Watching You: KJ Elite Inc.

by Unknown

  “I thought I heard that sweet voice calling to me!” He cooed to Taylor.

  Ever since Tommy lost it on him, he had made it a point to poke fun at Tommy and hit on her as much as he could.

  Lissy’s eyes nearly popped out of her head like a cartoon character and somewhere in the distance, you could hear a faint, “Aooga!” sounding.

  “There’s my hunk.” Taylor called back to Matt, gesturing him over to her side, like a code of distress they had pre-planned. She avoided Lissy’s face and whole presence as soon as she laid eyes on Matt; her savior. He kissed her hand and pulled her into his side, like an overprotective boyfriend, claiming what was his in a crowd of men.

  “Oh, hello.” Matt held out his hand to her and shook it without much care. “My name is Matt.”

  After wiping the drool off of her petite cleft chin, and delicately smoothing her matching bright blonde locks back absentmindedly, she replied, “Lissy McDermott.”

  “Pleasure, I’m sure.” He had looked away, into Taylor’s eyes, before he even finished speaking. “So, what’s going on, sweetheart?”

  “Oh, nothing, truly. Take me back upstairs?” She asked quietly, hugging him tighter. Not a doubt in Tommy’s mind, this was surely a show not just for Lissy, but for him as well.

  “Anything you ask…” Matt leaned in and kissed the tip of her button nose, then turned them towards the stairs and simply waved, without giving a proper goodbye. Tommy cleared his throat so loud, the vase on the round table nearly shook and Matt only chuckled at him, without looking back.

  “Lissy, it is incredibly late and I’ve already told you multiple times. I’m beginning to lose count and patience. You need to leave and please, do not come back.” He lightly grabbed her elbow and steered her to the front door.

  “Don’t you get it yet, Tommy? She doesn’t love you. She never has and never will and moreover, she doesn’t deserve you! Leif should have finished the job back in high school!”

  She pleaded with him and at her last words, Tommy used every particle of his control not to hurt this woman. He had to keep reminding himself that she was, in fact, a woman. He never called a woman the B word, but by damn if she wasn’t the only one he ever thought deserved it.

  “Do not ever talk about Tay like that again and if I ever see you on my property I will not give a warning shot.”

  “Thomas!” Lissy was disbelieving but he simply didn’t give a shit about being a gentleman anymore.

  Lissy pulled back and threw her hand up to her mouth dramatically, shamed and flustered.

  “Why I—“

  “Get out of my house, Lissy or I will put you out.” It was cross between a growled promise and a snarled threat.

  Turning on her heel, she nearly ran for her car door, taking glances backward every other step to ensure he wasn’t following her or loading a shotgun. The shame rose in his stomach, thinking about his mother and how she would feel if his words reached her, but to be honest, he felt that that witch had deserved them and he would probably say them again.

  Chapter 11

  By the sounds of the stomping up the stairs, Taylor knew that her scoundrel of a husband was on his way up.

  “You maybe should step back a few feet. I have a feeling he might go volcanic.” I warned my sweet protector.

  “I don’t give two shits. He doesn’t scare me.” Matt was awfully cocky for a publisher.

  “I think you’re crazy.” I shook my head at him and squeezed his hand.

  Thank the chocolate God’s he had come out when he did because I was very nearly about to break the crystal vase on the entry table and shank Lissy with it.

  What can I say? I was born into money and class but sometimes a woman just has to go ghetto. She would have been rightfully deserving too. I was never much good with the high road even if it was what mama preached. Daddy told me not to take shit and if need be, knock a man or woman out; so long as I could handle the backlash should there be any. Unfortunately, I hadn’t even knocked anyone out and there was about to be more backlash than I had candy readily available, and that was a lot.

  I expected a door being kicked open, but instead it was softly toed open and Tommy stood on the other side, holding up the door frame with his broad shoulder. Sadistically smiling from ear to ear, he crossed his perfectly sculpted arms and shook his head at me, seemingly amused. I wasn’t so easily fooled.

  “I bet y’all think you’re pretty fucking cute, don’t y’all?”

  If I hadn’t known Tommy so well, I would have tensed up like Matt, but not so subtly. These two men I knew like the back of my hand, or so I thought, and both were preparing their bodies for a fight, but both had the veneer of taking a stroll on the beach.

  “Now, I know that y’all have this adorable little thing going on for the curious eye, but let’s get one thing straight.” He paused and looked over to Matt, still smiling. “If you ever bring those lips near my wife again, I will chop em’ off and stick em’ up your dickhole.”

  “You talk a big game.” Matt returned.

  I wasn’t sure if I should be concerned or thankful that my best friend who had been my secondary protection, when Thelma and Louise were around, actually had some brass balls. He wasn’t just a pretty suit. Damnit if Matthew Carver didn’t just prove himself to be an enigma in plain sight.

  Tommy didn’t move and neither did Matt, but I moved to get off the bed and stand between them when Matt held up his hand.

  “I don’t personally need to know, but maybe you could and by could, I mean you better explain yourself to the woman you’ve been married to for six years. She hasn’t so much as looked at the guys you sent her way and you’ve been back here tastin’ the rainbow with Jodie. You can’t have it both ways chief. She deserves more than that and I’ll be goddamned if I sit here while you walk over her like that.”

  Matt kept edging his way closer to Tommy with every word he spoke.

  Tommy stepped up to the plate and let his arms fall to his side, staring Matt down.

  “You think I don’t know that I don’t deserve her? I never have, but I’ve never run out on her.”

  “Can I…” I piped up.

  “No!” They both shot at me.

  Well, shit. Testy much? I mean, there was definitely way too much testosterone in this room at once.

  “She deserves to be treated like a fucking queen and given nothing but the absolute best.”

  “I know that. I’ve tried to do what I can.”

  “Like sit on your ass and let her think you didn’t care where she went or what she did?”

  They kept arguing back and forth, slipping in the occasional cheap shot that men were prone to take and I struggled to keep up with how quickly and loudly they were shouting. I’m almost totally sure that I saw them spitting at each other while they shouted, kind of like roid’ rage dude online. Sometimes it was better when I wasn’t in the actual fight because then I could playback what I heard and plan my next step. That’s when it hit me.

  I jumped up and smacked a fist into each of their chests. I mean, I intended to just put a palm on each of their hard pecs, but damn, I was pissed now.

  “What the fuck did you just say, Matt?”

  Tommy grinned and I shot him a look that said everything I couldn’t.

  “Um…” Oh, he knew better. He admitted to nothing and waited until I revealed my stance.

  “Tommy sent men to me?”

  “Oh, that.” Matt was trying to find a way to downplay and it never ceased to amaze me how men could cut each other’s’ throats clean open, but they’d still defend each other in times of conflict. I shook my head at him, at a loss for words that were harsh enough to express the absolute fury that was surging through my small body.

  “Yes.” That was all that Tommy could manage.

  He would know how violent I was feeling right now and the less upfront, the better for the sake of his balls. Normally, the general rule would be spill all, explain later, but right now, I could
n’t handle it all and he knew that. I need to process as we went, little by little.

  As much as I’d like to believe it so that I had a place to run to, Matt was not innocent in all of this; in the end, he had lied straight to my face, and a lot if my count was right thus far.

  “I know that y’all knew each other.”

  They both stared at me, waiting for the mental cue when it was time to run and duck for cover.

  “I heard y’all talkin’ in the kitchen.”

  They exchanged glances and Tommy shook his head. He must be feeling ever the martyr tonight.

  I stood tall, pulled away from them both and tried desperately to hide my hurt.

  “Why would you do that to me? If you didn’t want to be with me anymore, wanted a divorce…”

  “No!” His stern response was biting and quick.

  “Then why? I am trying to understand this.” I was officially pleading and I didn’t give a damn.

  “Matt already told you why.”

  We both looked at Matt and he turned and looked behind him, making sure there wasn’t another Matt there.

  “I don’t deserve you. I never have and I thought that if Matt could get you dating again, you might find someone you really liked, maybe even loved.” Tommy shrugged nonchalantly but I knew that even thinking the words hurt him deeper than any cut.

  “I already love someone and don’t want to find anyone else. I told you that.”

  Raising his glance to meet mine, I was too hurt still to make that connection so I broke it and looked back to Matt, again.

  “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

  “Because he told me not to.”

  Really?

  “That’s the lamest excuse I have ever heard in my entire life. I can’t even… I just can’t.” I shook my head, dumbfounded.

  It was truly amazing how clueless and idiotic the male population could be.

  “In case you have both forgotten, I am married and that means I have vows to uphold. I may not have been there in sickness or in health, but damnit to hell, I abide by the fidelity and love of my marriage. I will not be whored off to make you feel better about your insecurities.” The beginning of my speech was calm, quiet even, but by the time I finished I was hollering rather loud and was short of breath. I wasn’t even finished yet but Tommy and Matt both opened their mouths to respond. Throwing my arms up again, they were instantly silenced, at least long enough for me to get the rest out.

  “No. I don’t want to hear it. If you do nothing else for me, leave me alone tonight. I have heard and seen way more than I can really handle and get over, in the past hour than I have in six years. Now, I will go take a long and very hot bath and expect no more talk about what was discussed tonight. Save it for another day when my heart is not in a million pieces; being betrayed by the two people in this whole entire world that I trusted more than myself, well that shit really takes the cake.” Making my own melodramatic exit to the bathroom, there was no waiting for the click of the lock before the sobs escaped my throat and the tears were blinding me.

  * * *

  Hearing Taylor cry was the only thing known to bring Tommy to his knees and nearly did, but Matt spoke up, drawing him out of his own head.

  “We fucked up.”

  Tommy simply grunted his agreement. He didn’t want to agree with this guy, but if he was being honest, he was a total moron who could have been a professional fuck up for all he had done to his perfect angel, his wife. The words never had the effect he hoped because she was never there to seal the deal. Some kind of marriage. Tommy thought he would be doing the right thing but it nearly killed him. His mind was in a constant state of screwed to shit and he never knew where to step. There never was a clear, perfect answer, in his eyes.

  “I’m going to go to bed, man. Good luck.” Matt patted him on the shoulder, sounding marginally sympathetic. He might have the right idea by giving her the space she asked for but wasn’t six years space enough?

  “No more.” He said to himself.

  Grabbing himself a pair of fleece burgundy pajama pants, he slipped them on and eased the door open, sliding quietly into the oversized bathroom. Tommy studied Taylor, laying in the bath already covered to the chin in bubbles, as she appeared to be sleeping. Not one single thing had changed about her; not since the night she left and not since he day dreamed about her from his foxhole. The blackness crept into his vision but he pushed it out, focusing on every line and detail of her face. That was why she was his angel; always saving him from everything, including himself.

  “You’re going to burn a hole through me.”

  He couldn’t help it, he snorted.

  “You never did listen when I asked to be alone. Not once until the time I didn’t ask you to do anything.” A tear rolled from the corner of her still closed eye, into the bubbles.

  He still didn’t have any words, but he just needed to be near her right now to figure this all out.

  “Did you really kiss her?”

  The question caught him off guard, so he grabbed the back of the vanity chair and sat down.

  “Yes.”

  She sucked in a breath but didn’t move otherwise.

  “But no.” When he said this, he waited.

  And waited.

  And waited some more.

  Finally and with great resolve, she stated, “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Of course it matters.”

  “Why should it?”

  “Because I took those same vows.” He pounded his fist on the vanity and she jumped, sending water over the edge of the rock and onto the floor.

  “Then tell me why.”

  “I didn’t know I was kissing her.”

  Her next move was funny and precious rolled into one. She peeked her one eye open and made an Elvis lip, trying to focus on him through the one eye, face lit with total confusion by the candlelight.

  “How in the sam hell do you kiss someone and don’t know it? Was it dark? Did you mean to kiss someone else?”

  “Let me explain.” He commanded, mildly.

  She nodded at him and he continued.

  “I got home from the Afghanistan desert where I was sent as part of a special operations team – basically it’s need to know, seal team type shit so don’t ask. We were in the heart of the area where the Taliban were born and it was in a real bad way. Some good and some really bad info got us locked down in some serious heat, battling for our lives and…” he took a deep breath, swiped at his brow with a hand towel and looked away from her. She had opened both eyes now, swiveled in the tub and stared at him, arms wrapped around her knees, enthralled.

  “I lost a lot of really good men that day. Men who had kids, wives, real young guys and some older. Candace was a part of my unit already and hurt, pretty bad. She had taken a shot to the Kevlar and thank everything holy, it held tight. One more shot to the dome and she wouldn’t have been here to piss you off the other day. On top of the head, she was shot in the right calf and left shoulder. We couldn’t get anywhere really good for cover, and we couldn’t tell where they were all coming from, how many there were, and so on and so forth. Candace was our radio tech and even though she was severely injured, she could work but it didn’t matter because all of our communications were lost. A few of our guys had been shot, some blown up, one knifed and others scattered, too out of reach to group together or out of range to communicate anything to.”

  Tommy took another deep breath and he could tell that Taylor was struggling with coming over to him.

  She sat still in the end and waited meekly.

  “Well, anyways, we fought on and off for nearly a week, never knowing if relief was coming. We didn’t give up even when it seemed like the only thing left to do. I lost too many guys that day and the only thing that kept me sane or alive, was the face I kept in the forefront of my mind, day in and day out. It hurt. It hurts still. When I got home, Mike was the one who took care of me and got me back on my feet…sort of.”

>   “What do you mean he took care of you, exactly?”

  Tommy stood and walked out of the bedroom without a word and listened to Taylor climbing as fast as she could out of the tub, splashing water all over the place. He returned only seconds later, snaking his arm around her as she faced the vanity and wrapped a fluffy towel around her glistening and still soapy body. Tommy set down the nearly empty bottle of Jack Daniels and she looked up at him through the mirror with knowing eyes.

  “I drank myself stupid; nearly drank myself to death. On multiple occasions. That face, always wading through the dark to pull me back to the surface. It helped that when she found me laying at the bottom of my own soul, drunk as a damn skunk, Mike was sitting there with me. He would drop a bucket of ice water on my face, slap me out of it, put me in cold showers, clean my clothes and the house, make me eat, whatever needed to be done - he did it for me.”

  “Tommy…” She closed her eyes and leaned back into his solid chest, inhaling the scent of him. Taylor was blaming herself if he knew anything at all about her.

  “You didn’t try to kill me and all my troops.” He was going to stop there but whispered, “You saved me.”

  That was the last he was going to talk about the desert with her, for now at least. But she already knew that.

  “So where does Lissy fall into all of that? Some drunken escapade?”

  “One might call it that.” He hedged.

  Taylor spun around and nearly fell over, what with wet feet on a wet floor and all of that disorganization she had going for her. Tommy cursed and felt his heart rate pick up as he reached for her elbows to steady her. She would be the death of him, no doubt.