Changing Fate (Changing Teams Series Book 3)

by Jennifer Allis Provost

  “A shopping mall just outside Hartford.”

  “How the hell did you get there?”

  “I had to go someplace Patrick wouldn’t find me. It took me hours to lose the guy following me.”

  “He had you followed?”

  “Always does.”

  I heard a loud smack, and wondered if Sean had hit something. “Fuck, Cin, why didn’t you tell me? Never mind, just text me the address and stay put. I’m coming to get you.”

  “What about your store, the girls?”

  “My mother has the girls overnight because of Emily’s school, and the store will be fine closed for a day.” He paused, and added, “Cin, I’m going to take care of you and the baby. Don’t worry.”

  “I know you will. Please, just hurry.”

  “I will, baby.”

  I ended the call, then I brought up a map program on my browser. If Sean abided all traffic laws, he wouldn’t be here for at least an hour. Since I couldn’t spend all of that time holed up in the bathroom without the store employees noticing and possibly alerting security, and I’d only had a few bites of the croissant I’d gotten earlier, I went down to the food court. After looking over the assorted eateries, I promptly lost my appetite.

  Seventy-two minutes after I ended the call with Sean, I got a text message. It wasn’t the first I’d received since ditching Leon—when exactly had Patrick learned about this phone?—but it was the first one I opened.

  Sean: Here. Where are you?

  Cindy: Food court, near the Chinese place.

  Sean: OK.

  Sean appeared in the entrance of the food court a few minutes later, his eyes wild and hair sticking up at crazy angles, as if he’d run all the way from Massachusetts. I rose and walked toward him; without a word he took my elbow and led me toward the parking garage.

  Standing next to the exit was Leon.

  “No,” I said, shrinking behind Sean. “That man by the door, he’s the one Patrick has following me.”

  “The one that looks like Magilla Gorilla?” Sean asked.

  “Yeah. I think he was a Navy SEAL.”

  “Why does he have former SEALs watching you?” Sean demanded.

  “Patrick doesn’t give up easily,” I said. “After Britt dropped out of college, he had her watched for months.”

  Sean’s brown eyes went hard. “That fucking bastard,” he muttered, then he steered me into a stationery store. “How did they find you here? Is there a tracker on your car, or on your phone?”

  “I don’t know. Probably.”

  “Okay, they know where you are, but they aren’t necessarily looking for me,” Sean said. “Give me your phone. The one Patrick pays for.”

  I handed it over, and he set it down on a nearby shelf. I almost asked why. “What do you want me to do?” I asked.

  “Go to the main entrance and wait for me to pull up.”

  “Do you think that will work?”

  “No idea.” That was the problem with Sean, he was honest to a fault. “You have any other ideas?”

  “No,” I admitted. “Sean, just be careful.”

  “I will, Cinnamon.”

  I smiled at his old pet name for me, then he kissed my forehead and left the store. As he strode toward Leon and the parking garage, I panicked; were Leon’s orders just to follow me, or to bring me home as well? Would he try to hurt Sean?

  I didn’t know any of those answers. What I did know was how to distract Leon, and buy Sean and me some time.

  I stepped out of the stationery store and stood before a sunglass display, watching Leon in the mirror as I tried on a few frames. Once I was certain I had his attention, I walked briskly toward the rear entrance of the mall.

  Leon followed, but I knew something he didn’t; the designer shoe boutique was having a sample sale, and the people looking for bargains had spilled out into the mall proper. Amidst the crowds I ducked into the science store; once Leon passed by me I darted out and backtracked to the main entrance. I stepped into the frigid air just as Sean pulled up to the curb in his battered old pickup. I got into the passenger seat as Leon burst out of the mall entrance.

  “God damn, Cin,” Sean said as he drove away. “This happen every time you leave the house?”

  “Pretty much, yeah.” I looked in the rearview mirror and found Leon. He was taking his phone out from his coat pocket, probably to report my narrow escape to Patrick. “They’re only supposed to watch me. They only tried to apprehend me once before.”

  “What was that for?”

  I slunk down in my seat. “It was Britt’s first weekend away at college. I wanted to surprise her, so I asked Chef Aggie to bake some cookies. Once they were cooled off, I packed them up and left. I was so excited to see Britt I forgot to tell Patrick where I was going.”

  “And?” Sean prompted when I fell silent.

  “Three guys so huge they made Leon look like an eight-year-old kid showed up and escorted me home.” I fingered the edge of the armrest. “The next time I saw Britt, we started plotting how she would drop out of college and get away from Patrick.”

  Sean laced his fingers with mine, then he brought my hand to his mouth and kissed my knuckles. “Seat belt, Mama,” he said. “I need you and the baby safe.”

  I smiled as I buckled up. Once we were secure, I asked, “Where are we going?”

  “My mother’s friend has a bed and breakfast in Litchfield,” he replied. “I called there on the way here and booked us a room. I figure we can hang out there, at least for a day or two.”

  I wanted to ask what we’d do after those days had passed, but I didn’t. I took a deep breath, the first real breath I’d taken since those pink lines had appeared, and stared out the passenger window.

  It seemed that my second chance was underway.

  Chapter

  Twenty-Two

  Cindy

  Present Day

  We drove straight to the bed and breakfast from the mall, not stopping for snacks or gas or anything else two adults reliving their manic teen years might have stopped for. There wasn’t a ton of traffic, probably because we were traveling in the early afternoon, and the early spring scenery was breathtaking. Sean let me take command of the stereo, and I messed around with the stations until I found one that was nostalgic but not too cheesy. So yeah, our drive through western Connecticut was pretty good.

  What Sean and I did not do was talk, and that was the one thing I needed.

  “Not much longer now, baby,” Sean said when we crossed the Litchfield town line. It was the first time he’d spoken since we’d left the mall parking lot, and he agreed to let me pick out the music.

  “Have you been to this place before?” I asked.

  “No,” he replied. “Got good directions, though.”

  “You didn’t tell your mother you were bringing me here, did you?” I demanded in a panic.

  “I didn’t tell anyone,” Sean snapped. “Your secret’s safe.”

  I shrank back in my seat. “I’m sorry. I-I’ve just been freaking out all day, and I love your mom so much, but if she knew, she might—”

  “Hey.” Sean reached over and took my hand. “Don’t worry. I’m stressed myself.” We made a left turn, and Sean announced, “Here we are.”

  When we pulled up to the bed and breakfast I saw a beautifully refurbished Gilded Age house that had to have ten or more rooms; a lifetime ago, Sean and I had planned to buy one of the old painted ladies on Route 5, and turn the first floor into a storefront while we lived upstairs with our family. It was a great dream, but our financial situation had never been good, and then we started fighting…

  And then Sean came into money and did just like we’d planned, all the while keeping everything a secret in order to surprise me. By some stroke of luck my dream house had been up for sale, and that was the very property Sean purchased. Yeah, he had bought me my dream house. While Sean completed the most romantic gesture of all time, I went and got engaged to Patrick.

  I shook
my head, refusing to let the less good memories of my past overwhelm my present. Truth be told, my worst day with Sean was better than my best day with Patrick. I only hoped Sean remembered me the same way.

  Sean got us checked in, and the woman at the front desk gracefully overlooked our lack of luggage. Once we were inside our room, a grand Victorian pastiche complete with floral wallpaper and a fainting couch, I took off my coat and scarf.

  “Why are you wearing so much jewelry?” Sean asked. I looked down at my many baubles; I’d forgotten I was wearing them. Even though I’d only put them on earlier that morning, it seemed like I’d left New Rochelle a lifetime ago.

  “I thought it best to take anything valuable with me,” I replied, as I started removing bracelets. “It’s why I have that giant purse, and the messenger bag. They’re both stuffed full of…of things.” Sean watched me for a moment, then he grabbed a decorative bowl from the credenza.

  “Here,” he said, scooping the discarded bracelets into the bowl. “I’ll help you with the necklaces.”

  He stood behind me, and one by one unclasped the necklaces and dropped them into the bowl. Once I’d shed the bracelets, I pulled off my wedding ring and dropped it in as well. I wouldn’t be wearing that lie again.

  “I guess that’s everything,” I said, then I remembered the diamond hoops in my ears. I reached up to remove them, but Sean stayed my hand.

  “Why don’t you sit,” he said, and pointed at the bed. So I sat.

  Sean paced the room for a few moments, then he asked, “Are you sure?”

  I dug the stick out of my bag and flung it at him. “Looks positive to me.”

  Sean caught the stick one-handed and examined it. “You go to a real doctor, or just do this?”

  “I called you right after the lines turned pink.”

  He nodded, and set the stick on the coffee table. “Mine?”

  “Sean! How can you even ask me that?” I wanted to beat his chest with my fists, rail at him that of course the baby was his, but after all the nonsense from earlier my strength was sapped. I settled for slumping against the bedpost.

  “Hey.” Sean knelt before me and took my hands, kissed my knuckles. “I had to ask.”

  “I guess you did,” I murmured. “You’re right, though, I should see a doctor. I can give them a fake name—”

  “No.”

  I blinked; Sean was frowning so hard he could have bent a steel girder with his mouth. “A fake name is a good idea. If I use my insurance card, Patrick will—”

  “No.”

  I blew out an exasperated breath and threw up my hands. “What exactly are you saying no to, Sean?”

  “No, as in Patrick will have nothing to do with this.” Sean stood, then he lifted me under my hips and set me in the middle of the bed. “He gets no say over what happens with my baby. Any of my babies.” Sean laid his body on top of mine and kissed me, soft and sweet. I suddenly had no idea why I’d been angry with him. “Sorry I didn’t kiss you hello. Didn’t want to give the goon anything else he could use against you.”

  “It’s all right,” I murmured, nibbling his lower lip. “You’re kissing me now.”

  “I am.” Sean grinned, then he kissed me again. Good God, why had I ever forsaken this man? We kissed for a while, relearning each other, then Sean slid down my body and wrestled with my boots.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “There’s something I need to do,” he replied, then he pulled off my left boot and tossed it over his shoulder, followed by my other boot. When he slid his hand under my dress and pulled down my tights and panties, I understood. He’d done this when I was pregnant with Britt too.

  Once I was bare to the waist, Sean settled himself between my legs and kissed my pubic mound. “This is new,” he murmured, tracing a finger down my lips.

  “What? Oh, I wax now,” I explained. “Britt turned me on to it. Much easier, maintenance-wise.”

  “Whatever. I’m not having you spreading hot wax anywhere near my baby.”

  “Oh, really?”

  He ignored me, and asked, “Aren’t you cold? You’re like extra naked now. Is the baby cold?”

  I wound my fingers into Sean’s hair. “The baby’s warm and cozy. Promise.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m still checking in.” With that Sean moved my legs onto his shoulders, which put his mouth no more than a millimeter from my vagina. His warm breath was tickling me, and driving me crazy. “Hey in there. Little baby? I’m your dad. Along with your beautiful mother here, we made you.”

  “Sean.” I flexed my fingers in his hair; I had to do something, or the little electric jolts his breath was sending up my body would make me squirm off the bed.

  “And baby,” Sean continued, “I might not know much about you yet, but I know that I love you.” I smiled; one of my fondest memories was of the fifteen-year-old version of him saying those exact same things when I was pregnant with Britt. Sean continued, “You could be a boy or a girl or a frickin’ hermaphrodite, but I will always love you. Your dad is here for you, from now till the end.”

  “Hermaphrodite?” I repeated. “Seriously?”

  “What?” Sean raised his head, wearing that grin that had won me over back when we were kids making mud pies. “You wouldn’t love our baby if it was a hermaphrodite?”

  “I would,” I said. “Just as much as I love you.”

  Sean smiled, then he put his mouth on my vagina and thoroughly kissed me. And I turned to jelly beneath him.

  Now, I was no stranger to oral sex. In addition to all the experiences I’d had with Sean, Patrick had gone down on me daily for the first two weeks of our marriage in the hopes that I wouldn’t notice a lack of cock in my life. Back then I’d tried so hard to make that marriage work, and I’d made it my mission to have him get it up, but I failed miserably. No matter what I did to him, what I wore, he remained as limp as yesterday’s dish rag. And Patrick had never made me come, not even once.

  The fact that Patrick hadn’t told me that his impotence was an established medical condition until shortly before our first anniversary had not helped matters.

  Sean was nothing like Patrick. When Sean flicked his tongue across my clit my hips bucked off the bed and I smacked myself into his forehead. Undeterred, Sean plunged two fingers into me while retaining his assault on my clit. I came a moment later, pulling his hair with both hands and with my leg wound around his neck so hard it had to be cutting off his air flow. I fell back against the mattress, spent in so many ways.

  “That good, Cinnamon?” Sean asked as he kissed his way up my body.

  “Your grin tells me you already know,” I replied, then I pulled him in for a kiss on the mouth. When we parted, I asked, “Why are you still wearing so many clothes?”

  “Am I? Sorry.”

  Sean stood and gave me the best show ever as he stripped naked. Despite his many years owning a comic store he still had his high school athlete physique, not that that was what had attracted me to him. I had fallen in love with Sean’s mind long before he developed a body like that. All those muscles were just a side benefit.

  He settled himself over me, gliding his hands up my hips as he lifted my dress up and over my head. “I’m sorry about that time at Britt’s wedding,” he said as he nuzzled my breasts. “Not because we got another baby. Because we were rushed. I don’t ever want to rush making love to you again.”

  I wrapped my legs around his waist, and said, “Make it up to me now.”

  Sean grinned, and slid inside me. “I will.”

  And he did.

  Chapter

  Twenty-Three

  Sean

  Present Day

  When I woke up the next morning, lying in bed next to Cin, it took me a few minutes to accept the fact that I wasn’t dreaming. I’d slept with Cin in my arms every night from when I was fourteen—you’ve got to love climbable trees conveniently growing next to your girlfriend’s bedroom window—until she left me eleven years later, and
then occasionally until she married Patrick. Now that I’d slept with her again, there was no way I was letting her go.

  Of course, we did still need to work out the logistics of our new life together, but I just happened to have a partner in crime for that. I got out of bed, fished my phone out of my pants pocket, and sent Britt a text.

  Sean: Are you the same size as your mother?

  Britt: Size? Clothes, shoes, jeans…???

  Sean: Yes to all the above.

  Britt: Sort of. Why?

  Sean: I need you to pack some clothes and deliver them to your mother. She can’t get to hers.

  Britt: OMG are you two back together?

  Britt: Please be together@@@

  Britt: Sorry, those @ were supposed to be !

  Britt: !!!

  Sean: I get it. If I send you an address in CT can you be here by five?

  Britt: Sure. Sam can drive.

  I sent Britt the bed and breakfast’s address, turned off my phone, and looked toward the bed. Cin was still sleeping, her long blonde hair strewn about the pillows like some kind of fairy tale princess immortalized in song and poem. Best of all, she was mine again.

  No, that last bit wasn’t right. She had always been mine.

  I crawled onto the bed and slipped under the blankets, and drew Cin back against my chest. I kissed her neck, the soft spots behind her ears, and all those other places I’d missed over the past few years.

  “No,” she murmured when I slid my cock between her thighs. “Could hurt the baby.”

  “Never hurt Britt,” I countered. Cin was still slippery from last night, and my cock slid right into her. I drew back, fearful I’d done something without her consent, but Cin pressed her bottom against my hips. Since she was obviously into it, I resumed kissing her neck and shoulders. “You ask me, all that loving is what made Britt so brilliant.”