Trust (6 page)

While she was upstairs, I cleaned up what was left of my food and the extra she’d brought. My appetite was next to nonexistent these days. The only reason I ate most of the time was because I forced myself. It wasn’t as if the food had much taste. I ate because I needed the energy to keep myself going, to do what I needed to do for myself and Brianna. I could only hope Brianna was doing the same, and that Cal and Jade were encouraging her to eat. The thought that she might not be taking care of herself caused the food I’d just eaten to churn in my stomach.

Hearing Sarah coming down the stairs, I pushed my discomfort aside and walked back into the dining room to meet her. She had a somewhat serious expression on her face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

Sarah turned away from me and headed into the living room. I followed. She reached the couch, paused as if she were going to sit down, then walked to the large window overlooking the city, and started pacing. After several moments, I took a seat in my chair and decided to wait her out. It wasn’t as if I had anything better to do with my evening.

Even so, I was grateful she didn’t make me wait long. She didn’t look at me when she spoke, which made me uneasy. Sarah didn’t have trouble looking people in the eye. Ever.

“I wasn’t completely honest with you about why I’m here.”

Instead of acknowledging her comment, I remained silent.

“I mean, I did come here because I want to be here for you. That wasn’t a lie, but . . .” She took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around her middle, hugging herself. “That wasn’t the only reason.”

Pain was etched across her face, and I debated whether to go comfort her.

I was about to cross the room when she continued. “I met a guy. We were together for about six months. He . . . he wasn’t a Dom, but I liked him. I thought. I thought maybe in time I could introduce him to the lifestyle.”

It didn’t take a genius to see where this was going. To many, BDSM was taboo. Some people felt that in order to be involved in the lifestyle, one had to be sick or twisted in some way. It was far from the truth, but to some that didn’t matter.

“One night, I pulled out some of my toys and asked him to use them on me. At first, he just looked at me with this blank stare. I thought he didn’t understand what I was asking, so I explained.”

She held herself tighter, and I couldn’t stay seated any longer. I knew what it was like to be rejected because of what I enjoyed, to have someone you cared about treat you as if you were a freak of nature for your desires. Taking hold of her shoulders, I pulled her against me, and she buried her face in my neck.

“He said I was disgusting. Tha-that he never wanted to see me again.”

“I’m sorry, Sarah.” I felt moisture seep through my shirt and knew she was crying.

We stood there as the sun began to set over the city. “There’s something else I have to tell you.”

Leaning back so that I could look at her face, I watched as she brushed the tears from her cheeks and tried to compose herself. “You can tell me anything. You know that.”

She glanced down, her dark brown hair obstructing her face. A flash of Brianna standing before me, head bowed and about to confess something, caused me to suck in a deep breath. My chest clenched painfully.

I almost welcomed it when Sarah looked back up and I could see her face. It didn’t make the ache go away, nothing ever did, but I would take what small reprieve I could get.

“Two weeks later, I realized I was late.”

Blinking, I stared into her eyes. I wanted to make sure I understood. “You’re pregnant?”

She nodded.

“Does he know?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know how to tell him. Not after what he said. What if he . . . tries to take the baby away from me?”

Tears returned, and I held her close. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Stephan, you don’t have to. You have enough to deal with right now. I wasn’t even going tell you.”

“I’m glad you did.”

When her tears began to ebb, Sarah laughed, but there was little humor in it. “I cry at the drop of a hat now.”

I laughed. “I think that’s normal.”

She nodded.

“Do you know how far along you are?”

“About eight weeks.”

It was my turn to nod. Even though she couldn’t see me, I knew she felt the movement.

“Where are you staying while you’re here?”

“At a hotel not far from downtown.”

“You’re going to be here a while?”

“Yeah. I need some time to figure out what I’m going to do.” She paused. “Plus, I really do want to be here for you, Stephan. I don’t know about this woman, but I know you.”

I hugged her, grateful for her friendship. “I’m going to call Lily. She can go back to the hotel with you and get your things.” She glanced up at me, confused. “You’re here to see me, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’re staying here. I have a guest room upstairs now. It might as well be used for something useful.”

“Stephan, I can’t—”

“I don’t recall asking.”

Sarah opened and shut her mouth several times. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Let me call Lily and see if she’s free. If not, I’ll take you, but considering the number of reporters following me around, it would be better if they didn’t see me going into a hotel with you.”

I took out my phone, and she shifted nervously from one foot to the other. “I don’t want my staying here to cause problems for you.”

“You’re staying.”

She didn’t argue, and after selecting Lily’s number, I placed the phone to my ear. Lily answered on the third ring. “If you’re not busy tonight, I need a favor.”

Chapter 5

Brianna

I nervously glanced at the clock for the twelfth time in less than ten
minutes. It was almost four. Cal was normally home before four, especially on Fridays, which was why when Emma had called, saying she needed to talk to both of us, I’d told her four o’clock.

Looking again, I realized the clock hadn’t changed. Why wasn’t he home yet?

At the sound of a car in the driveway, I whipped my head in that direction, even though I couldn’t see the front of the house from my room. Glancing down, I noticed that I’d pulled several threads loose from my jeans. When I heard someone open the door to the house, I dismissed my observation completely. I held my breath as I waited.

“Anna, I’m home,” Cal called out from the main room.

I released the breath I’d been holding.

That first week I’d moved in, Cal took off work. It was awkward, but knowing he’d been in the house had helped. Cal had installed a security system, as well as setting up what he called a panic button. There were several of them around the house, and he said if anyone tried to break in and hurt me, I could hit one of those buttons and it would send a signal directly to him and to the police. Even with all the added security, I tensed and waited for Cal or Jade to call out to me when they came home, letting me know it was them.

Knowing Cal was here, and that Emma would be coming any minute, I knew I needed to force myself to get up from my bed. My legs didn’t want to cooperate. It felt as if I had metal rods in them as I moved. What seemed like several minutes had passed before I reached the door that separated my bedroom from the main house, and once I got there, I paused with my hand on the knob.

You can do this. It’s just Cal.

Turning the knob, I slowly opened the door. It made no sound, but as I stepped into the kitchen Cal must have seen movement out of the corner of his eye, because he turned around abruptly and knocked a bread roll he had lying on the counter to the floor.

When he realized what he’d done, he sighed and bent down to pick it up. I plastered myself against the wall next to my door.

He glanced in my direction as he tossed the dirty roll in the trash. “Is everything okay, Anna?”

I nodded.

Cal frowned but went back to making his sandwich. He used to try and approach me at times like this, but he didn’t anymore, especially when Jade wasn’t around. I didn’t mean to freak out on him, but too often he would get frustrated with me and raise his voice or move his body a certain way, and I’d hit an eight or a nine within seconds.

The first time it happened, I’d screamed
yellow
at him as I’d backed myself up into the far corner of my bedroom. He’d looked at me as if I were speaking a foreign language. Luckily Jade was there and had understood.
“I think it’s something Stephan taught her to say when things are getting to be too much. I think it means she needs space, Cal. You need to give her some space.”
She’d been right, and he’d reluctantly backed off.

After a similar thing happened two other times, Cal had taken to keeping his distance from me. He never came within three feet of me unless he asked first. If we were standing, it was more like five. I know the whole situation upset him, but I was grateful he was being such a good friend to me. He was letting me live here after all. I doubted I could ever repay him for everything he was doing.

“Did you want a sandwich? I’ve got ham and turkey.”

“No. Thank you.”

He glanced in my direction once more and went back to what he was doing.

“Emma called.”

That got his attention, and he abandoned his sandwich to face me. “What did she say?”

His voice was commanding, and I could see the muscles under his shirt flexing. My gaze fixated on his arms, his posture, and I swallowed, feeling my heart rate increase.

“Anna. What did Emma say?”

My gaze snapped to his, my eyes wide.

He sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it like that. I’m just . . . I guess I’m anxious to hear what she had to say.”

I closed my eyes and took in a slow, deep breath, trying to calm down. I spread my hands wide behind me, feeling the texture of the wall, allowing it to ground me just as Stephan had taught me. “She’s . . . coming over.”

Cal didn’t speak for several long seconds. “When?”

Before I could answer, we heard another car.

“I guess that answers my question.” He abandoned his food and went to get the door. I stayed where I was.

Muffled sounds from the front entry floated into the back of the house. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could tell by Cal’s tone that he was questioning Emma. She’d said on the phone that she wanted to talk to us both together, so I doubted she would say anything to him without me in the room.

Sure enough, less than a minute later, Cal came marching into the kitchen with Emma in tow. He didn’t look all that happy, but when he saw me, he made an effort to soften his features. I knew he was trying not to scare me, and he was probably as anxious to hear what Emma had to say as I was.

“Hi, Anna.”

“Hi.”

“Can we get started?” Cal took a deep breath, causing his shoulders to rise and fall dramatically.

“Of course.”

Emma sat at the kitchen table with Cal. They both looked over at me, obviously wanting me to join them.

I pushed myself away from the wall and walked slowly across the room. Once I was seated, Emma didn’t waste any time getting to the point of her visit. She looked to Cal first, then to me. “Did Cal tell you he came to see me, Anna?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” She seemed relieved. “I met with Stephan’s lawyer, as well as a criminal attorney from my firm. We’ve discussed the situation in detail and have concluded that the best thing for you to do, Anna, is nothing.”

“What?”

Emma’s focus turned to Cal, briefly acknowledging his outburst. “We still think it’s a good idea for you to publicly show support for Mr. Coleman, if you’re willing, but there should be no mention of what happened to Anna or his part in it.”

“I don’t understand. Why not?”

“Right now all the FBI has is a single transaction made to Ian Pierce by Mr. Coleman. They don’t have any evidence as to what it’s for, other than a small notation that is Anna’s name. And unless one of the parties involved speaks up, that’s all they have. We don’t want to give them reason to think there’s anything else there by coming forward and offering a deal. It wouldn’t look good.”

“Wait a minute. Does that mean the
monster
that did this to her will get off free and clear?”

“For what he did to Anna . . . yes, I’m afraid so.” Cal opened his mouth to interrupt, but Emma was faster. “Anna has indicated to me on numerous occasions that her first priority is protecting Stephan. This is the best way to do that.”

Cal stood abruptly, causing his chair to crash to the floor, and I jumped, poised on the edge of my chair, ready to run.

He didn’t notice, but Emma did. She frowned at his retreating back.

No one said a word for several minutes, and the air around us seemed to be charged. I debated. I wanted to go, but I needed to stay and hear what Emma had to say about Stephan.

When Emma finally spoke again, her voice was soft. “The FBI has plenty of other evidence against Mr. Pierce. I don’t think he’ll ever be getting out of prison. They found another body.”