“What? Why? What did you do?”
I heard the sound of someone or something shuffling around, and then I heard her clearing her throat. In a much stronger voice, she stated, “What makes you think I did anything? For your information, I didn’t do anything wrong. After a horrible night of tossing and turning, which I’m blaming on you, I went to work and Justin came into my office, where I proceeded to ask him about the change in design firms. We had a pleasant conversation and then he sent me home when he realized I didn’t look very well. That’s it.”
Something told me she was withholding information, but I wouldn’t press too hard at this time. “So what have you been doing today?”
“Catching up on my sleep. Like I said, I didn’t get much of it last night.”
“What are you doing right now?”
“None of your business.”
I chuckled and she hissed, which made me laugh more. “I think you should come out with me.”
“I don’t think so.”
“It’ll do you good.”
“No.”
“We’ll go to the gym for a workout and then I’ll buy you some dinner.”
“No.”
“Why? You don’t like to sweat?”
“I don’t like you. Why in the world would I want to spend my free time with someone I can’t stand?”
Scratching my cheek, my smile grew. “Because I saved your ass when Justin thought about firing you, and you owe me. I could have let the cards fall wherever they wanted, but I told you what was happening within your own office. You owe me.”
I heard her snort. “You would blackmail me into going to the gym with you? Why? So I can watch all the girls fawn all over you? No, thank you.”
“Jealous?”
“As if!”
“Then I’ll be at your apartment in thirty minutes. Be ready to go.”
“I never agreed.”
“You will.”
“I hate you.”
“I’m not exactly fond of you either.”
“Then why would you want to hang out with me or take me to the gym?”
She wanted me to admit to something. Her voice held too much anxiousness, increasing in strength, volume and pitch, but I would not give into her whims or wants. “Let’s call it playing nice with a future ally.”
“Ally? In what way?” she scoffed. I had to admit, I almost choked on the word when I said it.
“You need me. No one else is going to tell you what’s going on. Well?”
“Fine. Whatever. Come and pick me up and then we’ll go workout. I could probably use some exercise, and my gym is undergoing some renovations. Besides, I could use some pointers, and since we’ll be working out together, your services will be free tonight.”
“You sure about that, Sweetheart?”
“If you want me to go to the gym with you, I know so.”
“Be prepared to get your ass kicked.”
“I can take whatever you’re dishing.”
“We’ll see about that. I’ll be there in thirty.” I hung up to rob her of the last word.
This was torture. Yes, in the grand scheme of things, this was playing into my favor, but I could have kept it all business if I wanted. Then again, if she fell for me and I broke her, I believed it would be a sure fire way to make sure she would leave everyone I cared about alone. It could backfire, but I was confident. That said, part of me wanted to be around her, to get inside her head so that I could understand her more.
No, there was no understanding her or her hate…probably.
Tonight I had to keep my head on straight and my wits about me. My plan would falter if I let her have the upper hand. It was one thing to allow her to believe she had won, it was another thing to let her actually win.
****
Rayne
I threw on a pair of leggings, a sports bra, and a tank top, and then I had to admit that I felt nervous about being around Chad in a gym setting. It was intimidating. This man had been a personal trainer for at least the last 10 years, and now I had willingly agreed to work out with him? When it came to him, I was beginning to turn into a first rate idiot.
What was I thinking? I wasn’t. I allowed him to goad me into going to the gym tonight. A night when I had plans to order a pizza and watch a Hallmark Channel movie marathon. Then he called and my plans for the evening had been blown out of the water and completely incinerated. Fuck my life.
I grabbed my neon green gym bag, threw in an extra bottle of water, a clean towel, and a change of clothes before running downstairs to meet the bane of my existence. Lucky me. He pulled up as I walked out of my building.
Was I ready to be tormented by him tonight? No. Was I ready to watch countless girls ogle him? Fuck no. Then why was I going? Oh yeah. If I didn’t, I could picture him coming up to my apartment, forcing his way in, and carrying me over his shoulder down to his car. He would do it. I knew he would, just like I knew the world was round. Chad was that guy, and he didn’t like to take “no” for an answer. Not that I thought he would push a woman to do something she didn’t want to. Chad wasn’t a complete scumbag who would force a woman into his bed. He had enough women telling him “yes” that if someone denied him, he would simply find another woman to fuck.
Damn, now my mind was wandering and I was having a stupid argument in my head. This was Chad’s fault. Always his fault.
He rolled down the passenger window. “Nice to see you waiting for me. Are you going to get in or stand there all day?”
I lifted the handle to his brand new tan Cadillac Escalade. I almost expected a more in your face color instead of the bland tan, even if it did have the pearl shimmer added. Red, black, white, green, or something bolder. Not tan. “When did you get this one?” I asked casually.
“Last month,” he answered pulling out of the parking lot.
Lately, he drove a sleek silver Porsche or a truck. However, since I had met him, he always seemed to have something new to drive. He went through cars almost as often as he went through women. “Oh. What about your truck?”
“My truck?” he asked stupidly.
Making small talk with him would become the death of me. “Didn’t you have a truck or something? I know you still have the Porsche, since you had that yesterday.”
“I got rid of the truck a few months after I got it. I didn’t like it. I wound up getting a GMC Acadia, but traded that in for this.” He turned his smiling face toward me for a second before his eyes returned to the road. “Why? By the way, it’s nice of you to take stock of what I drive and all that.”
“Don’t read too much into it. I was just curious. Why did you trade in the Acadia?”
“I didn’t like it. It wasn’t very comfortable to drive. I like this one better. Plus it has a little more room than the Acadia did.”
“Why did you need more room when it’s only you?”
“Why not? You never know when you’ll need the extra space.”
“Oh. Okay then…” That was the extent of my ability to make small talk with this imbecile.
“What no smartass comment or anything?”
“Why did you think I would?” I demanded in a snippy tone.
His smile fell. “I thought you might say something about Emma since you tend to go there a lot.”
“Well, she does seem to have a lot of excess baggage. Her walker and whatever else she needs to carry with her. Fucking walking hospital,” I muttered.
“Don’t,” he snarled.
“Excuse me? Did I touch a nerve?”
“You have no clue what she has to go through. And for you information, she only has a walker that she takes from place to place so that it’s there when she needs it. Other than that, she can use a cane. Same thing with my sister. Megan sometimes has to use a cane. But DO NOT…” He took in a deep breath. “Do not think for one second that they are any less of a person because they have to have assistance. They are still as human as you or I, and they still have sharp minds.” I n
oticed that his grip on the steering wheel had tightened, causing his knuckles to turn white. In that moment, I thought if he wanted, he could rip this car apart.
“Whatever,” I whispered, afraid of pushing him over the edge, and yet, I didn’t want to give an inch or concede that he might be right. He wasn’t. People like Emma who claimed to be disabled in their 20s, they needed to be watched like a hawk. You couldn’t trust them. They were liars, and if they weren’t, then they should be in a place that gave them the care they supposedly required. I didn’t trust her or any of them. She could be faking it, waiting to take advantage of the situation.
Like I said, big lies could tear families apart.
“I’m serious.” I heard the warning tone in his voice.
“I said whatever.”
His grip tightened again and he seethed through clenched teeth, “Your new sister-in-law makes your brother happy and does what she can in order to remain independent. If that means using a walker or cane or taking a handful of meds, then she’ll do it. It does not mean she likes it. Same with Megan. She hates being sick and having to live her life day by day. That is no way to live. And people like you set them back and judge them for something they didn’t ask for, nor do they have any control over it. What if it happened to you? Would you want someone to judge you like you’re judging them?”
I did not agree to go to the gym tonight to be bullied like this. “Stop the car.”
“No. You’re going to listen to what I have to say. They don’t need to you tell them they suck or that they need to disappear. What if it was you? What if it was Bryan who had gotten sick? Or your parents? Your mom has diabetes. What if it got out of control and she had to have her foot amputated? What if she lost her eye sight? Does that mean she needs to disappear?”
“First, she’s old. Second, her diabetes doesn’t make her disabled.”
“Some diseases rob a person of life and make them disabled.”
“And that’s my problem, how?” I argued back. “If the disease has robbed them of life—as you say—then shouldn’t they be in a care facility that will give them the help that they need? And if they aren’t that sick, how can you claim it robbed them of life? If they are really that sick, how can they function in normal society?” The box inside me where I kept everything locked up, shook and threatened to explode, but I wouldn’t let it. Some things should stay in the past and forgotten.
In that moment, I wished he’d hold me instead of yell at me. It made me feel weak to crave his comfort.
“Really? Is that how you are going to continue to be?”
“This is who I am. Take it or leave it.”
He sat there for a minute, and then said, “I feel sorry for you. You are so blind and think so highly of yourself, you can’t see that this is the reason your job is in danger. This right here. The way you treat people. You really think you’re well liked? I beg to differ. You’re not. If you were, you wouldn’t be in the mess you’re in. But you keep living in your dreamland and tell me how that goes for you.”
My hands clenched into fists and I could feel my anger rising as my nails cut into my palms, breaking the skin and creating shallow cuts. “Stop the car and let me out now,” I demanded.
His words stung and felt more like an attack than anything. And sadly, if those same words had been spewed by anyone else, it would have hurt less than it did not. I didn’t know why, and I didn’t want to stick around to explore this new revelation.
Pulling into a parking spot, he threw the car into gear, and turned off the ignition. “Sure, Sweetheart. Whatever you say. We’re here anyway.”
“I’m not going in there with you. I’ll call an Uber and go home.” Staying with him right now, wouldn’t be good for either of us. I wanted to both slap him and have him comfort me, and those warring emotions pissed me off and confused me.
“Go ahead.” He got out of the car and grabbed his bag, slamming the door shut. Then he stood there with his arms crossed, tapping his foot.
I slowly slinked out of the car, ordered a ride, and then stood there waiting. The incessant tapping reminded me that he had not left yet. “What?” I growled.
“I’m not leaving a single woman in a dark parking lot alone. I’m waiting. I might not like you, but I would never leave you alone to fend for yourself. Give me some credit.”
That stunned me. He was a player who cared about scoring, and yet, he was behaving like a first rate gentleman. “Really?” I asked breathlessly. My internal scales were tipping in his favor, and I didn’t like it. I shored up my defenses believing he would rather kiss a shark than comfort me.
“You can believe whatever the fuck you want to about me, but I would never leave a woman alone and helpless,” he snapped. His face was flushed and his muscles looked bigger than they were, more tense.
“I’m hardly helpless. I’ve taken self-defense.”
“I don’t care. It isn’t right.”
His actions touched me, but I wouldn’t succumb to the desire to lean against him and wrap my arms around him. “Do what you want.”
We both waited by the car for twenty minutes in silence and my ride still hadn’t arrived. I prayed it would hurry. It was getting harder to ignore him.
“A little impatient to leave?” He asked with a smirk when I checked the time on my phone for about the fifteenth time.
He ruffled my feathers. “Just ready to get home,” I retorted, and then breathed a sigh of relief when the car finally arrived. He was getting under my skin, and that wasn’t a good thing.
As I was sliding into the backseat without saying anything else, I heard him tell me, “Call me when you get home so I know you got there all right. You would probably be more likeable if you looked around and saw what you were doing to others.” With that, he hefted himself away from his own car—where he had been leaning while he waited with me—and stalked toward his gym. His lean, muscled body swaying with each step. He moved gracefully, and his ass was tight and I wondered what it would feel like to grab it. Now I knew I was losing my mind.
It didn’t matter what he said or thought because he was wrong, and I would prove it.
Chapter 22
Chad
I hadn’t talked to Rayne in a week. The last communication I had was a simple text message that read, “Home.” That was it, and I had to be honest, after the way we left things, I was starting to get concerned. I had torn into her and laid a bunch of shit at her feet, and even though I had planned to do something of the sort, my intentions had been to do it in a more covert manner, with a gentler touch. Instead, I stampeded in and threw her into the deep end without asking if she could swim. I had no class, no finesse, and had as much tact as Wile Coyote.
And with the way things ended, there was the distinct possibility my efforts to teach her to respect others no matter their situation had also been annihilated. My only excuse was that when she started to attack Emma, I lost it. I was the one that brought Emma into the conversation, and then I attacked Rayne for what she said. I couldn’t hold back my feelings nor my anger any more than I could cure Megan of multiple sclerosis or Emma of myasthenia gravis. It wasn’t possible.
Typically, when I opened my mouth and inserted my foot to my thigh, I could kiss away the hurt and make it better by bringing the woman to climax after climax, climbing higher and higher until she passed out from sheer pleasure.
I knew some, like Rayne, considered me a man whore, but I loved women. I loved making them feel beautiful and wanted, because sometimes a person needed to feel desired. If they were mad at me, then I would sooth their anger with sweet words, soft lips, and an orgasm that had them convulsing from head to toe.
I could remember what it was like to have people look at me like I was the dirt beneath their feet. No one should feel like that, which is one of the reasons I was so determined to fight Rayne. All women had at least one thing beautiful about them…well, most did.
If I could help them see the beauty they possessed, then I
would. Not even their anger could turn me off, unless it was Kit-Kat. She was gorgeous, but crazy. I refused to fix that particular relationship with sex.
And if it was a guy…actually, we didn’t hold grudges the same way, and I could typically buy my friend a beer.
None of this applied to Rayne. She wasn’t a girl I was involved with and therefore, I could not suck on her clit or finger fuck her until her mind exploded—even if that appealed to me more than it should. And she definitely wasn’t one of the guys I could simply invite out for a beer. Rayne firmly remained in the “other” column. That box you marked when you didn’t know what else to check. How was I supposed to make up with someone in the “other” column?
I thought about the other people lumped into that particular column for one reason or another. With Emma, she would tell me off and then we were good again. With my sister, she usually forgave me in a day or so whenever I pissed her off past the point of no return. I counted myself lucky that she hadn’t disowned me yet. My younger brother, Theodore, fell into the guy column. My parents were my parents and loved me regardless.
After weighing the options, it all came down to whether I cared enough to want to fix this. I wasn’t sure it was just about my plans anymore, or if I was starting to genuinely care about Rayne. I freely admitted that I was attracted to her, and even though I couldn’t remember our night together, I wanted another taste of her. She was beautiful on the outside and my dick reacted to her whenever she was around. That said, all I’d wanted was the chance to make her change her ways. If Emma had to be around her, she shouldn’t have to deal with Rayne’s condescending attitude. And if it didn’t work, then at least I tried. Right?
Years ago, my mother told me that if I wanted to win a girl over, I needed to buy her flowers. Ergo, Rayne would get flowers. I got online and flipped through the different arrangements until I found a dozen long stemmed blood red roses. They were probably pricier than any other flowers I had ever bought before, but if it won Rayne over, it would be worth it.
Redeemed: Book Two of the Love Seekers Series Page 12
