Accidental Heartbreak (The Accidental Series, Book 2) (23 page)

“
It’s wonderful. I
love her. Feels like I’m obsessed with her at times. She does it
for me, you know. She makes me feel emotions that I’ve never felt
in my life.”

“
Like
what?”

“
I can’t explain it,
and even if I could, you wouldn’t get it because you’ve never loved
a woman.”

“
Well, if you can do
it, anybody can.” Terrance chuckled. “Shayla must have some mad
skills to lock you down, if you know what I mean.”

Carter frowned at the
thought of Terrance thinking about his wife this way. Then turning
that frown into a smile, he replied, “The only thing you need to
know about my wife is that she’s mine.”

“
Duly noted,” Terrance
said. “What I really want to know is, what made you change for
her?”

Carter smiled, and
even with a heavy, troubled heart, he said, “She taught me how to
love.”

Carter didn’t get home until a few minutes
after eleven. He jogged upstairs, heard the hissing from the shower
in as he walked down the hallway and to the bedroom. He loosened
his necktie and tossed it on the bed, unfastened his cuff links and
placed them on the nightstand, stepped out of his shoes, pulled off
his socks and unbuttoned his shirt. He walked over to the bathroom
door and watched the silhouette of her. Water splashed on the
glass, raining down against it while steam floated near the
ceiling. Fruit-scented body wash permeated the room and while
Shayla showered, she hummed a song,
Unthinkable
by Alicia
Keys.

Carter thought of joining her, but how could
he tell her something so serious while they were showering?
Instead, he kicked his pants aside and stood there, in his boxers,
arms crossed, staring at the visions of her through the shower
door.

You
confess, get slapped and she’s out the door with a suitcase and
‘bout a week’s worth of clothes
.
The statement Terrance had told him earlier
haunted him. And in so many ways, Terrance was right. If he told
her, she could be so angry that she never spoke to him again. Or it
could somewhat work out in his favor. She could forgive him, but
secretly resent him for betraying her and Jacob. In both scenarios,
he came out on the losing end.

Carter shook his head, distressed about this
now. His eagerness to tell her had dissipated when he heard Shayla
turn off the water. He watched as she slid the shower door
open.

“Hey!” she said, surprised to see him
standing there.

Carter didn’t say a word.

Shayla squeezed water from her hair, grabbed
her towel from the rack and wrapped it around her body. She walked
over and embraced him. “You could’ve gotten in with me.”

Carter still didn’t speak. His mind was on
the thoughts of losing her, losing this love he never thought he’d
find.

Shayla smiled. “You’re not talking to me
tonight? What’s the matter? Cat got your—”

“Shh,” Carter hissed. “I just want to look
at you.”

Shayla’s smile slowly began to fall as she
stared at Carter. Were those tears in his eyes? Shayla wondered as
she stared at him, but the moonlight in the room wasn’t enough for
her to make that determination. “Are you crying?” Shayla asked,
concerned.

Instead of answering her, he walked into the
bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

“Carter?”

Her calls to him went unanswered. She tried
to turn the knob, but he’d locked the door.

Carter leaned against the vanity, so sick he
could throw up right now. He was a smart man and he knew what was
about to happen. That’s why he didn’t want to tell her. But how
could their marriage work if he kept this? How could he function
with holding on to a secret this detrimental to his relationship
with his wife? He couldn’t. Not anymore.

He splashed cold water on his face and
stared at his bloodshot eyes in the mirror. He could’ve sworn he
saw his brother’s face instead of his own. Guilt was eating him
alive.

“Carter, please open the door.”

“I’ll be out in a minute, Shayla,” he said
sadly with a broken, distorted voice.

Shayla, filled with worry, remained at the
door, waiting for him to come out. Something was wrong with her
husband.

He stepped out of the bathroom, his eyes
still red. Shayla had never seen him look this bad. He was a mess,
and she wondered what it was that bothered him to the point of
tears. She walked up to him to throw her arms around him.

“Don’t,” he told her.

She looked confused. “I can’t hug you?”

“No. Not right now, and you’ll probably
never want to again.”

She frowned. “Carter, what’s going on? I
don’t understand. I mean, we did just make love. Did I do something
wrong?”

“No. I did,” he said and swallowed hard.
“Can you sit down? Please?”

Shayla’s lips trembled as she sat on the bed
and waited for Carter to tell her what was going on. There were a
million possibilities running through her head, the main thing
being another woman. Had he been cheating on her and now wanted to
confess? Is that why his eyes were bloodshot red, his face flushed,
his lips trembling?

“I know this is probably the worst time I
could bring this up but I’ve tried constantly and could never bring
myself to tell you this because I don’t want to lose you,
Shayla.”

Shayla frowned when she realized his
seriousness. “What is it, Carter?”

Carter blew a breath and closed his eyes.
Opening them, he said, “I haven’t been one hundred percent truthful
with you. I um…” He took a moment to get his thoughts in order,
thinking of the way in which he could properly relay this
information to her with the least amount of consequences.

“Is there someone else?”

“No. There’s not anyone else.”

Relieved, she asked, “Well, what is it?”

He sat beside her.
God, help me
, he
thought to himself. Looking at her, he said, “Your ex-fiancé,
Jacob…”

“Yeah? What about him?”

“I knew him. I knew him very well.”

“What do you mean?” She watched Carter hang
his head low, staring at the floor. “Carter?”

Carter looked at her with a tear traveling
from his right eye and down his face.

“Carter, just talk to me,” Shayla said teary
eyed. “You’re scaring me.”

With his lips quavering, Carter said, “I
knew him because…he’s…he’s…”

“He’s what?”

“He’s my brother, Shayla,” he confessed,
looking at her.

Shayla let out an uncomfortable chuckle.
“No, he’s not.”

“I’ve been trying to figure out a way to
tell you—”

“No,” she said, shaking her head, thoroughly
confused. “No, Carter, what are you—”

“Shayla, please listen to me.”

“I’m listening…I just don’t understand.”

“Jacob is my brother,” he repeated,
firmly.

“
My
Jacob?” she questioned.

“Yes.” Something about her calling him
my
Jacob
made Carter feel worse than he already did. But now
wasn’t the time to worry about his own feelings.

She shook her head. “That’s impossible.
There’s no way—”

“Jacob Dempsey is my brother, Shayla,”
Carter said, taking out his wallet and sliding Jacob’s letter from
it. “I got this letter from him in the mail the day after he killed
himself.”

Reluctantly, Shayla took the folded piece of
paper from his grasp. Her heart rate increased rapidly upon seeing
Jacob’s handwriting. She swallowed hard, looked up at Carter like
he was a stranger while tears ran down her face. She began reading
it silently to herself:

If you’re
reading this, I’m probably already dead. So you win again big
brother. Mama always said you would have it all. She said I
wouldn’t compare to you...You were smarter, more talented and I
couldn’t hold a candle to you. So in the end, you win...all I ask
is that you take care of my sweet Shayla. She loved me, but she
deserves a lot more than what I was able to give her. I can’t even
keep a roof over her head, can’t even be a real man for
her.

Shayla’s hand shook
violently, had the piece of paper shaking like a lone leaf on an
almost barren tree in late Fall. She used her other hand to help
hold the paper still and continued reading.

So I’m
asking you to take care of her. She was the only thing in my life
that has ever meant anything to me, my beautiful doll. I owe it to
her. I know you’re under no obligation to do this, but this is my
last and final wish. I’ve never asked you for anything, even in my
most dire straights, but this I ask of you because I want Shayla to
be happy. I want her to have the kind of life that you can give
her.
Please tell her that I’m sorry I left this way.
Tell her it’s for the best and that in some way, I’m doing this for
her. Take care of her for me. She’s innocent in all of this and I
want to make sure that she’s taken care of. I love her Carter. Make
sure she knows that.
Make her
happy. In the end, I’m sorry it had to be this way.

~ Jacob

- - -

Shayla sat motionless
for a moment, in a state of shock or temporary paralysis. This was
real.

Carter took her hand,
placed Jacob’s obituary in it and said, “This is his obituary. I’m
sure you’ve seen it but…”

Shayla sprung forth
more tears upon seeing Jacob’s picture again.

“
Say something.”
Carter watched the letter and obituary fall from her grasp and onto
the floor. “Shayla…”

Shayla heard him say
her name, but she was numb. Was this really happening? Maybe it was
a bad dream perhaps. But when she heard Carter say, “Shayla, I’m
sorry,” while she stared down at Jacob’s suicide letter on the
floor, she knew it was no dream. She slumped over, placed her right
hand over her chest, feeling pain there.

“
Shayla…”

Ignoring his calls to
her, she stood, stumbled to the bathroom, feeling herself become
sick. She locked the door behind her, then touched her stomach. She
looked at herself in the mirror, envisioning Jacob standing behind
her, his arms around her, telling her how much he loved her. She
thought she had forgotten about him enough to move on with life –
enough to finally start over. Little did she know she was starting
over with his brother! How could Carter do this to
her?

Carter walked up to
the closed bathroom door and banged on it. “Shayla, open the door,
baby.”

She didn’t respond,
not that he expected her to, but still, he wanted to make sure she
was okay. What would she do next? Would she leave him? Forgive
him?

To his surprise, she
came out the bathroom a few minutes later, and not saying a word to
him, she walked to her dresser, took out some pants and a shirt,
dressed quickly and after stepping into some sandals, she grabbed
her keys and purse. “I can’t stay here tonight,” she told
him.

“
Shayla,
wait.”

“
No.”

“
Shayla,” Carter said,
reaching for her arm.

“
I said no, Carter!”
she said, louder than he’d ever heard her yell, snatching her arm
away from him in the process. “How could you do this to me?” Tears
were falling heavily from her eyes now as she tried to grasp how he
could betray her like this. She fought to catch her breath, while
pushing him away from her. All of a sudden, he was a stranger
again, and she didn’t trust him one bit.

“
I’m sorry, Shayla.
Baby, please listen to me.” He tried to touch her again, but she
pushed his hand away.

“
Move out of my way so
I can get outta here. I can’t even stand to look at you…you
liar!”

Her words cut him like
a knife. But he’d expected this reaction. He was the one in the
wrong? “Shayla—”

“
Boy did you have me
fooled,” she cried. “Had me thinking I was somebody special when
all the while, you were helping me because of
Jacob.”

“
That’s not
true.”

“
It is true! If I had
no ties to your brother, I would be just like all the other women
you encountered…tossed to the side like garbage.”

“
That’s not
true.”

“
And I asked you
why…why you chose me and you lied to my face…made me feel like I
had no right to even ask you that. And the truth is, you never
really loved me.”

“
I do love you,
Shayla, and I can explain everything if you just give me a
chance.”

“
No,” she said,
shaking her head. “I’m not going to continue to let you make a fool
out of me. Move!”

Carter conceded,
realizing that she was too upset to talk tonight. Even if he
barricaded her in the room and made her listen to him, it wouldn’t
accomplish a thing. So proving to her how much he loved her, he
said, “No. You stay here. I’ll go. Ah’ight? I’ll go and I won’t
come back unless you want me to.”

“
Just
move!”

“
No, Shayla! I’ll go,
ah’ight. I’ll go!” He grabbed a few items of clothing, a couple of
suits, some casual outfits and shoes.

Shayla sat on the bed,
slumped over again, wailing. Inconsolable.