Sins & Mistrust (35 page)

“Hey, Marc. I’m just cleaning my mess.”

The woman looks up and notices me instead. I’m instantly appreciative of the shorts.

Clearing her throat, she says, “Hi.”

“Hey,” I respond with a smile. It’s nice to see one of Marc’s friends.

“I’m Emilie, I was just…” she starts and seems nervous, like she needs to let me know who she is.

“I know. Marc told me. I’m Thalia,” I say, extending my hand to her.

“Hi, Thalia. I’m sorry to interrupt your night tonight. I had no idea he was going to have company.”

I can’t help but laugh. “No, you wouldn’t know, but don’t worry about it.”

As I get to the fridge, she asks, “How long have you known Marc?”

Turning to face her, I grin. “A while.”

I’m vague, because I know Marc hasn’t said anything about me or Lincoln. His business partners know about a woman who left lipstick on him, but nobody really knows the nature of our relationship, or who the woman was. I turn back to the fridge and grab a few bottles of Gatorade. They say rehydrate, replenish, and refuel. Sounds like just what we need.

“Oh. I didn’t know he was dating anybody.”

I can tell she’s fishing for information, but I know Marc has a plan to tell his friends on his own time.

“I like you,” I announce, realizing she’s trying to look out for her friend. Perhaps she thinks I’m the one keeping Marc from talking to them. I want to reassure her.

“Thanks,” she says, sounding confused.

I laugh again. “You’re trying to get more information on the girl nobody knows about. I understand that.”

“Oh. Um,” she stammers.

“I’m not a bad person, Emilie. Marc likes to keep things private, that’s all. You and your friends don’t have anything to worry about. Believe me; Marc can handle himself.”

I smile, thinking of Marc and how well he handles me and my body. And he loves me. I’m loved by two extraordinary men. I couldn’t be luckier.

She smiles and nods at me.

“It was nice meeting you, Emilie. I hope to get to see you again. Maybe when I’m not so exposed, huh?” I ask with a grin.

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

I notice her look at the bottles of Gatorade in my hands. She looks confused, but maybe that’s because I have three of them.

“Electrolytes. Good for you, yes?”

“Ah. Yes. Good for replenishing after you uhh, exert yourself.”

The look on her face lets me know she knows what happened upstairs. I can’t help the giggle that escapes my throat.

“Can’t keep him waiting! Talk soon, Emilie!” I say as I walk out and back upstairs.

Marc and I drink our Gatorades, I tell him about my conversation with Emilie, but he doesn’t seem bothered, and I’m happy he’s not. He smiles and says Emilie was probably the best one for me to meet first. We have another round of amazing sex before I force myself out of his bed, and get dressed.

“Why are you leaving?” he asks with an adorable pout.

I smile at him while I pull on my dress. “You’ll need to get Emilie back home in the morning. Plus, Lincoln has called your phone like three times tonight, and you need to talk to him.”

“I know. I’ll call him in the morning once I get back.”

“Good.” I walk over to him and run my fingers through his hair. “So, are we together again? You and I?”

He gives me his crooked grin. “Was it not obvious with all the sex and love?”

Playfully smacking his arm, I scowl at him. “You never know with you, so shush.”

His laughter fills the room, and he wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me onto the bed with him.

“I love you.”

“Say it again.”

“I love you, Nathalia.”

“I love you, Marc.”

He flips me over and kisses me deeply. When he pulls away, I caress his face with my fingers.

“You know what else I love?” I ask.

“Hmm?”

“I love that you call me Nathalia.”

“That’s your name,” he states.

“Yes, but most people call me Thalia. I even introduce myself as Thalia, but I love the way Nathalia sounds coming from your mouth.”

“Nathalia,” he whispers huskily before kissing me once again.

“Mmm,” I moan.

When he finally lets me up, he walks me to his front door, and I force myself to pull away from his embrace and his mouth.

“Drive safe!” he calls out.

As I back out of his driveway, I admire him leaning against the door jam in only his lounge pants. So goddamn sexy.

My phone rings as I’m driving down the street. It’s Lincoln. I decide to not answer, and wait for the guys to talk to each other first. I hope that’s the best idea.

Once I’m ready the following morning, I make my way downstairs and find Emilie in my kitchen eating a bowl of cereal. As I was getting dressed, I received a text from Troy asking me about Emilie. I tell her that he’s looking for her, but she doesn’t seem to be in the mood for him.

“I really don’t feel like talking to him,” she says with a sigh.

“Would you like me to?”

“That’s okay,” she smiles. “I don’t want to involve you anymore than I have. I’ll talk to him. I’m just gonna call the locksmith first, and then head to the house. Are you able to take me back home, or should I call a cab?”

“Of course I can take you.”

“I just didn’t know if you still had…uhh.” She pauses, unsure of how to finish her sentence.

I ease her worries and smile. “I know you met Thalia.”

It’s weird referring her to Thalia, I do much prefer Nathalia, but I know that’s how she introduced herself.

“Oh. Yeah. She seems nice.”

“She is.”

“Why doesn’t anyone know about her?” she asks.

“It’s…complicated,” I answer, because that’s really the only answer I have.

I’m appreciative that she leaves it at that.

“Okay. I won’t tell anybody.”

The doorbell rings.

“I’m gonna go grab that.”

“Okay, I’m gonna run upstairs and make that call, and then I’ll be ready to go.”

She turns towards the stairs as I continue on the straight path to the front door. I don’t get many unannounced visitors, but the angry man at the door surprises me even more, because he’s never been to my place. As far as I knew, he didn’t know where I lived. But, because it’s Lincoln, I’m not surprised that he found out.

“Was she here?” he demands.

I look behind me, hoping Emilie has gone upstairs already. “Now’s not the time,” I grit out.

“It’s a simple question. Did you have her stay over here last night?” he asks, his hands resting in his pants pocket.

He must be on his way to a meeting or something, because he’s dressed sharply in a nice, navy blue suit that makes his blue eyes stand out even more.

His questions make no sense to me. He knew Nathalia was here last night, because they spoke on the phone while I was gone. I suppose he’s mad because I ignored his calls last night. However, I was planning on returning them today. He just decided to show up first.

“I’m not in the fucking mood for this shit,” I growl. “I’m busy and I’m about to leave.”

“You know…” he starts, and then Emilie sneezes, grabbing his attention. “Who’s that? Is that her?” he asks, pushing past me and into my house. “Hey!” he calls out as he sees Emilie at the top of the stairs.

She turns around, looking nervous. “Uh. Hi.”

It’s hard to hide my annoyance. “Emilie, this is Lincoln. Lincoln, this is my friend Emilie. She’s a good friend of Troy’s.”

Lincoln plasters a smile on his face fast and looks back up at Emilie. “Oh, Troy. Of course. Hi, Emilie. It’s nice to meet you.”

“You, too,” she responds, a little uncomfortably.

“Lincoln is who we’re buying the club from,” I state.

“Oooh,” she drags out. “Well, I need to make a call. Nice meeting you, Lincoln.”

When she’s out of view, Lincoln turns to me. “Got yourself another one?”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“Another woman to turn against her lover for you.”

“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I growl, furrowing my brows. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the fact that Thalia never answered my phone calls last night after being with you. I’m talking about the fact that you never even bothered to answer one of my calls. What the hell am I supposed to think when you don’t give me anything to go on?”

“I didn’t tell her to not talk to you, so don’t blame that on me. She told me to talk to you, which is what I was going to do today when I came back. I have shit going on here, Lincoln.”

We hear the floor creak from above and he looks up and then back at me. “I see that. I’m going to go.”

Before I can respond, he storms out and into his Mercedes. That’s not really how I wanted things to go between us today, but it was just bad timing. I seem to be waiting for the right time for everything, but I’m coming to find out that there isn’t such a thing as the right time.

Rushing back upstairs to grab my phone, I call Nathalia and talk to her about what happened before I have to take Emilie back home. She says she’ll talk to him, and plan to get us all together soon to figure this shit out. The doorbell rings as I walk into the bathroom. As I’m making my way through my bedroom, it rings again.

I hear banging on the door as I walk down the hall and towards the stairs, and then the person on the other side of the door presses the button several times. I jog down the stairs to get it, and then see Emilie standing in the room next to the door, waving her hands at me.

“It’s Troy,” she whispers.

“We can’t ignore him forever.”

“He’s gonna think…” she starts, her face filled with worry.

“I’ll take care of it. Don’t worry.”

I open the door and am faced with a distressed-looking Troy. I feel bad for him already. “Hey, man.”

Troy asks if I picked Emilie up last night, so it’s obvious someone told him, but I’m not sure how he would have known. I’m sure to explain to him that she’s here because of an incident at her house. When he begins to ask questions, I remove myself from the room, and give them privacy.

About twenty minutes go by before I hear Troy come out back where I’m sitting on my deck.

“Hey,” he greets.

“Hey. How’s everything?” I ask.

“Good. Everything’s good. I just wanted to come and thank you for taking care of her. I know it should have been me she called, but I’ve been a dick lately, I guess. I understand why she didn’t call me, but everything I’ve done lately, I’ve done trying to keep her safe. She’s all that matters to me.”

I nod my head in understanding. “I’m glad you two are on good terms again. She’s a great girl, Troy. Don’t let her slip through your fingers.”

“I don’t plan on it,” he responds. “Hey, Marc?”

“Hmm?”

“Have you ever been in love?” he asks.

The question makes my head snap in his direction. He isn’t looking at me, though. He’s staring off into the distance.

“Yeah,” I answer honestly.

He turns and studies me. “You in love right now?”

I think about it for just a moment. “Yeah.”

He nods his head slowly. “You know I’m here for you if you need someone to talk to, right?”

His question makes my heart swell, and suddenly I want to tell him everything. The words get stuck in my throat, and he just studies me a bit longer like he’s debating on what he wants to say next.

“I think he loves you, too.”

My eyes widen at his statement.

“What?”

“Lincoln. That’s the guy you love, right? He was outside when I drove up. I spoke to him before he left.”

My eyes roam his face. Is he fucking with me? “What?” I ask again.

He gives me a smile and stands up. “You still have to explain the lipstick to me, though.”

I stand up and look at him, confusion marring my face. “I don’t…”

“Don’t worry about it right now,” he replies. “I have to get Emilie home and talk to her about something that happened at my house before I came here. But, I do want to talk to you. Let’s meet up soon, okay? I won’t tell anybody, but I want you to know that we love you. You know we do. There’s no need to hide anything from us.”

I nod and put my hand on his shoulder. “Thanks, Troy.”

We head inside and Emilie descends the stairs.