Trust Me

by Lacey Black

  “Okay Mommy!” she says as she turns and focuses her attention on the cartoons and her princess dolls.

  Holly and I head into the kitchen together. I grab a seat at the bar and she grabs us a couple of waters out of the fridge.

  “Spill. Your face is glowing this morning.”

  I take a sip from the water bottle and can’t help but smile as I begin to tell her all about the evening. I leave nothing out, from the slutty hostess and Maddox’s reply to the shopping on the pier. When I get to the part about returning to his place and his offer to take me home if I didn’t want to come inside, Holly is practically sitting on the edge of her stool.

  “So, you went inside, obviously. What happened when you went inside?”

  “We walked inside and barely got the door closed when I pulled him against me. He is an amazing kisser, Holly. Seriously, like the kind of kisses that make you forget what day of the week it is or even what your own name is. Someone could have asked me my birth date at that moment and I wouldn’t have had a clue! Things started to heat up pretty quickly at that point so we went back to his bedroom.” I glance up at her and add, “Didn’t even make it to his bed.”

  “Shut up! I am so freaking jealous of you right now, you know that, right? I can’t believe you just had amazing sex with Maddox Jackson. Lucky Bitch.”

  I laugh a little at her comment. “It was pretty amazing. It’s been so dang long that I was worried I’d forgotten how to do it.”

  “Oh, honey, they say it’s just like riding a bike. And I’m hoping that’s true because it’s been a while since I went for a ride around the block myself,” she adds with a giggle.

  “It definitely all comes back to you, especially when you have an expert riding partner.”

  “So what happened this morning when you woke up? Was it all weird and stuff?”

  “You mean after we had amazing shower sex?”

  “I’m really starting to hate you right now,” she mumbles as she takes a drink of her water.

  “Well, we were just getting back to his room from taking a shower when Jake started pounding on the door.”

  Her water bottle stops halfway back down to the counter, and she stares at me wide eyed. “Jake came over? What happened?”

  “Well, he didn’t know it was me who was there. I was basically hiding in his room while Maddox went out to deal with Jake. For the record, Maddox wearing nothing but a towel may be my favorite outfit I’ve seen him wear.”

  “Uhhhhhh! That’s a visual I am happily taking with me to bed tonight,” Holly remarks which earns her a playful slap on the arm.

  “Don’t you dare! Maddox had to leave this morning with Jake for work but we did get to talk for a few minutes before he left. We’re going to see each other on the sly and maybe see where it goes.”

  “What exactly does that mean? Maddox doesn’t exactly do dating.”

  “He said that, but he wants to spend more time with me. We agreed we wouldn’t date or sleep with other people while we are together figuring this out.”

  “Honey, do you think that’s wise? I mean, sex with Maddox is great but what happens when you want more out of him than he’s willing to give.”

  “Holl, aren’t you the one who encouraged me to go out with him last night? You’re the one who kept reminding me that he might be exactly what I’m looking for. Honestly, right now I’m not looking to get married. I want to date a little and have fun; things I haven’t been able to do very much in the past few years. I’ve been too scared to trust someone again, and I’m tired of sitting back and watching everyone else experience the things I want to experience too. And I like him. Like really like him. I want to spend more time with him.”

  “I want you to have all of that, believe me. And Maddox might really be the guy for you. I just don’t want to see you get hurt is all.”

  “I know. Chances are I’m going to get hurt in the end. I can’t exactly see Maddox settling down and getting married, can you? We’re gonna take it very slow. Besides, no one can know we’re seeing each other. Jake can never know. He’ll flip his lid!”

  “No shit! I don’t even want to think about what will happen if Jake finds out.”

  “Let’s just pray that never happens,” I said after I took another drink of water.

  “I am really, really happy for you, though.”

  “Thanks, Holl. I’m pretty darn happy for myself right now, too,” I reply with a smile.

  We pack up all of Brooklyn’s stuff and head out the door. The Mexican restaurant is two blocks away so we decide to enjoy the semi-decent October weather and walk. As we’re walking into the restaurant, my phone dings signaling a text message. After we’re seated in the booth, I retrieve my phone from my purse and see a text from Maddox.

  Make it home ok?

  I smile at his thoughtfulness as I type out my reply.

  Yes. Just walked into El Toro with Holly and Brooklyn.

  Sounds good. Jake and I were just arguing about lunch.

  Stop by here. We just got a booth.

  Can’t tell him I’m texting you tho. Gotta make it look like his idea.

  There’s a pregnant pause, and then I see him typing another reply.

  Done. Be there in a sec ;-)

  I look up at Holly and say under my breath, “Looks like we might have company. Act surprised.” Just as she starts to question me, I see her look over my shoulder with a smile of understanding stretches across her face.

  “Hey, sis. Didn’t know you would be here. Hi, Brookie Bean!” Jake leans down and kisses his niece on the cheek.

  “What are you guys doing here?” I ask.

  “Lunch time. Jake was in the mood for Mexican,” Maddox response with a sly wink.

  Jake slips into the booth with me which leaves Maddox to share a booth bench across from me with Holly. I try not to make too much eye contact with Maddox because I’m afraid everyone else will be able to see my secrets written plainly all over my face. Or at least Jake will see them. He’s the only one, in fact, who doesn’t know them at this table besides my daughter.

  As we munch on homemade chips and salsa, the guys tell us about their morning calls and stops including the one where Maddox got whacked on the head with a telephone book.

  “A telephone book? Seriously?” I ask.

  “Yep. We had to pick up the husband for another failure to appear. When we were heading out the door, the guy’s old lady walked up behind Maddox and nailed him over the head with the phone book.”

  I glance over at Maddox, my mouth gaping open, and ask, “Are you okay?”

  He chuckles and says, “Yeah, I’m fine. She caught me completely off guard with it though. She didn’t say a word the entire time we were cuffing her husband and reading him his rights. Then Jake leads him out to the squad car, I turn to follow out the door and she whacks me across the back of the head with the county phonebook. When I turned around, a little stunned, she tried to kick me in the shins. So, we went ahead and took her on down to the station, too, for assaulting a peace officer and interfering.”

  Our lunch arrives and we all dive into the delicious food. I keep catching Maddox looking at me out of the corner of his eye or whenever Jake is focused on Brooklyn. It makes me feel all schoolgirl giddy like when the boy you have a crush on is checking you out.

  After lunch is finished and we’re starting to exit the booth, Jake’s radio squawks to life. “Well, lunch is over, ladies. Looks like we have a call,” Jake says leaning in to kiss my cheek. He bends down and grabs Brooklyn, kissing her multiple times all over her face. “Who’s your favorite uncle?”

  “You,” Brooklyn giggles and kisses his cheek again.

  Jake starts to hand her back to me, but Brooklyn has other ideas. She reaches across Jake for Maddox, begging him to take her. “Maddox!” she exclaims. “I need a kissy.”

  Maddox reaches across Jake and takes my daughter. She grabs his face and gives him a big kiss on the cheek. He returns the affections and throw
s in a big hug on top of it. Jake looks over me with that eyebrow raises and says, “I didn’t realize Bean knew Maddox so well.”

  “She doesn’t. She’s just an affectionate child,” I claim without meeting his eyes.

  “Whatever. See you soon. Bye, Holly. Maddox, we gotta go,” he said as he walks out the front door.

  Maddox walks over and hands Brooklyn to me. As he leans in, I feel his nose slide along my jaw. I hear him inhale as he kisses the spot just below my ear where my neck meets my cheek. “Bye.”

  I take Brooklyn from him and give him a knowing smile. “Bye.”

  “Bye, Holly,” he says as he turns to walk out the door.

  We both watch as they go, get into their squad car and pull away. I feel the loss as I watch him get farther and farther away from me. But that view I was just treated to as he left? Well, let’s just say, I do enjoy watching him leave. Maddox’s ass in a police uniform should be illegal.

  The first twelve hour weekend shift is finally over, and honestly, I’m beat. Jake and I are heading towards my house so he can drop me off. “Vanessa coming back over tonight?” he asks.

  “Nah, I’m hanging at home tonight…alone.”

  “Want some company?”

  “Sure. Pull into the liquor store and grab some beer. I’ll call in the pizza while you’re inside.” Jake steers us towards the liquor store and while he’s inside, I call in a quick pizza order to the local pizzeria. Before he comes out, I also send a quick text to Avery.

  How was your day?

  She replies right away. Excellent. Met up with a hot guy for lunch today.

  I love her playfulness. It’s sexy as hell. Really? Anyone I know?

  Nope. Just some guy I’ve got my eye on.

  Well, tell him to get in line. You’re gonna be busy every day and every night for awhile

  Did you just get off work?

  Yep. Jake is coming over for pizza and beer.

  Sounds like fun. You boys behave

  Always. Talk to you soon.

  Bye

  I’m slipping my phone back into my pocket when Jake opens his truck door and gets in, sliding the case of beer behind his seat. “Pizza ordered?” he asks.

  “Yep. It’ll be there shortly.”

  Jake parks his truck behind mine in my driveway, and we head inside. Jake puts the already cold case of beer in the fridge, leaving two out, and we settle on the couch, flipping through Saturday night primetime movies and sports channels. We finally settle on the Bulls game and are just waiting for dinner to arrive. The doorbell finally rings, so I jump up and retrieve our dinner, pulling some cash and a generous tip out of my wallet as I go. Jake and I can do some serious damage to a large deep dish meat lover’s pizza.

  When a few crumbs of crust and a greasy stain of pizza sauce are all that remains in the box, I decide to try to get to the bottom of Jake’s quiet mood lately. He hasn’t said much at all tonight, and I can tell something is still bothering him. “So, what’s up with you, anyway?” I ask watching him to gauge his reaction.

  He sighs heavily before answering me with a vague, “Nothing.”

  “Obviously it’s something, Jake. What gives? You’ve been a more than a little quiet and a little shorter tempered than usual. You’ve already mentioned that you’re not sleeping well, so what’s going on?”

  He’s quiet so long that I think he’s ignoring my questions and just watching the game. “A couple of weeks ago when I was grabbing some groceries, I ran into someone we knew a long time ago. Remember Erin Anderson?”

  “Erin Anderson?” I think back to high school and dig for a memory of an Erin Anderson. “Oh yeah, redhead who was here for about a year or so in junior high. What about her?”

  “She’s apparently back in town. Said she was going to be starting a job here but wouldn’t elaborate about it.”

  “Okay. So, what’s the problem?”

  “When I ran into her in the aisle, she was turned towards the shelves and gave me a full side profile view. I couldn’t help but just stare at her. She’s this short, little redhead with big green eyes. She turned towards me and gave me a stunning smile. Then, it’s like she realized who I was and her smile faded faster than an ice cube on a hundred degree day. I tried to smile at her but she just turned away. So, I walked up to her and tried introducing myself and she responded with, ‘I know who you are.’ That was it. She turned her attention back to what she was looking at as if to just completely dismiss me, like I was no longer standing there.”

  “So, the great Jake Stevens was dissed by a girl?” I ask as a questioning smile appears on my face.

  “It wasn’t just that I was dissed, Maddox. When I asked her what her name was, she said, ‘Doesn’t surprise me that you don’t remember my name. Why would you? You only made my life a living hell in seventh grade.’ I had no clue what she was talking about and even asked her about it. The only thing she would tell me was her name was Erin, and then she walked away.”

  “Wasn’t that the girl you teased in seventh?”

  “Yeah, once I got home that night, I couldn’t get her out of my head so I called my mom and asked her if she remembered an Erin from when I was in school. She told me that Erin Anderson was only in school with us for less than a year. Her dad was in the military and she moved around a lot. Mom knew instantly who I was talking about because that’s the girl I got that in-school suspension for. We had to meet with her and her parents after school. Remember that shit?”

  “Absolutely. You teased and picked on her that entire year. She was the journal girl, right?”

  “Yeah, as soon as Mom started talking about it, I knew instantly who she was. I guess I just keep thinking about what a dick I was to her back in school. Apparently, she still thinks that of me because she wouldn’t even talk to me.”

  I sit there and watch as the play of emotions cross his face. I can’t tell if he’s upset that there’s actually a girl out there oblivious to his charms or if he might feel guilty for how he treated her twenty years ago. Could Jake finally have met his match?

  “So what are you going to do about it?” I ask and take another drink of my beer.

  “Nothing. She doesn’t want to talk to me, and I’m not gonna make her.” Jake then focuses his attention back on the game but I can tell he’s not actually watching the action on the screen. I’m glad that he finally told me what’s been eating at him. He’s apparently not going to do anything about it, but that’s not really my problem.

  After the game and Jake heads out, I grab my phone before climbing into bed. It’s after eleven and I can’t help but wonder if Avery is still awake. I don’t want to call her just in case she’s sleeping, so I settle on sending her a text.

  Sleeping?

  Nope. Reading. Jake leave?

  Yep, just left. We’re back on at 9am tomorrow morning.

  Well, you should head to bed then. Good night, Maddox

  Good night

  I hit send and then stare at my phone for a few more moments wondering if she’s going to reply. I’m just starting to set my phone back down on the nightstand when it rings. I glance down at the screen and smile when I see her name.

  “You’re supposed to be sleeping,” I answer in way of greeting.

  “Can’t sleep. My book just got scary.”

  “Scary? Do you need me to come over and protect you?”

  “Like check under my bed and in my closet for monsters?” she asks with a chuckle.

  “Definitely. I’ll have to check under your sheets, too. Maybe in your pajamas. You never know what kind of scary monsters can lurk within your pants.”

  “I didn’t even think about my pajamas,” she replies with mock horror. “Whatever will I do if there’s something in my pajamas?”

  God, I love her playfulness. “Well, first things first. I’m gonna need to take them completely off. That’s the only way to ensure you don’t have any monsters hiding anywhere.”

  “Makes sense. What happens after my
pajamas are off?”

  “See, that’s where my experience as a master monster hunter comes in. You can’t just look and know that everything is fine. You have to get your hands dirty, really explore the entire body. Between my hands and my mouth, I can make sure there are no monsters lurking anywhere.”

  “Sounds like you know how to do a very thorough job…of checking for monsters.”

  “Fuckin’ right. How about the next time I see you, I give you a thorough monster check?”

  “I think that sounds like the only way to keep me safe and sound from lurking monsters.”

  “Done. I’m on another twelve hours tomorrow. What time does Brooklyn go to bed?”

  “Around eight.”

  “I’m off at nine. How about I stop by after I’m off and check your bed for you?”

  “It’s a date,” she replies and I can hear the smile in her voice.

  We talk for another forty-five minutes until I realize it’s almost midnight. “I should probably go. You have work tomorrow morning,” she says which comes out more like a yawn.

  “Yeah, you sound like you’re ready to pass out. I’ll stop by then tomorrow night?”

  “Sounds good. I’ll see you then. Bye, Maddox.”

  “Sweet dreams, Avery.” As I hang up the phone, I can’t help the smile on my lips. I actually just spend almost an hour on the phone with a woman. I hate the phone. I hate talking to women on the phone. But, when I talk to Avery, there’s just something so natural and right about it. I could have talked to her all night if we both weren’t fighting sleep.

  I lie back on my pillow and get comfortable again. Tomorrow night. I’ll be exploring Avery’s perfect body tomorrow night, checking it for monsters. I smile, again, as I start to drift off to sleep.

  After I get Brooklyn bathed, in her pajamas, and into bed on Sunday night, I start to feel a little nervous about Maddox stopping by after work. I start to question whether he’s coming over because he wants to see me or because he wants sex. Maddox has never had a shortage of women willing to spend time in bed with him, but is that all he’s after with me? To score with his brother’s baby sister?