BRIAN (The Callahans Book 1) (111 page)

“Where’s your honey?” Jill asked. It was a gorgeous January day in New York City. The sun was shining, and the freezing rain was nowhere in sight. The landscape would be perfect if not for the gross gray slush piled in the corners of the streets and sidewalks.

“He couldn’t make it. This is Roy, my heavy.” There was no point in trying to hide the relationship. The last thing she needed was her friends thinking she was cheating or hiding something.

“Heavy? Like a bodyguard? I thought all that mess was over with.” Jill’s amber-colored eyes scanned over Roy, taking him in. She took a step backward. Being only half his size, it was easy to be intimidated.

“Yeah. He was Mason’s idea. He just wants me to stay safe until after Frank gets sentenced. Things should go back to normal after that.” Laura glanced up at her shadow. She was going to miss him when his tenure was done. Roy was a beacon of sanity in her life at that moment.

“Good deal. Can we hit the museum now? I’m dying to see the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit,” Craig chimed in. Jill’s boyfriend was only slightly taller than she was. As a bit of a hipster, his dark hair was always cut in the latest fashion. Today he had it combed over into a prohibition style. A thick, yet well-groomed beard had grown on his face in the months since Laura had seen him last.

“Yeah. Let’s go. Do any of you want to grab coffee first?” Laura asked. She wanted to caffeinate so badly, but judging by Craig’s scowl, his patience was waning and the answer was no. “Never mind. Let’s go inside.”

***

“Oh man, Craig. Your face when you saw that sign was priceless!” Laura and Jill were having a good laugh at poor Craig’s expense. They’d showed up at the exhibit only to find it roped off for maintenance – for the next two weeks.

“It’s not funny, guys,” Craig pouted. He had been looking forward to seeing the FLW exhibit for over a month.

“I’m sorry, baby.” Jill reached out and gave her boyfriend a peck on the cheek. “The good news is, we saw all of those amazing built-in sculptures. Those were kind of like architecture.” Jill knew she was reaching, but she hated seeing Craig disappointed.

“Let’s just go get brunch.” Craig pulled away from the group and headed for The Wright, hoping a strong coffee and a pile of eggs would make him feel less cranky.

Jill and Laura looked at each other and howled in laughter. “Craig is so sensitive today. What’s going on?” Laura asked.

“He’s going through a weird phase. He’s become so neurotic about everything from the way he looks to how the house is arranged. He’s spending too much time on Instagram,” Jill explained flippantly.

“Huh. Keeping up with the Joneses is going to kill him if he doesn’t let that stuff go.” The two women continued chatting until they met with Craig in the restaurant lobby. Roy had been keeping a fair distance behind them, letting the two women catch up and enjoy themselves.

He was surprised he had actually enjoyed himself. Laura was friendly and kept inviting him to join in with what she and her friends were doing, but he had to maintain that professional distance. So he would read a pamphlet or hang back in the corner of the room to keep an eye on every entrance and potential hiding place. The odds that anything would happen were virtually none, but he didn’t want to let his guard down.

“Shit,” Laura hissed. Mason had settled himself at their reserved table. He looked up from his menu and waved at the group when he noticed them coming in.

“What’s the matter?” Jill murmured. “Shouldn’t you be happy to see your own boyfriend?”

Laura sucked in a breath. She could already feel the anxiety roiling in her belly. She hoped they had something stronger than coffee on the menu here. “I asked him to back off a little and let me breathe. Mason’s been suffocating me lately.”

“Right this way.” Their leggy hostess led the four of them over to meet Mason. Roy hung back and sat in the lobby.

“Hey, Mase.” Laura plastered on a tense smile. She had been enjoying herself until then. “What are you doing here? I thought you had to work.” She flashed him a look that was pure venom.

“I thought I’d meet you all here for brunch. I finished what needed to be done.” He stood and pulled out first Laura’s chair, then Jill’s. When he sat back down he leaned in close to whisper in Laura’s ear, “I felt bad about last night. I want to make it up to you.”

Despite her annoyance, heat crept down between her legs. His voice alone managed to tease her innermost erotic places. If she didn’t love it so much, she would be embarrassed.

Jill eyed Mason with a healthy dose of skepticism. Laura had just finished telling her he had been smothering, and now here he was, disrespecting her wishes for space. “So, Mason, how’ve you been?”

“Things have been good.” Mason launched into his most recent work history, a topic that Craig jumped right in on. As a tech lover, he was most interested in hearing all about the latest and greatest.

Laura tuned out and turned inward. As irritated as she had been, she was glad to see Mason and wished he had been around from the beginning. It really bothered her that while she felt, not needy, but attached to him, she also wanted to put as much space between them as possible.

As the two men droned on, oblivious to their women sitting next to them, Jill was studying how Laura was behaving. “Hey,” she whispered. When she had Laura’s attention she tilted her head toward the bathroom door. She got up, and Laura followed.

“Okay. What is the deal?” Jill asked when the door had safely closed behind them.

“I don’t know, Jill. I can’t seem to get out of my own head. I want to be with him so badly, and the sex is – oh my God, it’s indescribable, but I can’t seem to take the running shoes off. You know?” Laura gripped the edge of the vanity and rested her head against the mirror. “I can’t figure out what’s wrong with me.”

“Have you felt like this for long? I mean, has there always been a part of you that can’t seem to fully commit?” Jill rubbed small circles over Laura’s back.

“It’s worse now. We’ve been back together since July, and I guess the feeling has been there in some capacity, but I had always managed to beat it back. Since this whole stalker mess happened, I’ve been feeling like a caged animal.” She looked up into Jill’s face, tears shimmering in Laura’s eyes. “The last month he’s been calling and texting all the time. He hired me a bodyguard, for fuck’s sake! And when I don’t answer or take too long to get back to him, he’ll just show up wherever I am, including my job, to ‘check on me.’” She grabbed a tissue and blew her nose. “I’m not sure how to deal with this.”

Jill crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the vanity. She stared off into space for a minute, lost in thought, before answering. “Have you talked to him about it?”

Laura snorted. “Yeah, a few times. The most recent time was just last night, when I asked for some space. Look how that worked out.” She gestured at the door, frustration plain on her face.

“Well, Mason hasn’t listened, or at least respects you enough to try. Do you love him?”

“Of course. With all my heart,” Laura answered without any hesitation. She knew to the marrow of her bones Mason was the only one for her. “That’s what makes this all the more frustrating. I keep telling myself he’s doing this because he was spooked by the whole stalking thing too, but this is too much.” She wiped her eyes with the rough paper towel. “Ugh. These things are like wiping with a grocery bag. Anyway, I’m just glad that Roy is so likable and we get along. I feel less like I’m being babysat and more like I’m hanging out with a friend. That’s what I tell myself, anyhow.”

“Sweetie.” Jill rubbed Laura’s upper arm, “Maybe you do need some space, but it sounds like you’ll have to go to an extreme to get it. I don’t think Mason will allow himself to give up his control otherwise. Do you have family you can go stay with?”

Laura shrugged. “I could always try my parents.” She touched herself up in the mirror, glad she hadn’t cried too hard. No swelling to hide. “I don’t know. I’ll think of something. We should get back out there before they both realize we’re missing.”

“Ha!” Jill barked. “I have a feeling Craig is talking Mason’s ear off about a new iPhone app or something. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.” She opened the door and ushered Laura out. Roy was waiting for them at the opening of the dining room. Mason had realized she was gone.

Laura was hot. When the meal was over she was going to let Mason have it. Now he couldn’t trust her to go to the bathroom?

She froze as the realization hit her. This wasn’t about protection. Mason didn’t trust her. The hurt as emotion exploded in her chest was almost unbearable. She gripped Jill’s hand and yanked her back. “Take me home. Please.” The pitch of her voice rose with each syllable.

Laura needed to get out of there immediately or she was liable to have a full-blown meltdown in the middle of a very swanky restaurant.

Jill nodded and shuffled her out the staff door before either their boyfriends or Roy could catch them. It wasn’t until they had crossed the street and hailed a cab that Jill texted Craig that she had left.

“What are you telling him? Please don’t tell him I’m losing it!” The words came out strangled with panic.

“No. I’m just telling him that you got a text from your boss and asked me to go with you. I think I’ll let him know you just didn’t want to interrupt them…or something like that.” Jill’s thumbs moved at lightning speed as she shot the message off.

“Where am I taking you, ladies?” the cabby asked.

Jill rattled off her apartment address. “Stay with me until later. That way you can decompress and get your head together. What the hell happened back there? Weren’t you feeling better?” She pulled Laura’s head down onto her lap to stroke her hair. The gesture always worked for Jill when she was tense.

Laura curled up into fetal position and started bawling. For the entire drive, Jill just let Laura cry, which Laura was truly grateful for.

The cab pulled up in front of Jill’s building in SoHo. Jill waited for the cabby to make change before climbing out of the car. “Upstairs. Tea. Let’s go.” Jill grabbed Laura’s hand and pulled her into the building. Laura was so happy the apartment was on the first floor.

With all the swiftness of a woman hiding a fugitive, Jill had Laura in the apartment with the door locked behind them in no time.

“I’m going to put a pot on to boil. Spill.” Jill sat Laura down on the overstuffed sofa facing the tiny kitchen.

“He doesn’t trust me. That’s the reason for all of this nonsense. I didn’t tell him outright about Frank and any involvement I had with him. When I started getting the weird letters and gifts, I thought I’d be able to handle everything myself. Turns out I couldn’t.” A lone tear slipped down her cheek. She dashed it away with her sleeve.

“Were you and Frank a thing when you and Mason got back together?” Jill called out from the kitchen. She was busying herself looking for her misplaced teabags.

“Frank and I were never a thing. We just had casual sex whenever we were both single and had the itch. At least that’s what I thought we had.” The memory of the giant, scrawled poem on her living room wall flashed before her eyes, sending a shudder through her body.

“Frank and I had hooked up for the last time the day before I was scheduled to interview Mason. After that we were done.” Laura hugged a white, furry throw pillow to her chest.

A vibration went off in Laura’s purse. The caller I.D. flashed Mason’s name. She hastily sent him to voicemail and shut the phone off. She didn’t want him finding her right now.

Jill settled onto the couch with two steaming mugs. Handing one off to Laura, she spoke. “That seems a little much. Are you sure there isn’t anything else that is making him so clingy?”

Laura sat back and thought. She had spent days analyzing her relationship from every angle to find an answer to that very question. “I can’t think of anything. Except for the first time we were together. I walked in on him in a compromising position and bolted.” The hot tea felt warm on her hands. The taste was even better. “That’s the only thing I can think of that he may be projecting or something. I don’t want to count that though because we were supposed to have moved past that.”

Laura started to cry again. Deep down she already knew how to handle this. “I love him so much and wanted us to work out.” She buried her face in the pillow and sobbed. Eight years of missing his touch, his warmth, the way he laughed, and when she got him back it was as if life had straightened out again. The idea that her relationship was about to combust around her again was too much to handle.

Her crying turned almost to convulsions as her body shivered and stomach muscles pulsed tightly around her insides. Laura booked it to the kitchen and dove into the trashcan. The tea and everything she had eaten that morning lay in a sloppy pool in Jill’s trash bag. She rested her sweaty forehead on her forearm and drew in ragged breaths to calm herself.

Without saying a word, Jill approached Laura with a glass of water and a damp rag. Once Laura was clean and hydrated, Jill pulled her friend in for a tight hug. She hated seeing anyone upset, and to have one of her closest friends a hysterical, puking mess was too much to handle.

“Do you want my advice?” Jill asked.

Laura chuckled. “Go ahead. I’m fresh out of ideas.”

“Take your space. Figure out a way to get away for a bit and be by yourself. No man. Maybe then you can figure out exactly what you want out of your relationship.”

Laura stared at the floor, processing Jill’s suggestion. “You’re right. I need to force this to happen. I’ll go home. My parents are always up my butt about getting out of New York, anyway.” A plan was forming, and she was feeling more relaxed already. “Do you think I can crash here for the night while I get my shit in order?”

Jill lit up. “Absolutely. The couch pulls out, and I can lend you some pajamas later. They’ll be about six inches too short, but you won’t have to sleep in your jeans.” Jill’s phone buzzed. “It’s Craig. He’s on his way home. Let’s figure out what to make for dinner, hm?”