Love Again (10 page)

“I love you Lennie, you call me if you need me okay?”

“Okay, I love you too.”

When Corrina answered the phone she asked the same questions as dad.  I reassured her that I was fine, physically.  Mentally I was a mess.

Back at her apartment, with the help of the bellman, we got everything unloaded out of the car and in to her apartment. 

I flopped down on the couch, “I’m not doing anything else the rest of the weekend!  I want to curl up in my fleece pajama pants, t-shirt, and fuzzy socks while I binge eat chocolate mint ice cream and drink too much wine.

Corrina laughed and sat down beside me, “Please don’t let this destroy you, I know you’re not okay Lennie.  You put your heart and soul into your marriage only to have it ripped out and stomped on.  I can’t imagine going through what you’ve been through, even though you say he never hit you…mentally you’re not okay.”

I rolled my head to the side and looked at her, “It feels like a dream honestly.  I thought that everything was caused by stress at work.  How am I ever going to trust another man?”

She wiped a tear from my cheek, “You’ll find the perfect prince charming, and he’s going to prove to you every single day how lucky he is to have you.  As your best friend I’m not going to let you hide away and sulk over Justin.  If you need or want to see a counselor to help you with the mental abuse you’ve been through, I will support you one hundred and ten percent.  You’re a very strong willed woman, but he’s tore you down to nothing.”

I wiped my face, “Can I have some ice cream now?”

We both laughed, “Sure, I’ll scoop us up some—you get the wine!”

For the rest of the afternoon we lounged on the couch watching movies and talking about Corrina’s job.  It was her dream job, anything to do with history, made her happy.  I ended up falling asleep around eleven o’clock that night.  I woke up the following morning to the delicious smell of coffee. 

I hurried back to the bathroom, my head pounding slightly from the amount of wine I had consumed the night before.  After brushing my teeth I went to the kitchen and poured me a mug of the liquid gold. 

Corrina came out of her bedroom, dressed in workout attire.  I raised one eyebrow at her in question. 

“What?  You’ve seen the gym down there, I’m going to take full advantage of it!” she said with a smile.

“Mmhmm, who is he?”

“He—who?” she wouldn’t look at me as she grabbed a mug from the cupboard.

“Corrina’s got a crr-uushh!” I teased.

She shook her head and tried to hide the smile on her face, “I have no idea what you’re talking about or who you’re referring to.” She feigned innocently.

“Bullshit!” I said with a cough.

“God you’re persistent!  I might happen to think that Trevor is somewhat cute, okay?”

I laughed, “Eh, he’s not bad.”  Honestly Trevor was very good looking.  His eyes were a lighter shade of blue than Dominique’s.  They reminded me of blue icebergs almost.  He had tattoo’s covering both arms and short blonde hair.

“Sooo, do you have any details you’re leaving out from Friday night?  Hmmm?”  Corrina asked.

I pursed my lips, “None.”

“I know you’re lying because you’re biting the inside of your cheek.” She grinned at me from behind her coffee mug. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about or who you’re referring to.” I threw her words back at her.

“Oh for fuck sake, seriously?” she screeched, “I leave for two minutes and you vanish, then Trevor appears at the table.  You and Dominique were nowhere to be found!”

I shook my head, “It makes me feel like a whore if you really want to know.”

Her shoulders sagged, “I know that you didn’t have sex with him, don’t you
ever
say that about yourself around me again!”

“It’s not every day that you find out your husband is having an affair then you go out to a club the next night and make out with a guy in his office until your panting and wanting to rip his clothes off.” I told her.

She sat there silent for a few seconds, “You’re right, but that doesn’t make you a whore.  I would do the same with Dominique fucking Hasting too!”

“It’s not like me and you know it, I just—I couldn’t stop myself for some reason.  I don’t even KNOW him for crying out loud.”

Corrina walked over to the sink and rinsed her mug out, “There’s obviously something about you that he likes and something attracted you to him.  You wouldn’t be the first woman to have a one-night stand and you won’t be the last.  Google him, you’ll be pretty fucking shocked at what you find out about him.” She turned and winked at me.  Then she was out the door to go work out.

Over the following couple of hours I unpacked a few boxes, mainly clothes and shoes, things I knew I would need on a daily basis until I could get my own place.  After everything was organized and the rest of the full boxes tucked away in the back of the closet, I face planted on the bed.  I rolled over to my back and stared at the ceiling, for what could have been minutes or hours.  Thoughts of Justin running through my mind those were overshadowed by thought of Dominique.  I blew out a breath and sat up on the bed.  “Google him huh?  No harm in wanting to know a little bit more about my super sexy, panty melting, fantastic kissing client…right?” I said to myself as I typed his name into the search engine. 

Picture after picture of him in his football uniform showed up, in his gear he looked like a massive wall.  Black tribal tattoos covered in sweat, dirt and blood as he tackled opponents.  More pictures of him in underwear ads, I might have stared a little longer than necessary at those pictures.  Then a picture of him with a stunning woman on the red carpet was next:

Ava tames the Destroyer ~ Congrats to the new couple!  Wedding details not yet released, check back often for updates on this stunning couple!

I was staring at their picture, my stomach churning, he was engaged? The door flew open and Corrina walked in.  I snapped the lid shut on my laptop. 

“Did you look him up?” she wiggled her brows up and down.

“He’s engaged!” I yelled.  “I really am a whore, oh my god!  I kissed another woman’s fiancé!”

“What?” she grabbed my laptop but I pulled it away from her. 

“Totally explains why he’s buying such a big house, uggg, why didn’t I put two and two together?  You can’t be that hot and that rich and be single.” I said as I put the laptop back on the charger. 

“Are you sure?” Corrina asked.

“Yes!” I blew out a breath, “After tomorrow he can carry on with his lovely life, in his new home…with his fiancé.  He’s a fucking pig in my opinion.” Without another word I went into the bathroom to shower. 

I scrubbed my skin until it was red and sore, no matter how hard I scrubbed though I didn’t feel clean—I didn’t feel like me.  Justin’s words ripped through me, “Whore, slut, insatiable bitch…” and now I actually believed him.  When I got out of the shower and dried off, I dressed in the baggiest sweat pants and t-shirt I could find.  Not wanting to open my laptop and see the article again, I climbed under the covers and begged sleep to pull me under until tomorrow morning when I would have to face Dominique again—one final time.

“You calmed down now?” Trevor asked me snapping me out of my thoughts.  Thoughts of Lennie and how she lit my body on fire when we kissed.  Thoughts of how easily I could have broken Justin’s fucking neck when he called her a slut and a whore.  No it wasn’t the Nigger word he used that pissed me off, over the years I grew a thick skin against being called that.  On the field guys would say whatever they wanted or thought they had to, to distract me and piss me off.  I learned pretty quickly that starting a fight did no good what so ever.

“Fuck no, Justin’s god damn lucky I didn’t kill him.” I said.

“I know, but man, if he’s wants to work shit out you can’t be interfering with it.  She’s still married.  I don’t know what went on with you two but you’re going to have to let it go.  He was pissed!”

I snorted, “He’s been banging that Jill bitch and snorting drugs, I don’t think he has much room to judge Lennie.” I all but yelled.  The cab driver gave me a questioning look in the rear view mirror.  Trevor shook his head and the ride to the apartment was finished in silence. 

“Go take a cold shower and call me in the morning, we’ll hit the gym together.  You can work out some frustration.” Trevor said to me as we walked to the elevator. 

“I’ll call you after I get back from my run in the morning.” I told him.

He laughed, “State of the art facility in this building and you still prefer the smog and pavement under your feet.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “Always have always will, be prepared to hold that two hundred pound bag still for me when I get there tomorrow.”

“Gotcha big man.” He clapped me on the back before I got off the elevator. 

Back at my apartment I couldn’t stop thinking about Lennie, she was fucking perfect in my eyes.  From the speckles of gold flakes in her eyes to the freckle next to her left eyebrow.  Her skin against my fingers was like silk. 

I stripped my clothes off; the smell of her perfume still clung to my shirt.  With the cold water blasting I stepped under the stream, my muscles tightened with shock.  Memories flashed through my mind, Lennie against the door, our tongues touching, her teeth sinking into my bottom lip.  The sharp angle of her jaw line as I kissed along it to her neck, her nipples so hard I could feel them through our shirts.  Even with the water ice cold, my dick was rock hard.  I started stroking it, I needed the release.  Memories of her soft moans, the way her skin pebbled with goose bumps from my touch, her legs gripping me tightly around the waist as I ground my dick against the hot heat of her pussy.  The way her fingernails scraped my skin and our kiss turned more intense.  With a few more hard strokes my stomach muscles contracted and my balls tightened then spurt after spurt of come ejected out of my cock.  “Fuck” I blew out a breath.  It wasn’t good enough, I needed Lennie, only she could satisfy the deep intense burning desire I was feeling. 

The following morning at six o’clock sharp I was out of bed and headed out the door for my early morning run.  Usually I’d run for a few miles then turn around but this day I knew it wouldn’t be enough.  I needed my muscles to scream in protest.

In total I jogged for two and a half hours, my lungs and muscles screaming for me to stop.  At the gym Trevor was all smiles, “Damn dude how far did you go today?” he asked me.

“Two and a half hours.” I said.

He shook his head, “You’re fucking nuts!”

We worked out for a couple of hours, taking turns holding the heavyweight bag until Trevor finally stepped away.  “Just kill the damn thing!  You’re wound up tighter than fucking hell today, man.  You still have that Lennie chic on your mind or what?” he asked as he wiped his face with a towel.

“You could say that, I’m hoping we can talk tomorrow when I go to sign the papers.  I’m not saying I want us to date, just get to know each other…something.” I wiped my face off and finally took some deep breaths.  Lennie was under my skin like no other woman had ever been and it would only get worse if I didn’t talk to her about it.  “What bugs the hell out of me is, I don’t even fucking know her.  But yet I feel like I’m going out of my mind thinking about her so much over the last few days.”

Trevor shrugged, “Stranger things have happened.”

“You’re always so full of good advice—not really.” I told him.

“I try man…I try.” He said and we both laughed and walked over to the elevator.  Trevor went to his apartment and I went to mine.  Since I would be signing papers on the house Monday I needed to pack up some of my personal stuff that I didn’t trust movers to pack.  After showering and boxing up a few boxes I made myself some lunch, and answered emails while eating.  I rearranged my schedule for the following week then emailed it to Tiffany. 

Later in the day I was on the phone with mom when there was a knock at the door.  Trevor had a key and never bothered knocking, so when I opened the door and Ava was standing there it took all I had not to slam the door in her face. 

“Hey stud!” She threw herself at me.  My skin about crawled off of me and the smell of her perfume burnt my nose and made my eyes water. 

I pushed her away, “Why are you here?” I asked. 

She cocked her head to the side and looked past me, “Umm—are you moving or something?”

“None of your business, why.are.you…” she walked past me before I could finish asking her again. 

With her hands on her hips Ava spun toward me, “Don’t you think that you should tell me you’re moving?” she said with venom in her voice.

“Ava, I don’t know how else to make it any more clear to you.  We are done,
through
, not getting back together.  MOVE ON!” I told her.

Tears filled her eyes, as usual, she walked toward me, “We were so good together, baby.  I regret doing what I did, every single day.  You won’t give me another chance though.” She rested a hand against my chest.

I shook my head, “You need to leave—please.” I said to her, obviously frustrated.  No matter what she would say or do I was not taking her back.

She dropped her hand and wiped under her eyes, “Fine, you’ll realize some day that I was the best you’ve ever had and will
ever
have, Dom!  Is there somebody else?  Is that why you don’t want me?  You know that no woman will ever be able to please you like I can, no other woman will ever give you the kind of relationship we had.”

I walked to the door and opened it, “Leave, stop contacting me, stop coming to my apartment.  If you keep this shit up Ava, I’m going to put a restraining order against you.”

Her eyes got big, she opened her mouth to say something but with the look I gave her she knew I was serious and she snapped her mouth shut. 

The door clicked shut behind her, I scrubbed my hands down my face.  Ava annoyed the hell out of me and knowing her, she wouldn’t listen and actually stay away from me.  It would be just a matter of time before she found out where I was moving to too.

Sunday I did my normal routine that consisted of going for a run, going to the gym, checking emails and watching football.  Numerous times I picked up my phone to call Lennie but decided not to.  I would type out a text and erase it.  I was confused as hell about her, I didn’t know her but I did know I needed to get to know her…convincing her would be the hard part.

Monday morning I went for my jog then went back to my apartment.  I showered, and then dressed in a black business suit.  I checked my watch and rushed to gather my cell phone and call my driver.  I didn’t want to be late and keep Lennie waiting for me.  Okay, honestly I just wanted to get there as soon as possible so we could hopefully have some extra time to talk about things that happened at the club.  Lennie and I had agreed for me to be there at ten o’clock, but with traffic I showed up at five after ten. 

The secretary greeted me with a smile then led me back to Lennie’s office.  Her sweet voice came from behind the closed door.  “Come in!”

After Lana, the secretary, opened the door I stepped past her.  Lennie was typing on her computer, a pair of black-rimmed glasses on her face.  Her hair was in a loose bun with a pencil stuck in the middle.  She looked up from the screen and did a double take, “Oh…Hi Dominique I was just printing the last few pages.  Thank you Lana.”

I smiled at the secretary as she walked out and shut the office door behind her.  “Sorry I’m late.”

Lennie took her glasses off, “It doesn’t take very long.  Can I get you something to drink before we get started?” she asked and stood up from the chair. 

“Water’s fine.” I said to her.  She smiled as she walked past me.  The dress she wore was a form fitting gray one with a slit up the back, and the black heels she was wearing made her legs look fucking incredible.  Before I could stop myself I walked up behind her and placed my hands on her hips, she was reaching into the cabinet and paused briefly before grabbing two glasses.  I caressed my thumbs against the base of her spine and smiled to myself when I noticed her hands shaking with each scoop of ice she dropped into the glasses.  She cleared her throat.

“Please stop.” She said firmly.  Then turned around her breasts touching my chest.  “We need to get started before I say something I’ll regret.”

I stared at her before taking the glass of water, “Say something you’ll regret?” I asked.

Lennie walked around me, “Do you want to know my opinion is of men that do what you did to me at the club the other night while being engaged?  None the less do you know how that made me feel?” She wouldn’t look at me as she sat down in her office chair.

I sat down then put my water on the table between the two chairs.  “Do you want to know what I think about the fucking internet?” I asked her, never taking my eyes off of her. 

She rolled her eyes, “I happen to think it’s a wonderful way to find things out.”

I leaned forward and put my elbows on her desk, “I’m guessing you searched my name, came across some football pictures, modeling pictures, fundraiser pictures and lastly the engagement announcement on a paparazzi site.  Right?”

“Mmmhmm.” She wouldn’t look at me as she shuffled papers and slid them across the desk to me. 

“Then you probably should have scrolled down and read the article about me calling the fucking engagement off a few months later because Ava cheated on me.” I stated.

Lennie finally looked at me, “I…”

“Go ahead and look it up, I’ll still be here signing these papers.” I said with a grin.  She never typed anything on her computer.  Instead she signed a few papers after I had signed them.  “Do you believe me?” I asked her as I scribbled my signature on a page then slid it to her. 

“I do.” She nodded.

“So does that mean you’ll have dinner with me?” I asked hopefully.

She shook her head and smiled but before she could respond there was a knock on her door.  Lennie excused herself, “I’m almost finished here.” She whispered to the person at the door.

“I’m sorry…this guy says these are urgent.” I heard Lana say.  Then a man spoke. 

“Mrs. Ericson?”

“Yes?” Lennie said quietly, “I’m kind of busy can you wait about fifteen minutes?”

“No ma’am, I just need you to sign here.” The guy said. 

A few seconds later the door clicked shut and Lennie walked back to her desk, while opening a manila envelope.  She pulled a stack of papers out and gasped, blinked a few times before shoving them back inside the envelope and putting them in her desk drawer.  I gave her a few minutes before I said anything. 

“Everything okay?”

She nodded a frown on her face, “I um…okay we are finished here.” She tried to smile but it wasn’t real. 

I raised one eyebrow at her, “Don’t you want a check?” I asked with a chuckle.

“Oh, god, Yes!  I’m sorry.” She shook her head. 

After writing the check I ripped it out and held it between my index and middle fingers, “You can have it if you’ll agree to dinner.” I teased her. 

Lennie gave me a genuine smile before snatching the check out of my hand, “Mister Hasting’s it’s been a pleasure doing business with you.” She slid the house keys toward me.  “Had I not just been served divorce papers I might actually take you up on that offer.”

I laughed once, “How the fuck do you get served that fast?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “I’ll just say that Justin’s mom has probably had them on file since we said our vows.”