Twist (A BDSM & Romantic Erotica Boxed Set)

by Tara Crescent

  "I'm sorry you don't have a support system."

  "My best friend, Lucy, has been a big help. How about you? Other than Andi, that is."

  "I grew up in a suburb of Detroit. As you may have guessed with the last name Mikos, my family is from Greece too, although we've been in the States a few more generations than your family. I have an older sister and then I came along many years later as their 'oops'. Dad died of a heart attack about ten years ago and my sister, Natalie, and I have the joy of watching our mother sinking deeper into the throes of early onset Alzheimer's."

  "I'm so sorry. That must be so hard to watch your mom changing like that."

  "Thanks and yes, it is. They came for the funeral, of course. Natalie was a big help, but she couldn't stay long. She has her own family and they own a restaurant like your dad. Mom is too far-gone to be able to help. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do. I'll be able to stay home for the next few weeks, but I'm sure George Bennett is going to want me back on the road meeting clients again soon. I can tell he's shaken up by his son's death, but he's managed to keep going into the office. I talked to him this afternoon. I couldn't help but get the feeling he blames me somehow for Kevin's death."

  "I wouldn't put it past him. Kevin's family has pretty much dropped off the face of the earth since the funeral."

  A strained silence stretched between them as the waitress delivered their entrees and refilled drinks. After she left, Cali asked, "How long have you worked at BB&M?"

  "Since I passed the bar. Just over eight years. Maybe having Bennett blame me is for the best. I haven't been happy there in a long time. I'm going to have to look for a job where I can be at home every night. I've tried hiring a nanny. I've called around town to several of the services. They've sent me dozens of resumes and I've even met with a few ladies, but I just can't find anyone I would feel comfortable leaving Andi with for several days at a time, you know?"

  "I hadn't thought of that. It's going to be hard for you. Kevin would be gone for days at a time." Their eyes met. He knew what she was going to say before she spoke. "Looking back, I wonder how many of those nights I thought he was away on business were actually spent with Veronica when you were out of town?"

  A renewed wave of rage coursed through Nick at the thought of Roni meeting Kevin. Who had been watching Andi at the time? Had she left Andi home in bed alone to meet her lover? Had she snuck the bastard into their home and let him fuck her in their marital bed while their daughter slept down the hall?

  He hadn't spoken his suspicion, but when his eyes met Cali's, he could tell she knew what he'd been thinking. "Unfortunately, as you'll find on the thumb drive, it was probably all of the scenarios you just ran through your head."

  "I'm so sorry, Cali."

  "You're sorry? For what?"

  "That my wife..."

  "Stop. This isn't your fault any more than it's mine. Let the blame stay with them. They paid for it with their lives. I just want to put my life back together and figure out what I'm going to do next. I can't stay in the huge house alone so I've already decided to sell it. I just don't know if I should stay in the area or move back to Baltimore or move somewhere completely new and start all over again where no one looks at me with pity in their eyes. Lucky for me, they need school teachers everywhere."

  "I'm going through the same evaluation. I don't want to make Andi move schools and be away from her friends unless I have to, though. Lucky for me, they need lawyers everywhere, too."

  They finished dinner talking about much lighter topics. Only after they'd shared an order of Baklava and drank their strong after-dinner coffees, did their conversation return to more personal topics.

  "Thank you again for calling me the other night, Cali. I know it wasn't easy for you. As hard as it is to talk about what happened, I still had a good time with you tonight."

  "I'm glad I decided to come too. I'm not sure how you'll feel about this, but I'd like to offer to babysit Andi for you if you run into a pinch and don't have anyone else. I know she's never met me, but... well... I love kids, obviously, since I'm an elementary school teacher. I wasn't able to have kids of my own so being able to help you with Andi would actually be a treat for me."

  Her offer came out of left field. Nick hadn't expected it. He hesitated long enough that Cali shifted in her seat and looked embarrassed. "Hey, never mind. I can tell you don't like the idea."

  "I never said that. You just caught me off guard. Why would you offer to do something like that? You don't have any obligation to me, you know."

  He saw the flash of anger in her amber eyes. "I'm not offering out of obligation. I just thought we could help each other out. I'm lonely and have too much time on my hands and until you find another job, you're gonna need someone to help with Andrea. If you don't want my help, that's fine. I understand."

  He saw her pain. "I'm sorry. I don't know what to say. I never expected the offer. Can you give me some time to think about it?"

  "Sure. The offer won't expire. Just give me a call." The waitress arrived with their check. She reached into her purse to pull out her wallet. Nick snatched it up.

  Nick interjected, "Oh no you don't. Dinner is on me, tonight. I asked you, remember?"

  "That's not necessary, Nick. This wasn't a date. At least let me pay my half."

  "Not on your life. This one is my treat. Maybe we can do this again sometime."

  Her uneasiness shone through her eyes as she shifted in her seat. "Maybe. Why don't you see how you feel after you read the USB drive."

  "Nothing I read on the drive is going to make me blame you, Calista. Nothing."

  They settled the bill and left the restaurant together. Nick walked her to her car to make sure she made it safely. Only as their goodbyes were upon them did Nick realize just how much he didn't want the night to end. It had been the first night since the accident that he'd felt alive again. He'd been going through the motions for a month.

  Cali unlocked her door before turning back to Nick. "Thanks again for the dinner, Nick. It was good to get out of the house."

  "Thanks for calling and for the USB. Please... call me if you need anything, will you?"

  "Sure. You too." Nick saw it in her eyes. She thought this was goodbye.

  Just in case it was, Nick pulled her into his arms for a final hug. He felt a tremor rush through her body and knew she was cold in the late February chill. They embraced for several long seconds before Cali pulled out of their hug and rushed to sit behind the wheel. She gave a small wave as she pulled out into the snow-covered street. Nick stood and watched her drive away until she turned out of sight. He felt the USB drive in his pocket and knew he was going to be up all night reading.

  Calista shoved the stack of papers and lesson plans into her stylish leather briefcase. It wasn't that she was necessarily in a hurry to get home on another Friday night. Considering how long the weekends stretched out in the three months since Kevin's death, the only advantage of heading straight home from school was she could open the waiting bottle of wine sooner.

  A fellow third grade teacher, Bethany, called out as she passed her open classroom door. "Night Cali. Hope you have a good weekend."

  She stopped to poke her head in. "You too, Bethany. You and Jim have fun with your in-laws visiting."

  "Very funny. I hope I'm still married when you see me on Monday."

  "Me too. Just stay calm. They're leaving soon."

  Cali headed out to the parking lot, thinking of how she'd love to get rid of her own in-laws. Since Kevin's death, they had barely checked in with her to see how she was doing and when they had, each conversation had gotten more accusatory about what she'd done to push their son into the arms of another woman. Not once had they said they were sorry about how Kevin had treated her. Not once had they offered to help her sort out her finances. It had been up to her to figure out that Kevin had neglected to purchase life insurance. It had been up to her to figure out how much debt they were in and how there was no way her t
eacher's salary alone was going to be able to dig herself out.

  She wasn't looking forward to her appointment with a real estate agent the following day. It wasn't that she was emotionally attached to the house per se, but she wasn't prepared to deal with figuring out where she wanted to move yet. She was just grateful they had put close to fifty percent down on the house, with her in-law's help of course. She would be fine financially once she got the equity out.

  She was approaching her car when she looked beyond to see Nicholas Mikos walking towards her. He looked even more handsome than she remembered from their dinner a few months before. She stood rooted to her spot as their eyes locked. She hadn't expected him to seek her out in person.

  "Cali. I'm sorry to startle you, but I was worried about you and... well... I wanted to talk with you."

  Her brain was running on high speed, trying to think of the right thing to say. "Nick. I didn't expect to see you here."

  "I understand, but you aren't taking my calls. I didn't want to come to the house so I thought this would be the best place to approach you."

  "I didn't take two of your calls and that was after you ignored several of my texts first. I get it. I knew reading the stuff on the USB would change how you felt about everything."

  "I'm sorry. I was a jerk not to respond. It just took some time to process everything."

  "Hey, you don't need to explain it to me. And you don't need to apologize. Just because my husband fucked your wife doesn't mean you owe me anything." Cali's anger had been lurking just under the surface for days. She had to hold it together during the week at school, but she'd found she needed the weekends to let it all out. Nick was catching the start of her weekend angst.

  "Listen. I don't blame you for being pissed at me. I did kind of drop off the grid there for a while after reading everything. But that wasn't the only reason I didn't respond. Can we go somewhere and talk? Please."

  "I don't think that's necessary."

  "I do."

  "Why?"

  "Because. I owe you answers and I'm worried about you. I thought that reading the messages Veronica had written to Kevin would be the hardest parts for me, but it wasn't. Reading how that asshole talked about you... treated you... it guts me, Cali. I didn't know how to handle talking to you about it."

  When Cali didn't respond, Nick added an invitation. "Please, come to dinner with me tonight."

  "I'm not hungry."

  "Fine, drinks then."

  "I'm not thirsty."

  "Please. Give me a chance to explain."

  Silence stretched between them as Cali weighed her options. She decided she could hear him out as long as alcohol was involved, "Fine. Drinks. I hate Friday nights anyway."

  "Thanks. You want to leave your car here and ride with me?"

  "No. I think it's best if I drive myself. I'll follow you."

  Cali followed Nick to an Irish pub in downtown Falls Church. They parked in the back and went in the side door. Despite the bright spring sunlight, the pub was dimly lit. They slid into a booth tucked away from the commotion around the large bar of Friday afternoon revelers. Cali ordered a Cosmo in the hopes of calming her ragged nerves triggered by Nick's unexpected appearance. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear what he had to say since reading all of the private texts and emails on the USB.

  After the waitress left, Cali broke their silence. "So you got me here."

  "Thanks again for coming. I have a couple of reasons for wanting to talk to you, and I'm trying to decide which I should start with. You..." Nick paused. Cali sensed his confusion. "You seem different, Cali. I'm worried about you."

  "I'm sorry if I'm not living up to your expectations for how I'm supposed to grieve."

  "Don't give me that shit. Don't forget who you're talking to. I'm not the enemy here, Calista."

  Even Cali didn't understand where her anger was coming from, but she was fighting down the urge to scream. "I'm sorry. I know you're not the enemy, Nick. I'm messed up, okay? I'm trying to get through one day at a time. Some days are better than others. Today is a bad day. I'm angry."

  "At me?"

  "At the world. I'm angry with Kevin for leaving me without life insurance and a boatload of debt. I'm angry with my in-laws for blaming me, as if it were my fault I wasn't good enough for their son that he had to look outside our marriage. I'm furious at myself that I was actually afraid of losing him, as if he were worthy of my love in the first place. And yes, I'm angry at you that the few times I reached out to you in the last few months because I needed to talk to someone who understood, you ignored me."

  "I deserve that. I am sorry I haven't been there for you, but I'm here now, Cali."

  "And why is that, exactly?"

  "Because I wanted to confess to you in person."

  That had her attention. "Confess to what?" She gulped down the last of her Cosmo and motioned to the passing waitress to bring her another.

  "You realize you gave me Kevin's entire phone backup, right?"

  The buzz of the strong cocktail was already dulling her reactions. It took her time to understand what he was implying. "You read more than just the stuff between the two of them?"

  "Yes."

  "How much more?"

  The waitress placed the next round and left before he answered. "Everything. Every fucking word."

  Memories she'd wanted to forget surfaced. "That was an invasion of my privacy."

  "Yes, and at first I felt guilty, but not anymore. The only one who should feel guilty is already dead. I just had to see your eyes when I ask you, why? Why the hell did you stay with him? Why did you let him treat you like that? Why did you let him hurt you?" He was fishing. Cali was pretty sure there was no proof of Kevin's physical abuse on his phone. Nick pressed her. "He did hurt you, didn't he?"

  "This is none of your business."

  "You're right, but maybe I want it to be."

  "That doesn't make sense."

  "You once offered to help babysit Andi. That's the second reason I wanted to talk with you. I wanted to know if the offer still stood."

  "You want me to babysit?"

  "Yes. I've tried three nannies in eight weeks. One was worse than the next. I will keep looking for a long-term solution, but I have to go to New York next week for two nights and I'm really in a pinch. I get that you're pissed at me, but I was hoping you'd help."

  "What does me babysitting have to do with Kevin hurting me?"

  "Nothing, I guess. I just knew if I saw you again, I'd need to confess that I'd read everything. That I knew that he was a bigger asshole than I even suspected."

  "Yes, that he was."

  "So, what do you say? Can you help me?"

  "I don't know. Let me think about it."

  "Okay. Maybe you could think about it over a burger? You should eat something if you're going to keep downing Cosmos at that rate."

  "Thanks, dad."

  "Ouch. I know I'm a few years older than you, but that hurt."

  Cali didn't stop her smile. "So now we're even."

  "Touché."

  They manage to talk effortlessly for the next few hours while downing burgers and fries. Cali lost track of how many Cosmos she consumed, but they caught up to her when she stood to use the ladies room. By the time she got back to the booth, Nick had paid their bill and was holding her jacket for her.

  He waited until they were outside to steer her to his car. She tried to keep going to her own car, but Nick stole the keys out of her hand. "Oh no you don't. I'm not letting you drive in this condition. I stopped drinking a while ago." He held the passenger door open, waiting for her to sink into the sports car. One look at his face and she knew there would be no changing his mind. In truth, he was right.

  Once he was behind the wheel, he turned to her with a sad smile. "I'd better drive carefully. We could really create a stir if we got in an accident riding in the same car."

  Cali's guard was down. She blurted her first thought. "Well, I doubt we'll get in an accide
nt, unless you want me to give you a blowjob."

  Nick had turned his attention to backing out, but he threw the car into park and stared at Cali. "What are you talking about?"

  Cali's breath became short. Surely he knew? "Didn't you read the accident report from that night?"

  "No. No one ever offered me a copy. It didn't seem important."

  "I guess I'm not even sure if it's in there."

  "What is?"

  She was sobering up quickly. "Nothing. Never mind."

  "Dammit, don't lie to me, Cali. What happened that night that I'm missing?"

  Memories of identifying Veronica's smashed body had tears pooling. "Did you know the police made me go to the morgue to identify the bodies? Kevin had ID on him, but they couldn't find any ID for Veronica."

  "Wait. You saw her body?"

  "Yes."

  "We had a closed casket because..."

  "You don't need to explain. I saw them both."

  "Holy shit, I'm so sorry they made you do that. I had no idea."

  "Seeing them both dead was horrible, but it was the callous way the coroner told me that Veronica had bitten Kevin's cock off during the impact that shook me up. It was why she didn't have her seatbelt on."

  For a minute, Cali wondered if he had even heard her. His first measurable reaction was a chuckle, which quickly snowballed into manic laughter.

  "Nick, are you okay?"

  It took him a few minutes to get the reaction out of his system. "That's priceless. Death by blowjob."

  Nick finally got the car in motion and Cali's stomach rolled as she processed the alcohol in her system. By the time they arrived at her house, she was regretting her last drink. She had her keys in her hand and turned to say goodbye, but Nick was already out of the car and opening her car door. He walked her to the front door and when she had trouble with the lock, stepped in to help her in the darkness of the porch.

  Once inside, she flicked on the lights of the foyer. Nick stepped in and glanced around, before his eyes returned to hers. An awkward silence fell over them during their first private moment.

  "Thanks again for coming tonight. Just let me know by Monday if you can watch Andi next Wednesday and Thursday night and we can get the details together. If you need a ride to your car tomorrow, give me a call and I'll drive you, okay?"