Delusional Love (2nd Edition) (10 page)

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“Hello?”
Brianna said in a hushed, groggy tone. It took her a few seconds to realize
where she was. “Shit.” Brianna said softly realizing where she was.

“What’s
wrong Bri?” Stephanie said.

“Nothing.
Is everything ok? It’s really late.” Brianna whispered.

“Why
are you whispering, where are you? Did I interrupt something? Bri, I am so
sorry, call me tomorrow.” Stephanie’s
rapid fire
questions had Brianna’s head spinning.

“No…
.no
, it’s fine, I have a few minutes. Uh, what’s wrong?”
Brianna asked trying to contain a yawn. Stephanie described her evening with
Ivan and as usual Bri talked her off the preverbal ledge and made her feel
better. Adam walked back into the room.

“Steph,
I have to go. We will talk tomorrow.” She said while eyeing Adam’s body as he
disrobed and got back in the bed.

“Ok,
have fun and do everything I wish I could do.” Stephanie jokingly said.

“Will
do.” Brianna said while disconnecting the call without another word, never
taking her eyes off of Adam as he moved between her legs.

Stephanie
hung up the cell phone feeling better about her situation and wondered whom Bri
was with. She always felt more grounded once she talked to her girl.

‘I know what I have to do.’
She smiled,
as she got ready for bed.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THURSDAY, JULY 7
^th

Stephanie
was dressed and waiting for Ivan, since her car was still at work. She decided
to have a conversation about how they intended to handle their attraction to
each other. If he was not interested in a relationship, then their relationship
would strictly be a professional one: no dinners, no more
rides
home and definitely no more kissing.
 
God, she loved the way he kissed.
 
She started feeling warm just thinking about him.
 
The doorbell rang,
‘here we go’
she thought.
 
She opened the door and to her surprise Danny, Ivan’s driver, was
standing there.

“Good morning, madam, you ready to go?” He said in a chipper
voice.

“Where’s, Ivan?” Stephanie asked.

“He
asked me to pick you up. He had to be in the office before 7:00 a.m.
 
Are you ready?”

‘So, you’re trying to avoid me Mr. Quinn?
Well, that’s fine with me.’

Stephanie
was so busy at work that she looked at the clock and realized it was 4:00 p.m.
There was no sign of Ivan. She finished up her assignments and headed home.

FRIDAY,
JULY 8
^th

Stephanie
arrived at work and her desk was piled with assignments that needed to be done
immediately, she delved in to her work. She did notice that Ivan was in his
office but she was so busy she did not even think about Ivan and the
conversation she needed to have with him. The day flew by and before she looked
around again the day was done and according to Betty, Ivan had apparently left
for the day.
‘Well, I guess we won’t have
that conversation today, but we will resolve this thing between us Ivan.’
She said to herself as she left the office to meet her friends for dinner.

Stephanie
arrived at the restaurant early and decided to get a table and have a drink
while she was waiting. She was deep in thought when she heard a deep voice,
“Hello stranger.” Lawrence said bringing her out of her thoughts.

“Hey
Lawrence, long time no see. How’s life treating you or better yet, how’s Tara
treating you?”

“I’m
glad you asked. Do you mind if I sit?” He said.

She
motioned her hands for him to have a sit.
 
“So, what are you doing here?” Stephanie asked.

“I
just finished up with some clients. So, why are you eating alone?”

“I’m
actually early, waiting for my girls.”

“Speaking
of your girl, what’s up with her? I thought we were getting along but now she
won’t return my calls, is everything okay with her?”

“Yes,
she’s fine but if you hang around for about a half an hour she should be here.”

“I
wish I could wait but I am heading to another late meeting. Tell your girl I
will call her later and if she doesn’t take my call I’m going to camp outside
her house.” He said jokingly. He rose, gave Stephanie a kiss on the cheek and
told her to take care of herself.

Ivan
walked into the restaurant and immediately noticed Stephanie sitting at the
table with Lawrence.
‘What the Hell….’
He
thought
‘What are they doing here
together?’
Ivan felt his temperature rise. He was suddenly consumed with
jealously. He needed to calm himself down before he approached them or it could
turn ugly. He ordered a drink from the bar he took a sip as he walked towards
the table. As he was approaching he saw Lawrence kiss Stephanie.
‘Are they seeing each other? I’ll be damn if
I’ll allow him to steal my woman. My woman? She is not my woman, at least not
yet, but she will be.’
Just as Ivan arrived at the table Lawrence was about
to step away when Ivan halted his process. Lawrence looked up. “Hey, Ivan,
what’s up?”

“That’s
funny. I was about to ask you the same thing.”

He
said looking back and forth between the two with a disgusted look on his face.

Lawrence
looked at Ivan puzzled. “Look, I’m not sure what’s going on, but I have to get
to a meeting. Ivan, I will talk to you later and Stephanie, don’t forget what I
told you. Later.” Stephanie smiled as Lawrence walked away.

“So,
the elusive Mr. Quinn is around,” she said with sarcasm.

“What
the hell was that about?” Ivan said through his teeth obviously seething.

“What
was what about?” she said looking into his green eyes that seemed to be getting
darker.
‘Is he jealous?’
She thought.

“Don’t
be coy, Stephanie. You know exactly what I’m talking about, you and Lawrence.
Are you seeing him now only a day and a half after confessing your feelings for
me, or has this been going on all along?”
‘He
is jealous.’
 
She sat silently
while he continued on his tirade.

“So
how long have you been seeing him? Are you trying to play both of us?”

Now
it was her turn to get angry.

“Play
you? Play you?”
 

She
said a little louder then she intended. She looked around to see if anyone was
looking and focused her attention back to Ivan.

“You’ve
got some damn nerve to approach me with this bullshit. You are the one who’s
been avoiding me for the last couple of days.” She said through her teeth,
trying not to cause a scene. “Yes, I told you how I felt, but I also told you
it’s all or nothing. I am not doing any agreement.” Ivan stood there, a little
stunned by her reaction as she continued. “And now you come over to my table,
implying that I am seeing someone else after I told you how I feel about you.
You have the nerve to question my character while trying to stake your fucking
claim on something that is not yours.” Stephanie was so angry that tears
threatened to fall but she refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her
cry.

“Do
you remember our last conversation? I sure as hell do. I believe it was you who
said that you could not do a relationship. So why are you now questioning who I
chose to date?”

Ivan
remained silent as his piercing green eyes bore into her.

“So,
you are dating him.” He said in a low irritated tone.
 
She was about to answer when her
girlfriends approached the table. Ivan never took his eyes off of Stephanie.

Tara
cleared her throat. “Are we interrupting something?” Stephanie looked up; her
friends could tell that something was wrong.

“No,
Mr. Quinn was just leaving.” Ivan stood.

“It’s
a pleasure to see you both again. Stephanie, we will finish this conversation
later.” He said as he walked away from the table without a backwards glance.

“What
was that about? It looked pretty intense when we walked up.” Brianna said as
they both sat down. Stephanie gave them a recap of what just transpired before
they arrived. When they started to offer opinions, she shut down the
conversation. Stephanie just wanted to eat and enjoy her friends who she had
not seen in a while. Changing the subject, she turned to Tara and said, “What
did you do to Lawrence? He is completely sprung.” They laughed and Tara talked
about their situation. They finished dinner, said their goodbyes and Tara
promised to call Lawrence.

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Tara
arrived home and was having second thoughts about calling Lawrence. She really
liked him and he needed to know about her past relationship before she could
move forward with a serious relationship with him. She knew he wanted more but
she didn’t know if she could offer more. Her past relationship with Dr. Antonio
Russo really affected how she viewed relationships. She was scared. She picked
up the phone and dialed Lawrence’s number.

“Hi.”
She said when he answered the phone.

“How
are you? He responded.

“Not
good, look I need to talk to you about something and I need to do it tonight
before I lose my nerve.”

He
could tell by the nervousness in her voice that it was serious. “What is it?”
He said a little taken aback by the tone of the conversation.

“Not
over the phone can you come over?”

“I’m
on my way.”

Fifteen
minutes later Lawrence was at Tara’s door. He
walk
in
and she led him to the sofa. “I know I have been acting strange lately, but there
is a reason why I have been avoiding you.” She
stood,
her nervous energy had gotten the best of her.

“You
want a drink, let me get us both a drink.” Before he could respond she headed
towards the kitchen.
‘What the fuck is
going on?’
He thought. She came back with two glasses of wine and the wine
bottle. He took his glass and the bottle and prompted her to sit down. She sat
next to him and drained her glass.

“Damn
Ty what is wrong?”

She
blew out a breath and sat close to him not giving him eye contact. “Okay, I
know that you’ve been wondering what has been wrong with me and why I keep
canceling our dates. I also know that you want more from our relationship, but
you need to know why I am so gun shy when it comes to relationships. I need to
tell you something that I have not even told my best friends.”

“Okay.”
Lawrence said.

“Several
months back I ended a relationship with a man who started to become abusive.”
Tara could feel Lawrence’s body stiffen. She turned to face him she could see
he was getting angry.
 
She
continued. “My friends did not know we were dating because he was Italian and I
did not know how they would react to me dating someone of a different race.
Kind of silly huh? Well anyway we went out for about three months when we had
our first big argument I can’t even remember what the argument was about, but I
do remember the bruise he left on my face.”

“What’s
his name Ty.
”
 
Lawrence said trying to contain his anger.

“That’s
not important, I just need you to hear me out so you understand why I have been
acting the way I have.” Lawrence put his arm around her shoulder as she
continued. “Our first night together was actually the first time I slept with
someone since my break up. I just want you to know that night was amazing.”
 
She smiled at him and she could see his
face soften. “Anyway, when you left that morning, I was about to take a shower
when the bell rang and I thought you forgot something.” Tara began to detail
the events that happened as she relived that morning………..

“Did you forget something or just
miss…..
What are you doing here?
 

“You don’t seem excited to see your fiancé?
He said.

“You are not my fiancé or did you not get
the hint when I threw the ring back at you.” I screamed.

“Come on Ty, I know you have missed me as
much as I have missed you. I thought I would give you some space and time to
reconsider your rash decision. After all, I do love you and I know you love me.
One bad decision on my part should not destroy our entire relationship.”

“Relationship, relationship, there is no
relationship. You did a good job of destroying that four months ago. You need
to leave.” As I spoke he closed to gap between us and pulled me into him in a
gentle warm embrace. The warm comforting feeling I use to get from him was now turned
into a sickening feeling in my stomach. I pulled

away
from him and kept a safe distance.

“You need to go, I meant it when I said we
are done.”

He reached for me again and I flinched my
arm back. He
sighed
“I understand, you need more
time.”
 

“I don’t need more time I just need you to
leave now.”
 

“Okay fair enough but can I at least use the
little boys room before I go?” He smiled at me and I nodded. He walked into the
powder room as I walked back towards the kitchen. After a few seconds I heard
the door to the powder room swing open so hard it hit the wall.
 
He came barreling out storming towards
me “Who the hell are you fucking?” Before I could move his fist came crashing
down on my face. My head slammed against the floor I felt nausea and dizziness
cover me all at once. I tried to crawl away as he knelt down with the condom
wrapper in his hand.
 
He grabbed me
by the collar of the silk robe I was wearing. “I cannot believe after
everything we have been through you would do this shit to me. You are such a
fucking whore, you know what happens to whores.” He stood me up, my head was
swimming everything seemed to be going in slow motion. Before I could get my
bearings he pulled me over to the sofa and ripped my robe from my body leaving
me completely nude. He slammed my body against the sofa and started to undo the
belt on his pants. Tears started to stream down my face.