by T. J. Kline
Chapter Nineteen
ALYSSA ENTERED THE house and immediately knew Justin wasn’t there. It felt empty, dead. She walked through the living room, trying to avoid letting her eyes stray to the couch, envisioning her clothing strewn across the room before they’d moved to his bedroom. She heard someone in the kitchen and felt her stomach twist and twirl in a roller coaster of emotions. She hoped it was Justin even as she dreaded what he would say.
“Alyssa. I’ve been so worried about you.” Alyssa felt her heart drop into her stomach as her eyes shot to where her ex-husband sat at Justin’s kitchen table.
Elijah rose, walking toward her with his usual fluid grace, the way a dancer would glide across the floor during a performance. His every movement was almost as choreographed. She froze in the doorway, edging Sam’s car seat behind her slightly.
“What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to come within—”
“One hundred yards, I know.” Elijah stopped in the middle of the room, looking down at the floor, shaking his head slightly. The dark waves of his hair were longer than she’d remembered. He was incredibly attractive, almost to the point of being beautiful—dangerously hypnotic. When he met her gaze again, she could see tears misting in his aqua blue eyes. “Why are you doing this? I thought we were happy. I need you.”
Her jaw dropped. “You kicked me out,” she reminded him. “When I asked you about Lillian, you laughed and told me to leave.”
He pursed his lips, as if trying to figure out what to say next. “I was angry. You came home and started tossing accusations at me like a common criminal. Did you really think I meant for you to really leave? I’ve been so miserable without you.”
She narrowed her eyes. He thought she was going to believe this act? She’d watched him lie to the media for almost a week, claiming that she was missing before turning her own family against her. Then when she came forward, he pretended to be a wronged husband. She wasn’t falling for his parody of a good husband any longer. She’d finally escaped the prison her life had been for the past six years and she wasn’t going back.
“I’m not buying it, Elijah.”
His eyes turned to ice, glittering cold and hard, as he tipped his head to one side and glared at her, chuckling softly. “Alyssa, we both know how this is going to end, so let’s just save it. Let’s go home and we can go back to things the way they were.”
“How’s that? With you in half the female beds in Beverly Hills?” He shrugged, as if it didn’t matter one way or another. “You don’t love me, and I don’t love you. Not anymore.”
He moved closer, standing just in front of her, and reached for her chin, grasping it between his thumb and finger. He cocked his head to one side and shot her the lopsided boyish grin that used to convince her to see everything his way. What had she ever thought was so handsome about it? He looked like a crocodile, ready to snap his jaws on unsuspecting prey.
“I think you still love me.”
“Then you’d be wrong.”
Elijah clenched his jaw with fury but let go of her chin and brushed past her, into the hallway, blocking the front door. She was trapped, with no means of escape, but she wouldn’t cower beneath his glare. He glanced at her bags by the door. “Planning on staying a while?” Sam made a small squeak from the car seat. “Is this my son?”
“This is my son,” she corrected.
“Huh,” he grunted, barely glancing at Sam in the car seat, covered to his chin in a blanket, before his eyes met hers again. “It would be a shame for me to take him away from you, for him to grow up never knowing his mother. I’ve got enough money behind me, and you know my lawyer would eat yours alive in court.”
She felt icy fear creep up her spine and settle around her heart. She might not have been gone long enough to completely eradicate her fear of him, but she wasn’t about to let him see that. “You can’t do anything. You’d never prove me unfit.”
“No?” he asked, grinning confidently. “Try me, my dear. Remember when you went to see Dr. Mesa? He’s already offered to turn over those sessions.” He stuck out his lower lip. “It’s so sad, really. With your history of depression . . . ”
“You’re a bastard. I’ll fight you,” she warned.
“Of course you will, and you’ll lose. Everyone does.” Elijah laughed quietly as he walked toward Justin’s living room. “Unless you want to come back to me. Call off your dog, go public with an apology, and come home. We can still be a family, Alyssa.”
“You don’t want a family. You want servants to bow down to you.”
He shrugged again, already on his way out. “Call it what you want.”
“Why are you even here?” Alyssa set the car seat down and unbelted Sam, curling him into her embrace.
“Because I knew you’d come back here, for him. I saw you on TV, just like you knew I would. I saw that look you gave that cowboy.” He arched a brow and his lips cocked up to one side. “Were you already sleeping with him?”
“Isn’t that a bit hypocritical for you to even ask?”
Alyssa felt the cold dread settle over her shoulders. Elijah had that look in his eye, the one that seemed to alert her when he was in one of his moods. Under normal circumstances, she’d leave the house, or fake a headache and hide in her room, but there was nowhere for her to run now.
Nor did she want to. This man had destroyed her love for him, and now he was trying to destroy the happiness she was building for herself, and Sam, with someone else. Bitter hatred burned at the back of her throat. She wanted to show him she wasn’t afraid of him any longer. He couldn’t hurt her.
Samuel mewed in her arms, tucking his head against her breast, and Elijah’s eyes flicked toward him. “Junior’s hungry. You should probably take—”
“This is Sam.”
“Sam? We decided—”
“No, you decided,” Alyssa interrupted. “Since you weren’t here, I made a decision and named him after my father.”
“That was your big act of defiance? Or was that selling my car?” Elijah rolled his eyes and, curling his upper lip, waved a hand. “James can do a name change and have it taken care of within a day. We can use part of the proceeds from the car.”
“You shouldn’t be here. Not only are you trespassing, and violating the restraining order, I don’t want you here. I won’t go back with you.”
She could see the rage rising in his eyes, the muscle in his temple twitching. “That’s not what I want to hear, Alyssa,” he warned.
“I’m going to take Sam into my room to feed him. I suggest you leave before I return.”
Alyssa knew the comment would grate on Elijah’s nerves, almost as much as her turning her back on him. He was too possessive of his things for it not to hit its intended mark. He narrowed his eyes, and she saw the fierce jealousy flash in the icy blue.
Elijah laughed. “Alyssa, I’m not going anywhere. I’m waiting right here to play with your little cowboy-toy.” Alyssa arched a brow at him in question. “I told you I saw you acting like his whore on TV. The actress and her knight in redneck armor. It was beautifully romantic.”
She didn’t miss the mocking derision in his tone. She hurried into her room, taking Sam’s car seat with her. She could hear Elijah moving around the house, settling himself in as if he was prepared to keep his word and stay until Justin returned. After nursing Sam, Alyssa tucked him back into his seat, letting him sleep. She felt empty without his warm body pressed against her, but he was far safer away from Elijah than near him. Now, if only she could find a phone to alert Justin or the police of the situation before it got out of hand.
AFTER FRANKLIN LEFT, Justin spent several hours cleaning the stalls and paddocks behind the clinic and every cage and kennel inside. He’d even stooped to filing paperwork in order to try to keep his mind from the reality he didn’t want to face. He’d given up trying to ignore the facts and headed to Jessie’s place to wallow in his misery.
He played with the beer bottle in his hand
as he watched his sister working a horse in the arena from the front porch of one of the cabins he’d commandeered. A few more of these and he wouldn’t be able to remember that Lyssa was heading back to her life in Beverly Hills. He would just put her out of his mind, pretend that none of this had happened and go back to his regular empty life.
Lyssa had lied to him. Alyssa, he corrected.
She and her ex-husband had used him to create a media frenzy to renew interest in her. She’d already told him her career had been stalled and that she was likely to return to it once the baby was born. What better way than to create a story entertainment reporters would eat up? He’d been a fool and played right into their hands.
Deep inside, he’d known it was too good to be true all along. His instinct had warned him. Why the hell would a woman like her want to stay with a two-bit veterinarian in the middle of the foothills, miles away from the luxuries she was accustomed to? No wonder she’d nearly gagged at the sight of his small house. She probably had a mansion, maybe several.
What did it matter what she had? She was returning to it without even looking back. She hadn’t even given him the courtesy to tell him she’d called her ex—no, her husband—and tell him she was leaving.
Fuck!
He swiped his hand down his face, the rough stubble scratching against his palms. He must look terrible. He’d been drinking since last night, had barely sobered up long enough this morning to work when Franklin came in. That confrontation had been the final straw. He’d closed up the clinic and headed out.
Who cares?
He’d told Alyssa he loved her. He’d been ready to marry her and raise her son as his own. The only way he could have been a bigger idiot would have been if he’d gotten around to asking her.
Justin buried his face in his hands. He should have trusted his mother’s advice and never have gotten involved with a married woman. He was only reaping the consequences of his lack of self-control. If he had, he wouldn’t be in this position, picking up the pieces of his trampled, bleeding heart from a woman who’d been using him all along.
Justin ignored the vibration of his cell phone in his pocket. Bailey was on her way to the house, to check on the dogs. She could handle it when Lyssa showed up, and he didn’t doubt for a second that she would, eventually. A part of him wanted to be there, to confront her for lying and using him, but a bigger part knew he couldn’t handle it with anything close to dignity and didn’t want her to see the wreckage she was leaving behind. It was better he figured out what he wanted to say to Alyssa when he saw her instead of letting his mouth start spouting off the way it seemed to lately. Who knew what would come out then? Because right now, the emptiness in his chest, the dull ache of every echoing heartbeat, was slowly killing him.
“Amnesia in a bottle, huh?” Nathan crossed his arms and leaned over the porch railing. “Want some company?”
“Sure, there’s more in the fridge if you want one.” Nathan had been his best friend through college and knew him better than anyone, maybe even better than his sisters. He watched him disappear into the cabin before returning with two bottles in his hands. Nathan passed a fresh beer to Justin as he sank into the chair beside him.
Justin jerked his chin toward Jessie in the arena, lunging a paint horse. “What’s the story behind this one?”
“A family didn’t seem to know the difference between a horse and a dog so he was a pasture pet with no discipline. He decided to pin his ears and snap when anyone came into the pasture and scared the kids. Mom and Dad took him to the auction and Jess saved him from a killer.”
“He’s nice.”
“Now that your sister’s had him for a week,” Nathan agreed. “But you’re not here to watch her work. Wanna talk about what happened and why you’re staying in the cabin instead of heading back to your place?”
“Nope.” His voice held none of the emotions he was feeling—hurt, anger, jealousy—and that was exactly how he wanted to sound. Justin wanted to simmer in his anger. Anger kept him from feeling the hollow ache in his chest.
Justin didn’t even bother to look at his friend. Wiping a hand over his brow, he rubbed at his tired eyes. He hadn’t slept at all last night until he’d completely passed out, facedown, in the guest bedroom.
“Bailey said you got a phone call. About Alyssa?”
Justin didn’t answer. Instead, he tipped the bottle back, draining what was left inside and then popping the cap on the bottle Nathan brought out. Nathan would understand the desire to run. He’d done it himself once before, but he’d left to protect Jessie, not because she’d hurt him. He stared at the bottle, digging at the label with his thumbnail before taking a long draw.
“I don’t think you’re going to find any answers at the bottom of that one either,” Nathan pointed out.
“Have you ever felt like no matter what decision you made, it would be a mistake?”
Nathan stared across the yard at Jessie. “You know I have. I wasted eight years and hurt people I cared about. But the only other choice I had at the time would have been just as painful, maybe worse.”
“Yeah, but you were protecting her. I want to wring Lyssa’s neck, as much as I’d like to . . . ” He shook his head and took another long swallow of his beer, wishing it would dull the pain faster. “You get my drift. I can’t believe I fell for her act.”
“Are you sure it was an act?” Nathan had no idea what he was talking about.
Justin swung his head toward his friend and glared as he crossed his arms over his chest, unwilling to admit he’d wondered the same thing. “We don’t know her. She’s only been here a couple weeks. She could be capable of anything. It’s not like it would be the first time I caught her in a lie.”
“Hear me out. Elijah Cole has made a living off lying and schmoozing. It’s what he does. You were around Alyssa more than any one of us. Do you really think she could pull something like that off convincingly for over a week? There are a lot of little details that she couldn’t have planned out, like Lucky and the puppies, you letting her stay, or going into labor early. Why would she give a press conference, telling the media she was afraid of her husband, if it weren’t true?”
Nathan shook his head and took a swallow of his beer. “Trust me, I know the way the media think. They dragged me through hell and back several times over the years. There are far better ways for Alyssa to have gained media attention. Hell, you only have a couple reporters parked outside the clinic now. You two just aren’t a juicy enough story. Plus, if she went back with him now, it would all end up making her look bad.”
“Sounds like you’ve been talking to Bailey.”
“A little before she headed out to your place,” Nathan admitted before taking a long draw on the bottle. “Look, I’m on your side, man, but you need to make sure you’re fighting the right person. I know you’re hurting right now. Trust me, I’ve been there and you just want to beat the crap out of someone just to make the pain stop. But it’s not going to disappear until you find some kind of resolution to this. Avoiding her won’t help.”
“What if seeing her doesn’t help, if it just makes it worse? What if she tells me it was all an act?”
“Then you’ll know for sure she wasn’t the person you thought she was. Until you do, you’ll just be guessing, and doing that will make that hole in your chest grow bigger each day until the regret swallows you whole.”
His phone vibrated again and he pulled it out, seeing the text message from Bailey: News crew gathering at the porch. Get home, NOW!
“Shit,” he muttered. “I’ve already had two beers. Can you drive me home?”
Nathan didn’t hesitate, didn’t even ask why. “Give me your keys.”
Chapter Twenty
“THANK YOU SO much for giving me this opportunity to clear the air and put a rest to all the rumors floating around about my wife and me.”
Elijah looked back at Alyssa, waiting in the shadows on the front porch of Justin’s house, as several repor
ters pressed close, waiting to hear whatever juicy morsel he was ready to divulge. They looked like wolves circling a downed deer, waiting to pounce. It was sickening, and in that single moment, she made the decision to never return to this lifestyle. Nothing was worth putting her son in the midst of this environment of duplicity and lies, where nothing was as it seemed and everyone had an ulterior motive. Where the only goal was to feed off the pain and suffering of others.
Elijah waved her toward him and she hesitated. If she ran back inside with Sam now, could she lock him out and find a phone? But it wouldn’t accomplish anything, and Elijah would simply use it to make her appear unfit. She squared her shoulders and pressed a kiss to Sam’s brow. If she was careful and waited for just the right moment, she could do far more damage to his reputation in front of the camera.
“My wife has had a very traumatic week. But as you can see, some of it has been wonderful. We would like you to meet our son.”
Alyssa didn’t miss the fact that he didn’t mention Sam’s name. She turned so that the cameras couldn’t get a clear shot of Sam, shifting so they saw only her profile. It was the last thing any publicist would have wanted, but it was exactly her intention. Elijah looked at her and glared in warning. Alyssa heard a motor slow and tires crunch on the driveway of the clinic, praying it was Franklin or Justin and not another reporter.
“By now, you’ve probably heard that my wife filed for divorce last week. I’m happy to say, it was simply a misunderstanding. As you can see, we are happier than ever.” She wanted to gag at the sickeningly sweet tone of his voice. “And thrilled to celebrate the birth of our first child.”
There were several Ahs from the reporters gathered around the front porch, leaning in to ask questions and catch a glimpse of Sam.
“We did have an argument, as most couples do from time to time,” he conceded, “but Alyssa overreacted. However, we have spent a lot of time talking and want everyone to know that, while we will be spending time with a counselor to strengthen our marriage, it is still fully intact. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”
