Love Again (9 page)

“Lennie STOP!  Please, as your best friend you have to see things from my point of view.  You’re being mentally, verbally and emotionally abused by your husband.  I can’t stand back and just pretend that this isn’t happening.  If he wants to divorce you—let him.  YOU deserve better.”

“I’ll having nothing though, he’ll keep everything.  What if he destroys my mom’s stuff, I can’t replace any of it.”

She held the cell phone up, at the same time we both said, “Blackmail.”

Childish? Maybe.  But Corrina was right; I couldn’t go back to him.  And that was breaking my heart too.  I loved Justin and had for years but letting go would be the only way I could save myself.

After we finished eating Corrina showed me to the guest bedroom that was identical only a little smaller than her master bedroom.  She hugged me tightly before walking out of the room. 

I stripped out of my clothes and went to shower.  Standing under the wide stream of massaging hot water I closed my eyes and tried to relax.  I thought about the kiss between Dominique and me he hadn’t forced me to kiss him, my body reacted to him and I was unable to push him away…I didn’t
want
to push him away.  His final words to me in his office, making it his mission to have more of me, sent chills all over my body.  I soaped my body, as I smoothed my hands over my chest my nipples tightened.  I sucked in a breath, imagining Dominique’s full lips sucking one nipple into his mouth as he massaged my other breast with his hand and his deep blue eyes staring up at me.  I slid my hand down my stomach until I reached my pussy lips.  My clit was already sensitive, thanks to Dominique at the club.  I began circling the swollen bundle of nerves, each circle bringing me closer to orgasm.  With a little more pressure and faster massaging of my clit I was braced myself against the shower wall as my orgasm rippled through my body leaving me weak in the knees.  I caught my breath and decided then, that I needed to make it clear to Dominique that nothing could happen between us again.  As if my own mind was telling me I was crazy for thinking about a man that I didn’t hardly know, Justin’s voice popped into my head, “Only a slut finger fucks herself.”

I shut the shower off and got out, after drying off and putting my pajamas on I went to bed.  I was physically and mentally drained. As soon as I laid down I fell asleep.

The following morning when I woke up Corrina was already up and making breakfast for us.  She put a steaming, mouthwatering stack of pancakes in front of me.  “Did you get any sleep?” she asked. 

“A little, I’m really sorry…”

“Stop apologizing, please, just stop.  I’m just glad I’m able to be here for you, because I have a feeling that things are going to get worse before they get better.” She looked down at her plate and pushed her food around.  “I looked through that phone last night, I—I can’t let you go back to him.”

“What was on it?”

She shook her head, “I don’t think you need to see it, I’ll just tell you this.  There’s not just Jill and I think he’s in pretty deep with drug dealers.  Some of the text messages are getting pretty threatening, one said they want twenty thousand by next Friday.”

My fork clanked against my plate, my appetite suddenly gone.  I covered my face, “There’s no way he’s going to let me go easy.  What about the big commission check I’m going to get from selling the Wilson place?  He’ll use my money to pay his dealers off.” I was shaking and on the verge of crying—again.

“Put it in my savings account, any money you have put it in my savings account.  I promise I won’t spend a dime.  I can help you find an attorney first thing Monday morning to file for a divorce.  You need to get as far away from him as you can.”

I shook my head, “Un fucking real, my entire marriage thrown away.  I guess with the money I need to find a place to live.”

She reached across the table, “You can stay here for as long as you want to.  He can’t get to you here because of the security.  I love you like a sister I don’t know what I would do if he physically hurt you.”  Tears filled her eyes.

“I promise as soon as I find a place I will be out of your hair.  I love you too.  I do know one thing we need to do…we have
got
to go buy some food.  I can’t eat pancakes nonstop.” I said with a laugh. 

Corrina laughed, “Let’s go change then we’ll go get some grub.”

Two hours later with my car loaded down with bags of food and some wine, we were headed back to the apartment.  “I’m really surprised that Justin hasn’t been blowing up my phone.” I said as I pulled in to the parking garage. 

“He’s stewing, you know that.  Or his jaw hurts too bad to bitch you out.” Corrina said with a laugh. 

She pulled out her phone and sent a text, “Help is on the way!  Ben is on his way.”

A couple of minutes later, Ben the doorman, appeared with a luggage cart.  We piled the groceries on it, there was no way I was going to put the wine on it and risk it getting broke though. Ben and Corrina both laughed when I refused to load it onto the cart.

Once we had everything inside and the bags lining the countertop, we started putting everything away.  “So does that Trevor guy live in this building or was he just visiting somebody?” I asked.

“Actually he does, he’s one floor above us.  He was helping a friend pack some things up the other day when we seen him.”

I nodded my head, “I see…” My cell phone interrupted us. 

Corrina continued putting things away while I read the text from Justin.

Justin
:  You need to come get your shit out of the house—ASAP!

Me
:  When is a good time?  It’s going to take a while to box it all up.

Justin
:  I’ve got it waiting by the front door.  If you aren’t here in an hour I’m putting it outside.

Me
:  I’ll be there in a bit, please don’t do that.

Justin
:  You better not bring that fucking nigger with you or Corrina.

“Justin?” Corrina asked.

“Yeah.” I handed her my phone so she could read the texts.

“That explains why he wasn’t blowing up your phone.  You’re not going there alone, he’s fucking crazy to think that you are.  I can go see if Trevor is home.  I bet he would have no problem going with you.”

“No, I’ll call Lyle and see if he’s working.  Justin will remember Trevor and probably start a fight with him.”

Luckily Lyle was there and promised to go to the apartment with me.  We talked for a little bit about everything.  “I had my suspicions for some time now but I wasn’t going to intrude if I would have been wrong Justin would have had me fired.  I’ll see you in a little bit, don’t worry Lennie I won’t let him get out of hand.”

By the time I changed and ready to leave my nerves were on end and my stomach churning. 

“You call me while you’re there if you can, if not you call me as soon as you leave.” Corrina told me.

“I’ll call when I leave, I need to call my dad sometime and tell him about everything too.”

“Okay, I love you.  I’ll see you when you get back.” We hugged each other and I left.

On the drive over I called dad:

“Hey sweetie!” Jennifer answered.

“Hey Jen, is dad around by any chance?”

“Yep he sure is, here ya go.  We miss you!” she laughed then handed the phone to dad.

“Hello my beautiful daughter.” I could tell he was smiling.

“Hey dad!  I just wanted to call you and tell you that…Justin and I are separating.” I exhaled and waited for him to reply.

“Oh—really?  What’s going on?” he sounded shocked.

“Well…” I launched into the story including the scene at the club, but left out my short encounter with Dominique. 

“That mother fucker!  You get an attorney and get away from him as soon as you can.  You’re not still living there are you?”

“No, I’m on my way over to get some of my things.  Corrina is back and has a nice apartment so I’m going to stay with her until I can find a nice place.”

“Christ I’m so sorry this is happening to you,” he sighed, “You deserve better Lennie, you should never be second best to any man.  Don’t you ever let a man degrade you and put you down again.”  Dads voice cracked.  “I know I wasn’t the picture perfect dad and husband, I made mistakes and paid dearly for them.  I didn’t get to see my daughter grow up and I hurt my best friend.  Damn’it Lennie, just walk away from him—he doesn’t deserve the gold heart you have.”

I sniffled and wiped tears away, “It’s just hard I wanted him to love me like he did before.”

“You’ll find somebody that is going to sweep you off your feet, he’ll be a man that will love you and only you.  Don’t rush in to anything, but don’t dwell on that piece of shit Justin either.  He was just a speed bump in life, shut that door—scratch that, slam that fucking door and lock it.  Walk away with your head held high.”

I smiled, “Okay, I’m here now so I need to hang up.  I’ll call you when I get back to Corrina’s.”

“Uh no, you’ll call me as soon as you are gone from there so I know my baby girl is safe and sound!”

“Yes sir, I love you.”  I told him.

“I love you too Lennie, if I don’t hear back from you within an hour I’m calling the cops.”

“Okay.”

“Talk to you in a bit.”

I disconnected the call and took a few calming breaths, I didn’t want Justin to see how upset I had been so I reapplied some eye makeup and put some lip gloss on.  Lyle met me at the front reception desk, a sad look in his eyes.  “I really wish it was him leaving, not you.” He said as he hugged me. 

“We’ll have to keep in touch.  For now let’s go get this over with.”

He nodded his head and walked beside me to the elevator.  I took a few deep calming breaths as we rode up in silence.  “You got this, I’m right here with you.” Lyle patted my shoulder.  We exited the elevator, walking to the door felt like I was carrying twenty-pound sandbags strapped around my ankles.  Dread and fear filled my body.  Although I still had a key I didn’t want to just walk in, I knocked and waited and waited…I knocked again and waited some more.  When Justin never opened the door I twisted the handle, it was unlocked so I quietly walked inside.  There were boxes upon boxes stacked by the entryway but no sign of Justin anywhere. 

“Justin I’m here!” I called out.  He didn’t reply so I started looking what he had packed in the boxes, after I checked each box Lyle stacked them on the luggage cart.  Surprisingly he had actually packed all of my stuff even if he had literally wadded it up and just tossed it in a box, not caring if anything broke.  I was grateful to find the things of moms unharmed. 

“You couldn’t fucking call and let me know you were coming?” Justin said as he walked down the stairs.

I jumped, “Sorry I just thought…”

“Cut the fucking bullshit bitch and just get out.  Scared to be alone with me since I interrupted you fucking that asshole at the club when I showed up?” he grinned and looked at Lyle.

“
Enough
!  Let her get her stuff and she’ll be gone.  I’m here to be a neutral party.” Lyle said to Justin and leveled him with a glare. 

Justin laughed out loud and shook his head, “Hurry the fuck up, I have things to do today.” He told me then left the room. 

After Lyle made the third and final trip with the luggage cart I called out Justin’s name to let him know I was finished.  He didn’t answer so I decided to go upstairs, if he was in the shower he probably couldn’t hear me. 

When I walked into our bedroom it looked like a tornado had ripped through it.  One dresser was flipped over, curtains were partially ripped down, a lamp was in pieces on the floor…and on Justin’s nightstand was a mirror with a pile of white powder in the middle and a clear straw.  “What the fuck are you doing in here?” He yelled. 

“I…wanted to tell you I was finished.  I’ll just leave the key in the basket.” I looked back over at his nightstand.  He did the unthinkable, he walked past me still wrapped in a towel, and sat down on the bed. 

“You want some?” He asked with a grin.  Using a razor blade he sliced lines out on the mirror.  My stomach dropped, how had he gone from being the man of my dreams to somebody in my nightmares. 

“I’ll just leave.” I spun around and left the room.  His laugh sent chills up my spine. 

“You okay?” Lyle asked. 

I shook my head, “I can’t—we need to leave.” My voice and body shook.  I was so hurt, mad, and disgusted. 

Once we made it to my car I started bawling.  Lyle held me and rubbed my back, “You deserve better Lennie.  Just be careful, okay?  I’m afraid that you haven’t seen the last of Justin.”

I sniffled, “Thank you.”

My cell phone rang, dad was calling.  I hugged Lyle tightly before answering the call. 

“I’m fine dad.” I said with a sniffle. 

“Did he hurt you?” he asked angrily.

“No…he, he had drugs…cocaine right there on the nightstand.”

“Jesus.” Dad whispered.  “Are you sure we don’t need to come down?  I’ll drop everything just to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’ll be fine, I need to call Corrina and let her know that I’m okay.”