“Thank you.” I nod, and walk over to the water cooler for a cup of water while I wait. I opt to stand, feeling too fidgety at what I am about to do to sit. I glance around the walls at the numerous plaques and pictures of big-time celebrities. This is the first time I’ve actually been to Evan’s office, even though we dated for two years. I shake my head at what a fool I was back then. He kept me hidden from his colleagues and family while he dated and eventually married a woman who he felt better complemented his image. I’d managed to move on before I even met Landon, but meeting him just solidified that I deserved and was worth so much more. I can never repay Landon for what he has given me, and that brings me back to why I’m standing in this office right now.
“Melody,” I hear Evan’s voice behind me, and roll my eyes before I turn around to greet him. “I have to say, I wasn’t sure if you’d show up, given what happened last time you and I saw one another,” he says, pulling me into an embrace.
I keep my posture stiff, not returning the hug. “Well, you could have told me you were the firm representing the woman who is trying to ruin my fiancé,” I retort.
“Come on, Mel. You know it’s not like that. That is business, but you and I are...personal.”
At that, I do roll my eyes in his face.
“Come on back to my office where we will have more privacy.”
He attempts to wrap his arms around the small of my back, but I step aside and allow him to walk ahead of me while I follow.
“Is she coming?” I ask as soon as we enter his office.
“She’ll be here in another ten minutes. Why don’t you tell me what this is about? You said you had some information I’d want to know regarding this case?”
I nod. “Yeah, but I’d prefer if we waited until Mindy arrives.”
“Sounds fair.” He shrugs. “Why don’t you tell me how you’ve been? I know with everything happening with Landon, this can’t be easy on you.” He manages to sound sympathetic.
I frown and stare at him.
He chuckles and holds up his hands in surrender. “I’m serious, Mel. You have to know I still care deeply about you. Things just didn’t work out between us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”
I scoff. “Friends?”
“Yes, friends. No matter what happens with this case, you and I share a history.”
I shake my head. This guy actually believes I would still want anything to do with him after all of this shows how truly arrogant he is.
“I–” I begin but am cut off by his phone ringing.
“She’s here,” Evan says, hanging up the phone.
I pace the floor in anticipation as he goes to retrieve Mindy from the outer office. I’m nervous about how all of this is going to play out. A few seconds later, Mindy comes strutting into the office ahead of Evan as he holds the door. Mindy stops short when she sees me standing in the middle of the room. We both do a once over of each other. I fully take her in from the top of her perfectly layered brunette hair, to the sleeveless dark blue shirt, and the black A-line skirt to the four inch stilettos she is wearing.
“What is she doing here?”
“Don’t worry. I’m not that happy to see you either,” I return in response to her snarky attitude.
“What’s the matter? You finally getting a good look at the woman your fiancé cheated on you with? Mad because you see your competition?” she asks smartly.
I cock my head to the side. “My competition?” I ask, raising an eyebrow. “What a funny way for a woman to describe herself in reference to the man she says attacked her.”
Her face takes on a shocked expression at my assessment, as if she knows she just messed up.
“Ladies, why don’t we take a seat?” Evan interjects, closing the door.
I smirk at Mindy before strolling over to the chair in front of his desk and sitting, but not before I pull it a few inches away from where Mindy sits. I can’t guarantee I won’t reach over and smack the mess out of her if she says something dumb.
“Melody, you said you had some information that could possibly help this case,” Evan begins as he takes his seat behind his desk.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Mindy perk up and briefly look over at me. “Yes, I did say that. The information I have will help this case...to go away,” I finish after a pause.
“Tuh, you’re wasting your time,” Mindy derides. “What’s this? One last stitch effort to save your pathetic fiancé?”
The look I send her must make her nervous because she quickly closes her mouth and looks back at Evan.
“Melody, what is this about?” Evan inquires.
“It’s simple. Evan, this is about jealousy. This whole bullshit case was brought up because of jealousy and the fact that this woman can’t take no for an answer. The irony is she is the one claiming to be attacked.”
Mindy suddenly rises from her seat, screeching, “You work for me! You’re going to let her sit here and attack me like this?!”
“Sit down. I’ll only take another minute or so of your time,” I say calmly.
“I will tell you both something, if it’s one thing I know about Landon Rogers it’s that he would never put his hands on any woman,” I shoot Mindy a harsh glare. “I never doubted him for a minute. Not from the moment he was arrested up until now. Thankfully, I now have the proof of your lies and deceit. And how you helped,” I state, looking back at Evan so he knows this is on him too.
I hold up my hand when Evan opens his mouth to speak.
“The quieter you are the quicker we can get this over with,” I say, cutting him off. “Here I have proof of Mindy’s ongoing affair with Chief Robertson of the Philadelphia Police Department. She even met with him on a few nights she claims to have met with Landon, and on the night he supposedly attacked you. See there,” I hold out the photo in my hand of Robertson entering Mindy’s home. “That is the night you claim Landon assaulted you. He has the same make and model of Landon’s car, and a similar height and build, but that is not my Landon.” I toss that photo and others on Evan’s desk. “Here’s a copy of the sworn statement from the chief himself admitting to the affair between you two and how he covered for you in your case against Landon because he didn’t want his wife to find out about his infidelities.” I toss the paper onto Evan’s desk. “So we know your story is full of holes and an obvious, complete fabrication, but poor Tina does have the truth on her side. You made sure to verify that she was indeed raped in college,” I turn my attention to Evan now. “Except, you were wrong too. In your need to convict Landon out of spite, you blamed the wrong man.”
“I assume you have proof?” Evan cockily raises an eyebrow.
“I wouldn’t have come here if I didn’t,” I say, just as arrogant. I pull out another paper from my envelope and place it directly in front of him so he can read it. I watch his eyes widen as he realizes what the form is.
“What’s that?” Mindy questions.
“That, sweetie,” I mock. “Is the DNA test that proves Tina’s child is not Landon’s. I also have statements from witnesses that state it was a former teammate and not Landon who assaulted Tina that night. She has already been informed and recanted her story.”
“This doesn’t mean—”
“Oh, it absolutely does mean that this shit is over!” I seethe at Mindy. “You are absolutely shameless. Not only did you accuse an innocent man of attacking you, you involved an actual rape victim who didn’t know any better, but wanted some sort of justice after years of living in shame. You are truly disgusting. No wonder my husband dumped your ass a long time ago.” I glare directly at Mindy.
“Huh? Don’t you mean fiancé, honey? He may have proposed, but that doesn’t mean he’ll marry you.” She has the nerve to sound haughty.
I merely smirk. “I said it right the first time, honey,” I say as I hold up my left hand displaying both my engagement ring and gold wedding band. “Three months now. Our rings are both engraved with the infinite sign for f
orever.” I smile. You could hear a pin drop from the silence in the room.
“What? No congratulations?” I question, looking back and forth between Evan and Mindy who are both still staring at my hand. “I guess I can’t expect congratulations from you two, but there are some people who are here to see Mindy.” I pick up my bag, standing and stroll to the door, opening it. “Mindy, these officers here would like to explain to you that false accusations are a crime.”
“Mindy Andrews, you are under arrest…” one officer begins and it is music to my ears to hear the panic in her voice as she starts demanding to speak with her lawyer.
“At the station, ma’am,” the arresting officer says, leading her out of the office.
“And don’t think you’re off the hook.” I point at Evan. “You helped her and possibly paid off a witness. The Better Business Bureau has been contacted to look into your company’s business dealings and lawsuit papers are being drawn up as we speak for defamation. You enjoy the rest of your day.” I smile as I step out of his office. “Oh,” I say returning, remembering something. “Yeah, I don’t think that whole you-and-I-being-friends thing is going to work out.” I grin at Evan’s bewildered expression and turn to finally leave his office.
There is an obvious little bounce in my step as I push through the heavy doors of the outer office and make my way to the elevators. I have one last confrontation of the day before I can go home.
****
Landon
“Michael, what is this about?” I grunt as I enter his office, but pull up short when I notice Melody sitting in the chair in front of his desk. “Mel, are you all right?” I ask as I take two steps to make it to her. She gives me that smile that always has an effect on me.
“I am now,” she says as she stands and tilts her head, turning her lips up toward me.
I don’t hesitate to lean down and kiss her lips. I have to force myself not to get lost in those soft pillows she calls lips, and I pull back. “What are you doing here?”
“I can help explain that. Why don’t you have a seat, Landon,” Tony interrupts from behind me, entering the office. All three of the faces in the room hold a smile as if they know something I don’t. I hate that, and what’s more, I hate to think my lawyer and manager have dragged my wife into anything involving this fucking case.
“I’ll stand,” I return, giving Tony and Michael, a dark look.
“Landon,” Mel calls me, reaching for my hand.
She knows I’m about ten seconds away from losing my cool. Of course her hand in mine has the desired effect and my mood lightens, but just slightly.
“Explain,” I demand, looking between Tony and Michael.
They pause, looking between each other before turning fully to me. “Landon, it’s over,” Tony says.
I immediately know he’s talking about the case, but I’m confused. “Just like that?”
“Well, not just like that. Someone did a lot of digging on your behalf and found out Mindy’s story was fabricated. She was involved in an affair with the chief of police, who will be turning in his resignation tomorrow morning. And of course without a story, the threat of charges have been dropped as well as the request for DNA. A separate DNA test confirmed you are not the father of Tina’s son,” Michael informs me.
I stare between Michael and Tony and can feel the weight of this case releasing me. I take my first deep breath in months. “Wait, who did all this digging?” I ask.
“Your wife.” Michael nods at Melody and my heart drops.
“What?!” I turn back to her.
“In my defense,” she begins, holding up her hands. “I didn’t personally do the digging. I had a lot of help from a scorpion.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” As far as I’m concerned she is not making any sense right now, and I’m becoming pissed thinking that she has been out investigating shit without my knowledge. “Get out,” I say to Michael and Tony. I hear them both sigh before heading out. I don’t care that this is the second time I’ve kicked Michael out of his own office. When I hear the door close, I unclench my jaw and begin to light into my wife “Mel, listen—”
“No, you listen,” she retorts.
My head snaps back in shock at the fierceness in her voice.
She begins poking me in the chest with her perfectly manicured finger. “I am your wife. Not your girlfriend. Not someone you had a one night stand with. As your wife, whatever happens to you happens to me. That means, whatever is going on in your life, is happening in my life. You don’t get to keep me out of the loop. Ever. I don’t care if it’s just a damn hangnail or some tramp falsely accusing you of attacking her, you don’t carry it all by yourself anymore. You trust your team on the field to run the right plays and catch your passes, now trust me as your teammate off the field. I won’t fumble where it counts.”
Goddamn. I can feel my cock stirring in my suit pants from how she just put me in my place. I cock my head to the side, staring at her. “Did you just use a football analogy for our relationship?” I growl low, stepping closer to her and wrapping my arm around her waist.
“I think I did. You’re rubbing off on me.” She giggles.
“I will definitely be rubbing something off on you. I should bend you over this desk right now. In fact—”
“Landon,” she gasps, pulling back from me as I attempt to spin her around and bend her over the desk. “We can’t do this in Michael’s office. Besides, you haven’t responded to what I said. We’re a team, right? No more keeping me out of the loop?”
The fierce look is in those bright brown eyes again and again. I feel my cock jump in my pants at how damn beautiful she is when she gets like this. But mostly, I feel cared for and loved. I pull her into me and lower my forehead to meet hers. “Yes, Red. You and me, we’re a team. I won’t shut you out again. That goddamn Tony was right,” I groan, hating to admit it to myself.
“About what?” Mel asks.
“He said something about my wife eventually putting me in my place or some shit. I don’t really remember,” I lie.
Mel gives me a knowing look, and I can’t hold back the smile I’ve been fighting.
“He’s a smart man.”
“I’ll show you smart,” I growl and lower my head to press kisses into the column of her neck. Those kisses turn into bites as I think about how I’m going to punish her for defying me later on tonight. Make no mistake, I appreciate my wife taking care of me and being as protective of me as I am of her, but she’ll still receive punishment for going behind my back.
“Mmmm, Landon,” she moans. “W-we, um, can’t do this here.”
“Who’s going to stop me?” I say just as the damn office door opens.
“Landon, we—” Michael starts, coming to an abrupt halt when he sees Mel and me.
I grunt and sigh as I pull back from my wife. She lowers her head into my chest, embarrassed. I smile at how damn cute she is.
“We’re leaving,” I say without even looking at Michael or Tony. “My wife still has some explaining to do, and we’ll be tied up with that for a while.”
Melody’s head pops up from my chest, eyes wide, as she catches the warning in my tone and the meaning behind my words.
“I assume you’ve already drawn up the paperwork for the lawsuit against Mindy and McDaniel and Associates?” I finally turn from my wife to ask Tony.
“Already in progress.” He nods.
“Good. We’ll discuss it more later on in the week. Also, let's set up a press conference for about two weeks from now,” I tell Michael.
“What about?”
“I’ll let you know,” I tell him, before grabbing my wife and ushering her out of the room.
Chapter Thirteen
Landon
“Stop pacing,” I tell my anxious wife as I look over at her. She is dressed in a sleeveless, light red sheath dress, at my insistence, of course, that stops just above her knee, paired with respectable three inch heels. The long twists she in
sisted on getting in preparation for our trip, are pulled up into a high bun, which shows off her beautifully sculpted face even more. She looks good enough to eat for the second time today.
“Stop giving me that look,” she admonishes in a whisper.
“Red, I’ll always give you this look. I don’t give a shit who’s around,” I say out loud, unbothered by the cameraman and crew shuffling about around us.
“What am I going to do with you?” she asks, grinning at me.
“Well, that thing you did with your tongue this morning was kinda nice. You can try doing that with me again.”
“Oh my God!” she covers her mouth and giggles. “You are impossible.”
“Me?” I ask innocently.
“Yes, you. You do realize we’re going on air in about,” she, pauses looking at her watch, “two minutes right?”
“Yup, I remember. And I remember it’s for a very worthy cause. We’ll be fine.” I wasn’t worried about the press conference we were about to give. It’d been two weeks since Mindy’s charges were dropped. We’d filed a lawsuit against her and Evan’s company for defamation, while Mindy was now fighting criminal charges of her own. According to Tony, she could face up to a year in prison for her false accusations. Of course, I was having Tony push the prosecutor into throwing the book at her. Not just for me, but for the stress she’d caused my wife and the fact that she had dragged an actual rape victim into her bullshit. I’d since spoken with Tina who I harbor no ill feelings toward. She apologized and even went public to say she was wrong and apologized for it. In return, I found that scumbag former teammate of mine and had a friend inform him of the DNA results, and make him start paying child support for the child he’d created. Tina, for obvious reasons, doesn’t want him a part of her son’s life, but he will be made to help her out financially as she is a struggling single mother, who dropped out of college after her attack. I also made him pay for her therapy, so hopefully she can find some healing in all this mess.
And then there’s Mel. She’s the real reason I’m doing this press conference. I can’t go back and change what happened to her in college, but I can damn sure make sure she is protected now and do my best to help prevent it from happening to other women. Also, I’ve spoken to Jeremy to help look for the basketball player who hurt her. I’ve already called Lina asking for information, and not surprisingly, she was more than willing to tell me the name of the son of a bitch. While the scorpion Mel used to help me was out of commission, she was more than willing to pass me the information of her business partner, Quincy, who is now hunting down the bastard, who, last anyone heard, was playing overseas. I plan on making a personal visit to him once he’s located.
Forever: a standalone, interracial romance Page 11
