Morgan, Nicole - Sweet Redemption [Sweet Awakenings 1] (Siren Publishing Allure)

by Неизвестный

  “Hey, I don’t have to work. Besides, I have to rest my body. These women in my life can be very demanding. The one last night wouldn’t let me sleep.”

  “That explains your chipper demeanor.” Jack was taunting him. Rex was getting pissed, and Jack was doing everything he could to stifle a laugh that was threatening to break through.

  “What the hell is it with you this morning? You’re no more a morning person than I am. So what gives? You win the damn lottery or something?”

  “In a way, yeah.”

  “What? What’d you win?”

  “Tamara, she’s agreed to marry me. I was going to ask my ‘best friend and brother’ to be my best man, but he can be kind of an ass sometimes. So, I’ll keep looking.” Setting his coffee cup down, Jack gave Rex a wink. “Get some sleep, sunshine.”

  “You lucky bastard! Why did she agree to marry you, anyway? Did she think I wasn’t available or something?” Rex was actually grinning, and he hadn’t even had a shower yet.

  “Very funny.”

  “So, what happened?”

  “Well, first of all, that ex of hers set the whole thing up. She was under the influence of sleeping pills and crashed in the other room. Had no idea I was even there. She slept for over twelve hours and was completely oblivious to the fact that I had come over to apologize to her. She was actually at my place when I got home last night. Before I even got a chance to track her down, she was there waiting for me, not willing to give up on me. She’s amazing, man.”

  “And what about the other, did you tell her about the other woman?”

  Jack sighed and looked away for a minute. He was remembering the pain in Tamara’s eyes when he told her. “Yeah, it was hard. She pulled away from me at first, shut down on me. For a little while I thought I was going to lose her for good. It was the strangest feeling. One minute I was flooded with relief that she hadn’t slept with him. The next minute I’m quaking in my boots knowing I’m probably going to lose her because I’m a stupid ass.” He looked up for a minute, silently thanking God one more time. He had done it a dozen times since last night.

  “I gotta tell you, I’m glad for you. I will miss my bachelor brother, but I know she makes you happy, and I like her.” Rex stopped and raised his brow at Jack. “Is this wedding gonna be like those ones you see on those seedy talk shows? Does the best man get to sleep with the bride the night before the wedding?”

  “Not a chance in hell!” Jack snapped.

  “Come on, man. Throw the dog a bone, would ya?”

  “According to your many ‘dates,’ you already have a bone.”

  “That is a really bad joke.”

  “Yeah, get your butt in the shower. I’ve got to get a couple hours of work accomplished at the gym. I got nothing done yesterday, just went through the motions. Meet me at one o’clock.” Jack was already headed towards the door.

  “What for?”

  “As if you have anything better to do today. I’ve never bought an engagement ring before. I need a second opinion.” With that, Jack left.

  “Well, holy hell in a handbasket. My best friend, Jack, is getting married. Next thing I know I’ll be falling in love myself.” Rex laughed. “Yeah right!”

  Tamara felt like she was walking in the clouds on her way home. She had called work and asked them for one more day. Apologizing for leaving them in the lurch two days in a row, she swore to be there tomorrow. She looked at the little tinfoil ring on her hand. If Jack never bought her an engagement ring, she would still be the luckiest woman in the world. She never known love like this before. To be in love was so wonderful. She certainly had never felt even a fraction of this emotion with Brent.

  Brent! What a jerk. What was his problem? He couldn’t have her, so no one else could either? She wanted to call him and give him a piece of her mind. She wanted to lure him into a false sense of security and knee him in the groin. But she would do neither. She had promised Jack that she wouldn’t contact him or talk to him at all. She had no intention of breaking her promise to Jack.

  Jack wanted her to move into his place today. Tamara could hardly contain her excitement. Driving down the road with a huge grin on her face, she probably looked nuts! Just the idea of it made her laugh. She was supposed to get everything, or as much possible packed, and he said they would take over as much as they could tonight. He was going to call movers today so they could get the rest of her furniture and they wouldn’t have to deal with it. Not wanting to bother with what to keep or get rid of, they figured they would just store it all in Jack’s basement. There was nothing down there now, and there was plenty of room for storage. Jack had told her that he would instruct the movers to drop the kitchen table off at a local charity. Tamara didn’t want to do any such thing. That table symbolized her new beginning with Jack. That table led her to him. She jokingly told Jack that they should build a shrine to it. She knew it was silly, but she would cherish that table until the day that she died.

  Tamara pulled into her parking space at 10:20 a.m. She stepped out of her car and nearly glided on air as she headed up to her apartment. She was oblivious to everyone and everything around her. She could hear the birds, feel the sunshine, smell the scent of someone baking fresh bread, and she could almost see her future with Jack.

  She opened the door to her apartment and kicked off her shoes. Throwing down her purse in the hall, she rounded the corner to the living room. That’s when she saw Shelby, lying on the floor in a pool of blood. That’s when she saw Brent sitting on her couch, holding a gun.

  “Hi, sweetheart. Late night fucking around behind my back?” Brent said with fury showing on his face.

  By 10:21 Tamara could no longer hear the birds, feel the sunshine, smell fresh-baked bread, or see her future with Jack. She had greatly underestimated Brent. Tamara’s stomach sank, and she felt like she’d said good-bye to Jack for the last time just fifteen minutes ago. All she could think of when Brent rose off the couch to come near her were five words. I’ll love you forever, Jack.

  Chapter 17

  “All right, let’s go.” Rex rounded the corner to Jack’s office and was surprised to find Jack giving a hug to a young girl.

  He nodded at Rex. “Allison, I was glad to help. It couldn’t have been that much money. I really was just too lazy to buy a gift. Don’t make me out to be such a saint. It’s bad for me, gives me a big head.”

  “You don’t understand, Mr. Peyton. We didn’t have a crib yet. Johnny has been saving so hard, and since I had to quit my job waitressing, money has been tight. Johnny didn’t even say anything, he just went to the local secondhand shop and bought the only one he could afford with the money you gave him. It’s not a sparkling, shiny new crib, but it’s ours, our baby will sleep in it. I’ve been so worried about that, it’s like a huge weight has been lifted.”

  “Well, I really am happy for that.” Looking at Allison, Jack thought she was a pretty young girl, and it was easy to see why Johnny had fallen in love with her. She seemed very sweet. He was about to ask Rex to go track down Johnny when he came out of nowhere anyway.

  “Hey, Mr. Peyton, I wanted to thank you…Allison, what are you doing here?” So, Johnny didn’t even know his girlfriend was here.

  “Johnny, I know you told me it was no big deal, but I just had to thank Mr. Peyton.” Allison was still crying.

  “All right, would everyone please stop calling me Mr. Peyton? I am not an old man. Call me Jack, okay?”

  “Sure, no problem. Jack, would it be all right if I took Allison home? I promise I’ll be right back.” Johnny turned to Allison and looked at her disapprovingly. “She really should be at home resting.”

  “Take her home, but don’t come back.” Jack instantly knew his mistake when he said it. “What I mean is, don’t come back today. Take the rest of the day off and take care of Allison. It’s the least I can do.” For what, Jack didn’t know, but the sight of seeing this sweet, young, and pregnant girl standing in his office crying made him feel ge
nerous. “Go ahead. It’s fine, really. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Johnny and Allison both said thank you and left Jack and Rex alone.

  “Wow, what was that? She really turned on the waterworks. What gives?”

  “Hell, I don’t know, hormones maybe. Are you ready?”

  “Are you?” Rex punched him in the arm.

  “Damn straight I am. Let’s go.”

  They took Jack’s Escalade and headed out of the parking lot. It was 1:15. The sun was shining, and Jack knew he was a truly blessed man.

  Tamara sat in the silence. The clock had just changed to 1:15, but it seemed as though she had been sitting here for days, not just a few hours. Shelby was starting to come to. Tamara watched as Brent stared at Shelby squirming on the floor. She seemed to be incoherent. The blood that was pooled next to her head had dried, so at least she hadn’t been continuously losing blood.

  “Brent, let me help her. If she’s hurt very bad, you could get into a lot of trouble.” Tamara waited for his response. He hadn’t said anything for three hours.

  When she had first walked in, hours ago, she was sure he was going to kill her. She thought Shelby might have already been dead. But after he spoke to her, he said nothing else. Just motioned for her to sit on the couch. She sat and waited. She wasn’t sure what to do. She knew he would never fall for what she had done last time. He had gone over the edge this time. What she didn’t understand was how it happened. How could she not have seen this coming? They always showed victims of crimes on the news being interviewed and saying “I should have seen it coming.” Should she have? Were there signs? He still hadn’t answered her. She should try again.

  “Brent, please look at me.” Slowly, he turned his face towards her. She could see that he was starting to perspire. But it was so cold in here.

  “What?” It was a whisper of a question. She barely even heard him.

  “Shelby, Brent. Will you let me help her?” He tilted his head to the side and stared at her. It reminded her of something a dog would do.

  “Do you love him, Tamara?” Jack, he was talking about Jack. She had to be smart about this. Obviously the wrong thing to do would be to say yes. If she had any hope of surviving and seeing Jack again, she would have to lie. And Shelby, she was angry with her, but she didn’t want her hurt.

  “Do I love who, Brent?” That wasn’t the right thing to say. His eyes glazed over and became dark with anger.

  “Who the fuck do you think I mean? That Jack Peyton. Do you love him?”

  “Jack Peyton.” She laughed as convincingly as she could. “Of course I don’t love him. He is a jerk. Don’t you remember how he hurt me yesterday?” Please let this work.

  “If you have such dislike for him, why did you spend the night with him?” He eyed her suspiciously.

  Did he actually know she was there, or was he guessing? “I wasn’t with Jack last night. Why would you think that?” Please let him believe it.

  He stared at her. He looked at the floor, back at Shelby, then back to Tamara. He cocked his head to one side again. He was thinking. He really didn’t know where she was last night. Her bluff might work.

  “If you weren’t with Peyton, then where were you?”

  Shit, shit, shit, where was she? Why hadn’t she thought of that? She looked at his face. He looked tired. Shelby looked like she had been put through a lot too, and for a long time. It was a huge gamble, but she had no choice. She had to take it.

  “I’ve been at your house all night, waiting for you. I got there at about five o’clock yesterday. I was waiting for you to come home from work. You never did, so I waited.” Had he come home after work yesterday? Please say he hadn’t. “I stayed up late waiting for you, but you never came. I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up this morning, and here I am.” She waited. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking. What the hell? She’d gone this far, might as well go all the way. “Where were you, Brent? Were you with someone else? When did you get here?” It worked. She saw the tension leave his face and was soon replaced with concern.

  Brent rose off the chair and came to her. He sat next to her on the couch and relaxed his grip on the gun. “Tamara, of course I wasn’t with anyone else. I was here waiting for you all night. I couldn’t be with another woman. I told you that. She was a mistake.” He used the gun to point, indicating that he was talking about Shelby.

  “If she was a mistake, Brent, why is she here in my apartment?”

  Maybe if she acted like the jilted lover it would gain her some leverage. Then she might be able to get Shelby some help. She was moving around on the floor and moaning, but she still hadn’t opened her eyes. What if she had a concussion? Tamara had heard that those could be dangerous. Some people had even slipped into a coma when they weren’t treated properly. Shelby might have deserved Tamara shoving her to the ground yesterday, but she certainly didn’t deserve to slip into a coma or, God forbid, die.

  “She’s here only so she can explain to you how this is all her fault. She needs to tell you how she caused everything to happen. She needs to right her wrongs.”

  Her wrongs? Judging from the looks of her, Tamara would guess that she had been beaten several times. She was curled on the floor wearing a sports bra and some bike shorts. Her hair was matted with blood, and Tamara could see the beginning stages of bruises forming all over her body. Brent had most certainly beaten the crap out of her. Had he always been this violent?

  “What do you mean, Brent? What happened to her? Why does she look like that?”

  Brent got up and walked away from Tamara. His hand was shaking. She didn’t know a lot about gun safety, but she was certain that a nervous, fidgety hand holding a gun was a bad combination. He paced a few strides and then turned to her.

  “I wish I could say that I regret that, but I don’t. She is a whore!” He snapped the last word. “She has ruined everything between us. I believe that you weren’t with Peyton last night, but I don’t believe that you don’t have feelings for him. Maybe you don’t love him. Surely there is something there, though. You have been dating him for a month.”

  So, he believed she wasn’t with him, but he still didn’t totally trust her. She had her work cut out for her. “Brent, I spent one month with him, one month. How long was I with you? There is no comparison between the two. We had a relationship, a connection. I didn’t choose to burn that bridge, you did.”

  He rounded on her and screamed, “I didn’t. She did. She made me!”

  Bad move, Tamara. You just agitated him more. His hand was now shaking violently as he was pointing the gun in Shelby’s direction. She had to go with what she knew, though. She had to continue. If Brent loved her, as he claimed, he would love the real her, the one that argued with him and was a pain in his ass.

  “Brent, how did you feel knowing that I slept with Jack Peyton? I’m sure you weren’t his biggest fan, but how did you feel about me?” She didn’t give him a chance to answer. She continued, “I’ll tell you how you felt. You left me a nasty voice mail and called me every name in the book and threatened me. You wished for bad things to happen to me. You were hurt and angry with me.”

  Brent slouched his shoulders and hung his head. “You’re right. I was angry with you.” He looked up at her now. “Is that how I made you feel? Did I hurt you as bad as the hurt I felt?”

  How in the hell was she supposed to know how hurt he was? “Yes, Brent, it hurt, bad. I felt like I had died inside. I felt cheap and unimportant, like everything we meant to each other really didn’t mean anything at all.”

  “Oh, Tamara, I can’t believe I did that to you. I’m sorry. I swear I love you. I swear I would never and could never cheat on you again. That was the one and only time I have ever been unfaithful to you. I swear!” He looked and sounded so pathetic. Who was this man standing before her? He wasn’t anyone she recognized.

  “Liar. You are coward and a liar!” Shelby tore the words from her shaky voice.

  Tamara didn’t wait
for Brent’s permission. She got on the floor in front of Shelby to see to her injuries. “Shelby, are you okay? Is your vision blurry? We should try to see if you have a concussion.”

  “I don’t have a concussion. I’m fine! Except for the fact that this lunatic raped me at least half a dozen times last night. He’s going to kill us, Tamara. He’ll never let us go.” She started to sob. She looked at Tamara. She was trying to tell her something. Tamara just didn’t know what. “I’m sorry, Tammie. You didn’t deserve what I did or the things I said. I hope you survive this. I know I won’t.” Shelby was too weak. She laid back down her head and drifted back into unconsciousness.

  Tamara turned to Brent. Acting scorned was her only leverage now. Hearing what Shelby had told her, there was no way to predict what Brent was capable of.

  “What does she mean you raped her, Brent? Did you sleep with her? Did you screw her and now she’s crying rape?” Smart girl, she patted herself on the back. Not only did she sound like a scorned lover, but she was also defending him against Shelby’s accusations.

  “I…I would never, Tamara. I love you. You must know that by now.”

  He actually believed the crap that he was dishing out. She would call his bluff. “Fine, take off your pants.”

  He stared at her. He couldn’t believe he had heard her correctly. “Why do you want me to do that?”

  “If you weren’t with her, you’ll have nothing to worry about, but if you were, I’ll know it. Whenever two bodies join, they form a scent. So, I will know, Brent. I will smell her on you if you touched her.”