Shadow of Suspicion (Haunted by the Past) (11 page)

Jason rose up in her thoughts. The
poor man probably had no idea that his girlfriend was cheating on him. Callie
bit her lip. Should she say something to him? After all, he’d told her about
Sandra.
That’s different. It’s not as hard to tell someone. ‘Your girlfriend
is cheating on you’ is far worse
.

What a terrible position she found
herself in. Callie had never been stuck like this before. She wiped a hand down
her face and winced when she accidently brushed against the bruising on her
cheeks. What the hell was she going to do?

Callie was so distracted, she didn’t
even notice she’d entered the reception area or see the person occupying the
space until she ran into him. Pain lanced through her abused body and she drew
in a sharp breath.

“I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

Callie’s pulse leapt as she came face
to face with Jason. Her heart skipped several beats and then raced ahead so
fast she lost her breath. Mind numbing panic gripped her. She wasn’t ready to
handle this. She hadn’t even thought of what she would say to him or even
if
she would inform him of anything at all. What the hell was she going to do now?

Jason threw up his hands and managed
to catch the figure charging at him before they collided. He grunted as an
elbow slammed into his stomach. He should have known Callie Price would have
pointy elbows. She probably honed them to perfection. A sharp hiss emitted from
her lips and she drew in a ragged breath.

“I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

Jason stepped back and surveyed her
from head to toe. He grimaced as his eyes scanned over the bruising to her face
and neck. One wrist was firmly wrapped in white bandages, which peeped out from
under the long sleeve of her jumper. Although he couldn’t see much, it was
evident that she’d been badly injured. He shook his head. She was damn lucky to
be alive.

“I’m fine.” Callie stared at him with
wide eyes and an expression bordering on horrified. Surely he wasn’t that
abhorrent to her? She glanced down the hallway she’d just charged out of. Jason
peered over her shoulder, but could see no reason for her apparent discomfort.

“What are you doing here?” Her voice
came out rather squeaky. What was wrong with the woman now? Her behaviour was
decidedly odd.

“I dropped by the hospital to check
up on you, but they told me you’d been discharged.” He touched her arm to gain
her attention. He wondered if he’d ever figure her out. Callie Price was
something of an enigma. “Sandra wanted me to check in on you, so here I am. I
thought you’d want to know she was asking after you.”

“Thank you.” Callie wrung her hands,
her brow wrinkled.

“Is that all you have to say? I
thought you’d be stoked to know Sandra cared enough to send me to find out
about your welfare.” Jason stared at her, confused. He’d thought she’d be more
interested in what he’d told her. Maybe the fall down the stairs had knocked
her senseless. She sure wasn’t acting quite right.

Callie bit her lip. “Of course I am.
I’m sorry. I’ve been a little………..off. You know, since the fall.” She waved a
hand down her body, but her eyes glanced back down the hallway again.

“Is there something bothering you?”
Jason examined her face closely. A deep red hue stole over her cheeks, visible
even through her bruises. She looked as jumpy as a cat on a hot tin roof.
Something was definitely up with her.

Callie tugged on the bottom of her
jumper with her one good hand and fidgeted from one foot to the other. “No. Why
would there be?”

Jason frowned. What the hell was
going on? “Oh, I don’t know. You’re acting strange.” He folded his arms across
his chest and regarded her with his head to one side. “For a start, you’ve not
said one caustic remark to me since I arrived. Did that fall knock your
personality right out of you or what?”

Callie glared at him. “I am not
caustic! I’m very polite. People love me! You’re always rude first and wind me
up!”

“No way! If I recall correctly, you
snapped at me when I dropped in to deliver your quote the other day.” He
grinned at her.

Callie’s eyes filled with unexpected
tears. Jason was stunned. What the hell had he said to make her cry?

“I’m sorry.” She dabbed at her eyes
with the sleeve of her jumper. “I have to tell you something, but I’m not sure
how you’re going to take it. I’m not even sure I should say anything, but after
the other day, when you were so nice to me………….I don’t think I can keep it in.
It’s not fair to you and I think you deserve better.” She gave a wry laugh. “I
honestly never thought I’d say that!”

Jason froze. “What are you talking
about?”

His heart thudded heavily in his
chest. For some odd reason, a sensation shivered through him as if something
terrible was hurtling towards him and he couldn’t stop it. Which was ridiculous!
What could Callie possibly have to say to him that would be so bad?

She clasped her hands over the lower
half of her face and dropped her gaze to the floor. Jason’s stomach twisted
painfully. The expression she wore reminded him of when the doctor had
announced his brother’s death. He tried to brush aside the sense of doom, but
couldn’t quite manage it.

“Whatever it is, just tell me.” His
voice came out sharper than he’d intended. “I’d rather know.”

She shuddered. “Are you sure?”

“It can’t be that bad!”

“That depends.” Callie glanced up at
him and he smiled in reassurance. She cleared her throat. “As you probably
know, your girlfriend started working as my assistant this morning, on Mr
Cunningham’s request.”

Jason frowned. “No, I didn’t know
that.”

“Oh.” Callie licked her lips and her
face drained of the small amount of colour that had been in her cheeks. She
wrung her hands. “Well, she did. She was going to have a meeting with Mr
Cunningham this afternoon, about the B&B. I discharged myself from the hospital
to attend it, because I wasn’t sure she would present my designs to Mr
Cunningham as I wanted. She was too full of her own opinions when we discussed
things earlier.”

Jason nodded. “That sounds like Luce.
So?”

“I came back here and went to what I
thought was the meeting.” She broke off and stared at him.

“Do I have to drag everything out of
you?” Jason growled. “What did you want to tell me?”

“I walked in on them just a short
while ago. It certainly wasn’t a meeting. They were,” she nodded her head and
waved a hand, “you know, otherwise engaged.”

Jason shook his head. He couldn’t
believe what she was implying. “No way. Lucinda wouldn’t do that to me.”

“I’m sorry, Jason, but she was or
rather probably still is. They didn’t see me. I just beat a hasty retreat and
that’s when I ran into you.” Callie’s gaze was filled with sympathy and he
hated it. “I didn’t know what to do, but when you mentioned the other day, I
remembered what you said to me. How you hadn’t said something to someone once
and it had caused a really bad situation. I decided to follow your advice and
tell you what I’ve seen. What you do with it is up to you.”

Jason couldn’t breathe. This couldn’t
be true and yet Callie had no reason to lie to him. “Where is she?”

He could hardly believe the calm tone
of voice that came out of him. It was almost as if he could hear it from one
end of a long tunnel.

“They’re in the small living room at
the end of the corridor.” She pointed back the way she’d come.

He grasped her elbow. “Show me.”

Callie winced and he loosened his
grip. She stumbled slightly as he hauled her ahead of him. “I’m not sure I
should be here for this.”

“Just take me there, please! I have
to see this with my own eyes.” He shook his head in disbelief. He couldn’t
accept that Lucinda would cheat on him without proof. She’d only just asked for
them to move in together. Why would she do that if she was playing away? Callie
had to be wrong.

Callie nodded and stepped ahead of
him. He felt like a man being led to the gallows. Callie gripped her ribs with
one hand and reluctantly dragged her feet to their destination. Jason felt
slightly guilty at her obvious discomfort, but he had to learn the truth. She
paused before an innocent enough wooden door, except for the ‘do not disturb’
sign that was pinned to its surface. His guts twisted into a tight knot.

“I really think I should go now.”

Jason ignored Callie as he grasped
the handle and swung the door open on silent hinges. Not even a creak spilled
out to alert the couple panting away on the sofa. Cunningham pounded hard into
Lucinda. She’d flung her head so far back that it nearly banged against the
wall with the force of every thrust of Cunningham’s hips. She groaned and
panted, calling out Cunningham’s name with small whimpers of delight as her
nails raked down his back.

Jason’s stomach contracted and
threatened to heave up what little sat in his belly. He couldn’t move. He
couldn’t breathe. How could she do this to him? Lucinda’s eyes flew open and
she screamed out her release. Her gaze clamped onto Jason. Her face twisted
into an almost comical combination of pleasure and dawning horror.

“Oh! Jason, no!”

She tried to push at Cunningham’s
shoulders, but he held her hips firmly in place as he reached his own
satisfaction. A roar burst out of him. He glanced back towards Jason with a
satisfied smirk. He slipped out of Lucinda and pulled up his clothing as if
nothing untoward had occurred.

“Sorry you witnessed that. It was
never my intention for you to find out.” Jason couldn’t believe how calm and
unaffected Cunningham sounded. “It’s not like I have designs on stealing her
away from you, so don’t worry. It’s just a bit of fun.”

He winked at Jason as though they
were co-conspirators in some escapade. Jason’s jaw clenched so tight, he was
surprised his face didn’t split in two. His brain screamed at him to say
something or to take action, but he couldn’t seem to move.

“Jason, I’m sorry.” Lucinda struggled
to cover herself with one of the small cushions that had fallen to the floor.
“It’s not what you think. Please!”

Jason couldn’t believe his ears. Her
ridiculous words released a torrent of anger coursing through him. It opened
the floodgates that had somehow been held frozen up until that point.

“It’s not what I think? That’s
original.” Jason prised his fingers from the door handle. He’d been holding it
so tightly that he’d lost all feeling in his fingers.

“It really isn’t what it looks like.”
Lucinda wept piteously. She tugged on her underwear with shaking hands. “It
didn’t mean anything. It was nothing! Just meaningless sex.”

Jason stalked forward and stood
several inches from her trembling form. “It may have meant nothing to you,” he
stabbed a finger at her chest, “and it sure as hell seems to have meant nothing
to him. But what you’ve done means a lot to me.” He gritted his teeth so hard,
he was sure his jaw would break. “Was this the first time or have you done this
before? How long have you been cheating on me, Lucinda?” he snarled at her.

“What does it matter?” Lucinda
slipped her arms through her blouse and clamped it shut with one hand.

“It matters to me. How long?” he
shouted.

“About three weeks.” He could barely
hear the whisper. He flicked his gaze to Cunningham. The man didn’t seem at all
phased by the situation.

“Come now. We are all adults. Surely
you can see that Lucinda and I just wanted a fun time. It was nothing more than
that. It doesn’t have to be a big deal.” Cunningham adjusted the sleeves of his
jacket.

Jason drew back his fist and punched
the smug bastard right in his arrogant face. Cunningham flew backwards. He
landed on the sofa with a grunt. Jason grinned in dark satisfaction and rubbed
his knuckles. Cunningham regarded him with a deadly stare.

“I’ll let you have that one,
considering. But don’t push me. Another punch like that and I’ll have the
police on you.” Cunningham tested his jaw with one hand. “You’re taking this
far too seriously, you know. There is a considered opinion among experts that
extra sexual relations keeps relationships alive and fresh.” He picked up a
brief case that sat propped up against the end of the sofa. “You should try it
some time. Maybe you’d be less uptight.”

“Get out before I wipe the floor with
you!” Jason snarled.

Cunningham simply nodded his head.
“As you wish.” He swept out without glancing even once in Lucinda’s direction.

Jason turned to Lucinda. Disgust
rolled through him at the sight of her half-dressed form. “I hope it was worth it,
Luce, because we’re done. I never want to see you ever again. Is that clear?
I’ll pack up the things you left at my place and give them to your parents.”

“Oh, no. Please, Jason. Don’t do
this.” He turned to leave and she grabbed hold of his arm. “You have to
understand that some of this was your fault!” Her shriek echoed around the
room.

Jason whirled back to face her. “How
the hell do you work that one out?”

“You ignored me one too many times.
You wouldn’t commit the way I wanted you to. If you had made me more important
than your stupid family, this would never have happened!” Lucinda snarled at
him.

“This started up three weeks ago.”
Jason yanked his arm from her grip. “When you asked me to make a stronger
commitment, you’d already cheated on me!” He grabbed her arms and shook her.
“It’s obvious to me that I made the right call. How can you manage a commitment
to someone, when you can’t even stay faithful? Well, you’ve made your
bed……….now lie in it.”

He shoved her against the sofa. She
landed with an ear splitting shriek. “You can’t just walk away from me, Jason!”

He sneered down at her. “Watch me.”
He shook his head. “All this time my family told me that you were no good. I
wish I’d listened instead of wasting my time on you.”

He stomped from the room. He jerked
to a halt in surprise when he spied a white faced Callie several feet from the
door.

“I thought you would have left by
now.”

“I almost did, but then I worried
that you’d be okay.” Her voice was soft as she ran her sympathetic gaze over
him. “I didn’t want you to do something foolish.” She drew in a shuddering
breath. “I wanted to be sure you’d be safe. I know what a shock this kind of
thing can be. It doesn’t always lead to smart choices.”