Trusting You

by L. P. Dover

  Daniel spewed his drink and coughed loudly over the phone. “Are you serious? What happened?”

  Brett rolled his eyes and repeated what we’d talked about. “I did something to her and it pissed her off. She broke up with me and said she didn’t want to see me anymore. Not to mention, she said she thinks she might still have feelings for her ex-husband. So I guess you could say it was a mutual breakup.”

  Daniel stayed silent for a few seconds and then whistled. “What did you do, cheat on her?”

  Shaking his head, Brett remained quiet so Daniel could come up with his own conclusions. “Hey man, I know how that goes. I cheated on my ex-wife and she was a spitfire when she caught me. She doused me with the water hose in our own bedroom, and kicked the girl out naked in our front yard. Boy, she was a firecracker. I’d give anything to get her back in my bed again.”

  All Brett saw in that moment was red, and all I wanted to do was jump through the phone and punch Daniel in the face again. Hearing him call me firecracker just sounded wrong coming from his lips. Brett was the only one allowed to call me that and he didn’t deserve to have to listen to Daniel’s ranting. Daniel was drunk and I knew under normal circumstances he wouldn’t talk that freely about me.

  Without commenting on his last remark, Brett was fed up with the talking. “Okay, well I’m going to jump off here and get my week planned. Enjoy your party.”

  “All right, brother. Keep me updated when you get to California. I would join you out there but I have a ton of shit going on this week.”

  “Will do,” Brett agreed, before swiftly hanging up the phone. Once the call was ended, Brett paced the floor angrily. “I’m not calling that douche bag while we’re gone. I can’t believe he said that shit about wanting to fuck you again. It’s going to kill me being away from you tomorrow night while you’re here all by yourself. Whatever you do, don’t let him in this house with you by yourself. You understand?”

  I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck. His gray eyes softened when I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him tenderly on the lips. “I’m not stupid, Brett. I have no intention of letting him in my house.” I was able to kiss him one more time before my phone buzzed in my pocket. “You have got to be kidding me?” I uttered incredulously.

  “I told you,” Brett said. “He’s going to pounce.”

  When I looked down at my phone, sure enough there was a text from Daniel.

  Daniel: We need to talk. Dinner tomorrow?

  Groaning, I shook my head and closed my eyes. “He wants me to have dinner with him.”

  Brett grumbled under his breath and ran his hands through his hair. “Please tell me you’re going to say no. I don’t want you anywhere near that fucker.”

  I curled my lip in disgust. “I don’t want to either, but think about it … if I go out to dinner with him, maybe I can get him to confess to some things if I pretend that I want to get back together. I can get Mason to wire me up and get him recorded on tape. It’ll be a good blackmail tactic, and hopefully save my ass if he decides to screw me over.”

  Brett clenched his teeth and sighed. “I still don’t like it, but unfortunately you have a point. If you decide to go I can’t stop you, but if you do I want Mason close by.”

  “I don’t think you have to worry about that,” I retorted with a smirk on my face. Typing up a reply, I sent a quick response back to my ex-husband.

  Me: What time tomorrow?

  His answer was almost instant.

  Daniel: Seven o’clock. You won’t regret it.

  Me: I look forward to it.

  I shut off my phone and laid it on the counter in my kitchen. Worry lines marred Brett’s face and I hated that I put them there. Taking my fingers, I traced over those lines and met each one with a light brushing of my lips.

  “Let’s go to bed, babe,” I whispered. “I need to get these lines off your face before they stay there.”

  Brett smiled and lifted me in his arms, holding me close against him. “I don’t need any more convincing than that. Let’s go.”

  Twenty-Five

  As soon as I dropped Brett off at the airport the next morning, I called Mason to fill him in on my plans to meet Daniel for dinner.

  “I think it’s a waste of time, Mel. Daniel isn’t going to expose any of his secrets to you over dinner. Maybe if you got him into bed, but we both know that shit isn’t going to happen,” Mason explained. “But I’ll wire you up and record your conversation. Who knows, you might get him to mention the whole blackmail scheme. At least that would help with your case if he were to try to fuck you over.”

  Enthusiastically, I nodded and replied, “Exactly. That’s why I’m even considering going out to dinner with him.”

  Mason sighed. “All right, well, I get off duty at five o’clock so I’ll see you at your house around then.”

  We hung up and I headed back to the house to get my things packed. It was a rainy, Sunday morning so after I loaded all of my things in my suitcase for the trip I decided to watch reruns of The Vampire Diaries and get a little reading in. It was two o’clock in the afternoon when Daniel decided to call. It was time to put my acting skills to use.

  “Hey Daniel,” I answered casually.

  “Well, hello there. What are you doing?”

  I turned off the television and settled into the couch. “Reading and watching a little bit of TV. How are you?”

  He groaned. “Just a little hung over, but I’ll recover. Were you serious about going to dinner with me tonight? I heard about your break up with Brett so I figured it would be a good time to cheer you up, and to apologize for all the shit I’ve put you through the last few weeks.”

  “Wow, bad news travels fast I see,” I chided. In a more playful tone I said, “But you are more than welcome to try to cheer me up and apologize. I love it when a man grovels.”

  Daniel chuckled. “Trust me, I owe you a bunch of groveling. How does seven o’clock at Marion’s sound? Or we could go somewhere different. It’s your choice.”

  Wow, he was laying it on thick with me. Where was the considerate gentleman when I was married to him? Clearing my throat, I sounded surprised when I remarked, “You must really be trying to suck up to me tonight. If you were like this all the time I might consider getting back together with you.”

  Yeah, right.

  “I told you I was going to try hard to get you back. I’m working on it. So Marion’s?”

  “Yes, that’s fine. I’ll see you there at seven,” I replied.

  “Why don’t I come pick you up?” he suggested. “I go right by your house on the way.”

  I froze in silence. I had no clue what to say or if I should agree to ride with him. To make the date seem believable to Daniel I knew there was only one thing I could do. I had to accept. For one night I had to play along, but I knew it was going to land me in some hot water with Brett.

  “Baby, are you there?” Daniel asked.

  Quickly, I responded, “Yeah, I’m here. You’re more than welcome to come pick me up.”

  “Sounds good, Mel. I’ll see you around six-thirty.” He hung up and all I wanted to do was crawl into a hole and disappear. Why did I think pretending with him would be such a good idea?

  By the time I took a shower and got dressed, I was all ready to go when Mason showed up at my door. As he clipped on the recording wire to my bra he glared seriously at me. “Whatever you do, be nice and calm about everything. If he wants to apologize to you, accept it and smile. We don’t want him thinking that you’re going to fight against him at every turn. This is your chance to get you in the clear for the time being until we get back from California and find Claire.”

  I nodded. “I can do it, Mason. I didn’t join the drama club in school for nothing. I’m sure I can throw in some believable smiles and blow smoke up his ass. I did it earlier when I was on the phone with him.”

  Mason shook his head and smiled. “Yeah, I remember you in drama club, Lady Capulet. You were also a
sword fighter, too, weren’t you?”

  I laughed. “Yeah, because we needed more people. I had to change my costumes like twenty times.”

  “Oh wait,” Mason blurted out, snapping his fingers. “I forgot something.” In his pocket, he pulled out a beautiful crystal encrusted watch with a pearl facing. It was beautiful.

  “What is that?” I asked, taking the watch and gazing at it.

  “It’s for you. It was one of Mom’s, and I know she would’ve wanted you to have it.”

  Squealing, I jumped up into Mason’s arms and hugged him tight around his neck. “Oh, Mason, it’s lovely. Thank you so much.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and grinned. “You’re welcome, but it also serves another purpose as well.”

  I furrowed my brows, confused. What other purpose does a watch give you other than telling time? “Okay?” I drawled out. “What other purpose is there?”

  Mason sighed while clasping the watch around my wrist. “Don’t get mad at me, but I had a tracking device put in the watch. I know you say Daniel wouldn’t hurt you, but I’ve seen how criminals go off the deep end when they’re caught. A lot of them kill other people or even themselves when they have no other out. I just want to make sure I can find you if something goes wrong. You are the only family I have, Melissa.”

  My vision went blurry. “Thank you,” I whispered, embracing him one more time.

  Glancing at my new watch, I had twenty minutes before Daniel was supposed to pick me up. Mason had decided to stay the night at my house so he could be the perfect decoy to ward off Daniel if he wanted to try something after dinner.

  “Even though you brought me a present it doesn’t mean you can mess up my house while I’m gone,” I warned, being perfectly serious. “I know how messy you can be and I refuse to have to clean up after you.”

  Mason groaned and flopped down on my couch. “Yeah, yeah, you need to worry about yourself right now. Go meet dickhead and then get back so I don’t have to worry about you anymore. And your house will be fine. I won’t mess it up … much.”

  I rolled my eyes at him, but then headlights beaming in through the glass in the front door caught my attention. “He’s here, Mase. I’ll see you in a couple of hours. I’ll text if anything happens.”

  Turning on the television, he leaned his head back and winked at me. “Just be careful and don’t do anything stupid with him. You got it? Brett already warned me that if you let Daniel touch you he was going to kick my ass. Even though I know I could take him.”

  Shaking my head, I laughed as I made my way through the door. Mason wasn’t just a cousin to me, he was more like a big brother and best friend. I tried setting him up with some of my girlfriends, but he never seemed to get into them. He said they were too fake. One of these days he would find someone and I prayed that it was soon. He had the same look in his eyes that I had when Daniel and I divorced … loneliness.

  As I walked out the front door, Daniel was already striding up to me. “Oh, wow, you look amazing tonight.” He beamed and leaned down to kiss me on the cheek. Since the weather started getting chillier, I had opted for a light cream colored sweater and brown slacks. I kept my hair simple, just letting it fall in waves down my back. I didn’t want to wear anything too revealing around him.

  I gave a small smile and nodded. “Thank you. You look amazing as well.” Daniel always had a sense of style and was always impeccably dressed. Even I couldn’t deny that he looked smashing in his fitted black sweater and dark denim jeans. He also wore the silver watch I got him on our first Christmas together.

  He opened my car door and shut it once I got inside. He chose to drive his own Lexus LFA tonight except his was black whereas mine was red. He had bought them together so we would have matching cars. Now that I thought about it … I really needed to sell mine.

  When we headed on our way, Daniel glanced over at me and smiled. “So was that Mason’s car sitting in your driveway?” he asked curiously.

  Sitting back in the seat, I chuckled and put my purse in the floorboard. “Yeah, it’s him. The well in his neighborhood had some issues so the houses on his street had to have their water shut off for the day. I told him he could stay at the house until it got fixed.”

  “Ah, I see,” Daniel muttered, sounding disappointed. “Hopefully, it’ll get fixed soon.”

  I guess I knew where his thoughts were for the rest of the evening. When I reached to adjust the thermostat in the car for a little heat, Daniel snagged my hand before I could place it in my lap. I swallowed hard when he slowly brought my hand up to his lips and kissed my knuckles. It was the same hand that still hurt from hitting him the other day, except his kiss didn’t make it feel better … it made the pain worse.

  The hostess from that dreaded dinner a few weeks ago was the same one at Marion’s tonight. When I walked in she immediately scowled at me, but then smiled at Daniel.

  “Mr. O’Briene, it’s good to see you. Do you want the usual table for tonight?” the hostess asked sweetly.

  “That would be great, Savannah. Thank you,” Daniel replied, wrapping his arm around my waist. Inwardly I groaned and wanted to move away from him, but I gritted my teeth and went with it.

  When we got to the table, he pulled out my seat and waited for me to sit before he took his to the right of me. The waiter who I recognized from the many times I’d come before with Daniel brought me a glass of my favorite white wine as soon as I sat down. He was very tall with blond hair and glasses, giving him a very sophisticated look. He also had a very sweet smile that instantly made me like him.

  Glancing up at his tall frame from my seated position, I smiled warmly at him. “Thank you, Eric. I see you remembered,” I said sweetly, picking up the glass of wine.

  He blushed and nodded gracefully. “Of course. How could I forget?”

  He set down Daniel’s gin and tonic and scurried off to give us our time. Daniel grinned at me, amused. “You sure get everyone wrapped around that finger of yours don’t you?”

  My smile grew wider. “I try, although, it doesn’t work on everyone as you can see.”

  His brown gaze bore into mine and his smile faded. “It worked on me,” he admitted.

  I scoffed and almost choked on my wine. “Are you kidding? You wouldn’t have cheated on me if it worked on you. You changed so quick and fast back then, Daniel. I didn’t even know who you were anymore.”

  He nodded hastily. “I know, and I made horrible mistakes. That’s why I want to make things right with you if you’ll let me.”

  The way Daniel looked at me made me uncomfortable. It was as if nothing had changed and I was still the only person in his life that he cared for. We had some good times together, but those times were long gone and never coming back. It felt wrong pretending with him when my heart belonged to Brett.

  In all seriousness, I said, “I don’t know, Daniel. I think I might swear off men and turn into a lesbian.”

  Daniel almost choked on his drink and bellowed, “Oh wow, now that would be a sight. Can I come and watch?”

  Rolling my eyes, I let a smile flitter across my face. “No, you can’t. I don’t think you deserve it after all the shit you put me through here recently. Especially with threatening to spread lies about me and a student to the school board.” I raised my brows and gazed at him incredulously. “That wasn’t very nice, Daniel. Your lies could’ve gotten me thrown in jail and ruined my whole life.”

  Daniel pursed his lips and hung his head. “Look, Melissa, I’m sorry about that. I should’ve never threatened you. It was a stupid mistake and I was desperate. I know how you are and I know that I hurt you, so getting me back by screwing over my building project was something I was afraid of. I couldn’t take that chance. Not when I have so much riding on this deal.”

  “Daniel, I have no business trying to screw over your business deals. Brett wanted your account so bad that I was willing to keep my mouth shut for the sake of him to help out his career. All I was curi
ous about was how you got the land in the first place. I remember Claire telling me about all the things she was going to do with it when she took over the vineyards. I just couldn’t see her giving it all up to you.”

  He shrugged. “She didn’t really have much choice.” It was a vague answer and I could see that he wasn’t going to elaborate. At least I got him to confess to wanting to threaten me. That helped me out a little, but now I wanted to know about his plans.

  “So what are you wanting to do as far as building?” I asked. “You don’t plan on bulldozing over the vineyards, do you?”

  Daniel bit his lip and looked away. “Not all of it, but some.”

  I gasped, appalled that he would level off a portion of the vineyards just to have some real estate. “What does your sister have to say about it?”

  Carelessly, he shrugged and waved his hands dismissively. “Oh, she’s fine with it. I think she left to go to London about a week ago. I haven’t spoken to her since our mother’s funeral.” So that’s why she isn’t answering my calls. I highly doubted that she was fine with his plans.

  “Do you think you’ll get back together with Brett?” Daniel asked curiously, taking a sip of his drink. “He told me you admitted to still having feelings for your ex-husband. Imagine my shock when I heard that.”

  Averting my gaze, I focused on something other than his eyes when I spoke, “I loved you, Daniel. I wouldn’t have married you if I didn’t. And yes, I told Brett that I was confused when it came to you, even though you piss me off to no end. But I guess it wasn’t meant to be with him.”

  He reached over to hold my hand and a wolfish grin spread across his face. “Well, I hate to say it, but I’m glad it wasn’t meant to be. Because now he’ll be out of my way.”

  “Out of your way for what?”

  Daniel licked his lips and stared at mine. “I’m talking about me and you, Melissa. You see … I didn’t realize what I had when we were married. Work got in the way, and I lost track of what was important to me. Seeing you with Brett lit my blood on fire. I hated seeing you with him and it killed me to know he fucked you before I got there the other day at his office.”