November Rain (The Rain Series Book 1)

by TJWEST

  Fucking heavy.

  She was right about me being lonely. I was lonely up until then. Damn, she can capture anything and make the truth be seen. I bend down and kiss the side of her head. “You're amazing, baby.” I whisper.

  She looks up at me and smiles. I see a hint of happiness. A hint of spark.

  *****

  MARTY

  I had just gotten off the phone with my Mom when I got a text from Amy. Wow, it's been a couple weeks since I last saw her, or heard from her. She wanted to check in and see how I was doing and hope things were going well with me and Matt. I have to admit, it was very sweet of her to be thinking of me. I, on the other hand, haven't thought about her that much. Some friend I am. I'm good at pushing people away and never hearing from them again. My 'so called' friends from Paris and Florida gave up on me. I'm not surprised. I never wrote back or called them, but Amy seems like the real deal. I still don't understand why she even wants to stay friends with me after the way I treated her. I decided to try and be a better friend, so I wrote her back saying that things were good and that Matt and I are finding our way back to one another. I didn't go into detail about anything else. Amy was thrilled to know this and is looking forward to seeing us soon, next month. In a way I was looking forward as well. Does that mean she's becoming my BFF? Nope. Not gonna go there right now.

  I was thinking about last night with Matt. He took me for a ride on his Harley for the first time. I was kind of scared to go on it, but after a few minutes of feeling the warm breeze blowing through me, and seeing the beautiful moon overlooking the ocean, I forgot all about being scared. It was the best fun I've had in a long, long time. Having my arms wrapped tightly around Matt's waist and putting my chin on his shoulder, was anything but scary. It was thrilling and just plain sexy. Matt on a Harley was the sexiest thing ever.

  He took me up to Torrey Pines and down into La Jolla. I loved every minute of it. Heading back up the coast we stopped at a pizza joint and had some awesome pizza and beer. Well, he had the beer and I had a Mikes. I'm not a beer person.

  He told me about his dads passing. I may not have been a fan of his father, but he was still his father and I was sorry to learn of his death. Matt seemed at peace about his dad. He said it took him a long time to get over his fathers decisions about the service and about us. I wish I could be as forgiving. That shows you what kind of man Matt is.

  While daydreaming about last night my doorbell rings. I don't really know anyone around here so who could be ringing my bell? I open the door and it's a delivery guy.

  “Are you Mrs. Xavier Bellefleur?”

  What the fuck? Why in the hell was this guy using my married name?

  “Um..I was but -”

  “I need you to sign here please.”

  I sign the electronic clipboard, then he hands me a package. He says his “Thanks” and leaves. It's a big manila folder, but doesn't seem very heavy. I am so hesitant to open it. I check to see the mailer's name and all it said was, 'Bellefleur.' I can see that it's from Paris from all the different postage stamps and marks. I go out onto the deck, sit down on the lounge chair and stare at the package. I really don't want to know what's inside. It's probably from his mother, Yvette. She was always trying to make things better for me and Xavier - always defending him and coming to his rescue. Something inside this package is something I know I'm not gonna want or see. I can't. I just can't. I go inside and shove the damn package into the computer desk drawer. I know it's not going anywhere, but at least it's out of my sight.

  I feel my hands shaking. I go get a bottle of wine and pour myself a glass. I need to be calm and collect for when I meet Matt tonight. I don't want him seeing me riled up. I go back outside, have a glass of wine, and try to think of good things. Sure. We'll see if that will help

  CHAPTER 14

  MATT

  I've been trying to get a hold of Marty, but she hasn't answered my calls or texts. Maybe she's in the shower or turned off her cell again. Hopefully she's on her way to Reds. I've missed seeing her all day. Doing a shitload of paper work took more time than I wanted it to take because I was distracted all day thinking about her. I couldn't stop thinking of taking off her panties and burying myself inside. She is always so hot and ready for me. Damn, what she does to me!

  I met Chuck and Mitch at Reds. They were at our usual spot - beers already served and placed on the table. The music had started and sounded great. Tonight was a country rock band. Not bad. I noticed there wasn't a fourth glass at the table. That meant Marty hadn't arrived yet. Where the hell is she? Why hasn't she returned my texts yet?

  “Took ya long enough!” Chuck shouted.

  “Scoot over, old man.” I take a swig of my beer. “I had to finish the final order form for that one account, Sheldon Wings, remember?”

  “Ha ha, oh yeah. Forgot about that asshat. Wanting three orders by the end of December. He's fuckin' nuts. Asshat.” Chuck mumbled.

  “Yeah, well. We'll manage. Mitch, that means longer hours will be in your near future.”

  Mitch shrugs and says, “As long as I have my beer at night and my woman waitin' in my bed, it's all good bro. It's all good. Hey speakin' of women, where's yours at? I thought Marty was swingin' by?”

  I nod. “My thoughts exactly. Not sure what's holding her up. She hasn't called or text since this morning.”

  “Well, ya know how women are, always runnin' late, makin' themselves all up for us just so we can take them back home and undo their fine lookin' asses.” Mitch, smugly, said.

  “You must miss that fine lookin' ass ain't ya boy?” Chuck throws at Mitch. I just chuckle along and don't respond.

  “Fuck yeah. It sure as hell isn't fun jackin' off in the shower by myself dude. I should just go find myself some sweet ass right now, but Amy has got a hold on my dick so -”

  “Ha ha ha, pussy whipped.” Chuck laughs.

  Mitch mumbled, “Fuck. Whatever.”

  I finished my beer, checked my phone for any messages but nothing came up. “I'm gonna head out guys. Gonna check Marty's house, see if she's home.”

  “Talk about pussy whipped.” Mitch chuckles.

  With a wide a grin on my face I say, “Thanks for buying tonight, smartass.”

  Chuck laughs, and Mitch whispers, “Fuck.”

  *****

  I pull up to her house and park my bike in her driveway. I knock on her door first, then the doorbell.

  “Babe, It's Matt!” I'm not sure why I even bother knocking so I turn the handle and it's unlocked. “Marty!” I call out again.

  I get passed the front entrance and see Marty laying out on her lounge chair. I see an empty bottle of wine, toppled over on the table next to her. Fucking hell! I hurry over to her. She's completely passed out. She's holding her wine glass against her chest. “Marty, what the fuck?” I whisper. I take the glass and put it on the side table.

  I pick her up like a sleeping child and bring her upstairs to her room. When I lay her down on her bed she slurs things to me that I can't quite understand, “Got envelope. Xiaver. Can't look.”

  I sit next to her and wipe the hair away from her face and ask, “Babe, what are ya saying?”

  “Envelope.” Still slurring.

  “Envelope? Marty, what envelope?”

  “Xaiver. I can't look at it”

  “Xaiver? Who the fuck is that, babe? Keep talking to me.”

  “Put in drawer. I can't. Just can't.” She starts to cry.

  I hold her close to me and rock her. What the hell is happening? What got her so upset? Who is this Xaiver?

  Wait. Xaiver.

  This, Xaiver prick, could be her ex-husband.

  Holy shit! Something was delivered with his name on it and this made her break down. It has to be. I couldn't get anymore information out of her because she passed out again. I put her underneath the covers and let her sleep it off. She's gonna have one hell of a hangover in the morning.

  I'm not sure what I should do at this point. Do I
search for this envelope or should I leave it be and let her explain it to me tomorrow? But will she want to explain it to me? She's so damn closed up about her past, especially her ex, I don't think she'll want to tell me anything.

  I've gotta do it. I have to.

  I go back downstairs. Where would she put this envelope? Her desk. That's the only place I can think of. I search through a couple drawers but they didn't have any kind of envelope that stood out. I checked the biggest drawer that was on the bottom and sure enough there was a big manila envelope with the name 'Mrs. Xaiver Bellefleur' written on the front.

  “Fuck.” I whisper.

  What the fuck could be in this envelope? She didn't even open it. I won't betray her by opening it. She'll never trust me. It's hard enough getting her trust again after all these years. I stick the envelope back into it's place and think about this Bellefleur guy.

  What the hell did he do to her that she can't talk about, that she can't even mention his goddamned name? I hate snooping behind her back but seeing her like she was tonight was certainly not normal. She has to come clean with me tomorrow. No more hiding.

  *****

  MARTY

  I'm disoriented. My head is pounding.

  Oh God, it's pounding! I feel like a train hit me or something.

  It's a shitty feeling.

  What did I do? The last thing I remember was being outside, drinking a glass of wine.

  Oh shit! The wine.

  I drank a lot of wine.

  I drank the whole bottle of wine!

  I drank the whole bottle of wine because I was upset about the envelope I received.

  Shit!

  I try to open my eyes. It really hurt. I see fainted light but it's so damn bright.

  Where am I? Oh. My bed.

  My bed? How did I end up here? I do not remember going to bed. I groan. This feeling really sucks ass, big time. I notice I'm under my covers, with my clothes on. I slowly turn my head and I see a water bottle, a glass of OJ, a few Ibuprofen, and a note from Matt telling me to take what he's left for me - all on my nightstand.

  Holy shit. Matt! My God he must have found me passed out. Fuck, I'm so humiliated! What he must think of me right now. I was supposed to meet him last night and never made it.

  Shit!

  I sit up. My head is spinning. Ugh, this is fucked up.

  My mouth is as dry as sandpaper so I open the bottled water and happily drink the entire thing.I take the pills with the OJ and slowly get out of bed. I notice the clock on my nightstand - Twelve-twenty pm.

  Shit

  I stand up. Oh God. My balance sucks. I close my eyes, take a deep breath and head into the

  bathroom. I look into the mirror. I'm a horrid mess.

  Fucking, horrid, mess.

  My hair is matted against my face, the mascara smudged under my eyes and my skin is pale as can be.

  Fucking, horrid.

  I need a shower, pronto. Maybe a hot shower will help some.

  *****

  The headache has subsided, but my body is still dead weight. I put on a pair of light pajamas and head straight back to bed. Matt knocks on the door and comes in. He sees me crawl underneath the sheets. He hasn't said anything yet. He just watches me from the doorway.

  “How ya, feelin'?” He comes over and sits on the bed next to me.

  “Like shit.”

  “I bet. You hit it hard last night, babe.”

  “Ugh, don't remind me.” I put my arm over my eyes.

  “I was really worried about you.” He softly says. “You never returned any of my texts or showed up at Reds. I waited a while, but knew something was wrong. Found you on your lounge chair.”

  I didn't know what to say.

  “You drank a whole bottle, babe.”

  “Yeah.” I responded.

  “Why?” He asked.

  “Got carried away, I guess.”

  “That's bullshit.” He quickly shot back.

  I take my arm off my eyes and squint at him. The look in his eyes is disturbing. He looks really upset. He sounds really upset.

  Shit.

  “Why do you say that?” I groggily say back.

  “Nobody drinks a whole bottle of wine, by themselves, unless there's a problem, Marty. So you saying you just got carried away is fucking bullshit, and you fucking know it.” He climbs on the other side of me, takes my face into his hands and whispers, “Babe, I saw the envelope.”

  What? What did he just say? How in the hell does he know about the envelope?

  I sit up in bed, “What? What do you mean you saw the envelope?”

  “You were talking to me when I found you last night. You broke down, crying, saying something about Xaiver and an envelope that you couldn't look at. You said you put it in the drawer. I looked in your desk and found the manila envelope with your married name on it.”

  “You what!?” I shouted. I get out of the bed and rush downstairs.

  “Marty!” Matt shouts behind me and gets to me before I get to the desk. He grabs my upper arms, from behind, and calmly says, “I didn't open it. I wouldn't do that to you, but you gotta know that I am not letting you get away with hiding things from me. Not anymore, babe. You need to tell me what the fuck is going on.”

  “I don't feel so good.” I whisper. I quickly walk to the guest bathroom and retch up with whatever was in my system. After I clean myself up I find Matt outside on the deck. He wants to know about Xaiver. My God, I hate bringing him up. I hate my past. I hate what he did to me. I hate anything to do with the Bellefleur name. Will I lose Matt if I don't say anything?

  Take it slow, is what I hear in my head. My shrink told me to take it slow. Okay. I can do this. I need to do this. I take a deep breath and walk out to Matt. He's leaning forward, arms on the railing, looking ahead at the ocean. I put my arms around his waist, my head against his back.

  “Okay. I'll tell you.” I whisper.

  I hear him sigh. He turns around, hugs me tightly and kisses the top of my head. “Okay.” He whispers back.

  Okay then.

  CHAPTER 15

  MARTY

  We take a seat in the living room. “Did I ever tell you I took cooking classes in Paris?” He shakes his head no. “Well, I took these classes during my time in college. I loved learning new techniques about cooking. My mom didn't do any cooking when I was growing up so I was determined to learn. Anyways, I met Xaiver in that class. We partnered up during this one cooking experiment. We had to be blind folded into testing foods for flavors.” My throat became dry. “Um, I need some water.” Matt got up and retrieved a bottle of water for me. I took a big gulp and whispered, “Thank you.”

  He lightly brushed my cheek. “Baby, you're doing fine. You're okay.”

  I nod my head. “Yeah. Okay.” Clearing my throat I continued. “Xaiver had such charm. He basically swept me off my feet, he was so charming. Tall, dark and handsome. What every woman desires; beautiful dark brown eyes, black wavy hair, beautiful smile, sweet. That's just it. He was so sweet - so charming. Made me almost forget about you, Matt. Maybe because he was so different, I don't know. He had such a great accent. He spoke great english when he was around me. During my time in Paris I took a french class, so I was able to better understand and speak some french. Talking to him over time improved my french.” I took a pause, taking another swig of my water. “We really enjoyed our time together during cooking class, and ended up going on a few dates. We got serious; serious meant, meeting his mom,Yvette. His dad had been dead since he was ten. Xaiver came into this world rich, and when I say rich, I mean billionaire, rich. His father was a very successful businessman. He worked with the wrong kind of people though. The mob, lets say, was the wrong kind of people.”

  I could tell Matt was stunned; eyes wide open, startled. I was just as flabbergasted as he was when I found out.

  “He was killed by the mob. I don't know the details though. Xaiver never told me, but I do believe gambling was involved. Anyways, Xaiver p
retty much followed in his fathers footsteps. He was a businessman; owned major companies all over the world and....gambled. He didn't show that side of himself while we were dating. I had no idea the hole he was digging until we were married. I finished college, we got married and that's when things pretty much went downhill.” I looked down at my fidgeting hands, feeling anxious. Matt squeezed them, reassuring me it was okay. I looked up at him and continued with a hushed tone. “I was clueless, Matt. So clueless about Xaiver and his other life. I thought that I had finally found someone who could fill your shoes, but I was so wrong.” My eyes filled with tears.

  Matt brought me into his arms and stroked my back, my hair. “I'm so sorry.” He whispered.

  I shook my head, sniffing, “No, please don't be sorry. I was foolish to think anyone could take your place. I was trying to move on that's all. It took a few years for me to get involved with anyone else. Xaiver was just not who I thought he was.” I drank more water, and continued. “He made me feel like I was the only one that mattered. I had missed that so much, ya know? Please believe me when I say I was fine being on my own - I finally grew up and was happy - I truly was. I made a great life for myself. It just so happened I met Xaiver.” I took a deep breath.

  “Anyways, um, after we got married I started up a photography business. Xaiver helped me start it, but I learned how to carry on without his help after awhile. The more busy I got with my business the more distant Xaiver became. He somehow changed. He started drinking - a lot. He would come home at all late hours of the night or didn't come home at all until the next morning. I would call his mother and ask her if she knew where he was, what he was doing, and what was happening. Yvette was never one to bad mouth her son - her golden boy - he could never do wrong in her eyes. She was always defending his actions, especially his drinking, saying he must have been under a lot stress from work - she was fucking blind.” I proclaimed, bitterly. I paused for a second to regain my thoughts. In the most subtle way possible, I confessed, “After six years of marriage I got pregnant -” Matt cut me off.