The Other Man (The Other Man Series Book 1) (11 page)

“You’re pissing me off,” I growled, rapidly losing patience.

“I’m not pissing you off, you’re just pissed off,” Carlie stomped her foot like a three year old throwing a tantrum. “One more night, Blake, That’s all. Just one!”

“I’m only going to say this once more and if you don’t listen, I’ll just do it anyway. I am not staying in this god forsaken fucking place for another night. I’m not even staying for another hour. I’ve tried asking you nicely, that didn’t work, so either fucking help me get all this shit together, or leave.”

Carlie huffed and crossed her arms, “You’re behaving like a child! What’s one more night when you’ve been here for six already? This is the best place for you to be when you’re still not well, Blake.”

Instead of repeating everything we’d been going over for the past twenty minutes, I just moved around her and started putting all my belongings on the bed. I had been in the hospital for six, very long, very boring days. I needed out. I wasn’t one hundred percent healthy, far from it, but I was ready to go home. There was no difference between resting and taking a few pills in the hospital or at home. I was leaving.

I hadn’t needed the oxygen mask in two days and the pain was starting to subside...slightly. I was under no illusion that being at home would help me recover any quicker, but I did know that I wouldn’t have to stare at the same patterned curtain for hours on end each day and that was enough for me. I could
not
sit around for one more second without going insane. Carlie, however, was convinced that I needed to be a good little boy and do as the doctor said. Well fuck that. Enough was enough.

“We’ll I’m not helping you. If you want to put yourself at risk of infection and ignore what’s best for you, I want no part of it.”

I sighed, “I just don’t care anymore, Carlie. I told you, help me out or leave. I’m done talking about this. I’m not a child and I don’t have to listen to you whine on about this. The decision is already made. Why do you care anyway? It’s not like you’ve been here playing the doting wife the last week, have you? Huh?”

“I
knew
you were pissed about that!” She screeched. “I told you, I had overtime at work!”

“You didn’t have overtime twenty-four hours a day, Carlie. I’ve seen you twice!
Twice!
In six days! And one of those visits, you stayed for ten minutes before you faked a yawn, said you were too tired and left. Even the guys from the station have been here more often than you. Your excuses are bullshit and so is your constant whining. Just go, I’ll find my own way home.”

She stared at me, not moving an inch, but I was done. I wasn’t going to keep arguing, I just didn’t have the energy. Then she sneered.

“You’re their boss, it’s called kissing ass, Blake, and they’re all experts at it. It’s not like you needed me here anyway. Your new best buddy hasn’t been very far away from this place all week, has he? Good old Zach has been playing the nice card a little too often as far as I’m concerned.”

“Jesus Christ, Carlie. You can be such a bitch sometimes. They
care
. It’s not about ass kissing. And Zach? The guy has lost everything. His whole life revolved around that gym and right now, he just needs a friend,” I ignored her muttered ‘you would know’ comment. “I was hurt at
his
property, he feels guilty. Why shouldn’t he come here? He wants the company and considering my wife couldn’t give a fuck, so do I.”

I was so,
so
done with the fucking conversation. She was being a bitch, that much was definitely true, but she was also hitting a little too close to home with her words. Zach had kept to his word, he’d been back. Every single day, he’d come by. Sometimes he stayed, sometimes he was just popping by. I didn’t care either way, as long as I saw him.

Yes, my fascination started with something new, something different. Turns out, I actually really liked him. Still, things were far too complicated for me to be looking too deeply into anything.

“Lovers tiff?” Speak of the devil…

Carlie threw her arms up in frustration, “Oh look! Your knight in rusty armour is here. Well he can deal with your grouchy ass because I’m out. Good luck, Zach.”

“I’ll just see you at home, Carlie,” I told her.

“Don’t bother. I don’t want to see you.”

And with her parting shot, yet again, I was left staring at the flick of her hair as she stormed out. It was official, my life had gone crazy. My wife, the caring, funny, beautiful woman I’d married, was long gone. I did
not
like the woman who had replaced her.

“Trouble in paradise?”

I sighed, “Just don’t, Zach, ok? I’m tired, I’m in a bad mood and I just want to go home,” I glanced at the door that Carlie had just left through. “Or maybe not, as the case may be.”

He followed my line of sight and I must have realised that I just wasn’t in the mood because he nodded.

“Come on, I brought another sports bag to fit all this stuff in. We’ll get you all packed up and then I’ll go find a doctor to get you discharged.”

My lip twitched, I didn’t even have to ask and he knew, “You’re too good to me.”

“Oh I know, I know. You can make it up to me by sucking my cock later.”

My face snapped up to his to see if he was serious. He hadn’t even come within a foot of the hospital bed since the last time he kissed me.

“Are you serious?” I queried quietly, glancing around the ward to make sure no one was listening.

“Do I look serious?” He raised his eyebrows but I shrugged. You never could tell with him. “Yeah Blake, I’m serious. Blue balls doesn’t even come close. It’s been more than two weeks since I’ve stuck my cock in anything wet and warm. Let’s face it, you owe me.”

I laughed in shock, “You’re unbelievable!”

“Yeah you’ve said that before, but you have no idea how unbelievable I can really be. Come on, you don’t need to stay here any longer than necessary.”

“That was cheesy, even for you,” I complained, but started packing my things away with his help.

Within the hour, I had a month’s worth of prescription painkillers, a lecture about discharging myself early and a disapproving look from my consultant but I was finally leaving. I sat in the passenger seat of Zach’s car wondering if Carlie would have actually calmed down by the time I got home. Twenty minutes into the drive home, Zach flicked the left indicator and pulled into the driveway of a modest little two-story house.

“Wha…” he cut me off.

“Look, do you really want to go home? Knowing that Carlie doesn’t want you there right now and no matter what you say, that pain in your ribs is worse than you’re letting on. Anyone with half a brain can see that, just by the way you’re carrying yourself. This is my house, I figured we’d stop here, you can rest, chill out for a while and give Carlie a call in a bit after she’s had time to cool off.”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Yeah I think I’ll do that.”

“Good, because a taxi from here to your house would cost a bomb!” He joked. Asshole.

Leaving my two bags in the car, I heaved myself out of the seat and followed Zach into the house. It was...empty. Even for a guy. I mean, there was a sofa, a TV, an XBox and nothing else. Same with the kitchen. Cooker, microwave, fridge. Nothing personal at all. Even a show home would have had more life in it.

It was plainly decorated. Browns, beiges and creams. Wooden floors, black furniture and not a hint of personality. I halted my train of thought when I realised that I genuinely didn’t give a fuck about wallpaper or furniture.

The dining room was where I broke my silence and had to say something.

“Why is your dining room a home gym, when you own an actual gym?” I asked.

He laughed, “Picked up on that did you? This is
my
space, Blake. Work is work and as much as I love it, it’s not where I relax.”

“It’s a nice place, Zach, but this whole house is
your
space and the rest of it looks like no one lives here. Where’s all your stuff?”

“That’s where you’re wrong. This isn’t my space, it’s hers,” he opened the backdoor and I heard an excited yelp before a beast came bounding towards me. I tensed waiting for the impact but the second Zach told her to stop, she did. She sat at my feet, her tail wagged and her tongue lolled to one side. “Blake, meet Daisy.”

I awkwardly crouched down, ignoring the protest from my ribs and gave Daisy a scratch behind the ear, “Hey girl!”

“You have a Cocker Spaniel called Daisy?”

“Yep, and don’t be fooled. She’s had the best training money can buy and in front of you, she’s the perfect dog. The minute you turn your back though, she’s the devil in dog form. Hence the fact that this house is empty. If she didn’t eat it, pee on it or scratch it to death, I’ve hidden it.”

I laughed. It felt so
normal
.

“You want a beer?”

“Can’t. Painkillers, remember?”

“Shit, yeah sorry,” he cringed.

“Zach?” I called and waited for him to look back at me. “Why are you nervous to have me here?”

“You want the honest answer?”

“No, I want you to lie to me,” I deadpanned. Stupid question.

Releasing a heavy sigh, he began, “Because in that hospital, it was just talk. I could talk to you and get to know who you really are. I saw you at your weakest and you didn’t care, do you know how rare that is?” He didn’t wait for me to answer.

“Here, this is my world. This is my reality. Fact remains, I’m out of my league with this. In an hour, maybe two, you’ll be going home to your wife and we both know you’re eventually going to phase me out. I’ll be a distant dirty secret and you’ll go on as if nothing happened. You’ll sort everything out, maybe have a kid or two and grow old,
with Carlie
. I knew from day one that I shouldn’t get attached, but then
you
came to
me
the third time and I thought, maybe there’s a chance. I’ve done nothing but think about it this week though, Blake, and I just can’t be that guy. Thing is, I’d let you have us both and actually be happy with what I could get. Then it’ll be what? A week? A month? Maybe more. But I’ll always know, somewhere in the back of my mind, that you go home to your wife at night. Meeting you, it’s just made me realise that I deserve something real and I’m not giving that to myself by fucking anyone I lay my eyes on.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Zach,” I said, because I really didn’t.

His words had floored me.
He
was the one who pushed
me
.
He
was the one who wrapped his mouth around
my
cock.
He
was the one who came to see
me
every day in the hospital. Yet,
he
was the one who was telling
me
that enough was enough. Fuck that.

“Actually, I do know what to say,” I stood up and brushed myself off. “Fuck you, Zach.”

He went to speak but I stepped right into his face, our chests were touching so I put my palms to his pecs and pushed. He stumbled back.

“Fuck...you...You’re the one who came into
my
life. I didn’t ask for it and I didn’t ask for
you
. How dare you assume that I’m the one who gets to have everything here? You can’t force your way into my head and then say ‘sorry, too complicated up in here so I’m leaving’. It doesn’t work like that. You think I want to be torn in two because I’m married to a woman I love, yet I can’t stop thinking about a man who makes my head spin? I fucking don’t. You made that happen. It’s all just a game to you, isn’t it, Zach? Some personal challenge to fuck with people’s minds. Speak to Carlie, she’s the master of sexual coercion, maybe you can share tips. The pair of you would be a force to be reckoned with.” I was breathing heavily by the time I’d finished but I had one last card to play.

I dropped to my knees and dragged Zach’s trousers down.

“Whoa, what are you doing?”

I fisted the base of his cock and only had a moment of hesitation, of fear, before I said, “Paying off my debts,” and took him in my mouth.