Fake it Baby_A Best Friend's Brother Romance

by Tia Siren

  “Listen, money is no object. You know that.”

  “It’s not up to me. I can’t excuse you for work because of the time you have already spent here. You don’t have any family you need to….”

  “I don’t care what it takes!” he yelled. “Get me the fuck out of here!” He closed his eyes and took a big breath. “Sorry.” He looked into Bernard’s eyes and pleaded with him. “My life is a mess because of that woman. I need to get out of here. I need to fix it. Please, do what you have to do to make it happen.”

  “I will see what I can do.”

  Edward stayed seated and watched Bernard get up out of his chair, gather his things and leave out the door, leaving Edward alone for a brief moment until the guard entered and escorted him back to his cell.

  His new cell buddy was still sitting in the corner, but he was alone this time.

  “Where did he go?” asked Edward, pointing toward where the guy previously sat.

  “This is a holding cell. It’s temporary. He went to something a little more permanent.”

  Edward looked at the burly man. That very well could happen to him. He took a breath and tried to keep his faith that his lawyer would get him out of there.

  “My lawyer will want to talk to you.”

  “About what?”

  “About Gracie, and why you are in here. He might be able to help get you out of here.”

  “Where is your lawyer, then?”

  “He left to work on my case.”

  “He better get his ass back here. My court date is on about an hour. If they convict me, I’m done. I’m in here for a couple of years at least.”

  “So why are you here? Didn’t you say you were busted for drugs, how long ago?”

  “Few months ago.”

  Edward paced the cell floor as he let everything go through his mind.

  A couple of months before possible court date if Bernard can’t get me out of here? What the hell am I going to do with a prison sentence? A record? It will ruin me. Eva. Please be okay.

  He slammed himself up against the bars, desperately trying to look down the hallway.

  “Come on, Bernard,” he whispered. “You’ve got to help me.”

  Chapter 39

  Edward had no idea what time it was. When two guards arrived, and took his only companion away he was left alone with a deafening silence except for the occasional echo of a cell door closing or a buzzer sounding. With no windows or outside connection, he had lost track of time and he was losing track of hope.

  He wasn’t sure how long he sat with his back against the cold cement wall. When he heard the opening of a door close by he jumped up and ran to the cell bars. A guard entered and with no eye contact he opened the holding cell.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, looking for Bernard.

  “I’m here to escort you to your new suite.”

  The guard was monotone. He could tell it was something the guard always said, maybe in more of a cocky tone with prisoners who acted tough or lashed out.

  “Where is Bernard? I need to talk to my lawyer.”

  “Your lawyer had until five o’clock to get you released. I gave him an extra ten minutes just because I’m a nice guy. Looks like you are spending the night.”

  Edward’s blood went cold. Every moment he spent in this place was detrimental to his happiness, to his success.

  “I need to make a phone call. Can I do that?”

  “In the morning.”

  “Listen, I have a lot of connections, a lot of pull.”

  “I don’t care if you’re the Pope. I have a job to do and right now my job is to escort you to your new home that might possibly be your new home for the rest of your life.” The guy jerked Edward forward by his arm and shackled his hands together behind him.

  Edward knew the guy was all talk, just trying to get into his head. He knew better than to let that happen. He was the one who got into other people’s heads. He let the guard lead him out of the room and decided to try and make the best of a bad situation. Just as the guard was signing him out of the holding area, another guard escorted Edward’s lawyer in.

  “Bernard! Give me some good news,” said Edward.

  “I’m afraid it’s after hours,” said the guard as he took Edward by the arm. His tone was thick with sarcasm as if he knew he was going to win the argument. “You’ll have to come back tomorrow after nine to release….”

  “No, I won’t.” Bernard dropped a piece of paper on the desk in front of the guard and folded his hands. “I’ll be taking him into my custody effective immediately.”

  The guard read the paper, looked at the lawyer, then at the other guard and nodded. “Very well.” He drew a line through the log he just signed after releasing Edward’s arm and unlocking his cuffs. “You’re free to go.”

  Edward didn’t hesitate to follow them out the prison doors. He didn’t say a word until he was outside in the cool night air and headed out toward his lawyer’s car.

  “Man, I owe you big. How did you get me out of there?”

  “Pulled a few favors with some people I know.”

  “Thank you.”

  He climbed into the passenger seat, his mind reeling with a million questions.

  “Did you contact Eva? Is she okay?”

  “I tried. She seems to have disappeared.”

  “Disappeared?” Edward felt his body harden. Disappeared to Morocco or disappeared from existence? What if Gracie got to her? What if she….”

  “Don’t get too upset over it yet. I spoke with some of her peers and they mentioned some sort of a sabbatical.”

  “Morocco. She said she was going there to work on her thesis. I just assumed it was going to be after her semester was over.”

  Edward didn’t know what hurt more, the idea she could have been killed by Gracie or the idea she took off with a man who worked harder to get into women’s pants than he did on trying to look good in front of them.

  “I am supposed to keep you with me, but I’m going to let you go back to your flat. I don’t want you talking to anyone about the case. I trust that you won’t be a flight risk?”

  “Not at all,” he said, his thoughts still on Eva and that long-haired jungle boy, Gerald.

  “I’m warning you. I put my neck on the line for you. If you fuck this up I’m not going to be a nice guy.”

  “Bernard. I told you, I’m good. You have my word. You have done so much for me in the past. I’m not about to sabotage that.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  “Have you found anything out yet?”

  “I’ve been working on the case most of the day today. The evidence you said you saw in her office is nowhere to be found, but I did find this.”

  He pulled a piece of paper out of his case and handed it to him. It was from the university dean’s office with head department signatures at the bottom. After reading it, Edward looked at Bernard.

  “It says they were going to fire Gracie. I remember Eva talking about this.”

  “Looks like it. Look at the date.”

  “This was last year. So why was she still teaching?”

  “Looks to me like it might be the starting proof of some pretty serious black mail.”

  “The drugs,” Edward said.

  “What drugs?”

  “I found a bag of crystal meth in her desk along with the gun. I think it may have been the same meth they found on Mr. Housel, one of the department heads. The same meth she asked my holding cell friend to hide for her before she busted him for having it. I think she uses it in her black mail schemes.”

  “But why would she want to stay someplace no one wants her in?”

  “I think I might know.”

  “There are rumors she was having an affair with that teacher who was found murdered a few years ago. She may have been a part of it.”

  “I think she was.”

  “She left for a while. Came back at the beginning of the school year.”

  “She cam
e back for me.”

  Bernard looked at Edward. “Why?”

  Edward took a big breath. “My partner and I had a weekend cruise party to celebrate our business before I moved out here. Invited a lot of beautiful people. She was on it.”

  “You knew her back then?”

  “No. I didn’t even know she was there, but she remembered me. Said we had a connection. Said I noticed her in a crowd during a speech I gave.”

  “Was she that obsessed that she needed to get to you over a connection glance in a crowded room?”

  “There’s more.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “I started what I thought was a meaningful relationship with her sister in law, tall, gorgeous, Brazilian model and everything I was looking for in a woman. Turned out she played me. She was married.”

  “And when Gracie found out, she became vengeful.”

  “I guess Gracie was always the black sheep of the family and always in Talita’s shadow. She told me she regretted the day her brother met her.”

  “This will definitely help your case.”

  “Do you think she killed herself?”

  “It’s a very good possibility.”

  “Over me though?”

  “Maybe you were the straw that finally busted the cart.”

  “But why her brother? Are you sure he died from a gunshot wound?”

  “There is an autopsy being performed, but they are 99 percent sure he died from a gunshot wound to the chest.”

  “Shit. Why would she kill her own brother, the very man who tried to help her?”

  “How did he try to help her?”

  “He beat the hell out of me a couple of months back for one thing.”

  “He did?”

  “Told me to stay away from his sister and his wife. I’m almost certain Gracie put him up to it.”

  Bernard pulled up in front of Edward’s flat and shut the car off. They both climbed out and Bernard leaned against the front bumper.

  “Has she ever been psychologically evaluated?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “It’s going to take some time, but I will get to the truth and I will get you out of here. Meanwhile, remember what I said. Don’t talk to anyone about what happened. I’m sure you will be getting a lot of people asking questions. Keep to yourself as much as you can. I’ll get you out of this as soon as I can.”

  “That’s why I keep you on my good side, Bernard. You are the best.”

  “The money isn’t bad either,” he smiled.

  “I do pay you well, don’t I?”

  He slapped Edward on the back and climbed back into his car. “Get some sleep. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  Edward stayed on the sidewalk until Bernard drove away, his hand in the air, eternally grateful for such a man in his corner.

  It didn’t take long for Edward to fall asleep once he was wrapped up in his own blankets, a hint of Eva’s perfume still lingering on his sheets. He knew what Bernard has told him, but first thing on his agenda in the morning was to find Eva. He needed to be sure she was okay and he desperately needed to talk to her. His heart ached for her and he felt desperate to get her back into his life. The last thing he remembered thinking before drifting off to sleep was wondering if Gracie felt the same desperation before killing herself.

  He dreamed of the day he made love to Eva in the park. He felt the way her skin reacted when he spread the beads of water from the lake across her body, the goosebumps that raised up beneath his hand when he touched her in just the right places, the slight moans that escaped her perfect lips when he entered her. He made love to her, his emotions running wild for her. He closed his eyes and melted into her, feeling her soft body turn hard and jagged. Each push of his body against hers changed from an erotic and heightened sense of orgasm that slowly climbed higher and higher, to a jab of pain every time he touched her. He tried to keep going as he heard her moans turn to groans but the pain grew more intense like a knife slicing into him wherever he touched her.

  When he opened his eyes to look at her, Eva was gone. In place of her beautiful face was a distortion of Gracie’s angry eyes and evil grin. He looked down and pushed off her body that looked more like a jagged body full of thorns and knives protruding from the inside out. He tried to scream but his voice wouldn’t make a sound. He jumped off her and reached down to pull his jeans back up. His body was covered in open wounds that bled profusely and ran to the ground he stood on. Within a few moments, a pool of his own blood gathered around his feet.

  “What did you do?” he screamed at her. “What have you done?”

  “I knew you loved me,” she cackled. “You are mine forever!” She began to laugh with this horrid shrill that seared through him and rang in his ears, deafening him. He slammed his hands over his ears and sat up in his bed, gasping for a deep breath and looking around his bedroom.

  “Jesus Christ,” he stammered.

  Chapter 40

  Edward opted to make some coffee and catch up on some news. He knew it was going to be impossible to get back to sleep after the nightmare he just experienced. It wasn’t quite five and the sun was just barely peaking in through the window. The two hours of sleep would have to suffice.

  He opened his laptop and tried to catch up on news. He opened his email and tried to concentrate on the contents. He tried to stay patient but he kept looking at the clock. When it hit seven am, he tried calling Eva’s phone. It didn’t surprise him that she didn’t answer. He wanted to believe it was because she slept in on that Saturday morning, but not knowing for sure ate at him. He tried to call her again, and again he got no answer.

  He quickly threw his jeans and t-shirt back on and went to her house. Every attempt he gave in finding her came up empty. Not knowing for sure where she was, ate at him worse than anything he had ever endured. He needed to know she was okay, but how?

  A few days had gone by and although he went mentally crazy not knowing where she was, he absorbed himself into the business Joseph had begun just a few months ago. It was already massively successful and although Joseph tried to get him to go back to Brighton, Edward stayed where his lawyer told him to stay.

  “I have to stay put until this mess is cleared up,” he told Joseph on the phone.

  “Ya know, this isn’t like you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You always know how to avoid putting yourself in the middle of disaster. What makes this one so different?”

  “I don’t know, Joseph.”

  “Is it that girl?”

  “Who? Eva?”

  “Yeah, that’s the one. Has she gotten to you that bad?”

  “It isn’t about her.”

  “Well, from what you’ve told me she sure has a lot to do with it.”

  “I don’t even know where she is, Joseph. That is killing me. I trusted the wrong person and this is the result, that’s all. Did you know Gracie was at the party?”

  “What party? Our party?”

  “Yeah. The cruise party we had for the business.”

  “Naw, man. I had no idea. Coincidence?”

  “Not even close.”

  “What was her tie in? Who did she go with?”

  “The only tie I can think of is Talita. She is her sister in law.”

  “Maybe she invited her.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” Edward thought about getting in touch with Talita again. “I have Bernard on it. He’ll clear my name.”

  “He is the best.”

  “Hey I have to go. I’m going to get in touch with him. Let him know about some things.”

  “Sure thing, man. When you coming back anyway? It’s getting dull around here without you.”

  “As soon as this all clears up. Talk to you soon.”

  “Lata.”

  Edward hung up and called Bernard. A few rings and a voice mail.

  Of course.

  “Hi, Bernard. It’s Edward. I think we should question Talita. Find out why Gracie was at
my party last summer. There may be a connection we aren’t seeing. Anyway, get a hold of me when you can. Thanks.”

  Edward paced the floor. He tried remembering Gracie’s face in the crowd on that boat but he came up with nothing. By the end of the day, when he still heard nothing from Bernard, he grabbed his phone and went through his contacts. When Talita’s name came up he looked at the way the letters formed her name. He rested his finger on the call button, knowing it was not in his best interest to call her. Whether it was Bernard reminding him not to talk to anyone about the case, or the stir in his pants he always got when he heard her voice, he pushed all of that to the back of his mind and hit the button.

  “Hello?” The familiarity of Talita’s voice flooded into Edward’s mind.

  “Talita?”

  “This is she.”

  “Hi. It’s Edward Caldwell.”

  Silence came pouring in from the other end.

  “We met over the summer….”

  “I know who you are.” Her voice sharpened. “Why are you calling me?”

  “I need your help. I’m trying to clear my name.”

  “Clear your name. Of what? Guilt?”

  “What?”

  “You killed my husband and Gracie,” she sobbed.

  Edward knew he shouldn’t have called. Gracie’s brother was Talita’s husband. Even though he knew that from the beat down he received from Johnny, he didn’t put it together until that very moment. Johnny was always Gracie’s brother in Edward’s mine, the guy she convinced to kick his ass.

  “Talita, I didn’t do it. I swear. With your help we can find the real answers.”

  “I hope you rot in prison for the rest of your fucking life.”

  “Please, you have to listen to me.”

  “Don’t call me again,” she whispered.

  Edward heard her disconnect and regretted trying to talk to her.

  “Shit,” he whispered.

  When Bernard finally called him, he didn’t sound happy.

  “What did I tell you?”

  “What?”

  “You called Talita Honor? Why would you do that?”

  “She was the only link to Gracie being at the party. I had to know.”

  “I have already questioned her. If you don’t want me to help you then you need to tell me now. I will walk away from it.”