Love's Taming (The Love's Series) (16 page)

Annie wanted to keep her secret. Admitting what she witnessed would be humiliating but she knew her friends deserved the truth.

“I saw Shane.”

“What?” came the exclamations from the other three.

“He was there with another woman.”

The silence in the taxi was broken only by the traffic that passed them by. Even the driver just looked in his rear-view mirror, knowing to keep his mouth shut.

The silent tears slid down Annie’s cheeks as Suzanne held her close. “I’m such a fool,” she whispered on a sob.

The three friends immediately jumped to her defense, each clambering that she was duped. Finally, Suzanne couldn’t hold it in any longer. “That rat bastard! How dare he do this to you!”

The taxi finally pulled up to the clinic and Leon told him to wait. “Doc are you gonna be okay?” he asked with concern.

“I’m staying with her,” Suzanne announced.

Annie quickly hugged her friend but said, “No, really. I’d rather be alone.”

Shirley chimed in, “Nothing like bein’ alone when you just need a good cry.”

Annie nodded, glad that Shirley understood. She turned to Suzanne, “But thank you. Thank all of you. I just need to have a good cry, pitch a fit, and forget all about him.”

Leon saw her safely in, making sure she set her alarm. “You be strong, doc. You’ll be fine,” he said softly hugging her goodbye. Nodding, she felt the tears wet his shirt before pulling away.

*     *     *

Shane stared at
the woman he had fallen in love with watching him let another woman grind up on him.
Jesus, fuck, NO!
Before he had a chance to react, she was gone. The desire to run after her warred with the desire to distance himself to keep her safe.
I just have to see if she is all right.
Pushing Rochelle away from him, he tried to make his way through the crowd, but was hampered by the crush of people. Finally arriving at the doors, he saw Annie and her co-workers in a taxi pulling away from the curb.

Standing outside the club, he hung his head for a moment then turned around quickly and pulled out his cell.

“Matt. Did you call her?”

“Yeah, man. I called her cell from the road after I left you. Why? What’s up?”

“She just showed up with some friends where I’m tryin’ to be visible tonight and just got an eyeful of me with Rocky.”

“Fuck Shane. How is she?”

“How the hell do you think she is? Took one look, then bolted out of the door with her friends. Jesus, Matt. How much more of this shit am I expected to take?”

“Look, I’ll go over tomorrow and talk to her. See if I can make things right. Make her understand.”

“One more week, Matt. That’s all I’m giving.”

“I hear they’ve got evidence against one more man up the chain.”

“Well, they better go for it, ‘cause I’m done with this in a week.” With that, he put his phone back in his pocket and leaned up against the wall. Hearing a noise to his side, he watched as Rochelle walked out to of the bar and over to him.

“You okay,” she asked pressing close.

He moved away as he turned toward her. “Rocky, this is a job, nothin’ else.”

“It used to be more than a job, for both of us,” she said with sadness. “We used to be good.”

“Rocky, we met in shit circumstances. We did what we needed to do to keep our cover and make it work. But you know it was fucked from the start.”

Her eyes flashed pain as she glanced down. “I thought it could’ve been more. I was willing for it to be more.”

“Rocky, you were married. You may not have been happy, but you went under even though you were married. And, I might add, a fact you never shared with me when we were actually fuckin’.”

“Shane, my marriage was over before I volunteered for this job. Maybe not officially, but I wanted out. Meeting you just made that decision more real.”

Shane looked at the beautiful, desperate woman standing in front of him. Gorgeous. Built. Smart. Tough.
But no sunshine.

“The bottom line is this. We both used each other for sex. It worked for our cover, but you always knew it was nothin’ but physical for me. Wasn’t ever gonna be anything else. Lookin’ back that was a mistake on my part. I should have kept with the illusion that we were together without us actually hookin’ up. But at the time, the physical won out. But you gotta know…if I had known you were married, I’d a never gone there. That’s on you. You made that call and you gotta live with the fact that your husband left you because of it. And you gotta live with the fact that my heart is somewhere else. Somewhere clean. Somewhere light.”

“The doctor?” she asked softly. “You’re in love with her.”

“Yeah. But she saw us here tonight. Fuckin’ mess. She never goes out clubbin’ and the one night her friends drag her out, she comes here and sees us.”

Rochelle stepped back over to Shane and placed her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for a lot of things.” She looked away for a moment, seeming to gather her thoughts. “When this is over, I can go talk to her. Try to explain.”

Shane peered into her eyes, seeing honesty. “Rocky, you think a woman wants another woman to show up on her doorstep and tell her not to worry, it was all just physical? You really think that would make this fucked up shit any better?”

Rochelle shook her head. “No, you’re right. No woman wants that in her face.” Stepping back, she looked up and asked, “So what are we gonna do?”

Sighing deeply, he replied, “For one more week, we’re gonna keep the attention on us and not on her. By the end of the week, the force and DEA will get whatever they can out of this case and wrap the rest of the shit up. I’ll walk away knowing I did the best I could to bring down the top men, but the bottom line is that at the end of the week, I. Walk. Away.”

She nodded. “Yeah, me too. I want to keep climbing higher in the DEA, so I am hoping this punches my ticket. I’m just sorry for the collateral damage to a friend.”

With this, the two of them parted ways as Shane slipped off into the night. He had something to take care of and nothing was going to stand in his way.

A
nnie made it
up the stairs to her apartment before letting the tears take over. Making her way over to her sofa she collapsed, sobbing into the cushions.
How could I have been so gullible? How can I be so book-smart and so man-dumb? How could I have given myself to him over and over and not even known who he really was?
The silence of the night gave no answers to her questions. As her sobs began to slow, she stayed face-planted on the sofa.

After a few minutes, a wet nose pressed into her ear. Turning her head, she saw the familiar face of Boo nuzzling her face. Moving her hand down off of the sofa, she felt the other two pressing against her.

Sitting up, she leaned back. Her eyes landed on the security box next to the back door. She slid her glance over looking at the one next to the front door.
Why would he set up an expensive security system if he was just playing me?

Snorting as she stood up, she looked down at Boo saying, “I guess even a player can feel guilty.”

“Meow,” was the only response she received as three cats swirled around her legs.

“Oh babies, I’m sorry,” she sniffled. “I forgot to feed you before I left.” She walked into the little kitchen, getting their food out of the cabinet. Scooping it into their individual dishes, she watched as they lined up side by side to eat, each keeping an eye on the others to make sure they didn’t snatch food from their bowl. Once finished, they swirled around her legs for a moment before they plopped down in the living room to bathe.

“Oh, to be a cat. One owned by me,” she said wistfully.
Needs always met. Life always stable. Food. Water. A warm bed. A sunspot occasionally. If only my life could be so easy.

Grabbing a bottle of wine from the fridge, she headed to her to her bathroom. Stripping, she quickly showered wishing the hot water could wash off the night’s memories.
He looked so amazing. Tall and handsome. Moving to the music. His hands on the woman’s hips. She was grinding on him. Stop! Stop thinking about it!

Turning off the water, she stepped out of the shower and quickly pulled on short pajama bottoms with a matching camisole. Brushing her teeth, her mind wandered back.
He wasn’t smiling. He didn’t look like he was enjoying himself.
Her reflection stared back at her in the mirror. “What are you doing?” she asked herself. “Are you trying to find excuses for his behavior?”

Leaning in closer to the mirror, she said, “Face it, girl. You got played. Huge. So pull up your big-girl panties and get over him.” Slamming her toothbrush back into the holder, she flipped off the light and headed to bed.

Crawling under the covers, she wondered if sleep would come. Unable to stop its path, another tear slid down her face onto the pillow just as sleep claimed her.

*     *     *

Sometime during night,
Annie dreamed of being visited. She was vaguely aware of having a warm, hard body pressed up to her back. A heavy leg thrown over hers with an arm across her waist pulling her in tightly. Warm. Cocooned. Safe.
What a strange dream
she thought, as her exhausted mind slid back into sleep.

Awaking the next morning, her swollen eyes tried to open to the little bit of light that was coming in through her bedroom window. Lying in bed for a few minutes, she slowly allowed her mind to wander. Suddenly remembering the feeling of having someone in bed with her last night, her eyes flew open as she jerked her body around.

The bed was empty.
I must be losing my mind.
Pressing her fingers to her eyes, she noticed Boo lying on the end of the bed. She leaned over to make the bed when she noticed that the other pillow was indented as though someone’s head had lain there.

“Boo, did you sleep with me last night?” she asked. Unable to stop herself, she picked up the pillow noticing that it had no cat hair on it. But it had a scent.
Shane.
Tossing the pillow down she sprinted into the living room to see if he was there. Empty. The room looked just like she left it last night. Wrapping her arms around her middle, she stood and stared. At the room. At nothing.
Was it a dream?

*     *     *

Coming in from
a run to clear her mind as much as to keep in shape, she rounded the corner of her block. Mr. Tochi was waving at her so she slowed down to greet him.

“You ready to meet my nephew? He is coming to town this afternoon to visit me. You should come by market and I will make introductions.”

“Oh, Mr. Tochi. I don’t think I am ready to meet any man now. I’m kind of a disaster when it comes to men.”

“Well, just stop by the market. You don’t have to do anything but say hello.”

Smiling at the kindness in his eyes, she agreed. “Okay. If I get a chance, I’ll come by, but just to say hello.”

Jogging the rest of the way to the door of the clinic, she was surprised to see Detective Dixon leaning against his car parked in the front. Slowing her pace, she made her way over to him.