Charity's Secrets (25 page)

"There's
no war to wage, no battles to fight tonight, Warrior." He kisses my head
again. "Go to sleep."

I
am so happy to see how the girls,
especially Lynda and Jennifer, are taking to Trisha. We're having lunch in the
Grill just to throw it in the owners face a little bit.

As we
had suspected, Trish's position was not waiting for her when she was able to
return. Against his manager and all the other staff's wishes, the Grill's owner
had temporarily filled the position with his niece and now he was letting her
keep it.

She's
a bumbling idiot.

Justin
wanted to fix it for Trisha, make the owner beg for her to come back, but I
convinced him that she didn't want it anyway—I had a better idea for her.

I personally
trained her to be John's new assistant at Panther. Lately, I haven't been doing
it justice; I was better off being Justin's assistant since he is constantly
needing me on the other end of the business.

John,
with his round and happy face, reluctantly agreed with the condition that I
make her a clone of myself, which I did. Before I brought her anywhere near the
office, I made sure she knew exactly how I did everything for John and she
could reproduce it.

"So
you totally have to let us know when you're ready to date again," Jennifer
blabs. Obviously they know all about what happened to her, Trisha didn't see
any benefit in hiding it.

"You
have someone in mind?" Trisha laughs.

Jennifer
shakes her head. "No one in particular, but that's makes it even more fun.
We can try them on, look for one that fits—like fucking hats!" she laughs.

Trisha
high-fives her. "Hell yeah," she says. "Even my girl here can't
do that with me."

"Right?"
Lynda agrees.

We're
all smiling and laughing, but I catch Trisha's eyes to make sure she's okay
with this. Her wink tells me she's perfectly fine.

The
niece of the owner returns to our table with a new drink for Clarice. The first
one was completely wrong, her fault, not the bartender's. She's put it in as a
gin and tonic instead of vodka and laughed about it instead of apologizing.

Fucking
twit!

I can't
wait to see what she does to our food.

Lena has
joined us today, one of the very rare times she includes herself. When we sat,
she intentionally pinned Trisha between us like we're a pair of bookends.
There's a comfortable bond starting there that makes me feel safe. She will
look out for Trisha, even when I'm not there.

I
hadn’t even asked her to do that, but this is just another reason to love Lena.

Even
with Trisha recovering wonderfully and Lena's heartfelt help, my nerves are
shot. The last of the secrets I've been keeping from everyone is coming to a
final head. It's time to do it or forget it.

Now is
the most dangerous part of it all and I don't know if I can do it without Lena.
Frankly, I'm terrified. More than that, I might need her to lie for me to the
one person that can usually see right through her—Justin.

They
all have their eyes on a cute guy sitting at the bar, deciding on who in the
group he would good for. They don't seem to notice the way he checks his phone
for the time, the text messages he's sending, or even the empty chair he is
clearly guarding beside him.

Lena
sees it. "Who do you think is going to be more disappointed?" she
asks me in front of their confused faces.

I
laugh. "All of them, probably."

"Disappointed
by what?" Jenifer chokes.

"His
girlfriend," Lena says in her simple voice. They all suddenly see it.

"Dammit!"
Lynda barks. "You two fuck up a good wet dream."

Just
then the girl walked in and Lena and I took a turn high-fiving across the
bridge of Trisha's nose.

Our
excuse of a waitress appears from the back with a tray of food. Her foot
catches on something in its way, her other foot, and the tray goes flying.

"Are
you fucking kidding me?" Trisha laughs.

Lena
looks concerned. "Christ! I hope that wasn't ours."

We all
wait with baited breath, whatever the fuck that means. Basically we stare the
bitch down to see what she does, ready to eat her flesh if we have to wait
longer. Oh the friggin' relief when she trots up to some other table and
apologizes.

"Yep!"
I say. "She was such a great choice."

We go
back to waiting for our order, praying she can remember what side her feet are
on. My nerves begin to hum again; I need to get Lena alone before I throw up.

Enough
lying. Enough of this shit behind Justin's back.

I grab
my phone as Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" begins to waft into the
brick-walled room over their speakers. I type in
"Silk?"
and
send the text to Lena.

A
minute later her phone buzzes. She will know exactly what that means. There's
only one reason we go to Silk together, to drop off Justin's radar. After she
reads it, she manages to offer me a stealthy wink that we are on.

"THIS IS A BURNER
," Lena tells me. "Use it for things you don't
want traced back to you. If you do something big with it, something important,
you pop the case off and get rid of the guts and case separately. You can use
it for a little while if you haven't done anything with it that you are
concerned about."

I
understand perfectly. When I reached out to take it from her my hands are
shaking.

"Are
you sure you want to do this?" Lena asks desperately.

"No!
I'm honestly not."

She
refuses to give me the phone for a moment. "Then why are you doing it if
you're not ready?"

I give
her a powerful
"are you fucking kidding me"
look, and she
drops the phone into my hand. There's no way I
cannot
do this, and Lena
damn well knows that.

The
entire room smells like eucalyptus and lavender. Normally I would love it, but
right now it’s just making me dizzy.

Lena
adjusts the towel wrapped around her beautiful, black breasts and body, and she
studies me. "If you're going to do it, get on with it. They won't leave us
alone for long in here."

She's
right—I'm wasting time. In a moment the hostess of Silk will come to take us
for our facials.

Now the
phone suddenly weighs twenty pounds and appears to have a magical ability to
make my heart pound in my chest. I don't think I've ever been so afraid to make
a phone call. With incredibly heavy fingers, I tap out the number.

My eyes
meet Lena's for a moment, hoping to find some reassurance. I only find fear and
nervousness. I press send.

Shit!

The
first ring was audible even before bringing the phone to my ear.

Second
ring. "Hello?" she answers, her voice way more pleasant and sweet
than I had anticipated.

Shit
again!

"Hello,
Mrs. Sumpter?" I ask?

In that
same pleasant voice, she answers, "Yes?"

Oh
fuck! Now what?

How am
I not more prepared for this?

"I
was hoping you might have a few moments to talk?" I finally discovered
something to say. "Is this a good time?"

"Who
is this?" she asks. Now I can hear something a little different in her
voice—irritation.

Yeah,
that's probably a good place to start. "I'm sorry," I say. "My
name is Charity Powers, I'm a friend of Justin's."

There's
a soft noise from her end of the phone, something just above a deep breath. A
whimper.

I
listen for it again, but there's only silence.

"Mrs.
Sumpter?"

"I
can't!" she squeals in a high voice full of tears. "Please don't call
me again."

Oh my
God! The sadness in her voice is heartbreaking. There's a lifetime of anguish
swirling in her tone and I feel myself plummet emotionally for her.

The
click of her hanging up is as abrupt as her whole reaction and was unexpected.
This was not one of the options I had prepared for, not even close. No scenario
that I had played out in my head ended with her not speaking with me, not
answering my burning questions.

My
mouth is a wide, un-closable gape as I drop my hand and the phone down to my
side and stare at Lena. There's no words. None. Nothing comes to me at all.

"What
the fuck happened?" Lena asks loudly.

"I—I
don't have a clue," I reply. "She started crying, told me to not call
her, and hung up."

Lena
looks as shocked as I feel. "What the hell does that mean?"

I shrug
my shoulders, careful that my towel doesn't fall off my chest.

"Call
her back," Lena demands.

"No."
I shake my head, thinking. "No, she won't talk, not that way."

Lena is
equally confused and angry. "So you're just going to drop it then and be
done with this?"

"Hell
no! I didn't go as far as I did, risk as much as I did, to get nothing—not a
single damn answer about what happened. I'm more concerned and curious than
ever, but calling her is a waste of time."

"Then
what?" Lena begs.

My
shoulders shrug one more time. "Something more drastic."

"IT'S THE SPA MINERALE
at the Lansdowne Resort," Lena
tells him. "It's not Vegas, for Christ's sake, it's Virginia."

Justin
is suddenly defensive. "I didn't say a damn thing!"

"You
didn't have to. I saw your face as soon as I told you," she says.
"You looked like a wounded child. I only want her for the weekend, her and
Tricia, for a little girl time."

He
laughs at her. "I love it when you're tough with me." His smirk is
hysterical. "Let me show you how easy this is." Justin turns toward
me. "Do you want to go with them for the weekend?"

I
square up my shoulders. "Yes. I think it will be good for Tricia and—"

He cuts
me off, with a wave of his hand. "Consider it done. I only care about what
you want. I will miss you, of course and I don't like it, but it would break my
heart not to have you do something you wanted to."

Lena
looks pissy. But that's fake, I know.

"See
how easy that was," Justin says. "What do you girls need for this?
Can I get the rooms for you, book the spa?"

This is
exactly how we wanted this to go, but that doesn't help my nerves. I'm an
absolute wreck because this is coming too close to screwing up the best thing
that has ever happened to me.

"You
would do that for us?" Lena asks.

"No,
not for you, not after your attitude," Justin says in his JP tone.
"But for Charity and Trisha, of course."

Before
he can sense my nerves, I grab him by the face with both hands and crush his
face into mine for a big thank you kiss. His strong lips settle me and I feel
the tension drop down my entire body and drain out through my feet.

He's
exactly what I always need.

"I've
already arranged everything anyway," Lena says. "We'll drive down
Saturday morning."

"Bullshit!"
Justin growls. "Shain will fly you down in the Hawker and pick you up
Sunday night. No reason to waste most of your time in a car."

"Actually,
that would be great!" Lena cheers.

Justin
begins calling him without any hesitation. He has no clue that he's helping us
betray him.

My
guilt rises quickly.

It
makes much more sense to fly, but I almost wish he didn't offer it. Now there's
more reason to hate myself.

His whole
office feels angry at me; Sylvester stares at me like he wants to eat me for
deceiving his master, the Ansel Adam’s on the walls look suddenly darker than
they've ever looked, casting frowns of disapproval at me and the red accents
around the office are furious.

While
he makes the flight arrangements with Shain, I fire off a text to Trisha, just
to let her know not only are we on, but that we're flying down. She responds
immediately. Her phone was obviously in her hands at the moment.
"No
fucking way???"

"Yes,
really,"
I
respond. I'm glad someone is excited about this.

I
feel like such a bitch!

OUR FLIGHT WAS SIMPLE
and just like when I flew to DC with Justin, there
wasn't enough time to finish a glass of wine. Of course we still did, but there
was some chugging involved at the end. Anne, the stewardess, seemed much more
relaxed without Justin aboard. Lena still makes her nervous though, I saw it
when she stifled the smile that slipped onto her face while Trisha chanted
"Chug, chug, chug."