“What’s going on?”
“What the hell happened last night?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Dane asked.
“Don’t toy with me. I woke up on the floor of some naked girl’s apartment. I have no idea how I got there or what I did.”
Dane smiled. “Ah, so you have no recollection of what happened? Man, you missed a sweet time.”
“Don’t play with me! I’m not in the mood!”
I was shouting now, losing my temper severely. “What in the hell happened?”
Dane laughed and looked around. He made a motion to the foreman who was staring at us curiously and mouthed the words, “It’s ok.”
“Relax,” Dane said. “You did nothing wrong.”
“What do you mean? What did I do?” I asked.
“Read my lips. You did nothing. You were so wasted. We ended up back at that girl Rhonda’s place. She was fun. We started going at it and I was surprised you were going to hang in there and get it on with us. But then suddenly, you passed out and fell off the bed. You were out before you hit the floor. And there you stayed the entire time. When I went out this morning to get some coffee and donuts, you were gone when I came back.”
“That’s what happened? Wait a minute… you were going to let me have a threesome with the two of you.”
Dane shrugged. “You’re a grown man. I’m not the boss of you.”
“Seriously? That’s messed up, man.”
Dane laughed. “Relax. I’m kidding; I never would have let you go through with it.”
“How do I know you aren’t lying?”
“Why would I do that?”
“To keep my mind at ease, because you know I’d tell Tina if I did do anything like that.”
“Sure, like you told her everything else, right?” Dane asked. I felt like punching his lights out.
“That’s different, and you know it.”
“Is it really? I don’t see it.”
“You had better not be lying to me,” I said.
Dane shook his head. “You really think I would do that?”
“Yeah, I really do.”
“Here,” Dane said. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. A second later he had a video playing. It was the two of us on the bed with Rhonda. She and Dane were going at it heavily. I was trying to keep my balance and get my clothes off. Then after about ten seconds of struggling, I fell off the bed to the floor. And I was no longer moving. My snores could be heard over the giggling by Dane and Rhonda.
“There you have it,” Dane said.
“You filmed it?” I asked.
Dane shrugged. “Of course. I film all of my sexual trysts. I want to have this record one day.”
I laughed. “You are unbelievable, man,” I said.
Dane smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I know. So, will you quit worrying about this?”
“OK,” I said. The air felt so much lighter around me. My feet were lighter, the muscles in my body stopped tensing up as much, and I suddenly felt like I was back in control of myself and my life again.
I left the site and drove back to the office. I was in a bit of a daze, but I was feeling better every second. I didn’t do it. I hadn’t made the biggest mistake of my life after all. What a relief. I wouldn’t have known what to do with myself if I’d come to discover that I had actually slept with that woman.
I was done. I was finished with partying and drinking for good. I was over it. This time I was dead serious. There was nothing of value in the bottle for me anymore. I was just escaping reality and running from the things I had to face. That wasn’t me; I wasn’t about to become that rich, entitled married man, that had trysts with random women. Tina deserved better. And, so did our child.
I had to find her. I had to talk to her. She would have been at work now. I wanted to talk to her, but I didn’t want to leave a message. Phone tag wasn’t a game that I wanted to play right now. I had to tell her that I was wrong, and I wanted to explain everything to her. It was time to come clean and to be completely honest with her.
I’ve never been much for psychology, but I knew that there was something in my head that was blocking me from being totally open and honest with Tina about my past, or rather my family’s past. Sometimes I had such a difficulty remembering the difference. Maybe that was where those problems arose from.
It was time for me to get rid of this fear once and for all.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tina
“Well, hello there.”
The voice came from behind me. Startled, I turned around quickly. Standing right behind me was the man that I had met jogging a week ago, the man who had helped me with Norm. What was he doing there?
“Oh, hi,” I said. “It’s so nice running into you again. I wanted to thank you once again for helping me out the other day.”
The man shook his head and waved it off. “My pleasure. Oh, by the way my name is Louis.”
“Hi, Louis. My name is Tina.”
“Well, now I have a name to put with the pretty face. I hope you got that problem solved with your… um friend…?”
“Oh, yeah. It’s… it’s fine.” I didn’t want to get into what had happened to Norm. It didn’t seem like the right place.
“Great to hear,” Louis said. “Well, I’ll be going. Glad to meet you.”
Donna cleared her throat and hit me on the arm. I had forgotten she was with me temporarily.
“Oh, um…this is my friend, Donna,” I said.
Louis reached out and took Donna’s hand. He kissed it suavely and said, “Well, now I am truly charmed.”
Donna giggled and blushed. “Wow, what a gentleman. Where have you been keeping him locked up, Tina.”
I felt embarrassed. Donna was using me to flirt with this man she’d just met. As she threw herself at him, I took inventory. Well, Louis was good looking. Tall, slender, but athletic, with a slicked back ponytail and a thick mustache. He also had the most intense looking eyes.
“Nowhere,” Louis said. “I’ve just been hiding around. That’s my way.”
Donna giggled again, louder this time. She was so obvious.
“So, what brings you beautiful ladies out on a day like this?” Louis asked.
Donna and I had decided to do some shopping after I left school. I was so distraught that I called her and told her what had happened. She was off work, so she suggested we drown our sorrows in shopping for things we didn’t need at the mall. Retail therapy worked wonders.
“Just a little girl time,” I said.
“Not just girl time,” Donna corrected with a flirty smile.
Louis grinned at her. “Well, you are a feisty one, Donna. Beautiful, too. I hope I’m not being too forward in asking for your number. I’d love to chat some more, but I’m in a bit of a rush.”
Donna told Louis her number and he typed it into his phone. “Well, then. I’ll talk to you later. Bye, Donna. And goodbye, Tina.”
Louis walked away slowly and casually, blending into the crowd.
“What are you doing?” I asked her when he’d gone.
“What?”
“You just gave your phone number to a total stranger.”
“He isn’t a stranger; you know him.”
“I met him once before.”
“And he saved you from a creep.”
“So, that doesn’t mean he can’t be his own level of creep.”
Donna rolled her eyes. “You are way too suspicious. You have to trust people sometimes. Besides, did you see how delicious he looks.”
“You know he’s in his forties,” I said.
“I don’t care; he has that sexy, older man confidence. I love it.”
“Well, when he turns out to be some kind of a serial killer or something, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Oh, grow up. You’ve been watching too many of those crazy crime shows.”
I sighed. “Maybe, but I still can’t believe that you gave him your real number.”
“I don’t use the fake number anymore; it was too much of a hassle. Now, I just say no. So, if I’m giving a number out, you know it’s the real one.”
“I’m aware of all this. I’m pretty sure we’ve had this conversation before.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” I said.
We stopped at the pretzel stand and grabbed a few of their lemonades (the best ever).
“So, what made you flip out at school?” Donna asked. “I can’t imagine it.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It was so weird. It was like I was there, but then I wasn’t. I was watching from the side, just watching myself go mental.”
“That’s scary.”
“Yeah. Maybe Wicker’s right, and I shouldn’t be a teacher.”
“You are marrying filthy rich guy; you remember that, right?” Donna asked.
I groaned. “So? I am not going to live off my husband’s income. Even if what I make doesn’t matter, I want to do something with my life. Teaching has been my dream since I was a kid.”
“Well, sometimes our childhood dreams are wrong. I once had a dream of getting both nipples pierced. And I did. That dream didn’t last long. It was weird and so painful.”
I grimaced. “Ugh. I didn’t know you ever did that.”
“Yeah. The summer after high school.”
“Wow, I guess you think you really know somebody…”
“Right?”
“What do you mean, ‘right’?” I asked. “You just gave your number to a total stranger.”
“Oh, would you give it a rest already?”
“They are going to find your body in a whole bunch of little pieces somewhere one day.”
“Wow… morbid much?”
“Sometimes,” I said. “I just wish Blake would call. It’s driving me crazy.”
“You still haven’t heard from him?”
I glanced at my phone. Nothing.
“Nope. No texts. No calls or voicemails. He is silent.”
“Well, maybe he had a good reason. Come on, it’s Blake. How much are you going to worry?”
I gave her a sarcastic look. That was a really good question. Why was I so worried? I couldn’t answer that question, but I was. I was terrified.
We finished our shopping and went home. When I arrived, Blake was there. I walked into the front door and entered the kitchen. He was there at the table.
“Hey,” he said. “We need to talk.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Blake
“My father was young, he was on his own with no one, and nothing,” I said. I began the story right at the beginning, and just went right into it. Easily, it all came out of my mouth once I took that very first step and jus began to speak. Why had I waited so long?
I took a drink of water and continued. “He fell in with some bad people who offered him a better life. Being young and impressionable, he didn’t know exactly what he was getting himself into. And by that time, it was too late. That’s the nature of the beast; it sucks you in and then you can’t just walk out.”
“So, what happened?” Tina asked.
“He rose up the ranks, became a boss, met my mother, and started a family. Eventually, my mother realized what he was doing, and she wanted no part of it. She gave him an ultimatum to stop or she would leave, with me. It was hard for him. He struggled to leave the life. Not with the choice, but with how to just get out of it. I’m not sure what he had to do to get out, but I do know that he did, and what he had to do for my mother and me. And he’s been out ever since.”
Tina sighed. Then she took a deep breath and sighed again. The teapot went off and she quickly made herself a cup of ginger tea. Then she sat back down at the table.
“So, what about your uncle?” Tina asked. “He’s in as well? Is he still in?”
I took a breath and said, “Yes. He is in, but he isn’t a boss. He has a good rank, but he has been able to stay kind of in the background on things. He’s never been power hungry and he kind of sticks to the background.”
“So, why didn’t you tell me this sooner? Why wait so long, until I give you your own ultimatum?”
“Tell you? What? That my father was in the mob? My uncle too? I was scared, ok? First of all, that isn’t the sort of thing you just go flashing around to people when you first meet them. And then I knew you were the one… so soon after we met. I knew in my heart that you and I would be together. I can’t explain it, but I knew. And then you were too important to me, I couldn’t bring myself to do anything that might drive you away from me.”
I heard the fear in my words, the quivering in my voice. She had to know I was telling the truth. She felt for me. I could see it in her eyes. I loved this woman so much. There was little she could have done to ever change that.
“You didn’t trust our love enough to think that I would stand by you, no matter what? You thought that would scare me away?”
“Yes.”
“I can understand, maybe when we were first dating. After things got serious, you should have told me. You should have known enough about me, about who I am, and you should have been able to trust in your heart that I would not leave you because of who your family is.”
I looked at her. I was broken, as if I’d been through the ringer. I could only imagine the toll keeping this inside had taken on her. I felt sorry for myself. I hated to see Tina in any sort of pain. I felt so badly that I almost forgot that I was the one who had caused all of this here. Tina had been deceived, lied to.
I had no real excuse.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I should have told you. I know this. It was wrong of me. I can never repay you for the way I’ve hurt you, but if you give me another chance, I promise that I will never lie to you again. I will do whatever it takes to show you how much you mean to me.”
Tina wiped a tear from her eye. “I love you so much. I understand. It’s ok. We can get past this. I can see your side of things. I’m doing my best to put myself in your shoes, but it is going to take some time for the sting of the lies to subside. That is the biggest thing; you lied to me for so long. It’s going to take some time for me to fully trust you again.”
“I know. But we can start now,” I said.
I held her hand in mine and kissed it softly. She smiled and looked deeply into my eyes. Wow, she was so beautiful.
Her hand was now cupping my cheek, rubbing me softly. Her warmth, her sweetness—I’d missed it so much. I just wanted her so badly right then. The lust swept up in me, mixed with the pain and the agony that I’d been through that day. We both needed the release. I could feel it through her skin and she could get the same sense through mine.
Five minutes later we were upstairs in bed. Both of us were completely nude and my hard, rigid cock was buried deeply inside of her. She was so wet, so succulent. I was fighting to get enough air into my lungs, but my body was moving too hard, too fast, pumping away at the sweetness of her wet, tight pussy. My cock was growing exponentially, even as I continued to work my way farther and farther into her.
Tina’s legs were draped up over my head, even though she was pregnant, she wanted it that way. I tried my best to keep up the pace and the rhythm, but my body was so tired, that I was fading fast.
“Fuck me from behind!” Tina said.
She pulled her legs down and wiggled out from under me until she was on her hands and knees. The sight of her beautiful ass cheeks, tight little asshole, and the dripping wet slit, was enough to crank up my strength until I had no choice but to go on. My body was spent, ravaged by the day’s anxiety and the alcohol from last night.
But I was overcome by the emotions of love that I had for my soon to be wife. She was everything to me. And this act of lovemaking was symbolic, as every single act was, of how much I cared for her. I worshiped her mind, body, and soul.
I held onto her hair and pressed in and out of her pussy. She braced herself for the impact and moaned as I released out of her tightness, nice and slowly
, really milking every single inch of that pleasure for all it was worth. Each one felt like a tiny orgasm. I was going to release an epic load inside of her soon.
“Oh, baby… I’ve missed you so much…” Tina said. “I love you. Please, fill me up with your seed. I want more.”
“I love you, too. You are everything to me. Never forget that,” I said.
And there with all of the emotions running high, all of the anger, the frustration, the pain, and the heartache that we’d put each other through recently---we came together in the most perfect, beautiful, and yes, magical way.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Tina
Two Months Later…
I watched as my parents and Blake’s shook hands and exchanged introductions. I’d been dreading all of this for weeks, ever since my mother told me about Blake’s family. After I told my mother what Blake and I talked about, she seemed to understand where he was coming from, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that she still had some reservations about me marrying into this family. And my father was the worst about it.
The moment that he’d found out about Blake’s father and his ties to the mob, he’d basically shut him out. My mother tried to downplay it, but I could read my father easily. He’d never been able to look me in the eye if he wasn’t telling me the truth. At a few of our weekly dinners, he’d let it slip what he really thought about Blake and his family. “Once a criminal, always a criminal “and “the apple don’t fall far from the tree.”
His thinking was so outdated sometimes. I just wanted to shake him and scream in his face that I was marrying Blake and nothing he could say or do, would change that. My mother knew that I loved Blake, and I was determined to marry him, so she had backed off. If anything, it only made my father worse to know that I was going through with the wedding.
“You are making a horrible mistake,” my father said. “This will end in tragedy and heartache.”
The past few months had been very hard on the relationship between my father and I. Even though, I had tried to get him to get over it, and we’d had several discussions, he did not want me to marry Blake. I was surprised that he’d actually come around enough to want to take part in the rehearsal dinner.
His Secrets Page 22
