A Time for Hope

by T Gephart

  I lifted my head and kissed his stomach as he leaned over me. He shifted quickly, only allowing me the slightest contact before moving his attention to my panties. He kissed from one of my hips to the other, his mouth lavishing me before he took my panties between his teeth and pulled them down my legs. He discarded them on the floor with the other items of clothing that had been in the way. While it had been relatively restrained, it was possibly the most erotic thing he’d ever done. My skin burned to be touched by him, but he was taking his time.

  “Well I would prefer to be sure.” His hand teased at the waistband of his boxes before he violently tore them off and tossed them aside. “And I intend to get you good and pregnant.”

  He pressed his naked body against mine. He was already hard. The evidence of his arousal ground between my legs. He was ready, willing and very able to impregnate me and as strange as it sounded there was something incredibly sexy about that. His mouth moved to my breasts, licking each of the tips so they stood upright in pert little peaks. Despite how turned on we both were, he wouldn’t rush this. This was not just a fuck. He wanted to make love to me. He licked his way back up my chest and nibbled at my neck, sadly removing his hardness from in between my legs.

  I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, his muscles firm and agile beneath my fingers. My fingernails grazed his flesh as I pulled him tightly against me, searching for the delicious friction. “I must admit, I do like your commitment to the cause.” I allowed my tongue to leisurely travel all over his neck. His thigh moved between my legs, pushing against my clit to stimulate me. My slickness coated him as he moved his thigh up and down while his hands grasped me firmly around my arse. I needed him inside of me. He was driving me mad and he knew it and if he didn’t stop soon I was going to come before we even started.

  “Lexi, I just married you twice. I am nothing but committed.” He chuckled, his astonishing blue eyes sparkling with mischief. “Now stop running that pretty little mouth of yours. I need to make you a baby.”

  Chapter 13

  Betrayal

  “LEXI, DOES this post-it mean anything? It’s in the tour file, but the name isn’t one I recognize.” Anna strode back into the office with the offending object in hand.

  Matt was noticeably absent as she dumped her laptop back on her desk. Their meeting had obviously gone sourly or he had more work to do before joining her in the office. I really didn’t care to delve any further into it right at that moment. I figured I could delay opening that can of worms.

  “Huh?” I glanced up from my computer screen hoping that this wasn’t another unwelcome distraction. Surely I’d filled my quota for drama for the week?

  “This post-it. It has like a name and number on it, but no other information. It was just shoved into this file. Matt had no idea about it either. I wasn’t sure if it was something we’d missed or if it was just some random paper that got mixed up with the file when you had your meeting with Chris and the band.”

  Oh, that post-it. The one I had completely forgotten about. The post-it, which contained the information of some guy that Chris had asked me to call, with some kind of alternative therapy. The word boot-camp rattled around in my head. Like I needed anyone else telling me what to do.

  “Oh, yeah. That’s mine. Thanks.” I reached for the note and placed it on my desk, not sure if I was ever going to be making that call.

  “What is it?” Anna asked curiously, standing in front of me.

  “What’s what?” I responded benignly, not really wanting to explain.

  “The name, the number? Do we need to add him to our list of contacts?” She pointed to the note, her tone increasingly agitated. Her moodiness was really starting to annoy me, especially when I felt it was unjustified. What could possibly be the cause for the permanent case of irritability?

  “No, it’s a personal contact. Nothing for you guys to worry about.” I waved her off wondering why I was I needing to explain something that was clearly not her concern.

  “Oh, OK. Fine.” Wow, someone clearly took a whopping big dose of her shit pills this morning. She stormed over to the other side of the office.

  “Anna.” I paused to look across the room at her to make sure I had her attention. “Is there something wrong?” I figured my tranquility was well and truly in the toilet so why not get this conversation over with.

  “No, everything is just fine.” She lied, possibly giving me the most unconvincing fine known to history. Oh I was aware of the ‘fine’ routine, in fact, I’d used it myself a couple of times. It was usually reserved for the male/female dynamic and translated into you-have-fucked-up-and-I-don’t-want-to-tell-you-what-you-did-’cause-you-should-already-know. Seeing as Anna and I weren’t fucking – and never had, I might add—I would assume it was a latent ‘fine’ from her meeting with Matt.

  “Is Matt on his way back? I want to go over some details with him.” I wondered if he possibly could shed some light on the craziness that had seemed to grip Anna, or at the very least divert it from my desk.

  “Why would I know when he is coming back, you’re the one who’s sent him on another one of your secret errands. Why don’t you pick up the phone and call him?” Her condescending tone was scorching, and I had tolerated it for as long as I cared to. In actuality, I was surprised I had allowed it go on as long as it had. Kudos to me.

  “OK, cut the crap. Firstly, we are friends, but I’m also your boss and I think those two combined, affords me a certain amount of respect, wouldn’t you say?” I tried to be as diplomatic as I could but given my level of annoyance, this was proving difficult.

  “Am I being disrespectful?” she mocked, tilting her head to the side in question.

  “Yes. You are. When you come into work with an attitude for no apparent reason and you snap at Matt or me, it’s disrespectful.” She knew exactly what she was doing, and I was calling her on it.

  “So did Matt come running to you and tell you I was snapping at him? I shouldn’t be surprised.” She threw her hands into the air dramatically, the sarcastic slur not going unnoticed.

  “He didn’t need to tell me shit. I see it every day. I’ve noticed that you’ve changed. What the hell is going on?”

  “I should be asking you that question.” Her words were measured as her eyes darkened.

  “Anna, seriously. What the fuck are you talking about?” This circular conversation was giving me a headache. Just tell me what the problem is or move the fuck on.

  “Damn it Lexi! You couldn’t just leave us alone. You have fucking everything, but you had to have him too.” Her exterior crumbled as her emotions took over the conversation.

  “OK, now I’m really confused. Just say what you freaking mean instead of talking around it. Obviously it’s not Matt that has been bothering you, it’s me. So tell me. What have I done?” I was clueless considering the reason they were able to be together was because I had orchestrated it. Ungrateful much?

  “You’re in love with him. I’ve seen the way you look at each other. All the time he spends on whatever it is he’s doing for you. The way he drops everything to be at your side when you need him. And what’s worse is he loves you too. In all the years I’ve known you, you’ve never had a male friend that you haven’t slept with. Now I’m supposed to believe you’re besties with Matt and you haven’t had sex? Please, I’m not an airhead.” Her face reddened.

  “Anna, have you lost your goddamn mind? Matt and I aren’t sleeping together. He’s in love with you. Sure, we care a great deal about each other, but it’s never been romantic, it’s not like that for us. He’s just a friend. I’m in love with Alex, and it’s always been Alex. How can you think that I would not only sleep with your boyfriend, but cheat on my husband?” Did she think so little of me? That I would just sleep around? That I could do that to the man that I love or a friend?

  “Because I know you, and I know what you are like. Who are you kidding? You’ve never stayed with one guy for long Lexi, commitment isn’t your thing
. You use guys like a game, we used to laugh about it. Now you expect me to believe you have done a complete one eighty and you’re going to play happy families with Alex? I can’t believe you went and actually married him.” Her barbed words stung. She might have summed up my past accurately, but I was no longer that person, and I was no longer using men for sport.

  “How dare you? I have slept with a lot of guys in the past, but I have never cheated on any of them. Besides, no matter how colourful my past was it does not determine my future. I married Alex because he was the only man I could ever imagine a forever with. I love him and I can’t imagine a day without him in my life so I would never do anything to jeopardise that. I don’t want anyone else and trust me if I had really wanted to fuck Matt, I would have done so while he was sleeping in my apartment every night. Not now!”

  The door slammed as Matt walked into the room. His face was a combination of confused and serious. I wasn’t sure how much he’d overheard.

  “What’s going on in here? Lexi, I could hear you yelling from down the hall!”

  “Anna, you want to explain or should I?” I wondered how she was going to reveal to the man she supposedly loved her suspicions of our infidelity.

  “Why should I bother?” she sniffed, trying to keep her tears at bay.

  “Anna?” Matt obviously bewildered, slowly approached Anna.

  “I know you are sleeping with her, don’t try and deny it!” she shrieked accusingly, pointing at me, the apparent other woman.

  “Sleeping with her? With Lexi?” Matt glanced between us. He was struggling, as I was, to reconcile what he was hearing.

  “Yes with Lexi. What I want to know is, for how long? Was it before or after I moved here? You should have been smarter, the sneaking around was so damn obvious.” I could see she had fully convinced herself of what she was saying.

  “Anna, I don’t know where this is coming from, but I have never had sex with Lexi. Ever. Even before we started dating, we didn’t have that relationship,” he tried to reassure her. Of course now would not be the time to bring up how I had tried to seduce him in the very beginning. That night seemed like a lifetime ago.

  “You expect me to believe that? I know you are hiding something from me!” She pushed against Matt’s chest, flailing against him as her pendulum of emotions swung wildly between anger and hurt.

  “I have been hiding something from you, but it’s not what you think. I was trying to protect you.” He tried to grab her arms to stop her from hitting him.

  “Protect me from what? From the fact you are in love with her? You dropped everything and moved to be with her. How am I supposed to compete with that?” She pointed at me again, bringing me back into the conversation and putting me front and centre on an issue I knew nothing about.

  “Is that why you answered those calls from Marcy and told her where Lexi was?” Matt looked defeated, his arms falling by his side.

  It was as if time froze after he had said those words. It had been Anna who had disclosed my location? Surely there had to be a mistake? A misunderstanding?

  “What? You are the one who told her where I was? You helped her?” I would have never suspected Anna.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about, I didn’t do anything.” Anna tried to deny any wrong-doing but the look on her face was confirmation enough. It had been her.

  “Lexi asked me to look into how Marcy knew where she and Alex where. I did some digging Anna. I checked the phone records. Calls were made to this office the day before Lexi’s attack. Three calls, all from the same number and that number belonged to Marcy’s cell,” he explained before turning to me. “Lexi, I’m sorry but I wanted to be sure before I came to you.”

  “So she called here, maybe no one answered her call. Why are you trying to pin this on me?” She refused to accept responsibility and tried to argue that she had no part in it.

  “Anna, I looked at the call log. Each one of those calls lasted at least fifteen minutes, one went for more than twenty-five. They weren’t hang ups. I didn’t take those calls so it only leave ones other person.” I could tell he was gutted, but he remained steady. He pulled the call logs from his briefcase and placed them in front of me. Marcy’s number and the call length were highlighted for reference.

  “It was you who told her where we were and how to find me?” I stared at the pages, seeing the irrefutable proof that the calls had been received and the information had been gathered from this very office.

  “I told her you weren’t here. I told her you were in Australia. That’s all I said. I didn’t give her your address. She was persistent, saying she wanted to apologise for Rome and wanted to congratulate you on your marriage. I didn’t think it was a big deal.” She tried to explain as she struggled to keep her tears at bay.

  “Why didn’t you tell me, why didn’t you let me know?” I argued. If I had’ve known Marcy wasn’t even in the country I would have never agreed to the meeting.

  “It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time and then when I found out what had happened and that she had been involved I got scared. I thought you would blame me. Honestly, other than telling her you were in Australia, I didn’t tell her shit.” She covered her face with her hands, unable to stop the water-works.

  “You should have said something Anna. You should have let either of us know what you did. You should have come clean from the start; no one would have blamed you.” Matt’s voice was still tender despite this new information he had just received. I guess you just can’t turn off feelings that quickly and despite what she did, he couldn’t bring himself to be cruel. He really was too decent a man.

  “But, you blame me now? I had nothing to do with it,” she hiccupped in between sobs.

  “You provided information, and while I believe your intentions weren’t malicious, you hid the fact that the conversations took place even after you found out what Marcy did with that information. Anna, you fucking saw me in the hospital. You saw what she helped him do. How could you not tell me? How can you stand in the same room and look me in the fucking eye, knowing what you know?” I was furious, but more than that I was hurt. Those agonising days recovering and having her smiling face look at me with pity. It was more than I could stand, and I wanted to throw up.

  “I was scared, and I felt horrible, and I didn’t know what to do. But, when I saw Matt with you, the way he was so protective of you in the hospital—it made me angry. I thought he was in love with you, and I felt like a fool for travelling all this way to be with him. I was so angry at both of you and talking about it wasn’t going to change anything, so I kept my mouth shut. Part of me felt like it was karma for you sleeping around with Matt.” Her words tore from her throat hysterically as she tried to justify her silence.

  “I trusted you! I welcomed you into my home. I gave you a job, I fucking gave you an opportunity to be with Matt and you stabbed me in the back. You betrayed me! How could you do it? Get out of here, I can’t stand the sight of you right now.” I turned away, not wanting to stare at her pathetic face a moment longer.

  “Lexi, I’m sorry about what happened to you. It kills me to think that I had any part in that, but I honestly didn’t know. I just wanted to be with Matt, but it felt like I had to compete with you.” She moved, angling her body in my line of sight, trying to engage me.

  “Anna, I think you need to go. Get your things, you need to leave now.” I kept my back turned as Matt tried to coax Anna away from my side.

  “Leave? I’m just supposed to go? Go where? This job, our apartment, you... it’s all I have right now,” she wailed as she shoved off Matt’s attempts to guide her out of the office.

  “You can’t work here anymore and I want you out of my apartment as well. I’m withdrawing my sponsorship. You can discuss what happens between the two of you, but I’m done with you Anna. I don’t ever want to see you again.” I addressed her, not wanting there to be any confusion that this situation was now done. The final nail had been driven into
the coffin, and any hope we had of working through this had walked out the door as surely as she would once this day was over.

  “Lexi, please. I’ll cooperate with the police. I’ll go and give a statement. I know I should have told you, but I was convinced you were having an affair with Matt. I wasn’t thinking straight,” she pleaded, her desperation evident as she continued to cry.

  “There are a lot of things I want to say right now, none of them are nice so get your shit and get out of my face before I do something that I know I will not regret. We are done here. Goodbye.” I watched as my words delivered their final blow and her face contorted in pain. There was no gratification for me in her suffering, it only amplified my own. Once again I was hurt, this time by someone close to me.

  Matt pulled a sobbing Anna out the door, her tear stained face was the last vision I saw before it closed. I was hurt and angry, but more than that I felt betrayed. I had prided myself on keeping my inner circle tight, insulating myself from harm, protected. I had been so stupid. I lowered my head into my hands, unable to cry. I physically shook in the realisation that my friend had not known me at all. I’d let her in and given her the opportunity to hurt me.

  My eyes fell to the lone post-it note, absently placed on my desk. It seemed so unassuming, lying there innocently. It had been the unsuspecting catalyst for the conversation, a note I had disregarded so easily. Chris’ beautiful black script curled around the letters of his name, Manny Ortiz. It looked almost comical against the bright yellow paper. Could this be the alternative that pulled me from my funk? I hesitantly picked up the phone and dialed, but it was not Manny I was calling—because his voice wasn’t the one thing I needed to hear. He would have to wait.

  “Hey beautiful.” Alex’s cool voice filled me ear.