by Marni Mann
“Congrats again on the business, Tilly. I’m sure you’ll make it even more of a success.” I give her the same smile she’s giving me and inch up again.
“Tell Piper I said hello. I hear things have been pretty rough for the princess lately. All kinds of troubles. It’s a good thing she’s found someone like you who can swoop in and give her everything she needs.”
My ex doesn’t just kick people when they’re down. She prays they will stay at their lowest permanently, and then she’ll point out every reason they should stay that way.
It’s such a cunty quality.
“Good-bye, Tilly.” I roll up my window and continue driving toward the end of the lot.
After I park, I take the elevator to the top floor. I have some things I need to talk to Piper about, and I find her outside on the balcony of our suite.
While I was at the gym, Jesse called and said he secured some interviews in Boston. I’ll be flying out in a few days and be gone a week. My moving up north is a conversation Piper and I have been avoiding, but it’s time to discuss the possibilities because, suddenly, they’ve become more real.
I slide the balcony door closed. I see the glass of wine next to her. It isn’t even noon yet. I’ve never seen her drink this early.
“You okay?”
She doesn’t look at me. She just keeps staring at the ocean. Her profile shows a flushed cheek and an eye that’s puffy and red. She’s on one of the lounge chairs with her arms wrapped around her bent knees, her body rocking like she’s riding out the waves.
I sit in front of her and reach for her. When she doesn’t fold into my chest, I grab her ass and pull her closer to me. “What did she say to you?”
She shakes her head, refusing to look at me.
“Piper, I just ran into her downstairs, and she fed me a lie about coming here to see the hotel manager. Don’t protect her. Tell me what she said to you.”
Her eyes fill with tears, and when the wind hits her face, it blows the drips down her cheeks. “I didn’t know,” she whispers.
“What didn’t you know?”
She doesn’t answer, so I cup her face and hold it, squeezing until our eyes finally connect. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
The tears stream down even harder, falling under my fingers. She doesn’t even attempt to answer; she just cowers in the chair, keeping her body as far from me as she can.
Fucking Tilly. I should have known she wasn’t going to go away easily. I’m sure the reason she chose to come here today is because the business deal closed, and that was the one thing I was able to take away from her. She obviously hadn’t believed me. But once she was sure it was hers, she came to have her final say. And she didn’t waste a goddamn minute.
“Piper, say something. You’re starting to really worry me.”
She glances away and tugs my hands off her face. They fall in her lap, and she gazes at them. “Tilly and I have an ex in common. I guess the night I hooked up with him, he was dating her. It happened way back when I was in college.”
“That’s what this is about? An ex from years and years ago?”
“He was the first guy who cheated on her…with me.”
I wrap my hands around her legs and dip my head, so our faces are only inches apart. “You know that’s bullshit, don’t you? I’m the one at fault. Not you. You owe her nothing.” My words don’t stop her from crying. It almost feels like she’s shaking even harder. “Baby, what else is bothering you?”
“She saw us on the site—Cannon and me, I mean—and she made the connection. She chose us to get back at me for sleeping with her boyfriend. And then she uncovered the truth about Cannon, which she called an added bonus.”
Tilly’s desire to swing never surprised me. But going to this extreme to get back at Piper, who unknowingly did something all the way back in college? That’s conniving and just fucked up.
That still doesn’t explain why Piper’s reacting this way.
Unless she thinks that I’m behind it, too.
“Piper, I had nothing to do with her plan. I—”
Her hand touches mine. “It never even crossed my mind, West.”
Then, what the hell is this about?
I’m sure it stung when Tilly threw in that added bonus. Shit, I’m positive it stung since Piper saw Cannon getting it up the ass. She was devastated, and you don’t just quickly recover from that. Not when you loved the person. But something tells me this isn’t about Cannon.
I reach for her face again but settle for her neck, and I wait until she looks at me. “Why are you so hung up on this? Nothing she said should be making you this upset.”
“She’s never going to stop, West.” She sounds haunted and breathless.
“Who? Tilly?”
She nods.
“Piper, you need to listen to me.”
She’s hesitant, but finally, she lets me pull her into my lap. I lock my arms around her and hold my lips against her cheek.
“Nothing she does or says can change what we have. We’ve already overcome her. Tilly gets bored easily. Within a week, she’ll be on to someone else, and she won’t give us another thought, I promise.”
It takes her several seconds to reply, “Okay,” and the one word isn’t convincing at all.
Maybe time will prove to her that I’m right.
Or maybe I need to take things a step further and bring her into my world.
“I have some interviews lined up in Boston. I leave in a few days, and I want you to come with me.”
Her eyes widen. “You’re leaving?”
“Just for a week.”
She breaks our stare and glances toward the water, her body turning even more rigid. “I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”
“I’m going to get you a ticket. You don’t have to use it, but it’ll be there if you decide you want to come.”
She buries her hands in her sleeves and tucks herself into a ball. “I thought we had more time.”
Her voice is so soft and filled with pain.
It fucking kills me.
“This isn’t just a work trip, Piper. This is me taking you to my home.”
She doesn’t answer, doesn’t give me any type of response at all. She just peers out at the water, her fingers eventually linking with mine.
I know there’s more that she hasn’t told me. It’s the only explanation for her to react this way. I guarantee my ex dug as hard as she could. Piper’s strong, but she’s sensitive. And Tilly is like a goddamn dog; she sniffs out weakness, and that’s where she attacks.
If Tilly doesn’t stop, I’ll step in. But, until I know what this is really all about, all I can do is wipe Piper’s tears.
Piper
I wish I could say I felt better after my talk with West, but all he did was open more doors of doubt. I’d thought we had more time. More time to get to know each other. More time to lie in bed and do nothing. Just time. But time has never been on my side.
And, now, he’s getting out his luggage for his trip to Boston tomorrow.
My ticket has been sitting on the table since he checked in for the flight, and printed out the passes. He didn’t have to print them; he could have used an e-ticket on his phone, but he wanted me to see it. He wanted the option to be right in front of my face, for it to be real.
His plan is working. Between his luggage and that damn ticket, all I can think about is what it’ll be like if he goes on this trip without me and accepts a position with a network. Just like that, one quick flight up north, and we’ll be over.
My life is in Florida. It always has been. But I wonder how much I’ll really have left once West is gone. That’s why I run my fingers across my name on the ticket, wondering what my life would be like if Florida weren’t in the picture. This trip isn’t about West taking a new position in another state. It’s about us and our staying power, whether we can make it work in any city in America.
West catches me staring. He wraps his arms around me from beh
ind, and I melt against his chest. He’s fresh from the shower, smelling like minty toothpaste and his body wash.
“Come with me, Piper.”
It’s not a matter of not wanting to go. I want to be with West. But, no matter how hard I try, all I hear is Tilly’s voice in the back of my head, reminding me I’ll never be able to keep West happy. Just like he’s tired of Florida, he’ll get sick of me. Bored.
When I don’t respond, West turns me around. “Will you please talk to me?” he asks. “Tell me what’s going on in that gorgeous head of yours.”
I run my palms up his chest and over his shoulders, avoiding his eyes. If I look into those, I’ll cave, and I’m not ready for that. “Some things are better left unsaid,” I tell him. “Let’s just enjoy the time we have left.”
He picks me up so fast, I scream. And then my back’s against the wall, and he’s grabbing my ass so hard, I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t leave marks.
“Whether I get on that plane with or without you, we’re not over. So, do I need to fuck some sense into you, Piper? Is that what you need?”
I shake my head, but my words contradict my actions. “If you want to.”
Leaning his forehead against mine, he takes a deep breath, and then he says, “Whatever she said to you, let it go. Don’t listen to her.”
“What if she’s right?” I whisper.
West growls and pulls us away from the wall. Instead of letting me down, he carries me to the bedroom and lays me in the center of the bed. With his hands pressed into the mattress on either side of my head, he traces every inch of my face with his eyes. Finally, he says, “Tilly doesn’t get to call the shots anymore. This is the last time her name will ever be mentioned when you’re underneath me. Understand?”
“Yes. But what about when I’m on top?”
He smirks and shakes his head. “Such a smart-ass. She’s not in my life anymore, Piper. You are. Just you.”
“And that’s how you really want it?” I ask him. “Me and not her? I’m enough for you?”
His eyes narrow, and then he blinks slowly and lets it sink in. “That’s what this is about?”
“You’re amazing,” I tell him. “But I’m nothing like her.” I don’t dare say her name after the warning he gave me. Still, I can tell it bothers him that I don’t trust his feelings for me. That I think they’re all based on lust and swinging.
He climbs into bed beside me and pulls me until my body is resting against his chest. “Have you ever stopped to think that I want you because you’re nothing like Tilly?”
“No, I guess not.” I haven’t. Not even once.
His fingers trace patterns on my back, and I’m still trying to figure out what he’s drawing when he says, “Just because she’s what I had doesn’t mean she’s what I want. Or even what I need.”
He’s tracing my name. Even when he’s with me, I’m on his mind.
“I just assumed you had a type.”
“And what type would that be?” he questions.
“Fake boobs. Blondes with big mouths and zero inhibitions who like strap-ons.”
His chest rumbles beneath my cheek, and I can’t help but smile at his reaction. I shouldn’t joke about that last part, but if I can’t laugh about it, it’ll eat away at me until it kills me.
“That’s why I fell for you, Piper. You look so sweet and innocent, yet your mouth always surprises me.”
“Just my mouth?”
“Nah,” he says. “Before we ever spoke, your sexy lips and dark eyes drew me in. They fucked me before you ever touched me.”
I grab his hand and guide it between my legs.
He goes willingly but says, “I’ll touch you, but I won’t make you come until you talk to me.”
“Fine, I’ll go with you to Boston,” I tell him. “I’ll even have fun.”
His fingers stop rubbing me through my panties, and he pulls his hand out from between my legs.
“Why did you stop?”
He grabs my hips and pulls me on top of him, so I’m straddling his waist.
“Because you gave me the answer I wanted. Now, I just need you to mean it.”
“I do mean it. You’re what I want, West. I’m just having a hard time believing I’m what you need. I wasn’t enough for Cannon.”
“Let me guess; this was all part of Tilly’s speech?”
I stare at my fingers and nod. “She has pictures. Really awful pictures of her fucking Cannon. It was like being in your house all over again, watching it happen.”
West runs his hand over his face. “You know I have to say something to her. I can’t let this go, Piper.”
“That’s why I didn’t want to tell you. If you talk to her, it’ll only make it worse.”
“When I’m done with her, she won’t come near you again. I can promise you that.”
Anything he says won’t help my case. I’m scared that Tilly won’t stop and that those pictures will end up all over the internet, shaming the two of us and ending Cannon’s career. Then, they’ll both come after me.
“West, you can’t. Please.”
“Are you with me?” he asks.
“What do you mean? I’m sitting in bed with you.”
“I’m asking you if you’re mine, Piper. Are you my girl?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean you have to handle this. I can take care of myself.”
We both know that’s a lie. Without West, I’d be stuck in that house with Cannon while he walked all over me and did his worst with his words.
“Where would you be if you weren’t here right now?”
I think about it, hating that if I wasn’t still living with Cannon in our house, I’d probably be in a shitty hotel, scraping together what I could to get by. There’s no way I’d have gone to my parents. Not unless I was ready to tell them all about Cannon’s dirty little secrets. And that we were swingers.
“I get it,” I tell him. “I need you.”
“We need each other, baby. This isn’t about me saving you. It’s about me showing you what you deserve. And I’m not going to stop until you believe me. That also means, I’m going to handle Tilly. Not because you can’t, but because it’s the right thing to do.”
The right thing to do. That’s what got me here in the first place. Not long ago, I thought the right move was to strengthen my relationship with Cannon. Look at where that’s gotten me—more confused than ever, on my way to being divorced, and in the middle of a shitstorm with the woman I used to swing with. I barely recognize my own life anymore.
But, if I don’t go on this trip, how will life get any better? How will staying here, being miserable the entire time he’s gone, be any different?
It won’t. I’ll still be afraid of Tilly. Cannon will still be calling the shots with the divorce, and I’ll wish I still had West by my side.
I need to go. Maybe I can’t run from my problems, but I can put them on hold for a little while. “I’m in, West.”
West grabs my wrists and flips us over, so I’m on my back. And then he pins my arms above my head and lifts up my shirt, sucking a nipple into his mouth.
“West,” I moan. “I have to pack.”
He releases me from his mouth and says, “You’re not going anywhere. You did your part. Now, I’m going to reward you with my tongue.”
West
“Tilly, I’m not going to say it again,” I snarl into the phone. “Stay the hell away from Piper, and destroy those pictures, or I’ll sue you for every dollar you’re getting from this divorce.”
I keep my eyes on the bathroom door. Piper’s on the other side of it, taking a shower. I don’t want her to know I’m talking to my ex because she’ll try to get me to hang up. Not because she’s jealous. She just doesn’t want me getting involved in whatever happened between them. My girl is fucking crazy if she thinks I’ll let this kind of shit fly. Tilly can fuck with me all she wants. But she isn’t going to fuck with Piper.
“I have no idea what you’re talking ab
out.”
Tilly plays innocent so well, but I know her game. The more she denies, the guiltier she is.
“The fact that you’re holding a grudge from something that happened so long ago is pathetic. And, as far as what went down between us, if you’re angry about our affair, be angry with me, and leave Piper out of it. It’s my fault, not hers.”
“I no longer have to listen to your bullshit, West. We’re done. So, don’t you dare call me and accuse me of—”
“We both know you got wet when you saw my name appear on your screen. Some things never change. Your cunt is one of them, Tilly.” Talking about her pussy wasn’t part of my plan, but, shit, she’s trying to act tough around me, and I see right through it. “Look, I’m being nice about this. The next time I pick up the phone to call you, I won’t be. I’ll be telling you what’s going to happen, and it won’t end pretty for you. I promise you that.”
“What are you trying to say?”
This is the first time I approve of her tone. The mask is gone, and there’s finally some emotion behind her words. I can hear how scared she is. I’m not proud of that, but she’s left me with no other choice.
“I’m telling you to stay out of our business. Move on with your life. And don’t forget; just because I won’t hit doesn’t mean I don’t know where to aim. I can make your life fucking miserable. Do not make me do that.”
She says nothing.
That’s the response I want.
“Good-bye, Tilly.”
I drop the phone onto the bed just as Piper walks out of the bathroom, wearing only a towel, her wet, long hair dripping down her arms, her cheeks flushed from the water.
“I thought you were going to join me in the shower?”
I walk over to her and grip the top of the towel, pulling it off her body and letting it drop to the floor. “I wanted to, baby. I just had to take care of something really quick.”
I love the way her skin feels when it’s a little wet. How she seems extra sensitive because her nerve-endings are still tingling from the hot spray. How she smells so good that I want to lick the scent off her flesh.