Charity's Passion (5 page)

“I am,” I laugh easily. “Of course I am. It’s just so cute to see; you would love it.”

I can picture her smiling as she says, “That’s adorable. I’ll have to get down there to see them soon; I miss them.” She pauses for a second, grabbing my attention. “Now tell me the truth—did you fuck Justin on the beach? Tell me you did. You had him down there—in a God damn bathing suit—so tell me you didn’t screw up and miss your shot.”

It was a solid minute of laughing before I could breathe enough to gather myself.

“You did, you totally did, I can tell,” she squealed before I answered. “That’s so fucking awesome, and I’m
so
proud of you.”

“You’re awful!” I shout at last. “Just completely rotten. I think Trisha rubbed off on you.”

“Yeah, maybe. Was it hot?” She asks. “And do
not
leave out any fucking details!”

“You’re damn right it was.” I can hear her hands clapping over the phone. “It wasn’t even at night.”

“You dirty whore,” she barks happily. “Oh my God, set me up. Where the hell where you?”

I’m more than happy to brag for her. “We drove to this tiny little secluded beach only the locals know about. My parent’s new neighbors gave us directions there. One of those places where you park along the road in a gravel clearing and walk over a path through the dunes and all the tourists drive right by without ever noticing.”

“There wasn’t anyone else there with you?” she asks, her voice enthralled.

“Just a few locals. We had to wait
all
day for them to leave, and with Justin in a bathing suit—that isn’t easy. I’m surprised I didn’t dehydrate after all my drooling,” I add, listening to Melissa clapping her hands again. “Most of them left early, but the beach wasn’t empty from the last of them until the beginning of sunset.”

“Fucking sunset!” She shouts. “Really? The perfect guy, the perfect place—and you had to have the perfect time too? What the hell? Can I have your life…really, can I just take it from you?”

My face is starting to hurt from all the smiling, catching up to my cramped stomach. I feel better already. This is why a girl needs her friends.

“Did you just roll around in the fucking sand out by the ocean?” She snaps.

I laugh at her. “No, of course not. We had no way of knowing if anyone else would show up. Oh my God, could you imagine?” Without waiting for an answer, I continue, “Justin had scoped out a tiny clearing in the trees that was just about the size of the two of us. We actually started in the ocean, but then he led me in there with a blanket and naughty intentions.”

Melissa giggles, “That sounds incredible, Charity. You are so damn lucky.”

We calm down a little and Melissa asks me how other things are going. I know exactly what she means and I feel some of my steam blow away. “No change so far, but Justin says it’s time. He’s wound up like a top.”

“And what about you?” She adds, her voice dropping to a nervous seriousness. “How are you doing with it?”

“Not good, but I can handle it—I think.” I can hear the fear in my own voice, she doesn’t need to point it out.

“Do you want to come out and stay with me, would that be safer?” Melissa asks.

Just the thought makes my head spin and my stomach flop. There’s no way I’m leaving the safety of Justin’s side—or putting her in danger with my presence. I just can’t tell her either of those things, that’s too much to put on her. “No Babe, I’m not putting you out and Justin would sooner cut off his arm than let me out of his sight right now.”

Her nervous laughter seeps through the phone. “Where is he now?” She asks.

“Here. He ran downstairs to meet with his brother, and I doubt they’ll be long. He was nervous enough leaving me even though we’re in the same building and under his security team. Garrett practically ordered him down, which was hysterical.”

There’s a short pause filled with a tense silence. I need to tell her why I called before I burst.

“So,” she starts before I can, “are you going to tell me what it is?”

“What
what
is?” I ask stunned before it dawns on me that I have never been able to hide any excitement from her.

“Girl please!”

“Okay,” I begin, my excitement rising like the steam from a geyser. ”This has to stay right between us and no one else at all, especially my family. They cannot know that I know.”

Melissa begins to squeal. “Oh my God,” she breathes. “This has got to be good.”

My voice comes out sounding like I’m thirteen, “While we were at my parent’s I overheard something that was not meant for me. I was in the kitchen helping my mother with coffee and I got curious about the boys, so I leaned out to listen.”

Melissa is squealing harder, already anticipating what I’m about to confess.

“Justin asked my father for permission to marry me!”

The first sound out of Melissa’s mouth is indiscernible. Imagine the combination of a screeching hawk and a wet car belt. Suddenly I’m squealing too, finally able to let it out and un-throttle my emotions.

“I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT!” She spits out in one long stream. “I’m so God damn happy for you!”

“I know. Holly shit—I’m busting in half here! This is insane isn’t it? You should have seen my parents trying to hide it from me.”

“They have no clue you heard?” Melissa asks.

“Not a fucking bit!”

“Wow!” That was all she could say about it, and I think I hear tears in her voice. “How did your father take it, what did he say to him? I’m trying to picture your dad in the moment and I’m coming up blank. I can’t believe this.”

My breath is returning to normal. “He was thrilled, Melissa. He told Justin he was already family and they’d be honored for him to make it official.”

“I’m crying here,” she confesses. “I’m literally crying I’m so happy for you.”

The tears well up in my eyes with her. “I wasn’t there when Dad told my mom, but you really should have seen her after, Melissa. It was absolutely precious. Her eyes were pure glitter. After that Justin couldn’t wait to get me out of there—before she screwed up and burst.”

“This is fantastic,” she says, calming down. “Do you know when he’s planning to ask you, or if he even has the ring yet?”

I shake my head as if she can see it. “Not a fucking clue, and I don’t wanna know. I know too much already and it’s killing me.” Melissa laughs at me. “No—really—holding this in was eating me up from the inside out. If I didn’t get to tell you today, I was going to have to tell him I heard; there was no way I could keep it to myself any longer.”

“He totally has to reach out to me for help,” she says. “I’m the best friend for fuck’s sake.”

“If he does—don’t tell me anything,” I demand.

“Oh my God, Charity. Are you ready for this?” Melissa asks, her voice returning to normal.

I’m sure of this one. “With all my heart—yes! I’m more ready than I ever imagined I could be.”

“Then this is going to be a wonderful time in your life.” I can imagine her smile and it almost makes me forget everything else.

LENA COMING WITH
US
is the only reason Justin is letting me out with the girls for lunch while he stays back at the office with his feet impatiently tapping at the floor and Sylvester nervously protecting him. Garrett is coming in so he can keep an eye on Justin and make sure he doesn’t freak out completely. If Justin and I had it our way, we’d stay at each other’s side, but Garrett and Lena insist that we have to appear normal, do the things we always do, if we want to flush Brian Marker out. Justin tells me they’re right despite the fact that he hates it.

Lynda’s voice is suddenly floating in the air just outside of my office and I can tell from her flirtatious tone that Garrett is finally here. The woman has no shame.

I hit a speed dial button on my phone and at half a ring, Trisha picks up. “Your wanna-be man is here, and Lynda already has him. You might wanna go claim him before she ruins him for all womankind.”

Trisha laughs as she says, “You are too much.”

Then Lynda laughs loud enough for Trisha to hear it from her office and abruptly hangs up on me. There is still a huge smile on my face when I hear Trisha dragging Garrett to Justin’s office, and when I get down there myself we have a whole conversation with our eyes.

“Holy shit, that was crazy,”
her eyes scream.

“Ha ha, I warned you,”
my eyes remind her.

Justin isn’t seeing the humor. In fact, he’s barely noticing anything at all. His eyes are fixed on his security cameras, and not just the ones in the office, but home, the hanger where the Hawker is sitting, and everywhere he thinks we might be vulnerable. My heart sinks for him that he’s so stressed out.

“You ready?” I ask Trisha.

That snaps Justin out of it. He stands and comes around his desk, eager to hold me and remind me to be careful in any way that he can without tipping off Trisha that there’s something wrong. His strong arms take me into him and pull my ear close to his mouth. “Be careful and stay close to Lena.”

I squeeze him tighter. I really don’t want to leave.

When I look around Justin’s shoulder at Trisha and Garrett, I catch them standing by each other watching us and feeling awkward. There’s tension between them so thick we can all feel it. I can't believe that they have not just attacked each other yet.

“I’m ready when you are,” Trisha pleads, doing her best to break up the tense moment. “We’ll grab Lena and the others on our way.”

We gather the others and a short time later we are sipping down wine at Bobby Van’s and laughing at each other. For a few minutes I manage to forget how bad things are and enjoy myself. Lena is on my left rocking a chartreuse St. John Punto Riso dress, always the perfect mix of beauty and deadliness. Trisha, wearing an Elizabeth and James draped tank and Rag and Bone Jeans, took the seat to my right so that I have her good ear close to me.

“Relax,” Lena whispers discreetly, “I won’t let anything happen.” Her wide smile reassures the good feeling I have. Okay, the Pinot noir I’m tossing back isn’t hurting either.

Lynda teases Trisha from across the table. “Lady, you need to make some moves on Garrett soon. I’m losing my self-control waiting on you.” Her giggle is almost ear-piercing.

“As if you have self-control,” Jennifer snaps quickly, fighting her words out through her own heavy laughter.

Clarice weighs in, which almost never happens, telling Lynda she needs to back off Trisha’s man.

“I’m trying,” Lynda defends through her growing smile. “It just isn’t easy to know the boundaries without seeing either of the rings.”

“What rings?” I ask, knowing I’m going to regret it.

“Gold on her finger,” Lynda starts, “or her lipstick on his cock.”

Several of us choke on our wine, but Jennifer quickly takes out her lipstick and puts on a new layer while we laugh hysterically at her. It even cracks a coveted Lena smile.

Walt, our waiter for today, opens a second bottle of Noir for us right after we order a few appetizers to share while we go over the menu, and once they come we shovel them in like they may be the last we will ever order. Walt is cute, short blonde hair, exactly the same color as Justin’s, and bright blue eyes, but there’s a young guy bussing tables that has caught the eyes of the girls this time. His hair is a mess and a dark stubble is covering his cleft chin. Jennifer is threatening to spill a drink on herself and make him wipe her off so she can feel his strong hands on her body. We’re all pretty sure we could bounce a quarter off his tight ass.

My mind keeps drifting back to Justin, wondering how Garrett is making out with keeping him calm. Garrett has grown into a Justin expert fairly quickly, but he’s going to be worried about Trisha too, which makes me wonder if they’ve made sure they can both listen and watch us even without being here.

It wouldn't be Justin's first bug.

I’m also certain if I look hard enough I’ll find someone from the team besides Lena, one of the guys at another table or just outside watching us. That would be the Justin way. When our waiter returns for our order, I look around knowing damn well that if they don’t want to be recognized, I’m not going to see a fucking thing. Of course I don’t, but that doesn’t stop me from believing they’re here somewhere.

“So,” Clarice starts, “tell us more about your trip. How is it in the Keys?” She asks me.

I know my face has lit up, I can feel it. “It’s gorgeous. They’re ending their busy season and getting ready for the summer, but it really is a whole separate world down there.” I tell them nearly everything. Obviously, I leave out telling them about Justin and my father. And just to be safe, I don’t tell them about Justin screwing my every-loving brains out on the beach either. Some things are just for my best girls. Trisha knows about that part, and I can see the twinkle in her eyes almost begging me to give it up. Walt saves me from Trisha’s pressure when he brings our food, distracting everyone.

It’s not until we are leaving that I see Lena get tense, her body becoming catlike and defensive. “Stay close,” she whispers, “Don’t be nervous.”