My Only Regret (Twisted Fate Book 1) (22 page)

His words came at me and I felt as if the life had been sucked out of me. I studied him through tear filled eyes, trying my best not to release the flood that threatened to spill over. I didn't quite know why I let this woman get to me so badly. Maybe I would always have a sore spot where she was concerned. I had seen the way his body reacted when he'd read her text, he had clearly been affected.

"I don't like you talking to her, you know that. Does this happen often? Does she just text you out of the blue and you two chat like old friends? Is this something you laugh about behind my back?" I felt my fears taking over and fought hard to hold back what I really wanted to say.
 

"Stop it. Don't go there, Rhyann. I don't talk with her behind your back. I may be an asshole, but I'm not a douchebag. I wouldn't do that to you." He placed his palms on the railing and turned his head to face me. I could see the hard set of his eyes and I knew that he was frustrated with me for accusing him of something he didn't do.

"How am I supposed to trust you when I felt your body physically react to her contacting you? Hell, you couldn't even respond to her without coming out here to do it in secret." I challenged him, stomping my foot for effect.

"You've got to stop accusing me of going behind your back. I can't help it if I respond to her a certain way, that doesn't mean I feel anything for her other than friendship. She's a beautiful woman, I can't help it if I appreciate that about her." He scowled and turned away again.

"You've also fucked her, countless times! How is that supposed to make me feel?"

"That's enough! I can't change the past, and I haven't done anything wrong. You have to see that. I won't pay for someone else's mistakes. I'm not your father and I'm not cheating on you."

I allowed his words to sink in, willing myself to believe them. I wanted to believe that I would always be enough. I wanted to give myself the freedom to put my trust in him completely, after all isn't that what you're supposed to do in marriage? I loved him with a passion that ran deeper than I had ever known possible, and the fear of losing him tore at my soul with claws that felt like razors. I sighed in defeat, knowing that once again I had let my insecurities get the best of me, and I knew that I had to apologize for the accusations I had made. I walked over to him and stood in the open space between his legs, after a brief hesitation he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight against him.

"I'm sorry for what I said. I'm sorry that I have trouble trusting when you've never given me any reason to doubt you. I don't want you to have to pay for my father's transgressions, I know that you're not him." I lifted a hand to cup his cheek and ran my thumb over the light stubble. "I'm trying my best, but I can't promise that it won't happen again. I'm so afraid of losing you, and I don't know what I would do if that ever happened."

"Shhh, baby, that's never going to happen. I love you too much for that. I'm right here. You have me, all of me. What do I have to do to prove that to you?" He placed his hands on my cheeks and forced me to look at him. I saw love and determination in his eyes as he tried his best to comfort me.

"Just keep doing this. This is a really good place to start." He leaned in to kiss me and I felt my world turn right side up once again. I surrendered myself to the sweet kisses that never left room for doubt. I knew that he loved me; I just needed a little reminder every now and again.
 

O
ver the last few weeks I had come to realize that once I allowed myself to love, and be loved, my trust in Jesse grew exponentially. I felt safe with him; safe was a feeling I had never truly known until he came into my life. After having coffee on the porch, I decided to bake some cookies for the guys. I had just removed the first batch from the oven, and was scooping out the dough for the next dozen, when the phone rang.

“Hello,” I answered, catching it on the fourth ring, and cradling it between my neck and shoulder as I finished scooping.

“Rhyann, this is Jennifer Wilson, we spoke at your house.” Oh yes, the lawyer.

“Yes, I remember. Can I help you?”

“Well, I wanted to give you an update on how things are going with the lawsuit against Mr. Nelson. Based on the statements of you and his current assistant, the partners at Morton & Waters have moved forward with terminating their relationship with Mr. Nelson. He will most likely lose his partnership and I am pressing for him to face assault charges. He was arrested last night and the police would like you to go down to the station to give another statement.”

“Oh wow, I had no idea it would go that far.” My stomach knotted together as tightly as the fists that now rested at my sides. “For years I just dealt with it on my own. This is really serious. I need to talk with my husband first, and then I will go down. Thank you for calling me.”

“No, thank you Rhyann. Please, call me if you need anything.”

I hung up and went to find Jesse. He was in the studio with a set of headphones covering his ears, and when he saw me he motioned for me to join him in the booth. “What’s up baby?” he asked, pulling the headphones off and setting them next to the soundboard. I traced a finger nervously along the lines of various dials on the board. He eyed me carefully, aware that something was up.

“I have to talk with you about something,” I began, nervously.

“What is it? You know you can tell me anything.” His voice was soothing, and he calmly grasped my fidgeting hands in his.

“When we got back from Vegas I had a visit from a lawyer.” His eyebrow shot up and his lips pursed tightly together. “She stopped by the house one day when you were out and asked me a lot of questions about my former boss. Apparently, he sexually assaulted his new assistant and she reported him. They dug around and found my file and wanted to know about my time working for him. I told her everything and she left.” I tried pulling a hand away to resume fidgeting.

“Okay, what else?” He placed his hand protectively over mine.

“She just called again and told me that Steve has been arrested and that he will probably lose his partnership with the firm. The police want me to go down and give a statement this morning. I’m really nervous.” I mindlessly chewed the tip of my thumbnail.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’ll go down there with you. You don’t have to do this alone.” He pulled me in for a hug and kissed the top of my head. “I’ll be right beside you the whole time,” he assured me, his voice was calm and he stroked my hair, but neither action did anything to stop the butterflies from taking up residence within my belly.

W
e drove to the police station where I met with Detective Lane, and he led us back to an interrogation booth where they taped my statement. I waited while my statement was transcribed and signed the document. The whole process took less than an hour. On our way out I looked up as we past front desk and there stood Steve as he was being released. He turned toward me and my body instantly tensed. Jesse had never seen Steve, so at first he didn’t realize why I had stopped walking.

“You lying bitch!” Steve yelled, as he started toward me. The officer standing next to him grabbed him by the arms and pulled him back into the chair. “You always were a worthless whore,” he spat, trying to shake off the man’s tight grip.

Jesse charged for him, eyes wild and fists clenched. It took me and another officer to restrain him. “You ever touch her again and I will fucking kill you!” Jesse threatened.

“Jesse, no!” I screamed, pulling him back to me. “He’s not worth it. He’s just a piece of shit.”

“Sir, you need to leave now,” directed the officer restraining Steve. Jesse shook loose of our hold and cursed loudly, running a hand through his hair.

“Come on,” he said, grabbing for my hand and leading me out of there. Once outside, he held me tight against him. “I’m sorry baby. I couldn’t stand hearing him say those things about you.”

“I know. I’m okay, really. Let’s just go home.” We rode in silence and pulled in the driveway. Before we got out of the car, I reached over and took his hand. “Thank you for being with me, and for standing up for me.” He nodded and squeezed my hand.

“I’m not letting you out of my sight, I hope you know that,” he muttered.

True to his word, he spent the next four days glued to my side. Every errand I ran he rode with me. He jogged with me, and kept me company while I worked in the office. His presence made me feel safe and loved and I found myself feeling happier than I had ever been. It's funny what can make you realize how blessed you truly are. I had everything right in front of me but until now I wasn't sure I had even taken that into consideration. So, here we were, a rockstar and his wife, sitting at home on a Thursday afternoon perfectly content to just be together. It felt great, but at the same time I couldn't help feeling guilty at what he may be missing by spending all of his time babysitting me. At one point, I looked over and saw him playing on his phone with headphones in his ears. He caught me staring and pulled one bud out.

“What?” he gave a lopsided grin.

“What are you doing here? You don’t have to babysit me while I’m in the house. I’m perfectly fine Jesse,” I laughed.

“I like spending time with you. Besides, I can’t think of anything I have to do that’s more important than being with you.” He blew me a kiss and put the bud back in his ear.

Later that night, we were lying in bed, my back to his front, and I played with his fingers while he placed soft kisses on my shoulder. We had spent the entire day together and the most intimate thing we had done was kiss. He had handled me so tenderly since the incident at the police station. It was almost as if he worried I may have been traumatized by reliving the whole ordeal with Steve. Honestly, I hadn’t given it a great deal of thought, I just wanted him to be a distant memory and this whole lawsuit had just interrupted my healing. Lying here like this was just the sort of thing I needed to make everything right in my world. Being close to Jesse righted any injustice I may have been served. He was my rock and my center. I was just drifting off to sleep when I felt his breath on my ear.

“I love you,” he proclaimed softly, "and I promise to never let anything happen to you, ever again." I pressed tighter against him and squeezed his hand in response.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

T
hese!” Mel’s voice called out across the department store. I pulled myself out of the crouched position I had been in, digging through displays of luxurious shoes, and poked my head over the display to see her holding up a stunning pair of Jimmy Choo’s. My arm instinctively reached for the item she currently clung possessively to her chest.

“They’re perfect,” I exclaimed, after strapping it over my ankle. I stood, strutting back and forth before stopping in front of a full-length mirror. The high arches and four-inch heels were surprisingly comfortable and helped set off my two best assets, my ass and my breasts. I smiled knowingly before slipping them off, no matter the cost these bad boys were going home with me. Tonight I had a date with my husband, and I had a feeling he would enjoy these shoes every bit as much as I would, but for entirely different reasons. I paid for the shoes and turned to Mel, who had also found a pair of sexy-as-hell shoes.
 

“Now, let’s go find a dress.”
 

The guys had just returned from a three-day recording session in L.A. Tonight they were taking us out, and we had every intention of looking hot. It had taken two weeks, but Jesse had finally let me out of his sight, but only because he had been out of town. Charlie had assigned one of his men to tag along with us, thankfully he had kept a good distance so we were still able to get a lot of girl talk in.

“So, where are they taking us?” Mel asked, as we were trying on dresses. “David is playing coy like he doesn’t have a plan, but I know something is up.”

“I know, Jesse hasn’t told me either. I’m just excited to get out of the house,” I mumbled, pulling yet another black dress up over my hips before walking over to Mel’s dressing room. “Help me out,” I said, pulling my hair up high on my head as I turned around.

“That looks great on you Rhy,” she whistled low. I stepped in front of the bank of mirrors and studied my reflection. The way the dress clung to my breasts and narrowed with my waist, and then flared out past my hips, was enough to capture my attention and hold it. The shoes put the ensemble over the top. This was definitely the one for me.

L
ater that evening, I was standing in the bathroom, wearing only a black matching bra and panties and putting the finishing touches on my hair, when Jesse came in, wearing all black and looking sexy as hell.
 

“Rhyann, how can you expect me to let you out of the house when I know what you’re wearing underneath your dress?” His hands slipped around my waist as he stood behind me, looking me up and down. “Are these new? I don’t remember seeing these before.” He fingered the black lacey material of my new panties.

“Yes,” I playfully wiggled my rear against his arousal.

“I like this,” he breathed into my ear. “I’ll enjoy tearing it off you later.” His teeth nipped the edge of my earlobe as his hand brushed lightly over my left breast, my nipple instantly responded, and pressed painfully against the lacey material.

“We have to finish getting ready. Save it for later, babe.” I kissed him quickly and turned to the adjoining closet. I slipped on my dress and stepped out to have him zip me up. “I need help.” His hands smoothed over my back before he pulled gently on the zipper. He stood back and looked me up and down once more.

“I love the dress,” he kissed me once, “and those shoes are killer,” he kissed me again. “Those are staying on later,” he whispered, before dipping me back and covering me in an all-consuming kiss. When he righted me it took a moment to steady myself, causing him to chuckle. “That’s the exact same effect you have on me sweetheart. Just looking at you knocks me off my feet.”

“Babe, you say the best things,” I smiled and linked my arm with his. “We better get going Mr. Montgomery.”