A Bad Case of You

by Taylor Holloway

  Faith nodded. “Yeah… next week.”

  What a perfect twist of fate. “Well, that’s even better than my initial plan, then,” I told her. “I was thinking we should just lie to Koels and tell her that she was going to visit her relatives, but now we don’t even have to.”

  “Well, she’s only going for a week.”

  “It’s still a week we wouldn’t have otherwise had.”

  She mulled it over. “And after her trip is over?”

  “We tell her that Koels is dating some other woman now and tell him the same story about her.”

  Faith arched an eyebrow at me. “My mom doesn’t date women.” Then she pursed her lips. “Although that would make things so much less complicated.”

  I rolled my eyes at her. “You know what I mean.”

  She sighed. “Yeah, but I really hate lying to my mom. I guess I was hoping your plan would be something other than just more lies.”

  I winced. Unfortunately, lies were all I had these days. Unless…

  “Can you convince her to stay in New York until Easter?” Perhaps my original plan could be adapted to be… true. That was better than lying, right?

  Faith blanched. When she spoke, her voice was wistful. “She’d love that—my grandparents are old and frail—but we don’t have the money.”

  There was an easy solution to that. Easier than Faith knew. “I have the money.”

  Her expression hardened. “I’m not taking money from you, Eric.”

  “But I—”

  “No.” Something in Faith’s expression made me think twice before pressing my suggestion.

  “How long is she staying for again?” I asked, trying to figure out to propose what I needed to propose without eliciting Faith’s wrath.

  “One week. She leaves next Wednesday and comes home the following Thursday.” I could see her wishing that she could extend her mom’s trip. It was clear on her face that was what she wanted.

  “The flights are already booked?”

  “Yes.”

  I took a deep breath. “I have a lot of frequent flier miles from going home to—”

  “No.” Her tone was flat.

  “What about if—”

  “No. No way.”

  I sighed. Faith wasn’t even listening. She was just digging in her heels and being stubborn. “Please listen to me. This is better than all the lies. I’m not suggesting this lightly.”

  She hid behind her menu. “I’m not a huge fan of the lies, either, but I’m not taking money from you, Eric. Not under any circumstances. I’d never be able to pay you back, and I don’t want that on my conscience, too.”

  I reached over to try and push the menu down a bit to see her eyes. “It’s not charity, Faith. We’re trying to achieve a specific objective. It’s not a gift. It’s an investment.”

  She peeked over the top of the faux-leather bound portfolio. “An investment?” Her expression was skeptical.

  I nodded at her. I seized on the idea. “Yes. An investment.” If my sister was here, she’d be screaming right about now. I drowned out Mary’s hypothetical voice in my brain with the possibility of seeing Faith happy. “You have to admit that this is better than lying to your mom.”

  Her huge eyes blinked. When they opened again, the skepticism was a shade less pronounced. “Is it?”

  I spread my hands in front of me. “You don’t think so? She could spend time with your grandparents until Easter. That way you wouldn’t have to lie to her about me, or your job, or Koels, or anything. She just comes home, and you tell her you’ve been promoted. Koels will have moved on by then, and I’m sure she’ll have forgotten him too.”

  I could see indecision warring behind Faith’s pretty features. She was conflicted. “She would love to stay up there and visit my grandparents. It’s been a year since she visited, and she misses them terribly...” She bit her lip. “It would definitely distract her from Koels.”

  “Will you think about it?” I asked. I’d learned better than to pressure Faith into an instant decision. The last time I’d done that, we’d gotten married.

  She nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

  “That’s all I can ask for.”

  I already knew that she was going to agree with the plan to send her mom on an extended trip to New York. I was beginning to get better at reading Faith. She wasn’t an easy person to decipher, but I was learning that putting her on the spot or pushing her past her limits was bound to back fire. Pushing her seemed to result in Faith choosing something that only caused us both strife. I was fairly certain that’s how we ended up married in the first place. If I just stood back and was patient, however, usually she came around to a logical conclusion. It might not be what I wanted, but it would be a reasonable answer or counterproposal.

  The waiter came by then to take our orders and I blindly selected something from the menu. I hoped it wouldn’t be too gross. When he was gone, I took a deep breath and looked Faith square in the eye. “There’s one other thing.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “About my mom and Koels?”

  I smirked at her. “Thankfully not.”

  She smiled back in obvious relief. “Good. Because I’m not sure I could take it. What is it?”

  I swallowed. My worry rushed back in. “We need to attend a social function together. We’ve been invited to a party at Dr. Ortega’s house.”

  Her eyes widened. The silence between us stretched. “What kind of a party?” she finally asked. Her voice was carefully neutral, and her expression matched.

  “Um, it’s a garden party.” I’d grown up going to plenty of garden parties with my mom’s circle of socialites. They were almost universally dull for kids, although every now and then someone would get together a game of football or dodgeball. Then we’d get in trouble for being loud. I hoped Dr. Ortega’s party wouldn’t be so boring.

  Faith took a deep breath of her own. “When?”

  “Next weekend. Saturday evening from two to six.”

  She nodded. The sleek black curls that were in her hair tonight bobbed forward. I’d never seen her hair curly before. It looked good. “Ok. I’ll need to get my shift changed, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  Now it was my turn to be shocked. My jaw was slack. “Really?” I’d been expecting a lot more of an argument. Faith hated all the lies, and this would mean she’d have to tell them to her colleagues faces (and put up with their wives).

  “This was part of the deal, right?” Her face was still suspiciously composed. “We’ve got to keep up appearances of being a blissful, married couple. I knew it would come to this.”

  “Right.” Somehow, I wasn’t trusting this reaction. I’m sure my face betrayed my skepticism.

  “So, I’ll just pretend to be madly and passionately in love with you for a few hours. How hard could it be? I already lie to my own mother about it. What are a few strangers?” She sighed and drew a frustrated hand through her curls.

  I could hear a simmering despair in her tone. Her face was flushed. “Faith…” I started to say.

  She shook her head and the curls bounced again. “It’s fine.” She took a deep breath in and out. “I’m fine. I’m just struggling with all the lies.”

  I nodded and worked up my courage. It was time to throw down the gauntlet. I wasn’t willing to wait any longer. “Not everything between us is a lie, Faith.”

  Her eyes widened. “You’re talking about the other night?” A faint blush spread across her cheeks.

  “No. Well, partly. I’m talking about how much I like you.” It was so much more than just the sex, although of course the sex had been positively unbelievable. I was fiddling with the cutlery and forced myself to stop. I reached out and grabbed her hand instead. “I think you like me, too.”

  “I do like you Eric.” Her voice was soft and hesitant, but she wasn’t pulling her hand away. “I’ve always liked you. I’m just also scared.”

  “Are you too scared to give us a real try?” I smiled enco
uragingly at her.

  “What sort of a real try?” There was a nervous twinge to her voice. Her hand was still resting in both of mine. It looked so tiny and fragile in my grasp.

  I arched an eyebrow at her. “Have you heard of dating? It’s this thing that normal people do instead of getting impulsively married while drunk.”

  She pulled her hand back across the little table and her dark eyes rolled back in her head. “I’ve heard of dating, Eric.” She then flashed a little smile at me. “I’m not very good at it, but I’ve even tried it a time or two.”

  “I’m not asking you to marry me,” I told her. It was too late for that anyway. “I just want to see where this goes.”

  She nodded, and my heart leapt. “I want to see where this goes, too. At least until Easter.”

  The food arrived then and distracted us. I discovered that I’d ordered some kind of a fancy kale omelet with tomatoes, anchovies, and feta cheese in it. It smelled unique but tasted pretty ok all things considered. Not my favorite, and the anchovies were going to make my breath smell atrocious, but the wine went nicely with it and the dish could have been much worse. My conversation with Faith turned to other topics and I tried to focus.

  I felt like I’d won a partial victory tonight. Faith had said she’d give us a try until Easter. That gave me the precious time I needed to make her fall in love with me. I had to figure out a way to do that because I was becoming increasingly clear that I’d been onto something when I’d married her on New Year’s Eve. The marriage part was a huge mistake but choosing Faith had been a stroke of genius. Faith wasn’t just beautiful, sexy, and smart. She was a kind-hearted person. A good person.

  I needed to make Faith fall in love with me because every time I thought about not having her in my life it made me want to get down on my knees, cry and beg. My heart pounded desperately in my chest and I felt like I was going to fall over and puke my guts out. None of that was a good look for a grown man. So, I had to make her fall in love with me. And now, at least, I had until Easter to do it.

  25

  Faith

  Once again, I found myself at Eric’s apartment. I seemed unable to resist him. Mostly, I didn’t want to. Especially tonight.

  Caroline was right. There were no guarantees in life. There was only finding happiness when and where you could and holding on to them while you could. That’s what I was going to do with Eric.

  All my life, I’d been careful. I’d been waiting for my life to begin, and now that it had, I was done fighting it. The last time I’d been in Eric’s arms I’d been desperate to forget myself. Tonight, I wanted to remember myself.

  I was pouncing on him before he knew it. Our momentum carried us against a wall and he laughed low in his throat. The rumble of it shook through my body and his lips against mine drew up in a smile.

  “I like you like this,” he told me.

  “I like me like this, too.”

  And then he was kissing me again and I was unbuttoning his shirt and running my fingers down the sculpted muscles of his abs. I’d really hit the jackpot with Eric. He worked my shirttail out from my waistband and lifted the hem up over my head. His appreciative expression told me he felt like he’d won something too.

  He kissed my neck and then my nipples, carefully lavishing attention on me until I was panting. I wondered if I looked as lost and wanton as I felt. Was it always like this? I’d been missing out.

  “Will you stay the night?” Eric whispered in my ear.

  “Convince me.”

  He turned us so that it was my back against the wall instead of his, and scooped me up, settling my legs around his waist. I held onto his strong shoulders.

  “Gladly,” he answered. “I can do that.”

  My body was starting to ache, deep inside. There was only one way to fix it. One cure for what was ailing me. I leaned in again and kissed him. His tongue teased me, flicking in and out and exploring every inch of my mouth with a skill I’d never hope to possess.

  My skirt was bunched up around my waist, and when Eric slipped a hand between my thighs, I knew that he could feel how much I needed him. I was as ready as I’d ever been. My panties were soaked through. We weren’t going to make it to the bedroom this time. We were going to do this right up against the wall.

  We fumbled against one another, feeling our way closer and closer. Eric produced a condom from his pocket and moments later we moved together in a deep, slow shove that seemed to go on and on. We found a gentle, easy rhythm. The feeling of fullness and possession was still unfamiliar and intense. But I needed it.

  Eric’s arms tightened around me. “Are you ok?”

  I nodded and panted, “don’t stop.”

  He didn’t. My heart pounded against my ribs as we moved deeper, closer, and harder against one another. I held onto his biceps, leaning into every movement and thrust. Eric moved in and out of me relentlessly. Excitement was building in me like a rising tide. It was all I could do to keep my head up and my eyes open.

  Eric’s hands slid up my thighs to grip my ass, squeezing hard as he took me. I relished in how his green pupils dilated to a slim ring of color and his lips parted. It was knowing that he needed this as much as I did, that he was as desperate for my body as I was for his, that pushed me over the edge. I gasped my way to climax, clenching hard around his long, thick cock.

  Eric shifted us, pulling out of me and leaning me face forward over a chair. I was nearly as limp as a ragdoll. He leaned back against me, penetrating deeply from behind. I made a surprised, pleased noise that earned me a chuckle from Eric.

  “Like that do you?” Eric teased.

  “Maybe.”

  “Are you always such a challenge in the sack?” I could tell he liked it.

  I didn’t exactly know what I was like in the sack. I was still figuring that out. I smirked against the cushion. “Maybe.”

  He laughed again, kicking my legs further apart and pushing deeper inside me. I shut up when he started to move. Whatever my sex preferences were, this was one of them. I pushed back against him eagerly.

  We moved together again, pushing me back up towards climax with every thrust. I hadn’t known it was possible for me to climax without any pressure directly on my clit, but apparently, I could. I moaned my way through a second orgasm facedown. Eric was a few hard thrusts behind me. We collapsed on the ground a moment later, naked, sweaty, and breathless. I nuzzled into the hollow between Eric’s neck and shoulder, reveling in the joy of nearness.

  “So, did I convince you to stay the night?” he asked eventually. He was lazily petting my back with his fingertips and it felt positively divine.

  I smiled and sighed. All the anxiety was still there in my brain, but it was now safely confined behind a wall of pleasure. “Considering that I don’t think I can walk, yeah you did.”

  “Good.” He looked proud of himself.

  The truth was that I had no clue what to do. I had no idea what to do about my mom, my marriage, my career, Eric, none of it. I had no idea what I was doing. All I really knew was that I was happy right now, in this moment. It might all come crashing down tomorrow, hell, it probably would all come crashing down tomorrow, but I was going to stay the night.

  26

  Faith

  It was mid-February when Sam’s memorial service finally took place. Vanessa had just been discharged from the hospital earlier that day. Her injured arm was in a strange-looking sling that kept it crossed over her chest and up above her heart. I knew from experience that she would only ever regain between sixty and eighty percent use of that left arm, but it really was a miracle that she had it at all. Caroline and I drove with her to the memorial service.

  After the memorial service we sat outside Caroline and Vanessa’s apartment for a long time. I don’t think any of us was ready to go inside yet. The three of us girls had hung out a thousand times before, but now things felt different. Of course, it made sense that it would be different—Sam was dead—but his absence felt e
specially real today. It was still hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that someone so full of life was gone forever.

  “I really appreciate that you two came with me,” Vanessa said to us, looking stronger than I would have thought possible given what she’d been through. “I know you don’t know any of Sam’s family or anything.”

  “We wanted to go,” I answered for us both. “He was our friend.”

  Vanessa nodded, and her eyes slid off mine and back out the window. She’d been quiet on the drive over, but she wasn’t crying. I couldn’t imagine what must be going through her mind. I didn’t really want to.

  “So,” Caroline said after a minute, “what are you and Eric doing for Valentine’s day this weekend?”

  She was clearly trying to keep our collective minds off the funeral, but I brightened despite the obvious diversion. Thoughts of Eric tended to make me happy no matter what the situation was. “Eric’s going to cook for me.” I smiled in anticipation. I’d never had a boyfriend cook for me. Or a husband, obviously. “And he sent me flowers.”

  They’d been beautiful flowers too, all pink and purple roses. I saw a lot of flowers working in a hospital, so I’d become somewhat of an expert on their quality. These were quality flowers.

  “It’s so weird that you’re married now Faith,” Vanessa said. Her voice was distant rather than resentful or sad. “I really thought I was going to beat you two to the altar. I had the dress and everything.” She made a face. “I thought about wearing it today with a black veil to be extra dramatic—you know, crying on the casket and throwing myself around like a crazy person—but I couldn’t get the thing on over this stupid sling.” Vanessa’s approach to the loss of her fiancé and the near-loss of half her arm was pure sarcasm and black humor.

  “I’m not sure being fake-married counts,” I replied.