Say It Again (First Wives)

by Catherine Bybee

  An entirely new executive staff swept into the school to keep the doors open, although nearly half the students had been relocated to other schools scattered throughout Germany.

  And Olivia had disappeared. At least that’s what Neil had told them once she went into protective custody.

  If he knew where she was, he didn’t tell Sasha, AJ, or anyone else on the team.

  And when Pohl allegedly committed suicide while in police custody, no one was surprised. It was hard to say if Pohl did take himself out or if one of his disgruntled employees did the deed . . . or, more likely, whomever he actually worked for.

  AJ took one last look over his shoulder at Sasha. Wearing her Sasha normal, she huddled under a long black coat covering her shoulders and offered a reassuring smile.

  AJ lifted his hand to the door, knocked three times.

  His father answered. One look at AJ’s face and his smile faded. “Come in.”

  He followed him inside and waited in the hall.

  “Let me take your coat.”

  “I’m not staying long.”

  “Are you sure, I can make—”

  “Is Mom here?”

  “No, she’s, ah . . . visiting your grandmother.”

  AJ looked around the hallway. Saw the pictures of Amelia and him as children. “How long did it take you to get out of Germany?” he asked, hoping the small talk would make the conversation easier.

  “Three days and a lot of contacts to clear our names of any wrongdoing.”

  AJ shook his head, huffed out a laugh. “When people don’t pay for their crimes, they tend to continue making them.” He thought of his own path to stealing cars. A career he put behind him.

  His father blew out a long breath. “AJ, can we please sit down?”

  “Did she tell you?”

  He made eye contact with his father.

  Alex blinked his gaze away.

  A knot formed in AJ’s throat. “Did you know?”

  “I wondered. I didn’t want to know.”

  “Mom had an affair.”

  His father didn’t deny him.

  “You’re not my father.”

  Alex looked at him now. “I will always be your father. I raised you.” His voice cracked.

  “What about Amelia?”

  He shook his head. “Amelia was mine. Or so your mother said. I suppose we will never really know now.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know, AJ. Your mother and I haven’t been happy for a long time. She went through so many changes over the years. When your mother realized I was taking the position in Germany, she found Richter. She joined the board, and within a month someone had discovered the truth about you. Fearing the scandal at the time, your mother chose to keep her secret and everything Richter was about.”

  AJ glanced around the walls of his parents’ home. “Stuck on the rat wheel of lies.”

  “I wasn’t a good husband. I put my career first and didn’t leave time for her or you kids.”

  AJ thought about his own life, the one he left behind in Florida. “We all make mistakes. Learning from them and moving on . . . isn’t that what you’ve always said?”

  “Sometimes that’s easy to say and hard to do.” His dad motioned to his den. “Sit down for a while. Let’s talk about this.”

  He tugged his coat tighter. “I need time to process this. Sasha is waiting for me.”

  “Have her come in,” his dad said.

  “No. Maybe next time. I wanted to stop by before I left town. Get this out in the open.”

  His dad stepped forward, placed a hand on his arm. “Your mother’s not a bad person. She loves you very much.”

  He wasn’t sure what to think about that. AJ reached for the door.

  “I love you, son.”

  AJ turned to the man he’d always called his father.

  “I love you, too, Dad. I’ll be in touch.”

  When his father pulled him in for a hug, it took a long time for him to let go.

  Sasha opened the car door and stepped out into the rain. “How did it go?”

  “As good as can be expected, I guess.”

  “And you?”

  He squeezed his eyes shut. “I could really use a shot of tequila.”

  She laughed. “Okay, Clyde, let’s see what we can do about that.”

  Sasha stretched her toes out toward the fireplace and curled closer to her heat source under the blanket.

  AJ pulled her closer, their bodies still humming from the sex they were coming down from. Outside, the snow had started to fall in big flakes, ensuring that they wouldn’t be leaving the cabin anytime soon.

  Once they left AJ’s parents’ place, they tossed a dart on a map and flew to Utah. They’d found an Airbnb cabin just outside of Park City and rented it for the week.

  “I need you to know, I’ve never stayed in one place for an entire week willingly.” She drew invisible circles on his chest with her fingernails.

  “I’ll just tie you up, then.”

  “Seriously, AJ. I get jumpy.”

  He linked his fingers with hers. “Every time you twitch, I’ll bring you in here, strip you naked, and make love to you until you’re too tired to move.”

  That was a pleasant thought.

  “And if that doesn’t work, I’ll take you outside, strip you naked, and make love to you in the snow.”

  She ran her foot up his leg. “That might prove difficult.”

  “I’m willing to try.”

  They both watched the fire for a while.

  “Are you going to go back to Florida when we leave here?” Much as she hated to ask, she really wanted to know. They hadn’t talked about their future or feelings, just running and jumping from one thing to another. Until now. And in a week’s time, if AJ wanted to return to his old life, she’d just as soon know so she could prepare her heart for the goodbye.

  Just thinking about it made her shiver.

  “Do you want to go to Florida?” he asked.

  “I can’t say it’s ever held any appeal.”

  He kissed the tips of her fingers. “I think it might be counterintuitive to return to the state of my crimes while I’m trying to turn a new leaf.”

  She looked up at him. “No more liberating vehicles?”

  “Not unless we need a getaway car from someone chasing us.” There had been some fancy footwork to make that go away in DC. Not to mention the big check given to the guy AJ jacked the car from.

  “I’d like to avoid that for a while.”

  “I somehow doubt it will be for long. You like the adrenaline rush as much as I do.”

  She sighed. “Okay, so no Florida.”

  “What about you? I don’t even know where you live.”

  “Doesn’t matter. I rent a new place every few months.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  She closed her eyes. “Always in motion.”

  AJ let loose her hand and brought his to the side of her face. “You don’t have to live that way anymore, Sasha. No one is hunting you down.”

  “It’s more than being hunted. It’s also about needing a reason to stay.” She’d hovered in Texas for a while, then realized that Trina really didn’t need her, and that’s when she’d started to move again.

  “I want to give you a reason to stay,” he told her.

  “What do you mean?”

  He leaned up on an elbow, and she had no choice but to move her head off his shoulder. “I want me to be the reason you want to stay. I don’t really care where, or for how long. I mean, until we can both agree on a place. I want there to be an us, Sasha.”

  Okay . . . so this was what looking at tomorrow was like.

  She swallowed and felt equal parts fear and excitement. “I don’t know how to do that,” she told him, honestly.

  “There’s nothing you have to do, you just don’t leave. Another guy realizes how hot you are, you tell him to buzz off and I break his arm. You know, what couples do.”

&nb
sp; “I don’t think breaking arms is part of that.”

  “It can be. We can set a new trend.”

  Now she was smiling.

  AJ swallowed hard and sat up. The blanket slid to his waist.

  She followed his motion and his eyes landed on her chest. He leaned over, kissed one of her breasts, and lifted the blanket up to cover her. “Too distracting for what I have to say.”

  Sasha held the cover in place and crossed her legs under her.

  “I know this is new. We’ve been through some pretty serious stuff. But I’ve never felt for anyone the way I feel for you.”

  “I like you, too, AJ.”

  “Nope. This isn’t like. This isn’t ultra liking . . . max liking. This is that other L word I’m afraid to say because I think you might run in the opposite direction if I say it. And I don’t want to risk that.”

  Her eyes felt heavy and she needed to blink several times to keep them from watering. “I don’t know what to do with that.”

  “I know. But that’s okay, because I’m not going anywhere. We’re going to make love in front of the fireplace. Forage in the forest for firewood. Have a few snowball fights. Fight over who cooks the worst. And when we get tired of here, we’ll go somewhere else. We! Us.”

  She wrapped her arms around her chest. Could she do that? Roots . . . even shallow ones were foreign.

  “Try for me,” AJ said.

  Her nod started slowly and grew. “Okay. Let’s do this us thing.”

  AJ reached for the blanket, pulled it away. “Glad you see it my way.”

  Laughter reached the snow outside before he pulled her under him and kissed away her fears.

  Epilogue

  Reed and Lori’s condo in a high building in downtown Los Angeles had been decorated with white lights and green garland. A beautiful flocked Christmas tree stood proud beside the floor to ceiling window. There were presents overflowing underneath, and holiday music filled the room.

  AJ stood beside her, a cocktail in his hand. He wore a turtleneck sweater and slacks, while Sasha went with a festive red Oscar de la Renta. The home was filled with people. Every one of them Sasha knew.

  And babies.

  So many babies.

  “Scary, isn’t it?” Claire looked around the room, waving a chocolate martini in the air. “Better not drink the water around here.”

  AJ scowled. “I’m not ready for that.”

  “Oh, thank God. Neither am I,” Sasha muttered.

  He leaned over, kissed the side of her head.

  Lori walked toward them, one of her baby girls in her arms. Once she moved closer, Sasha recognized which one. “Would you mind holding her? I need to get a few things in the kitchen.”

  “Of course.”

  Sasha took the infant in her arms and smiled at the cherub cheeks and bright blue eyes.

  Claire chuckled and followed Lori as she walked away. “I’ll help.”

  Holding a baby might have been foreign, but she was getting used to it. Much like the us and we thing she had going with AJ.

  “You’re very adorable,” she said in Russian. “But I’m not ready.”

  “Which one is that?” AJ asked.

  “You can’t tell?”

  “They’re twins. I’m not supposed to tell.”

  “It’s Samantha. Sasha has a little attitude in her upper lip.” She didn’t think she’d ever get used to the fact that Reed and Lori had named one of their daughters after her. They’d heard the news two days after they arrived in Utah. Sasha had cried. Supersobbing ugly cry, and AJ held her while she did.

  “How you doin’ over there?” Reed asked from several feet away, Sasha in his arms.

  “You take care of that one, I have this one.”

  The doorbell rang and Shannon and her husband, Victor, came into the room, a car seat in his hands.

  “Another one?” AJ asked.

  “I warned you.”

  Sasha moved to the edge of the sofa and looked down. Samantha had closed her eyes, little pouty lips slightly open as she slept. It was one of the most adorable things she’d ever seen. “Still not ready,” she whispered.

  Lori walked back over. “Here, let me put her to bed.”

  Sasha handed over the eight-pound bundle and jumped up to find a drink.

  “It’s really not contagious,” Trina said from across the room.

  “It is with this group,” Avery said. She and her husband, Liam, were tag teaming their son during the party.

  “So, Claire, how are you liking the new place?” Wade asked her once she came back into the room.

  “It’s perfect. I already talked to Jax, and she’s coming as soon as she graduates in June.” Neil had set her up in a house in Encino that his sister-in-law had owned for years. It was ideal for Claire. Close enough to commute to work, which was with the security team, and UCLA, where she was taking classes to get her degree. “The two of us single and living in Southern California, I can’t believe this is my life.”

  “Enjoy it,” Shannon told her. “Don’t let some guy come in and mess that up for a while.”

  “Hey.” Victor, Shannon’s husband, nudged her arm.

  “She’s only eighteen.”

  Victor narrowed his eyes. “Then why are you drinking?”

  Claire laughed. “There’s a rule, if you speak more than four languages, you get to consume alcohol.”

  “That’s not a rule,” Wade said.

  She scanned the room. “Everyone here who didn’t have a drink before they were twenty-one, please raise their hands.”

  Crickets . . .

  She lifted her glass. “Cheers.”

  AJ sat on the arm of the sofa, placed his hand on Sasha’s shoulder. “I’m taking Claire home. She isn’t driving,” he told everyone.

  “How long are you guys staying in town?” Reed asked.

  Sasha glanced at AJ. “We’re going to stay through the twenty-sixth. Neil’s wife invited us over for . . . what do they call it?” AJ asked.

  “Boxing Day,” Sasha reminded him.

  “Yeah, I guess it’s a thing.”

  “I’m so happy you decided to join us. I hope we can expect to see you more often,” Trina said.

  Sasha felt AJ squeeze her shoulder. “As long as no one gives me the pregnant pills, I’ll be . . .” She paused. “We’ll be around.”

  Trina stood and grabbed a package from behind the chair. “I know we said no adult gifts, but I thought you might like this.”

  Trina handed her the present. The gold metallic wrapping paper and silver ribbon sparkled in the white lights of the room. “Trina . . .”

  “I know.”

  Sasha ran her hand over the package and felt tears in her eyes.

  “You’re not supposed to cry until after you open it,” Reed teased.

  Sasha glanced at the eager faces around the room, her eyes landing on Claire.

  “Gifts mean a lot more when you never get them,” Claire told everyone in the room.

  Avery moaned. “Okay, now I’m going to cry.”

  “Never get presents?” AJ asked.

  “By-product of being an orphan.” She wiped the tears and opened the gift. Two framed photographs. Sasha ran her hand down the picture of Alice and Fedor. The woman who saved her and her half brother she never had the chance to meet. Her throat knotted. The second picture was of Trina, Wade, and Lilly.

  She was crying again.

  “I know you move around a lot. I thought you might like to bring your family with you.”

  Sasha set the photographs down and choked back her emotions. She stood and crossed the room to her onetime sister-in-law. She opened her arms and hugged her for the first time.

  When she let go, she realized that nothing had shattered, and nothing had hurt, that maybe hugging wasn’t such a bad thing.

  “Looks like it’s time to open stuff up.” Liam took his son’s hand and led him to the Christmas tree.

  For the next half hour, the toddlers opene
d presents and the parents of sleeping babies opened things for their children. And Claire. Watching her open several gifts from people she hardly knew was a gift in itself.

  Trina waved Sasha over into the kitchen, where she was talking with Lori, Avery, and Shannon. “All right, ladies. I thought since we’ve been a little too busy to have our club meeting, maybe it’s time for something different.”

  “What meeting?” Sasha asked.

  “We called it the First Wives Club,” Avery said.

  “And since we’re all married . . .” Trina stopped, glanced at Sasha. “Okay, you’re not, but from the looks of things, that isn’t going to be long.”

  “That’s assuming a lot,” Sasha said.

  Trina paused. “Sure, okay.” She reached into a bag and pulled out four copies of the same book. “I was thinking book club. You know, give us something to talk about other than baby clothes and diaper rash.”

  “‘The Ten Million Dollar Bride’?” Lori read the title out loud.

  Trina started to laugh. “Yeah, it’s about a woman who marries a man for a ten-million-dollar payout.”

  “You’re kidding me?” Avery asked, laughing.

  “Cathartic, right?”

  “It’s a romance novel.” Lori was still looking at the cover.

  “Great deduction, Einstein. It has great reviews and it made the New York Times.”

  Sasha waved the book in the air. “You want me to be a part of a book club?”

  Trina looked at her like she was crazy. “Well, yeah. We meet every three months. How hard can it be to read a book every three months?”

  Avery tapped her copy of the book on Sasha’s arm. “If I have to read a romance novel, you have to read a romance novel.”

  “I really don’t,” Sasha teased.

  “I’m in,” Shannon said.

  Lori set her copy aside. “Would it convince you if I told you we try and have our meetings . . . or book clubs, in different locations every time?”

  “What kind of locations?”

  “Any place we can shop. Paris, Barcelona, New York, San Diego.”

  She looked at the book again. How painful could it be? “Okay, I’m in.”