By My Side, page 20
“What happened?” Trey asked Jacob as they walked around Trey’s pond enjoying the tranquil peace of a late summer evening. Walking was good. Jacob needed something else to do as he spoke about the pain that still lingered. He couldn’t face his friend’s too clear gaze right now. Trey always saw more than Jacob wanted him to.
But still Jacob had to tell Trey the truth even though he’d never tell anyone else.
He looked down at his sneakers and told Trey about a couple whose room had been double booked at the hotel where he worked. Jacob had taken the time to get them an even more expensive suite in another hotel only two buildings away, which had been no small feat and the man turned to him and…
Trey stopped walking. He gripped Jacob’s arm, forcing him to stop walking too. “What. Happened?”
Jacob took a deep breath, swallowed tears. “He spat on me. A big, fat wad.”
He could still feel the sensation of it sliding down his cheek before he wiped it off.
Trey released his grip but didn’t move. He didn’t say anything, but Jacob wasn’t disappointed by that. His friend’s stunned, angry silence was more comforting than any words could have been.
Jacob started to walk.
“You have their information, right? Things can be done. If you want them to face a non-fatal accident, it’s possible. Both here and abroad.”
Jacob couldn’t help a smile. Although he knew Trey wasn’t joking, it felt good to have someone on his side. “I wouldn’t think of it.”
“You wouldn’t have to, I would. With pleasure and no remorse.”
“It’s over now.” Jacob glanced up at the sky. “I want to quit. I don’t want to wait the five years Beth wants me to.”
“Did you tell her what happened?”
“I can’t.” He didn’t feel safe being that vulnerable with her. One day he may tell her and make a joke of it, never allowing her to see how deeply he’d been wounded.
“Yes, you can.”
“I won’t. She doesn’t need to know.” Jacob pulled out his phone and showed Trey a picture of a brick structure. “My only regret is not being able to snap up this beauty when it had gone on sale. It used to be a B&B and needs some repairs but I could have done so much with it.”
“You should quit your job and—”
Jacob shook his head. “Beth would not be happy with that. Not to mention my family. Leave a prestigious position to run some small B&B? No way.”
“It’s what you want to do. You’re not happy.”
Jacob sighed. “Doesn’t matter. You can’t always be happy.”
Trey fell silent for a moment before he said, “You can’t marry her.”
It was something Trey’d been saying for months. “It’s too late. The wedding’s just around the corner. There’s no way I can back out now.”
“But you’re not happy.”
Jacob hit Trey in the arm annoyed. “What are you a kid? Life isn’t about happiness. It’s about expectations and promises and pride. I’ve got my pride. I’m not going to hurt or shame anyone. Besides, Beth didn’t say ‘never’ about me owning a B&B. She’s just not ready now.” He didn’t have grandiose dreams of making a lot of money and climbing a corporate ladder and he needed to give her time to adjust to that.
“She’s wrong for you and you know it. Instead—”
“Don’t say it.”
But even in the sudden silence between them Sandra’s name and face came to Jacob’s mind. She was completely wrong for him, but he was strangely drawn to her. Someone completely unsuitable. Someone loud, reckless and totally irresistible.
He’d first met her at a garden party Trey had hosted in celebration of Jacob’s birthday. Trey didn’t host garden parties, or any parties for that matter, that should have been Jacob’s first sign that something was amiss, but Beth had been so excited and his parents happy, that Jacob hadn’t paid attention to his friend’s uncharacteristic behavior.
Beth stood with her parents on the veranda looking over the expansive view while Jacob stood a few yards away, watching Trey staring at something in the pond, lost in thought. He was terrible at parties.
Jacob saw Maya creeping over to Trey with a mischievous grin and headed over to him in order to save his friend, but before Jacob could reach him someone said, “So who took a buzz saw to your hair?”
He turned around to the low smoky voice and met the eyes of a mischievous imp in the form of an Asian woman dressed in jeans and a leather jacket zipped up to her neck. Her hair had been longer then and she’d outlined her eyes in Kohl black.
“Do you know how much this cut cost?”
“You should get a refund.”
“You should mind your own business.”
“Right now you are my business.”
“What?”
She held out her hand. “I’m Sandra Park.”
Jacob ignored her outstretched hand wondering if somehow she’d snuck onto the property without anyone knowing. “And that matters because…”
“I’ll hopefully be working on a renovation project for Trey. He said if you like me, I’m in.” She handed Jacob a card. “You can find out more on my website, but I can tell you—”
“Say no more,” Jacob said, wanting her to leave him alone. It wasn’t like Trey to ask him about workers, but perhaps it was because Jacob felt more comfortable around women than Trey did. He tucked her card in his pocket. “You’re fine. But you’ll have to decide whether you want to work with Trey, rather than vice versa. He’s different.”
Sandra laughed. “I know, I like that.”
Her laughter and words filled Jacob’s heart with a warm glow and he found himself staring at her with new eyes.
She liked Trey. It was the first time in his life to hear someone say that to him. Even Beth had taken time to warm up to his best friend.
Sandra liked Trey. Understood him. They’d have fun on a renovation project Trey hadn’t even told Jacob about yet. The brief surge of jealousy surprised him.
Jacob mentally shook his head. It didn’t matter. “So you’re an interior designer?”
“I’m a contractor. Says so on my card. Trey didn’t tell you anything about me? We’ve been talking for weeks.”
Weeks? Trey had known this woman for weeks? That didn’t sound right.
Sandra waved her hand in his face. “Do you need to be plugged in or something?”
“Excuse me for a moment.” He didn’t give her a chance to say anything, which really wasn’t like him because manners were usually very important to him, except when his best friend sidelined him with a woman like that.
Jacob marched up to Trey, who was ignoring whatever Maya was saying, and said to her, “Disappear.”
She made a face and said, “Only because it’s your birthday,” before she stomped off.
Once she was out of hearing, Jacob said, “You could have warned me.”
Trey blinked. “Warned you about what? You knew I was having a party for you.”
“The contractor.”
Trey frowned. “What warning would you need?”
There were times that his friend’s obtuseness was exhausting. “Why did you tell her to talk to me?”
“I wanted you to meet her. What did you think?”
It was just like Trey to hire a contractor who went against stereotype. But he couldn’t tell him that in his mind he’d thought his contractor should be some burly guy not a woman who could elicit certain thoughts. “She’s loud.”
Trey nodded in understanding. “Yes, but she’s good. No, that’s an understatement. She’s excellent. I’m lucky she’s willing to work with me.”
“What’s this project anyway?”
A sexy feminine voice interrupted Trey’s reply. “Have you gotten over the shock yet?”
Jacob inwardly groaned.
Trey frowned. “Shock?”
“Yes,” Sandra said. “You didn’t tell him that I was a Korean-American woman with small tits and big ass for one thing.” She paused. “Or is it big tits and a small ass?” She winked. “I haven’t had that verified in a while.”
Trey gave her body the once over. “I’d say you have both equally measured.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Jacob frowned. “You could get in trouble for that.”
Trey blinked. “She mentioned it first.”
“Relax,” Sandra said. “This is a party and I wouldn’t file a complaint anyway.” She winked at him. And he should be offended, disgusted, instead he felt heat in his cheeks. He noticed she’d opened her leather jacket and wore a T-shirt that said: With the right tools…
He leaned closer trying to figure out what the rest of the message said.
“Are you staring at my tits?”
Jacob jerked back. “No, no absolutely not. I was trying to read your shirt.”
Sandra laughed. “I’m just teasing. I know you weren’t. And the T-shirt reads: With the right tools…I can make magic.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Trey said.
“Depends on the tools.”
She wasn’t just loud, she had a dirty mind too. Jacob loved a dirty mind. But Trey? How could Trey think he could work with her?
Trey looked at her thoughtful. “What kind of magic are you talking about?”
“The best kind,” Sandra said.
But Trey completely missed the innuendo and said, “Can you be more specific?”
“I can be very specific.”
Jacob shook his head. “This conversation shouldn’t be happening.”
“Why not?” Trey asked.
Sandra smiled. “Is he really this sweetly naïve?”
Jacob nearly laughed at that. Nobody had ever referred to Trey as sweet before. But before he could answer her question, Beth called him over to join her and soon he forget about Trey’s new contractor.
Except moments like now when he stood at the same spot where she’d teased his friend. Trey didn’t tell him about the renovation project and Jacob didn’t ask. Although on more than one occasion Trey had mentioned how much fun Sandra was.
Jacob couldn’t have fun. Not any longer. A woman like Sandra, a dream like owning a B&B were out of reach.
Although he felt his life closing in on him, he didn’t know a way out.
Until Trey gave him one by ruining his wedding. But Jacob later learned Trey’d been planning Jacob’s escape even longer than that.
A week after the wedding, he got a package in the mail with the deed for the B&B he’d told Trey about and paperwork that listed a certain entity as a silent partner. Jacob instantly knew it was Trey’s doing. Jacob also learned the B&B was the renovation project Trey had hired Sandra for…
“So it was all a lie?” Alicia asked Trey after Jacob finished his story. “You made it all up?”
“No, I was with Beth the night before the wedding,” Trey said. “But it was to convince her to go along with my plan.”
“How did you do that?”
For a moment Trey looked uncharacteristically ashamed. “This is where I did lie. I said I was worried about her not knowing the truth about Jacob. I told her that after their honeymoon Jacob planned to quit his job and open a B&B. I showed her the building I’d bought and convinced her how miserable she’d be living there. It hadn’t been hard.
“Once I promised to pay for everything she was onboard. Hinting that I seduced her seemed the best way to make me the villain.”
“I’m still amazed you were able to pull it off,” Alicia said.
Trey shrugged. “I had to.”
“I really didn’t think he’d do something like that,” Jacob said, “but I didn’t try to stop him either. I could have said I’d marry her anyway, but I didn’t. I let Beth and Trey take the blame so I could be free because I wasn’t ready to let my family know the truth.” Jacob ran a hand through his hair. “All this doesn’t put me in a very good light, does it?”
“No,” Alicia said. “But I know what family pressure’s like, so I’m not one to judge.”
“I’ll tell them the truth one day when the business is on better footing. It’s too soon now.”
Trey took Alicia’s hand. “So can you forgive me now?”
“Walk me back to my car and I’ll think about it.” She turned to Jacob. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.” She waved goodbye to him and Maya then headed to the parking lot.
She and Trey walked in silence a few yards before Trey said, “I’m a little disappointed in you.”
Alicia stared at him wide-eyed. “Disappointed in me?”
He nodded. “Why would you think I was cheating? You’re usually more imaginative than that. Why didn’t you think I was being stalked or on a special assignment?”
She hung her head and lowered her voice. “I told you…it’s happened to me before.”
“It won’t happen with me.” He squeezed her hand. “Besides, I can only manage one woman at a time.”
Her head snapped up. She glared at him. “That’s supposed to assure me?”
He laughed. “Doesn’t it?”
It did, but she didn’t want to admit it. “I haven’t said I’ve completely forgiven you yet.”
“What do you want me to do?”
She stopped walking and faced him. “I want you to tell me the truth about your night with Beth.”
He stilled. “I did tell you the truth. Nothing happened.”
“I believe that.” She clasped her hands behind her back and headed to her car. “What I don’t believe is that you only used money to convince her to follow your plan.”
Trey fell in step beside her. “Interesting. Go on.”
“I think you worked on Beth a lot longer than anyone would ever suspect. I know you’re not as naïve as people think. I saw how she looked at you and how you looked at her. Now that I’ve gotten to know you a little better I can interpret that look. It was calculating.”
“Perhaps.”
“Working with her, I got a sense Beth was more in love with the idea of getting married than with Jacob. You felt the same way, didn’t you?”
Trey sent her a sideward glance. She could imagine him considering his response. Trey was protecting his friend from the truth.
Alicia decided to probe further. “Or maybe you sensed that she wasn’t as devoted to your friend as she should be.”
A long silence passed before a quick sharklike grin came and went. “Let me feed that imagination of yours a little,” Trey finally said. “Perhaps Beth thought I was interested in her in a way that I wasn’t and maybe because of that misunderstanding she got the idea to send me pictures and a text. Maybe one night she went too far and I decided to blackmail her with them.”
“What do you mean by too far? Did she try to kiss you? Did she stop by your house wearing a raincoat and nothing else? Did she grab your—” Trey’s cold, cutting look stopped her words. He found no amusement in her questions and Alicia immediately felt ashamed. Trey wasn’t sharing some story plot but the actions of his best friend’s fiancée. It must have pained him. “Sorry, I got carried away. Never mind. Do you still have the photos? Were they really explicit?”
Trey hung his head and said in a quizzical tone. “Photos?” Trey looked at her blank. “What photos? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Alicia narrowed her eyes at him. “You just said—”
“I gave you a possible scenario and that’s all.” He grinned. “Let your imagination run wild as it tends to.” He stared straight ahead and his voice grew soft. “But there are some things you and Jacob never need to know.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
“Trust me.”
Trey submerged himself under the water of the pool, letting silence embrace him as Jacob’s words echoed in his mind.
The watery silence helped stop the sound of crying.
The unbidden auditory memory of someone crying always shook him. He didn’t know the source (whether it had been an adult or a child) or the reason. He couldn’t remember whether he’d first heard the sound while in Haiti or in the US. He didn’t know exactly how old he was when it imprinted in his mind, perhaps four or maybe six, but it had never left him. He remembered lying on something that felt both hard and soft, in a room that smelled of vinegar and bleach with a hint of lemon.
The crying started as a whimper, carrying the incessant misery of a wounded animal, before it dissolved into the deep sound of sorrow.
Sorrow he could do nothing about. He could only listen.
It had been a month since Alicia had discovered the truth about him and Jacob. Only a day since he’d held her in his arms and heard her whisper his name before she fell asleep.
He had saved Jacob but sensed Alicia was in danger now. He sensed that heavy, unspoken misery Jacob had once had. Trey had listened carefully as Alicia told him how happy she was that her parents trusted her. That she was getting used to her role at the company. That she had ideas for another campaign.
But her eyes didn’t shine. Her voice was flat. The Alicia he loved was slipping away from him.
His mind began to spin. Alicia needed rescuing.
He remembered his father crying when his business failed; his mother crying when she filed for divorce. His grandmother crying when she’d briefly been forced to look after Trey while his parents fought for custody, he even remembered his aunt and Lavinia crying when his uncle had been particularly cruel.
Trey weathered it all.
His biggest fear was drowning under the weight of someone’s tears.
Alicia was crying inside. Hurting. But she wouldn’t let him close to her pain.
Trey emerged from the water and took a deep breath. He must not drown. He must keep moving.
He began to swim, struggling to fight back the pain seeping into his heart. He couldn’t tell Alicia how much it hurt that she wanted to keep their relationship a secret. She didn’t want to introduce him to her family or friends. Was she ashamed? Afraid he’d act too strange?
“Trust me.”
Jacob’s words rang in his mind. He was the one person Trey could trust. His friend wanted the best for him and he understood women.
Trey had to be patient, not overeager.
