Twisted Up in You

by Dawn Martens

  “I know. Fuck. Everyone else collaborated his story, that it wasn’t true, even though that boy is in the hospital from abuse and sexual assault. Mrs. Zambini said it was her husband that did it. Now, we have nothing unless that boy wakes up,” Adam says with his voice cracking.

  “Let me call the Angels. I’ll see if they can get surveillance on Mr. Zambini. Hopefully we’ll be able to nail that fucker,” I offer to him.

  “Fuck, man. Sorry. It’s late. I’ll do that. You probably want to hit the sack.”

  “I can do it. It’s fine,” I tell him.

  “Don’t worry about it. I just needed to vent it out, man. I can do it. You have a good night.” Adam clicks off before I can reply.

  Shit, that case is brutal. I’m starting to think maybe I shouldn’t have passed it off to him.

  Lying in bed, I think of Cori. Maybe I should take her on a real date, an actual date. Maybe then she’ll be open to being with me. After what Melissa has said to me, I’m starting to think maybe Cori has the same thoughts she does—that I only want her because I now know about the true her. But that is so far from the truth.

  I grab my phone, and without realizing how late it is, I call up Angel. Besides Melissa, he knows her better than anyone.

  “’Lo?”

  “Shit, man. Sorry. I didn’t realize the time,” I say, looking to my bedside clock. It’s one o’clock in the morning.

  “Don’t worry about it. What’s up?”

  “Cori. I want to take her on a date, but I have no clue what to do.”

  He lets out a quiet laugh. “Man, you’ve dated. Just do that.”

  I shake my head and sigh. “No, she knows all about those dates. She set most of them up. I need to be different.”

  “Have you ever taken any of your dates to The Keg?” he asks.

  “No, I just took them to cheap yet nice restaurants. All I wanted to do was fuck, so I didn’t want to spend a shit load of money on that.”

  “I should tell you to stay away from Cori, but I’m going to go out on a limb here. You really like her, don’t you, and not just in the ‘I want to fuck her’ way?”

  “Yeah,” I say gruffly.

  “You hurt her, Blake… I swear to God, I will fuckin’ hurt you.”

  “Got it.”

  “Take her to The Keg. She loves it.” With that advice, he hangs up, and I place my phone on my nightstand after powering it off.

  Monday night after work, Cori will be coming on an actual date with me. I fall asleep with a huge grin on my face.

  Chapter 19

  Cori

  I wake up the next morning with Melissa’s heat at my back, and I smile. It’s Sunday, my day off, which means it’s pig out day. Yesterday was a great day, despite being barfed on. It was so great getting together with my family.

  I also remember Melissa’s little problem. It’s way too soon to find out anything, but until we do, I’m not letting her drink, which I know she’ll flip out over. And I remember Blake. I might not understand why he’s doing this, wanting me now, but I have to admit I kind of like it.

  I roll away from Melissa and get out of bed, thinking it’s a good day for bacon and pancakes, when she stirs. “What time is it?” she grumbles.

  “Ten. Want breakfast?” I ask her, slipping my feet into my blue fuzzy slippers on the floor.

  “Yes please. We have any fizz in our pop machine? Because I could go for an energy boost right about now,” she says, slowly sitting up.

  I shrug. “I think so. We haven’t used it in a while.”

  We both work around each other in the kitchen, her manning the bacon, me doing the pancakes, when I finally speak up. “Melissa, um, are you on birth control?”

  Melissa’s hand with the fork in it freezes over the bacon pan. “No,” she says quietly.

  “You know what this could mean, right?” I ask gently.

  She bites her bottom lip and hangs her head. “Shit, Cori. I didn’t even think of this last night. What do I do?”

  “Well, what do you want to do? If you end up pregnant?”

  “I’ll keep the baby. You know I want kids,” she starts. “But telling Dray… that would be a whole other thing. I don’t know what to do about that.”

  I chew the inside of my cheek. “You’ll have to tell him, Melly.”

  “I know, and if I am, I’ll tell him, eventually,” she says quietly. “Can we not worry about this right now? It only happened once. What’s the chance of me being pregnant after just once? Seriously, let’s move on.” I want to reply that it only takes one time, but I don’t want to upset her.

  We finish up breakfast and settle on the couch to pass the time watching movies until Once Upon a Time comes on this evening.

  “Oh, Cori, Marcy texted me while you were in the bathroom. She’s popping over in a bit just to hang out,” Melissa suddenly says.

  “Uh, okay?” When the heck did Marcy manage to get Melly’s number?

  She just grins at me.

  “So, what did you,” I start to say, but a knock at the door interrupts.

  I walk over and open it, expecting to see Marcy. But it’s Angel and Reaper instead.

  “Uh, hi? What are you guys doing here?” I ask.

  Angel holds up a folder and gives me a chin lift. I don’t like the look of this.

  I let them in, and we walk quietly into the living room.

  “Hey, guys,” Melissa greets them, smiling.

  Angel quietly passes her the folder he was holding.

  “What’s this?” she asks.

  “Everything you would ever need or want to know about your father. You don’t have to read it or anything, but I figured, since this has come about, I’d give you that option.”

  Melissa chews on her top lip and just stares at the file. “I don’t know,” she says quietly. “I’ve always wanted to know who my father was, but now that I do, and I know he’s a bad man, I don’t know.”

  “There’s more, Melissa. Something you can’t tell the other women right now. Not until Tori knows, at least.”

  “What?”

  “Trevor is your uncle. Moira is a nurse at the hospital, and she was able to fast track a DNA sample,” Reaper tells her.

  Her eyes fill up with tears. “Does he know?”

  “He does now. And knowing Hangman, Carson, if he finds out about you, he’ll want to be in your life,” Angel says.

  “Trevor is my uncle, Cori,” Melly whispers, tears falling down her face.

  I give her a small smile. “No, T-bags is your uncle.”

  She bursts out in laughter over that.

  “Thank you for this. I don’t know when I’ll look at it, but it’s nice to know I’ll have that choice,” she says, looking back to Angel.

  Growing up, we never knew who our fathers were, and I was too young to remember who was around when our mother conceived Melly. Somehow, I wonder if we would be better off never knowing. One good thing: at least Trevor is a decent guy for an Uncle.

  BLAKE

  I decide to head out for a bit. I sent Marcy down to the girls’ place to let it slip that I wanted to take Cori on a real date. Pacing my condo is going to wear a whole in the floor, so I call up my buddy Drew, seeing if he wants to go to lunch.

  We meet at East Side Mario’s and place our orders. “So how’s life been?” I ask him.

  “Busy, man. This move, the new position… it’s rough. But it’s getting better,” Drew tells me. He recently moved from Devon to here. He was just a cop before, and now he’s a detective.

  “So, Cori and I are a thing now,” I clue him in, picking at some bread on the table.

  He chokes on his water. “What? When did you finally do that?”

  I shrug. “Not long ago.”

  “Yeah, but you said you’d never make a move unless she made one first. So how’d she make that move?”

  “She didn’t. I did. Cori isn’t the shy little mouse we all thought. Girl is nuts. You think Melissa is crazy? No, Cori is
right there with her.”

  “Whoa, what? Seriously?” he asks, totally shocked.

  “Yep.”

  “That’s great, man.”

  Our food comes, and we dig in. “So, now that you’ve decided not to take the transfer after all, how’s Keller handling not being able to mooch off you?” I ask him. His friend, Keller, is a Grade-A asshole. He’s a hockey player and is worse than any guy I know. When Drew first said he was transferring to a small town, he had Keller move out; he moved to Edmonton, where his girlfriend, Chelsea, has a job.

  “He moved with me, if you can believe that shit. Chelsea’s gonna have a bitch fit when she finds out, because she’s moving here to be with Melissa and Cori, to get away from him. The second I said I wasn’t doing the transfer after all, he didn’t even ask, just tagged along,” he says, shaking his head.

  I’ve never met Chelsea, but I have heard enough about her through Drew. “They break up for good this time, or is it just another phase?” I ask with a chuckle.

  “Oh, it’s done for good. She found out he not only was fucking around on her on the road, which was a normal thing for them—she knew and was fine with that—but that he was also fucking around on her in town. Chelsea found out when one of the bimbos went into her clinic, pregnant, and was talking about her great love, saying his name was Keller.”

  “Oh, shit, man. Doesn’t he wrap it up?”

  “Apparently, not that time. Idiot.”

  “Not quite sure how you’re friends with that moron. Why don’t you just boot him out?”

  “Hey, he pays half my ‘rent’,” he says in air quotes. “What he doesn’t know is I actually own the house. Figure I’ll keep him, pay off my house faster, and then boot him out. I only have about sixty grand left to pay on it.”

  “Well, that’s good I guess then, eh.”

  “I suppose. Worst part is, he knocked up that society rich bitch and now has her shacked up in some rundown apartment just downtown. Oh, and get this, fucking moron has a new girlfriend,” he spits out.

  “Anyone we know?” I ask him. I heard about Becky Veldhuizen getting knocked up, but it was always speculated it was her ex-boyfriend, Cameron, who by the way is married, got her with child.

  He looks out the window, a muscle in his jaw twitching. “No, but she’s a good person. Met her a handful of times. She doesn’t deserve to be with that fuck head.”

  I say nothing. Seems as if everyone I know is having some sort of relationship crisis lately.

  We finish up lunch, making plans to go out to the bar this weekend, and I head back to my condo.

  Chapter 20

  Cori

  Angel and Reaper finally take off after just hanging out with us for a bit. Marcy arrives about a minute after they leave. The second she comes in the door, she’s beet red.

  “Holy shit, I think I just found the man that will turn me straight,” she breathes out.

  I burst out laughing. “Oh, God.”

  Melly smirks. “Which one? Heavy bearded guy or Mr. Moody?”

  “Bearded guy. Holy shit. Wow, just yum.”

  I shake my head at her.

  “No, I’m serious. I would totally be willing to take his cock any day, because um, yum.”

  “He’s married,” I say, my lips twitching.

  “Well, shit!” she huffs, looking genuinely sad about it.

  “Come on. Let’s pig out and watch crappy movies.”

  We finish up watching Mean Girls and go to start searching for another one, when Marcy pulls open her purse and waves a movie.

  “What’s that?”

  She smiles slowly and passes it to me.

  “Holy Shit!” I yell. I hold it up to Melly, and she squeals. “We’ve been wanting to see this, but I felt too creeped out to see it in theaters.”

  Marcy laughs. “It’s not too bad, to be honest.”

  I open the case and pop in Fifty Shades of Grey. I really hope to see some Jamie Dornan ass. I miss him on Once Upon a Time. He was only in season one, but gah, yum.

  Before the movie starts, Marcy speaks up. “I was talking to a certain someone this morning,” she sing songs.

  “Who?”

  “Blake.”

  “And?”

  “I heard he’s taking you out on a real date tomorrow.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh, yeah, he sure is. Pretty sure he’s taking you right after work tomorrow evening, so make sure you wear something nice,” she says, smirking at me.

  Holy shit. A date. A date with Blake.

  A flash goes off, snapping me out of my daze, and I look to Marcy, who is smiling so huge it’s scary. “There, and send.”

  “What?”

  She smiles. “Sent it to Blake. Let him know how happy you are about the thought of a date with him. That stupid dopey look you had going on was super cute.”

  *~*

  My phone rings, waking me up from a good dream, a dream about Blake. I roll over and check the time. What the hell? It’s so early. Who’s calling me?

  “Hello.”

  “Hey, babe. I’m just outside the building. What number is your condo?” It’s Chelsea.

  I squeal and jump from the bed. “309. Come right up.” I throw the phone on my bed and run to Melly’s room, yelling at her to wake up.

  We both wait by the door until the knock comes, both of us rushing forward to open it. Chelsea stands there, on the other side of the door, with a huge smile on her face. Oh my shit, she looks so different than the last time I saw her. Gone are her long locks; instead, it’s cut short into a pixie style, similar to how Eden wears her hair.

  I rush her before Melissa can and squeeze her tight. Stepping back, I let Melissa at her. “I’ve missed you,” we all say at the same time. We laugh, and then Melissa and I finally let her into the condo.

  “Thanks so much for letting me crash here for a while. I appreciate it,” Chelsea says, pulling her suitcase behind her.

  “Yeah, no problem. I’m just happy you finally saw the light with douche monkey,” I say, shrugging.

  She shoots me a glare and then rolls her eyes at me. “Yeah,” she says softly.

  “You don’t need him. Cori and I know lots of single guys. We can help you move on,” Melissa says, sounding gleeful.

  Chelsea shakes her head. “Thanks, but no. Last thing I need right now is another man in my life.”

  “Ugh, men ruin everything lately,” Melissa pipes in with her two cents on the subject.

  “What about you, Cori? Any men in your life lately?” Chelsea says, raising her brows.

  I say nothing and turn my head.

  “Oh my God! Look at her. She’s turning red!” Chelsea booms out in laughter. “Who is it? Did Blake finally make his move?” she asks

  I look to her. “What do you mean, finally make his move?”

  She snorts. “Dude, that guy has always had a hard on for you.”

  “How would you know that? You’ve never met him.”

  “He’s friends with Drew, remember, who is friends with Keller,” she says, winking.

  Oh yeah. “Uh, it’s really late, or early, however you wanna look at it. We should get to bed. School and work in the morning,” Melissa chimes in.

  Oh, shit. Yeah, I need sleep.

  “We’ll catch up more later on,” Chelsea says, yawning.

  “Uh, you can’t. Cori has a date tomorrow night,” Melissa says, a huge grin on her face.

  Chelsea turns in shock and then grins herself. I pick up the throw pillows on the couch and throw them at the girls.

  Heading to my room, over their giggling, I shout, “Night, bitches!” I end up just tossing and turning for the rest of the night. Not sure what time I finally pass out, but it couldn’t have been for long, because not long after, my stupid alarm clock goes off.

  Chapter 21

  BLAKE

  A text came through on my phone last night from Marcy. She took a picture of Cori, who looks stunningly beautiful, as always. A hug
e grin is on her face, and she looks dazed.

  This is what she looked like the second I said you were taking her on a date. – Marcy

  Still being a pussy, I pick the phone back up and look at the picture again. I smile and lay my phone to the side then head to the break room to grab my own coffee.

  Cori arrives to work late, which is unusual for her. She looks exhausted. I go to my little mini fridge in my office and pull out her favorite energy drink and bring it out to her, popping it open before placing it on her desk.

  She looks up with a smile. “Thank you,” she breathes out, grabbing the can and quickly taking a sip.

  “Rough night?” I ask.

  She shakes her head. “No, my best friend Chelsea showed up at three in the morning. Didn’t get to go back to sleep.”

  I clear my throat. “I wanted to take you out after work, but maybe we can do it tomorrow instead?”

  “Actually, Marcy already spilled the beans, and I was actually looking forward to it,” she says a bit shyly. That’s the Cori I always knew, slightly shy, timid—the Cori I first fell for.

  I smile at her. “Great. We’ll finish up a bit early and get there before it gets busy, so we don’t have to wait around.”

  She gives me a huge smile. “Okay.”

  I walk around her desk and place my hand on the back of her neck, staring into her eyes. “Fuck. You are beautiful,” I say then slam my lips onto hers.

  Our kiss is interrupted by Clara. “Finally!” she shouts.

  Cori pulls away, blushing like crazy, and fuck if it doesn’t make me want to kiss her some more.

  I look to Clara, who has a silly ass smile on her face, staring at Cori.

  “What’s with the yelling?” Adam says, stepping off the elevator. “I heard it through the doors.”

  Clara rolls her eyes. “Asshole,” she mutters.

  Adam hears her—he must have super hearing—and glares at Clara.

  “We need to talk,” he says to her, not caring that both Cori and I are right here.

  She doesn’t say anything, just stands there ignoring him, looking at Cori.

  “Clara,” Adam probes, starting to get frustrated.