Shattered Edge (9 page)

I let the breath of air whoosh out of my mouth. “Ava, it’s Terri Mitchell. We made a truce and we’re seeing each other. I’m not joking. I’m calling you from her bed. Do you want to FaceTime so I can prove it to you?”

“Yes! I do because I don’t believe you.”

“Okay. Hang up and FaceTime me back.”

Damn it, she did. Once we were live, she wanted me to prove it. So I walked around her house, pointing things out to her to show her where I was.  She finally came around and admitted, “Well, I’ll be damned. I don’t know how you did it Justin, but if you mess with her and screw her over, I’ll personally put a knot in your balls so big, you’ll never reproduce as long as you live. Do you hear me?”

What the hell! My sister was supposed to be on my side!

“Jesus, Ava, what kind of creep do you think I am. I’m dating her, and by the way, we’re exclusive.”

“What the hell Justin?”

“I’m not some man whore Ava. I’m not going to fuck her over.”

“Well, that’s not the reputation of the brother I know. Just a few months ago I remember...”

I had to cut this convo off fast. I was getting hot under the collar now.

“Listen Ava, don’t you dare go there. That ship’s sailed in my book and it better have in yours too. You got it?”

“Yeah, but it’s not my book I’m concerned about. You’re the bad boy Justin, not me.”

“Fuck.” I rubbed the tension that had grown into the jaws of life clamping down on the muscles in my neck.

“Yeah. You certainly have dear brother.”

“Ava. Listen to me. I’ll not deny my erroneous ways of the past. But I’m trying to do right by Terri. I swear it. She’s different and I’ve known it from the first time I met her.” That little thing in my chest just prodded me again when I said those words. Now I moved my hand from my neck to my chest so I could rub it.

“I hope so Justin, because I wasn’t kidding about what I said earlier. I will contort the hell out of your balls if you hurt her. I love that girl. Don’t you mess with her head.”

“Lingerie store, please,” I bit out.

“Tiny Touches of Lace. On King Street. Ask for Casey. You know her. She’s my friend. I think you fucked her a time or two.” I winced as she ended the call.

Damn it!
That’s the last time I would ask Ava for help. She didn’t need to contort my balls. She already had. They felt swollen and bruised. And I felt sick. I was a shit and had been to a number of women over the years. The thing is, back when it was going on, I didn’t think for a second about what I was doing. I was always honest with them about not wanting to be involved. I was a free agent and told them. They never complained, that is until I wanted to part ways. The no strings thing was never real. There were
always
strings. And then I was the asshat. That’s why I had built up that wall because I had been lied to so many times. “Oh Justin, I don’t want to be involved either.” Or, “Oh Justin, that’s exactly what I want too. You can come and go as you please.” They were always lying. I never trusted women after that.  I dated them as I felt necessary, slept with the ones I wanted and never cared about a serious relationship.

I showered and left for my place because I didn’t want to shop for lingerie in my scrubs. Not long after that, I found myself in the most awkward situation ever...buying lingerie from Casey for Terri. And yes, Ava was right. I had slept with Casey a few years back. It was all I could do to buy those two dozen pairs of panties, which set me back about five c notes (but they were worth ten times that much), have them gift wrapped and get the hell out of that store. I would’ve rather walked across a bed of nails.

I got the panties home and called a local courier service. They were at my house twenty minutes later. I attached a note and told the courier to deliver them to Terri Mitchell at Mitchell Properties. Then I waited for my phone to ring.

My reward came about an hour later.

“Went a little crazy in there didn’t you?” she asked. I could tell she was smiling.

“Not at all. I just heard that someone close to me was in dire need of some panties.”

“Oh? Is that a fact?”

“Uh huh. And, I had an idea or two.

“What kind of idea?”

“Hmm. You’ll just have to find out.”

“You play dirty mister.”

“You have no idea ma’am.”

She cleared her throat and didn’t say anything for a second. “Well,” she went on, her voice had now turned husky, “it’s a good thing you brought more than one pair.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“Because the pair I put on when they arrived are already damp. You know you have that effect on me.”

Now it was my turn to clear my throat. “Um Terri?”

“Yeah Justin.”

“How soon can you be here?”

“Not soon enough. I’m going home to JJ.”

“Oh no you’re not. I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes. And Terri?

“Yes Justin?”

“Wear the black panties with the pink ribbons on them. You know, the thong that only has one string that runs up your ass? I want to see your ass in that Terri.”

CHAPTER TEN

Terri

At this rate I was gonna combust. One look at him and my blood roared and turned into liquid fire while my body melted into a puddle of desire. Justin should bottle whatever it was he had and sell it because it was some kind of magic. Talk about arousal. I was in a heightened state around him.

He made work difficult. I would find myself in a trance, thinking about the previous night or that morning, if we spent the night together. I’d decided to limit those nights, although he wasn’t happy about it. He was so consuming and it was all too easy to slip into the Justin mode. I didn’t want to lose the old Terri. I wanted to keep my friends and my life, and not drop everything and just be all about him. He could have me on the weekends he didn’t have call and one or two nights during the week. That was it.

I pulled out of the parking lot, headed to my place when my phone rang. Thinking it was Justin, I answered it without looking.

“I’m almost home,” I laughed.

“Terri?”

“Um yeah.” I knew immediately it wasn’t Justin.

“Hey, it’s me, Preston.”

Oh crap. Preston. My brother. The one that only calls or comes around when he needs something, like money for drugs. The ex-con.

“What do you need Preston?”

“Well, since you’re on your way home, I was planning on meeting you there to talk, so never mind. I’ll see you there.” Click. The call ended.

  Damn it all.  Justin would be pulling up right about the time Preston and I would be doing the same. Double damn it all.

I called Justin to warn him, but his phone went straight to voicemail. Triple damn it all.

A few minutes later, I pulled into my driveway and on my front porch sat a bedraggled Preston. Thirty seconds later, Justin pulled in behind me. He got out of his car and approached us with a dark look on his face.

Not wanting any kind of altercation, I immediately said, “Justin, meet my brother Preston. Preston, this is my boyfriend, Justin.” It should be noted here that I put a mountain of emphasis on the word boyfriend. I think Justin may have thought I did it for his sake, but I was doing it for my protection against Preston.

The two men eyed each other. Justin extended his hand while Preston twitched and his eyes darted between Justin and me. He finally took the extended hand and gave it a brief shake. I unlocked the door and we all went inside.

“So Preston, what’s up?”

“Well, sis, I was wondering if I could crash here for a while.”

This wasn’t good. My brother was a bad seed. He’d been in one mess after another, had done six months in prison and was still using.

“You’re still using Preston. Until you quit, you can’t stay here.”

His eyes flashed and his lips hardened. His whole demeanor changed and I was suddenly happy Justin was there. Justin moved next to me and put his arm around me, pulling me into his side.

“I need money Terri.”

“We’ve been over this time and again Preston. I’ll help you when you help yourself. No money, no place to live, nothing, until you get help and get clean. I mean it Preston. I’m not kidding here. I’ll not enable you on your life further down into the gutter in which you’re already living.”

“Why do you have to be such a fucking bitch?”

I felt Justin stiffen in reaction to Preston’s abusive remark. I prayed he didn’t do anything. The last thing I needed was some kind of quarrel between the two of them.

“I’m not Preston. I simply don’t believe in aiding and abetting a drug addict. Roll up your sleeves for me.”

“No! It’s none of your fucking business what I do.”

“Fine. Then you have no fucking business asking me for a place to stay or money to support your fucking drug habit. Now get out Preston. And don’t come back until you’re clean. I’ll be more than happy to help you then.”

Preston looked at me and the hatred pouring out of his eyes really scared me. His mouth scowled as he sneered, “You think you’re so high and mighty, don’t you? Well, you better watch your back sister because you never know what’s gonna creep up behind you one day.”

The tension and heat rolling off of Justin was nearly palpable by now. His voice had taken on a menacing quality when he said, “That’s quite enough. Don’t you ever threaten her again, or you’ll have me to deal with. Now. Get. Out. You heard your sister. And don’t come back until you’re clean.”

Justin had gotten right into Preston’s face and he outsized him by a couple of inches and at least twenty pounds of pure muscle. Preston wilted like a delicate flower in the middle of the August heat. He turned around and walked out the door.

I, on the other hand, started shaking like a washer on the spin cycle. I hadn’t seen Preston in over a year and a half. The last time we’d spoken, I told him he wasn’t welcome here until he was clean. He told me he respected that. I hadn’t trusted him in a while and I’d always been a little bit scared of him. But this time he was a totally different guy. Not anything like the brother I’d grown up with. I was really frightened of this Preston. He wasn’t kidding. I read it in his eyes. This was a desperate Preston, needing a fix.

Justin was pulling me to the sofa and crouching down in front of me, saying something. The roaring in my ears made it impossible for me to hear him. His lips were moving, but I couldn’t understand him. Then I got really hot and his hand was on the back of my neck, pushing my head between my knees.

“It’s going to be fine. Try to take some deep breaths honey.” I heard his voice keep repeating those words. I finally responded and started doing that deep breathing thing.

“Good girl Terri. That’s right.”

When I lifted my head, I still felt a little clammy, but I wasn’t shaking anymore.

“Better?” he wanted to know.

“I think so.”

I didn’t even notice until then that I was gripping Justin’s hand. I gave it another squeeze and said, “He scared the hell out of me. He’s never done that before. He’s asked for money and stuff but backed off when I said no.”

“He’s getting more desperate. Typical behavior, I think, for a drug addict.”

“What should I do? What if he comes back here?”

“Honey, I think you should call the police.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and your parents need to know too.”

I thought for a minute and agreed. “Yeah, they cut him off for the same reasons years ago. You know, tough love and all. My mom still cries about it.”

“What mother wouldn’t? That’s a difficult thing to deal with.”

I called my dad and he was at my house in minutes.

“Dad, this is my boyfriend, Justin Middleton. Justin, this is my dad, Sam Mitchell.”

They eyed each other for a few seconds and then they shook hands. My dad wasn’t nearly as tall as Justin but he was my dad and very protective of me. Dad thanked Justin for being there with me and handling Preston and it was obvious he was relieved I hadn’t been alone.

The police got there right about then. We ended up putting a restraining order on him, only the police said it really couldn’t do that much. They would send a patrol car around the house to check on things every day and night. But that was about it.

Justin called a security company to set up an installation. We all decided that I would stay at Justin’s until the alarm was installed. He was on call that weekend, so I would have his place to myself. By Monday, everything would be set in my house.

My dad was going crazy. Like me, he never thought Preston would stoop to this level. We all hoped when he went to prison, that he would come off the drugs and remain clean. That didn’t happen. It killed us but we learned to move on. We couldn’t live his life for him and he’d made his choice so we had to accept it.

Justin and I were in bed and watching TV that night when I realized that we hadn’t had sex. I looked at him and just stared. He must’ve felt my gaze on him because he turned his eyes toward me and smiled.

“What?”

“We’re laying in your bed and we’re not sexed up.”

“Speak for yourself sweetheart,” he laughed.

“What?”

“Babe, just because my paws aren’t all over you doesn’t mean I’m not sexed up.”

He was confusing me. “I’m not following.”

“Okay, then let me explain Terri. Sometimes there are things that are more important than sex. Like today for instance. You were crumbling on me. I was afraid for your safety. You’re hurting inside for your brother. Yeah, he made that choice. But honey, he’s still your brother. And it still hurts like hell. So sometimes, we might just need to be together. You know...talk, touch that sort of thing. And not always sex. I’ll always be sexed up around you. I’m a testosterone filled tool. What can I say? But I respect you and your feelings enough to know that’s not what
you
need right now. Am I making sense?”

That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me in my life. I wanted to curl up with this man and stay like this for the rest of my life. I really didn’t want to go all gushy on him, all girlie like, but damn it all, when he said that stuff, my eyes filled up like a pond after a heavy storm, and well, I just couldn’t blink enough to keep the overflow at bay. 

He rolled me on my back and his face was next to mine in a heartbeat. In a whisper that made me shiver all over he said, “Terri, honey, I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just wanted you to know that I really am just a horny guy all the time around you. But just because I am, it doesn’t mean I’m going to take advantage of you...ever. Today was rough on you and I think you needed some time.”

“Thanks Justin. I’m only crying ‘cause that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard. Really.”

He nudged my face with his nose and smiled against my mouth.

“Really? You’re not just saying that?”

“No, I won’t ever just say that.”

His smile grew and he kissed me chastely. Then he rolled on his back and took me with him, snuggling me against him. I fell asleep in his arms, and woke up the same way in the morning.