Jealousy (24 page)

“
Yeah.  I’m sure.”

“
Don’t just say that because Kenny’s mad.  If you really want to be with Dominick, give it a shot, sweetie.  You deserve to be happy.  Don’t worry about us.  We’ll work it out.”

He was always supportive, even when it was against his best interests.  He never thought of himself first.  That
’s why she loved him so much.  “Thank you.”  She gave him a hug.  “But, I’m sure.”

She knocked on the bedroom door. 
“Kenny, I’m sorry.  Please open the door.”

“
No, Heather.  I don’t want to talk to you right now.  Please leave this apartment.”

She gasped.  She never expected him to reject her apology.  She wasn
’t even sure she did anything to apologize for and she never expected him to tell her to leave.

Justin brushed past her and burst into the bedroom. 
“Don’t you dare ever throw Heather out of our home.”

Kenny stood firm with his arms folded across his chest, tapping his foot. 
“You need to stand behind me on this, Justin.  I am dead fuckin’ serious.”

“
I
am
standing behind you, but you can’t talk to Heather like that.  She said she’s not gonna see Dominick anymore.  You have to accept her apology.”

“
Is that true?” Kenny asked her directly, without changing his posture.

“
Yeah,” she said.  “I’m sorry.  Please don’t be mad at me.”

“
Good.”  Kenny pursed his lips together, while his foot continued its rhythmic beat on the carpet.  “But I’m still really fuckin’ pissed off.”

“
What else do you want her to do?  How many times does she have to apologize?” Justin asked.

“
Look,” Kenny said, “whether you want to accept it or not, Heather has become my best friend too.  We’re a family, the three of us.”  He turned to Heather.  “We’ve been through a lot.  We’ve known each other a long time.  You know how much I hate that fucking bitch Tyler, and you went behind my back and started a relationship with his brother
.
  You knew I would be mad so you specifically kept it from me.  That’s a betrayal of our friendship.”

Kenny struck a nerve, because she knew he was right.  Her stomach
tightened and her mouth bowed into a deep frown.

“
And what’s this shit about you cheating on Peter?” Kenny asked, as if the news about her affair just registered.  He narrowed his eyes and shook his head at her.  “I expected more from you, Heather.  You’re better than that.  I’m disappointed in you.  Where are your morals?”

His harsh words caused the shame from her affair to surface.  So far, she
’s managed to keep her guilt safely tucked away somewhere deep inside her, but now it swelled and bubbled over.  She covered her face with her hands and sobbed softly.

“
OK, that’s enough,” Justin told Kenny.  “You don’t have to be cruel.  Don’t you think she feels bad enough?”

“
No.  I don’t,” Kenny replied.

Justin embraced her in his arms. 
“Take it easy, sweetie.  He just needs time to cool off.”

#

Kenny went for a drive to sort out his feelings, and hopefully calm down.  Heather never saw him so mad.  She sat and rested her head on Justin’s shoulder while she waited for Kenny.  She tried to deal with the remorse and guilt she felt about deceiving him, but it ate away at her.  Obviously, Justin forgave her but Kenny was relentless, and she began to worry that he would never trust her again.  Heather watched the clock, anxious for Kenny’s return.  He was gone for over an hour. She wondered where he went and why he was gone so long. She got up to wait for him by the window, but heard his key in the door and scurried back to the couch.

Kenny was still upset, but he had a more gentle demeanor. 
“Maybe I was a little hard on you,” he said, “but I feel very strongly about this.”

She was afraid to look at him, and only glanced at him for a brief second b
efore lowering her eyes again.

“
I want you to tell me everything Tyler said about Justin and everything you told him.  Word for word.”

She slowly looked up at him, biting her lower lip. 
“I want you to know that I was spending time with Dominick, not Tyler.”

“
How often did you see Tyler?”

“
I only saw him three or four times.  The first time was at Dominick’s.”

“
What about the other times?”

“
The three of us went out to dinner once, to catch up.  He came over to see me a couple of times after that, but I told him it made me feel uncomfortable, because I was hiding it from Justin.”

Kenny
’s eyes jumped out of their sockets.  “He came to your apartment?”

“
No, no.  I was at Dom’s.”  She leaned forward on the couch and held her hand up. “He came to Dom’s house – not mine.  Tyler has never been to my apartment, I swear.”

Kenny looked down at her with his lips pressed into a thin straight line and his arms folded across his chest. 
“What did he say about my Justin?  I want the truth.  Don’t leave anything out.”

She told Kenny everything
and hoped to obtain his forgiveness by bearing her soul.  She never realized how much she loved Kenny until today and prayed that her deceit didn’t put a strain on their relationship.  “I’m sorry, Kenny.  I really didn’t stop to think how you would feel.  I didn’t mean to betray your friendship.  Please, I need you to forgive me.”

Kenny paused.  He sat next to her on the couch and patted her leg. 
“OK.  I forgive you, honey.”  Just like that, his anger disappeared, and he transformed back into the loving, soft-spoken person he always was.

Chapter Fifty-Two:

Heather didn
’t get any sleep last night. It was that damn faucet again
.
Each tiny water droplet that hit the stainless steel sink was like a bullet slicing through her brain. She threw the covers back and cursed toward the sound of the offending faucet.  She wondered how much longer she’d have to wait for her landlord to fix it. He promised to do it last week.  She couldn’t wait on him any longer.  She needed to take matters into her own hands, before she ripped the faucet right off the sink and hurled into the middle of the street.  She jumped out of bed and headed straight to the local hardware store.

The shiny faucets on display sparkled at her.  She didn
’t expect to find such a lavish assortment.  She eagerly took a box off of the shelf and opened it.  Her enthusiasm was crushed by its contents.  This wasn’t the pretty silver faucet that she admired.  It was a disemboweled version of its alter ego that hung proudly on the wall above it.  Disappointed, she tossed the box back on the shelf.  It was too complicated for her to tackle.

“
Excuse me, miss.  Do you need some help?”

“
Yeah, I need . . .” Her sentence was cut short as soon as she saw the good looking man behind the voice offering help. He was smiling at her, so she smiled back. “I need a new faucet.  Mine’s been dripping for a week, and it’s driving me crazy.”  While she explained her situation to him, a wide smile remained on his face. It made her feel slightly giddy, and now she couldn’t stop smiling either.  “I thought I’d change the faucet, but it looks too hard.  I don’t think I’ll be able to do it by myself.”  She waited for his response, but he continued to silently stare into her eyes with that same silly grin on his face.  She flustered and giggled.  “Do you have any suggestions?  What do you think I should do?”

“
Do you have a husband who can change the faucet for you?”

“
No, I don’t have one of those.”

“
What about a boyfriend?”

His flirtation was obvious, and his smile seemed permanently et
ched into his face.

She shook her head and giggled again. 
“Nope.  Don’t have one of those either.”

“
How about a landlord?”

“
That I got, but I’m tired of waiting for him to fix it.”

“
Well, maybe I could come over and change the faucet for you.”

It was a tempting offer. 
“I don’t know.  It’s very nice of you, but I’m not in the habit of letting strange men into my apartment.”

“
Why don’t you let me take you out to dinner first?  Then we won’t be strangers.”  He extended his hand. “I’m Nick Hoffmann.  It’s very nice to meet you.”

She shook his hand
and they locked eyes.  “I’m Heather Drakos.”

“
Heather.  That’s very pretty.”

“
Thank you.”

“
So how about dinner?”

As she contemplated Nick
’s offer, her eyes washed over him.  He wasn’t very tall, only about a little taller than she, but he was well-built and tanned, with sandy blond hair and blue eyes.  He had a short stubble of a beard that she found extremely sexy, and it was apparent that he was much younger than she.  It didn’t take her long to make up her mind.  “OK.  I’d like to go out to dinner with you.”

“
Great.  Are you free tonight?”

It was a little quick, but she couldn
’t think of a reason to say no.  After she gave him her number, she took the faucet from the shelf.  “Can you tell me which aisle I can find a wrench or something to install this?  I don’t have any tools.”

Nick chuckled softly. 
“I don’t work here, but you don’t have to buy anything.  I have plenty of tools.”

She was embarrassed that she automatically assumed he was a salesperson. 
“I’m sorry.  I just thought that since . . .”

“
Since I’m wearing a tool belt, I work here?”  He laughed again.  “You see those guys with the orange aprons?”  He pointed to two men stocking boxes on a shelf. “They work here.  I own a construction company.”

She could feel her face flush and brought her hand to her cheek.
“I’m sorry.”

“
It’s OK.  I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to offer my help to someone as pretty as you.”

“
Thank you.  You’re very sweet.  Now I’m glad my landlord never fixed my faucet.”

“
I’ll call you later this afternoon.”  He extended his hand to her, she took it and impulsively he kissed her cheek.

She felt a rush of adrenaline as soon as h
is warm lips touched her skin.  As she walked toward the front of the store to pay for the faucet, she glanced back at Nick.  He was still watching her and still smiling.

Chapter Fifty-Three:

Heather gave herself one last look in the full length mirror before she answered the door.  Her heart was racing.  She couldn
’t remember the last time she was nervous for a date.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Nick was young and handsome, or maybe it was because she was just plain horny.

Nick smiled at her from the doorway. 
“Hello, beautiful.”  He stepped into the living room and kissed her cheek.  As his lips passed hers, they both paused.  He kissed her again, this time softly on the lips.  It was only meant to be a light kiss, but her mouth was receptive and open ever so slightly with a deeper invitation, which he accepted.

She enjoyed the slowness of his kiss.  She wanted to kiss him again, but she stopped herself.  He was in her apartment for less than five minutes, and she barely said more than a few words to him.  But since when did that stop her?  She was on
a date
, she had to remind herself. This wasn’t a one night stand.  Show some decorum. 
A date,
she repeated to herself, and she suddenly felt like a teenager again.

Nick wanted to take a look at the faucet before they went to dinner, so she led him into the kitchen and presented the infamous leaky faucet.
He examined it, briefly turning the water on and off, and took a peek at it from under the sink.  He was amused at the neatly arranged bottles of cleaners, sponges and detergents held together in an array of tidy little bins in the cabinet.

“
You’re very neat, aren’t you?” he asked.

“
Yes, but it was learned behavior.”  She wasn’t always a neat freak.  It was something instilled in her by Kenny.  He was so anal that the clutter in her cabinets and closets drove him crazy.  Whenever he came over he would constantly organize everything until it rubbed off on her.

“
This shouldn’t take long,” Nick said.  “Do you want me to change it right now?”

“
Oh, no, it can wait.”  She tried to hide a mischievous smile.  The faucet gave her a reason to invite him back to her apartment after dinner.

He smiled back at her, and they shared the same nonverbal flirtation they shared in the store this morning. 
“Can I kiss you again?” he asked.