When Faults Collide (Faultlines #1)

by Claire Granger

  I giggled. “Thanks.”

  When he finished, I took the plate inside to put it in the dishwasher. When I came back outside he was looking at my book.

  “Louis Pasteur. He invented pasteurizing for milk, right?”

  “Yes, and the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax. He’s pretty awesome,” I said before sitting to join him again.

  “I think I read an article about his germ studies in college,” he said, turning the book over and then handing it to me.

  I set it down on the porch and nodded. “Yep. He won a ton of awards for them.”

  “Yeah, there was a lot of mention of him and his practices in the biography I read on Robert Koch. You should read that one when you are finished. Then maybe I can borrow that one.”

  I smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”

  He rubbed my knee. “Can I just say that I think it’s incredibly hot that you read biographies?”

  “Right back at you, handsome,” I said, winking.

  “So I was wondering if you want to come down to Shine tomorrow night? I have to stay for tomorrow’s show too, but my bouncers have been grilled to the max to not allow bullshit like tonight happen again. I’d like you to come down and check it out,” he said smiling.

  I nodded. “Sounds like fun. What time?”

  “Around 7pm, the show starts at 8pm.”

  “Okay. Yeah, that’s fine. I’m doing my usual morning, then lunch with Lily, then I see Katherine at 4pm, but I’ll be done with plenty of time to get there.”

  “Who’s Katherine?” he asked curiously.

  “Oh. Um...my therapist. I see her every Friday.”

  “That’s cool. I’m glad you have her. I could never find a counselor that worked for me,” he explained, shrugging.

  “But then how are you so okay? You don’t seem to have near the baggage that I do. How did you manage that without therapy?” I asked, shocked by this.

  “Well, I was in therapy, I just never felt it did anything for me. And I have baggage. Everyone does. I dealt with my past in some really unhealthy ways, but Amy and Dave helped me a lot. I was really into drugs; I wasn’t an addict, but I definitely had a problem. I used drugs to numb the pain and to try and push people away. When I got placed with Amy and Dave, actually, they picked me up from juvie. I was doing a short stint for possession. And even though—Lord knows—I did everything in my power to push those two away. Stealing, property destruction, running away, sneaking out, just being an ass and refusing to cooperate...they didn’t give up on me. They taught me healthier ways to cope with my pain, and no matter what, even if I had just done something really messed up, they were always there to talk anytime I wanted to. They forced me to go to group therapy and other programs thinking it would help, but honestly they did more for me than any therapist could.”

  “So they were your Katherine,” I said, understanding.

  He nodded. “Yeah, they were.”

  We sat and talked for another hour, enjoying the serenity of the night and the company of each other.

  I covered my mouth and yawned.

  He leaned in and kissed me softly.

  “Will you stay with me tonight?” he asked in barely a whisper.

  “In your house?” I asked.

  He nodded. “Like last night. Nothing else.” He was nervous.

  I smiled. “Sounds wonderful.”

  I leaned in and kissed him again.

  We stood up and he walked over to his door, which was a pale off-white in contrast to my bright purple door. He opened the door and led me inside.

  It was laid out the exact same way as my house, just mirrored.

  I noticed his living room, which was definitely bachelor pad-ish with a black leather couch and glass end tables. He had a large flat screen with multiple gaming systems on a glass TV stand. He had no art or photos on the walls, but had an abstract rug covering the dark wood floors.

  He held my hand and led me up the stairs to his room, which was like my room in layout, including the second attached room.

  He had a king size bed on a platform base, painted black nightstands, and a black dresser. I walked into the adjoining room to check it out and realized it was his library. The entire room had shelves lining the walls and a comfy chair sat in one corner with a floor lamp next to it.

  “Your library,” I said, impressed.

  “Yeah,” he nodded. “I’m gonna go change; be right back,” he said, kissing me on the cheek as he went into the bathroom.

  I walked around the room and scanned the shelves, finding that while we did have a lot of the same books, he had easily five times what I had. If this was how many he had in print, I was curious to know how many e-books he had. I had ten times the e-books that I did print. Especially since so many of the classics are free.

  He came out of the bathroom with basketball shorts and a muscle tank on.

  He smiled and I smiled back shyly.

  He walked over and kissed me passionately, the fire igniting between us. There was no denying the chemistry.

  When he pulled back we were both breathless.

  He held my hand and pulled me back towards his bed. He kissed me softly and then brushed my hair behind my ear.

  “Let’s go to bed, beautiful.”

  I nodded and crawled into bed with him following me.

  He curled up behind me and pulled me into an embrace, my back against his chest.

  I sighed contentedly and he kissed the back of my head.

  We held on to each other, forgetting everything else. In his embrace I wasn’t the child of a prostitute. I wasn’t a rape survivor. I was Asha. He was Blake. Together we were perfectly imperfect. Two broken pieces that were made whole together.

  I drifted off into a deep sleep, feeling so thankful for the man who held me in his arms.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I came into the house after my morning run to find Blake in the kitchen making breakfast. I leaned up to kiss him as he handed me a cup of coffee, then I decided to inspect his handiwork.

  “I just chopped up some of the leftover beef from last night and mixed it with some eggs. Hope that’s okay,” he said, leaning down to give me another kiss.

  I nodded and sniffed. “Mmm...smells good.”

  I whipped out my phone to send out a Tweet.

  Asha Harris

  @AshaGirlRVA

  #Mr.GreenEyes making me breakfast? Oh yes, a girl could get used to this. #GoodLife

  He peeked at me while he scooped out the eggs onto two plates. I grabbed two forks and we sat down in the dining room to eat.

  “You have an obscene number of followers,” he stated.

  I nodded. “Yeah, most of them are blog followers, but I also use Twitter to network with other bloggers and designers.”

  “How long have you been blogging?” he asked.

  “Um, since freshman year of college. It was like therapy for me. Then it kind of exploded,” I said, putting a bite into my mouth. “This is delicious by the way.”

  He smiled. “Thanks. So, have you ever thought about writing a book? You don’t make money with your blog right?”

  I shook my head. “No...I do. I don’t really have to design. I could live off of my blog alone. But this was my dream.”

  “Really? Do you have like, a ton of ads and sponsored posts?” he asked, clearly interested.

  “No. I mean, I’ve done sponsored posts, yes. In the beginning when I decided to monetize I had the standard ads, but now I only have purchased ads, and I only have a handful of those. The revenue from those ads are significant enough. No need to be greedy and litter my blog with ads. My readers don’t want that,” I explained while taking another big bite.

  He sipped his coffee and looked at me thoughtfully. “That’s awesome. One of these days I hope you will let me read it.”

  I coughed, nearly choking. “You haven’t seen it?”

  He shook his head, “No. I thought it was probably personal, so I figured I would wait on you
to invite me to see it.”

  “That—that’s really thoughtful of you, Blake,” I said, fighting back the urge to cry. I shook off the feeling and took another sip of my coffee.

  He shrugged and then grinned at me, flashing his dimple. “Besides, I would much rather hear things from the person writing than from the words she writes.”

  We finished up breakfast and I took our dishes to the sink to wash. Blake came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He kissed my cheek.

  “I gotta head out. Text me when you’re on the way and I’ll meet you at the door tonight, okay?”

  I nodded and then turned my head to give him a kiss.

  The sparks from our contact would never cease to amaze and astound me.

  He leaned back, his beautiful emerald eyes shining through his glasses. He gave me another quick kiss on the tip of my nose and then left.

  I finished up the dishes and headed upstairs to get a shower and get ready for my day, especially my lunch with Lily.

  After my shower, I brushed my hair into a bun. I walked across my office into my bedroom and opened my wardrobe, shuffling through outfits. I picked out a red tea dress, a black shrug cardigan, and black leggings. Deciding to do something fun, I picked out some red lipstick and applied it before heading downstairs and plucking my red ballet flats from the basket by the front door.

  I had a while before I had to meet Lily, but wanted to run some errands in Carytown before our lunch.

  I locked my front door, the breeze swaying my dress just slightly. I went down the stairs and heard my phone ringing as I opened the door to my car.

  “Hey, Marcy!” I said happily.

  “There’s my girl. So, I hear that you are bringing a boy over on Sunday?” she asked cheekily.

  I giggled. “Yeah. Although I would say he’s a young man or man, Marcy.”

  “When you get to be my age, they are all boys. Well, listen, your dad has some fancy business partner in town from London. They’ve been working all week to close the sale of a business and your dad invited him to join us on Sunday.”

  “Oh...okay,” I said, a little disappointed.

  “So, I was thinking you and your new friend can come over a little early, so that way we all have time to talk and catch up before your dad’s partner arrives.” She sounded hopeful.

  “Sure! We can do that,” I agreed.

  “Great! Ok, well I will see you on Sunday then!”

  We disconnected and I started my car, letting Kina Grannis flow through my speakers as I made my way towards Carytown.

  Cary Street, or “Carytown” to the locals, is a street south of the area of town known as “The Fan,” which is just west of downtown. It’s full of quirky dives, hipster-style shops, restaurants, coffee shops, and other small, eccentric businesses.

  Chop Suey was one of those quirky places. Walking by you may not be sure whether it’s a Chinese restaurant or a store of some kind, but it’s actually a really funky used book store where I spent entirely too much time and money.

  Ha! As if you could spend too much money on books.

  I strolled in and went straight to the biographies section. I browsed for about fifteen minutes before picking out a few that interested me and checked out.

  I snapped a picture of the books on the register before the clerk put them in a bag for me and uploaded it to Instagram.

  Gotta love #ChopSuey! #RVAhasmyheart

  #Carytown

  I went through a few more shops, just browsing, not really buying, before it was time to head back downtown to meet Lily.

  I parked on Grace Street and made my way across the street to find Lily standing out front waiting on me. She hopped and grinned when she saw me and I quickly met her embrace.

  “Oh my God, Lils, let me see it!” I exclaimed, breaking our embrace and pulling her left hand towards me.

  Sitting on her left ring finger was a beautiful rose gold band with an oval shaped diamond solitaire right in the center.

  I felt a tear escape my eye and quickly brushed it away.

  “I’m so happy for you guys,” I told her, pulling her into another embrace.

  “You stop it, you’re going to make me cry. Cut it out,” she teased, though by the cracking in her voice she had already started.

  We both shook it off and made our way inside to be seated. We sat in a corner table and ordered our drinks. She ordered wine and I ordered a local hard cider.

  We chatted about her rehearsal, Tom’s new gig painting a mural for a private school, and in her parent’s reaction to their engagement.

  Then she wanted to know all about Blake so I told her everything that had been going on with us.

  “You’ve stayed over with each other for two nights straight? My God, Asha, you have evolved! So...how is he?” she asked with a suggestive eye raise.

  I knew what she was referring to. Sneaky cow.

  “No, not like that. Just you know...cuddling...sleeping. Not sleeping together like that.”

  Her eyebrow raised even higher and then she pursed her lips and shook her head.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Asha, at some point, you’re going to have to deal with your intimacy issues,” she said knowingly.

  “I don’t have intimacy issues, Lils. And besides, it’s only been like a week. There’s no rush. Everything is fine. We are just enjoying each other,” I said, trying to reassure her.

  “Yes, I’m not saying hop into bed with him. Come on. You do, however, have intimacy issues, and you are going to have to deal with them.” She waved her fork around at me before she dug into her salad.

  I peered down at my salad and took a bite.

  “You know I’m not wrong. You forget that I have a dual degree.”

  “I know. You love to remind me,” I said, still looking at my salad.

  Lily was a theater major, but she also held an undergrad in psychology with a minor in human sexuality. She called it her fall back if she didn’t make it.

  She reached out and put her hand over mine. I glanced up and saw her brown eyes looking sadly at me.

  “You have come leaps and bounds, Ash. I only bring it up because I love you.”

  I smiled weakly and nodded.

  Though I never shared my whole truth with Lily, the day that she met me there was no hiding how completely messed up I was.

  It was a month into freshman year. I had gone to the school’s gym to work out and a boy there tried to talk to me and get my number. I avoided him and he followed me outside. He put his hand on my arm to try and talk to me and I freaked out.

  Lily and Tom had been walking by and saw the boy run off and sat with me until I stopped shaking and crying. We had been friends ever since.

  She saw my distress and changed the subject, commenting that she loved the red lipstick.

  Those moments, when Lily decided not to push—those moments made me love her even more. She got me; that’s why she was my best friend.

  We spent another hour chatting and catching up before she dropped some big news on me.

  “So, since we’re like...getting married, and all that....Tom has... well...” she started, then started twirling her hair, clearly nervous.

  “Tom what, Lily?” I asked.

  “Well...Tom has asked me to move in.” She immediately began nibbling on her bottom lip and looking at me nervously.

  “With all of his roommates?” I asked, amused.

  Tom had five roommates and lived in a very small warehouse conversion apartment in Manchester.

  “Well...yes and no. I’ll stay with him for now, but we are going to buy a place together. Obviously I insisted it must be in Church Hill,” she stated, adding that last part as a fact.

  “Okay,” I said simply.

  Her eyes widened. “You aren’t upset?”

  I shrugged one shoulder. “Well, I’ll miss you, Lils, but it’s not like I expected you and Tom to live with me as newlyweds. That would be disturbing on about a million levels
.”

  She giggled and then squeezed my hand. “I’m so glad you aren’t upset.”

  We finished up our lunch and then made plans for her to come by and pack up her stuff.

  I got in my car and sighed. This was the end of an era with my best friend, but it also felt like a new beginning for me. I was going to be okay without Lily.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Okay, Asha, my concern isn’t that you aren’t having sex. It’s good that you aren’t rushing into sex. My concern is that you don’t seem to care one way or another, and he seems to be adamantly avoiding it as if it’s a fear of his. That’s my concern.” Katherine said, ripping off a piece of cinnamon roll.

  “Why should I care? Shouldn’t the relationship be about the relationship?” I asked, confused as to why this was a problem.

  “Of course, dear, but do you feel sexual attraction for him? Do you want to have sex?” she asked, meeting my eyes.

  I shrugged. “I guess. I’m attracted to him. When he touches me, or kisses me...I feel sparks. Like, actual tingly sparks exploding on my skin. I’m not, however, pining for sex or trying to jump his bones.”

  “You guess? Okay, how do you feel about the possibility of sex? Are you wanting to wait until your relationship progresses to a certain point? If this is a moral or ethics issue that’s fine. I’m just trying to gauge your thinking.” She searched my eyes for answers.

  “I really haven’t thought about it at all until you and Lily brought it up. I don’t see what the issue is. I don’t know how I feel. I haven’t thought about it. I don’t know if it’s moral or ethical.” I said, frustrated.

  She shook her head and pursed her lips, shoving another piece of the pastry in her mouth.

  “Why is that an issue, Katherine?” I asked.

  “Because, dear girl, it tells me that you have compartmentalized sex away. I’ll make the assumption that it’s because of the way that sex was used with your mother and then your attack, you have never thought about sex as an act of love between two people. Yes, you know that’s what it is, but in your mind, you have compartmentalized it away and your mind has thrown up a wall of impassiveness about it. Blake, on the other hand, feels so violated by his attack that sex is terrifying to him. Which, ironically, makes him easier to treat because his mind is at least allowing him to have feelings about the matter.” She waved around a piece of cinnamon roll as she talked.