Reed's Reckoning (20 page)

“Girl, what the hell happened to your chest? Is that makeup?” Sassy interrupts.

Ari moves to try and cover her chest but it’s too late. The outline of my bite mark is obvious against her skin. She opens her mouth to say something but then just shakes her head, embarrassed.

No one else says anything and we stay in the water drinking beer and hanging out until it’s time to go. Bobbie drops us off right at my dock and it takes Ari ten minutes to say goodbye to everyone. She’s even nice to Bobbie’s date, even though no one can remember her name. She invites them and their families to her annual Fourth of July beach barbeque.

We pack quickly and she calls Davis to let him know we’ll be home soon. I drive us back to her house and we discuss my mom’s visit next weekend. They’ve spoken once on the phone and talked through our situation, and both women cried but promised to move on with their relationship. After listening to Ari’s side of things, my mom understood why Ari didn’t tell me about Davis.

“Ari, I want you and Davis to stay at the beach house next weekend when Mom’s here.”

“Are you sure? That’s kind of weird isn’t it?”

“Babe, she knows we aren’t virgins. We have proof. There’s plenty of room. It’ll really mean a lot to me. I don’t want to leave her alone at night. And there’s no way in fuck I’m sleeping without you.”

She bites her lower lip and looks at me. “Okay, Reed, we’ll stay with you. But we need to have Grandma Katy included. It’s important to her.”

“No problem.”

The rest of the drive we discuss her barbeque and I convince her to have it at my house. Since she invited a bunch of players, word will get around and more will come. I have more room, proximity to the beach, and better parking.

When we get to her house, Davis runs on the front porch to greet us and jumps into her arms. I join in the hug holding them both tight.

“Happy Fawders Day!” he screams over and over to me. Ari looks up at me with a sparkle in her eyes and smiles.

“I love you Reed Matthews.”

The world around me stops and warmth flows through my body. Fucking finally!

“No, I’m not kidding. I met a lot of them. Most of them were quite lovely.”

“Ari! You don’t call professional football players in the NFL ‘lovely’. It’s a disgrace. Have I taught you nothing?” Luke shakes his head and throws his hands in the air.

“Babe, Luke’s right. Need to come up with a new term before half my team shows up for the party on the Fourth.” I kiss her neck quickly and sit down next to her.

“Is Davis asleep?”

“Apparently Katy let him stay up late last night and Luke wore him out at the beach today. He didn’t make it through the first book. Thanks again, man, I owe you.” I look at Luke and nod my head.

“You don’t owe me anything, I’m family. Speaking of family, I heard your mom is coming in next Thursday night. What’s the plan for the weekend?”

I invite him and Sophie to join us on Friday night for dinner and he agrees to bring Katy. We move the conversation to the upcoming football camps and practices. Ari tells him what happened with her boss on Friday and that Sarah is still avoiding her. I inwardly groan when Sophie walks in the door and demands Ari tell her about the weekend. It feels like I’m never going to get Ari to myself. They move to the patio and Luke eyes me suspiciously.

“Something’s different. I can’t figure it out but something different since y’all left the soccer fields yesterday.”

I squirm in my chair and try to avoid his gaze. “Yeah, a lot changed. I got to tell my boss and teammates about my son. I introduced Ari to my friends. We got to spend time together, not focused on Davis, and I think I finally got through to her how I feel. I’m not going anywhere, ever.” I leave out all the sex involved.

He nods and takes a tug of his beer with his eyes boring into me. “Is there a monkey suit in the near future?”

“I have to take baby steps with her. I told her I was done going slow. Need to get her and mom back together before I can move forward with my plan.”

“What are you going to do about Jack?”

“Fuck, I don’t know. I’m still furious with him, but Ari wants me to talk to him. My mom even mentioned having him come to dinner one night. He’s been in my life for twenty-four years.”

“We all make choices when it comes to the people we love. He made a bad one but I agree with Ari, you should talk to him.”

“I’ll give him a call sometime. Now, since the girls are busy, I need to talk to you about some things. I may need your help to pull off my plan.”

“What plan is that?” He raises his eyebrows at me.

“Operation Matthews.”

“Tell me again.” Reed whispers against my neck as he slowly glides in and out of me.

In my state of ecstasy, every inch of my body is humming. His slow movements continue to hit me so deep, I whimper against his skin.

“Angel, I need to hear it while I’m buried deep inside you. Don’t make me wait any longer.” He pushes up and braces on his elbows. His eyes capture mine and I reach up and frame his face with my hands.

“I love you Reed Matthews, so much.”

His expression changes and so does his pace. He leans down and kisses me, really kisses me with a sense of possessiveness and love. His movements speed up and I pull away to moan through the orgasm that washes over me. His head drops against me and groans through his own release. He slows down again and breathes heavily.

“Gotta say, there’s nothing I enjoy more than making love to you, but it’s going to take some time learning to be quiet. I like hearing you scream my name.”

“Honey—”

“Right, listen we need to talk about something. That’s the fifth time I’ve come inside you without a condom. I’d like to say I’m sorry, but I’m not. I lose my mind when I get near you.”

“It’s okay.”

“If you want to use condoms, I’ll do it, but I’d like to get you back on birth control.”

“It’s okay.” I say again realizing he isn’t listening to me.

“I’m clean, but I’ll have another test if you want me to. I know you are too.” He keeps talking. For a brief second I think of him with all the women before me, but I push it out of my mind. That’s something we should have discussed before we fell into bed, but now it’s too late.

“Reed, honey, listen to me. It’s OKAY.”

He shuts his mouth and looks at me with confusion.

“After Davis was born, I realized the shot wasn’t a good form of protection for me. I had an IUD inserted. I don’t have to worry about it. When you started to talk about getting serious again, I called my doctor. I am protected.”

“You always were the smart one.”

“Not smart, just prepared.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Forever.” He rolls to the side and pulls me close. I want to mention cleaning up but instead, snuggle closer to his warmth.

I look around the small diner for Reed, hoping he’s already here. I only have an hour for lunch today due to an afternoon of scheduled meetings. When he called and asked me to meet him, I tried to say no until he told me how important it was.

He waves at me from a back table where he is seated with a man that has his back to me. When I join them, Reed gets up to greet me and kisses my cheek softly. I gasp when I recognize the man across the booth. It’s been weeks, but there’s no doubt who he is.

“Ari, this is Trey. Trey this is Arianna Williams.” He introduces us and I shake the man’s hand.

“Reed, why are we meeting with a land inspector?”

Both men smirk but have the decency not to laugh at me. I slant my eyes in annoyance and Reed quickly sobers.

“Baby, Trey’s not a land inspector. He’s a Private Investigator. He’s my PI. I used him to help me find you and Davis.”

My mouth drops and this time both men laugh.

“This is not funny! This man was on my property. He approached Katy alone. What if he was dangerous!”

“Ari, I worked with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for years as an officer and then worked missing persons as a detective. I left the force because I wanted to work for myself once my pension kicked in. I still have good friends in the department and I promise you I am only dangerous when I need to be.”

The sincerity in his voice is hard for me to remain upset and I realize he’s a good guy to have on your side. I’ve always wanted to know a police officer—retired or not.

“Well, that may be but it was not nice of you to impersonate a land inspector.”

“Not nice, but necessary in my line of work. And it looks like the end result is good.” He motions between Reed and me.

I grin at him because I can’t argue his point. “Yeah, I guess you can say that.”

The waitress comes over and we order our lunch. While waiting for our drinks, Trey pulls out a few files and a notebook. I look at Reed confused but he shakes his head. Once the waitress puts our drinks in front of us and leaves, Reed talks.

“Ari, I’ve hired Trey to look into what happened to us in college.”

“Wha-wha-what? Wh-wh-why?” I stutter, looking between the men.

“Baby, I need to know. It’s bothered me since you told me about what happened.”

“Reed, I think we should leave it alone. Nothing good can come out of it.”

“I can’t.”

“Please, I don’t even want to talk about it. And how would he even find them?”

“Ari, the world of technology is a wonder. Everything is online now. All I need from you is a description of the girls that approached you. There is an online community with the alumni, sororities, cheerleaders, and then Facebook can help. That’s just scratching the surface.” Trey answers.

The way he and Reed are looking at me, tells me there is no arguing about this. I sigh and settle back in my chair. Our food arrives and I pick at mine as I go over the details I can remember about that day. The girls that spoke to me are etched in my brain, but I can’t recall many details about Bailey’s posse. Reed touches me several times in encouragement, but I don’t return the sentiment.

I finish lunch and tell the men I need to get back to work. Now my mind is completely frazzled and I’m not sure what use I will be for the rest of the day.

Reed walks me to my car, but I barely look at him. He notices the tension.

“Angel, don’t be upset.”

“Why, Reed? Huh? Because you say so? Because you NEED this? What about me? I lived with it and it almost destroyed me. I finally moved on—finally! Then you show up and turn my world upside down again. Did you even stop to think what you’re going to do if we find these girls? They’re women now. Maybe married with kids of their own. Are we going to arrange a bitch slap bash? Track them down and call them bullies? What are we possibly going to do about it now?” I’m yelling by the time I’m done with my rant. Then I notice several bank employees at a nearby restaurant watching through a window.

Reed’s reaction is not what I expected. He pulls me into him and slams his lips against mine. I resist at first, but he coaxes my mouth open and then pushes me against my car. I try to step back, but he holds my neck and continues to kiss me until dizziness sets in. Releasing me a little bit, he kisses along my jawline to my ear. Obviously, he doesn’t care that we are in a very public parking lot.