by Lane Hart
“Oh my God,” I exclaim and then slap a hand over my mouth.
“Yeah, talk of the department. Last I heard he ran off on his wife and took a job as a fill-in reporter up north.”
“Wow,” I mutter in shock. Someone found out…or Gage told them? But apparently they don’t know who I am, or I would’ve been contacted by the university, right?
“I knew something was going on when his wife showed up the week before exams, looking madder than a hornet,” the lady says with a shake of her head. “Everyone was certain they had split months earlier, but there she was. And then the day of graduation he up and turns in a resignation admitting to his adultery.”
Suddenly things start to make a little more sense. The week before exams…that was when Gage came to my apartment and ended things. Maybe it was after his wife showed up. But then why did he resign and tell them about us? If he wanted to leave, he could’ve just walked away clean and clear.
Unless…unless he didn’t have a choice because someone knew about us and was threatening to turn us in unless he confessed.
That bitch! He resigned for me, to protect me from going down with him. And now he’s gone.
Luckily I’ve learned a little bit about social media this semester. Time to put my lessons to the test and see if I can track down my baby’s daddy.
Chapter Thirteen
Gage
For the fifth time today, I pull up one social media app after another, checking to see if there are any updates. But like yesterday and the day before, and so on, there’s nothing. Nada. Reagan hasn’t posted a single thing since graduation. No angry women memes or articles about chopping off a man’s dick. Nothing. And it’s driving me fucking insane! Didn’t I teach the woman anything? Oh, right, I taught her how it feels to be utterly devastated by a man. I’m sure that lesson has stuck with her.
“Ready?” Dave, the cameraman asks, telling me we’re about to go live. I have to admit that this job is much more exciting than teaching lectures. Although, today’s scene not so much. An ATM randomly exploded a few hours ago. Thankfully no one was injured, but the police have had a time with looters trying to scavenge through the debris looking for money. What can I say? It’s been a slow news day. Still, even with the lower pay, I feel like I’m where I belong, reporting the news. I only wish I weren’t alone.
I run a hand over the top of my head, making sure there're no random cowlicks sticking up before grabbing my mic and getting into position with the ATM wreckage behind me.
“And in 3…2…1,” the cameraman nods, and then we’re live.
“Earlier today, local residents and business owners were shocked when…holy fuck…” My mind shuts down, and my mouth goes dry at the sight of her standing at the front of the crowd of people gathered around the parking lot. Wait, maybe she’s just a figment of my imagination. But that doesn’t explain the blonde woman next to her, Josie since I wouldn’t have included her in my fantasy reunion.
“Ah, crap,” Dave may have muttered, but only Reagan matters. Especially when I realize she’s smiling at me, such a vast contrast to the hurt, scornful look at the end of our last conversation and then at graduation.
What the hell is she doing here?
How did she know where…?
She stalked me on social media. Thank God I’m not the only one.
“I’m so glad to see you,” I tell her when my legs carry me across the parking lot to her. When I reach for her cheek to make sure she’s real, it feels damp underneath my thumb, which doesn’t make sense since she looks happy. “Are you okay?” I ask her when she doesn’t say anything.
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
Ah, so she’s somehow figured out about Trish’s blackmail. I don’t know how, but I’m glad she no longer seems to hate me.
“Because you had worked too long and hard on a degree for me to ruin it,” I tell her.
“She threatened to report us?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“And you really were separated?”
“Almost divorced, and it will be finalized soon,” I promise her. “I was gonna tell you after everything calmed down, once I knew she couldn’t hurt you.”
“I can’t believe you resigned and left…”
“I didn’t want to leave you like that, but I didn’t really have a choice.”
“You did it to protect me?” she asks.
“Yes, and I’m sorry. Every second since I left you that day…I’ve missed you so damn much.”
“I’ve missed you too,” she says followed by a sniffle. “But there’s another reason why I’m here.”
“Oh?” I ask. “You didn’t just want to see me?”
“Well, yeah, but there’s something I need to tell you…um, are you supposed to be on camera right now?” she asks, nodding over my shoulder. When I look behind me, Dave’s camera is still propped up on his shoulder, and his hand is on his hip in an obvious expression of aggravation.
“Oh yeah, I was sort of in the middle of a live broadcast…”
“Gage!” Reagan exclaims and slaps me on the shoulder. “Go. We can talk later.”
“Good,” I tell her before stealing a quick kiss from her lips. “Please don’t go anywhere.”
“I won’t,” she promises, so I take my place, getting back into position.
“Sorry,” I tell Dave.
“Going live in two minutes. You better be glad we’re on a thirty-second delay, and I warned them to go to the traffic report instead,” he says.
“Thank you, and it won’t happen again,” I assure him, exhaling in relief that I’m not out of another job and that thankfully everything might work out with Reagan and me after all.
I try and calm my racing thoughts before Dave gives the cue, and we go live.
“Earlier today, local residents and business owners were shocked when they heard an explosion. Thankfully no one was injured, but the damage to the neighboring shops will likely cause them to have to shut down while they undergo repairs. Meanwhile, officers are still on scene trying to determine if the blast was the result of a bomb or malfunctioning equipment.”
Hold on. Reagan said she missed me, but that there’s another reason why she’s here. Something she needs to tell me. It must be something pretty damn important if she drove all the way up here to say it face-to-face instead of over the phone.
My eyes cut back over to Reagan, and as soon I see her palm lovingly caressing her lower belly I know without a doubt…
“Oh my God. She’s pregnant,” I mutter aloud when it hits me. “You’re pregnant?” I ask Reagan as I gravitate toward her again. Her eyes widen, and she looks at her friend and then to me again. Everyone at the scene is silent, except for Dave, who I hear whisper-yelling my name, but this is more important.
“You…you’re…and it’s mine…and we’re gonna have a baby?” I stammer.
“Yes,” Reagan says with a tearful smile. And hearing that one word sends me sailing through the clouds. I hand Josie the microphone so I can pull Reagan into my arms, likely crushing her from the force of my hug.
“What the fuck?” Josie asks. “You’re pregnant and didn’t tell me?” she asks.
“I’m sorry,” Reagan says in response to her friend’s question or to me.
“I’m not,” I assure her. “This is…wow, I don’t know what to say. I love you more than anything, and this is absolutely incredible.”
“Really?” Reagan asks, her voice muffled by her face still buried in my shirt.
“Yes, definitely.”
“Good,” she says, and I relax my hold on her just a little so she can breathe and talk. “I wasn’t sure how you would feel…”
“You and I are perfect together, and I can’t wait to have a family with you, even if it is sooner than expected.”
“Oh, good,” she says on a heavy exhale. “I knew I wasn’t wrong about you. You’re my soulmate, and I love you, even if it took a stupid love potion to finally bring us together.
”
“A love potion?” I ask with a chuckle, and Reagan blushes.
“Well, yeah. I drank it right before the pineapple incident, and then we had to have sex within a week for it to work.”
“So your rush to be with me, it was never about your grade, but a…love potion?”
“Yes.”
Thank fuck. Now her urgency is starting to make sense, even if it was all because of her silly superstition.
“Sweetheart, you and I never needed a potion,” I tell her. “You’ve always been mine, you just didn’t know it.”
“Now I do,” she says, tightening her arms around my neck. “And I have no doubt that we’re gonna get our happily ever after.”
Epilogue
Reagan
Five years later…
“Mommy, can I please have a big sword like the knights have?” Jack asks, his caramel eyes pleading with me.
“If Daddy says so,” I tell him, ruffling his hair while waiting for Gage’s decision.
“Sure, why not? As long as you promise to be careful with it,” Gage responds, kneeling down in front of our son.
“Promise!” Jack agrees throwing his arms around his daddy’s neck.
“I’ll take him back over to the knights if you want to keep browsing?” Gage says, standing up with Jack on his hip and placing a kiss on my cheek.
“Okay, have fun,” I agree with a smile.
Waving bye to my husband and son, who is his father’s spitting image, I walk farther down the row, looking for one tent in particular in the sea of vendor, until I finally spot her.
Wearing a burgundy dress, just like the one from years ago, I find Madam Tess sitting in front of her crystal ball.
“Hello, dear. Care for a free reading?” she asks, apparently not recognizing me. I guess she travels a lot and sees many faces, so I shouldn’t expect her to remember mine.
“No, thanks,” I tell her when I take a seat across from her on the same stool as before. Everything is perfect in my life, so I don’t want to chance a reading that will make me have doubts or any crazy worries. “I was just wondering if you still sell love potions?”
“Ah, I do, but you don’t have a need for such a thing.”
“I don’t?” I ask, playing coy.
“No. Your aura shows that you’ve already united with your soulmate.”
“That’s true,” I admit with a smile. “So I guess that means your love potion worked.”
“Of course it worked,” she replies with her own grin.
“I stopped tracking it years ago, though. Josie and I were going crazy and couldn’t deal with the constant worrying anymore. So why are Gage and I and Josie and Lawson still together if the potion stopped passing through different hands?”
“The power of persuasion is incredibly strong. And sometimes it only takes the idea of a phenomenon to make certain events happen.”
“So it wasn’t real? We just believed it was, so it worked for us?” I ask in surprise.
Madam Tess leans forward, and then whispers, “It was just Kool-Aid.”
“No way!” I exclaim with a bark of laughter. So, Josie was right. I paid this woman two hundred dollars for Kool-Aid. “Well, even so, thank you for the persuasion. Josie and I have been happily married for years,” I tell her as I get to my feet now that I have the answer to the question I’ve always wondered. “Good seeing you again,” I say with a wave.
“You too, dear,” Madam Tess replies.
Only once I’m halfway across the grassy field, heading for my two knights do I remember the way the liquid in the glass bottle changed colors, from blue, Josie’s favorite, to mine, purple, when we touched it. Turning back around, I walk over to Madam Tess’s tent again to ask her how she managed to pull that off, wondering if it was the same element that causes a mood ring to change colors. But when I get there, her tent is now empty. Her table and stools are gone too, along with her crystal ball. I look up and down the rows of tents and don’t see her burgundy dress. I even walk around behind the tent to see if she’s heading for the parking lot, there’s no sign of her. The woman just up and disappeared.
Wandering back to the knight’s stand, I find Gage and Jack sword fighting. It looks like we now have two swords instead of just one.
I love seeing my two guys playing together, and I love them more than anything. My life is perfect. I have a great job, taking photos when I travel around the country with Gage for his various reporting assignments, and we have Jack with us everywhere we go. Soon he’ll start school, and we’ll have to find a place to settle down, at least during the school year; but I think I’m ready to call one place home. I don’t care where it is, as long as these two are with me. So what if Gage and I ended up together because of a love potion? Real or fake, I’ll never regret that sip that gave us a lifetime of love.
The End
Thank you so much for reading Crazy in Love! If you enjoyed Reagan and Gage’s story, I hope you’ll leave a review on Amazon!
At this time, I plan to take a break from the Lovestruck series, but it’s possible I’ll come back to it eventually. Sign up for my newsletter to get updates on all of my new releases: http://eepurl.com/bqIWqz
Keep reading for a sneak peek of Exploited.
EXPLOITED
A Dark Redemption Novel
By Lane Hart
COPYRIGHT
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue were created from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual people or events is coincidental.
The author acknowledges the copyrighted and trademarked status of various products within this work of fiction.
© 2016 Editor's Choice Publishing
All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator” at the address below.
Editor’s Choice Publishing
P.O. Box 10024
Greensboro, NC 27404
Edited by Angela Snyder
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAngelaSnyder
Photo by Matt Geeling Photography
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mattgeeling.com
Model Shane Burnell
https://twitter.com/shanethepirate
https://www.facebook.com/shaneburnellofficial
Cover by vocaldesign
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Warning: This book contains some dark, dirty and dangerous situations, before ending with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger. The debauchery will continue in Redeemed.
“My thrill-seeking angel is about to lose her wings.”
Prologue
Blair Lockhart, age eight
“Blair? Blair, stop! Listen to me, goddamn it!”
His harsh hand grabs and shakes my shoulder so hard that my head rocks forward and back, snapping my neck and causing my eyes to pop reluctantly open.
Red. Red everywhere. Blood. There’s blood splattered all over his face and…and his white shirt and tie. Oh God, his hands. I look down and watch the blood drip from his hands that are holding me, staining the front of my blue Sunday school dress. The one mommy said looked beautiful on me and brought out the blue in my eyes. Mommy…I still hear her screams. Or maybe they’re my own because she’s lying on the floor next to the coffee table, unmoving, soundless…
“Blair!” he yells. “Shut up! Shut the fuck up and listen to me!”
He’s so close, kneeling in front of me that I flinch when his spit wets my already damp face. Now I’m even dirtier, blood and spit all over me.
God, his eyes. They’re so dark and angry. Scary. He’s never liked me, but now I think he hates me. My only thought is to s
cream at the top of my lungs for help, for someone to save mommy and me from him…
Whap!
The entire side of my face goes numb before my cheek begins to throb painfully like it has its own heartbeat.
“Stop screaming or so fucking help me…” he says through gritted teeth before pushing something sharp and wet to my neck. My eyes cut over to try to see it, but just moving my head to the side burns my throat. Then I notice the black handle he’s holding…the handle of the big knife that’s covered in her blood. A whimper escapes from my trembling lips despite how tightly I press them together to try and prevent sound from coming out. My sniffles are loud too when I try to catch my breath, but he doesn’t yell at me to stop those.
“Listen to me. You’re not gonna say a word. Do you hear me? Not a single fucking word to anyone! And if you do, this knife is gonna cut through you just like it did her. Do you understand me, Blair? Keep your mouth shut!”
I nod until the pain in my neck makes me stop. “Good, girl. Now go to your room, take the dress off and hide it inside your dollhouse. Wash your hands and face, then put on a clean dress. Got it? Can you do all that, or do you want to end up like her?” he asks, while pointing with the knife to the other side of the room.
Glancing over his shoulder, I see mommy so still, lying in a puddle of red, her unblinking eyes staring up at the ceiling. I shake my head up and down, and then side to side, unsure which answer he wants from me. Whatever it is, I’ll give it to him.
“Go!” he shouts, shoving my back, causing me to stumble forward.
When I catch my balance, I race down the hall to my room, trying to remember everything he wanted me to do. Hide my dress, wash up, get dressed. Hide my dress, wash up, get dressed. Hide my dress, wash up, get dressed. Repeating those three things over and over in my head, I manage to stop hearing her screams and seeing the blood, too busy trying to do what I was ordered. But once I’m standing in the middle of my room with a new, clean yellow dress on, I don’t know what to do next. What does he want me to do now? He didn’t say, and I don’t want to go back out there, but I also don’t want to upset him.