The Sordid Promise (14 page)

In the kitchen, Eric was at the stove dressed in the same thing he had on yesterday.

He greeted me with a brief kiss and took me by the hand to the kitchen table. He pulled out my chair for me. As I sat down, he set breakfast down in front of me. “I traded shifts, because I knew you had to go the lawyers today. It’s going to bite me in the ass later, but I didn’t want you to go it alone. The passing of my girlfriend’s mother garnered some sympathy. Got two days off.”

“G-girlfriend?”

He raised a brow with a frown. “Are you going to argue with me?”

I shook my head as I remembered our deal. I pushed the edge of my omelet around with my fork. “I’m not really hungry.”

“If you don’t eat something, my threats aren’t going to be threats anymore. You’re mine, and I can do what I want with you. Knowing that, do you really want to try my patience right now, Nik?”

Startled, I glanced up at him.

His smile immediately disappeared. “I said when….and I meant it.”

I picked up the fork and shoved a mouthful egg inside. “Where’s Maisha?”

“Outside. Made an appointment for you at the hospital’s clinic. She’s a friend of mine, and I know she’ll do you well. She owed me a favor, so she penciled you in for this afternoon. I’ll take you after the meeting.”

“For what?”

“A clean bill of health, and to get you on the birth control I know you’re not on. In case you’re wondering…” He took a paper from the counter and slipped it next to my toast points. “I did my part.”

I glanced at the STD screening paperwork and up to him. “Why would I need to be on anything?”

“Because when I fuck you, I’m fucking you raw.” Unintentionally, I dropped my fork. He suddenly glared at me. I shifted in my seat and picked up my fork to commence eating. “Was it the birth control, or the fucking you raw part that got you?”

“Are you attempting to be funny?” I asked with an edge.

“What? Your morbid, dark humor is funny, but mine isn’t? Tough crowd.” He slid two pills next to my plate and took a seat across from me.

I gazed at the unfamiliar looking pills he set off to the side of my plate. “Those don’t look like my pills.”

“I changed your prescription.”

“You can do that?”

“I can. The particular SSRIs you were on have been known to cause side effects. Side effects I’d like you to avoid experiencing.” His expression softened. “How are you feeling?”

“It…comes and goes.” My hands shook as I tried to suppress the sadness. “It will probably hit me again, when I go into autopilot mode and wind up in her hospital room. Or times like this when I remember that my mother never once cooked breakfast for me. I don’t want to be like her—in my deathbed with so many regrets. I don’t know how to prevent it. Every day, I’m dying just a little slower than she is—was.”

“We’re working on it, aren’t we?”

“Are we? You don’t know what I want. We’re working on what you want.”

“Do you know what you want, Nik?”

I shrugged. “Ask me when I didn’t bury my mother the day before.” I dropped the fork as I felt a sudden ache in my stomach. “I can’t. I tried. My stomach is cramping.”

“It’s good enough. You can stop.” He leaned forward and grabbed my hand, toying with my fingers. “Maybe we should take a vacation. A weekend away somewhere in the near future.”

“Yes. Because my frown looks so much better underneath the sunshine on a sandy beach.”

“What are we doing after your appointment?” he sneered.

“I need some things for Maisha, and…” His eyes lifted at me, pushing me to continue. I lightly shivered at the memory of last night. I once thought he was just full of hot air, but I was proved very wrong. “Some variation of what we did last night. I um….maybe this time I can convince you that I want it.”

His smile broadened as he intertwined his fingers with mine and closed his hand. I clutched my torso, suddenly feeling like I swallowed a brick. “I wasn’t going to fuck you, no matter how hard you begged.”

“I kinda got the message after—I figured you just wanted to hear how dirty my mouth could be.”

“And you really fucking were.” He leaned forward with a mischievous smile. “If you’re good, I
might
be able to swing something.”

“
Swing
…something?”

“That wasn’t a double entendre. I never have been and I never will be that discreet.”

Despite the sullenness just at the surface, he brought a smile out of me. It seemed impossible to do, but he did it. He broke the cold, stone statue.

He slightly tempered his expression. “I know it’s not the right time. But hopefully, you’ll be doing that a lot more.”

“When it ends…? What’s the word then?”

“Hadn’t thought about it. But if far down the road, it so happens that I’m wearing something here—” He pointed to his fourth finger left hand. “—and you’re wearing something even bigger here—” He pointed to my fourth finger left hand. “—then, don’t hold your breath.”

“Eric—”

“If you say anything about me moving too fast, I’m going to shut you down. It’s my show. I’m the writer, producer, director, and leading man. You’re the supporting character who goes along with my script. Got it?”

I saluted him with a nod.

“I’m glad I proved you wrong.” He stood, leaned over the table, and kissed my forehead. “I have to head over to my place and change. I’ll be back in forty-five minutes to take you to the lawyer.” He gazed over what I was wearing with an ever increasing frown. “Wear something better than that, Nik.” I watched his back as he strode out the door, realizing, I forgot to ask him about my razors.

I didn’t exactly know the how or the what. I wouldn’t care to know until I started to feel something other than what he made me feel at current. I wouldn’t worry until it became something other than a distraction from my pain — until it became a burden.

My phone nearly vibrated off the table. I sighed heavily when I saw the picture that popped up on the screen. Trent. The only semblance of a friend I’d ever had. I met him years ago when I used to troll suicide forums. We bonded over the fact that he lived in my hometown. He often came to Pullman to visit me. He’s a bit younger than me and had more emotional issues than I do. His highs used to get me high, and his lows made me remember mine. He counted as my second boyfriend for all of two days. We slept together once, but it was so awkward, I vowed never to do it again. He became a bit of a controlling brat when my mother’s sickness increased in severity. Eventually, I stopped picking up his calls.

“Trent.”

“You sound so fucking happy to hear from me,” he puffed out. “Meet me at the spot. I need to talk to you.”

“Your call…is a little late for condolences.”

“Parents. Fucking parents!” he screamed through the phone, forcing me to take the phone away from my ear. “The bastards cut me off. They want me to go to rehab.”

I tossed my eyes to the sky as I set the phone next to my cheek.

Trent had a life that most people would envy. He took advantage of it by doing nothing of substance, but filling his life with drugs and women. “You’re not crashing here.”

“Meet me at our place. I’ll be there until you get there.” He ended the call.

My mother’s lawyer waited just outside his office, on the fifth floor of a high rise located downtown, to meet with me. He looked through me and on to Eric as we approached him in the hall. “Ah, Dr. Brenton, right this way.”

“Mr. Eubanks?” I questioned with confusion.

He looked startlingly at me. “Miss Givens. I’m sorry I didn’t acknowledge you. My condolences.”

“Aren’t I…supposed to meet with you?”

He regarded me with caution. “Mrs. Lepore is the executor of your mother’s will.”

“What do you need to see him for?” I asked Eric.

He grabbed my face and briefly kissed my lips. “It’s nothing you need to worry about.” With a minor nod, he disappeared down the hall with Mr. Eubanks. Puzzled, I stared after his broad back as it disappeared down the hall.

“Miss Givens?” I turned to the voice of Mrs. Lepore. Her high arched brow furrowed in concern as she slipped her fingers through a wayward strand of her dark mane. After greeting her briefly, I followed her down the hall to her office.

Nothing was a surprise. The house on the bay, the cabin in Colorado, her three cars, her savings, and her insurance payout were all willed to me. My mother was meticulous with details. She planned out and paid for her funeral, leaving me with no other task but to buy her dress and show up.

“...and five percent share in Harvest Enterprises—”

“Wait,” I interrupted Mrs. Lepore. “My mother co-owned that company. She built that company. She had at least a twenty-five percent majority stake. Why am I only getting five percent?”

“Well, naturally, she didn’t think you wanted to sit on the board, so—”

“She gave it to someone else? Who?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

My mind raced around thoughts of betrayal. “She wouldn’t do this to me. Not after—NO!” I stood up and stormed out.

While marching down the hall, I churned out speculative ideas. The fact that my mother’s lawyer was in the midst of a meeting with Eric bothered me. Though nothing would pen him as the beneficiary of the shares, numerous circumstances didn't sit right with me. There’s no way Eric agreed to our arrangement because he wanted to have sex with me. He could’ve had anyone he wanted, yet, he chose me. The most biting thing of all; he delayed having sex with me. It didn’t make any sense.

People disappoint you, Nikki. Eric is no different. He’s going to disappoint you, too. They all do.

I made a beeline to Mr. Eubanks’s office. It seemed he and Eric were finished, because Eric was walking back towards me. I ran into him, literally. “Nik?”

“I’m onto you.”

“As in….you’ve discovered my secret identity?” he queried with a toothy smile.

“If it’s a money grubbing jerk who wants my deceased mother’s company...then yes. I never believed you were a doctor….especially not in oncology. What were you before? A con man?”

He felt my forehead. “After your appointment, let’s get you home and in bed. I’ll order in.”

I shoved his arms away. “Don’t treat me like a psych ward patient. I’m not crazy. What did Mr. Eubanks want with you? What did my mother’s lawyer want to talk to you about?”

“I have conservatorship over my roommate’s trust. I was with Mr. Eubanks to rework the monthly limit.”

“What?” I blinked, suddenly thrown for a mind twister.

“She’s more than just my roommate. I’m…taking care of her.”

“Why? Is she somehow related to you? If she is, why would you need to take care of her if your parents are...still alive?”

His expression held firm as he clenched his jaw. “Wrong.”

“But your profile said they’ve been married for forty-five years.”

“Profile? Have you been…cyber-stalking me, Nikki?”

“You’ve been stalking me, so…” I shrugged.

“You must’ve missed the part where it said they would’ve been married forty-five years to the day,
if
they were still alive.”

“Oh,” I said in a slightly deflated tone. After noticing my loud tirade called unwanted attention, I toned down my anger. “What happened to them?”

He grabbed my shoulders and pushed me inside Mr. Eubanks’s office. Eric asked Mr. Eubanks for privacy, who in turn left us alone inside his office.

Eric sat on the edge of the desk, clinging to the glass overhang with an almost white-knuckle intensity. His eyes darted up to mine, as he seemed to teeter between anger and sadness. “Tell me you knew that. Because I could’ve sworn I told you, or at least hinted at the fact that my uncle raised me.”

“It must’ve…slipped my mind,” I offered apologetically.

His stance immediately softened. “You’ve been through so much.” He slipped off the desk. Clasping my head in his hands, he titled my head up. He ducked down almost until his lips were a mere centimeter from my face. “Let’s just get this day over with and go home,” he said in a whisper. “I took time off to spend with you, we should make good on it. If you need me to take off more time, I will. However long you need me for. To be honest, I don’t think I could leave you with the way things are going. I don’t think you could handle being alone.”

“Miss Givens.” Mrs. Lepore ducked her head inside Mr. Eubanks’s office without knocking. “Please, return to my office. You have paperwork to sign.”

I shook my head, like I was trying to wake out of a dream.

“Miss Givens?” Mrs. Lepore pressed.

“I just want to go home. I don’t want to do this now.”

Eric nodded. “And we will after your appointment.” He looked at Mrs. Lepore. “Messenger the papers to her address.”

Mrs. Lepore regarded him with impatience. “They have to be signed in front of a notary.”

“Got it,” Eric dismissed her and put his arm over my shoulders as he guided me back to the elevator lobby.

I gasped and slapped my palm across my forehead. “I’m supposed to meet someone at the coffee shop on Water Street. He said he’d be there until I got there. Knowing him, he really will stay there until I show up.”

“Him?” Eric asked with a bass heavy tone and lowered brows.