I had the refrigerator stocked before we came up. There’s stuff in there for sandwiches and I’m not sure what else.”

  Smiling to herself as she thought about the soup and sandwiches he made for her after the accident. Tasha went into the kitchen to make something to eat while he started the fire. The tiny little flame quickly grew into a nice burning blaze.

  Once the flames were strong and hot, he decided he’d better get their bags. A strong gust of wind and rain blew inside when he opened the door.

  Tasha was so focused on making something to eat she hadn’t noticed Tim go out into that storm. He was nuts. There was no way she would have gone out there in that.

  As she finished making up the sandwiches, he came back inside. He was soaked through and through.

  “Wow…it’s crazy out there.”

  “Yeah and so are you for going out there in it. My goodness Tim! You’re leaving puddles everywhere.”

  He looked down at the mess he was making, “I’ll clean it up. I only went out because we both need to put on some dry clothes before we catch pneumonia.”

  The lights flickered on and off again. “Tim, is the hot water tied to the electricity?”