Until We Fall (Trust Duet Book 2)

by Edyn Michaels

  A slow sexy smirk that I knew.

  Intimately.

  The last time I’d seen it, I believe his cock had been in my mouth in that bathroom.

  “Hey, gorgeous.”

  “Jamie, I’d like you to meet one my new best friends, Mari.”

  At my name his head snapped like someone had punched him, and he looked at me in shock, going pale.

  “Uh, hi, Jamison, how have you been?”

  I reached out my hand to him, aiming for a friendly handshake. He eyed it suspiciously, as if it was a poisonous snake about to bit him.

  “Fuck. It was you.”

  “Wait, you two know each other?”

  Jennifer glared at me, her eyes narrowed.

  I held my hands up in a surrender type pose.

  “Dude, you never said his name. Ever.”

  I could see in her eyes that she was quickly going through every conversation she’d ever had with me, and as a look of resignation came over her face, I knew she realized I was telling the truth.

  “Do I want to know how you know each other?”

  We both avoided eye contact with her, and I could feel the blush grow from my neck to my hairline.

  “No, Jennifer, you probably don’t. Look, Jamison, it was nice to see you again. Seeing as how you’re with my friend, I’ll probably see you again. Let’s aim for friends, okay? For Jennifer?”

  I pleaded with my eyes, and his hard exterior cracked a little at Jennifer’s name. I had to admit, I was a little wounded that I hadn’t been the one to tame the beast. However, thinking about the two of them together, well, it kind of made sense.

  “Okay, I’m down. Friends.”

  Jennifer had moved to his side, to take his arm in hers during our exchange, proverbially lifting her leg on him to mark him as hers.

  No worries, girlfriend. You enjoy his type of crazy, I’m off that ride.

  “I’m going to grab my drink and head over to the table. See you guys in a few.”

  I made my way over to the table, wondering where Sebastian was. I looked at my phone and saw a text. Oh, great, was he bailing on me?

  Running late, be there soon. Sorry.

  Huh.

  Annoyance more than disappointment flooded my senses.

  The clatter of dishes indicated that the first course, a salad, had started to be served. Thank God. Seriously starving over here. Starving enough to be excited about a fucking salad.

  Damn.

  Jennifer and Jamison came to the table once they saw food, and they parked themselves across from me. I’m sure she was aware that any past connection had been sexual, and she just wanted to make sure my grubby hands stayed to themselves.

  “Where’s your date, Mari?”

  I automatically looked down at my phone, but there was no update.

  “I got a text that he was running late. Hopefully he makes it before dessert. But if he doesn’t I’ll just eat his, too. So, it would be a win-win.”

  “Have you let him down yet?”

  Ugh.

  “No. I’m a horrible human being. He was at the dinner when Kay proposed, so I didn’t have the heart to tell him he wasn’t coming.”

  “Has anything, um, improved?”

  I knew she was talking about the sex. And no, it hadn’t. I just shook my head, really uncomfortable talking about sex with Jamison sitting right there. Jamison was sex, he gave off some sort of weird pheromone chemical that made clothing disappear and lady lips get drenched in an instant.

  “Hey, Mari.”

  Sebastian’s voice came from a table away, and I looked up to see him walking quickly towards me.

  He stopped short when he saw Jennifer, his eyes widening with shock. Oh, shit, I hoped he wasn’t going to have a coronary about her hair and tattoos. I mean, he could be a little weird like that.

  “Bastian, holy shit, what are you doing here?”

  “Jeez, I could ask you the same, sis.”

  Sis?

  “Wait, you know each other?”

  Fucking deja vu.

  “This is my big brother, Bastian.”

  She grinned from ear to ear, happy to see him, before the smile faded and a look of horrific understanding came over her face.

  “Wait, Bastian, why are you here?”

  He smiled at me and my stomach fell out from under me. Suddenly, I was not hungry at all. As a matter of fact, the salad placed in front of me made my stomach turn.

  “Jenny, this is the girl I’ve been telling you about. The one I’ve been dating for a little bit.”

  Jennifer just looked at me, her face devoid of any color. I knew that in her mind she was playing back everything that Kay and I had ever said about Sebastian and his lack of ability between the sheets.

  She looked like she was going to throw up.

  I was sure the look mirrored on my face.

  “Sweetie, you don’t look so good. Everything okay?”

  “Um, actually, I am going to run to the ladies’ room. I’ll be back. Feel free to start without me.”

  I walked as fast as a person could without breaking into a dead-on sprint. This was the worst day every. I mean, seriously. What were the odds?

  Nothing could possibly make this day worse.

  Tears started to form in my eyes, blurring my vision so that I couldn’t begin to see what was in front of me. Which was how I ended up running smack dab into someone tall and hard.

  “Whoa, there, gorgeous.”

  That voice.

  My body vibrated at the sound of that voice.

  Dane.

  I opened my eyes, only to see Dane smiling at me with love, and that ice queen bitch, Alicia looking at me somewhat uncomfortably.

  Fuck.

  Me.

  I did what I do best.

  I ran.

  How many broken hearts have found themselves in a bathroom stall, I wondered?

  I sat here, sobbing into a scrap of one-ply toilet tissue, fully willing to wait until after the party before ever leaving. Actually, I might even spend the night, just to be on the safe side. Leave in the morning when they open up.

  Jennifer was dating Jamison.

  Sebastian was Jennifer’s brother.

  Dane was dating that bitch.

  And I was in a bathroom stall, missing my best friend’s party.

  “Um, Mari?”

  Shit.

  I wanted to remain quiet, but my body had a mind of its own and I let out a sniffle.

  “Okay, so obviously, I heard that. Please come out.”

  Sigh.

  I walked out of the stall, trying not to look Alicia in the face.

  “You’re better than this.”

  My head whipped up to look at her.

  “Excuse me? You don’t know me?”

  “I know enough. Listen, I have so much to say, and I really don’t want to be in here when I could be out there getting good and buzzed. First, I’m sorry. I was an evil cunt of a woman to you and your team. Your plans were perfect. Truth was, I knew who you were. You had what I wanted, so I had to take you down. It was petty, it was awful, and it was wrong.”

  “Wait, how’d you know? I mean, it wasn’t like we spent any time together.”

  She let out a small laugh.

  “You have a picture of the two of you out at a restaurant in your cubicle. Actually, I think the brides are in the photo, too. Then there was Dane. He left his phone unattended, and when I grabbed it to poke around a little, I saw a picture of you as his background, smiling and your tongue was stuck out with a red candy on it.”

  She shook her head a little at the two of us, as if we were a puzzle to figure out.

  I thought of that day, I had been trying to throw the Swedish Fish he kept buying me in the air and catch them with my open mouth. That was the first time I’d been successful in over thirty attempts. I remember begging him to take the picture to prove I’d succeeded, but I had the fish on my tongue and he couldn’t understand me. Which lead to a severe cas
e of the giggles.

  “Mari, he’s one of the good guys. And I’ve got to tell you, he’s got it so bad for you that it hurts to look at him. The past months, he’s barely existed. He knows that he screwed up. He knows that he failed you. He knew what he was doing as he did it, and he withheld the truth from you because he was afraid it would scare you off. But he is broken, and you are the only one who can help him out. Please, I mean, you don’t owe me any favors or anything, because I was horrific to you, but please, give him another chance.”

  Dane’s words to me from months ago flooded my heart.

  “I never want to break you, Mari. I want to be the one to help hold you together when you are broken.”

  I wanted to hold him together, too.

  Alicia must have sensed the shift in me, because she just nodded.

  “Go get him.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Dane

  Fuck.

  I needed to put my fist through something. I need to break something.

  Why the fuck did I go along with my mom’s stupid as fuck idea?

  The look on her face. Broken tears and pain. That’s all I saw etched over her flawless skin. More pain that I had caused her.

  I should leave. I should give her space, permanently, because all I did was fuck it up.

  I started to walk towards the entrance, not caring about the fact that I’d brought someone with me. Ah well, Aly would be able to find a way home. That was what Uber was for.

  “Danish.”

  Did I hear that, or did I imagine I heard it?

  “Please.”

  I stopped. I wanted to turn around, but at the same time, I was afraid to. What if my mind was making shit up now?

  Until I felt a soft hand on my arm, gently pulling me, silently asking me to turn around.

  I complied and came face to face with my everything. She had no make-up left, and my heart broke knowing that I’d had any part in causing the tears that removed it. I reached up without thinking, and cupped her cheek with my hand, running my thumb across her soft skin gently, wiping away the tears that were long since gone.

  “Hi.”

  Her voice was still quiet. As if she was afraid to break this moment. I was fucking scared, too. I was afraid to open my heart up all the way to the possibilities, to the chance that this might be our opportunity to start over, the chance to fall again.

  “Hey, you.”

  She looked up at me, her eyes searching mine.

  “You’re here.”

  She pressed her hands on my chest, and raised up on her tiptoes to kiss me softly on the cheek. My skin buzzed as if there was static in the air.

  “Always. I’ve always been here.”

  I pulled her gently into my arms, amazed once again at how easily she fit with me. Amazed at how every bit of me that had shattered had suddenly pulled back together. With her head by my heart, where it belonged, I started speaking.

  “My name is Dane McCallum. My dad slowly built McCallum properties over years, starting with small rental houses, and moving into buildings that had dual purpose, like where the QB2 is. You know, a business downstairs and an apartment or two up above. When you moved into the apartment, I didn’t know who you were. I’d not met you yet. The day you freaked out in the car thinking I was your landlord, my brain short circuited and I chose the wrong option. I should have said, no – I’m not your landlord, my dad is. Instead, I said we had the same landlord. It wasn’t a lie, because I was paying rent to my dad’s company. But, I knowingly withheld the full truth, and that was so wrong.”

  Mari sighed against my chest, a sound I couldn’t quite figure out. Was it a happy sigh? A contented sigh? A disappointed sigh?

  “I’m at fault, too, Dane. I said I wouldn’t run, but I did. I should have stayed and we could have worked it out, probably pretty easily. I should have, but I didn’t. I panicked. I freaked. I was so intent on letting my childish trust issues keep me from anything that could bruise me, that I allowed everything to break me.”

  Hope filled me.

  “Dane, I’m going to catch an Uber.”

  My body stiffened at Alicia’s voice. I tightened my hold on Mari slightly, to keep her from running again.

  “Alicia, thank you for everything.”

  Nothing but warmth came from Mari. I looked to see Alicia point at me and give her the thumbs up.

  “What the hell happened?”

  Mari smirked and shrugged.

  “Girl stuff, you couldn’t possibly understand. But you might want to send her a thank you gift.”

  I walked us over to a small couch in the lobby, and pulled her on my lap. I wasn’t ready to stop touching her.

  “So, what happens now?”

  I asked her that question, letting her choose our path. Because it was us she was choosing for. It wasn’t just her.

  “I think that you and I should try forever on for size.”

  “Forever is a pretty long time, my love.”

  I could feel her smile against my chest, and my heart swelled.

  “Yup, it sure is. I’m not going to be the easiest person to love, Danish. I am seeing a therapist to deal with my issues. I’m going to keep seeing her, because I think she’s good for me. She’s a pain in the ass a lot of the time, but she’s good to me. Sometimes, I will break. Sometimes, I’ll shatter. Don’t give up on me, don’t let me run. Hold me tight until we fall back together. And when you break, when you shatter, I’ll hold you tight.”

  Thank you, God.

  I sent up a prayer. I would send up a thousand of them every day for the rest of my life, because there was no way I would ever thank the big guy upstairs enough.

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  She turned in my lap a little bit, so she could straddle me and capture my lips in a kiss filled with longing and missed opportunities.

  “Uh, Mari, you may want to slow down a little bit. I mean, I’m only human and I’m not sure I could hold on even if I wanted to.”

  The proof of my arousal was pressed hard and intimately against her heat, and she wiggled around to rub it against her while sitting there in the front lobby. She let out a sexy as fuck moan from the sensation that damn near had me blowing my load right then and there.

  She leaned forward and whispered in my ear.

  “I hear that there’s a broom closet nearby.”

  The End

  Acknowledgments

  Oh, my goodness, we have come to the end of our second book together!

  There are several amazing unicorns who have held my hand through this process and encouraged me when I was honestly ready to throw in the towel and walk away from it. However, that would have left you with only one book that had a cliffy, so I had to get over myself and write. To my beautiful Jennifers: Nae (who owns Jamison) and Jennifer G. (who owns Dane), I love you crazy bitches to the moon and back. Even when it’s shark week and you both start a fight on BANG about the boys. Thank you guys for keeping me somewhat sane. Angela, you have had my back through this mess, and I love and appreciate your willingness to read my smutty stuff. All three of you got your hands on Until We Fall nice and early, and I am so grateful to you for the amazing feedback you gave.

  My husband, again, has been my greatest cheerleader in all things. Friends, he not only deals with me being in the writing cave, but when I practice the bagpipes at four in the morning, he tells me it sounds good. He’s a patient man. I will have to remember to not be stabby towards him. At least, not as much.

  To Mom and Dad, again, who are not ever, ever allowed to read this or my other book. Nope. Not at all. And if they do, I’ll deny I wrote it with my dying breath. I’m a self-proclaimed daddy’s girl, so we need to keep the illusion going that I don’t use language like that.

  To A. E. Murphy, Elle Messe, Danielle Dickson, Abigail Davies and a million other of my fellow Indie Authors who put up with me asking a million questions and being so freaking needy. You guys are awesome and I adore you.

&
nbsp; Another quick shout to Nae. She asked me to somehow fit in the book that Jamison belongs to Nae. I honestly DID try to figure it out, how to make it happen… so here it is, twice. Granted, she wanted Jamison to say “I love you, Nae” to Jennifer, so she’s inevitably a little disappointed in me. But she’ll live. Because I gave her a hot biker with tattoos.

  To my in-person bestie, Nik. Damn, I love this woman. She is the Kaylie to my Mari. Nuff said.

  Vixen Designs – you knocked it out of the park once again. I swear, you are the only reason that anyone will buy my books, because of the hot man meat you proudly display on my covers!

  Pink Elephant Designs – Holy hell, Abi. I don’t know how you do it, and I don’t need to know how. I just know that you are incredible at working formatting magic and making this shit look great.

  Rachel Hoefing – you have been an incredible friend and a great editor. Little known fact about Rachel – she and I met when she was volunteering as a photographer at the animal shelter where I worked for five and a half years. For my husband’s fifth anniversary gift, I had her do boudoir photos for him. So, she has seen me half naked, and still talks to me. Together, we found out that I do NOT have a sultry, sexy look. I just look pissed when I try sexy.

  I’m lucky to be a part of a phenomenal book club on FB called BANG. Seriously, my book club is better than yours. You should join BANG. Run by Mel Teo and her evil elves, this is the most amazing part of the indie author community. Samantha(s), Jamie, Jaimie, Jennifer, Beth, Angela, Andrea, Veronica, Joanne, Adriana, Debbie, Addi, Liza (Prosecco Princess), Brandie, Nikki, Pammy, Rose, Lauren, Kristina, Norielle, Colette, Trish, Rebecca, Sloan, Laura, Meeg, Cindy, Julie, Paige, Ivy Rose, Autumn, Justine, Ani… I could seriously add several thousand more words to this and not get all of the members. Thank you everyone for being awesome and dealing with my absences!

  Finally, you. Thank you for reading this book. Bloggers, thanks for reading and blogging about it. You have entrusted me with your mind and your time, and that means everything to me.