“Who you have in your life is none of my concern. No one needs to know what you did to get yourself out of the trouble you’re in.” She moves away from me and goes back behind her little desk. Pulling open a drawer, she pulls out a handful of foil packets. “I’m prepared if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I know this probably doesn’t matter to you a bit. I’m going to say it, anyway. The woman I’m engaged to is the love of my life. I screwed around on her in the beginning and I never want to do that to her again. I’m used to women coming on to me. It happens more often than not. I’ve rarely told anyone, no, before. And I really am sorry the first time I say, no, is a time that might actually hurt me for doing it. I have to tell you no, though.”
The condoms go back into the drawer as her cheeks grow red. She sits down again and hides her face in her hands. I notice a gold band on her left hand and wonder what made her try that on me.
“This isn’t even my office,” she says. “This one belongs to one of the male Captains. When I saw you, a strange thing happened inside of me and I took the chance you’d be into it.” She lifts her head to look at me. “I’m sorry.”
With a nod, I say, “It happens all the time. I’m not sure what it is about me that makes women do things they wouldn’t normally do. I don’t have any plans on telling anyone what you did. Don’t worry.”
She looks relieved and picks up a pen off the desk and looks over the paper in front of her. “Are you a flight risk, Mr. Brennan?”
“Not really. Can I ask you something?”
Looking up from the paper, she nods. “Of course.”
“On my phone, there’s a video of what the man I beat up did to my future wife. It’s the reason I did what I did. He pretty much fed her drugs and had her do things that are pretty bad. He threatened to put the video on social media if she didn’t start paying him not to. There’s a little kicker there too. You see, they got married in Vegas. My fiancé is a very wealthy woman, and this man knew that. That’s why he made the video after they were married. He wanted to have proof they were intimate after the wedding so she couldn’t annul the marriage.”
The woman looks at my cell phone then comes around the desk. “Get up.”
Standing up, I’m nervous about what she’s about to do. I find her turning me around and then the click of the handcuffs being unlocked is a thing that relieves me. She goes to sit back down then slides the phone over to me.
“Can I call her?”
A nod gives me her answer and I make the call. The phone rings and rings then goes to voicemail. “I guess she’s still in her meeting. She had one today.”
The sound of a text message has me checking it and I see a message from her. Opening it, I find some confusing words there.
-Jason, sorry for not answering. By now I know you’ve seen the video. I can’t face you after that. Sorry. I do love you. I hope you have a wonderful life. You deserve it. Goodbye, my only true love. I’m too ashamed to ever look into your eyes again.-
“Oh my God,” I say as my heart stops beating and my brain goes into a spasm.
“Mind if I ask why you said that, Mr. Brennan?”
I look up at her and feel as if I’m falling. “She’s going to run away.”
Confusion fills her narrow face. Her short blonde curls dance over her forehead as she shakes her head. “Why is that?”
“Shame about the video. That man has to be dealt with. What he’s done is a crime, I’m sure it is.” I pull up the video and hand the phone to her. “Watch this please.”
Watching the woman watch the video is hard to take. She makes no obvious expressions of disgust but it’s there. No one could watch it without feeling disgusted.
The thing is merely thirty minutes long, but it’s a horrifying amount of time for someone to be put through what my Brittany was put through. I can’t believe she didn’t do something about what he did to her.
“Do you know the other man in the video?” she asks me when it’s all over.
“The little prick said it’s his lover. Elmer Fartenberry is bisexual. I suppose that’s pretty obvious from the video, though. You see, I was able to get the whole story out of the guy before I beat his ass. And yes, I did beat him as close to death as I could before they came in and stopped me.”
“I’m going to pretend I did not hear you say that,” she tells me. “I’m sure you know this woman and you think she’d never do these things on her own. But the fact is people do sick shit all the time. In my opinion, there’s no way to tell she was forced to do any of those things.”
“I know that. But she was drugged,” I argue.
With a shake of her head, she says, “I know it was his hand putting the pills to her mouth. But she opened it and took them. Bad judgment is what I would call that. She shouldn’t have trusted him.”
“She was unaware of things.”
“Because she was drunk in the first place. The woman you love may not be the woman you think she is. The woman in this video is no angel, Mr. Brennan. I can see that you want to believe she’s changed. The woman in this video was into it. Anyone can see that.”
As I stare into the woman’s light green eyes I feel the anger boiling up inside me.
Have I been a fool?
Chapter 4
BRITTANY
My phone rings and I see an unknown number on the screen. I’m worried it’s Jason calling from another phone to get me to talk to him but I can’t do that. The shame is just too much.
After a few seconds, my voicemail beeps at me and I pick up the phone to listen to the message. The sound of his voice is probably going to send me into a crying jag but I have to hear it.
“This is Jason’s lawyer, Brittany. I need to see you in my New York office as soon as possible. Jason’s been arrested for assaulting an Elmer Fartenberry and he’s sent me a video you and I need to discuss. Please call me back as soon as you can.”
Fantastic! Now another man has seen it!
Wait! Did he say Jason was arrested?
I call the number back and find his lawyer answering, “This is Jackson, Brittany. Thank you for calling me.”
“Jason’s in jail?”
“He is. I’ll send a car for you. Where are you?”
“I’m actually in a car right now. I’m heading to the airport to catch a plane. Since you said you’ve seen the video, I assume you can guess why I’m leaving,” I tell him as I pull my sunglasses off and look out the window at the busy New York sidewalk.
“Brittany, have it bring you to my office instead of running away. If you know Jason, then you know he’ll track you down, anyway. Just come to me and let me help you. Maybe after some counseling, you can get over this sex addiction thing you have. I can be of help.”
“I do not have a sex addiction!” I shout and immediately wish I hadn’t shouted that as the driver looks at me through his rearview mirror.
When his eyebrows do a little dance, I find myself wanting to throw something at him. My narrowed eyes and the glare I give him, have him looking away with a little shiver.
“Okay, whatever. Just come to my office.”
Thinking about what he’s said, I know he might be right about Jason trying to find me. Then it sinks in that Jason is in trouble. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes.” Ending the call, I call out to the nosey driver who is now listening to every word that comes out of my mouth. “Take me to the Davenport Building, please.”
“Sure thing, Toots.”
I roll my eyes and find myself wanting to get out and walk. But my suitcase is in the trunk so I continue to ride. A text comes in and I see it’s from Jason.
-I’m coming home and you better be there when I get there.-
An odd feeling goes through me and I don’t answer the text. But I do wonder how Jason is in jail for assaulting Elmer and still managing to come back home. And when he’s saying home, is he talking about my place?
I certainly hope not as I’ve leased it to one of my
old boy toys, as Jason calls them. Sebastien has lived with his older brother for several years now. He jumped at the chance to lease my apartment.
He took the news of my running away pretty well since he got a great place to live out of it. With a promise to tell anyone who stops by that I’m off the market for reasons no one needs to know, he kissed my cheek and told me goodbye.
The driver pulls up in front of the building Jason’s lawyer’s office is in. “You want I should wait for ya’s?”
“Please,” I say then get out and make a mental note to never call this private car service again if I ever do come back to New York.
Making my way up to the office, I notice a woman staring at me as I enter the elevator. Finally, she speaks, “You’re the woman who’s here to see my boss. I saw your…” She stops herself then looks away with a fierce blush on her face. “Sorry, nothing.”
With a clenched jaw, I say, “You don’t have to tell me. I can see it in your face. You saw the video.”
With a sigh, she says, “Yeah! Oh my God! What were you thinking? I mean, I could tell you were drunk and fucked up but, my God! What were you thinking?”
“Clearly, I wasn’t. And why, may I ask, did he let you see the video?”
“I open all of his texts and mail and shit like that.” She looks me up and down. “You’re much prettier in person. So what’s it really like to be with two dudes? I mean with two gay dudes. And why would you marry an obviously gay man? That video left me with so many questions. I’m really glad I ran into you. Do you two still have that dog? And what about the other guy? Is he still a part of you guy’s sex life?”
Heat fills me as embarrassment washes over me. “I’d really rather not discuss any of that. I was drugged up as hopefully, you could tell. I don’t remember most of what happened.”
The elevator stops on my floor and I’m not happy that she gets right back off the elevator with me, walking along next to me. “What do you remember?”
Stopping to look at her, I find myself almost speechless. “Really? Are you really that fucking mean?”
“Mean?” She looks puzzled. “What’s mean about it? I’m just so damn curious. I’ve never seen so much in only thirty minutes. When the clown came in what did you think? He was kind of scary looking to me. And he just stood there, juggling those bowling pins as he watched the three of you going at it. It was spooky.” She runs her hands over her goose-pimpled arms. “His big old red nose was constantly moving as you were sandwiched between those two guys. Are they like circus freaks? Is that why the clown was there?”
Stopping at the attorney’s office door, I turn to her and put on my best sad face. “Listen, lady, the kid was a mistake. A drunken mistake. I really don’t know if they were in a circus or not. God knows they sure could be in one. I need to see what the hell Jackson wants then I need to disappear forever.”
Following me into the office, she runs to a desk and grabs a pen and paper off of it. “One more thing, please. If this goes viral, like I think it will, can I please have your autograph.”
“No!” I shout as I bat away the pen and paper she’s shoving at me. “Are you fucking insane?”
“I was going to ask you that! How funny, huh?” She actually laughs and I try hard not to punch her.
Moving away from the deranged woman, I go inside Jackson’s office, finding him on the phone as he motions for me to come in and sit down. “She’s here now. I will.”
He takes the headset off and places it on his desk. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Brittany Does the Circus.”
He’s laughing at me!
Placing my anger in a compartment in my brain, I say, “You have the most unprofessional staff, Jackson. Confidentiality is practiced here, I assume.”
“Don’t worry, no one will leak a word about your video. Entertaining as it is, it is in my very capable hands. As we speak, I have people making sure it will never hit the internet. You can thank Jason for that.”
“Not that I needed your help, Jackson. I do have a lawyer myself. She’s quite capable of handling things.” I cross my legs and notice I missed a spot shaving one of them this morning. Moving my hand to cover the small patch of dark hair on my knee, I fidget in the plush leather chair.
Seems today is just not my day!
“Speaking of that, why didn’t you have that lawyer of yours deal with this when it happened?” He sits down and places his elbows on his cherry wood desk, lacing his fingers and leaning his chin on them.
“I kind of forgot that it was being videoed. Mostly, I was rushing away from that hotel room. You can imagine how badly my head ached after all that.” I try to smile at him but find it hard to overcome my embarrassment.
“And your ass,” he adds with a grin. “How was that, being a Brittany sandwich between two weirdos? And did that speech impediment bother you at all? It didn’t look like it did. I don’t know how I’d handle being talked to in an Elmer Fudd voice, but you seemed to enjoy it. And so did that German Shepherd. Bestiality, Britt? Can’t say I saw that coming. What a twist, huh?”
“Look, Jackson, it’s obvious you have an agenda here, so get to it,” I tell him as I’m not feeling as embarrassed as pissed off now with all of his jokes.
“Oh yeah, that. I do have an agenda.” He tosses me a paper. “Sign that.”
“I don’t sign things until after my lawyer has read them.” I push the paper back but I did notice the word prenuptial on it.
His grin is gone. “You do love, Jason, right?”
“I do, but I can’t look at him since he’s seen that so that point is moot. And you seem to forget that I’m not without money, myself.”
Jackson gets up and gestures to the New York skyline behind his big window. “This is a fickle town. You may not always have that kind of money. And here’s the thing, Brittany, with your antics and social problems, I foresee your behavior hurting my client. So sign the paper. Then your attorney and I will come up with a prenuptial agreement to protect you both. I have to tell you that Jason asked me to do this.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Jason asked you to do this when?”
“A little while ago. For reasons I can’t figure out, he still wants to marry your apparently easy ass. He says he has everything to do with your slutty behavior.” Sitting back down as he’s through with his grand gesture, he smiles at me as he leans back in his chair as if he’s won some game.
“Were those his actual words, Jackson?” I ask as I uncross my legs.
He’s keeping his eyes on mine as he answers, “Of course not. He put it in a much nicer way. You see, my client is infatuated with you. The sun rises and sets in you for him. I can see the writing on the wall, Miss Caldwell. It’s you who will break his heart. It’s you who has already broken the man he was. Anti-depressants are something you already have him on. What’s next?”
“You think you know him but you don’t. He needs those pills. Jason has needed help for a while now. He’s hidden his depression in the arms of many women. What you may have seen as a well-adjusted man was a façade. Just below that shallow veneer lies a boy who was hurt when his best friend died when he was a young teen. That wound never healed. It needs to now. And I want to thank you for reminding me of that.”
As I get up to leave, he pushes the paper across the desk again. “He won’t marry you without that, I promise you.”
With a smile, I look over my shoulder at him. “I don’t even want him to marry me, Jackson. As a matter of fact, I’m taking marriage off the table. So shove that pre-nup up your ass. If you add a bit of lube, it might feel fantastic. That’s my opinion, anyway.”
Walking out the door, I know I’m about to break someone’s heart, but it has to be done. My only regret is that he didn’t get to have what he wanted for as long as he wanted it.
Chapter 5
JASON
After a quick text to tell Britt that I’m about five minutes away, I get my first text from her. -Go to your place, not mine.-
The whole thing with Beatrice and the baby has me afraid of what might possibly happen in the future. I asked Jackson to get with Britt’s lawyer to come up with a pre-nup to keep her money safe.
He told me she refused to sign the paper that would allow him to confer with her lawyer on the agreement. When I called to explain things to her, she refused to answer.
And now it seems she doesn’t want me in in her home!
To say this day has been long, isn’t even close to how I feel. I have jetlag from the hours spent in them in the last twenty-four hours. I have a headache the size of Texas and my insides actually hurt as I feel terrible about what the woman I love has gone through.
My cell rings and I see it’s Beatrice.
My God, what now?
“Hello.”
“Thank God, you picked up, Jason! It’s Morgan.” She breaks down and I hear a shuffling noise.
A man says, “Hey, I know we’re the last people you want to hear from. The baby is really sick. He has pneumonia.”
“Who is this?” I ask as I drum my fingers on my leg.
“This is Bea’s brother, Cullen. I know the story about you and my sister. I know you may not be my nephew’s father. But this baby needs help my sister can’t afford. The doctors here aren’t doing all they can because Bea doesn’t have health insurance. I know this kid might not be yours, but man, he needs your help right now.”
An irritation runs through me, making me itch. “What the hell can I do?”
“At the very least, could you get on the phone with the hospital and tell them to get little Morgan to the best hospital for him and that you’ll pay for it all?” he asks me.
I can hear Bea crying in the background. I need Britt here to tell me what to do. Then it hits me. I can make this decision on my own.
“Can you give the phone to whoever can make that decision, Cullen?”
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