“I don’t need for you to defend his actions right now.”
“Oh sweetheart, that’s not what I’m doing. My heart is breaking for you right now. I’m just trying to explain to you that men are different when it comes to certain things. His pride got in the way of doing what was right.”
“Yeah, right there along with his dick.”
“I can’t argue with that. His methods are far from honorable for sure. But he didn’t have the courage to tell you the truth.”
“Fucking coward.”
“I’m proud of you for thinking ahead. You did the right thing this afternoon by protecting your name and reputation. You’re going to be fine and come out ahead Terri.”
I grabbed his shirt in my fists and put my head on his chest. Next thing I knew it was morning and I was waking up to my guy’s smile.
“I gotta go babe. Coffee’s on. I have a case in forty-five. I’ll call you as soon as I’m done.”
He smoothed my hair back from my face and then bent his head to kiss me. When he pulled his face back a bit he looked at me and said, “I love you Terri. I thought you should know.”
He made to move away from me but I latched onto his hand and jerked him back to me and said, “I love you too Justin.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Justin
I finally told her. Didn’t think I’d do it that way, but it just sort of came out. And boy was I rewarded with a return I love you. Wasn’t expecting it but I twitched in my jeans and damn, I wanted to lick her all over when she said those five little words. I was running late as it was, so it would have to wait. I’d make it up to her later tonight.
That silly smile was plastered on my face as I walked into the locker room to get changed. Jackson let out a crack of laughter that scared the crap of me because I hadn’t seen him standing there.
“Damn, you must’ve had one helluva night.”
“You might say morning, my friend.”
“Well, I’m a jealous old man.”
“Ah hell, don’t be. What you have with Alice is special.”
He eyed me, and finally said, “So, our boy has finally been bitten.”
“Yeah,” I admitted as I changed.
“I never thought I’d see the day.”
“So I’ve been told,” I said wryly.
“Hey, I think it’s great. I knew it would take someone special and I think that girl is special. She’d have to be to go through what she did and come out as strong as she did.”
“I know, right?”
We discussed what was up for our next case and headed over to get scrubbed, masked, gloved, gowned and shielded. Sometime during that day I’d decided to take Terri to dinner that night. I wanted to make it a celebration dinner of our love and her new business. I made reservations at Camellias and called her to let her know I’d pick her up at seven.
She wasn’t looking like the happy girl I expected when I got there.
“What is it?”
“I’m sorry. This whole thing with my dad has just slammed me I guess.”
“Understandably. You know Terri, it’s okay not to be happy all the time. Hey, we can stay in tonight. We don’t have to go out, you know.”
“No, I want to go. I think it will help.” She tried to give me a smile.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I’m really glad you’re here.” She put her arms around my neck and pulled my head down so she could kiss me. I knew now wasn’t the time, but damn, that girl always had me kicking it in reaction to her touch.
“Hmm. Not nearly as glad as I,” I said against her soft lips. “We better go or I can’t promise I’ll take you anywhere.”
She let it all out over dinner and I barely said a word. It was her catharsis and I didn’t want to take that away from her. My girl was in pain and I was there to help her in every way I knew how. I wanted to pull her in my arms and hold her, but I couldn’t. She was tough as nails though. I saw her lip tremble several times but she never cried. She held it together and vowed she was going to come out of this mess in a better situation than ever.
What concerned us both was the real estate market in Charleston had taken a nosedive with the downturn of the economy. Terri had made a strong name for herself and had a good referral base. Hopefully, that would pull her through the tough times.
Later that night, after we were back at her house, we turned her third bedroom into an office. She would use her house as her place of business until she had everything set up and then she’d look for an office to rent. We took down the bed and stored it in her other bedroom closet for the time being. I did most of the work because I didn’t want her to take a chance with hurting her leg.
“I can help,” she insisted.
“You are helping. Make sure I don’t hit anything crucial. I don’t want to break anything.”
When we were done, she looked at me and smiled. “Thanks Justin. You’ve really been helpful.”
“My pleasure, ma’am.”
She laughed and it made me feel good all over to hear that sound again.
“Look, I have an early morning, so...”
“You’re not staying?” she asked. My heart leaped and did a damn cartwheel. I was hoping she wanted me to, but I didn’t want to assume.
“You sure you want me to?”
“You’re kidding right?”
I bit down on the knuckle of my index finger for a second, thinking over how I wanted to say this.
“Look Terri, I know this has been a really bad day for you. A shit of a day actually. Sometimes we need our space and I want you to know that when you feel like that, all you have to do is let me know. Of course I want to stay with you. I always want to stay with you. I love you and want to sleep next to you every night. But I also want to do the right thing where you’re concerned.”
“Stay. Don’t leave Justin.”
I grabbed her and she jumped into my arms.
“Just where you need to be babe.”
“I’m scared,” she admitted.
“I’d be shocked if you weren’t. You’ve had a lot to take in the last two days. It would be abnormal if you weren’t scared.”
“What if I fail?”
“Then you learn from your mistakes, you pick up the pieces and move on.”
She looked at me, her eyes brimming with unshed tears, and confessed, “I can’t afford to fail. I don’t have to means to fix it if I do.”
“Honey, you’re getting way ahead of yourself here. Someone once told me that the only way to eat an elephant was a bite at a time. That’s how you’re gonna have to look at this. Take it a piece at a time. Anything more than that gets too overwhelming.”
“And then there’s Alana.”
“Who’s going to be a very valuable asset to you.”
“How is it that you always know what to say?”
“I don’t. I only know what’s obvious right now.”
“Thank you...for being here.”
“Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but here.”
I’d finally figured out what that thing poking on my chest from the inside was...it was my heart letting me know I was in the right place, with the right girl.
“Have I told you today how lovely you are and how much I love you?”
She slowly smiled and those eyes turned all soft on me. I felt myself twitch in response as I ran my tongue along my lower lip. All I wanted to do was taste her lovely skin, feel those soft lips beneath my own and let my tongue dance with hers. She must’ve read my mind because I heard her soft intake of breath and then her lips slightly parted. I turned and walked us into her bedroom, watching her expression the whole time.
Her chest rose and fell, her hand moved to her throat and her eyes became heavy lidded. She wanted me. I could tell. I set her down on the bed and stripped her clothes off. Then I removed all of mine as she watched.
“I’ve wanted nothing more all day long than to lay with you and run my tongue all over your body...to
show you how much I love you. I want to do things to you Terri, that will make you scream my name.”
I did and she did...scream my name...more than once. In fairness, I screamed hers too, more than once.
My alarm went off and I slipped out of bed. After I showered and dressed, I kissed her and told her goodbye. She told me not to reset the security system because Alana would be in very early. I promised to call her later that morning.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Terri
I didn’t want to get up. I wanted to lay in bed and wallow in my self pity, but that wasn’t what I’d do. I wasn’t the “take to my bed” kind of girl. Besides, Alana would be here any minute, so I forced my butt into the shower and got ready for work.
By the time I was dressed, Alana was already in the office, working away.
“Hey, I heard the shower running. I didn’t want to bother you, so I just figured I’d get to work.” She looked up from the computer and she faced scrunched up. “Wow, you don’t look so good.”
“Thanks,” I said. “Just what I wanted to hear.”
“What’s up? Wait. Never mind.”
“No, something is up that I was going to tell you about.”
“More stuff?”
“Oh, you won’t believe this shit.” I told her how I’d caught my dad and Angela in the act.
“Ew. That’s just plain sick. Disgusting. I can’t believe her.”
“I can’t believe him.”
Alana got up from her perch at the computer and came to give me a hug. “I am so very sorry you’re having to deal with all of this. This is just not right Terri.”
“Well, it’s not like we get to choose what’s dumped in our laps now, is it?”
“No, but you’ve been through enough as it is. You didn’t need this added pile of crap.”
“Thanks girl, but everyone has their share of stuff too. I’m not the only one who’s been through it you know.”
“Well, if there’s anything I can do, just let me know. By the way, I found this on the floor of your living room when I came in this morning. I hope it was because you had a fun night.” She laughed as she handed me an unused condom, still in the package.
I looked at it like it was a two headed monster, and she started laughing.
“Your expression is priceless. You look like you’ve never seen one of those before.”
“Well, probably because I haven’t in a long time and I have no idea how it got here.”
She snickered and said, “Maybe you should ask that man of yours.”
I was looking at it and things were rolling through my mind at the speed of light. “No, we don’t need them. I’m a little baffled by it. I’ll ask him of course. Where was it again?”
“By the front door near the sofa as you head into the living room.”
My mind churned with WTF’s over how this thing got into my house. My first guess was the most obvious being Justin, but we didn’t use them. So why would he even have one, unless he still carried them from his past days? My suspicions of him started to emerge. I had no reason not to trust him. Until he gave me a reason not to, I shouldn’t be going down this road. I needed to ask him about this. And I would do that as soon as I could.
Pushing any other thoughts of this down, I forced myself to focus on the business and getting everything ready to crank as Terri Mitchell Real Estate.
“So when do you start classes?” I asked Alana.
“Next week. I’m nervous.”
“Don’t be. You’re going to have an advantage over everyone since you already have an impressive knowledge of the business.”
“Thanks Terri.”
“Well, let’s get to work, shall we?”
By the end of the day, we had everything set up how we wanted it.
********
Later that night, after I got home from the gym, I saw that Justin had texted me several times. I called him back.
“Hey.”
“Where’ve you been? I’ve been worried about you.”
“Sorry. I had to hit the gym. I missed a couple of workouts.”
“Is everything okay?”
I could tell he knew something was up.
“You didn’t by any chance leave a condom behind today did you?”
“What?”
“Alana found a condom in the living room when she came in this morning.”
“Um Terri, you know I don’t use those honey.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’d figured you’d say.”
I was met with silence.
Then he asked, “Why do I get the feeling you’re suspicious of me?”
“I guess it’s because my employee found an unwrapped condom in my living room this morning. I’ve never ever bought one of those things. That’s why. I was trying to figure out how the damn thing got there.”
“Terri, I swear, I didn’t put it there, nor is it mine. I haven’t bought a condom in quite a while.”
I had to ask. “Could it be one that you’ve had from a while back?”
I heard him sigh. “Okay, I’ll answer that because it’s a fair question, giving what you know about my past. The answer is no. I haven’t carried around a condom in...well, ever since that ugly episode last spring. You know which one I am referring to. I haven’t used them because I went and got tested, found out I was healthy and decided I was not going to live my life like that anymore. I would never have initiated any type of sexual activity with you if I had any doubts about that. Are you satisfied?”
“I guess so.”
“What do you mean, you guess so? Either you are or you aren’t.”
“Well, damn it Justin, that thing had to come from somewhere. It didn’t just fall out of the sky.”
“I know Terri, but couldn’t it have come from someone other than me? Look, we can sit here and debate this all night if you want. One thing is crystal clear to me. You don’t trust what I’m telling you and that really hurts. The damn condom is not mine. End of story,” he clipped. “Now if you have anything else you’d like to talk about tonight, please feel free to call me back but I’m going to end this call, along with this discussion because I’m considering it closed.”
My phone cut off. He ended the call. We’d never done that to each other before. I stared at the phone and at all the little square Apps, not believing what just happened. He was right but I was too. We were clearly at an impasse. The thing is, if that condom wasn’t his, where the hell had it come from? They didn’t appear out of nowhere. Shit! I had a sinking feeling in my gut. This was not good at all.
My pacing wasn’t helping one bit. I knew I wouldn’t last five more minutes, so I gave into my need and called him back.
“Hey,” I said, my voice low. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you? Don’t say it because you think you need to say it. Say it because you mean it.”
Well damn!
“Can I come over?”
“Yes. You don’t have to ask Terri.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen.”
“Have you eaten?”
“Huh uh.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
My head was spinning, but I tore through my house and grabbed my things. The sky was darkened and heavy with storm clouds as I was headed toward downtown Charleston. I couldn’t help but think this was some kind of an omen of what would soon be taking place between us. I pulled into his driveway exactly fifteen minutes later and he was standing there waiting for me.
His gray eyes were dark and cloudy, but not with anger. It was pain that was reflected in them...deep, dark pain. “Your doubt really hurts me,” he said, his voice catching. I felt like a total shit. I wanted to cry, but wouldn’t allow myself to.
“I’m sorry Justin, I am. But I can’t figure this thing out and I guess I’ve had such a bad week that maybe I’m not looking at the whole picture. I’ve gone over everything in my head and the only other conclusion is that someone could’ve dropped it when they were putting in the
security system or fixing the broken window.”
“So, you’re still not willing to give me the benefit of the doubt?”
“It’s more than that. It’s freaking me out a little. Did someone come into my house and accidentally drop it? Did you drop it? Did the security people drop it? My head is so messed up right now I can’t think straight.”
He rubbed his face with both hands and then said, “I understand how you’re mind is screwed up by everything. What bothers me though, is that you don’t trust me Terri. I’ve never lied to you or misled you since we’ve started seeing each other. Veritas numquam perit. Do you know what that means?”
I shook my head. Latin had never been my forte.
“It means, ‘Truth never perishes.’ I’m being truthful with you. I made you a promise and I haven’t broken it. If that condom is mine, it implies that I’m lying and I don’t like being called a liar.”
Now I felt like a complete and total shit.
“I totally get that. But Justin, what if someone broke into my house. What if Preston did it?”
“Well hell. I hadn’t thought about that. That’s a completely different thing.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“You didn’t set the alarm this morning. It is a possibility.”
I was thinking along those lines when he said, “No more of that. Give your code to Alana. That system needs to be set at all times...even when you’re sitting at home during the day.”
“I think you’re right.”
We walked inside and he threw something together for us to eat. Everything between us felt off kilter, not balanced. He was understandably hurt and I was confused and scared. And I hated myself for hurting him. But then I started thinking about it all and that he had no real motives for withholding the truth.
I finally realized that he had to be telling me the truth. He had no reason to lie. If he’d dropped the condom, that is if he had been carrying one, he would’ve said something. There wouldn’t have been a reason for him to cover it up. He could’ve said that it was probably in his wallet from way back and it must’ve fallen out.
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