Fade to Black

by Unknown

  Her phone rang, and she found herself praying that it wasn’t Jesse. After the wonderful night sleeping in Rich’s arm, not to mention the glorious hour she’d spent making love with him, having to pretend that everything was normal would be excruciating. Kate wouldn’t be able to hide her infidelity for long. Jesse knew her better than she knew herself sometimes and would sense that something was horribly wrong.

  “Hello?”

  “Is this Kate Callahan?” The authoritative tone made her heart nearly leap out of her chest. There was something recognizable about the deep voice speaking to her, and Kate knew she should recognize it but couldn’t place who it belonged to.

  “Yes. Who’s calling?”

  “Kate, it’s Reggie Brown.”

  Knowing the who of things allowed her to relax—a little. “Good morning, Chief, what’s up?”

  “Actually, um… Kate, I don’t…”

  An uncomfortable half laugh burst out. “Come on, Reggie, it can’t be that bad.”

  “Well, it’s your apartment…” He paused again.

  “Dammit, Reggie, spit it out. What the hell is wrong with my apartment? Did it burn down?”

  “Someone broke into your apartment, Kate.” His words rushed out, and she could see him, in her mind’s eye, rubbing his hand over his stubbly chin.

  “Oh.” Well, that wasn’t too bad. It certainly wasn’t good, but possessions could be replaced. “How bad…”

  “Kate,” he interrupted her, his voice soft and serious, “do you have any enemies?”

  “Enemies?” The question came out a strangled groan.

  “There was some…vandalism.”

  “What kind of vandalism?”

  “It seems to be a crime targeted at you…a crime of…passion,” he whispered as if he were embarrassed to be discussing this with her.

  “Reggie, I’m a big girl. Please just give me the details.”

  A deep breath resonated through the line. “It seems that the only things that were touched in the apartment were your, uh—” He coughed softly. “—your lingerie.”

  The air left her lungs in a small gasp. Shea, her thoughts screamed. Holy hell!

  “It was shredded, all of it, and every mirrored surface in the place has the word ‘whore’ written across it in red lipstick. As far as we can tell, there’s nothing missing, but we’ll need you to verify that. How soon can you meet with me?”

  “I was planning on coming home in about a week.”

  “Can it be quicker than that? The sooner we get going on this, the better…within the next forty-eight hours would be best.”

  Blood boiled in her veins, her heart ready to explode with the heat of it. Damn, Shea. “I’ll see what I can do. Let me make a few calls and I’ll let you know.”

  “This is my personal cell phone, call me back so that I can make arrangements.” The line disconnected with a click.

  Kate stared at the phone for a moment, caught up somewhere between numb and completely pissed off. Her finger pressed a few numbers, and she waited for Jesse’s answer, while her stomach twisted in guilt-induced knots.

  “Hey, baby.”

  “Hi, I have to get back.” No need to pussy foot around the subject.

  “Why?” She could hear the disappointment in his voice—and the worry. “What’s wrong?”

  A sigh rushed from her lungs. “I got a call from Chief Brown this morning, and someone broke into our apartment just to destroy stuff.”

  “I’ll strangle the sonofabitch.”

  “I don’t know how bad it is. I have to get back and do a walk through with them as part of their investigation. But I don’t know what to do about the car, and there are still clothes at my parents’ house.” The words rushed out in an emotion-filled rant. She hoped that Jesse would just chalk it up to the break-in and not the fact that she had completely betrayed his trust.

  “Kate, sweetheart, it’ll be okay. Dad is doing so much better, and I was going to suggest that we both go home this weekend. I’ll go get the clothes at your parents’, then work something out with the guys to get the car back.” He paused, probably formulating a plan in his head. “When I fly out of Sky Harbor, I’ll have the guys drive up to take the car back. We’ll work it out.”

  Another hardcore doze of guilt swept through her. “Okay. We’ll talk soon.”

  He replied in the affirmative and the line went dead. Replaying all the events of the last few minutes over in her head unleashed an onslaught of emotions. Kate was relieved that she had put off the inevitability of breaking Jesse’s heart for a few more days. She was overwhelmed by the intimacy that she had shared with Rich, furious with herself that she couldn’t muster a single ounce of remorse, and completely pissed off that his crazy wife had been in her apartment destroying her things.

  Giving into her anger, Kate closed the phone with a snap and threw it onto the bed. Seething irritation began to take over. Her eyes focused on the white door in the middle of the beige wall. She threw it open, satisfied when it slammed against the wall with a glass rattling bang then repeated the action with Rich’s door. “Rich Spencer!”

  The sound startled him, and he jumped, whipping around to face her. His eyes were wide, his mouth was open in a gasp, and his fingers were still stuck to the buttons of his open shirt.

  “Do you have any idea what that psycho woman you’re married to has done?” Fists formed at the bottom of her arms and slammed into her legs. “Dammit, Rich, she was in my apartment. My apartment!”

  “What?”

  Her blood ran cold as a shudder ripped down her spine. “How did she know where I live?”

  “How the hell am I supposed to know?” His head shook back and forth on his broad shoulders as his hand grabbed at a lock of messy, caramel hair.

  “This is your fault, you know?” Truthfully, there was no one to blame but herself. A fact she knew, but couldn’t bring herself to accept.

  “My fault?” he squeaked. “How is this my fault?”

  “She knew you loved me.” It came out as a whisper.

  “Love, Kate, present tense. I love you.” In three strong steps, he crossed the room and took her into his arms. “It will all be okay. Here, sit down.”

  Kate’s feet moved absently, following him to the bed. She leaned into the arm that was still around her waist, needing desperately to feel the strength and love emanating from him. Easing down on the bed, she watched him as he stood and took the cell phone from his pocket, pressed in a number, and held it to his ear.

  Anxiety spiked and fear threatened to consume her. If not for the smile on his face and his intense stare, she might have given into the churning of her stomach and vomited all over the floor.

  “Claudia Reynolds, please.” He paused, winking at Kate. “Rich Spencer. Thank you.” The phone tipped away from his ear, and he smiled. “It will be okay, Kate.”

  “Who are you talking to?”

  “It’s my… Yes, Claudia. Fine, thank you. Shea has gone too far now.” He explained to the Claudia person what had happened with Kate’s apartment and the suspicions of who had caused all the damage. “No, no proof at this point. I don’t care. I need to go through with the divorce, now.”

  Divorce? Kate heard herself swallow.

  “No, I’m not willing to wait anymore. I can’t. I need to move on with my life. How soon can you serve the papers?”

  Holy crap! Rich was speaking to his divorce attorney, requesting that Shea receive the papers. Rich was getting divorced. Divorced. He’d soon be free. Her mind was reeling with what that meant, with the possibilities. Was this because of her, because of what happened? She couldn’t allow that.

  “Thank you, Claudia.” Rich sighed. “That is such good news.” He closed the phone and rushed over, kneeling in front of Kate. His hands wrapped around hers. “Do you know what this means, love?”

  “You’re getting divorced?” came the monotone question.

  “Yes. Which means…?” he drawled out the last word, encou
raging her to finish the thought.

  Kate knew what he wanted her to say, and although they’d just experienced the most amazing sex, she still wasn’t sure what to do. Kate did love Rich, but she’d loved Jesse. She had promised Jesse her life, her heart, and her soul. But, somewhere along the line, Rich had crept his way in taking all three of those things.

  “Kate?” Gentle squeezes to her hand brought her back. “You okay?”

  “Rich, you can’t bank on what happened between us. It was amazing, and—” Her eyes drifted closed, and her body began to react to the memories of his hands exploring every inch of her body. “—and everything, but…Jesse is…”

  Strong, soft fingers flashed out and covered her lips stopping the rest of her words. “There are a lot of differences between him and me, I get that. But has it ever been like that with Jesse?” He kissed her gently. “Let me love you, Kate. You will never want for anything. You think he’s safe, he’s comfortable, and, right now, I’m the frightening unknown. But with me, you’ll always be loved, always be safe. Always.”

  “Rich.” She sighed and then let the words rush out. “I can’t kick the little voice in the back of my head that keeps trying to convince me that I’m nothing more than the rebound girl. You can’t get divorced because of me. It’s bad enough that I’m crazy in love with you. That you’re all I think about. That I’m supposed to be getting engaged to another man, and it’s you I want to wake up to every morning. ” Her fists slammed into the bed at her sides. “Dammit! My life is such a mess.” Tears burned her eyes and her throat began to constrict with emotions she didn’t want to feel.

  He chuckled softly as warm arms comforted her. “Kate, I can assure you that you are not the rebound girl. You are the only girl. That first day, when you stepped into the newsroom, I felt drawn to you. Then each moment since has been just another second that solidified how much I need you in my life.”

  “But you’re getting divorced because of me,” Kate blubbered.

  “No, love, I am getting divorced because Shea is a horrible person who gets off on being mean and nasty. Not to mention the fact that she hates me. Our loveless marriage was over a long time ago. The papers have been prepared for over a month.”

  “A month?”

  He nodded, taking her hands in his. “Kate, I was waiting in hopes of being able to get a protective order…to protect you. The station would be listed on the order as off-limits, which would mean that while you were working with me, you would be safe. Then if I slept out in front of your house, you’d be safe while you were home.”

  Her head moved back and forth as his words sunk in. “Rich, you were planning on sleeping in your car…in front of my apartment?” A nervous laugh escaped as she contemplated the absurdity of the thought. “That would thrill the hell out of Jesse to find you in the parking lot of our apartment complex.”

  “Kate, I couldn’t care less what Jesse thinks or feels. You are the only thing that matters. I love you. Since the moment I met you, part of me has loved you. You are like air to me. I need you to survive.”

  “I hate that I have to hurt someone that I care so much about, but that seems to be an inevitability at this point.”

  His tongue swiped along his bottom lip, spreading moisture as it went. “I guess the question is…who do you see yourself with forever?”

  Kate’s heart answered the question right away. Her mind took only seconds to confirm the answer, but it took a few beats of her heart for her to have the courage to voice it. She thought of all the times he’d starred in her dreams, all the times she ached for his touch, and missed him when they were apart. She’d tried—really tried—to fight the feelings she had for him, but in the end she’d only tortured Rich—and herself. And now was the time to offer him what she should have given him in the beginning.

  She launched herself off the bed and into his arms, knocking them both into the floor. She kissed his cheeks, his neck, his mouth. “You, Rich.”

  “Me? You’re sure?”

  “Rich, you are the one in my dreams. I need you in my life. When you’re not around, my whole body aches. I can’t survive without you either. Are you sure?”

  He nodded and pressed his lips to hers.

  Kate had one last request and prayed this wouldn’t ruin everything. Her hands moved up between them and pressed against him. He pulled away, his blue eyes searching her face for answers. “I have to ask you one thing. It’s really important me.”

  “Anything, love.” His smile consumed his face, his eyes twinkled brightly.

  “You’ve already waited so long, been through so much heartache, and I hate to ask you this, but I need more time. We can’t be together until I break things off with Jesse. This isn’t fair to him, and I hate that I’m hurting him. I do still love him.”

  His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard while considering the difficult request. “For you, I would wait forever.” The corner of his lip lifted. “But please don’t make me wait long. It feels like it’s been an eternity already.”

  She kissed him then laughed. “Come on, we’d better go if we’re going to make our flights.”

  His brows pulled together. “Flights?”

  “Oh, yeah. I have to go home to meet with Reggie Brown about the break-in. So finish getting your stuff so we can be there in plenty of time. Maybe we can rearrange the seating so we can sit together on the plane.” A smile was the reaction to that thought.

  “Kate, I cancelled my flight so that I could spend a few days in Vegas with my parents.”

  Disappointment soaked her like a bucket of cold water. “Oh,” she mumbled, fighting tears. Now that Kate had given into the desires of her heart, she never wanted to be away from him.

  He kissed her cheek. “You know what? I’ll just drive straight through and probably beat you home.”

  “You should at least stop in and say hello.” She wrapped her arms around him, loving the way they seemed to fit together like two pieces of a puzzle.

  “Yeah, I probably should. I’ll be home by the weekend, I promise.” He sealed the vow with a quick brush of his lips across hers. “And if you need me, I’m only a phone call away.” He pulled her close, his arms encasing her in a hug. “We’ll be together soon enough. Forever.”

  Stretching up on her tiptoes, she pressed her lips to his. “I love you, Rich Spencer.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “…Leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can,” Rich’s sexy voice said for the millionth time today.

  Fear and frustration bubbled violently in Shea’s stomach as it clenched into an uneasy knot. She tapped the sparkle-covered Blackberry against her red hued bottom lip before chucking it against the wall above her bed. Upon impact rhinestones and pieces of plastic flew in every direction. “Dammit, Rich, where the hell are you?”

  When she’d first started calling three days ago, after humiliating herself by surprising him in the wrong city, his phone rang incessantly before shifting to voicemail. But now, it would ring twice, maybe three times, before his voice would repeat the same message. His phone was on, it had to be, and he was avoiding her calls. Damn caller id! She didn’t even want to think of whose calls he was answering.

  Her fingers curled into fists, acrylic nails dug into the palms of her hands. She scowled at the woman staring at her from the mirror. “I’m his wife!” she screamed at her reflection. Fury hid just behind the unshed tears of aggravation.

  Rich was having an affair. There was no other explanation. She recognized the signs. Hell, she’d lived the signs.

  Cheating on Rich was the biggest mistake of her life. In those moments of unbridled infidelity, she’d thrown away any chance of true happiness. Her lungs filled with air, only to release it in a sigh. When Reese had rejected her, she’d had no choice but to return to the husband who loved her only because he didn’t know about her betrayal.

  Shaky hands rubbed violently at the tears that now rolled down her cheeks. She would not cry
. Tears meant irrational behavior and she needed to be rational. She needed her wits about her, if she was going to figure this out. There had to be a way to win him back. She’d held his heart once. Winning it back might be difficult, but surely, it wasn’t impossible.

  Shea slid perfectly pedicured toes into a pair of black strappy sandals and walked out into the living room. Despite the chilly late January weather, she wanted to look great when Rich finally came home. And since he wasn’t answering her calls, she would have to always look fabulous.

  The television was already on from when she’d been watching it while drinking her morning screwdriver. Alcohol consumption first thing in the morning was something that Rich detested, but she’d learned long ago that what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

  It has orange juice in it, she thought smugly before lifting the glass to her lips for another sip, only to spew the contents all over the room.

  The bitch was back.

  “…With photographer Nate Hughes, I’m Kate Callahan reporting for KHB.” She flashed a smile, making her eyes twinkle and her face practically glowed. The bitch mocked Shea.

  Rage began to build in Shea’s gut, plaguing her bloodstream with a seething venom that seemed to scorch as it flowed. Her hand tightened painfully around the glass in her fingers only to feel it slipping from her hold. It fell to the floor and shattered upon meeting the tile.

  Glass crunched under the soles of her shoes as Shea stomped through it to get to the medication that would take away all of these negative feelings. If she was going to get through this, she wouldn’t be able to do it without a little drug-induced help. The prescribed dosage was only one pill, but given what she’d just learned, she shook a few more of the little white pills into the palm of her unsteady hand.

  The waves of irritation at the mess of broken glass that had once contained her drink were washed away as her lips wrapped around the bottle of vodka. She tipped her head back and let the liquid burn its way over her tongue and down her throat. One gulp successfully did the trick, but Shea took another one for good measure.