Truth & Consequences: The Novel

by Leilani Harvey

  Once inside of the living room, she turned to face him and Jayson’s nerves were set on edge. She remained hypnotically stunning, with sienna colored curls that fell around her creamy mocha shoulders, and exotic hazel tinted eyes. She and Mia could easily pose as twins except, where Mia’s appeal was her dark and sinister beauty, Summer embodied a bittersweet sensuality, like an enchanting melancholy he had wanted to completely lose himself in.

  He had to shake off her spell. He meant what he said to Aneisa yesterday. He was hers, and not even Summer was going to make him break that oath. In spite of the haunting love he once held for her, Jayson was a man of his word. When he loved, he loved sincerely and absolutely.

  “When did you get home?” While he asked the question, his eyes remained pinned to the woman standing in his living room.

  The answer didn’t matter, he only wanted to distract his wayward thoughts; all the same, he was curious to hear her reply. And where was Aidan? Had they broken up and now she had returned to reclaim Jayson?

  “I called my parents a few weeks ago to tell them I would be in town around this time.”

  His feet were planted to the shellacked wooden floor. Any move he made might spark off a cascade of frantic reactions to her presence.

  “I see…so…what did you want? Why are you here?”

  “I talked to Mia last night.”

  He grunted.

  “And what did she tell you?”

  “That you had moved back to the city.” He watched her keen eyes study his face; she was trying to read his thoughts. “What else was she supposed to tell me?”

  “Not a thing.”

  This was Mia’s doing. She had been waiting to time that phone call from last night with Summer’s visit. This was her leverage over Jayson. She was using his feelings for his ex-flame to entrap him somehow. He still didn’t see all of the details clearly, but the ambush was waiting to catch him off guard.

  “Jayson, I know we didn’t part ways on the best of terms.”

  Her little feet brought her a step closer and Jayson held his position.

  “I’m not going there with you, Summer. We both know how it ended, and it’s not something I want to get into right now.”

  “If not now, then when, Jay?”

  The way she spoke pulled at his heartstrings. Her voice was so soothing and his name on her lips was like an intoxicating and bitter wine.

  “Never,” he held his ground, refusing to give into the haze creeping over his mind. “It’s over. Let the past stay where it is.”

  “I don’t think I can do that.”

  She motioned her palm to reach for his face and his hand clamped around her thin wrist.

  “Don’t,” he whispered in a hoarse tone.

  “I need to know I have your forgiveness, Jay. I never wanted to hurt you.”

  She tried again, using the same hand to pursue a physical connection with him, and he allowed her to make contact this time.

  He had forgotten how gentle her touch could be, so loving and nurturing.

  “You broke my heart, Summer.”

  He didn’t mean to do it, but he wrapped her in his arms and brought her close. The top of her curly head was positioned under his chin.

  “I know, and I’m truly sorry.” She pulled away and looked at him. “Do you forgive me?”

  That was it? No explanation, only an open apology with nothing to support it.

  He almost heard the exact moment when his cool façade cracked.

  Jayson dropped his hold on her and stomped three feet further into his living room.

  “Are you serious? Is that all?”

  She watched him quizzically. He wasn’t sure whether she was genuinely confused or playing with his intelligence.

  “What do you mean, Jay? I said I was sorry. I didn’t mean for our breakup to happen that way.”

  “Summer, you fucked my best friend behind my back for months…months! And the only way I found out about it was when you tricked me into a threesome with you and him.”

  She turned her eyes away; there was a hint of shame on her face. He could have stopped there, perhaps his hurt was clear and he had made his point. No…it wasn’t enough. She wanted to have this conversation, to cleanse her conscience of its rightful guilt. They were surely going to hash this mess out but under his terms.

  “Well? What do you have to say about that? Sorry isn’t going to do it…tell me why you did this to me.”

  Summer folded her arms around herself.

  “I…I loved you, Jay, I just wasn’t in love with you. That’s all I know…I wanted…Aidan, I always did. I just couldn’t admit it until he told me he loved me too.”

  Jayson stalked over to her. His approach was so heavy that Summer backed into the closed front door. With her cornered and no where else to flee this time, Jayson wanted to make sure she understood how she had cut his life into pieces the night she ran off with Aidan.

  He placed his hands on her small shoulders and stared directly into her eyes. He wanted her to feel exactly what he had experienced for last year.

  “I loved you, Summer, and I was in love with you. I worked my ass off everyday – school and work – because I wanted to give you everything. I wanted to take care of you and give you the life I thought you deserved.”

  “Jay…I –,” she stammered.

  “No…let me finish. I adored you…everything about you…I think I still do…a little.” He ran a quick hand through his short hair. “When you left…the way you left…after what happened between all of us that night…it broke me, Summer.”

  He pounded a fist against the door and she jumped.

  “And this is what it turned me into…this cold monster, who doesn’t give a shit about anything or anyone anymore…not even you.”

  She was silent and her eyes had dropped to the floor. He lifted her chin up to him again.

  “But this is what you wanted, right? You turned me into Aidan. A heartless bastard who only wants to fuck and who doesn’t care anything about love or commitment, who only wants to get his next nut out and gets his kicks from trampling over other people’s lives and relationships.” He paused and lowered his eyebrows at her. “Is that why you came here today? He dumped you for the next hot chick he found and now you want me back?”

  “No! It’s not like that. That’s not why I came.” Her answer was forceful.

  Summer’s hand went to her eye and wiped away a tiny tear at the corner.

  Her sadness steadied his anger. He started to reach for the hand she was covering her face with, then froze. He saw the object and it was as if the floor dropped from beneath his feet. She wore a diamond solitaire and a gold band on her left hand. She was married. The woman he had thought he would spend the rest of his life devotedly committed to had married another man.

  Jayson touched the rings with the tips of his fingers. He had to make sure they were real.

  “Who?” His voice cracked when he spoke.

  He backed away and separated their bodies.

  “You know who,” her reply was low.

  “Aidan?”

  “Yes…of course. Who else would it be? I told you, I really love him and…he really loves me. We didn’t plan on you finding out the way you did or on leaving you at the hotel. It all happened so fast.”

  “So you waited a whole year to come and try to make amends? What about Aidan? Why isn’t he here, doesn’t he care about settling this bad blood between us?”

  She wiped at her face once more then eased out her words.

  “The next day, we drove to New York City. We were married there and decided to stay. Aidan wanted to come back that same day. He wanted to come and to try to find a way to make peace with you. It was me who kept him away. I guess…I guess I was ashamed, and I wasn’t ready to face what I had done.”

  “And now you are?”

  “Yes, Jayson, I am,” she locked eyes with him. “I was a silly girl who couldn’t think past my own pleasure. I never thought abo
ut the consequences of what would happen when the truth finally hit daylight. I was scared you would hate me forever so I convinced Aidan we shouldn’t come back until everything had cooled down. He wanted to come here with me today but I knew if we both showed up at your door…together…you wouldn’t talk to either one of us. It was me who started this drama and I knew it had to be me who made the first steps toward resolving it. I had no idea you had moved back here. When we were driving here last night and Mia called to tell me that you were in town again and really wanted to see me, I nearly cried.” She reflected quietly to herself for a moment. “I should have known it was all too good to be true. That girl never does anything out of concern for anyone other than herself. She’s always been rotten to the core. Which means…you and she must be…together…somehow. Are you sleeping with my sister?”

  “Never, I love you too much to do that to you.” The words rolled off his tongue before he could rein them in.

  His annoyance waned. Thoughts of Aneisa returned. The plot was clear; this was the goal of the set-up.

  For the moment, he forgot about his standoff with Summer. Jayson reached around her, snatched the door open, and Aneisa was there. She had overheard every word. About how he didn’t care for anyone, how he only wanted to fuck, and had no intentions of loving again. About how he found it amusing to disassemble other people’s lives. How he and Mia were probably wrapped up in some type of game together. Most of all, after having confessed his eternal loyalty to her last night, Aneisa heard him say that he loved Summer.

  Shock and anger were only a fraction of what was painted on her pretty face. There was also sadness and gloom. Her small hands were balled into tight fists. Two tears, one from each eye, snaked lonely paths over her flushed cheeks.

  “I trusted you. I…I thought you and I were really falling in love. I’m so stupid,” she whimpered out. “I almost broke up with my fiancé…for you. You’re a screw up asshole who’s gonna’ get exactly what he deserves and I hope I get to stand there and have a big laugh at you when you do.”

  “Aneisa…wait…it’s not how it sounded.” His anger had dissipated into worry.

  This isn’t how he had planned on explaining the situation to her. He didn’t intend for the details to be revealed in such a harsh way.

  He reached for her and she jumped back.

  He needed her close to him again. He wanted to cradle her in his arms and to convince her that his passionate feelings for her were true, and that they had grown far beyond a simple sexual attraction. This reunion with Summer was exactly what he needed to put everything into perfect perspective. All he wanted was a chance to explain what he now realized to Aneisa, then she wouldn’t want to leave him.

  “Stay away from me, Jayson…far, far away. I never want to see your face again.”

  He took one step over the threshold and she bolted down the hall and through the door leading to the stairwell in a flash.

  He made a move to follow, then stopped and turned back. Summer was waiting silently inside, standing by his sofa.

  “Summer,” he spoke her name with a renewed calm. The fire that had been burning for her had finally been extinguished. “I can’t forget what you did, but I can forgive you. What you said about loving and being in love, I think I get that part now.”

  “You’re in love with her…Aneisa?”

  “I am.” When he openly admitted the truth, his heart, mind, and soul finally seemed to reach a harmonious balance. “I need to go but thank you for coming back to try to explain.”

  She nodded and offered a small smile.

  He walked out and stopped once more. He wanted to make sure he put out every fire that had been consuming his life; a clean start was what he hoped. After Jayson made up with Aneisa – if he made up with her – there was one more person he needed to work things out with.

  “Before you go, leave Aidan’s number on my kitchen table.”

  She didn’t have to answer. He could feel Summer’s smile following him out the door.

  Now, he needed to find a way to save his budding love with Aneisa. In all the earth, she was the only woman who mattered to him from this day forward. He wasn’t going to give up so easily on a real chance at true love.

  12

  Aneisa charged through the front door of her house like a mad woman.

  How could she be so blind and so stupid – repeatedly – for the same man? A man whom she knew well in advance had no soul and no good intentions toward her. She didn’t need to know all of the minute details; all she needed to hear was that Jayson had lied to her from the very beginning about everything, including his wanting to delve into a lasting relationship with her. The not so funny aha moment is that none of that revelation should have come as a shocker.

  All this time she had been forcefully trying to convince herself there might be an actual and true bond developing between them and all this time he only wanted to appease his sexual appetite until he could reunite with Ms. Summer. How had she fallen for his syrupy lies about wanting her to know the real him? Now she did. He was a cruel bastard and she wanted nothing more to do with him or Mia or Summer and Aidan, or any one else who came well stocked with a bag full of trouble and bullshit to dish out and share in abundance.

  She might not be crazy in love with Shane but they had a stable future together. She was so thankful she had held off on telling him the truth about her relationship with Jayson. Her plan had been to work it out so that she could break the news to him as gently as possible. He was a nice guy and deserved for her to come clean about how awful she had been to him. Either way, Aneisa already felt terrible about her actions and didn’t want to lie to him anymore. Maybe there was a chance they might be able to salvage their shredded relationship somehow.

  She slammed her handbag on the kitchen table then walked back to the door. After the taxi had dropped her off, something caught her eye but she was so wrapped up in her own heated thoughts she didn’t immediately realize what that odd detail was. Aneisa opened the front door and confirmed what her eyes had thought they had seen. Shane’s car was parked out front, which was unusual because he was scheduled to be at the college campus assisting with lectures around this time of day.

  Noises echoed from overhead. First squeaking then shuffling. Someone was up there.

  Her first reaction might have been to get out of the house because it could be a burglar, but her intuitions kicked into overdrive. The biggest clue to the mystery was parked in front of her house. As fast as her legs could carry her, she bounded up the carpeted stairs and charged toward her bedroom.

  The door was closed – also very odd – because the only time she or Shane ever closed the bedroom door was when they were going to bed for the evening. She wasn’t sure whether or not it was closed when she had left out earlier that morning. Shane was already showered and gone by the time she had awakened from her slumber. She had slept on the couch last night and he didn’t seem to mind. That had been one of many hints regarding his peculiar behavior as of late, all of which were about to come to a startling discovery.

  She twisted the brass knob and pushed the door open. Her brain could hardly take in what her eyes were beholding.

  Shane’s naked and pale body jumped up from their bed and bolted toward her. His flaccid cock was bouncing up and down the entire time.

  “Aneisa, I can explain.” He stammered while he tried to use his body to block her view.

  She, of course, dodged his efforts. When she sidestepped his blockade, Aneisa’s eyes fell on the stark naked form of that little she-devil. This had gone way too far. It was one thing to think Shane was fucking someone else but to have them carry out their nasty deed under her sheets had crossed into a major no-fly zone.

  Aneisa lunged for Mia, who snapped up the sheets to cover her bare tits. Shane caught her around the waist right before she could make contact with the other female.

  “No, no, no,” he stuttered out.

  Aneisa twisted out from under his h
old and turned on him with fire shooting through her veins. She lifted her hand to swat at him, then quickly changed her mind. Neither one of them deserved another microsecond of her time. Violence wasn’t her style and she wouldn’t stoop down to their loathsome level.

  “You,” she pointed a sharp finger at Shane, “and you,” she nudged her chin toward Mia’s direction, “Five minutes to get out or I call the police.”

  She spun on her heels and stomped back into the hall and down the stairs. There was fumbling followed by muted and frantic whispers behind her. Then a rush of wind as Shane approached from behind. He was wearing khakis and no shirt.

  He grabbed her arm and she flung it away.

  “Aneisa, you can’t throw me out, this is my house too.”

  Her eyebrows shot up in the air.

  “Oh, yes I can. I don’t think the Board of Deans would approve of one of their new professors having an affair with an undergrad student, do you? She’s the one who you spent a very long afternoon with that day you were missing, isn’t she? I’m guessing she’s also the one who has been putting all those scratches all over your back. Fine. Whatever. But you disrespected me to a disgraceful level by bringing that shit into our bed that we’ve shared every night for almost two years, Shane. Have I been lying down on the same sheets you’ve been fucking her on?”

  “Don’t let her fool you, Shane, she’s not innocent either.”

  Mia, with a sheet wrapped around her body, made a slow descent down the stairs. It was clear she was trying to keep her distance from Aneisa.

  “You have nothing to say to me. Get out of my house before I toss you out, little girl.”

  “Ask her what she’s been doing with Jayson.”

  Shane’s green eyes bulged.

  “Is it true, Aneisa? I never thought you…would–,” his statement was cut by a loud rapping on the front door.

  For a quick moment, the trio’s squabble was distracted by trying to guess who the newcomer could be.