Dark Corners

by A. m Madden

  “Nothing.” Angela threw me a conspiratorial look before standing and moving into Nick’s arms. David immediately took the seat she vacated beside me and put his arm across my shoulders.

  “Don’t listen to a word she said.”

  “I didn’t say anything bad. I was just telling Maygen how you two make such a gorgeous couple.”

  “Mind your business,” David quipped before turning to give me a playful wink.

  “Nope. Not happening.”

  “Do you know your sister at all?” Nick interjected.

  “Hey.” Angela elbowed him in the ribs. “Whose side are you on?”

  “Yours, baby. Always yours.” The Journey song “Faithfully” started to play in the background. Nick kissed her sweetly and said, “Dance with me?”

  Together they walked off toward the center of the room, where all the furniture had been cleared to create a makeshift dance floor.

  “They make such a great couple,” I said to David, watching the obvious adoration that Nick and Angela had for each other.

  “He’s the best thing to have happened to her. Nick’s a good man.”

  “He doesn’t seem like he’s in the FBI. He’s so laid-back.”

  “Not at work. My brother-in-law is a very intense agent. He’s great at what he does. There are plenty of assholes out there that hide behind their shields. Nick is one of the good guys.”

  “It’s almost midnight, everyone!” Eve exclaimed, slurring the word almost.

  “She’s tanked.” David laughed at his cousin as she attempted to get everyone’s attention by twerking.

  Jase walked over to his wife, took the glass of champagne out of her hand, and replaced it with a bottle of water. I couldn’t help but laugh as well. This Eve was nothing like the put-together professional woman I’d see at fashion shows.

  The large flat-screen was turned on to show the party happening across town in Times Square. The large digital display showed three minutes were left until the new year arrived.

  “Come with me,” David said, standing and holding his hand out for me to take.

  Without question, I accepted and allowed him to pull me away from the party toward the opposite end of the apartment. David moved us through the large state-of-the-art kitchen, where staff busied themselves by pouring out dozens of flutes of champagne. Some arranged chocolate-covered strawberries on shiny silver platters.

  He led us out a set of French doors and onto a rooftop patio, the cold air hitting us immediately. My mouth hung open in awe as I stared at the space around us. Tiny white lights strung over a teakwood pergola provided both light and privacy. An opaque canopy covered half the space, with one corner housing a very impressive hot tub.

  “Wow.”

  “That’s nothing,” David said. “Eve’s place in Chicago had one double that size, complete with heated deck, heated benches, and heated towel bars. She still pouts over missing her hot tub. We all feel she misses it more than her own brother,” he added with a chuckle.

  I envisioned what he described, and if this one was impressive then I could only imagine what her old one looked like.

  “She and Jase are so funny.”

  “They think they are,” he agreed with a sly smirk. “They are most definitely two peas in a pod, though. Jase always brags he asked her to marry him the night he first laid eyes on her two years ago this past Christmas Eve. It’s also when Angela met Nick. He was bartending undercover working on a case. Although Jase and Eve continued their relationship, Angela and Nick separated for a good part of those two years. Their reunion is fairly new.”

  “Fate, I guess.”

  David’s eyes found mine as he nodded slowly. “I guess. Come.” He led me to a cluster of cushioned chairs around a lit fire pit table that sat in the opposite corner under the frosted glass awning. Sitting first, he then pulled me onto his lap.

  We could hear the muted but excited voices through the doors to Eve’s apartment as well as the noise from other parties that were obviously happening in the vicinity. Even from the street below cheers and crowd noise could be heard as everyone counted down the final minute of the year.

  “This is amazing.”

  David wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer to his body. “It’s freezing out, but I’ll keep you warm. I just didn’t want to ring in the new year with all those nosey-bodies in there.”

  “Good idea,” I said, my teeth chattering on their own accord.

  “I don’t want you to get sick. We probably should have grabbed our coats first. Do you want me to run in and get yours?”

  “No. I don’t want to miss kissing you at midnight.”

  “Me neither.” His large hands ran over my back, trying to warm me as best he could. “Better?”

  “Yes.” Little did he know I’d sit out there completely naked just to be alone with him. I looked into his eyes, the fire before us causing his irises to shimmer in the most mesmerizing of ways, hypnotizing me where I was unable to look away.

  “The last thing I want to be doing this year is kissing you, and the first thing I want to be doing next year is kissing you.” At the final few seconds, with his arms completely wrapped around me, he leaned forward and nibbled my lips. He then morphed his sweet playful kiss into one that instantly caused a fire to build in the pit of my stomach, warming me from the inside out.

  The kiss was demanding and hungry and all David.

  Cheering and hooting erupted in the world around us, but all I heard was the pounding of the heartbeat within my chest, caused by the man who was jump-starting it with his lips. As I kissed David into the new year, I hoped the first ten minutes would be a great indication of what my whole year would be like….Actually, I prayed it would.

  Chapter 22

  David

  For the past two weeks I’d divided most of my time between getting my degree and being with Maygen. During her workdays I’d concentrate on my online courses. Evenings were spent either grabbing dinner together or eating in at her place. The sex was off the charts, the best I’d ever had in my entire life. It didn’t matter if it was slow and sweet or hard and dirty: Every time rocked my fucking world. And I’d be damned if I didn’t think of her every minute in between.

  Unfortunately, I’d disappoint her by leaving to head back to my place. I just couldn’t bring myself to stay over again. Every time I spent the night I’d had an episode, and each one was physical. They were nothing more than me gripping her arm or her wrist, but enough to freak me the fuck out. I tried to explain to her that it was temporary, would end when I worked things out, but she wasn’t buying it.

  In an attempt to entice me to come spend the night she initiated a long session of phone sex. The fact that she was even into that was hot as fuck. Swinging between being a sweetheart and a sexy vixen, she surprised me at every turn. After we calmed down from our synchronized orgasms, I hung up desperate to hold her in my arms. For the first time since returning from Iraq I resented my PTSD and decided I finally had a reason to beat it.

  Maygen cared about me in a way I wasn’t accustomed to. She asked me about my classes and what I thought I wanted to do. She thought mentoring or counseling other vets was a great fit for me. Hearing her encouragement might have been the kick in the ass I’d been waiting for. I suddenly wanted to get my degree, to move on and figure out what it was I’d do with myself. When I had lain awake in my bed in the middle of the night I wondered, Why the sudden ambition? Was it the approval of a gorgeous blonde I unknowingly needed?

  I denied that had anything to do with it, but I was lying to myself. One of my biggest lies was also denying what she meant to me, until my brother-in-law snagged my ass.

  “How’s your girlfriend?” Nick asked before taking another bite of his burger.

  “She’s great,” I responded without conscious thought.

  A brow rose above one of his eyes as he waited for my brain to catch up to what I’d just admitted. I had yet to divulge that Maygen was my girlfriend
to anyone—even myself. It wasn’t like I officially had asked her. Did people our age do that? The whole thing seemed ridiculous. Yes, we were exclusive, and yes, we’d been seeing a lot of each other, but still, what did that really mean?

  “Lose the grin; point taken. You tell your wife and I’ll tell her about the Nerf gun.” He told Angela he’d returned it, yet there it sat prominently in the corner of his office.

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “Don’t dare me, man. Is this why you invited me for lunch, to gossip like women?”

  “No, I really wanted this burger and needed you to pick it up because they don’t deliver,” he said with a shit-eating grin on his face.

  “Asshole.” I finished my lunch in one last large bite, crumpling up the greasy paper wrapper and throwing it at his head. “You owe me twelve fifty.”

  “I’ll give you thirteen; you can keep the change.”

  “I didn’t realize comedian was part of your job description. Maybe I should apply here. They’ll let any loser in.” I stood and said, “I gotta go.”

  “Where you running to? Oh, right, your online course. It couldn’t be an afternoon delight since your girlfriend is working. By the way, your sister said to ask you and Maygen to dinner on Saturday night.”

  “No can do. We’re going out to her dad’s place in the Hamptons for the weekend.”

  “Ah, that’s a very unboyfriend and ungirlfriend thing to do,” he said with a laugh. “She’ll be thrilled to hear this and will want you guys over when you get back.”

  “Your wife is a royal pain in my ass.” My phone buzzed in my pocket with a text from a number I didn’t recognize. Upon opening it, a simple request caused the burger I’d just consumed to feel like a brick in my stomach.

  Nick picked up on my sudden mood change and asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “Reed wants to see me.”

  “Reed? Maygen’s friend Reed?”

  “Yeah. That fucker has a problem with me.”

  Nick tossed his trash and stood to stretch. “Didn’t you say they were like brother and sister? Think back to how you treated Angela’s boyfriends, including me.”

  “Your point?” Deep down I didn’t think this was an act of brotherly overprotectiveness. “He asked if I could meet with him at Whitney Public Relations in an hour.”

  “You going?”

  “Fuck yeah. I need to see what he wants.”

  I stayed a little while longer, until it was time to head uptown. While on the subway, I ran all sorts of scenarios through my head. I wouldn’t put it past Reed to have looked into my financial situation, trying to use that to cause a problem between Maygen and me. I wasn’t with her for her money, and she knew that. I welcomed his attempt to ruin what was developing between us.

  The office building’s lobby was bustling with workers coming and going, the dinging of elevators providing the background noise to voices echoing off the marble entryway walls. I strode over to the security desk, announcing myself and whom I was there to see.

  “Look here, please,” the guard said, pointing to a desk-mounted camera. I stared into the lens and waited for him to snap a shot. A uniformed cop stood guard behind the desk, his eyes scanning every person who walked by him. This place was protected better than Fort Knox. I scanned the directory on the wall behind the desk to see if I recognized any of the other occupants. Most of the offices were advertising agencies, PR firms, and a few lawyers added for good measure—one-stop shopping of sorts for the person in need of representation.

  “Whitney PR is on the sixteenth floor,” the guard informed me before asking me to sign the clipboard he pushed toward me.

  The elevator was filled with employees returning from lunch, causing it to become a local to floor sixteen instead of an express. What felt like an hour later, the doors finally opened to Whitney Public Relations, Inc.

  An older woman who looked more suited to being a librarian sat behind the large mahogany desk answering phones. Without paying me much attention, she listened to whom I was there to see and pointed to a leather club chair, asking me to take a seat.

  Large photos of their most famous clients decorated the space. Nervously tapping my foot, I waited a few minutes before another bun-wielding woman in a business suit appeared. Was there a dress code here?

  “Mr. Cavello?”

  “Yes.”

  “This way, please.”

  I followed her down the hall, past cubicles and toward an office at the far end. She planted one short knock on the closed door that read REED CONLON, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, and opened it to a very large office with a spectacular view. I barely saw any of it because behind the desk sat a stern-faced Reed, and in one of the chairs in front of him sat Maygen.

  Maygen

  “What are you doing here?” David asked, confusion evident all over his face.

  I had to swallow before I could even attempt to speak. Since getting here an hour ago, the bile that had risen in the back of my throat hadn’t ceased.

  When I failed to respond, Reed did for me. “I asked her to come.”

  “Why?”

  “Have a seat, David.”

  If David was at all nervous, at all concerned about why this impromptu meeting was called, he sure as hell didn’t show it. In fact, he looked annoyed, pissed off for being summoned to my father’s offices.

  A chill ran through me, causing a shiver. His eyes focused on my arms as I attempted to warm myself. I wanted to leave. I really didn’t want to hear his side or to wait for him to deny it and tell Reed he was way off the mark. The proof was sitting in that folder on Reed’s desk. After I arrived, Reed had filled me in on what he discovered by accident. Dad was unreachable at the moment, and knowing David and I were heading to the Hamptons for a long weekend had Reed panicking to tell me what he found out before I made a huge mistake.

  “I’ve been fighting with myself whether to do this now or not. With Garrett away, and with things progressing between you, I decided Maygen needed to know what I found before you go off with her to the Hamptons for an entire weekend. I got your number from Garrett’s file.”

  Reed was right to tell me. I did need to hear my dad’s side of the story, but knowing what little I now knew made me sick to my stomach. From the evidence, David had played me for weeks.

  Reed cleared his throat and pulled out a large binder. Flipping it open, he glanced down at the pages before meeting David’s stare. “I stumbled upon something while looking for contracts Garrett needed me to sign. Since I can’t reach him at the moment, I called you down here to tell us why Garrett has been paying you weekly for the last six weeks. The first check is dated the day before you supposedly ran into Maygen on the street in front of her office. Care to explain?”

  David shifted in his seat, giving me a quick glance before looking back to Reed. This person beside me was suddenly a stranger. Gone was the sweet, funny David I’d come to know in the past few weeks. In his place was a man made of stone, with no emotion whatsoever evident on his face.

  My stomach churned as I waited for David to respond. I practically barked out and demanded that he do so. I wanted him to tell me his motive so I could get as far away from him as possible.

  “Garrett admitted that he received photos of Maygen a few months ago.”

  “Yes, these photos?” Reed pulled out an envelope and then slid out several pictures that were taken of me. Ironically, the fact that I was being followed wasn’t even the worst part of this whole thing. Some pictures showed me coming from or going to work, some at lunch with Betha, a few entering my apartment building.

  “Yes.”

  Reed pinned David with his glare and said, “Garrett contacted you?” David folded his arms, remaining silent. “Can you answer the question?”

  “Garrett reached out to his brother George for help first. George told Garrett no crime was committed, and the best course of action was to hire someone to keep an eye on Maygen.”

  “So he hired you to b
e her paid escort? Isn’t that what you’d call yourself?”

  “No.” David clenched his jaw tightly and at the same exact time clenched a fist that rested at his side. “George suggested Garrett hire me to keep an eye on his daughter.”

  Reed then pulled out a series of check stubs, all detailing payments from my father to David, dating back to the day before we met.

  “I see Garrett paid you well to watch over Maygen. I can guarantee that he didn’t pay you to seduce her.”

  “I didn’t seduce her,” he responded through gritted teeth.

  “No? Then what was your intention as you accepted such generous compensation from her father?”

  “Maygen, I can explain.” David reached for me. I instantly recoiled from his touch, my response causing him to flinch.

  “I need you out of here. I can’t even look at you.” My words were barely audible, but he heard me loud and clear. Tears immediately filled my eyes and spilled over my cheeks, betraying my attempts to act indifferently. It killed me that he could see how much this was hurting me. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

  “I need to talk to you, alone.” David looked to Reed, who shook his head.

  “That’s not a good idea. Until we speak to Garrett, please stay away from her. She wants you to go.”

  “No!” David grabbed my hands between his. “Maygen, just give me a chance to—”

  “Go!” I barked, snatching my hands out of his grip. He stood dumbfounded, but refused to budge.

  My eyes flew to Reed pleadingly. “David, don’t force me to call security.”

  “Maygen…”

  “Just go. Please don’t cause a scene.”

  Wordlessly, he turned and walked out without a backward glance, while pulling the door shut with a resounding click. The sobs came hard and fast, and Reed’s attempt to console me did little to stop them. I was stunned. I couldn’t believe David did that to me.

  I felt completely betrayed by my father and his inexcusable reasons why he felt keeping this from me made sense, but more so by David for using me as he did.