Invisible Leash, page 25
part #1 of The Cross Series
“Actually, Lincoln, Stanley’s son didn’t even attend college with Sage. Jonah was never enrolled at NYU, and he never knew Sage when she was a student there. It was all a lie.”
I shook my head. “So then why would he expect her to ever pay him off? Any reporter with half a brain could expose his lie.”
“It wasn’t Sage he was trying to blackmail,” Jayce said, taking a deep breath. “It was her father.”
“Benjamin? Why?” That shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did.
Jayce began pacing the room. “Well, Stanley told me that Benjamin had paid him off quite a few years ago, and he needed to go back to that same wellspring again, for more funds.”
“Why did he pay him off?”
“To keep him quiet about something illegal that had transpired when Sage was still a teenager. It’s bad, Lincoln.”
The room started to seem very small. My mouth suddenly dry, I couldn’t find the words to urge him to continue.
Jayce cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I don’t even know how to say this, Lincoln, but . . . well, after quite a bit of . . . persuasion, Stanley finally admitted that it was actually him who’d had sex with Sage, at her sixteenth birthday party with another man present.”
The room was spinning now, my pulse bulging from my wrist. “I . . . that means . . . ” I murmured, suddenly feeling nauseated. I was glad I was sitting down, because I wouldn’t have been able to stand. “You’re telling me that two grown men raped Sage back then?”
“I believe they forced themselves on her,” Jayce said quietly. “As some sort of personal vendetta against Benjamin Cross himself.”
I stood up and slammed both my fists into the desk. “Tell me someone notified the police,” I said, my voice shaking.
He just shook his head. “Apparently, Cross didn’t want word to get out.”
“So, he paid them off,” I slammed my fists into the desk again. “And the son?” I seethed.
“Knows nothing about any of this,” Jayce said simply. “Apparently he’s pissed as hell at his father for going to the media with the lie.”
I cursed under my breath. “And now he’s back for more.”
“If you ask me, he’s lucky as hell he’s not rotting in some prison somewhere.”
I shook my head, trying to picture Sage at sixteen. It all made sense now. All the walls she’d put up around herself, all the mistrust. And her father. How . . . what kind of father would do this? How could he have just paid them off to keep their mouths shut?
He doesn’t deserve to be called her father. He shouldn’t get that privilege.
I looked up at the ceiling, trying to control the rage that was building inside me. “I think you know what I want you to do,” I told Jayce, my eyes still on the ceiling.
“Sure thing, Lincoln. Consider it done,” he replied, his voice eerily calm, before he began heading for my office door.
“Jayce?” I called after him. “It’ll be a long ride if we go through with this,” I said.
“That’s often the case when there’s no other option. I’ll make sure that nobody ever traces it back to us.”
I swallowed hard, wondering if I was making a big mistake. But when I looked into Jayce’s determined eyes, I knew this was the right thing to do. That it was the only thing to do.
Bankruptcy would be the least of his worries when I was through with that son of a bitch.
49
SAGE
Jacob is going to be pissed.
Lincoln. You idiot.
I could have sworn that he had all the wrong intentions when he’d kissed me like that in front of the press this morning.
Stupid men.
I grabbed a quick lunch back at my apartment, trying not to worry about when Father was going to stop paying Cécile’s paycheck, let alone my rent. I’d just have to cross that bridge when I came to it.
I took a bath and began getting ready for my late afternoon outing with Jacob. We were going to Staten Island again; something I’d been looking forward to all week.
After I was dropped off at the entrance to Ocean Breeze Park, I began making my way to our secret meeting place, picnic basket in hand. I kept worrying that Jacob had seen the news. Seen the kiss. Chances were he hadn’t, since he’d told me he wanted to stay away from the news for a few days to refresh his mind.
I sighed.
Let’s hope he stuck to that plan.
Despite the butterflies in my stomach and the nagging thoughts at the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but smile when I stepped into the woodland clearing and saw Jacob spreading out a quilt over a plethora of fallen oak leaves mixed with the first snowfall of the season. He came over to me and took the basket from my hand, then planted a kiss on my lips.
“You know this is crazy, right?” I said. “It’s freezing out here. And it’s snowing.”
He chuckled, then wrapped a blanket around my shoulders. “I came prepared, baby. See?” he pointed to extra blankets and hot chocolate.
We sat down on the quilt and he wrapped his arms around me. “It beats staying inside again like a couple of vampires,” he said as we took in the beautiful view of the steely gray ocean.
“Only two more days, and we can be seen together,” I reminded him.
Jacob began unpacking the picnic basket. “Well, I for one can’t wait. I believe you when—”
“Lincoln kissed me at the press conference today!” I blurted out, interrupting him.
He froze. “What?” he said, a package of chocolate croissants still in his hand.
“He kissed me, Jacob, in front of the cameras. As a goodbye, supposedly. I just wanted to be the one to tell you.”
“Why are you telling me this?” he asked, his voice eerily calm. “You never did before. Did you stop him?”
I shook my head. “No, I couldn’t. Like I said, there were cameras everywhere, and it would have made Lincoln look foolish. Remember, until election day—”
“You and your election day,” Jacob spat, throwing the croissants onto the quilt. “Did you like it? Is that why you didn’t stop it?”
“You’re being absurd,” I told him, trying to keep my voice light. “How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t want Lincoln? I want you.”
“Bullshit,” he growled, raking both hands through his hair.
“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do to change it now,” I said calmly.
He laughed, but there was a sharp edge to the sound. Like he’d finally had enough. And, to be frank, I couldn’t blame him one tiny bit. I knew especially how angry he’d be once he saw the videos. It wasn’t a simple peck on the lips.
He stood up and began grabbing the blankets off the ground.
“Jacob, wait—” I began, scrambling to my feet.
“Maybe I’m done waiting, Sage. Have you ever thought of that?”
“Where are you going?”
“I need to clear my head,” he said, already striding away.
“Jacob, wait! Please,” I begged, hastily throwing a few things back into the picnic basket before running after him. “I’m sorry, Jacob. Jacob!” The tears began to blur my vision, and I stumbled over a tree root. “For the love of God, you’re just going to leave me here in the cold all by myself?” I shouted, but it was no use. He was already out of sight.
I let myself fall to my knees, overcome with sadness and rage. After a few minutes of useless crying, I texted my driver to turn the car around and come get me again.
I’m so sick of crying all the time.
I made the two-minute walk to the entrance of the park and sat down on a bench to brood while I waited for my car to arrive. Wherever he’d gone, Jacob was nowhere to be seen.
What if he didn’t forgive me?
Even though it wasn’t my fault, technically, it kind of was. I should have retreated from the public eye a long time ago. I could have found a different job by now if I’d really wanted to. I could have been sleeping on Amelia’s couch at night and slinging coffee all day at some café if my pride hadn’t gotten in the way.
Instead, I’d chosen the easy way out. I could see that now. And it was that selfish course of action that was most likely going to drive Jacob away from me for good.
50
JACOB
I wanted it to be just her and me against the world. I wanted that—but Black always seemed to get in the way.
Lincoln this, Lincoln that.
I told Shane to drive me to my favorite bar and then searched for the video on my phone. When I found it, I watched it on repeat. Growing angrier with every passing moment. If I’d thought I was mad before, I was in a whole new stratosphere now. And even though I could see that the kiss wasn’t Sage’s fault, the fact that she hadn’t stopped it killed me. Hell, she’d even smiled afterwards. I was so fucking mad that I’d thrown my cell phone clear across the car.
Later, sitting on a bar stool, all I could think about was how I left her on Staten Island. I knew she’d be fine. It wasn’t like I’d left her on the moon or something. But obviously she’d be pissed. Had she gone off to Lincoln’s afterwards, hoping to get some comfort? If she’d let him kiss her this morning, was she letting him fuck her right now? Would she miss him after the campaign was over? Something she’d said a few days ago still stuck in my craw.
With Lincoln’s name on my resume, I’m sure I won’t have any problems.
The words echoed through my head as I ordered another double Oban straight up. There was no way she’d be able to simply walk away from him and never look back. She depended on him too much, or, rather, she chose to depend on him. But she wouldn’t accept any of my help.
I groaned, trying to shake the thought as the barkeep set the scotch in front of me. I swirled the peaty amber liquid around hoping it contained answers to my problems.
“Hi there, handsome,” a redhead said, interrupting my dark thoughts. I turned to look at her and then at her brunette friend. They were doable, but I was in no mood to be distracted right now.
“Hi,” I responded curtly, then downed my scotch in one throw.
“He looks angry, doesn’t he?” said the brunette, scrunching her lips into a pout.
“Like he could definitely use a little fun,” agreed the redhead, placing her hand on my chest.
“Hands off,” I mumbled, angling my body away from her. I’d forgotten how this bar was always full of desperate women. That might have drawn me to it, once. But not anymore. Not since Sage.
Who is probably fucking Lincoln as we speak.
I’d need bleach to remove that mental image out of my head.
“Okay, okay. No touching,” the brunette conceded. “But how about watching? My friend Tammie lives right across the street.”
The redhead nodded eagerly, running her hand down the brunette’s bare arm suggestively, looking at me through hooded eyes.
Despite all the scotch I’d had, I felt myself getting hard. “Lead the way,” I told them, without thinking twice.
Five minutes later, I was walking through the door of Tammie’s apartment. The brunette led me to a couch and ordered me to sit while the redhead, Tammie, brought me a beer. I set it down on the coffee table without opening it. I’d already had enough to drink.
“What’s your name?” asked the brunette, stretching her lithe body out on a second couch across the coffee table.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I grumbled, dodging the question. I was done with talking. In fact, I was on the verge of just getting up and going home.
But then her friend came into the room, carrying a bottle of tequila and wearing only her bra and panties.
I decided to stay for a while longer.
The girls alternated doing shots of liquor and kissing, and then their hands began to roam over their bodies, tongues darting into each other’s mouths.
Tammie looked over at me and met my eye. “You want in on this, stranger?” she asked with a sly smile.
My cock jumped up and began to pulse, but my brain was somewhere else. I couldn’t stop picturing Black making a move on Sage and telling her that I was doing the same thing to another woman right now.
Fuck. Fuckitty, fuck fuck.
I can’t do this.
I mean, I could but I don’t want to. Tammie unclasped her bra, freeing round nipples and massive tits. What was it with redheads and their tits?
Run, Jake.
I leapt off the couch and made a beeline for the door. The last thing I saw before stepping into the hallway was the girls making out on the couch with even more fervor than before, the brunette playing with Tammie’s boobs.
Sage, Sage, Sage, I repeated the mantra like my life depended on it. I closed the door firmly behind me and walked away a new man. I could never do that to Sage.
She deserves better than that.
“And you didn’t do anything with them?”
“Derrick. For the millionth time, no. All I did was watch them for a few minutes before I realized what I was doing. Fuck, all I could think about was that prick laying his hands all over my girlfriend.”
He patted me on the back. “Good man, resisting temptation like that. I’m proud of you.” We bumped our fists sideways together. “That right there, is love.”
I couldn’t stop pacing Derrick’s basement bar. “What the hell do I do now? She’s probably pissed at me, times a million. Do you think I overreacted?” It wasn’t like me to ask anyone for advice, but hell, he was married. To Ellie.
He sighed. “You need to communicate with her, Jacob. Comm-u-ni-cate. Tell her everything you told me. She has no idea how upset it makes you to see Lincoln’s hands on her all the time. I’d go bat-shit crazy if another man touched Ellie like that.”
“Yeah, I know.” I resumed my pacing.
“Here’s what I think,” Derrick continued, gesturing for me sit at the bar beside him. “The moment her father came to you, you sort of figured that the charade was over. That she was yours. But then she kept putting you off, and, well, you started doubting her. And nothing makes a person angrier than uncertainty. Uncertainty feels like shit.”
“That’s deep, man. Did you come up with that all on your own?” I smirked.
“My therapist lets me think so,” he joked. “But really, Jacob, tell her about what happened tonight. You have to be honest with her, man.”
“But she’ll kill me,” I said, not ready to go down ten feet under yet.
That or she’ll decide to stay with Black after all…
I rested my elbows on Derrick’s bar and dropped my head into my hands as the realization of my actions slowly sank in. I had to get my jealousy under control, for one thing. And I had to trust Sage—really, truly trust her. I had to trust that she wasn’t like my mother.
I have to let her in.
51
SAGE
When I got home that night after our fight, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I texted Jacob like a million times to apologize, but he never responded. And when I called him, he didn’t pick up.
After a few hours of eating my fingernails, I called Ellie for some advice.
“Well, I was upstairs when he got here, so I didn’t see him.”
“Wait, Jacob is there?” I asked, putting her on speaker while I rubbed some night cream under my eyes.
“He was, but he’s gone now. And from what I’ve heard . . .” Ellie’s voice trailed off.
I took my phone from the countertop, gripping at it. “From what you’ve heard, what?”
“Sage, you can’t take this literally. I didn’t hear the whole conversation. Okay?”
“Tell me already,” I demanded, rummaging through my makeup bag for my favorite tweezers.
“Well, I didn’t mean to overhear, but I was down in the laundry room when . . .”
“When?”
“They were talking about how Jacob was at some bar and then went back to an apartment with two women he met there.”
My heart dropped.
I couldn’t breathe.
Sparks of fire ran through my arteries, making my blood boil instantly. I dropped the tweezers and sat down on the closed lid of the toilet. “You mean, like, tonight?”
“Yeah, I think so. But I’m sure nothing happened—”
“Oh, come on, Ellie! I can put two and two together. Two pussies and his cock make a fucking threesome. What exactly did he say?”
“I don’t know, Sage. That’s all I heard.”
I stomped my bare foot on the bathmat. “What do you mean? Why didn’t you keep listening?” Literally, I could have killed her. Who overheard something like that and then didn’t get the end of the story?
“I’m sorry—that’s all I heard. Then the spin cycle started, and I couldn’t hear anything else.”
I let my face fall into my hands. “Can you ask Derrick?” I muttered.
“I’ll ask, but you know the bro code. I’m not sure how much he’ll tell me.”
I started chewing on a thumbnail again. “This is all my fault. I should never have let Lincoln kiss me like that.”
“Oh, no. No, you don’t!” Ellie yelled. “Don’t you dare make excuses for him. He would triple flip and murder someone if you ever went home with two random guys—or Lincoln for that matter.”
“Can you just ask Derrick?” I said, desperate to get off the phone and hide under the covers of my king-sized bed.
“Fine,” Ellie relented. “I’ll try. Hold on.” Then she put me on hold.
For the next three minutes, I was in agony. What if Jacob had cheated on me? Did I even want to know the truth?
Why are men so childish? Why doesn’t he just talk to me?
“Sage?” came a male voice.
“Hi, Derrick,” I said miserably. “Sorry to bother you, but I need to know—”
“He didn’t cheat on you, Sage. If my curious wife would have listened for a minute longer, she would have heard the part about how Jacob left before anything happened because all he could think about was you.”
A snort was heard in the background. Ellie.
“Really?” I said, my face breaking into a smile.
“Yes. I swear.”
