Mine, Not Hers (True Love Book 1) (21 page)

Katie

My heart is racing a million beats a minute. Melanie screaming is what I call a rude wake-up. I must have passed out on the couch due to the fatigue accumulated over the last couple of days. As startled as I am, I feel different, refreshed and coherent. I hear Melanie and Colleen talking; Colleen seems to be scolding Mel for waking me up.

“It’s OK. I needed to get up anyway. What’s the big revelation?”

I pull my hair back into a ponytail using the hair tie on my wrist. I kneel down beside them as they look at me cautiously like a small child you don’t want to frighten.

“I’m so sorry for screaming, Hon, but this shit is crazy,” Melanie says in her best southern drawl. It makes me smile in the midst of all the craziness.

“OK, show me. I’m ready for it.”

“Well, this
Cynthia
,” Melanie says, like her name is poison, “is a real piece of work. She’s been after Jason for quite a while. The oldest phone we found with anything on it was from Northwestern. From what we can tell, she must have been in one of his classes or labs, and she felt the need to send him naked pictures of herself. And, it seems, over the last few years she’s been getting his new numbers and starting back up. She tried to conceal herself in the beginning, but she got braver. She must have known that Jason would just ignore her. Girl, she’s been stalking him,
bad
. Poor Jason has to be scared to death that she might come after you or the kids.”

I’m floored. I knew it! I knew deep in my heart that Jason would never cheat on me. My elation is ebbed by the knowledge that there are some missing answers. Why was she coming out of his office the other day? Why hasn’t he turned her in? Why is he keeping these pictures, and what if the kids had found them? I’m relieved, but guarded. I need
him
to tell me the answers. Melanie and Colleen see the look on my face, because Melanie grabs my hand and pulls me close. “He’s not cheating on you. He’s trying to protect you, that’s probably why these are all still here. Evidence.”

“If that’s true, then why wouldn’t he come to me about it?”

They’re both thinking, I can tell. Colleen pipes up first. “Think about it Kat. If this started when he was in his doctorate program, which is what it looks like, you were pregnant. The two of you had so much going on during that time that I’m sure he didn’t want to worry you. How many hot-to-trot co-eds do the same thing to their professors? This one just happened to be the most gorgeous and most faithful. Probably pissed her off to no end thinking that she couldn’t entice him. He did the smart thing by letting it lie and ignoring her. Unfortunately, that only seemed to fuel the fire.” Colleen says that last line like a whisper to herself. She hesitates for a moment, then starts again. “She’s getting careless, and hoping that he’ll break. That’s probably why she looked like she’d seen a ghost when she saw you.”

“That may all be true, but why was she coming out of his office yesterday? Why did she run into him at the airport, and he sat with her, being friendly? That’s not Jason. He wears his emotions on his sleeve. He could never sit with someone like her and fake it.”

We’re all silent, and confused. No one has the answers but him.

Katie

Melanie has the idea to do a quick Google search for this woman. Maybe we can glean information about her background. Keep your enemies close. We know her last name is Berry, from her nametag. There can’t be that many judges in Boston with that name. Sure enough, a couple of clicks and dozens of photos pop up. At first, they’re mostly of her father and mother. Campaign events, cocktail parties, and fundraisers. After those, the family photos appear. There she is, that little bitch: Plenty of photos of our socialite, little Miss Berry.

She looks like the typical, overindulged brat that politicians’ children often appear to be. She has a sneer on her face in just about every photo. She doesn't have any siblings; it’s just her and her parents in these pictures. There’s one image in particular that catches my eye. It looks like a paparazzi photo of her juxtaposed with a picture of an older man and his wife. The caption reads:
Appellate Court Judge Henry Banks caught fondling the fifteen-year-old daughter of fellow judge, Walter Berry.
This girl has been around. I click on the page and a gossip site opens the full story:
Judge Henry Banks, sixty-four, was photographed inside the Jewels in a compromising position with the young Miss Berry. She seemed to be enjoying herself
.  This tongue-in-cheek website had a photo of them with the story. It was blurry, but it was obviously her pretending to enjoy being ravaged by some old guy. Probably just to piss off mommy and daddy.

The story continued:
This scandal has managed to stay under the radar, even from the local police, and swept under the rug. Anyone else caught with their hand in the underage cookie jar would surely be behind bars.
Her influential father must have made that one disappear, and fast. That was the only website that mentioned it. Unbelievable what a little power can do.

Colleen and Melanie are oohing and aahing behind me as we all read the screen. I turn to look at both of them.

“OK, so we’ve confirmed she’s a nympho, what now? How do we use this information to our advantage? She doesn't care about reputation, obviously, and she seems to have nothing to lose.”

Colleen thinks for a moment, and then speaks. “
Everyone
has something to lose, we just have to figure out what her something is. Seems like her parents are still bankrolling her to keep her away, and she can probably blackmail most of the men she works with so her job is safe. Just about the only thing she seems to give a shit about is Jason, or, I should say,
conquering
Jason.”

It’s time. I must see him.

Jason

I don’t know what to do with myself. I can’t stay at home, because I can’t look into Katie’s eyes right now. She can read me like a book. I lied about having to catch up on work. I’m wandering around the weight room, and I’m startled by the sound of the back door opening. I come out, and Wanda, our bookkeeper, and I both jump.

“Oh my God, Dr. Weber! I’m so sorry, I didn’t think anyone was here.” She is shaking like a leaf.

“It’s OK Wanda, I was just catching up on some things. Why are you here?”

“I was coming to grab some insurance claims that I was going to go over this weekend. I realized I left them here yesterday, and wanted to get them done.”

She walks over to the front desk, and picks up a large file.

“By the way, did Susanna tell you that you had a visitor yesterday? It was right after lunch when you were out of the office. Some really pretty woman was snooping around the front desk looking at the personal phone numbers that Susanna has posted on the wall. She said she had an appointment with you, but then turned around and left. I guess maybe she wanted to contact you herself. We didn’t get her name, I’m sorry. Were you able to reschedule?”

Well, that explains how she got my number this time. Fuck. What a crafty bitch. She must have seen that my car wasn't here.

“No. No I wasn’t. Tell Susanna to take that down on Monday, and keep our numbers in her cellphone. I don’t like the idea of strangers seeing that.”

I storm out, and go into my office. Thankfully, I have a couch in here, and I lie down. I’m fast asleep when I’m startled again by the sound of the backdoor again. Jesus, you would think I’d be able to rest in my closed office. I look at my watch; I’ve been sleeping for more than an hour. I get up to go see what Wanda needs now, but I’m met at the office door by
her
.

Katie

I’m frozen in my tracks, and I don’t know what’s happening. I walk over to grab my keys to head to Jason’s office, and I’m paralyzed. Melanie and Colleen are staring at me, waiting for me to speak.

“Something’s wrong with Jason. He’s in danger, I can feel it.”

If I had said, “I’m about to have an alien’s baby,” I don’t think I could have gotten a stranger look.

“What? What are you talking about?” Colleen comes over to me and shakes me gently. “I need some explanation, Kat. You’re not making any sense.”

She’s exasperated with me. Melanie seems to understand what I mean, without seeming distressed. “You know, with all those crazy dreams you've had, this doesn’t surprise me. You have a strong sixth sense when it comes to Jason. If you feel like he’s in danger, I believe you.”

She grabs her cell and punches in a number. She speaks quickly and quietly to whomever she called.

“All right, now, don’t look at me like I’m nuts. This is a good friend of mine, and she’s on her way over,” she says to us.

Huh?

“Her name is Sienna, and she’s my psychic.”

Colleen bursts out laughing. She’s not even trying to hide her disbelief. “Are you fucking crazy? What the hell is she going to do here? Katie doesn’t need this crap right now.”

Melanie looks crushed. “Do you want me to call her back, Kat?” She seems hurt, but she understands Colleen’s skepticism. I’m sure she hears this a lot.

“No, no. It would help, in some strange way. The feelings that I have right now are overwhelming, and I don’t know why. Can’t hurt, right?”

I look at Colleen; her mouth is hanging open. She throws up her hands in a half-hearted gesture of defeat. “Fine. She just better not read my mind, or she won’t like it!”

Melanie glares at her. It’s the first time I’ve seen them disagree on anything. Colleen is used to getting her way, so it’s refreshing to see her acquiesce.

About ten minutes pass, and the doorbell rings. We all jump, and it makes us giggle. Melanie answers the door, and I think Colleen is going to have a meltdown. Sienna is wearing a long, red caftan with beads sewn haphazardly all over it. She’s wearing a beaded blue headscarf, and probably fifty gold bracelets. She is the perfect caricature of a psychic.

Colleen excuses herself to go to the bathroom, but I know she’s going to have a good laugh, one of my best towels shoved into her mouth. I have to admit, this whole scene is surreal: It’s the icing on the bizarro cake.

She strolls over to me, and takes my hand. She leads me to the sofa, and sits down with me, not letting go.

“My dear, I can see that you’re upset, your aura is disturbed. Who is in distress? Is it your husband?”

She’s asking me,
and
telling me. I can tell she’s trying to hurry to figure out what is going on.

“Well, yes. I don’t know why, but I have a strong feeling that he’s in danger right now. I’ve never felt this way before.”

She continues to hold my hand, as she looks all around me but not in my eyes. “You have a powerful connection to this man,” she says. “You’ve known him a long time. Your relationship appears symbiotic, and you know each other very well. Is this the first time you've had intuitive sense about him?”

I can feel the heat rising in my cheeks. “Well, no, not exactly. I don’t think it was intuition because I’ve had dreams about him with another woman, and I know it’s not true.”

“Yes, I see that. Your connection to him is so strong that it seems you may have been ‘seeing’ someone else's fantasies about him. Your extra sense picked up on him being coveted by this person. Do you know this person?”

“No, but I have seen her and spoken with her.” My voice is quiet.

“Did these dreams become more vivid after meeting her?”

Whoa. “Yes, they did, much more so. What does all this mean?”

She releases my hands, and places one of hers on my leg.

“It means that someone is trying to do your husband harm, and God has blessed you with the ability to ‘see’ it. You should go to him now, while the feeling is strong.”

With that she picks up her bag, waves to Melanie and leaves. Colleen comes back into the room, having been snooping from around the corner. She has a serious look on her face.

“Look, I know I’ve made fun, and I don’t really buy that mumbo-jumbo, but that was pretty freaky. Let’s go find him.”

Melanie has a smug look on her face. “Let’s
go
already!”

We race out the door.

Cynthia

Jason’s face is priceless, and
gorgeous
. I should have woken him up with a nice kiss. Watching him sleep for the last few minutes was pretty good, too. This man is perfect; his wife doesn’t deserve him. He was made for me, and I’ve been waiting long enough. I was thrown by how quickly he accepted my invitation tonight. I just want to make sure he isn’t going to stand me up.

He’s starting to toss and turn, I better make myself known. I go back to the door, and open and close it so it will wake him. I saw his grandma of a bookkeeper go in before; he’ll just assume it’s her again. What a nice surprise for him to be able to see my face instead. She didn’t even lock the door behind her when she left. Easy for me, I didn’t have to use my key.

When I first came to his office years ago, I befriended the receptionist. We hung out a couple of times, and I took advantage of the fact that she had keys to the place. She passed out one night at my place, and I slipped the key off, made a copy and returned it to her key ring the next day before she knew it was missing. Once I could access the office on my own without her, I stopped seeing her. I’ve always hated hanging out with women, and she was no longer useful to me.

I also learned how to disengage the security system, and shut down the cameras: Never need my pretty face getting caught here. I’m much too smart for that. I walk back toward his office, and I hear him rousing. He’s grumbling about something, I think he’s upset about being disturbed again. He won’t be when he sees who it is this time. We meet at his office door at the same time. God, that face. How he never became a model is a mystery. I see him register my face through the fog of sleep and he looks… scared? Bewildered?

“Hey, sexy, I didn’t think I could wait until tonight to see you. My pussy’s wet just thinking about you all day. Maybe you should make me feel better right now.”

I approach him, and he stumbles backward toward the couch. Perfect.

“Do you want a quick taste? I’m happy to oblige.” I start to pull up my skirt so he can see me, but his hands grab mine as I reach my hips.

“Wait,” he spits out fast. “We have cameras here. I can’t be filmed.”

“It’s OK baby, I turned those off. It’s just you and me. Even though I would
kill
to have this on film.”

I continue to lift my skirt and he stops me more forcefully this time.

“No! I mean, not now. I want you at the hotel, later. I have things to do first.”

He’s sweating and he looks nervous. My sweet, sexy man. He really does want me. He’s just scared.

“There’s no one here, Jason. We’re totally alone.”

“Well, my bookkeeper came by earlier, what if she stops by again? This would ruin my reputation.”

He’s right about that. I can’t come and go as I please if she knows who I am.

“OK. I’ll expect you at my room in one hour. Don’t be late, or I’ll come looking for you. My pussy can’t get any wetter.”

I grab his hand and quickly stick it up my skirt. I’m not wearing any panties, and his fingers graze my slick spot. He’s so cute, turning bright red. He yanks it back quickly.

“OK, OK. An hour.”

“You’re going to show up, right Jason? You wouldn’t do anything stupid would you, like tell your little wifey? You know I watch her like a hawk. Don’t be selfish and get her hurt. When we’re together, she’ll come to understand that it’s for the best.”

“Of course, I know that. She doesn’t know a thing. I’ll see you in an hour.”

He’s trying his best to look convincing but I don’t know. It’s OK; I have a plan. I always have a plan.