More Than A Fling

by Amber Nation

  I pushed myself off of the window and turned around only to see a bottle of elite bourbon perched on the edge of her desk and Bea with a smirk and a raised brow. “I’ll remember never to piss you off,” she chuckled.

  “Funny thing, I was thinking the same thing about you before you let Kate into my office.” I walked over and placed my hand around the neck of the bottle, dragging it off the desk until it was resting against my side. “Now I’m thinking that I need to formulate a plan of retaliation against you. But the bourbon is a great start for an apology.” I lifted the bottle in the air. “And I don’t even want to know why you have an expensive bottle of bourbon stashed away here at work.”

  “I take it that was someone who you aren’t on the best terms with?”

  “Ex-wife numero dos. She’s never allowed to set foot back in here.” I scratched my head as my mind wandered. “Why she traveled from Texas to Oregon to see if I would represent her in her divorce I’ll never know.” I shrugged my shoulders, “Nor do I really care.” I shuffled my feet into my office, suddenly feeling as if I had been hung out to dry, to retrieve my briefcase before I left for the day. I hollered over my shoulder, “Bea, go home to that husband of yours. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  I drove home without facing any other infractions and decided to forgo the drinking and just face planted onto my mattress with my clothing all still in place. I stayed in the same exact position with my nose scrunched up in the sheets until morning and the first signs of dawn trickled through my blinds waking me up.

  Chapter 20

  Dean

  It was Saturday and I hadn’t heard from Julia in several days. Even after the numerous messages I left her groveling and begging for her to listen to me, my calls remained unanswered. She completely shut me out and I hated it. I swallowed my pride and put aside my reservations about sounding like a stalker and resorted to trying to get ahold of her at Violet. It was a dead end. They told me she was taking a few days off due to illness so she could rest up. There was nothing that I myself could do since we lived several thousand miles apart, so I sent her flowers with a message to feel better and to call me.

  Lounging on my couch with my head resting against the back cushion and my hand tapping along on the arm, I came to the conclusion that I was extremely bored. My mind was wandering in a thousand different ways and I needed to focus my attention on something else. I hadn’t been over to bug Eden and Baylor in a while and I missed Norah something fierce, so I trekked out through my yard to theirs so I could hassle The Jenkinses.

  Going through their open garage, which indicated to me that they were home, I let myself in through the laundry room and was instantly greeted by Norah.

  “Hey, Norah Bean,” I exclaimed, genuinely happy to see her.

  She finished throwing the wet clothes in her hands into the dryer, then threw herself into my arms giving me a big hug. “Uncle Dean! It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever!” She continued to brace onto me and I had no other choice but to feel guilty at her remark. My dealing with my problems was no excuse to making Norah feel neglected.

  “Oh sweetie, I’m so sorry. We’ll have to go out on an ice cream date later tonight. How does that sound?” I asked, ruffling up her blonde hair at the top of her head. She hated it when I did that which just further pushed me to do it every time I saw her.

  “Ugh,” she whined, pushing off of me and running her fingers through her long straight locks, trying to comb through all of the tangles. “That sounds like fun but stop doing that. I am twelve years old now, I can beat you up.”

  She was adorable and would always be my little Norah Bean. But standing there with the scowl on her face and her little hip protruding out with her hand resting on it, she was every bit of the teenager with an attitude. And the kicker was, she wasn’t even technically considered a teen yet. I felt a twinge of sympathy for Baylor and Eden, they were going to have their hands full with this one. I couldn’t help but chuckle at her thinking that she could beat me up. “You do realize that I’m 6’5”, you can’t even jump and reach my head, little shrimp. Is your dad making you do laundry?”

  I just made situations worse and made her even more aggravated by calling her a shrimp, but it was hilarious to poke fun at her. She rolled her eyes, “No, it was Eden. Part of my chores.” Then shrugging a shoulder, she added, “It’s not so bad now that she explained each step for me. Dad did a basic run through and I ended up throwing one of Eden’s red shirts into the washer and turned all of our whites pink. Ask dad about his pink underwear,” Norah snickered.

  And on that note, I turned on my heel and threw over my shoulder, “Yeah, I’ll pass,” and walked into the kitchen where Baylor was sitting on a barstool at the island and Eden was slaving away at the stove. I walked over to Eden first, sticking my head over the stove and lifting the lids to scope out what was cooking in each pot. I then leaned down and gave Eden a kiss on the cheek, “Hey,” I said.

  “Hey yourself, stranger.”

  “I know…I know…I haven’t been around much lately,” I made a detour to the fridge, stopping to bend down and scratch Petunia on the head, noting her deep growl. I grabbed a beer and lifted it to Baylor with a raised brow, silently asking if he needed another. He lifted his chin in the affirmative so I went back in and grabbed another, then sat down next to him at the bar. Twisting off the cap and taking a long pull, I grimaced before setting it down on the countertop. “Damn, I should’ve brought a Bud Light from the house, these Heinekens taste like shit.”

  “No one is forcing you to drink it, asshole,” Baylor muttered as he took a swig of his beer of choice.

  “Touché. Yeah, I just got the ‘you’re never around’ inquisition from Norah as we talked laundry. Speaking of which,” I pointed to Baylor, “I now know you’re sporting pink panties.” I winked as I lifted my beer to my mouth for another drink, forcing myself to swallow it down. Damn, I really should’ve just gotten a bottle of water.

  Baylor’s sharp elbow instantly met my ribcage. “Fuck man, what was that for?” I frowned, while rubbing at my throbbing side.

  Eden turned around with a spatula in one hand and the other on her hip, “Boys, play nice or I’ll put you two in time out.”

  “Sorry, babe,” Baylor apologized with his beer to his lips. I could see the smile forming from behind the bottle. He was so frigging whipped it wasn’t even funny. It was good to see the two of them happy though.

  “Yeah, yeah, sorry Eden,” I muttered. “Oh, before I forget, I’m kidnapping your daughter for ice cream tonight. Hey, Eden, have you heard from Julia lately?” I knew most likely that she didn’t know about the two of us since I haven’t gotten an earful from her, but I had to dig around to see how she was doing.

  Baylor eyed me intently from his seat and Eden replied, “You know, it has been a few days since I’ve heard from her. Last time I talked to her she said she was sick with a bug or something. So I ordered her to load up on vitamin C and rest up. She works herself too much.” She raised a brow in my direction, “Why do you want to know?”

  “Oh, you know,” I tried playing it off, but kept an eye on Baylor’s reactions. If he made even the most obvious of movements, he would completely blow my cover. “Just seeing if she misses our verbal jabbing sessions. I must admit, my life has been pretty uneventful since she left and I can’t fight with anyone.”

  Eden’s expression turned grim, and she said as she placed her hand over her chest, “Oh Dean. I feel so awful, here Baylor and I have each other and you don’t have anyone.” Oh no, I didn’t like the direction that this conversation was heading. This had definitely escalated quickly and I hadn’t even foreseen it happening. If she said ‘Bless your heart’ next I was out of there.

  “You’re lonely, that’s why you haven’t been over here much. Because we are throwing our newlywed status in your face.” By that point my eyes were bugging out of my head and my grip was tightening on my beer bottle. Baylor was chuckling it up over from hi
s chair, enjoying the laugh at my expense. She snapped her fingers as if she just had the best idea ever. “We’ll have to get you set up on a date. Maybe even a blind date.” She looked from Baylor, who was now laughing hysterically, over to me and the stoic expression I was sporting. She was actually fucking serious. “I know!” her face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning, “Maisie! She seems like a sweet girl,” she forced herself to spit out, “if you go for that sort of, desperate flaunting that she seems to have going on. But, hey, she seems like the type to be a sure thing,” she wagged her eyebrows up and down.

  My mouth was hanging wide open, I couldn’t believe she would even have the audacity to suggest the town tramp. Once I got over my stunned silence, I looked towards the ceiling to ask for the strength I needed to get through the rest of this bizarre conversation. “Yeah, Maisie and I will never happen. Ever. I don’t even think Bentley would go there and he chases everything.” I held up my hand in Baylor’s direction, “No offense, dude,” referring to the time he made out with Maisie. In his defense though, he was terribly drunk. I couldn’t let her think that she could set me up with someone because I knew it would ultimately end up getting back to Julia during one of their conversations. I had to put the kibosh on this immediately.

  I awkwardly cleared my throat, “I’m actually already seeing someone,” I said matter-of-factly before I thought about rephrasing my statement. I started paying a little too much attention to my beer bottle, twirling it around on the counter. “Ok, well seeing isn’t the correct terminology,” I smiled to myself at my use of a ‘big’ word, Julia would be proud. “I’m interested in someone. Greatly interested.” I focused my eyes back on Eden, who stood there relatively unmoving with a cocked brow. She was sizing up my answer and judging to see if I was blowing smoke in her face to get her off of my back. I flashed a full, genuine smile, pulling out all the stops and even showing off my pearly whites.

  “Ok,” she said before revealing a smile of her own.

  My answer seemed to suffice and mollify her for the time being. She turned her attention back towards the stove and whatever she was cooking. I was in the clear, I almost felt the need to wipe the sweat off of my brow that had formed at dodging that bullet. She didn’t even try to pry who I was interested in out of me.

  I tipped the corner of my mouth up in a triumphant smirk, but then Baylor snickered and cleared his throat…

  Fuck.

  I shook my head curtly and glared at him, my hands forming into fists under the counter.

  He wouldn’t dare.

  “So, who’s the girl, Dean?” He asked the question with an air of nonchalance as he casually lifted his beer to his lips.

  I turned and watched horrified as Eden sat down her spoon in the center of the stove and started turning back around towards us.

  Sweat was now dotting along my forehead in abundance as time seemed to be moving in slow motion. There was only so much fabrication of the truth I could take. The pressure was too much and I was going to break and automatically blurt out, Julia. I just knew it. Then all the dominoes already in place would come toppling down and ruin everything I had worked for. I would be fielding monotonous question after question all night with no end in sight…

  When did this happen?

  How did it happen?

  What are your intentions?

  Then the death threats would come, not from just Eden, saying that if I hurt Julia that she would rip my dick off and feed it to Petunia. And that damn dog hated me enough to do it out of spite. But then the threats from Julia would begin to pour in because I had blabbed like a little girl over our trysts.

  She would hate me and I would be reduced to a puddle of nothing and have my man card stripped clean for actually shedding tears.

  Eden pissed off was bad enough, I had witnessed that inner rage of hers firsthand when she went off on Baylor’s first bitch of a wife, Kristina. But Eden and Julia together? That was diabolical and I was petrified.

  All of this obsessive inner dialogue wasn’t necessary because I was saved by Eden’s phone vibrating on their kitchen table. She quickly wiped her hands off on a dish towel and walked over to retrieve it.

  Thank God.

  This left me plenty of time to rip Baylor a brand new asshole. I snapped my head to him and reared my arm back, getting myself ready to throw one helluva punch, when something Eden said caught my attention.

  Her brows knitted together, “Yes, I’m friends with Julia Caldwell.” She moved back over to the other side of the island, facing us. I was already on instant alert once Julia’s name was mentioned. “I’m listed as her emergency contact?” I stood abruptly, almost knocking over the barstool with the backs of my thighs. I lowered my arm and gripped the underside of the edge of the countertop as my heart rate increased.

  Emergency contact?

  What the hell was wrong? And why couldn’t I hear the other end of the conversation?

  Eden’s stance immediately changed, turning rigid before she began trembling, bringing her hand towards her, placing it against her forehead. Baylor was out of his chair and behind Eden in an instant, placing his hands on her shoulders for support.

  I was going out of my mind with worry. Eden hadn’t spoken another word, but had started chewing on her bottom lip. That was one of her nervous habits. I wasn’t liking this one bit.

  “Ok, so she’s at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center?” Her voice was cracking and I could see tears well up in her eyes.

  My grip tightened on the counter, so hard that my fists began to throb. I needed answers and I needed them now.

  “Yes, I know where it’s located. I’ll be taking the first flight out I can get.” Complete sadness and worry etched on her face, which had me scared. I was scared that Julia had been hurt badly. And the baby…my heart dropped in my chest.

  “No,” she shook her head, “she doesn’t have any other family. Yes, thank you.” Eden moved the phone away from her ear and ended the call. Julia did have family, she had me, it was just that no one else knew that. But that was about to change right fucking now.

  Eden was looking at the granite countertop, not really focusing on anything. She allowed the tears to break free and they were steadily streaming down her face.

  I had to take a deep breath; my heart was frantically beating against my ribs and I couldn’t help the gut-wrenching feeling that my world was going to come crumbling down around me.

  Eden just stood there in an unmoving daze and I wanted nothing more than to shake her in order for her to spit out what had happened. But I backed off because I knew that Baylor would have my ass.

  She finally began relaying what was said to her on the phone. “They said that her neighbor heard her screaming and when they arrived they found her unconscious.” She paused and my mind instantly jumped to the worst-case scenarios. What if she was having a miscarriage?

  This was all my fault.

  I instinctively came around the island, inching my way towards her. “She hasn’t regained consciousness but they said,” a sob broke free, “she has numerous bruises and lacerations. It didn’t look like anyone forced their way into her house, but she was beaten pretty badly. The extent of her injuries aren’t known yet.” She looked around at the stove, then back to the countertop, “I need to get ready to leave.”

  My vision was hazy and then I could only see red. I needed more answers.

  I pounded my fist on the countertop, the thud echoing throughout the kitchen, causing Baylor’s attention to set on me. Through my clenched jaw, I ground out, “I’m coming with you.”

  Her gaze snapped to mine in my peripheral, “What? Why?”

  Staring at the cabinets but not really seeing them, I cracked my knuckles. “Did they say anything about the baby?”

  “What baby?” she shrieked.

  Now I was looking directly at her, my tone almost to the point of being menacing, but dammit, I was pissed. “My baby!”

  Her eyes bulged out of her he
ad. She was truly shocked; not only at my outburst, but because of the bomb I just dropped. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  I surged forward and grasped her by her shoulders, “The baby that Julia and I are having together.”

  Eden looked over towards Baylor who was still standing next to her and he instantly frowned.

  “There is no time to place blame on who did or did not tell you what was happening. We have to get to Julia.”

  An hour later, Eden and I were lucky enough to catch the redeye to Nashville. The airfare was astronomical but I didn’t even blink when I thrust my American Express card in the ticket agent’s face. We boarded the plane with only seconds to spare and I had just tightened my seatbelt, settling in for the flight. My nerves were shot, I was on the verge of tears, and my damn leg wouldn’t quit bouncing up and down no matter how much I concentrated on making it stop.

  Eden had her arms crossed in front of her and she had yet to speak to me or even give me the satisfaction of looking my way since Baylor had dropped us off at the airport. This was her being way more than just pissed, she was hurt and I now was burdened to carry that guilt on my shoulders as well.

  Sure, it was our business but Julia was her best friend and I was sure it was twisting Eden up inside that she hadn’t confided in her.

  I couldn’t help but think of how I had never outright told Julia that I loved her. But I did, I loved her so fucking much that it hurt. I had to rub the heel of my palm into the center of my chest just to try and alleviate some of the constant pain that consumed me.

  The fact that I loved her was more than implied, but I had waited for her to catch up with me before I said the three words. And all for what? Now there was the uncertain possibility that I might never get to say them at all.

  Stop thinking like that. Try to keep positive.

  But it was no use, every possible scenario scanned through my brain and I kept coming back to the same pragmatic outcome.