by Natalie Ann
“For starters, he thought he was going to give me some advice.”
She started to laugh. It was that or cry. Guess it was going to come back and bite her in the ass for not letting Trey know Kevin had been at her house. “I can only imagine what it was he wanted to tell you.”
“I figured out he was the one that messed with my tires.”
“He admitted it?” she asked. She wouldn’t put anything past Kevin at this point.
“No. But I put it together when I realized where he worked. Kathy wouldn’t know to do that. She would have just punctured them. This was too sneaky.”
“And if anyone is a pro at sneaky, it’s Kevin,” she said.
“Why didn’t you tell me he came to talk to you?” he asked, his arms crossed. Yeah, she knew that stance. She and Trey didn’t fight much when they were dating, but when he crossed his arms, that was a sure sign he was ticked off.
“Because it was weeks ago and I haven’t seen him since. I hadn’t seen him in years. He wanted to stir shit up like he always did. He thrives at making me miserable, more so if he thinks I’m happy. Why, what did he say?”
“I want to know what he said to you that day,” Trey said.
She was pretty positive about where this was going. “He told you I cheated on him, didn’t he?”
“He did. I told him that if you did it was probably because you wanted to see what it was like to be with a real man.”
She laughed. “Not exactly. It was more like I wanted to be with someone that wanted to be with me as a woman and not use me. Only I found out that I probably was used anyway since Kevin found out.”
“So you did cheat on your husband,” he said, his face pale.
“No!” She ran her hands through her hair. This was why she didn’t want him to know. She’d confessed so many embarrassing things to the love of her life that she’d done in the past and this only added more to the list of mistakes she’d have to fess up to.
She didn’t do anything wrong. She didn’t cheat. She was only stupid enough to fall for a slick-talking man again. No one wants to admit those things.
“Then why didn’t you deny that right away?”
“First off, I shouldn’t have to deny that. I would have thought you would know me enough to know I’d never, ever do that. I take my vows seriously. I stood by his side for years longer than I should have because of those vows. I would never do that.”
“But you just admitted you slept with someone else.”
“I did. It was one of his friends. I shouldn’t have to justify my actions to you or anyone else after what I went through. I didn’t even know Kevin knew about it. He came here weeks ago trying to threaten me with that knowledge. That he’d tell you, like he thought it’d cause a fight with us and it seems like it is. He didn’t want me, but he doesn’t want anyone else to have me either. He will stop at nothing to make sure any bit of happiness I have in life is taken from me. I know him. I know how he works. I was wrong to not tell you of his visit, but foolishly hoped he’d go away again.”
“Tell me what happened then.”
“I shouldn’t have to tell you anything from back then. I don’t ask you to tell me all about your past relationships. We’ve had a lot of years between us and that was your decision. Not mine. But yours.”
“So this is back to me again,” he said. “You say you understand and take some responsibility for that, but you’re never going to let me forget it.”
“That isn’t what I’m saying. You came here tonight because you were ready to believe what my ex said to you. A guy that treated me the way he did. I told you some of what happened, but I didn’t want to say it all. It’s embarrassing to know I lived with that for years. But if you want to know what happened, then I’ll tell you because you need to know. You need to understand.”
“Talk,” he said.
“Just know I don’t need to. I’m only doing this so there are no secrets. I don’t want you to think or have doubts about my integrity when I’m committed to someone.” There were tears in her eyes. “I didn’t think you of all people could even doubt it. I’m so over everything and wondering when my past is finally going to stay there.”
He looked a little taken back by her words, but she didn’t care. She was going to stand up for herself and speak her mind. She’d tell him what he wanted because she wanted it off her chest more than anything. She didn’t want him to ever think she was hiding something from him again.
They didn’t communicate the best before and that was another mistake she wasn’t going to make now either.
“I don’t doubt it with me.”
“I don’t get that impression. You want to know, so here you go. I kicked Kevin out and went right to my lawyers the next day and got the paperwork started. My marriage was over in my mind and I was moving on after ending it. A few days had gone by and I went out to have a drink. I ran into a friend of his who was a good shoulder to lean on. He knew what Kevin had been doing for years and felt bad.”
“Not bad enough to tell you about it before that,” Trey said.
“I wasn’t thinking that at the time. I was getting upset in the bar and he offered to go back to his place. I had a few more drinks, one thing led to another. When we were done, he said he was sorry. He hadn’t meant for that to happen.”
“And you believed him?” he asked. “He took advantage of you being drunk.”
“I wasn’t that drunk, Trey. I knew what I was doing. I was upset and I was vulnerable and my marriage was ending. I never thought ‘hey, I’m going to get back at Kevin and sleep with his friend.’ I knew Kevin wouldn’t care. All I thought of was this guy who was a friend and nice to me was there for me. I kissed him first. I know that. I remember it. It was a thank you kiss that turned into more. End of story. There was nothing more to it. I haven’t seen him since. Happy now? Or don’t you believe me?”
“I believe you because I want to believe you. What I’m more pissed about is that you kept that from me. Not that you slept with this guy but that Kevin was here and threatening you and you didn’t tell me. You didn’t trust me enough to deal with it.”
“It’s not that,” she said, crying.
“Then what?” he asked.
“Ryan pulled in right after Kevin left. He’d seen him in the development and wanted to know if he’d been here. I told him. He got mad and I worried he’d go after Kevin. I made him promise he wouldn’t. I just didn’t want to pull you into the drama.”
“So you can tell your brother and not me?” he said.
“I wouldn’t have told him if he didn’t see Kevin,” she argued.
“Just like you wouldn’t have told me if Kevin didn’t come to see me,” he said, walking away from her.
She wanted to run after him but didn’t, only saying, “There was a part of me that thought you’d go after him too like Ryan wanted to. I wanted to prevent that.”
Yeah, she’d made a huge error there and had to make sure he understood she knew how wrong she was to keep it from him.
28
Cast Judgment
“I would have gone after his ass,” he said. She was right and it was probably better he didn’t know what happened, but he wouldn’t admit that part.
Trey walked up the stairs to Whitney’s bedroom. He wanted to leave but couldn’t and wondered why he didn’t think of this before. That he had nowhere to go without waking Ben up or leaving him here. Neither was an option.
He turned when Whitney was standing there. “So, what are you going to do? Leave now? Say what you want, cast judgment and then not talk this out?”
“No,” he said. “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing or what is going through my mind.”
“Can we go back downstairs then and talk about this without worrying about waking up Ben?”
“Give me a minute,” he said. “I’ll be down.”
She turned and left, the tears still on her cheeks.
He was being an ass about this and knew it.
She hadn’t lied to him once. She’d always been open and honest and maybe his biggest problem was the fact that Kevin said a few things that hit too close to home. Which reminded him that, yeah, he would have gone after Kevin and maybe done more than throw the guy against the wall.
Was she protecting him like she’d done her father and brother by not saying everything that had happened in her marriage? She probably thought she was in her eyes.
After he composed himself he went back to the living room after checking on Ben. “Can I say what I need to?” he asked.
“Go ahead. The floor is yours.” He snorted over her sarcasm. She had changed and become a stronger person than she was. Before he could speak, she added, “I want you to know I’m sorry for not telling you. I know it was wrong, but I also told you why I didn’t. And though I have no problem standing my ground, this is a case where it’s slightly wobbly under my feet.”
“I’m having flashbacks with your tears to the day I broke up with you.”
“So I have to hold tears in now because you’re going to feel guilty over what happened in the past?”
“You did just throw it in my face,” he said. “I’ve been trying to prove myself to you for months. I thought we were getting there. That maybe you believed I wouldn’t hurt you again, but obviously not.”
“We’re going to hurt each other. That’s what happens when people love each other. Talking it through is better than walking away. I don’t and won’t hold our breakup over your head. I think it’s you that is doing it.”
“I wasn’t until Kevin said a few things that hit home.”
“Tell me what they were,” she said. “And though this isn’t an excuse by any means, he was trying to cause problems and he accomplished it.”
Trey sighed. “He said I pushed you into his arms,” he said.
“You know that isn’t true. We talked about this before. I loved you back then, but I’ve found it’s not as strong as the love I feel for you now. I don’t want to think I’m so weak that you had the ability to make me marry someone else out of spite to get what I didn’t with you. There were no comparisons between you two back then and there aren’t now.”
That was something at least. “He said you love sex and put out to get what you want and once you get it, you stop.”
She started to laugh. “Sex is great. Don’t get me wrong. I love it with you. As for putting out to get what I want, that is a lie. The same as stopping. Kevin and I had a lot of problems in our marriage. There were times he wanted sex and I didn’t. Lots of reasons. Him coming home drunk and waking me in the middle of the night. When I was going through fertility treatments and the doctors said it was best to wait.”
“You don’t have to explain that to me,” he said, realizing now he didn’t want to hear it.
“You started this. So you get to hear it.”
“I had that coming,” he said.
“You did. What else is going on? What else did he say that made you think you can’t trust me? I need to know. And if I can’t get you to believe me, then maybe this was a mistake again and we should know now.”
The tears were gathering and continuing to pool in her eyes, then run down her face. She was saying the words and he believed she’d follow through with it even if she didn’t want to. “Nothing. I think I’m more pissed you didn’t tell me he was here. More so after you came at me for not telling you about Kathy’s call. But you’re right, you don’t owe me that explanation just like you don’t owe me things that happened in your marriage.”
“But you’re doubting me and I want to know why. Am I rushing too fast again? Is that it?”
“No. It’s not you, it’s me.”
“Oh great. I’ve never had some guy say that to me and here it is going to be you. Give me a break, Trey. It’s never the person who says that.”
He started to laugh. He had to with the expression on her face. She looked ready to get up and pace around. Maybe pick something up and throw it. “It really is. I’m the one that is rushing. I’m the one that wants to move faster than you this time. And then this happened and I have to check up and it’s pissing me off.”
“What?” she asked. “Why haven’t you said you wanted to move faster?”
“Because everyone is in our business just waiting for me to mess up again.”
“You?” she said. “I’m the one that everyone is waiting to see mess you up.”
He shook his head. They were a pair. “I wish everyone would give us space.”
“My family finally is. You’ve seen it. How can you not?”
“I have. Maybe it’s my own insecurities about things.”
“And I don’t know how to get you to stop feeling that way. I can tell you and show you, but until you accept it, it’s on you. I can’t hold your hand here, Trey.”
He knew that. For a man that thought he was pretty confident in life, he was finding that the one time he needed to be he wasn’t. “You can’t and you shouldn’t. These are my issues and I was getting through them.”
“It seems to me you weren’t though if what Kevin said is causing this.”
He moved over to where she was sitting on the couch and pulled her into his arms. “We can fight and not worry about the other leaving. I’m not leaving. I’m not going anywhere. I don’t want to push you away either. I’m going to get tweaked at times when people bring things up.”
“Because you’ve got your pride,” she said. “I know that. I’ve got mine too. And airing out my horrendous marriage to you has been hard, but I did it. You know things that no one else does. Well, that isn’t true. I told Ryan about the vasectomy with Kevin a few weeks ago. He threw a beer bottle against the wall.”
“Why did you tell him that?”
“Because he asked why I married Kevin. I told you about the pregnancy and I felt like this huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. Then I realized it might help Ryan understand more and why I kept so many things private. He was pissed but then it didn’t make sense to him that I was pregnant before and couldn’t get there again.”
“So you told him what Kevin did?” he asked, wishing that he’d thrown a punch at him now. Just one in the gut. It wouldn’t have left a mark.
“I did. And it hurts to talk about it but not as much as I thought it would. Do you know why?”
“No,” he said. “Why?”
“Because I see a true future with someone that loves me. Someone who would never treat me the way I was before. Someone who will tell me honestly when they are feeling insecure. Someone that came over here to talk to me rather than stew about it.”
“I haven’t been doing that great of a job talking though. I spent most of the day stewing.”
“If my father hadn’t calmed me down after Kathy called me, we would have had our first fight then. Funny how both of our exes have come in trying to make waves. They didn’t give a crap about us when they had us, but now that we’ve got someone else it’s like they care.”
“I don’t know if that is the case or not,” he said. “But I care. I care about you and I love you. Are we good now?”
“We are,” she said. “Talk to me, Trey. I’ll do the same with you. We owe it to each other and to Ben.”
“We do,” he said. “To each other. To our future.”
She crawled in his lap like she’d done so many times when they were teens and put her arms around his neck for a kiss. Some things didn’t change all that much.
Epilogue
One Month Later
“I never thought I’d see Evan get married,” Whitney said when they were back at her house. “He looked so happy.”
“That was a fast wedding,” he said.
“It was. Parker is due in April and they both wanted to get married before the baby came. When it’s small like that, it can be fast.”
It was only close family and friends. Fifty people or less. Nothing like the several hundred at her wedding. Never again. It should be about the couple in love and their inn
er circle, not showing off.
“You’d want big, right?” he asked.
“Nope. Had it and won’t again. But of course you’ve never had it and if you wanted that, I’d be fine with it.”
She didn’t worry about talking about marriage with him. No, they hadn’t been specific about things, but it seemed like an unspoken move in their future. He was spending more time at her house than his own now. And Ben was staying with her more nights when Trey worked than with Gillian.
“I’m not one for being put on display,” he said.
“I know,” she said. “Did you check in on Ben with Gillian?”
“I did. He’s out. We can get him in the morning.” They didn’t know how long they’d be at the wedding and it was just easier to not worry about having a sitter. Besides, Gillian was missing Ben too.
“Then I think we can go to bed,” she said, pulling him to their room. “You can help me out of this dress.”
“Did I tell you how sexy you looked tonight in your bridesmaid dress?”
“You did. You’ve told me a few times,” she said, turning her back. “How about unzipping me since you zipped me up earlier.”
The two of them undressed quickly and dove on the bed. Her arms were wide welcoming him. “I want to give you something tonight,” he said, kissing her.
“Ah. I love it when you give me something. But what is it tonight?”
“Two things actually,” he said. He reached over to the nightstand and she thought he was going for a condom, but instead he pulled out a ring box and set it on her chest.
“Oh boy. Is that what I think it is?”
“It is. It’s probably earlier than you thought it’d be, but I’m to the point I don’t want to wait any longer. We aren’t getting any younger.”
“Talk about a romantic proposal,” she said, laughing.
“Sorry about that. I guess it leads into the other thing.” He flipped the lid and let her see the heart-shaped diamond. “Whitney Butler, will you be my wife? Will you be the mother to my son? Will you be the mother to our future children?”
