Loving Cara (29 page)

But more than that, he’s kind and funny, and has a bit of a bad boy side to him too—hence the tattoos.

He’s been front and center in my fantasies for most of my life.

I bite my lips and glance down as his eyes narrow on my face.

“Why do you say that?” he asks calmly.

“It took two freaking years for the divorce to be final, Ty. I don’t want Cary to drag this out too.”

“It wasn’t necessarily Cary’s fault that the divorce took so long, Lauren. Jack had a good lawyer and your divorce was a mess.”

That’s the fucking understatement of the year.

“Will you take my case?” I ask.

“No,” he replies quickly.

“What?” I ask, my dazed eyes returning to his. “Why?”

He shakes his head and sighs as he takes a seat behind his desk. “I have a full load as it is, Lo.”

“You’re more aggressive than Cary,” I begin to say but halt when he scowls.

“I really don’t think I can help you.”

Stunned, I sit back and stare at him. “You mean you won’t.” I hate the hurt I hear in my voice, but I can’t hide it. I know Ty and I aren’t super close, but I considered him a friend. I can’t believe he’s shooting me down.

He folds the letter and hands it back to me, his mouth set in a firm line and his gray eyes sober. “No, I won’t. Make an appointment with Cary and talk it over with him.”

My hand automatically reaches out and takes the letter from Ty, and I’m suddenly just embarrassed.

“Of course,” I whisper and rise quickly, ready to escape this office. “I’m sorry for intruding.”

“Lo . . .”

“No, you’re right. It was unprofessional for me to just show up like this. I apologize.” I clear my throat and offer him a bright, fake smile, then beeline it for the door. “Thanks anyway.”

“Did you want to make an appointment, Lauren?” Sylvia the receptionist asks as I hurry past her desk.

“No, I’ll call. Thanks.”

I can’t get to my car fast enough. Why did I think Ty would help me?
No one will help me!

All the connections I have in this town, all the money I have, and that asshole is still making my life a living hell.

I drive home in a daze, and when I pull up behind a shiny black Jaguar, my heart sinks further.

Today fucking sucks.

Prepared to call for help if need be, I pull my cell phone out of my bag and climb out of my car. I walk briskly past him and up the steps to the front door.

“Hey, gorgeous.”

“I told you not to come here, Jack. I don’t want to see you.”

“Aw, don’t be like that, baby. You’re making this so much harder than it needs to be.”

Shocked and pissed all over again, I round on him.

“I’m the one making this hard?” I shake my head and laugh at the lunacy of this situation. “I don’t want you here. The divorce has been final for weeks now, and you have no business being here. And now you’re trying to fucking
sue me
?”

He loses his smug smile and his mouth tightens as his brown eyes narrow. “No, I’ll tell you what will make it easy, Lauren. You paying me what’s rightfully mine is what will make it easy. You hid that money from me, and I’m entitled to half.”

“I’ll never pay you off, you son of a bitch.” I’m panting and glaring, so fucking angry.

“Oh, honey, I think you will.” He moves in close and drags his knuckles down my cheek. I jerk my head away, but he grabs my chin in his hand, squeezing until there’s just a bit of pain. “Or maybe I’ll just come back here and claim what’s mine. You are still mine, you know.”

My stomach rolls as he runs his nose up my neck and sniffs deeply. Every part of me stills.
What the fuck is this?

“A man has the right to fuck his wife whenever he pleases.”

“I’m not your wife,” I grind out, glaring at him as he pulls back and stares me in the face.

He flashes an evil grin and presses harder against me. “You’ll always be mine. No piece of paper can change that.”

I don’t answer, but instead just continue to glare at him in hatred.

“Maybe you should just go ahead and write that check.”

He pushes away from me and backs down the stairs toward his flashy car, a car he bought with my parents’ money, and snickers as he looks me up and down. “You’ve kept that hot body of yours in shape, Lo. Maybe I’ll come back sometime and take a sample. Remind you of how much you loved it when I fucked your brains out.”

I swear I’m going to throw up.

I can’t answer him. I can only stand here and glower, shaking in rage and fear, as he winks again and hops in his Jag and drives away.

Jesus Christ, he just threatened to rape me.

I let myself into the house and reset the alarm with shaking fingers. I take off in a sprint to the back of the house and heave into the toilet, over and over again until there’s nothing left and my body shivers and jerks in revulsion.

How can someone who once claimed to love me be so damn evil?

When the vomiting has passed, I rinse my mouth and head over to the indoor pool that my parents had built when I was on the swim team in high school. I shuck my clothes, but before I pull my swim cap on, I dial a familiar number on my phone and wait for an answer.

“Hull,” he answers. Brad is a police detective in town, and someone I trust implicitly.

“It’s Lauren.”

“Hey, sugar, what’s up?”

“Jack just left.”

“What did that son of a bitch want?” His voice is steel.

“He threatened me.” My voice is shaky and I hate myself for sounding so vulnerable. “I want it documented that he was here.”

“Did you record it, Lo?”

“No. I wasn’t expecting it. He’s been an asshole in the past, but this is the first time he’s come out and threatened me since he . . .” I pace beside the pool, unable to finish the sentence.

“That’s because I put the fear of God and jail time in him.” He’s quiet for a moment. “Is there anything you need?”

I laugh humorlessly and shake my head. “Yeah, I need my asshole ex to go away. But for now I’ll settle for a swim.”

“Keep your alarm on. Call me if you need me.”

“I will. Thanks, Brad.”

“Anytime, sugar.”

We hang up and I tuck my long auburn hair into my swim cap and then dive into the Olympic-size pool. The warm water glides over my naked skin and I begin the first of countless laps, back and forth across the pool. Swimming is one of two things in this world I do really well, and it clears my head.

I do some of my best thinking in the pool.

Is all of this worth it?
I ask myself. When I married Jack almost five years ago, I was convinced that he was in love with me and that we’d be together forever. He’d been on my swim team in college. He was handsome and charming.

And unbeknownst to me, he’d been after my money all along.

My parents were still alive then, and even they had fallen for his charm. My father had been a brilliant businessman, and had done all he could to convince me to have Jack sign a prenuptial agreement so Jack couldn’t stake any claim to my inheritance.

But blind with love and promises of forever, I had stood my ground and insisted that a prenup was unnecessary.

My dad would lose his mind if he knew what was happening now. If only I’d listened to him!

I tuck and roll, then push off the wall, turning into a backstroke.

The small amount of money that Jack is trying to lay claim to is nothing compared to the money I have that Jack knows nothing about. Since our legal separation, I’ve become very successful in my career as an author, but I wasn’t lying when I told Ty that it’s not about the money.

This is my heritage. My family worked hard for this land, for the wealth they amassed, and Jack doesn’t deserve a fucking dime of it. That’s why the divorce took so long. I fought him with everything in me to ensure that he didn’t get his greedy hands on my family’s money.

In the end he won a small settlement that all of the lawyers talked me into.

Jack wasn’t happy.

I push off the edge of the pool and glide underwater until I reach the surface and then move into a front crawl.

After my parents died in a car accident just over two years ago, Jack made it clear that he didn’t love me, had been sleeping around since we were dating, but expected me to keep him in his comfortable lifestyle.

And when I threw a fit and kicked him out, he slammed me against the wall and landed a punch to my stomach, certain to avoid bruising me, before he left.

Thanks to threats from Brad, and Jack knowing how well-known I am in this town, he hadn’t bothered me since.

And now he’s threatening to rape me.

Rape me!

It’s not worth it. Living in constant fear and embarrassment of seeing Jack around town. Seeing the pity in the eyes of people I’ve known my whole life when I see them on the street.

And now coming home to an ambush because he’s feeling desperate.

I’m done.

Exhausted and panting, I pull myself out of the water and resign to go see Cary in the morning to agree to a settlement.

It’s time to move on.

*  *  *

It’s early when I leave the house and drive to the lawyer’s office. I don’t have an appointment, and I don’t even know for sure if anyone is there yet, but I couldn’t sleep last night. I couldn’t lose myself in work.

I need to get this over with.

When I stride to the front door, I’m surprised to find it unlocked. Sylvia isn’t in yet, but I hear voices back in Cary’s office.

I stride through his door like I belong there, and both Cary’s and Ty’s faces register surprise when they see me in the doorway.

“You know, Lo, we have these things called phones. You use them to call and make what’s known as an appointment.” Ty’s gray eyes are narrowed, but his lips are quirked in a smile. He’s in a power suit today, which makes my mouth water immediately. His shoulders look even broader in the black jacket, and the blue tie makes his eyes shine.

“Ha-ha,” I respond and sit heavily in the seat before Cary’s desk. “I’m sick of this shit.”

“Ty told me you came by yesterday,” Cary informs me as he leans back in his chair.

“I was fucking served papers,” I mutter and push my hands though my hair. “But I think I want to settle.”

Ty raises his eyebrows. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

“You can stay,” I mutter. “I could use both of your opinions. I’ll pay double for the hour.”

“That’s not necessary.” Ty’s voice is clipped and he frowns as he gazes at me. “Why the change of heart?”

I lean back in the chair, tilt my head, and look at the tin tiles on the ceiling.

“Because Jack’s an asshole. Because now he’s decided to threaten me.” I shake my head and look Cary in the eye. “But no payments. It’s going to be in one lump sum and he needs to sign a contract stating that he’ll never ask for another dime.”

“Wait, back up.” Ty pushes away from the desk and glowers down at me. “What do you mean he threatened you?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Lauren,” Cary interrupts, “it does matter. What the hell happened?”

“When I returned home, Jack was at the house.”

“Does he still have a key?” Ty asks.

“No.” I shake my head adamantly. “I changed all the locks and installed a new alarm system the day he left.”

“So he was waiting outside,” Cary clarifies.

“Yes. I told him to leave, that I didn’t want to see him and he isn’t welcome at the house. He said I was making things harder than they need to be.” I laugh humorlessly as Cary’s eyebrows climb toward his blond hairline.

“I reminded him that there’s nothing difficult about this at all. We’re divorced. It’s over, and he can just go away.” I shrug and look away, not wanting to continue.

“What did he threaten you with?” Ty asks softly.

I raise my eyes to his and suddenly my stomach rolls.

“I’m going to be sick.” I bolt from the room and run to the restroom in the hallway, barely making it in time to lose the half-gallon of coffee I consumed this morning. When the dry-heaving stops, I rinse my mouth and open the door to find Ty on the other side.

“Are you okay?” he asks quietly.

I nod, embarrassed. He reaches up and gently tucks a stray piece of my hair behind my ear.

“What did he threaten you with?” He asks as he leads me back to Cary’s office.

I swallow and cross my arms over my chest. I don’t want to say it aloud. “He just threatened to be a dick.”

“Bullshit,” Cary responds, leaning forward in his chair. “Lo, the man wasn’t afraid to put his hands on you when you told him to leave . . .”

“What?” Ty exclaims, but Cary continues.

“So you need to tell me what he threatened to do to you if you don’t give him what he wants.”

I shake my head and close my eyes, remembering the feel of Jack’s nose pressed to my neck and the crazy look in his eyes when he wasn’t getting what he wanted.

“Excuse us for a minute, Cary.”

Ty takes my hand in his and leads me toward the door.

“Uh, my client, Ty, remember?”

“We’ll be right back,” Ty assures him and leads me into his office and shuts the door behind us.

“What did the asshole threaten to do to you, Lauren?”

“You said no yesterday, Ty. This isn’t your case.”

He shrugs, as if what I just said is of no consequence.

“Answer me.”

I simply shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. Cary and I will figure it out. You don’t have to stay in there with us.”

I try to walk past him but he catches my hand in his, keeping me in place.

“Lauren . . .”

“Stop, Ty. You don’t want me—I get it.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he asks, his voice deceptively calm. “Do you know why I turned you down yesterday, Lauren?”

I shake my head, my eyes wide and pinned to his.

“Because it would be a conflict of interest. I can’t be your lawyer because I’m your friend, and I want to be a whole lot more than that.”

If I thought I was stunned before, it’s nothing compared to this. My jaw drops as he closes the gap between us. He doesn’t touch me, but his face is mere inches from mine. His eyes are on my lips as I bite them and watch him. I’m completely thrown by this turn of events.