Twenty Times Tempted: A Sexy Contemporary Romance Collection

by Petrova, Em

  “Just give us a chance. We’ll give it a shot. Why don’t we drive home and have a look at this cardboard note first?”

  Nick glanced at Lisa. “And what good is that gonna do?”

  “You never know. Leave it to the detective,” Vic said airily, and Lisa chuckled.

  Twenty minutes later they were in Nick’s house, and they were standing around a table with the cardboard note on it.

  “Stay away from Lisa or there will be an accident. I’m serious. She’s mine.”

  “Clearly a threat,” Vic said. He smiled at Lisa. “Do you mind if I ask for a list of all your exes? It’s as if this shifted from Nick’s ex badgering you to your ex going after Nick. Weird coincidence, I agree. You guys sure we can’t get Kayla’s address? She may hold the key to the whole puzzle.”

  “How much shall we owe you, by the way? I guess you were too polite to be upfront about it,” Lisa spoke.

  “Well, seeing that you guys are running a successful company branch, how about a thousand bucks plus expenses and a carton of fruit concentrate?”

  “Done,” Nick said. “But you had better earn the grand.”

  “I thought there might be something that would show where this board came from, but there isn’t,” Vic said, disappointed.

  “Hmmm…at least you are thinking like a detective. I hadn’t thought of that,” Nick said. “But we had wondered about Lisa’s exes, only we didn’t pursue that angle.”

  “I think it’s worth pursuing,” Vic said. “And do you think this cop Ray would let us have Kayla’s current address? I think she could enlighten us on some points.”

  “It did cross my mind…” Nick began.

  “Our minds,” Lisa said. “But we didn’t know how we would explain why exactly we need her current address.” Then she grinned. “But he did say Kayla should sort out her issues with her ex – Nick – so why would he mind us seeing her? Let’s get the address.”

  So Lisa called the station, asking for Detective Ray, but he was out. He would be informed and asked to get in touch with Lisa on her cell phone.

  “Brilliant,” Nick said. “We can always say we decided to speak to her to sort things out amicably and avoid drama and stalking habits.”

  “Now for Lisa’s exes,” Vic said, rubbing his hands together. They laughed at this comical gesture.

  “Actually,” Lisa began with a laugh.

  “I’m all ears,” Nick said.

  Ignoring him, Lisa went on: “I have three exes, and I have no more records of their phone numbers, chats etcetera.”

  “Thank God you didn’t keep the dirty chats,” Nick said with a sigh of relief. “That would ruin my day, if I had to read that.”

  “I wouldn’t show them to anybody even if I had kept such data,” Lisa said. “My exes are very unimpressive. One cheated on me, one was too controlling, the third I just fell out of love with. It just got monotonous and flat.”

  “Hope that doesn’t happen with me,” Nick laughed.

  “You had better keep her excited and interested every day,” Jade advised.

  “Social media then,” Vic said. “Let’s look at your three exes’ facebook, twitter, instagram accounts.”

  “There’s another possibility,” Jade said. “Why are you all assuming that it has to be her ex? Maybe it’s another freak out there just acting weird. By saying ‘she’s mine’ it doesn’t mean that he has to be her ex, assuming it’s a man and not, as you guys suggested, Kayla playing games.”

  “Good thinking, sis,” Vic said proudly. “You guys, Lisa and Nick, had made good deductions about this affair, but as you can see, Jade and I also have no limitations in the brain area.”

  “Why don’t you let results speak for themselves, Vic,” Lisa pushed him away. “My laptop is in your car, Nick. My iPad is back home. I need the laptop to log in. And finding these guys depends on what names they are using right now.”

  “If this is a true ex of Lisa,” Vic said as Lisa walked out to the car, “my money is on the monotonous guy and the controlling guy. Especially the controlling guy.”

  “You’d be surprised to learn that sometimes men cheat even when they love you,” Jade informed him. “Some men just get a kick out of cheating.”

  “Don’t get me started on cheating women,” Vic said, waving his finger at Jade.

  Lisa came back with her lap top, and soon they were able to see Drew’s profile, but they couldn’t trace the other two exes. Drew was apparently happily married, according to his profile and photos. “I guess they use weird names,” Lisa shrugged. “Drew is the guy who was a bit controlling,” she said. “I felt caged, and he was a bit too insecure for me. Glad to see he’s so happily married, or so it seems. I don’t see a happily married man going after his ex with such extreme gestures.”

  “There goes my theory,” Vic groaned. “While you were out I suggested that the culprit has to be the controlling guy, Lisa. He’s the one with the stalker and clingy traits, after all, and that’s why he comes off as controlling and insecure…he was afraid of losing you and he tried to secure you in every way possible as a result, not knowing that this made him appear insecure and that he was making things hard for you. He didn’t know that the more he clung to you the more you would feel cornered and pull away.”

  “Great analysis, detective,” Lisa said, and they laughed. Then she gaped. “Oh my God, I forgot all about Alex!”

  “Alex?” three voices spoke at once.

  “Alex! Come on, Nick, I mentioned Alex to you some time back. The guy who was stalking me around the city and on social media and was involved in drugs. He died shortly after I met him at the Snack King and I was terrified when his accomplices began to call me using his number!”

  “Terrifying indeed,” Jade agreed. “Back from the dead! I would have dropped the phone!”

  Lisa laughed. “That is exactly what I did. I was living with my uncle then. Funny thing is, though the drug involvement issue was discovered and the accomplices arrested through call trace, I never found out why he was so interested in me.”

  “Wow…you seem to attract stalkers from every place,” Vic shook his head. “Maybe you bewitch them with your cool sexy looks and drowsy eyes.”

  “Hey, I’m the one supposed to make those remarks,” Nick protested.

  “You should thank me for making them on your behalf, Romeo,” Vic shot back. He frowned at the screen. “This Drew guy of yours seems so focused on his wife and family. And young son. I don’t see him chasing Nick’s car and writing creepy notes, do you?”

  “Seems unlikely,” Lisa said. They tried to look for the others on twitter and instagram, but her other exes seemed to be off social media or used different names.

  “Hmmm…I know somebody who might go to that extent too, assuming he’s still the sick loser he used to be,” Nick said, walking over to the window and staring outside. Had Shawn grown up, or could he still pull such pranks?

  2003-2009

  Nick Banks stared back at his reflection in the mirror, and felt sorry for himself as he remembered life with the Fosters. No wonder there was a deep-rooted sadness in his eyes even when he smiled. Past events in his life seemed to flash before him as he moved from the mirror and stared out through the window.

  Nick was now twenty-four, and was living in his own house and drove to the Cabrillo School of Arts and Music almost every day. The freedom of living on his own since he was twenty-one was still as fresh as if it had just begun. He had lived through a lot of pain and suffering under the Fosters since his parents passed away in a car crash when he was fifteen. Apparently his father had believed that Mr Foster was the best friend and neighbor he ever had, and in his will he had left his son in the care of the loving Fosters in the unfortunate event of his death. K Marshall the attorney had handled it all, not knowing that Nick was due for the worst six years of his life.

  The will had ensured that at twenty-one and not before, Nick Banks would inherit fifty-six thousand dollars and all interest
earned thereof, the attorney having been paid legal fees apart from the inheritance, so that this sum was in totality due to Nick Banks. In the meantime, before his twenty-first birthday, he was to remain under his appointed guardian’s care. An amount of “goodwill” according to the will was to be paid to the guardian in the case of the demise of the Banks; this amount was in total twenty thousand dollars.

  That is exactly what happened. When Nick’s parents died, the wonderful neighbor who had visited his father often and chatted with him over the fence about so many things was now Nick’s guardian. Though Nick knew that twenty thousand dollars had been paid to his guardian, he was not aware of the money that had been transferred to a trust, a total of fifty-six thousand, of which K Marshall had decided was to be his twenty-first birthday surprise.

  The next six years were not years Nick would ever miss. Keith Foster, his father’s “good” friend, turned out to be a monster with two oversize brats who were his sons, a bit older than Nick. Mrs Foster passed away when Nick was seventeen, having lived with the Fosters for two years. She had been very kind to Nick, and even though Keith was not really nice to him and Sam and Shawn bullied him, she had always defended him and made him feel like he belonged.

  When she died, Nick found himself turned into a house-help who was picked upon in everything. He was supposed to make most meals especially when Isabella did not come in to cook and clean. He got very little allowance and if he got home late he had to make his own meal or sleep hungry. Sometimes he stared across at the house that used to be home and longed for those days of peace and happiness.

  One time Shawn, who was three years older than Nick and one year older than Sam, had sprayed pepper into Nick’s eyes, and they had laughed at his screams and laughed some more when he stumbled and fell while trying to find his way to the tap to wash his eyes. That was just one of the many occasions where Nick’s new-found family had been unkind to him.

  Nick had complained to K Marshall and said he wanted a new guardian, but K Marshall had told him he had to respect the will’s conditions until he turned twenty-one, and that there might be five thousand bucks somewhere when he turned twenty-one. Nick had not been very impressed, but he had kept quiet, knowing that his parents had wanted the best for him and that the Fosters were fully to blame.

  He had always wanted to sing and had joined forces with two high school friends to form a band, but Keith Foster soon put an end to that.

  It was a relief when he got a call from Marshall on his twenty-first birthday. Shawn sometimes dropped him at the L.A. School of Library and Information Science, where he was taking a course that had not been his choice but Keith’s. Sometimes Shawn left him behind and he had to take the bus.

  He was about to head for home on his twenty-first birthday for another boring birthday on which he would not be allowed to invite friends when he got the call from K Marshall, who sounded very happy and wanted to see him.

  When he got to Marshall’s office, he found him in a great mood. Nick would never forget that day in 2009.

  “I have waited for years to get this off my chest, Nick,” Marshall said.

  “You are making me nervous, Mr Marshall,” Nick said. “Do you know that it’s my birthday? I’m twenty-one today.”

  “I know that. Happy birthday, Nick. You came to me when you were seventeen and was going through a hard time at the Fosters’. I know you were always confused because it was your Dad’s wish that should anything happen to your parents the Fosters would take care of you. It seems it wasn’t the ideal dream home that you could have. I tried to encourage you by telling you that you were due for five thousand bucks when you turned twenty-one.”

  “Oh, blimey! I forgot all about it. Twenty-one seemed like a century away back then.”

  “Well, besides the college fund your Dad left behind...”

  “Wait a minute! Do you mean to tell me that it wasn’t the Fosters paying for my college education but my parents after all?”

  “Yes. Your Dad had it all planned. Twenty thousand to your guardians, college taken care of for a course of your choice...”

  “My Dad had given me freedom to choose? Sounds like my Dad alright! Mr Foster forced me to take a different course...the only reason I didn’t run away from the Fosters was because I thought they were paying for my college education! You should have told me, Mr Marshall.”

  “Never mind that. Some experiences make a man of you.”

  “There are many men who never had to go through that,” Nick argued.

  “As I said, never mind that. Actually, your Dad didn’t leave you five thousand but fifty-six thousand deposited along with the will when you were only ten years old, which today plus interest is seventy-two thousand dollars. You are a man now, you no longer need a guardian, you can take control of your life. All legal fees and dues have already been settled. This is your money, Nick, and I’m happy and proud to hand it over, and your Dad would have been satisfied with my work.”

  Nick found himself crying uncontrollably. Finally he gained control. “I have no words, Mr Marshall. You have been extremely kind. My Dad made many great choices in life except the day he chose to drive behind a drunkard. He made a great choice in choosing his attorney or solicitor too, should I call you that? I will pay you...”

  “You will do nothing of the sort, Nick. I am the happiest of happy men to have settled this matter with my long-gone client. Go and live a better life for you deserve it. Do you have a bank account?”

  “I do.”

  “I need the details. In fact we shall drive to the bank. The money should be in your account in twenty-four hours.”

  Now as he stared out of the window, he recalled the telephone call he had received from Shawn twenty minutes earlier. Keith Foster was in a critical condition at San Pedro hospital.

  Nick drove to the hospital.

  After the memorable meeting with K Marshall that day in the attorney’s office, he had called Sergio his best friend and college mate and his girlfriend Abby Johnson and told them the news. He was moving out of the Fosters’ house right away! Sergio was happy to host him while he found a house.

  He had taken the metro, walked the rest of the way home, and heard Keith’s voice telling him it was his kitchen week. It always was, anyway. He listened patiently as Keith spoke from the bedroom, telling him exactly what he wanted for dinner. The time was twenty past four P.M. Nick had entered his room, parked his bag with his most precious possessions, and as he walked out he found Keith in the living room.

  “Where do you think you are going? Did you hear what I want for supper?”

  “Yes, but I’m staying with a friend.”

  Keith jumped to his feet. “Have you lost your mind, boy? What do you mean staying with friends?”

  “I’m sorry, but that’s it.”

  Sam and Shawn were out. They had no indoor chores once they left college or work.

  “Listen to me, you young twerp! I want dinner by six P.M., do you understand?” Keith’s voice continued to yell from the door as Nick walked away, never to return. Shawn and Sam visited the college only to find out that he had dropped the library course the day after his birthday, the day after he left the Foster home.

  Now he parked outside the hospital. He had bought a Ford Fiesta second hand in very good condition for seven thousand shortly after moving to Sergio’s, and had found a small place of his own before joining forces with Sergio to start an online business that made them about three thousand bucks a month.

  Nick soon found himself escorted by a pretty nurse named Janice to where his former guardian Foster lay in a ward, with tubes running to his wrist and one close to his nose. “Do not make him talk, sir. He needs to rest. He’s not very well and could be moved back to ICU if things deteriorate.”

  A lot of emotions went through Nick’s mind and heart as he stood there, but pity was not one of them.

  Keith opened his eyes.

  “Nick.”

  Nick said nothing. Fin
ally he said: “You betrayed my father.”

  “I did no such thing.”

  “You pretended to be his friend and he left me in your care, then you showed your true colors.”

  “You are and always were an ungrateful brat,” Keith said, and winced. “I’m tired, don’t want to talk. But you should be ashamed of what you did...walking out like that. When did you send me money? I hear you are doing well. That’s what I meant...ungrateful!”

  “I wish you well,” Nick said, “But you were always a nasty man and my father would regret leaving me in the hands of a monster with two monsters for sons.”

  “Why...you...” Keith looked as if he could strangle Nick, his claw-like hands rising up, his eyes like darts of fury. Nick felt a chill up his spine at the malevolence in those eyes. Then Keith began to groan and gasp, and suddenly the machine next to the wall began to beep and a red light began to flicker on the green graph on the screen.

  Nick turned and ran, almost colliding with Janice at the door. “Something’s happening!” he yelled.

  “Did you touch him?” Janice demanded as she rushed to the bed.

  “No!”

  “What did you do, you coyote?” a loud familiar voice demanded and Shawn’s big hand grabbed him by the front of his shirt. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing! He began to speak, then he began to gasp.”

  “I’ll get the doctor,” Janice said and rushed out. Keith was now lying very still.

  Shawn walked over to him. “He’s dead,” he said. He turned to Nick. “Nice job, Nick. Been waiting for this.”

  “What do you mean? I didn’t kill him!”

  “Never mind. What matters is that he’s gone,” Shawn said with a wicked smile. He immediately put on a more appropriate sad expression as footsteps approached.

  This scene had haunted Nick for the last few years. Had Shawn killed his own father? Should Nick have reported his suspicions? Suppose it was Shawn playing games, chasing his car and sending the notes?

  “I’d show that fool I’m an adult now, not the teenage boy he used to bully,” Nick thought angrily, grabbing the curtain in a tight grip as Lisa walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. “You okay, honey?”