This Love

by Kelly Elliott

  Me: I’m coming over now. Where is Marge?

  I nearly ran the entire block to the back entrance of Cord’s apartment. I took the steps two at a time, me heart pounding in me ears. Poor Cord. He was so sick they had to have the doctors come to him.

  Using the key Cord had given me, I opened the door and stepped inside only to freeze at the sight before me.

  She was walking down the steps that led from Cord’s bedroom. One of his T-shirts hanging off of her. Her hair a mess, like she had just had sex.

  I stumbled back when she flashed me a smirk. “You’re not supposed to be home until tomorrow,” Kylie deadpanned.

  Tears filled me eyes, and I glanced around. “Marge!” I called out while the sound of her evil laugh filled the air.

  “Marge got sent home. I’m here, and I’m taking care of Cord. You can run along now.”

  Me throat went dry and tears spilled down me face. I wanted to scream for her to get out. That Cord wasn’t hers. He was mine.

  He’s mine.

  But was he? Because she was the one standing there practically naked, with only his shirt covering her. None of this made any sense. Why would Kylie be here when Melanie was on her way? Where was Marge?

  “Don’t be so shocked to see me here, Maebh. Did you really think a guy like Cord could stick to one woman? Don’t be naïve. You were something he wanted to conquer. He did, now he’s moved on to something more…familiar.”

  “I want to see Cord,” I said, making my way to the stairs.

  Kylie stepped in front of me and tilted her neck. “He’s passed out cold. Seems he used all his energy letting me fuck him. He did, however, have enough stamina to give me this.”

  Me eyes followed to where she pointed to the hickie on her neck. I took a few steps back. Cord had never done that to me neck, but he had left marks on me upper thighs a lot of times.

  “Listen, Cord and I used to be fuck buddies all through high school and college. The last time he saw me, he told me the next time I was in town to give him a call. A guy like Cord is never going to be happy with one woman. The quicker you know that, the better.”

  Me head spun. Fuck buddies? Sickness hit me hard in the stomach. Me fears rushed back all at once.

  Spinning around, I threw open the door and ran down the steps. How could he do this to me?

  I forced meself not to cry as I tried to sort me feelings out. Sobs raked over me body as I stumbled down the street back to me apartment. Cord had promised me he wouldn’t hurt me.

  He promised.

  I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but a small part of me—the part that kept pushing down me fears instead of talking to Cord—reared its ugly head. It was telling me to run. Run back to the only place I felt safe.

  Home.

  After another round of crying, I got up and started to head to me door. My heart was telling me to run away, while me head was telling me to go back to Cord’s.

  I listened to me head.

  Swinging my legs over the bed, I let out a breath. Shit. Every fucking thing on my body ached. I got a glimpse of my phone on the table. I reached for it and saw the date.

  Holy hell. I’d been out of it for at least a solid day. That’s when it hit me. Maebh would be back in town today. Thank goodness Maebh arranged to have her car waiting at the airport.

  Had she already been by? That was impossible. I remembered someone whispering in my ear. Frowning, I tried to think back to who it was, but soon gave up when my head started to throb.

  I heard voices in the living room. My mother, Paxton, and Amelia. I also heard Marge. Sweet, life-saving Marge. She’d brought me her homemade soup earlier, and I swear it had something in it that finally broke the fucking fever.

  Hitting Maebh’s number, I tried to calculate what time it was in Ireland, not knowing if she was on the plane already. I stood on shaky legs and closed my eyes until the room stopped spinning. Maebh’s voicemail instantly picked up.

  “Baby, it’s me,” I said. “Sorry I’ve been so out of it. Call me when you get a chance. I finally feel like I’m back in the land of the living now. Love you.”

  My feet felt like I had iron strapped on them. I walked down the steps to where the voices were coming from. They were hushed, as if people didn’t want to wake me up.

  “Mom?” I called out as I rounded the corner and stopped. Marge, Paxton, Amelia, and my mother were all standing there, concern and something like anger spread over each face.

  “How could you?” Amelia said, her voice so loud I would have sworn she had a bullhorn directed right at me.

  “Amelia, wait until we know everything,” my mother ordered. My eyes bounced to each of them and finally landed on the one who looked the most worried.

  Paxton.

  “Paxton, what’s going on?”

  Her eyes filled with disappointment, and I knew it was all directed at me…I just didn’t know why.

  “Maebh left.”

  Frowning, I asked, “What do you mean? She just left Ireland? She should be home today, right? Fuck, I don’t even know what time it is. Has she already been here? I don’t remember her being here.”

  They all looked at each other.

  Paxton cleared her throat as she focused back on me. “No, Cord, Maebh is in Ireland right now. She came back early and then left again.”

  My head was spinning. “Wait, what? Why did she leave?”

  Amelia tossed her hands in the air in frustration. “You’re such a bastard. How could you do this to her?”

  Now I was getting angry. I still felt like shit, Amelia was lashing out, and they were all talking in riddles.

  “Will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?” I demanded.

  Paxton sighed and took a few steps closer. “Maebh called Amelia and Mom two days ago. She flew home early after talking to you. She was worried about how sick you were, so she hopped on a plane to come to you.”

  “Must not have been that sick if he was able to fuck that whore,” Amelia stated.

  “Amelia! That’s enough.” My mother’s voice was stern.

  “What?” I asked. Who in the hell was Amelia talking about? I turned back to Paxton. “Why did she go back to Ireland? Is her father okay?”

  Paxton looked exasperated and unsure of what to say. Amelia was beginning to lose some of her steam. She looked at me like I was a stupid bastard who wasn’t following along with the story.

  “Cord, she sent you a text saying she was in town and on her way over. You texted her back and said you’d call her later, which she thought was a bit strange.”

  Glancing down to my phone, I pulled up my text messages. I didn’t have any of those texts. The only text from Maebh was her telling me she was about to call me because her father’s party was boring as hell.

  “The last text I have from Maebh was the night of her father’s party. That was the last time I remember talking to her.”

  I glanced back to Paxton.

  She dragged in a breath. “The only thing Maebh told me was that she walked in here, and Kylie was walking down from your room wearing nothing but your shirt. She said some things, and Maebh got upset and left. Once she got home, she realized she was jumping to conclusions and rushed back over here. When she walked back in and went up to your room, Kylie was…she was…”

  My heart started pounding, I was having trouble breathing and it had nothing to do with being sick. “What! What in the fuck was she doing?”

  “She was getting undressed and climbing into bed with you. Maebh left. She was beside herself and didn’t know what to do, so she went back to Ireland.”

  Stumbling backwards, my mother grabbed me before I fell.

  “What? What?” It was all I could say. “I wasn’t with Kylie! I don’t even remember her being here.”

  “After I talked to Maebh, I called your mother and Amelia,” Paxton said. “We came right over because Marge was supposed to be with you that whole day, and Maebh had said she wasn’t there. Only Kylie wa
s.”

  All eyes went to my housekeeper.

  Her hands covered her mouth quickly. “She told me it was okay if I ran an errand. She would make sure Cord didn’t wake up and need anything. I wasn’t even gone that long.”

  My eyes widened in horror. What in the hell did Kylie do?

  “Paxton, what in the hell did Kylie tell Maebh?”

  “Something about you not being able to stay away from her, that y’all were fuck buddies, and that you couldn’t be tied down to one woman. That you’d gotten what you wanted from Maebh and you were bored now.”

  The room spun.

  “Cord, let’s get you to the sofa. It’s becoming hard to hold you up,” my mother stated.

  Marge and Paxton helped my mother guide me to the sofa.

  Standing straight, my mother smoothed out her blouse and took in a deep breath. “Let’s get this figured out.”

  “I didn’t fucking sleep with Kylie. I didn’t even know she was here. I love Maebh. I couldn’t even stand on my own to go to the goddamn toilet. How would I have had the stamina to have sex with Kylie!”

  “That’s enough!” my mother shouted. Turning to Marge, she asked, “Marge, tell us exactly what happened.”

  She wrung her hands. “Kylie came to the door and I remembered that she and Cord had been good friends growing up. Said she had run into Trevor, and he mentioned Cord was really sick. She wanted to come see him. I told her he was pretty much passed out and very much out of it. Cord had been rattling some nonsense for the last hour in his sleep. His fever was still high, and I’m pretty sure it was causing him to have nightmares, maybe even delusions.”

  I dropped my pounding head into my hands. All I wanted was to talk to Maebh. Tell her she had it all wrong.

  “My husband called as I was talking to Kylie, and he asked me to pick up a prescription at the Oak Springs pharmacy. I told him it would have to wait until you got here, Melanie, because I couldn’t leave Cord. Kylie said that she was more than happy to stay and watch him. I can promise you right now, even if the boy wanted to have sex, he was so out of it he wouldn’t have been coherent enough to do it.”

  “Oh no,” Paxton mumbled.

  Amelia dropped down onto the large leather chair across from me. “That bitch,” she whispered, looking at me with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry I accused you of cheating.”

  “I told you I would never cheat on Maebh. She’s my life. My everything. I broke things off with Kylie because she was cheating on her boyfriend years ago.”

  “I was only gone for thirty minutes, at the most,” Marge said. “When I walked back in, Kylie was walking down with Cord’s phone in her hands. She was flustered and acted like I had just caught her doing something. I thought it was strange. I asked her why she had Cord’s phone. She said it had been going off, and she didn’t want it to wake Cord up. She must have erased the calls and texts from Maebh, that evil little witch.”

  Sickness rolled over her face and she let a sob out. “Oh, my goodness. If I hadn’t left her here, she wouldn’t have been able to pull that stunt. I never thought in a million years…she must have seen Maebh texting Cord and quickly put her little plan in play.”

  Paxton let out a groan. “It all makes sense. Maebh said she lost it when she saw Kylie crawling into bed with Cord. She said her mind raced with everything Kylie had said, especially the part when she said they weren’t expecting her to come back so early. At the time it seemed like Cord might have cheated on her. She said she ran back to her place, called the pilot and went back to Ireland.”

  “Wait, the pilot?” Amelia asked.

  Paxton nodded. “Yeah, apparently her father has a private plane.”

  I stood and swayed on my feet. “I’m leaving. I need to get to Maebh.”

  “You’re not going anywhere. Cord, you’re still sick. You can simply call her,” my mother declared.

  Looking into my mother’s gray eyes, I felt my tears building. “Mom, she thinks I cheated on her. I promised her I would never hurt her. She probably hates me right now. She was so upset she left the damn country after flying back to come take care of me!”

  “You can call her and tell her everything, Cord.”

  “No, he can’t,” Paxton said. “He needs to go after her.”

  “Paxton’s right, Mom,” Amelia said. “Cord needs to go to Maebh.”

  My mother looked sick at the thought of me traveling overseas with the flu.

  “I will not let you go until you are fever free for twenty-four hours.” The back of her hand landed on my forehead.

  “His fever broke in the middle of the night,” Marge said. “And he’s been taking the prescription the doctor wrote for him.”

  “Mom, I’m going to Maebh.”

  She sighed. “Fine, but you’re not going alone.”

  I wanted to argue, but all of this was making me exhausted. Not only emotionally, but physically.

  Glancing to Paxton, I asked, “Do you think she’ll change her mind and come back to the States? I’d hate for me to fly to her only to find out she’s on her way back.”

  “She already has plans to come back in a few days. She said she needed time to think before she came back.”

  “Don’t call her again, okay? I don’t want her to know I’m coming. She might run if she’s gotten too deep into her head.”

  “She won’t run, Cord,” all four women said at once. But I knew Maebh. She’d be so pissed and hurt. She would run from me if she thought I had cheated on her. And I sure as hell wasn’t about to let that happen.

  As I boarded the private plane my father had chartered, I glanced back and rolled my eyes.

  “I don’t need a damn babysitter.”

  “Apparently you do, and I was voted the best person to do that,” Aunt Vi stated as she strolled past me and sat in one of the large leather chairs. “And I haven’t been to Ireland in a few years.”

  Her smile made my head hurt.

  “What, no boy-toy?” I asked, sitting next to her.

  Aunt Vi chuckled. “Not this trip. I promised my brother and sister-in-law I’d watch over you, and that’s what I intend on doing. Now, if I happen to meet an Irish lad who wants to shag a time or two, that will be a bonus.”

  She winked at me, and I stared back at her, my lip slowly lifting into a snarl.

  “Gross, Aunt Vi. I just got a visual, and I’m already not feeling good. Don’t make it worse.”

  Waving me off like she couldn’t be bothered, she asked, “Did you take your medicine today?”

  “Yes.”

  “Still no fever?”

  “No fever,” I replied with a groan.

  “Now, tell me what your game plan is to win your little Irish beauty back.”

  My eyes met hers. “Game plan?”

  With a hard roll of her eyes, she sighed. “Christ Almighty, Cord Parker. You need a game plan. You think you’re going to roll up to her front door, and she’s going to jump into your arms? The girl was led to believe you messed around on her. She’s hurting, she’s angry, and her knee-jerk reaction will be to hit you in the balls—or, how do they say it in Ireland? Bollocks.”

  My hand went to my junk, and I frowned. “I was planning on telling her the truth. That’s it.”

  Vi laughed as the flight attendant approached us.

  “Mr. and Ms. Parker, we’ll be leaving soon. I need you to fasten your seatbelts. If you need me after we’re up in the air and before the captain has given me the okay to move around, just push this button.”

  The attendant reached across me, her tits brushing my arm, and pointed to a call button. Before Maebh, I’d probably be hauling her ass somewhere on the plane and fucking her. Now I pulled back and looked at her with an uninterested glare.

  “Excuse me. I didn’t mean to reach.”

  Uh-huh. Sure you didn’t.

  “Thank you, sweetheart, but I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Aunt Vi said. “Please give my nephew some water though before we take off, he’s ge
tting over the flu.”

  “Of course, Ms. Parker.”

  “I’m fine, Aunt Vi,” I protested.

  “You’re getting over a very bad case of the flu, you’re not fine. You need to rest. After we take off, you need to go and lie down. You look like shit. I’ll keep the flirty flight attendant away. The last thing you need is more women trying to come on to you.”

  I groaned and scrubbed my hands down my face. “I can’t fucking believe Kylie would do that! Why? She’s fucking married! Lives in another city, why was she screwing around with my world?”

  Vi laughed like I had just asked the stupidest question ever.

  “For a girl like Kylie, you were always hers.”

  “I was never hers.”

  “How many women have you gone back to more than twice?”

  There had been plenty of women in town I’d fucked more than once. “A few.”

  She sighed. “Fine, more than five times?”

  My heart dropped. “Only two. Kylie and Maebh.”

  Pointing, she said, “There you go. Even though this Kylie is married, she obviously still thinks you belong to her. Let’s face it, Cord. You never were the type of guy who anyone thought would settle down before thirty-five, maybe even forty.”

  I frowned. “Gee, thanks, Aunt Vi.”

  “It’s true. You were a player, you liked sex, and you had fun. There’s nothing wrong with that. I like sex. I like to have sex with multiple guys at the same time. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  Gagging, I plugged my ears and started to sing the ABC song. It was the first thing that popped into my head. I’d sing absolutely anything to get her to stop talking, or to at least drown out her sexual fetishes.

  She kicked me, making me drop my hands and look at her.

  “Do you know how much you have just scarred me for life? Don't say shit like that, Aunt Vi!”

  Laughing, she waved me off yet again. “All I’m saying is this girl probably found out you were in a committed relationship and that made her jealous. Now, did she work out this plan ahead of time? Hell no. She saw Maebh texting you, and she decided to try and push her away. Did she know the poor girl would rush back to Ireland? I doubt it, but maybe she thought she could slide in and comfort you when your girlfriend all of a sudden stopped talking to you.”