Blurred Lines (Behind Closed Doors Book 2)
Read Blurred Lines (Behind Closed Doors Book 2) Online
Authors: Erin Cawood
Domestic Violence Help and Advice
Blurred Lines
Behind Closed Doors - Book Two
Erin Cawood
Find out more about Erin Cawood at
www.erincawood.com
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Kindle Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
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All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author or publisher except for the use of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, places, businesses, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, actual events or locales is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 Carrie-Anne Wood
Cover art Copyright © 2014 Once Upon a Time Covers. All rights reserved.
Thank you to Annetta Ribken,
http://www.wordwebbing.com
and Samantha March,
http://www.chicklitplus.com
for their editing expertise.
Dedication
Blurred Lines is dedicated to “the cavalry”. They’re my biggest fans (and worst critics) and I’d be nowhere without them.
Chapter One
May 2002
Do you see the scene playing out at the end of the table? It's like a sappy love story. My older brother, Sean, is reluctant to let his best friend go. She's my roommate too, and she all but flutters her lashes over her beautiful green eyes as she leans into him.
Yeah, I'm pissed. I'm pissed because she's gorgeous and even though she makes every attempt not to be, she's popular. She's tall enough that she doesn't need to wear heels but she does because I told her they show off her amazing legs. They really are amazing legs because she does martial arts every day, which also means she's super skinny with this athletic build guys find really attractive. And on top of it all she has a really nice rack.
I know that I sound jealous. I; a brunette at just five feet and half an inch without heels, and with a scrawny adolescent frame that unless primped and polished for two hours each morning looks like I belong in freshman year, am not jealous of her. I’m not. I swear. It’s just sometimes, it’s hard to be around an award winning former television star who’s in hiding, because she’s beautiful, stunning in fact, and she’s funny and therefore a bright shining light that draws the attention of us mere mortals like we’re bugs.
Every guy in this bar has checked her out or stopped by to say 'best wishes' to the birthday girl. But has she noticed? No. Why? Because my brother, Sean, is putting some serious moves on her and they haven't stopped with that giggly flirty laugh since he and his wife got here. Seriously, if Ashleigh turned those doey green eyes on her boyfriend once in a while instead of my brother, my married brother, then said boyfriend wouldn't feel the need to covertly come on to me!
“You honestly like the puppy?” Sean grins at her as he brushes her brunette bangs from her eyes. “She was Stephi's idea.” His grin grows wider at the mention of his three year old daughter. “I'm sure she's hoping you won't like her and then we'll have two puppies.”
That's another reason I'm pissed. My brother could have had the decency to tell me his plans for Ashleigh's birthday present. I live with Ashleigh. So now I live with Ashleigh's mutt, Luca. Okay, it's not a mutt. It's a twelve week old golden retriever pup and she's adorable but I don't like dogs. It stems from a traumatic experience with our family pet and my brother knows this.
“Are you kidding?” Ashleigh gives his shoulder a gentle shove. “I love Luca. She's an awesome present, Sean. Best one I ever had.” Jeez, they might as well be making out in front of us.
This is where life seems totally unfair to me. Ashleigh and Sean have the gall to carry out their affair right in front of their better halves. Yet I feel guilty whenever an uninvited finger traverses the inside of my bare thigh, but is there any wonder Ashleigh's boyfriend has made a move on three separate occasions tonight? She treats him like he’s invisible.
I can't even fantasize about him without feeling the need to berate myself but surely what's good enough for them is good enough for us? And I know he's good. No... Actually he's out of this world and his touch sets my stomach on fire.
To be honest, Mr. Wayne Wandering-Hands Swift is the perfect specimen of the male human race and we've already done our fair share of things we shouldn't have a couple of weekends back ... yes I know ... but I suck at being a decent human being... it’s my only crowning glory, I've won the title of world's worst friend. Would it help if I told you I've never ever done anything like this before? Ever? And I guess I wouldn't have done this if he wasn't so... so... charming. Yes, that's the word. Wayne Swift could tame a rabid lion and get it to purr like a kitten.
I so badly want to tell Ashleigh. The guilt is eating me up inside. But Wayne was supposed to be at work when it happened. So I can't tell her the reason her boyfriend was AWOL when her stepdad died in a car accident was because he was in bed with me. Do you see what I mean about sucking as a decent human being?
It's the first time in my life I've ever given into a temptation like this. I've never taken what I wanted and not thought about the consequences or anyone else and look what happened. I know the cosmos didn't kill her stepfather because I slept with her boyfriend—those things had already happened in Los Angeles and we were in New York— but she needed him to get on the next flight and to be by her side and he didn't and he wasn't. Why? Because he was in bed with me.
Like I said, I'm the worst friend in the world. And what makes it even worse is... now I can't stop thinking about how much I'd like to have more drunken meaningless sex with my friend's guy. I mean, it's not like Ashleigh wants him anyway. She has my brother!
Bad girl, Julia! You cannot have Wayne. He's Ashleigh's. So just settle a few inches further away from your roommate's man's wandering hands and put your purse between you like a barrier.
My discreet slide is distracted by my brother's wandering hands. His gaze is locked onto Ashleigh's as his hand travels toward her face. I clench my jaw to stop it from hitting the floor. I'm sure my eyes are about to pop from both their sockets as I watch the tender moment.
“You should see the other guy,” Ashleigh whispers.
Her voice is barely audible above the other voices in the bar for this early Friday evening and the music hasn't even kicked in yet. She's kept rather muted about the training session that earned her a black eye. It's not like her. Bruises like these should be worn with pride. They're battle scars.
Wayne clears his throat.
“Sean, its fine.” Ashleigh pulls away from his touch and steps back. She looks anywhere but at our table.
I find myself looking at Wayne as my no longer discreet attempt to create distance between us continues. He nods at me and I gasp. He knows about them. Unfortunately, my leg bumps fiercely with my brother's wife on the other side of me. I clatter into the table almost sending everything flying, but Anna doesn't notice. She just continues to glower at the law student in her husband's arms as though the rest of the world doesn't exist at all.
I wish I hadn't been dragged into this tonight. I'm dateless amongst these so-called happy couples and I feel like an undercover agent. I could blow the lid on all the secrets and destroy happily ever after for years to come. I didn't want to be the fifth wheel tonight. But when it's your friend's birthday, a few beers before she flies to Los Angeles to be with her mom and twin sister is practically law in our little group of friends. So... what's a girl to do?
“Aren't you going to LA this weekend, Wayne?” Anna asks him as Ashleigh picks up her purse and overnight bag.
He shakes his head in reply. “I'm working this weekend.” Anna nods. They both work in the public sector. Anna's training to be an OBGYN and Wayne's a police officer. It's like they're on the same wave length from those four little words.
Truth be told, Wayne has never been invited to LA. In the four years I've known Ashleigh so far, there haven't been any men who've met Ashleigh's family. They're famous and she's very strict about keeping her life in New York separate from her life in Los Angeles. So, no men have been to LA, except Sean. But, of course, they're just good friends.
“I couldn't get leave.” Wayne climbs to his feet and turns to Ashleigh. I forgive his lack of chivalry tonight. I'd expect the least he could do is take the heavy weekend bag for her. But he fell over earlier this week and broke his wrist, so one arm is currently in a cast. “Sweetheart, do you want me to come to the airport with you?”
“No.” Ashleigh smiles. “That's okay.” She gives his cheek a gentle caress. Her eyes soften. You know, I believe Ash tried, really tried hard, to love Wayne but her heart belongs to Sean. It always has. “Will you make sure Julia gets home safely?”
Wait, what? Oh no! She can't ask him to do that. What she doesn't know won't hurt her for now but... oh the temptation... Down girl!
Wayne slouches on to the thick mahogany arm of the bench seat. I can't tell if he is disappointed she doesn't want him around or relieved to be off the hook. “If that's what you want.”
“I don't want you to be late for work again,” she snaps. “The captain's on your case because of the other weekend and you know what airport traffic is like.”
Ashleigh has one of the shortest fuses I'd ever known. If you knew how, and I didn't, you could push Ash over the edge with just a few words. But she'd only returned from LA at the beginning of the week to take her exams and now she's going back. Who knows when she'll return?
Ashleigh sighs, sidles her way between Wayne's thighs as Sean slides into our booth on the other side of Anna. The green eyed monster in his eyes is highly amusing. Does my brother honestly think no one can see it?
“Please don't be mad at me, Wayne,” Ashleigh whispers.
“I wish you'd let me in.” With a tender hand, the same hand that had discreetly traveled my thighs, he brushes the bangs away from Ashleigh's eyes as though he's trying to erase Sean's earlier touch. “You don't have to do this all alone.”
“I know.” Ashleigh closes her eyes. “But I have to be strong for Mom and Mimi. So I can't let you in right now or I'll —” Her voice closes over. She swallows. “I can't. You know.” She chokes on a sob.
If her tears were real my heart would have broken for her. Honestly, it would. But Ashleigh never shows any sign of weakness without reason. So she's playing the role of needy girlfriend because that's the side Wayne wants to see. I'm not saying my friend is calculating or manipulative. She just keeps things very close to her chest and people see one version of her until she completely trusts them and after six months, Wayne still isn't completely trusted.
Both Sean and Wayne stand up at the same time. I find my brother's overprotective nature towards Ashleigh amusing. I do. It's as though he trusts no one else to take care of her. And his expression at this particular moment is camera worthy because isn't this what boyfriends are for? So Sean has to step back and he doesn't like it one bit.
“Aw, sweetheart,” Wayne whispers into Ashleigh's ear as he pulls her away from our table. He glowers over his shoulder at Sean. He's warning Sean to keep his hands off Ashleigh from now on. “Let's get you somewhere quieter.”