The Significant Other (The Relationship Quo Series Book 4)

by Nicole Strycharz

  “He’s my boss, actually.” I sat on the hood of his car to give her my full attention, “Does he always do this?”

  “Oh yeah, sugar, he does it every week. Never forgot us out here. He’s special.”

  “Yeah, I see that.”

  “I’m Daisy,” she told me, “what your name, hun?”

  “Adam,” I smiled, “so you’ve known him a long time?”

  “Since he was born,” she fanned herself in the heat. “You know why his name, Chance, don’t you?”

  I shook my head, no.

  She looked tickled to tell the story, “When his mama found out she was pregnant, they kept on telling her she gonna lose him. She done lost too many babies before him. Then he gets born and they still say he might not make it. Said he got a fifty-fifty chance at living. So she says ‘I’m gonna name him, Chance. Then he might get one.’ That’s what she said.”

  I watched him smile and pass more food out from the back. The things he kept in the cooler behind his seat sat untouched, though. As well as a few things in my seat.

  “Ready?” he asked a few minutes later.

  “You done?” I asked.

  He kissed Daisy on the cheek and she patted his chest, “One last stop.” He admitted.

  “Where too?” I asked as I stood and went to my side.

  “You’ll see,” he said putting on his glasses and getting in.

  Chapter Eighteen

  TRIXIE

  I pulled off my cover up at the same time as Jolee and when I saw what she was wearing, “Fuck.” We said simultaneously.

  Bianca cracked up.

  Liam’s brows went up, “Wow, did you guys mean to wear the exact same bikini?” he questioned.

  “No,” I huffed as I sat beside him on the beach towel. “It’s a twin thing.”

  Jolee flicked her hair back, “We do it all the time. We think alike sometimes.” She told him.

  Bianca adjusted her sexy neon colored two-piece, “I only like one of ya’ll so I don’t know how true that is.”

  Jolee high-fived Bianca. “Who wears it better? Let’s take a vote?” Jolee asked in a hyper tone.

  “You do,” Bianca voted for Jolee with her eyes closed as her ebony skin soaked up the sun. Liam smiled to himself. “Vote, white boy,” she snapped at him.

  He shrugged, “They both look nice.”

  Jolee groaned, “You have to pick!”

  He tossed a Frisbee for Buddy. “I think Trixie’s tats make it look hot.” He confessed shyly.

  “Whatever,” Jolee stood up and deliberately sashayed to change his mind, “I’m going in the water.”

  “Don’t drown,” I muttered.

  She walked backward as she spoke so she could see me, “I might pretend if it means that big sexy lifeguard will give me mouth to mouth.”

  “Slut,” I mumbled.

  Bianca patted my legs, “Aww, are we all jealous? Feel free to break up with Adam so you can try screwing at least one more guy in your lifetime.”

  I winced as the words came off her wicked tongue.

  “What?” asked Liam.

  Bianca was all too happy to spill, “Her sister says she only been with one man her whole life. Poor little girl.”

  I threw the sunscreen bottle at her head and it made a hollow sound. Probably because her brain is the size of a mashed pea.

  “That’s not, totally accurate.” I defended. “She doesn’t know that.”

  “Mmhmm,” she hummed to humor me. Bitch, bitch, bitch!

  “Hey,” Knox showed up, thank God, “Let’s go get hot dogs.” He was only talking to Bianca and from the sudden drop in her evil I looked to Liam who looked back with a hidden smirk.

  “Okay,” she stood up and pulled on her wrap skirt before following him.

  “They are totally-.” I started but Liam laughed and nodded.

  “Yeah, no, it’s obvious,” he agreed.

  “Wow, I never thought someone as sweet as Knox would fall for a Bianca.” I brushed the sand off my thigh then leaned back.

  “Well, opposites attract I guess.” He took the Frisbee back from Buddy then petted him.

  “Do you have someone?” I blurted.

  He looked down at me and then back at Buddy. “I did…once.”

  “Where is she?”

  “I lost a lot of things over the years…”

  He and I don’t get much time alone with the guys always around.

  “By the way,” he said, “I really want to thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “You’re the reason for a lot of the good things in my life right now. I have a job because of you; I have a place to live because of you and the guys…”

  “You’re crashing on their couch.”

  “I’m very grateful,” he implored me with his pretty eyes. “I mean it. I was at my lowest when we met. Now I have a chance at something. That’s all you. If I can ever repay all this I will.”

  “You sort of can,” I fished. He was all ears. “When you first came back to the apartment with me you said there were things about your past that you were worried would change how I felt about you. Can I hear them?”

  He tensed. “I won’t lie; I would so rather be told I have to polish your toes or hold your bags while shopping.”

  I smiled then waited. “You saved me from a beating and I call you friend. I don’t give my friendship with conditions. Trust me.”

  He wouldn’t look at me. “It’s really complicated.”

  “It’s part of why you’re homeless… It’s what started it all?”

  He nodded.

  We were silent a long time and I studied his profile. He’s so handsome. The dimples still throw me for a loop. I sat up and set my chin on his shoulder. Maybe that’s too much touching for friends. I can do it with the guys but they know it’s just friendly. Maybe I don’t want Liam thinking that.

  “You can tell me,” I said. “You are part of our family now.”

  He took a deep breath then said it. “I went to jail for rape.”

  ADAM

  I didn’t know what to say as Chance and I drove further down the street. Whatever I thought I knew about him was really wrong. From my first impression to now, I’m a little speechless.

  We came to a stop in front of a very broken down house with a metal fence around its small and untamed yard. We stepped out and he set three brown bags in my arms before picking up the cooler. We went up the two stairs and he dug into his pocket for a key.

  He has a key to this place?

  Upon entering, the loud sounds of a TV greeted us.

  “Just put those in the kitchen,” he told me in a low voice, “right through there and to the left.” He set down the cooler in the hall and went into another room.

  I walked where he told me to and found the kitchen. It was a mess. Grim, dust, food left out, sticky surfaces…

  I explored a little; wincing. That’s when I found a picture of a pretty woman holding a baby on the fridge. It was definitely taken in the eighties. Her hair reflected that and the shoulder pads in her dress. A guy that looked a lot like Chance was behind them. The resemblance was creepy but the guy in the picture didn’t have the tats or the hidden kindness in his eyes.

  I made the guess that it was his parents.

  Below that picture was one of a Chance with braces. I smiled and took a closer look. He had to be early teens and he was with another boy his age. A tall black kid with as big a grin. I knew right away it was Lamar. He was standing behind Chance with his arms around him.

  I could feel that this was him, and when I looked further up I found a picture of the grown Lamar in the military. He was an attractive guy with very strong features but a silent sadness in his eyes.

  I set the groceries down and went back to find Chance. He had turned off the TV and when I peeked around the next room I found him bagging trash strewn all over the grubby living room. He was focused on his task. He grabbed soda cans, tissues and old cigarette trays filled to th
e brim.

  I saw movement on the couch and realized the pile of blankets wasn’t just blankets, it was a woman. She had matted sandy hair with shimmering strands of silver through it. She mumbled a little when she turned over and he set all the trash down to sit on the edge of the couch.

  “Hey,” his deep voice rolled into the atmosphere.

  “Baby?” her hand went out to touch his shoulder and rub down his arm. “When did you get here?”

  “Just came in,” he took her hand and held it, “I told you to call me.”

  “I thought I did.”

  “No.”

  She’s frail looking but her face carries lines from the harshness of her environment and her memories.

  “Chance, I don’t know where Billy is.” She told him in a worried tone. “Don’t clean, find Billy.”

  “When I’m done.” He said sternly.

  “It’s cold in here…”

  “It’s ninety-five degrees outside, Mama, you don’t need blankets. I’m gonna air the place out.” He explained.

  Mama. This was his mother; the woman that in my opinion stole his future? I compared her in my mind to my own and she fell short of being a parent at all.

  My mother put my education above everything. Her only addiction was cheesecake and her home was so clean you could eat off the bathroom floor. I found out on my twelfth birthday that she used a whole paycheck to buy my first guitar while dad struggled with keeping the lights on but I wasn’t made aware to when things were tight. My parents sheltered me from that stuff. Now they are financially stable and I thank them daily for their support but Chance’s mom… she wasn’t a mom.

  They wrapped up their talk and he came my way. “Eavesdropping?” he asked as he went to the kitchen with the bagged trash he’d collected.

  I grabbed the cooler and followed him then started taking groceries out, “Yeah, sorry…”

  He opened the fridge and inspected the things he found there. Milk was sour, her foods in Tupperware smelled rancid and what was left of the produce was brown. He cleared it all and started stocking it with the fresh stuff.

  “Can I ask…where your Dad is?” I chanced it.

  He got on his knees and filled the crispers. “He left when I was seven. Went to Florida I think. Started over.”

  Ouch. I started shelving things in the pantry, “For someone with such a… scary reputation… I mean, when we went to get Jolee, guys on the street were making U-turns to avoid running into you. Yet, here, on this block, you’re like…”

  “They respect me here for lots of reasons. I keep Jax off this block. It’s my turf. That means drugs stay to a minimum here.” He got up and started on the piles of dishes in her sink. “But I still did what I had to growing up. Things got ugly all the time. Most of that went down on Jax’s side of town, that’s why they don’t mess with me there.”

  I handed him dirty dishes stacked on the table, “That’s why Jax was upset you were on his street that night? You guys have like an agreement? He stays off your block, no trafficking here and you stay off his?”

  He smirked, “Don’t try to understand the streets. It’s something like that.”

  I started drying the dishes he washed, “So, is this Lamar?” I nodded to the fridge.

  “You’re super nosey today.” He pushed a plate into my hands.

  “Just don’t answer me then.” I told myself I don’t give a shit either way but the truth is I do. More than before I came here.

  “Yeah, that’s him.” He handed me another one. “He decided he could make a better life in the army, I figured I could do it working for Jax. Then something happened. We fought. I went to prison, he went to Iraq. He died. End of story.”

  I itched to ask the next question. I pursed my lips to hold it in because he had already announced I was nosey.

  He looked at me and laughed a little, “You are dying to know what we fought about.” He guessed.

  I shrugged.

  His smile faded, “Maybe another day. I’ve had a long enough walk down memory lane today.”

  “Can I ask one more question?” I took a cup from him.

  He sighed and gave me a ‘hurry up’ arch of the brow.

  “Who the hell is Billy? The guy your mom is looking for.”

  He grinned, “A cat.”

  “She has a cat?”

  “No, Billy is a possum that lives under the porch but she thinks it’s a really hideous cat. She can’t see well.”

  We laughed a little but then a lot. In fact, we kept laughing long past what was appropriate.

  TRIXIE

  Liam suggested we walk the boardwalk and even though I was a little uncertain, I went with him. If he wanted to hurt me he would have done it by now, right? I mean, he’s had opportunities. After hearing his little confession, Adam would have an aneurysm but…

  My bathing suit cover was a thin, transparent brown that was blowing against my body from the wind and giving me a chill. Or maybe Liam’s confession was responsible for that. We walked with Buddy for a long while as he scraped together the courage to tell me.

  “I had to tell Chance,” he began. “He hired me under the condition that I was upfront with him. He has a pretty spotty past and he said he learned being honest about it kept misunderstandings from happening. So he knows all this.”

  I felt a little better to know my boss knew. He still hired him anyway so that must mean something.

  Liam sighed and nervously ran his hands through his hair before starting again, “I was in school studying law. I have a passion for justice and on the side, I was writing music. My Dad was sick with Cancer but he was fighting it and I had this amazing girl. She was…great. A lot like you, actually. She saw the good in everybody and everything. She was beautiful.”

  I tried to listen without jumping to conclusions but it didn’t work. Did he rape his girlfriend? All those times when we met up in the park, I might have been sitting with a…

  “She was so great that I put down four paychecks worth of money to buy her this crazy intricate ring. I had jobs lined up for when I graduated and I was doing really well at the job I had so I wasn’t concerned or anything. I was living in this sort of comfortable bubble. Nothing is perfect and I had my issues but I was happy. Until I met Jessica.”

  I held myself, “Jessica?”

  “She was a girl in my class. Right before finals, she told me in front of our friends she’d been into me all semester and that she wanted a date. I told her about my girlfriend and that I was planning to propose. Told her she was a very pretty girl and that if things were different I’d be honored to take her out. She said okay and I didn’t hear from her again until finals.”

  Liam was truly starting to look somewhere between annoyed and sad. His frown was deep, his face flushing. “I was literally on the last fucking question on my finals…when two cops came in and yanked me from the classroom. Out of spite, she told the campus police that I raped her at some party. Said I forced her not to tell because of my girlfriend. I was knee deep in chaos after that. Her dad was some big shot on Wall Street so his lawyer ate me alive. I was sentenced to fifteen years…”

  At this point, I literally don’t know what to say.

  He breathed a shaky breath. “I lost everything good in my life. I couldn’t finish school, my girlfriend swore never to see me again, my friends turned their backs on me, my Dad’s health totally plummeted from the stress. I went broke trying to pay my lawyer; I even sold the ring…”

  I stayed silent and waited but then I felt him watching me. Ugh. I know why. He stopped and leaned his back on the railing of the boardwalk. “Go ahead,” he looked utterly broken. “You wanna ask.”

  “I hate that I do…” I looked around us to see we were fairly alone. People still strolled by but nobody was paying us any mind. I stepped closer to him. That’s me. Flirting with danger. “Did you do it?”

  He was instantly annoyed, “No! Trix, I didn’t-.”

  “Hey,” I interrupted his ra
nt, “look at me when you say it. When you are fussy your eyes go all over.”

  He blasted a breath through his nose but settled those breathtaking but mysterious eyes on me, “No.” he said it with such meaning I felt the word echo off my bones. “I would never hurt a woman like that and I never have.”

  I probably will sound like every cheesy woman in every cheesy outlaw movie, “I believe you.” I told him.

  He did a slight double take. Then he shifted on his feet as he watched me blink, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard three sweeter words.”

  “How did she get away with it?”

  “She had two of her best friends lie and say they witnessed me leaving said party after hurting her. People are so drunk or high at those parties that no one else knew for sure if I even came. I used to study late at my campus library and it’s not like my girlfriend could track my every move… so when four people say you were someone you weren’t and no one else can defend your alibi you look guilty…” He swallowed, “I’ll never forget the look on my girl’s face when they asked her where I was that night. That’s when she started to doubt me. All she could say was, ‘he said the library.’ Then she looked at me in that way.”

  “What happened then? If you were supposed to get put away?” I asked.

  He started walking again, “That’s the best part. Two years into the sentence of me sitting in a cell and she comes clean about lying. She claimed the guilt was killing her. Then the friends did the same. They released me and expunged my record as a sex offender but the damage was done. My friends tried telling me they were sorry but I thought they knew me. I never went to parties; I studied, so they should’ve known her accusation was iffy. My girlfriend got married while I was away. She also tried apologizing but all I could think was she should’ve known of all people. All my free time went to her.”

  Now I feel shitty for him, “You said you made bad choices… when we talked once. Getting accused of something you didn’t do isn’t a choice.”

  He reached down to pet Buddy then shoved his hands in his shorts, “When I got out I was dirt level broke. My Dad’s treatments were racking up unpayable bills. I was terrified of losing him; he was the only person that stuck with me. Then I made a really stupid decision to steal the money we needed. I tried robbing a convenience store. The guy running it kicked my ass and found out my gun wasn’t loaded but I was right back where I started with a prison sentence staring me down.”