This Obsession of Mine (Raine Series #5)

by Amanda Bennett

  I held my breath as the phone began to ring, and I could only pray that he wouldn’t answer and that I would be forced to leave a voicemail. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that lucky.

  “Well there’s my baby girl. I was starting to think that you had forgot all about your dear old dad.”

  “Hi Daddy. Of course not. I would never.”

  “Well what do I owe this pleasure to?”

  “I just wanted to check in with you and see how you’re doing today?”

  “Is that a question? You sound confused. What’s going on with you, sweetheart? I’m getting worried.”

  “Daddy, I need you to sit down for a minute.”

  “Oh dear lord, what did you do now, Diem?”

  “It’s really not that bad, Daddy. Just remember how much you love me.” I took in a deep breath, and told him the god’s honest truth. “I’m in Texas.” I waited for some shouting or yelling, but the line was so quiet, I had to pull the phone away from my ear to see if he was still there. “Daddy?”

  “Where in Texas are you?” His voice was stern, and I could tell that he was holding back the anger I could sense in his tone.

  I took in a deep breath, “I’m in Abernathy.” I knew he was about to flip out on me, but he had to know the truth.

  “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN THAT GOD FORSAKEN PLACE?”

  I knew the shouting would ensue the minute I answered, so I tried to hurry and get out my answer. “I actually came here for…” before I could even answer, he was yelling again.

  “THIS IS BECAUSE OF THAT BOY ISN’T IT? HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO WARN YOU ABOUT GUYS LIKE HIM?”

  “Daddy, you don’t even know him.”

  “I know that he somehow figured out a way to convince my daughter to leave her home, and go somewhere she has never been, and that’s enough for me.”

  “Daddy, you do understand that I am twenty, right? Technically I don’t need your permission to leave the country. I’m sorry I lied to you about where I was going, I really am, but you have to stop suffocating me. Daddy I love you, but you have to let me go…a little.”

  I heard him take in a strangled breath and I could tell that my words were affecting him, even more so than I thought they would. “Okay, I’ll ease up…a bit, but you have to promise me that you will call me once a day or at least send a text so I know you’re okay. Deal?”

  “Deal.” I could no longer hide the excitement in my tone. “Thank you so much, Daddy. I love you so much.”

  “I love you too, baby girl. Please be safe.”

  “I will. I promise. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Sweet dreams, baby girl. Love you.”

  “Love you too, Daddy.”

  I hung up the phone and threw myself back on the rundown hotel bed. It was a far cry from my comfortable mattress in my flat back home, but it would do. I relished in the thought that I had finally gotten through to my father, and for once he understood that I needed to do something for myself.

  The next morning I woke up at the crack of dawn, and tried to find out where Joey lived. I was able to find where his parent’s house was, but given what I knew about Joey, I was willing to bet that he would be at his wife’s house. I sat there staring at the blank computer screen in front of me while I tried to remember the name of his faux wife. And just then, it hit me. I ran a quick search through the Internet to find Joey, and sure enough…she popped up. Her name was Tanya Lee, and lucky for me, it had an address.

  Just a short while later, I was climbing into my rental car and punching the address I had found online into the navigation system. It showed that her place was only fifteen minutes down the road, so I turned the key over, bringing the car to life, and then started making my way in the direction that the American voice was telling me.

  When I pulled up a few minutes later, I sat in my car staring out at the small, dilapidated house in front of me. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but maybe it was beautiful on the inside. Adrenaline was coursing through my veins, and I was suddenly extremely nervous. I wasn’t the type to start a fight with anyone, but I had to know what this whole “marriage” thing between the two of them was all about.

  I knocked at least a dozen times, but nobody answered. I peeked through a few windows to see if anyone was home, but I could only see the living room, and it looked empty. I let out an aggravated sigh. Of course he wasn’t here. I thought about leaving a note for him, but I wasn’t quite sure who would receive it, him or her. Instead, I simply got back into my car and made my way back to the hotel.

  When I got back to the hotel, I was gobsmacked to see Joey standing in the car park. I quickly turned into a space, and jumped out of the car. I wanted to run to him. I wanted him to swoop me up in his arms and squeeze me so tight that he would never let go. Unfortunately, that’s not quite how it went. As I neared closer to him, I could see a look of frustration on his gorgeous face. The same face that I had dreamt about every day since the day he left London.

  “Hi, love.” My voice was small and quiet which was so unlike me.

  “Hi sweetheart. What are you doin’ here?” His voice was curt, and threw me off a bit.

  “I came here for you.”

  “But why? I told you, I’m married now.”

  “I know what you told me Jo, but I just can’t bring myself to believe it. How could you tell me all the things you have, and then turn around and marry some other girl?”

  “We can’t talk out here.” He was acting extremely weird, but I invited him to my room regardless.

  As we both walked in and shut the door behind us, Joey quickly pulled me into his arms, pulling me as close as two people could be. His lips came crashing down on mine, and my hands instantly flew up to his face, pushing back through his hair and pulling his lips deeper against mine. My heart jumped up into my throat, and my knees began to get weak with every passing minute. As much as I wanted to continue to stay exactly as we were, I knew I also needed answers. I slowly pushed him back from me, and our lips parted ways. When he gave me that cute look of confusion, I couldn’t help but giggle at him.

  “Well that was quite a hello.” I whispered as I tried to regain my composure.

  “I’m so sorry, Diem. You have to believe me, this is not what it seems.”

  “Then what is it, Jo. Because I’m having a really hard time with all of this.”

  “When did you get here?”

  His question caught me off guard, but I knew if I wanted answers from him, that I would have to be willing to do the same for him. “I got into town yesterday. After our last phone call, I had to see you. I needed you to tell me to my face that you have moved on.”

  Joey moved closer to me, pulling me into a tight, warm embrace. “Of course I haven’t moved on. You’re the love of my life.”

  With those words, I melted. I completely caved, and gave in to every single thing this guy wanted from me. He told me all about why him and Tanya had to marry, and I found myself in awe of this man sitting before me. What a selfless individual to help someone out like that, but I was still left with one question…why?

  My plan had gone all to pot.

  Their marriage was dodgy, and I was about to prove it.

  Chapter 5

  Joey

  I walked into the diner and glanced around for my angry big brother, and as soon as I spotted him I regretted even coming here in the first place. I slowly made my way over to the far booth that he was sittin’ in, grabbin’ a menu on my way. When I slid into the seat across from him I could feel the anger and disappointment radiatin’ off of him. This was bound to be an awesome talk.

  “Hey, how’s it goin’?” I was tryin’ to be nice to him, but I was findin’ it hard.

  “It’s goin’.” He grumbled.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t bring the whole dream team to gang up on me.” I laughed, but Glenn wasn’t findin’ me amusing at this particular time. “Geez man, lighten up.”

  “How am I supposed to
lighten up when you ran out and got married to the first girl who said yes.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean? You think I would just marry anybody who would say yes?”

  “Let’s see, I’m pretty sure that you were still in love with Kayla not too long ago, and despite the fact that you sleep with everything that walks, yeah I guess I am sayin’ that.”

  Now I was just gettin’ pissed. I leaned forward, pointin’ my finger straight at Glenn, “You sound a little bit jealous there, buddy boy. Are you sure you aren’t just mad because I married her even though she is your ex?” I sat back in my glory knowin’ that I had just struck a nerve with him.

  “That’s rich, you big baby. No, I’m not jealous that you married my ex, who is still in love with me by the way, so good goin’ on that. Like I said, you were still in love with Kayla last time I checked.”

  “I’m not in love with her, trust me. And she’s married to Madison, I mean…really? You can’t be that stupid.”

  “Jo, just tell me why y’all got married, because I know it’s not because you two are madly in love with one another. I know Tanya, and I know what her in love looks like, and she was lookin’ at me in that way, more than she was lookin’ at you, her husband, in that way. So what’s the deal?”

  “No deal, big brother. I told you, we are in love.”

  Glenn slammed his fists down on the table makin’ the salt and pepper spill all over the table, and that’s when I knew I had to tell him. “Look, I want to tell you, I really do, but I can’t.” I could tell he was still pissed and wanted more info, but there was only so much I could tell him without incriminatin’ Tanya or myself. “All I can say, is that we have to play the happy couple.”

  “Jesus, Jo. What did you get yourself into? Do you need help?”

  Glenn was finally calm, and I was thankful that I finally had my normal brother back to kind of talk to. Even though I couldn’t tell him everything, I knew that I could tell him bits and pieces and he wouldn’t tell anyone. Well at least I was goin’ to have to make him promise not to. If any of this ever got out, Tanya and I would both seein’ the inside of a jail cell.

  “I don’t need help, but I do need you to promise me that you won’t repeat any of this to anyone. I’m serious, not even Cami.”

  “Must be serious if I can’t even tell her. But okay, I promise.”

  “So, a while back somethin’ happened, somethin’ bad, somethin’ I can’t say. Anyway, I had to marry her. Trust me, I didn’t want to, but I had to. Honestly, I’m in love with someone else, but obviously I can’t be with her because of all of this crap, but yeah. That’s all I got. Oh, and she sure has somethin’ planned for you, so I’d watch out.”

  “Jo, what the hell? And who is the girl that you are in love with? It’s not Kayla is it? Because you just said so yourself that-“

  I quickly interrupted him, “No, it’s not Kayla. Her name is Diem. She’s from London.”

  Glenn practically choked on his coffee as his head snapped up in horror. “When the hell did you meet someone in London?”

  “You know that senior trip my class took right before graduation? Well, that’s when I met her. We spent almost the entire time together. It sounds cheezy, but when I left, it was like a part of me stayed there with her, and now she’s here and I don’t know what to do. I’ve got crazy ass Tanya on the one hand, who I’m married to, and then I have this amazing girl on the other hand who flew all the way to Texas against her family’s wishes, and there’s not a single thing I can do about it.”

  “Wait a second, she’s here? When did she get here?”

  “A little bit ago.” I lied.

  “Does she know, about Tanya?”

  “Yeah, she knows, and the shitty thing is…she’s willin’ to wait for my dumbass.”

  “WOW! She must really like you, Jo.”

  “Yeah, how dumb is she?” I huffed. “Glenn, I don’t know what to do. I can’t ask a girl like her to wait around while I play house with Tanya. It’s not fair to either of us.”

  “Holy shit, Jo. I’ve never heard you talk about a girl like this. She must be somethin’ special.”

  “She is.” I muttered into my coffee.

  “Jo, why don’t you tell me everything, then I can help you. There has to be somethin’ we can do.”

  I knew Glenn was genuinely concerned about me, but I wasn’t sure if tellin’ him everything was such a good idea, that’s just one more person involved that shouldn’t be. And with all the crap him and Cami have been goin’ through over the last year, it didn’t really seem fair to get him caught up in all of this crap.

  “I can handle it, Jo.”

  “I know you can handle it, but it’s Cami I’m worried about. Y’all have enough to worry about.” I continued to sip on my cup of coffee as Glenn sat there starin’ at me with a dumbfounded look on his face.

  “I wanna meet her.”

  I looked up at him in shock, “Who?”

  “The girl that you’re in love with. If I can see that she loves you and you love her as much as you say y’all do, then I’ll help you, no questions asked. But if for one second I believe it’s all just puppy love, and crap, then I’ll leave you be, and you can figure this whole ordeal out on your own. And don’t worry about Cami.”

  I shook my head in disbelief, “Are you serious right now?”

  “As a heart attack. So call your girl and let’s go see her.”

  I pulled my cell phone from the front of my jeans, and quickly dialed her number. As it continued to ring, I was startin’ to lose faith in what we had. Maybe she had enough, and already headed back home. I was about to hang up when her angelic, accent filled voice answered.

  “Hi, love. I was just wondering if I was going to hear from you.”

  “Good morning, sweetheart. Hey, so are you able to come down and meet me and my brother at the diner up the street from your hotel?”

  “I believe I could manage that. I’ll be there shortly.”

  “Okay, see you soon.” I hung up and looked up at my brother who was grinnin’ from ear to ear. “She’ll be here shortly.”

  “Man, I never thought I’d see the day where my little player of a brother finally found someone who he wanted to keep for longer than a weekend.”

  “Ha ha, you’re funny. Please don’t get on her too much. She hasn’t met anyone, and I’d like to keep it that way for as long as I can.”

  “Fine, fine.” Glenn held his hands up in mock surrender.

  About twenty minutes later, my gorgeous Brit came walkin’ through the diner door. When the bell chimed to alert the workers that someone had just came in, I turned slowly in her direction, completely caught of guard by her beauty. She had long, gorgeous blonde tendrils that hung just below her bra strap, and her electric blue eyes made my breath hitch in my throat every time I saw her. I stood and met her at the door with a huge hug and a peck to her cheek. I didn’t need the town spreadin’ gossip around and it gettin’ back to Tanya. I led her back to the booth where Glenn was now standin’, waitin’ for us.

  “Diem, this is my brother Glenn. Glenn, this is Diem.”

  Glenn held out his hand to shake hers, “It’s a pleasure to meet ya.”

  “You as well, Glenn. I’ve heard loads about you.”

  “Sit down, sweetheart. You want anythin’ to eat or drink?” She simply shook her head, and scooted into the booth, then I took a seat next to her, my arm instantly going around her neck and pullin’ her close to my side.

  “So, you like our Joey, do ya?”

  “Indeed. He is quite a catch, this guy here.” Diem poked my side and I couldn’t help but smile at how playful she was. “Well I know he thinks very highly of you. You seem like a fantastic brother.” I could tell by the look on Glenn’s face that she was already winnin’ him over. Maybe it was the British accent.

  “That’s nice to hear. So how long are you stayin’ in the states?”

  Here we go.

  “Not quit
e sure yet. I guess that all depends on how things play out here, but I’m hoping for quite a while.” She smiled up at me, and my heart began to melt.

  “So Jo tells me that you know all about his predicament. And you’re okay with that?”

  “I mean, I found it hard to believe at first, but now that I know more, I know he’s just doing what he feels is right.”

  “Glenn, stop with the interrogation, please.”

  “It’s okay, love. I don’t mind answering questions. I know it seems rather fast, but I do love Joey, very much in fact. I’ve never met someone quite like him. He’s the most kind and gentle man I’ve ever known.”

  Glenn let out a small laugh, “Are you sure we’re talkin’ about the same guy?” Diem looked at Glenn questionably, “No, I’m just playin’. Jo is one of the good guys, that’s the truth. Well, I’m gonna take off, I have some stuff to take care of before I head home. Jo, can you walk me out real quick?”

  I nodded, and placed a chaste kiss to Diem’s cheek as I excused myself.

  “It was a pleasure to meet you Glenn. I do hope we get to know each other better at a later date.”

  “Absolutely, Diem. The pleasure was all mine. We’ll see ya soon.”

  As we made our way out to the sidewalk, Glenn quickly turned to face me. “Okay, Jo. I’ll help you. A girl like that deserves all of you, not just the part that Tanya is willin’ to let go of. Let’s fix what we need to fix.”

  “Thanks, bro.” I pulled Glenn into a quick hug. “Meet me out by the tree by Madison’s house, and I’ll catch ya up on everythin’. Say about, nine tonight?”

  “I’ll see ya then, little brother. She’s a keeper.” He shouted as he started to walk towards his truck.