Conklin's Foundation (Conklin's Trilogy) (2 page)

When I turned I saw
my virginity holder and friend, Gage, shirtless and wearing dark leather pants with frayed beading.  His eyes were red as well, and he was tutting and slowly shaking his head back and forth while licking his lips.  His hand came out of the mirror, and I scurried back, only to ram into another set of mirrors.  I quickly spun then took steps backwards in the sand that was devouring me, now to my knees.  I saw Ashlynn, my ex best friend, barely clothed with Connor, my ex-boyfriend, caressing her stomach, staring intently at the side of her face while she brushed his cheek, keeping her eyes on me.  Her eyes turned from green to red as she stared intently at me, cocking her head to the side then grasping Connors hair, pulling him to her mouth while she kept her eyes locked with mine, kissing him seductively.

I
quickly turned in another direction, afraid to open my eyes to another mirror. I looked down at my feet which were now buried deeper into the sand, up to my thighs.  I saw my mother, looking immaculate with her baby blue eyes and perfect light brown hair.  Her body was flawless for being the 50 year old woman that she was.  Both of my siblings, Heather and Michael, were on either side of her, basked in beautiful dark brown hair and perfect face structures holding their deep chocolate eyes.  All three of them were beautiful, dressed in dark leather with beads and feathers.  They all turned their eyes on me at once. Their cold stares turned into stones, and their beautiful chocolate and blue eyes turned blood red.  I spun around, now waist deep in the sand, trying to find another mirror to look into that didn’t hold red eyes and disappointment.  As I turned to find anything else, they all started to come out of the mirrors, slowly creeping towards me.  I panicked as I was sinking deeper into the sand.

Then
I looked up and saw Tyler.  His stunning eyes were blue and green as he stared down at me with a broken expression.  His dark brown hair was a perfect mess, and his chest was smooth and glistening with sweat.  He wore faded jeans and his hands were limp at his sides.

“Tyler, help me, please!”  I screamed in my head, but the words wouldn’t
come out.  I grabbed my throat.  I couldn’t breathe; I was buried to my neck, and my arms were heavy as I tried to pull them from the sand.  Tyler just stared at me with sad, beautiful blue-green eyes and slowly shook his head.

I jerked my eyes open, sitting up and throwing my hands to my chest, gasping for air.  I frantically searched the room, my breathing harsh.  Blinking my eyes rapidly, I took in my surroundings.  I was in Tyler’s room at Union Square, sitting on his bed alone, naked and half covered in his tan satin sheets.  Light was beating through the skylight as I sunk back into the bed, putting my hand on my forehead. 

What an awful nightmare.
 

Too bad it was
only sort of a nightmare.  Last night at my father’s Christmas party, I had faced my tormentors without shame, and this nightmare was the direct result of my encounter.   The only problem was, I took down the people I loved along with them, and the fear of losing Jamie, my mother, Tyler, and even Gage was wrapped around my heart.  But I knew I wouldn’t lose Tyler.  Last night proved it.

Tyler
and I couldn’t keep our hands off of each other. We had never been as intimate or as connected as we were last night.  Maybe it was partially because we hadn’t touched each other for damn near a month, but his hands delicately stroking my body everywhere etched my feelings for him deeper into my heart.

I forgave him for telling RJ
I was an easy lay, for saying he could “fuck me” whenever he wanted.  I knew now that he didn’t mean it, and he was only afraid of RJ taking me away from him.  Of course this was ludicrous; I would never let RJ touch me, but Tyler was haunted by his father’s every needing urge to get under Tyler’s skin and was paranoid because of his father’s affair with Margo.

Margo was
Tyler’s old nanny who stole his virginity and had a leash on his heart for 10 years.  He told me he didn’t love her, but whenever her name was brought up, his eyes turned cold with malevolence as though he despised her.  Or as I saw it, his heart was still broken some from her betrayal with RJ.  But Margo and Tyler never had an actual relationship, which made the entire situation one big mess that I had yet to completely grasp.

I took another deep breath and was startled by a large clank
ing noise coming from downstairs.  Then I heard the faucet turn on and more clanking. Tyler must be in the kitchen. I stood up and was surprised by how my legs trembled. 

Probably from all the make-up sex.

I smirked at my inner monologue.  I picked up Tyler’s t-shirt off the floor and grabbed my black lace panties that he so quickly stripped off of me last night.  I probably had only worn them for 10 minutes.  I padded my way out of Tyler’s vast bedroom.  The large wall was partially pulled to the side as always. I walked through the loft where all of Tyler’s plans and blueprints laid scattered amongst the floor and workspace.  I found my way to the black spiral staircase and winced with every step down I took. 

Wow was I sore!
  We were going to have to take it easy tonight or maybe keep the creativity to a minimum.

I looked out into the kitchen and
saw Tyler standing at the stove attempting to flip an omelet.  He turned his head slightly and saw me out of the corner of his eye.  Once he flipped the omelet, he turned to face me; a huge grin was plastered on his face.

“Good morning.  I was going to bring you breakfa
st in bed.  Sorry if I woke you,” he said, leaning against the kitchen island holding a spatula.

I walked up to the island and sat down on the stool across from him.  “You didn’t have
to make me breakfast.”  My eyes grew wide as my stomach grumbled at the two large plates filled with mixed fruit, bacon, and now veggie omelets that Tyler placed in the open spot on each plate.  I hadn’t eaten a real meal in a long time.

Tyler pushed the plate over to me along with a fork and napkin.  He turned to grab the tea pot and poured the hot water into a
coffee mug that held a tea bag.  “Of course I did.  Making breakfast in bed for my girlfriend on a Sunday should be a given,” Tyler said, putting the mug in front of me and grabbing his plate to come sit next to me.  He kissed my forehead as he walked by. 

“Hmm
and why haven’t I had this luxury before?”  I said with an arched brow.  His face fell.  Shoot.  I didn’t mean to upset him.  “I’m kidding, thank you.  It looks great.”  I smiled, putting my hand on his forearm while picking up my fork.  I dug into the omelet first.   From what I remembered, he made great omelets.

A smile played on his lips as he picked up his fork, never taking his eyes off of me.  We ate in silence, mainly because I didn’t want to take a break from eating.  It was delicious.  I pushed my plate away after
eating half of it. I was stuffed.  Tyler’s face scrunched when he noticed.

“A
ren’t you going to eat more?” he asked.

I put my hand on my stomach.  “I already at
e too much.”  Tyler flexed his jaw and turned back to his plate, scrunching his eyebrows. 

I stood up and
took my plate to the sink and began to clean the other dishes.  While the faucet water ran, my mind drifted to Jamie.  I was going to have to talk to her.  Today.  I couldn’t stand the thought of her being mad at me.  I didn’t even have my phone to call her, not that she would answer.  I turned off the faucet after I loaded the last pan and felt Tyler’s hands on my hips.  He briefly kissed the back of my neck.  “How are you feeling this morning?” he asked.

I leaned back into his chest.
“Sore.”  I sensed his grin on my neck.  He slowly turned me around so we were face to face, my lower back pressed against the counter. 

He lifted his finger and m
ade a circle motion on my chest and gave me an unsure smile.  “What about here?” he whispered, his eyes becoming concerned.  I frowned and my shoulders fell.

Letting out a deep sigh, I said, “It still hurts.”
His face fell even more.  “But last night helped a lot.  Thank you,” I said, tilting my head up to kiss him on the cheek.  He gave me a lopsided smile and wrapped his arms around me. 

His smile
quickly faded into distress.  Hesitantly he looked down at me.  “Are we okay?” Tyler whispered, giving me a firm squeeze.

His unsure look was sobering and tore at my heart. 
Our bodies definitely connected last night, but he needed verbal reassurance.  I reached up and ran my hands along his clean shaven jaw.  “Yes,” I said, pulled his face down to mine.  “Thank you for not giving up on me,” I murmured across his lips, giving him a gentle kiss.

Tyler’s shoulders relaxed as he kissed me back, wrapping his arms around me tighter.  He stopped the kiss and put our foreheads together.  “Gi
ving up on you wasn’t an option.” He kissed me again, but then bit his lip as though he needed to say something.  “Don’t be mad,” Tyler said pulling slightly back from my face, still keeping his arms wrapped around me, “but I think Jamie feels awful.  She has been texting and calling my phone.  I haven’t looked at them.  I did, however, send her a text saying that you were home safe with me and asked her to grab your stuff from the party.”  His face was scrunched as though I were going to yell at him. 

I bit my lip.  I didn’t want Tyler to think I was going to lash out at him, I wasn’t that type of person, until last night.  I guess it might be
a while until Tyler won’t feel like he has to walk on egg shells around me.

“I’m not mad
,” I murmured, still touching his face.  There was no need for me to be jealous of him talking to Jamie.  “Will you take me home?  I need to talk to her and tell her I’m sorry.”

Tyler frowned.  “I think she should be the one
to apologize.”

“Maybe, but I can’t lose her.  I was pretty harsh last
night; I could have said how I felt in a lot nicer way.” I closed my eyes, trying to dry up the tears that were threatening.

“You won’t lose her. 
From what I’ve gathered, she is afraid of losing
you
,” Tyler said, kissing my nose.

~

I threw on my favorite jeans
, which I missed dearly since I hadn’t had them in a month because I left them at Tyler’s.  They didn’t fit as flattering as they used to.  They were baggy and hung lower on my hips than usual.  I frowned when I looked in the mirror.  They probably hadn’t been washed since I wore them last.  I put on a button up long sleeve shirt and headed downstairs to drive to River House and face Jamie. 

I was scared and fidgety, biting my nails and bouncing my leg.  Tyler put his hand on my knee soothingly and kept his eyes on the road.  He didn’t say anything, which was good, because I needed
the silence during the whole three-minute ride.

“Do you want me to come in with you?”  Tyler asked, rubbing his thumb along my knee.

I nodded my head as I got out of the car.  He might help as a buffer; at least if Jamie freaked out on me, I could pull Tyler into my room and cry on his shoulder.

I slowly opened the door, peeking in trying to notice if Jamie was in the living area.  I sighed when all was silent, and I crept into the kitchen.  It was after 1
1:00am, but she was probably asleep.  I didn’t think about that.  She probably had a late night with Sean. For all I knew, he was in bed with her.  I was going to look past their relationship.  Even though it hurt me, I couldn’t judge Jamie for how she wanted to live her life.

“Where did these come from?”  Tyler asked as he ran his finger along one of the flower pe
tals in the vase on the island counter. 

I gulped as my eyes widened to the flowers.  Tyler picked up the note card that was attached to one of the flower stems.
  I didn’t even realize Gage had written a note with the flowers he brought over before picking me up for the Christmas party last night.

Bs,

Thank you for letting me escort the most beautiful girl attending the party.
  No promises about what we talked about in the Chevelle.

Gage

Tyler’s jaw flexed as he read the small card, his brows furrowing as he scowled down at the flowers.  I slowly walked around the counter until I was a foot away from Tyler.  He stared down at the ground, attempting to rein in his anger, hurt, betrayal.  I couldn’t tell which emotion he was displaying.

“They’re just flowers
,” I mumbled.  Tyler sighed and clenched his jaw.  Just as I was going to say more, I heard a bedroom door open and turned to look down Jamie’s hallway.

This was it
.  She would ignore me, start shouting, or act like nothing had happened.  Jamie and I never fought, so I had no idea how she was going to react.  My eyes instantly started to water when they met her light brown eyes.  I bit my lip to stop it from quivering.

She was taken aback when she saw Tyler and
me standing next to the flowers in the kitchen.  She gulped as she studied me.  Her expression was blank and unreadable.  I wrapped my arms around my chest, as though that would stop me from shaking, waiting for her wrath.