Be My Baby (5 page)

"Do you really mean it, Trey?"

"I do," he said softly.

Their eyes met and held. I watched as Trey
cupped her face between his hands. She studied his face as he wiped
the tears from her cheeks with his thumb. The same way that he had
wiped my tears many times before.

Oh God. I knew what was coming next. He
lowered his face to her tear stained cheeks and gently kissed one
and then the other; he kissed the tip of her perfect turned up
nose. He smiled looking down at her still. She laced her arms
around his neck as his mouth lowered to hers.

I watched as he wrapped his strong arms
around her and pulled her close to him; their tongues found each
playfully and passionately. This kiss continued to last for what
seemed like forever. Her hands lowered to his ass, gripping it and
pressing him in against her. I heard her moan his name.

I wanted to move but I was frozen to this
spot. What had happened between Trey and I that he would fall
victim to this manipulative bitch? Beautiful women had always paid
attention to Trey; he had seemed impassive towards it. This was
different. Trey had clicked with Amber from the start. Perhaps he
had clicked with her in a way that he never could with me. He liked
that she was his intellectual equal; he liked her spirit and her
love of law. He liked that they shared the same passion for it.

I watched as Trey finally pulled himself
from her. My eyes studied him; I saw that he had grown hard for
her.

"I can’t do this," he rasped, wiping her
lipstick from his mouth.

"Make love to me, Trey," she said softly. "I
want you. Come to my place. No one will ever have to know."

He looked torn and indecisive; it was a look
I was not familiar with in Trey. He put his hand on the back of his
neck rubbing it as if contemplating his next move; he turned away
from her taking several steps back.

That is when he saw me at the window. Our
eyes locked momentarily; I saw the look of panic that crossed his
face; God only knows what he saw in my eyes.

I was suddenly able to move again. My legs
were making up for lost time as I turned from the window and raced
across the yard. I got to the pasture and continued running toward
the horse barn. The wind was at my back as if to help me to get the
hell away from what I had just witnessed. Everything was blurry and
I realized that my eyes had filled up with tears. I needed to get
away from the pain. That was all I could think about at the
moment.

I threw open the door to the horse barn
screaming for Marcus. He finally came out of the tack room with a
look of alarm on his handsome face.

"What is it, Tylar? What the hell is
wrong?"

"Take me away from here Marcus, please?" I
sobbed. I buried my face into his chest. "Please take me to Gina's
now."

"Tell me what happened," he insisted.

"There isn't time," I shrieked, "I need out
of here now please!"

He grabbed his jacket from the hook and
pulled the keys from the pocket of his jeans. We headed out behind
the barn where his truck was parked. He opened the door for me as I
climbed in.

As we pulled down the long graveled drive to
the road I saw Amber's BMW pulling out. Trey was outside crossing
the pasture that I had just raced across.

"There's Trey," Marcus said, looking over at
me. "Do you want me to drop you here?"

"Keep driving," I stated firmly.

"Tylar," he said, "I don't want to face his
wrath. You know how he is about me being too friendly with
you."

"Marcus, I just caught Trey with another
woman. Trust me; you have no reason to worry. Please take me to
Gina's. I'm just as much your employer as Trey."

"You got it," he said as his truck blew past
Trey. Neither of us glanced over.

Marcus walked into the apartment building
with me to make sure that Gina was home. I had let my Blackberry
die in my purse. I didn't use it nearly as often as I had before we
had moved to the country. My father generally called on the
landline as did Gina since our cell reception wasn't the best out
in the country where our house was located.

The doorman buzzed Gina and Tristan's
apartment. She was home and I went up. I thanked Marcus and told
him not to worry about any repercussions from Trey. I told him to
tell Trey I threatened him with his job.

"Yeah right," he laughed, "He knows we're
too tight for that. You calm down okay, Ty?"

"I will be okay Marcus. Thanks for being a
friend."

I took the elevator up to our old apartment;
it was bittersweet that that apartment Trey and I had once
inhabited together had much better memories than our large, cold
house in the country.

Gina had the door open and was holding Reese
in her arms when I came in. She immediately knew that something was
seriously wrong.

"What is it, Ty? You look like shit."

"Thanks Gina; I knew I could depend on
you."

"What the fuck girlfriend! I haven't even
seen you in more than a month? Not since you buried Marley."

"Stop!" I shouted. "Don't go there!"

I had startled Reese. He started crying
leaning against Gina rooting for her breast.

"It's okay, baby," she crooned to him,
unbuttoning her shirt so that he could gain access. He latched on
immediately, sucking loudly as he nursed.

"Can I use your phone please?"

"You came all the way into Atlanta to use my
phone?"

"My Blackberry died, Gina, can I please use
yours?"

"Go right ahead; are you going to tell me
what the hell is going on?"

"I will. I need to make this call
first."

Gina walked into the living room having
handed me her Blackberry. I phoned my dad's cell number. I breathed
a sigh of relief when he answered.

"Dad, its Tylar. I'm calling from Gina's
phone."

The tears started flowing along with my
hysteria. I didn't know where to begin with him. We had no history
together but for now I needed a dad. I needed him.

"Tylar, are you alright?"

"No Daddy," I sobbed, "I'm not alright. I
need to come home."

Gina listened to everything I shared with my
father on that phone call. I could see her tense up when she heard
what I had observed Trey doing with Amber. She was nursing Reese
trying to stay calm but I knew that she was ready to go off.

After I got off the phone with my father
Gina got up and took Reese to the nursery. The same nursery that
had been Preston's when we lived here. How happy we had been here I
thought. She returned in a few minutes after putting him down for a
nap.

"Ty," she said, her voice cracking with
emotion. "Will you please sit down and talk to me?"

I went over to the couch where she had
gestured me to be seated. I sat down next to her. She turned and
looked at me as if she hadn't seen me in years instead of weeks.
She took my hands into hers and swallowed nervously.

"I am so sorry for what you have gone
through these past several weeks," she said to me softly. "I know
that maybe I have been too tied up with Tristan and Reese to be
there for you. I'm sorry," she said, starting to cry.

"Gina - there is no need for you to
apologize or to be upset," I told her. "This is my problem. I'm
handling it."

"No Ty - I don't think that you are. Look at
you," she choked, tears running down her cheeks.

"Well excuse me," I said annoyed, "But I've
spent the better part of the day with horses and working in the
barn, not to mention sprinting across the pasture after I
discovered my husband kissing his junior partner in my house. I'm
fucking sorry, Gina that I didn't take the time to fix my hair and
reapply my make-up before making my visit here."

"God damn it, Tylar! That is not what I'm
talking about and you fucking know it! You are skin and bones. My
God! Your eyes take up half of your face with the dark circles
going on underneath them. You lost a child, girlfriend. That has to
hurt."

"How could I have lost a child that I never
really had, Gina? It was more like a miscarriage. It happens."

"You know better than that, Tylar. It was
not a miscarriage and you damn well know it. That baby died in your
womb. It wasn't your fault, but you need to face the facts here.
Something terrible and entirely without reason happened to your
baby. Tell me that you didn't love Preston before she was born?
Before she could have even survived if she had been born
early?"

"Stop it Gina; stop it right now. I will not
listen to this. It happened. It's over and done with and right now
I don't want to think about it. If you are truly my friend you will
get off of the subject and do it now. Do you understand?"

She looked at me and her expression was a
mix of fear and pity. I was not comfortable with either.

"Have it your way, Ty. Eventually you will
have to deal with it and the longer it takes the worse it is going
to be."

"Can I use your charger for my Blackberry?"
I asked changing the subject. "My dad is going to be phoning me
back."

"Sure," she said getting up off of the couch
to get her charger.

I plugged it into the wall and immediately I
got some beeps that I had text messages. I looked at the screen.
They were from Trey.

"
We need to talk. Where are you?"

That was followed by another one six minutes
later.

"Tylar I love you - please
talk to me."

Finally the last one had been sent about
three minutes ago.

"Please talk to me baby. I
want to explain."

Yeah right. What was there to explain? Trey
had gone through a tough six-and-a-half months with me. Between the
nausea and my tiredness and lack of sexual interest he had suffered
the effects. I now knew how he rolled. That was that.

"When will Tristan be home?" I suddenly
thought to ask.

"He is closing tonight, so it will be late.
Why?"

"You can't tell him that I was here. He will
tell Trey."

"Ty, don’t you think that Trey probably
knows where you've gone? I'm surprised he hasn't called or shown up
here by now."

As if on cue her Blackberry chimed.

"Holy shit. Speak of the devil."

"Gina," I hissed, "You can't let him know
that I am here. Even if you say that I'm not here he will hear the
hostility in your voice. Please - do this for me?"

She rolled her eyes as she answered his
call.

"Hey Trey," she greeted congenially, "What's
up?"

"What?"

"Whoa - wait a minute; slow down Trey I'm
not making heads or tails of what you're saying."

(Gina was good. That was why she was my
BFF.)

"No Trey, I haven't seen her. I hate to
admit this but I actually haven't seen her since Marley's graveside
service. What the hell is going on?"

I watched as Gina let him bury himself.

"What are you saying? Why did she leave
upset?"

“What kind of a misunderstanding?”

She paused and looked over at me rolling her
eyes.

“No, that’s okay – if you don’t feel like
going into the details now I understand. If she calls or comes by I
will let her know that you’re desperate to speak with her.”

Gina ended the call and turned to me.

“Trey is desperate to speak with you,” she
said flatly. “There. I did what I said I would do. Would you like a
glass of wine?”

Thanks Gina,” I said relaxing back against
the cushions on the sofa. “That sounds great.”

I drank three glasses of wine enjoying the
relaxing, numbing feeling that was sinking in. I stretched out on
the sofa and drifted off to sleep while Gina went to make dinner
for us. I wasn’t really hungry but she insisted I needed to eat and
get some meat back on my bones.

Gina roused me from my nap a little while
later. My dad was on the phone. He had made all of my flight
arrangements for tomorrow afternoon. He said he would be at the
airport to pick me up. He asked me to try and calm down.

(Fat chance!)

I assured him that I would.

Gina had made pasta salad so we sat down and
ate in silence. I poured myself another glass of wine as I wolfed
down the food. It was amazingly good. Gina had developed some
domesticity along the way it appeared.

“Ty – you need to let Trey know where you
are and where you’re going. It’s the right thing to do. Plus, what
are you going to do about Preston? It’s one thing to desert him;
but you don’t want it to look like you deserted your daughter you
know, well just in case –"

“In case what, Gina?”

“Well to be honest – in case you decide to
divorce him. That’s all I’m saying. I mean you don’t want him using
Preston as a weapon against you, right?”

“I can’t think about any of that right now,
Gina. My head is spinning. I will call him though. You’re right
about that. I’ll let him know that I just got here and am spending
the night. It is okay if I stay here tonight?”

“Absolutely, Ty. You don’t even need to ask
that question.”

“I don’t have my clothes or anything
though.”

“Do you want me to ask Trey to bring some to
you?”

“No! I can’t look at him right now. Will you
go and get some from the house tomorrow? I can watch Reese for
you.”

“You got it,” she said smiling. “Everything
is going to be okay, Ty.”

I wasn’t sure of that at all. I had felt
disconnected from Trey for the last couple of months. I had blamed
that on my pregnancy and then the subsequent loss of the baby.
Maybe it was more than that.

He had obviously been fascinated with the
new junior partner in the firm. He had explained it away as taking
her under his wing because she was just a few years younger than
him. The bottom line was that he had spent more and more time at
the office and worked less and less at home.