The Other Man (The Other Man Series Book 1) (13 page)

The lake stood still in the silence.

Peace, tranquillity...space.

I felt like I had died and gone to heaven.

Week two of my solitary confinement at the cabin and I was finally starting to make some decisions. I had formed the beginning of my plan of action.

It had taken all of five minutes after Carlie had left, for me to receive the phone call that gave me some semblance of life back. Harry had called from the station phone, telling me that he was on my side and so was the rest of the team. It was a nice gesture and one that he didn’t have to go out of his way to do. I told him that I was going to take some time anyway, that I had some stuff going on at home and I wanted to get away for a while. I think it shocked him that I’d told him, although I left out the details, of course. He pretty much told me that they’d always have my back but that I should do whatever I needed to.

Then he told me about his cabin.

Out in the middle of nowhere, a two-room cabin by a lake and I would be completely alone.

I had the keys in my hand and my foot on the accelerator within half an hour and I hadn’t been home since. I wasn’t ready to face reality yet. I’d turned my phone off the day I arrived and left it in the car.

I fished, I drank, I stared out across the lake...and I thought about
everything
.

The calmness of the water always fascinated me. Hundreds, if not thousands of creatures were living their lives under the surface and yet, as far as the eye could see, it was all utterly still. Eerily so.

It became my metaphor for the time I was there. How the trauma of someone’s life, will have absolutely no effect on anyone else’s. Did I have the right to speak to Ian the way I had, or Carlie? Of course not. I would have to deal with the consequences of that as soon as I got home and that was half the reason I was putting it off.

It’s hard to swallow your pride in any normal situation. Apologising to two people when I completely meant the words I’d said was going to be a tough pill to swallow but it was time to start putting my life back together. That was why I stood staring out at the lake for one last time before I left. The car was packed up, the cabin was locked and the engine was running.

Yet I hadn’t stepped away from the lake.

It seemed so important, so relevant, I couldn’t let go.

Just like everything else in my life apparently.

With a heavy sigh, I turned and slid into the car. The magazine that Zach had jokingly brought me lay open on the front seat. Surprising myself, I’d actually looked through it, I even read parts of it...and hated it. The thought of touching another man in
any
of those ways made me cringe. The thought of doing them with Zach? That was a whole other story.

The journey home felt like I was voluntarily walking into shark infested waters and the serenity I had gained from being away was peeling away with every mile. Step one was well underway.

I drove the long way around when I arrived back in town and smiled for the first time in months when I saw that Zach’s gym was finally rebuilt and open again. I was happy for him, but I didn’t stop.

I drove straight home.

Spending the next few hours putting everything away and giving the house a quick clean, I actually felt better than I had in years. This was
my life
, damn it! I moved to bedroom, ready to empty my bags, and I froze in the doorway. The bed had been slept in. Carlie’s pyjamas lay in a pile at the foot of the bed and the wardrobe door was open.

She’d been there.

And if the state of the room was anything to go by, she was back
living
there.

The front door flew open and she screamed my name. I couldn’t move.

Her footsteps bounded up the stairs and she threw herself into my arms, “You’re home!”

“What’s going on?” I rasped, dreading her answer.

“Oh! It took me all of a single night of staying at my dad’s to realise that you’re right, babe. I’m so sorry that I left. That’s not going to work. If we’re going to make us better, I need to be here
with
you. I’ve missed you, did you have a nice trip?”

Fuck. Me.

I shook my head, “It doesn’t work like that, Carlie. You left because we’re not working any more. It was the right thing to do.”

She smiled, huge.

“I’m so glad that you understand. Now we can work on making each other happy again!”

“No.”

Her head snapped back, “What? Of course we can.”

“You can take the bed, I’ll sleep on the sofa until I can sort something else out. We’re finished, Carlie.”

I said it and I meant it. There was no going back. What I had done meant that I didn’t deserve her anymore. More than that, it made me realise that I could never make this work. I just didn’t want to. I walked out the house, leaving her staring at my back in feigned shock.

Somehow, I managed to remember the way back to Zach’s house and parked outside. His car was on the driveway and I frowned, I didn’t actually think he’d be home. I didn’t particularly
want
him to be. I needed an extra few minutes to compose myself. The shock of seeing Carlie so soon after getting home had blown my plans to shit.

After sitting outside for longer than could be considered normal, I sucked in a breath and walked to the door, bringing my fist up to knock twice. Zach’s shadow moved behind the frosted glass but the door didn’t open. I could see that he’d stilled.

“Let me in, Zach,” I called.

His shadow jerked and the door handle shook. His face appeared first, then his shoulders and finally, when he opened the door all the way, I felt like I could breathe.

“Hi.”

His eyebrows rose, “Hi.”

“Can I come in,” I asked and he moved backwards to let me by.

I purposely brush my hand across his hips as I moved and hid my smile at his sharp intake of breath. His standoff-ish manner wouldn’t last long.

“You’re late.”

My forehead creased, “What?”

“Almost four months, Blake. You’ve been gone for
nearly four months,”
he spat. “Why are you here now?”

I didn’t suspect it would be easy, I’d stopped all contact with him for a long time. The anger in his voice though, was masking his disappointment and that killed me. I had been so blind.

“I know, I’m sorry. It was just what I needed to do. There’s no more though, Zach, I want you, if you still want to…” I broke off in doubt.

I didn’t know if he’d met someone else, or changed his mind. Frankly, as selfish as it was, I had only been thinking about how I was feeling.

Zach’s body crashed into mine and his tongue plunged into my mouth. The kiss was desperate and needy, full of anger and intensity. I grabbed his hips and pulled him between my legs, feeling his length harden against mine. I had
craved
that feeling. I groaned into his mouth, shifting my hips to gain the friction I knew we both needed.

“I missed you,” he moaned as I dug my hands into his ass cheeks. His lips slid down my neck and the rough stubble covering his face spread goose bumps in its wake. He paused, “Your lungs? Your ribs?”

I shook my head, “All good. Healed within a couple of months and I only get the odd pain or wheeze now.”

“I missed your voice,” he kissed my collar bone. “I missed your smell,” my chin. “I missed the way you move,” my shoulder. “I missed this…”

His hand snaked inside my trousers and squeezed the head of my cock lightly, “Let me try something?”

Catching his eyes, I held them when I swore, “I’ll let you try anything.”

He knew I meant it too. He grabbed the back of my neck with his free hand and pulled my head forward for another breath-stealing kiss. My knees weakened.

“Watch,” he growled as he shuffled his own trousers over his hips and his cock sprung free. I licked my lips, I knew how he tasted and I wanted more. “Later, Blake. Right now, just
watch
and feel.”

He pushed his shaft against mine and I cursed at the first contact. Something so subtle shouldn’t be able to feel so fucking amazing. Grabbing both of us in his hand, he slid his fingers down to the root and back up, twisting his hand at the head. The combination of his soft foreskin, opposite the roughness of his palm caused sweat to bead at my temples. I hadn’t had an orgasm since the last time I saw him, not even by my own hand. I knew I wouldn’t last long.

He took my hand in his and guided it downwards, linking our fingers together. Following his lead, I grasped our aching cocks in my palm and allowed him to guide my movements.

“Come with me,” he gasped, burying his face in my neck.

My dick throbbed at his words, leaking pre-cum into my hand. The added lubrication forced me to thrust forward and I bit out a curse when I felt the first hot spurts of Zach’s come hit the head of my cock. My balls tightened, my toes curled and I growled out his name as he bit down on my shoulder, draining himself of his orgasm.

I held out, wanting to watch him before I lost control but seeing his body react had lust igniting in my veins. The heat of my orgasm climbed from my toes, my calves, my thighs and I shuddered, grabbing hold of Zach’s forearm to hold myself up and I followed him over the edge.

I sucked in a shaky breath and confessed, “I didn’t come here for this.”

Zach huffed out a laugh but didn’t reply. His face was still hidden in my neck and he still had one hand keeping hold of my softening dick. His other drifted lightly from my hip to my nipple and back, soothing my racing heart.

“I’m glad you’re here,” he admitted.

The corners of my lips kicked up, “Me too. With Carlie acting insane at home, it feels good to be here with you.”

I failed to notice his body turning to stone. I failed to notice the way his head snapped up. I failed to notice the flash of pain and disgust that crossed his face. I did not, however, fail to keep talking.

“The woman is driving me round the bend. I took some time away, went and spent two weeks out at a cabin by a lake and thought I finally had it all figured out. Within two hours of being home and she shot that all to shit. I just...I needed to see you.”

“Get out,” he snapped, pushing me away from him, but my legs refused to work. I was frozen in shock. It didn’t make any sense for him to have changed his mind in a matter of seconds.

“Just leave, Blake. I don’t want you here anymore. You fucked up, huge, and I’ll never forgive you. It’s pretty fucking clear right now that you’re poison to everyone who loves who. I can’t and won’t, ever forget that. Leave. Don’t ever come back here and don’t ever,
ever
, contact me again. Understood?”

“What? I...no,” I stuttered.

“Fuck you. Fuck you for not realising that I’m worth more than this shit. You can’t come here, expecting me to be your side fuck while you
still
have a wife at home!”

“Wait, what?”

I replayed the previous conversation in my head.

“Carlie left, Zach. She knew it was over. I went away for a fortnight, I literally just got back a few hours ago and she was just...there! Acting all crazy and saying how we were going to be together again. I told her no! I’m not
with her
, my marriage is over and, well, that’s it really.”

He shook his head, eyes to the floor, “It really doesn’t matter. I haven’t heard from you in
four months
, Blake. I wrongly assumed that you were taking that time to pull yourself together. The guy standing in front of me right now, he’s exactly the same. You said it yourself.
She
left
you
. What does that say, Blake? I’ll tell you. It says you spent the entire first three months, twelve whole damn weeks, doing nothing. You didn’t tell her you were leaving, you didn’t repair your relationship with her, you didn’t phone me and tell me to never contact you again. You just did nothing! It took Carlie to make that first move and
that
tells me all I need to know. I won’t be anyone’s consolation prize.”