“If you don’t get the hell away from me, and I mean right now, I’m gonna make you scream MY name,” Marlea promised, reaching for her fork.
“All I want to do is make you feel good,” he whispered.
“Then you won’t mind this.”
“Damn, bitch,” Welles yelped, simultaneously leaping from the booth and trying to pull the fork from his leg, a slow and obviously painful process. Wincing, he worked at his wound. “You trying to give me tetanus or somethin’? All I was trying to do was…”
“Crawl up on me, you nasty…”
“Watch who you’re callin’ a bitch!” Jeanette hissed.
“Oh, hell, no!” Rissa pushed to her feet behind the table. She pointed a finger at Welles and shook it like a weapon. “You know, there’s a name for people like you, and I happen to know what it is—got a 1600 on the SAT back in the day, and sat at the head of my class at Emory Law, yes I did. You’re an acrotomophile, mister. That means you’ve got an amputee fetish.”
“And I would see a doctor for it, if I were you, ’cause man, you are one sick puppy,” Connie added, getting loud.
Jeanette was on her knees in the booth and pointing. “She already told you, you need to leave. She’s got a man.”
“And a lawyer. Frankly, I think my brother would be real happy to kick your sorry butt, but I think the cops could get you out of here a bit faster.” Rissa pulled out her cellphone and started pressing buttons.
“You ain’t got to call the cops,” Welles frowned, tossing the fork back to the table. “No need to go making threats or anything.” He turned wounded eyes on Marlea. “I just thought you might be looking for someone to make you feel whole.”
Reaching for the fork, Marlea held his eyes. “I’m not prey or in need of pity, and I certainly don’t need that kind of ‘help’ from you.”
Libby’s bright eyes flashed fury. “She’s about as whole as one person can get, and if you don’t go far away from her, I might have to show you how whole I am.”
Phone to her ear, Rissa’s eyes slid sideways, taking in Libby’s ire. “Humph.” Her voice went low. “Must be the Black Irish in her.”
“I heard that,” Libby sniped.
“I’m just sayin’.”
Vincent Welles moved his head from side to side, his neck creaking in the process, then eased away from the table, limping and muttering something about “crazy women” under his breath.
Watching him stop at the bar to pay his tab, Rissa closed her phone and laid it on the table. “Men like that make you glad that there are decent men in the world like AJ.”
“Tell the truth and shame the devil, chile.” Jeanette’s shoulders rocked as she sipped her drink. Then she got seriously tickled and laughed until she was gasping for air. She had to slap her breast to clear her throat. “Remember when you first met AJ?”
“How could I ever forget?” Marlea dropped her head and laughed. “No one will ever say I went looking for love. He just earned it.”
Marlea’s obvious comfort in being so close to the man was not lost on the trainer. Aw, shucks now! No wonder she’s still living at his house and wants him in on her training. She figures he knows her body—even better than me, and under the circumstances, I guess he does. Wonder how long they’ve been sleeping together? And why didn’t she tell me?
Probing a tooth with her tongue and watching the woman across from her, Libby recalled how very fine AJ Yarborough was the last time she had seen him, and had to raise her beer. “Well, I ain’t mad at you.”
“That makes two of us,” Connie giggled, clinking her glass against Libby’s bottle.
“Oh, my goodness.” Jeanette worked a hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh. “And how about how he got you up and walking?”
Marlea’s mouth dropped open. “You know about that?”
“Honey, Grady’s a big hospital, but we were all talking about you and AJ.”
“And how he got you to walk,” Connie chimed in, dodging Jeanette’s elbow. “Of course I can only repeat what I’ve heard, but I heard he was a pretty good kisser.”
“Now where did you hear that?”
“Hospital.” Connie giggled again. “He looks like a good kisser, and you’ve got to respect that in a man. I know I do.”
“Okay.” Marlea raised her hands in defense. “I respect him. He earned that, too.”
“Ooh, you’re blushing,” Rissa happily pointed out.
“Y’all are embarrassing me.” Burying her face in her hands, Marlea shook her head. “Just stop it.” Raising her head, tucking her hair behind her ears, she took a deep breath and tried to keep a straight face. “Can we talk about something else?”
“Okay, okay.” Libby signaled for another round of drinks. “But back to you, girl. Congratulations on completing your first race since the surgery.”
“Hear, hear!” Rissa drummed her palms against the tabletop. “She ran a great race, and I ought to know. I was behind her every step of the way.”
Cassie materialized at the table, sweeping empty glasses and bottles onto her tray and setting down fresh drinks. “On the house,” she said. “I just want you to know that I didn’t send him over here, and I had no idea he was gonna act that way. I hope you’ll accept my apology.”
“For what?” Marlea fanned her hand. “You didn’t raise him, and I’m not about to let his issues mess up my night out.”
“I’m glad.” Cassie squeezed her arm and smiled. “Y’all let me know if I can do anything else for you.”
“That girl’s gonna get a real nice tip from me.” Libby grabbed the fresh Corona and squeezed the lime wedge into the beer. Tipping the bottle to her lips, she sighed and swallowed. “You took that real well.”
“I did, didn’t I?” Marlea swirled a straw through her drink and sipped.
“AJ would have been proud of you,” Rissa said.
“I’m proud of myself. First, I run a race and now I move on past a dog—and I didn’t even limp in the process.” Marlea high-fived Connie and Jeanette.
“Anyway,” Libby said, resting the bottle on the cocktail napkin in front of her. “I was just gonna say that I knew I could count on you to run again, and it sounds like you went and found a man in the process.”
“You’re real funny, Libby, and I can see that you think it’s a joke, but you know how they say that the only things you can count on in life are death and taxes? Well, I can add two more things that I can count on.” Marlea raised her glass for a toast and urged the others to do the same. “For better or for worse, I’ll never run the 400 again, but I’ll never have to doubt AJ Yarborough. Never.”
Rissa quickly touched her glass to Marlea’s, and the other women joined them in turn. Only Jeanette heard Libby murmur, “Never say never,” as she brought her drink to her lips.
Chapter 26
…I’ve got him back in my arms again, so satisfied…The old song played through Marlea’s thoughts for the thousandth time since she had awakened in AJ’s arms. He’s back from New York; he’s back in my bed. Does it get any better than this? Turning from the broad library windows, Marlea pulled her thoughts back into the house and cradled her mug of herbal tea. Looking over Rissa’s shoulder, her mind caressed thoughts too precious to share, and her skin shivered beneath her cotton shirt, remembering his touch.
AJ’s back and things are better than I could have ever dreamed. It seemed that he held her closer since his return, treasuring her as never before. I’ve never felt like this about a man, and I swear that if anyone had ever told me I could feel this good about another human, I would have called him or her a fool. Her skin remembered what it was like to feel his warm length, and tingled.
Marlea lowered her face to the cup and sipped lightly. It wouldn’t do for Rissa to catch her looking so happy. She would only run off and tell her brother what he already knew.
“Darn, I thought I’d bookmarked it. I thought it was DreenScapes.com. Am I right? Read the Website off to me again. It’s www
…what’s the rest of it?” Rissa looked up from the computer’s flat screen and waved her hand in front of Marlea’s face. “Hello? Are you in there?”
“Yeah, of course. What did you ask me?” Marlea sipped more tea.
“That must be some awfully good tea,” Rissa observed. “I asked if you remembered the DreenScape Website. I wanted to show you her new designs. She’s got some things that would be perfect…Marlea! Are you listening to me?”
“Um,” Marlea was saved by the telephone. She pointed to the one on the desk at Rissa elbow. “Telephone,” she announced brightly.
“You’re nuts.” Rissa’s eyes were on Marlea as she answered the telephone, and they changed to marked curiosity as she greeted the caller. “How can I help you, Mr. Charles?” She listened and nodded. “Could you hold for just a moment?”
Pressing the mute button, Rissa turned to Marlea. She held the phone out in front of her, but gripped it tightly. “This is Dexter Charles. He’s Parker Reynolds’s attorney, and he wants to speak to you.”
“To me?” Marlea’s fingers lost their strength and the thick mug fell to the floor, sloshing warm tea over her bare feet. “Why? What does he want with me?”
A dozen explanations rushed across Rissa’s pretty face. “You’ll have to ask him yourself.”
“You never kept a secret in your life, Rissa. What does he want with me?”
Gesturing with the phone, she shook her head. “You’ll have to ask him yourself.”
Taking the phone, Marlea pressed the mute button. She could hear rustling in the background, but no voices. “Hello?”
“Good morning, Ms. Kellogg.” Dexter Charles had a surprisingly pleasant voice, but it did little to calm the oily wave of anger-tinged fear that ambushed Marlea. “I’m calling at the request of my client, Dr. Parker Reynolds.”
“Why?” Fumbling backward, the back of Marlea’s leg found the edge of the deep leather sofa fronting the mahogany shelves. She fell to the cushions.
“I’m sure that you’re aware that after his arrest, Dr. Reynolds admitted his part in your accident. His guilty plea was entered and accepted, subsequently the criminal portion of your case has been completed. Dr. Reynolds is currently serving his sentence in the Fulton County jail.”
“That doesn’t explain your calling me.” Marlea held the phone in both hands and tried to keep it still against her ear. “How did you know I was here, and why are you calling me?”
“I admit that it took some doing to locate you, but Grady Hospital was helpful. The reason for my call is that my client has asked to see you.”
“I can’t imagine why. It’s not like we have anything in common except, oh yeah, he’s the man who nearly killed me in an accident, then cut off my toes and ended any chance I had at completing a goal I worked toward my entire life, and then lied about it. Gee, I’m not feeling very chatty, and especially not with him. Does this surprise you?”
“Certainly. Your feelings are highly understandable, so I’m not going to hold you,” Dexter soothed. “But I would like to leave you with a thought.”
“What is it?”
“You will have to face this if you intend to get on with your life. And you’re a young woman, Ms. Kellogg. You’ll be on this planet for, oh, another fifty or sixty years. That’s a long time to leave hate and anger unresolved.”
Drawing a long breath, Marlea tried to frame an appropriate response. She settled for, “Thank you. I’ll think about it.”
“He wants to see you, right? To make amends?” From her place at the desk, Rissa watched Marlea’s face. The softly satisfied feminine glow she’d worn since AJ’s return was gone. “You gonna do it?”
“Hell, no.” Marlea dropped the phone to her side on the sofa. Wrapping her arms around herself, she slid lower into the cushions and shook her head. “It’s enough that he’s serving his misdemeanor charges consecutively. What possible good could it do for me to see him? So I could stand in front of him and call him a sorry son of a bitch?” She sucked her teeth and shook her head. “No, I can’t see it.”
“Are you really willing to let him off that easily?”
“What?” Marlea’s eyes searched the other woman’s face. “You want me to pursue a civil case? Cut him off at the fiscal knees for what he’s done?” She made a face. “The settlement we’ve already come to is fine, and he won’t be able to practice for a while. All he can do is offer more money, so what is there to talk about?”
“How about closure, Marlea?” On the desk, the computer screen snapped into darkness for a long moment before the screen saver activated, bringing bright tropical fish to roam the screen. Rissa’s fingers drummed the desk and her lips twitched. “Part of your healing lies in forgiveness, in letting go of the pain and getting on with your life, doesn’t it? How much more of your life are you going to let him take away from you—even by accident?”
“Is that part of the ‘Lawyer’s Creed’, or something? That’s basically what Charles Dexter said.”
“Don’t get crabby with me, girl. Even though I practice a whole different kind of law, Marlea, I don’t want to see you cut off your nose to spite your face.”
“And it’s such a pretty nose.” AJ stepped into the library and headed straight for Marlea. Dropping heavily to her side on the sofa, he stretched a long arm behind her, and seemed satisfied when she pulled her knees close to her body and leaned against him. “What’s going on? Why do you two look so tense?”
Marlea closed her eyes, anticipating the inevitable, and Rissa did not disappoint.
Standing, backing toward the door, Rissa tuned up. “Marlea just got a phone call.” Pausing in the doorway, she delivered the pitch. “Charles Dexter is Parker Reynolds’s attorney. He called because Reynolds wants to talk to Marlea, but she doesn’t want to talk to him. I think she should, for closure, but she definitely should and as soon as possible. It might be easier if you went with her, AJ, but she should definitely go.” And Rissa disappeared around the edge of the door.
“Big mouth,” Marlea sulked.
AJ’s brow rose. “You know, she’s done that ever since we were kids, and I’m still surprised every time it happens.” He sighed and looked down at the woman curled into his side. “So what do you want to do, Silk?”
Silk. The nickname made her smile and Marlea moved her hand across his chest, comforted by his solidity. I never had a real nickname before. Oh, sure, kids had called her ‘Speedy’ and ‘Hotfoot’ and such, but she had never enjoyed the intimacy of a name so private and connecting until AJ. Returning from New York, embracing her in the night, holding her against his skin, he had told her that he had missed her, that he had never felt more whole. He had told her that she felt like silk, and held her closer than shadow. In silvery early morning light, he had called her Silk again, and she cherished the single word every time it crossed his lips.
“Silk?”
“I want to leave well enough alone, AJ. I want to run like I used to, but if I can’t have that, I have you and I have teaching. I want to leave well enough alone.”
“Can you do that?” Looking down, lifting her chin, he looked into the amber-flecked depths of her eyes. “Look, Silk, I’ve learned a few things about you. One, you’re stubborn as a mule. Two, you don’t give up easily. Three, things go real deep with you. So the way I figure it, if you don’t face this, it’s going to haunt you down the road, and sweet as you are, I don’t ever want anything bitter or hurtful in your life. But it’s on you.”
Pressing her lips together, Marlea looked at AJ and frowned. How do I plan a life with this man if I leave this big stone unturned? Sure, he’ll tell me he understands, but every time I look at him, I’ll know that he knows that I ran away from the tail end of a fight.
AJ took the phone from the sofa and set it on a side table. “You need some time alone, Silk?”
So why see him? I didn’t go to court, because I had nothing to say to or about him. I didn’t go to his sentencing for the same reason, and now
that he’s behind bars he’s asking to see me. Why?
AJ’s fingers curled at her cheek, stroking gently, and she took comfort from the gesture. He was so good at lying to me, though. He was so good at making me think that he was my friend, that he had my best interests at heart. What kind of sociopath is he? Still…AJ’s strong heartbeat sounded in her ear when she moved her face against his chest. I would never have met AJ if not for Reynolds. And fate.
Maybe it was fate that sent both our cars down I-75 on Independence Day. Maybe it was a stroke of independence for both of us—breaking both of us away from the lives we thought we were destined for. Me, Olympic gold; him, a life of privilege and pleasure. Humph. Wonder what his money is buying him in jail.
Okay, there’s that bitterness AJ spoke of…maybe he’s right. I deserve the chance to face him and say, “I’m mad as hell at you”. I deserve to tell him that I’m glad he’s paying for what he did to me. I deserve the chance to tell him that I hope he has to think about what he did for the rest of his life. I deserve…
“Silk? Come on, baby, it’s all right.” AJ rocked her slowly to and fro, and Marlea realized she was crying.
She swiped a balled fist across her cheek and looked at it. “That son of a bitch made me cry. Nobody makes me cry.”
“‘…and nobody puts Baby in a corner…’,” AJ grinned, quoting the line from Dirty Dancing.
“That’s your sister’s favorite movie, not mine.”
“I know, Silk. Yours is Independence Day. I’m still a little jealous of Will Smith.”
“No need. I much prefer sexy good-looking football heroes,” Marlea smiled against his lips. “But you can pass me that phone.”
He did. “Want me to stay?”
“Nope. I can do this on my own.”
“What’s that line from the movie, the one you like so much?” he asked as he stood.
Marlea pressed the recall button and listened as the phone began to ring. Welcome to earth.
* * *
Dream Runner Page 27
