Rekindle The Flames (The Men of CLE-FD Book 4) (8 page)

She got up from the chair and went over to him.  With a
gentle hand she caressed the side of his face. “Ryan, I love you and you are
not a loser. Mom thought it would be best not to tell you, so she paid the
medical bills and all I had to do was keep my mouth shut.”

“Megan, this is what you meant when you said you
sacrificed a lot for me.  I’m not good for you.  We were cursed from the start
and it will last until you finally see that I’m just not good for you.” He
walked away from her.

Megan dropped to her knees folding her arms across her
body as she cried.

*****

James looked up from his desk.  He stood up and dropped
what he was doing. “Megan, sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

She ran over to him and hugged him around the waist.
“Everything is wrong, Dad.”

“Calm down and tell me what’s going on?”

“I don’t know where to start because it is all so jacked
up.”

“Well, why don’t you start with the recent incidences
first.  What has Iona done this time?”

“Mom is blackmailing me.  Well, she was until I came clean
with Ryan.  I told him about the miscarriage before she could.”

“That bitch!” James scowled.

Megan moved away from him startled.  She had never heard
her father use those words on anyone especially her mother. “Dad?”

“I’m sorry, Megan.  I didn’t mean to say that for you to
hear.  But maybe it’s about time you heard the truth.”

“What truth?  What is going on that I don’t know about?”

“Sit down, Megan.  What I have to say will clear up a lot
of things and it’ll also help you and Ryan in the end.”

Chapter Nine

Ryan dressed after his shower.  He’d shed all the tears he
could for now.  He’d lost a child he never got a chance to hear the heartbeat,
or even take joy in knowing he had coming.  Megan put him first and dealt with
the loss of their child.  She suffered in silence so he wouldn’t have a mental
breakdown.

He sat on the edge of the bed running his hands through
his hair.  She wasn’t childish or immature after all.  Her fears about his job
were valid because she knew they were expecting a baby and she wanted him
around.  The cell phone on the table rang.  He looked at it not wanting to talk
to anyone.  He needed time to absorb these new developments.  It stopped
ringing long enough to start again.  He picked it up and saw it was Iona.  The
cat was out of the bag now.  If she was calling to tell Megan’s secret, it was
too late.

Ryan let the phone ring two more times before he answered.
“What can I do for you, Iona?” His voice was dry and lifeless.

“Hello to you, Ryan.”

“You can cut the cheerful banter.  What the hell do you
want?”

“That is a terrible way to speak to your mother-in-law but
since you insist I get to the reason for the call, I will.  I have the divorce
papers that I want you to sign.  You can read them over, but I think you’ll
find everything fair.  You get to keep your house and money.  Just give Megan
her freedom.”

Ryan put the phone on speaker and hit the record button. 
He wanted to have this on tape for future references. “Iona, those divorce
papers you drafted, can go you know where.  Look, I know she told you to butt
out our marriage, but you can’t do it. I need you to explain to me why don’t
you want Megan happy?”

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to do for her.  I want her
to be very happy.”

“That’s a fucking joke.  You want to live your life
through your daughter. You’re a bitter ass woman that isn’t happy unless
everyone else is miserable.”

“Ryan, words don’t hurt me. Say what you like about me if
that means you’ll get out of my daughter’s life for good.  Now back to the
divorce.”

“Shove it up your ass, Iona.  I’m not signing any divorce
papers you draft or your lapdog Emin drafts.  Megan is my wife and my
responsibility.  We’re not getting divorced and that’s final.”

“You’re a stupid man.  How much do you make a year? 30 to
40 thousand?  She has an opportunity to marry a billionaire you’re blocking
that.”

“No, you’re blocking her from happiness.  Megan isn’t
about wealth.  She doesn’t want that asshole and I’m not stepping aside to let
him, or anyone else for that matter, have her.  Iona, don’t call me again with
this shit!” He spat into the phone.

“This isn’t over, Ryan.  I always get what I want and I
will get this.”

“Fucking bitch,” he yelled. Ryan hung up the phone.  He
needed something to destroy. He threw the alarm clock sitting on the table
across the room as hard as he could.  It shattered into pieces.

Ryan’s angry tantrum was interrupted by a knocking on the
front door. He left the bedroom.  His footsteps were nearly stomps as he walked
heavily.  Opening the door, his neighbor was standing there with a picnic
basket.

“Lolita, what can I do for you?”

“Ryan, hi.  I made way too much food for just me and
thought I’d bring dinner over.”

He looked at the clock on the wall, it was nearly 8:00 and
Megan wasn’t back yet. “Oh, that was nice of you but Megan isn’t here right
now.”

Her shoulder slumped. “Oh, did she leave again?  I saw her
earlier at the library with a man. I prayed that wasn’t an attorney. I know
what you’re going through, Ryan; divorce is hell.  Thank God you don’t have
kids to drag through this.”

Ryan frowned. “What man are you talking about?”

She switched the handle of the picnic basket to her other
arm.  Lolita lived next door to Ryan and he knew her before he married Megan. 
Her son was an infant at the time Mike moved out.  Ryan would help her with
yard work and would take her garbage cans to the curb on garbage day. But once
he married Megan that stopped.  Megan felt Lolita was attracted to him and
didn’t like him doing stuff for her. It didn’t help that Lolita was an
attractive African-American woman around his age, with short stylish hair and a
body men craved.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.  I know Megan isn’t
comfortable with our friendship.”

He braced the top of the door with his hand tightly.
“Finish your story, Lolita.”

“OK.  I saw her with some well-dressed man.  They talked
for a few minutes and before he left, they shared a tender but passionate
kiss.”

He gripped the door harder to control his already raging
anger. What meeting with an attorney ended with a kiss unless she was
personally involved with that attorney? Was Megan seeing Emin behind his back
and covering it with the miscarriage story? There were too many unanswered
questions and his wife was nowhere around to answer them.  In fact, she hadn’t
been around the majority of the day.  She was gone before he got up and didn’t
return to the house for hours only to drop the story and let a few tears fall
before leaving again.  He had no idea where she was or who she was with.

He swallowed to steady his voice. “Why don’t we have that
dinner you prepared at your place?  Most women don’t like working in another’s
woman kitchen.”

She smiled. “That would be perfect.  Tony is spending the
nights with a friend and I have the house to myself.”

“Great.  I’m following you,” he said closing the door
behind him.

*****

James sat on the corner of his desk watching his daughter.
“Megan, are you ready for me to tell you everything?”

“No, but I’m going to listen anyhow.”

He looked up at the ceiling for a starting point. “Okay,
here it is.  Iona and I haven’t been a happy couple for years.”

“Dad, how can that be?  Just this morning, Mom was saying
how happy she is and that I was jealous of her marriage.”

“She is lying through her teeth.  Have you ever wondered
why I’m away from home so much, Megan?  You were in your last year of high
school when I started traveling more than normal.”

She nodded. “I remember.  You almost missed my
graduation.”

“Well, I travel to keep from strangling Iona. I detest
that woman and can’t stand being in her presence.  Sweetheart, I would divorce
her in a minute, but it is much cheaper for me to keep her than to give her
half of my hard-earned money.”

“Why live in misery? Wouldn’t it be easier to give her a
settlement and be free?”

“Honey, I am free.  See, when I’m in Florida I have the
life I’ve always wanted.”

Megan raised her brow and asked. “What does that mean,
Dad?”

“You’re a grown woman, Megan.  I’m 57-years old and have
plenty of life left in me.  I have a mistress in Florida.  Actually, she is the
woman I had planned to marry before Iona got rid of her.  I never stopped
loving this woman and when my marriage started to go south, I decided to look
for my first love again.  I moved her to Miami and we have a beautiful
relationship.”

Megan cringed. “I can’t even begin to understand this? She
is ok being the other woman?”

James laughed. “She is the only woman.  Iona is the other
woman in this arrangement.  Don’t worry, you don’t have any step-siblings, but
Connor does know about her and they get along great.”

“Oh, boy, I need a drink,” she said getting up to pace the
large executive office.  Her father was a self-made millionaire and worked hard
to get where he was.  She could understand him not wanting to part with his
money.  A well-off black man in America was far and few between and one
divorcing a white woman would run the risk of losing half his empire to her.

“I understand that.  I started down that road and quickly
realized being a drunk would do me more harm than good.  Iona is no fool.  She
saw where my company was headed for success before I did.  She hooked her claws
into me and before I knew it we were married and had Connor.  Then you came
along.  I wasn’t going to walk out on my kids. I just had to wait for my time
to come.  It did and now I’m happy again.”

“How is this going to help me, Dad?  I’m glad you’re
happy.  I’m sad I’m a product of a broken home, though.”

“Your divorce is her ticket to eternal wealth, Megan.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “How? Ryan doesn’t have any
money.”

“Iona can sniff out wealth like a French pig can sniff
truffles buried in the ground.  The day you met Emin she did research on his
family and found they were worth billions.  She wants you to marry Emin so
she’ll be set for life; that’ll be the only way she’ll divorce me.  You have to
know by now that she doesn’t do anything without a purpose.”

“I guess you’re right about that.”

“You married Ryan instead of Emin for love and not money. 
Ryan serves no purpose to her. Therefore, he is disposable.  The quicker she
gets him out of your life, the sooner she’ll manipulate you to marry Emin and
have access to that Armenian river of wealth.”

“How do we stop her, Dad?”

James took a deep breath and kicked his legs out in front
of him as he reared back. “We beat her at her own game.”

Megan shook her head. “Pinning mother against daughter,
doesn’t seem right, Dad.”

“Neither does mother manipulating daughter while dad
watches and does nothing.  Iona has to be stopped.  You’re the only one that
can do it, Megan.  Only, we have to get Ryan to agree to play along.  Do you
think he’ll do it?”

“I dumped a lot on him today.  I’m not sure he’ll even be
home when I get there.  He was so distraught and blaming himself for my
miscarriage.”

“Honey, let me talk to him.  I’ll explain everything to
him.”

“He might listen to you.” She opened her purse and removed
a piece of paper and a pen. “Here is his cell phone number.  His shift starts
tomorrow morning.  If he doesn’t answer that means he is probably on a run.”

He took the paper and folded it in half. “Megan, now I’m
going to point out your mistakes.  Stop riding the man about his job.  You love
him and he loves you and this job static is total crap.  Kiss him goodbye when
he leaves the house and give him the same when he returns home.  Life is too
short to put complications where they don’t belong.  Focus that energy on
bringing Iona to her knees.”

Megan unfolded herself from the comfortable chair.  Her
body ached and she wanted to go home and soak in a hot bubble bath. “I am
putting that behind me.  I’m dedicated to working as a team with Ryan and get
our marriage and careers moving in the right direction.  I better get home. 
I’ve been gone all day and we’re supposed to go to a movie tonight.  Let me
know when you talk to Ryan.”

When Megan got home Ryan was nowhere in sight although the
lights were on and his car was in the driveway. She checked her watch; it was
almost 10:00pm. “Damn, I hadn’t planned to be gone so long.”  She checked the
rest of the house and decided Ryan either took a walk or was out running to
cool off.  It was too late to go to a movie now and both of them had to work in
the morning. She took the opportunity in the house alone to take a bath and
unwind.

Chapter Ten

Ryan couldn’t lift his woozy head. Too much alcohol
consumed in too little time, however, not enough to take away the pain that
tore at his heart.  The thought of his wife in the arms of that sleazy Emin. 
He leaned his head back on the couch listening to the soulful music playing in
the background.  The smooth lyrics recited by the singer made lovemaking seem
like the magical elixir to cure everything.  Take a woman to bed and every
problem would disappear after a heavenly orgasmic release.

Bullshit!

Lolita attempted to use every trick up her sleeve to
seduce him. The consumption of liquor had him in a zone.
I should fuck her;
that’s all it would be; a meaningless roll in the hay to take my pain away
were the irrational thoughts running through his head as Lolita’s soft hand
caressed his face.  He closed his eyes as she enticed him, and he tried to
fight the temptation of having a one-night fling with this woman. She managed
to get him hard from her touch. His erection pressed painfully against the
front of his pants begging for release from the confining material.

His eyes twitched as flashes of sanity filtered between
his haziness, snapping him to reality.  Her touch wasn’t as feathery, sensual
or familiar as his beloved Megan’s touch.  He couldn’t even bring himself to
want to dominate this woman.  To make her beg for him.  He simply didn’t want
her that way.

There were days in the past that he did want her.  He
thought Lolita was attractive and sexy and they were both lonely.  He’d
mustered the courage to ask her out, but at the last minute decided not to get
involved with her.  She was dealing with the fallout from a cheating husband
and extremely vulnerable. He wasn’t seeking a long-term relationship and
suspected Lolita would’ve taken his advances the wrong way.  Not wanting to
cause her any undue pain, he kept his slight attraction to her to himself.

She whispered in his ear as long manicured fingernails
raked across his scalp. “I’ve always been attracted to you.  You need a woman,
Ryan, not some girl that doesn’t know how to treat a real man like you.  Let me
help you forget her.”  She used her free hand to massage his stiff erection.

Ryan moved his head as her lips brushed against the skin
of his cheek.  He sat up pushing her away as she tried to unzip his pants. “No,
I can’t.  I can’t do this, Lolita.”

“Really, Ryan?  What does she have to do to make you leave
her for good?  Is cheating not enough?”

He shook his dazed-filled head. “I don’t believe she would
cheat on me.  There has to be another explanation for what you saw.  Megan
loves me.”

Lolita sat up on the couch and took her cell phone from
the table.  She pulled up a picture to show it to him. “I didn’t want to do
this, but I have proof your precious wife is nothing but a cheater.  Look at
the picture, Ryan; that should convince you of what I saw.”

Ryan’s heart raced. He refused to look at the picture, to
believe there could be any truth to Lolita’s story. His rambling mind let him
off guard and Lolita successfully got her hand down the front of his pants. 
Her cold fingers maneuvered around his thickness. “It’ll be pure fire between
us,” she moaned licking her lips. Her eyes widened. “Damn, baby, is that’s all
you? That girl is crazy to cheat on you.”

He stood up.  Lolita’s hand was logged wrist-deep inside
his pants.  He pulled her hand away and zipped his jeans. “I don’t give a rat’s
ass about that picture, Lolita.  I know my wife.  She would never cheat on me
and I’m definitely not a cheating husband.”

She frowned. “You think you know your wife.  I thought I
knew my husband but he cheated on me with no problem.  That hurt me, Ryan.  I
know I’m a good woman, just like you’re a good man. We would be perfect
together.”

“I can’t speak for your husband or why he hurt you.  But,
there is only woman for me and that’s my wife.”

She stood up and leaned against him rubbing her hands
across the front of his chest. “You’re wrong.  She doesn’t want what you have
to offer. She is too young to understand the commitment it takes to make a
marriage work.  Get out before she breaks you for good.”

He inhaled her sweet scent. “You and I have been neighbors
and friends for a long time, but this ain’t happening between us.  I know how
it is to be lonely, but I’m not your cure, Lolita.  Yeah, it was poor judgment
on my part to come over here with you.  I even might have led you to believe
something might happen between us; I want to apologize for that.  But I have to
thank God my common sense kicked in before I did anything stupid.”  He sat her
gently on the couch and headed for the door.

“Why do you trust her? What is it about her, Ryan?” Lolita
asked in a dejected voice.

“I love her with all my soul.  My marriage might not be
perfect, but my love for her is.  Thanks for dinner,” he said leaving the house
to stagger home.

Lolita cursed and dialed the phone. “He didn’t fall for
it.”

“Try again.  I’ll double the payment for your efforts only
you’ll have to succeed in getting him away from my daughter.”

“I’m not doing anything else to help you.  As much as I am
attracted to Ryan Tisdale, he loves his wife.  You’re on your own now.”  She
hung up the phone and turned it off.  Grabbing her glass of wine she took a
long sip and crossed her legs tightly. “Damn, I wish I had got the chance to
sleep with his fine ass just once.”

The short walk across the yard cleared Ryan’s head enough
to make him scold himself.  He fumbled for the house keys to unlock the door. 
His shift was in less than eight hours and he would go in with a massive
hangover.  Not a way to start off his first rotation on the rescue squad.

He went to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. He really
wasn’t that drunk.  The disposition he was in took more out of him than the
alcohol.  The smell of Lolita’s perfume drifted to his nose. He shook his
head. 
What a disaster that would’ve been
.  He took the mug sitting on
the counter and stuck it under the dripping coffeemaker not waiting for the
carafe to fill first.

“Where have you been?”

He lifted his head to see Megan standing in the doorway of
the kitchen.  She was barefoot and wearing a short nightshirt that barely
covered her body.  Her arms were folded tightly across her chest.  She was
upset.

“I was next door,” he answered taking a sip of coffee.

“Next door? Which neighbor were you visiting, Ryan? As if
I have to ask,” she said sarcastically.

“I was at Lolita’s place for dinner.”

Her face took a double dip and frowned. “You have got to
be kidding me! Was that an attempt to get back at me for having the
miscarriage? Why, Ryan? Why would you go to her place for dinner!  You know
Lolita and I aren’t friends or even friendly towards each other.  If that was
your plan to hurt me, you succeeded.”

“That was not my plan! Lolita came over here, first. You weren’t
here when I got out of the shower. Hell, Megan, I don’t know why I went with
her.  I guess I wanted to kill the pain of losing my kid.  I couldn’t do that
with you since I had no idea where you were or if you were coming back.”

“I told you I was coming back. I’ve been home for hours,
Ryan.  But, I do have a cell phone, you could have called me. You didn’t think
about that while you were eating her food and God only knows what else.”

“I’m here now, so what’s your point.”

“My point is it’s after midnight. There is no way you are
just finishing dinner.  What were you doing over there, Ryan? Or should I
bother to ask since I smell her damn perfume from here.”

“If you’re going to accuse me of doing something, then go
ahead because after you’re done, I have a few questions of my own.”

Her body tensed when he said that. “What kind of
questions?”

“I’d like to know why you were seen kissing Emin at the
library today?  Damn, Megan, I don’t want to believe any of it is true, but you
are making this damn hard for me to ignore.”

“I knew she was going to tell you.  Lolita has wanted you
for the longest and then I come along and knock her out of the picture again.”

He slammed his hand on the counter, eyes ablaze and
nostrils flared, he yelled, “I don’t give a damn about Lolita.  I’m asking you
about Emin.”

“Ryan, I was not kissing Emin.  I mean yeah he kissed me
but it was not that type of kiss.”

“What other kinds of kisses are there, Megan?  You kiss a
kid or a relative on the cheek, but the picture I saw and tried so hard not to
look at, was a man kissing a woman.  How do you explain that?”

“I wanted to throw up in his mouth.  I detested the kiss
and told him that.  Lolita didn’t hear the argument we were having, so from
where she was standing, I guess it did look differently to her. Ryan, I’m not
interested in Emin.  He refuses to give up the pursuit now that he has Mom back
in his corner. His intention is to take me away from you which will never
happen.  Even if you decide you don’t believe what I’m saying and toss me out
on my ear, I’ll never be a part of his life again.”

Ryan pinched the space between his eyes and nose.  A
headache was brewing.  He flopped down in the kitchen chair. “God, I’m so tired
of this shit.  I’m tired of being miserable and having this damn turmoil in my
life. I can’t go on like this.”

“I understand you’re upset with me for hiding stuff.  And
my Mom is causing a lot of strife in our marriage.  I’m tired of it too.  I
want it to stop, but I don’t know how to stop her.  My biggest mistake was not
telling you about the miscarriage.  If I had told you instead of turning to my
mother, maybe our life wouldn’t have so much unbalance.  That was the wrong
thing for me to do and I know that now.”

He nodded slowly. “It was, but I know why you did it.  I
wasn’t there for you like I should have been, Megan.”  He drank more of the
coffee.  The strong brew burned as it went down his throat. “I didn’t do
anything with Lolita.  She gave it her best shot, but as downtrodden as I am, I
couldn’t force myself to sleep with her.”

Megan rolled her eyes. “Thank you for telling me that. 
Because, that was the next question I was going to ask you.”

Ryan looked at his wife.  She seemed to have shrunk in
size. The vibrant 21-year old woman that changed his life on that sunny day at
the park had lost her zest for life.  He knew she was sheltered when he met
her.  He couldn’t expect her to learn everything about the cruelness life could
serve now that she was 25. In the short amount of time they’ve been together,
Megan was dealing with issues women twice her age couldn’t handle.

“Come here,” he ordered. Megan sauntered in his direction.
Besides the bedroom, he didn’t order her to do anything.  She was her own woman
and could speak her mind or cuss him out if he stepped out of line.  “Sit on my
lap the way I like you to sit.”

“Ryan…”

“Shhh, don’t disobey me.  You know the rules,” he said
locking a piercing gaze with her. Megan placed her legs across his lap and
sat.  His hands rubbed her back. She had lost weight.  Megan was never super
slim but had more meat on her bones than she has now.  He could feel the bones
of her spine through the thin material of the nightshirt.  “What have I done to
you?”  He whispered holding his forehead against hers.

She whispered back. “Nothing but love me. It’s not you
that’s causing my pain, but everyone else.  I wish we could leave Cleveland and
go somewhere no one could find us.  Escape into our own little world and never
leave.”

“What would we do there? Live off love?”

“Yes.  That’s exactly what we would do.”

Then she kissed him, it was hard, deep, and passionate and
laced with so much desire that the idea of her cheating on him instantly left
his head.  Megan clung to him, keeping her body tight against him.

“I want total control of you tonight,” she whispered
against his ear after breaking the kiss.

“Oh really,” said Ryan.  “And how do you want to control
me?”

Her hands were between their bodies. He heard the distinct
sound of his zipper being undone.  It didn’t take him long to become fully
erect thanks to Lolita’s pre-stimulation.  The kitchen chair squeaked under
their weight.

“You’ll have to wait and see.” She disappeared from the
kitchen and returned moments later with a pair of fuzzy black handcuffs in her
hand.

Ryan stuttered. “Where did you get those?”

She smiled dangling the handcuffs in front of his face.
“Baby, I’m going to make you beg and scream for me before the night is over.
Take off your shirt,” she instructed. “I don’t want to smell another woman’s
perfume while I’m making love to you.”

He grinned. “I must be rubbing off on you?”

She shook her head. “No.  I have a little freak in me too,
but you never let me play the dominate role.  Now put your hands behind your
back.”

“Those things look small.  My wrists are too big and they
might get stuck,” he complained.

“You’re a firefighter. I’m sure you’ll get them off if
they get stuck.  Stop talking and put your hands behind your back.”

“Are you going to say please?”

“PLEASE!” She went behind the chair and snapped the cuffs
on his wrists.  They barely fit. “Are they too tight?”

“I’ll manage,” he grunted.

She stayed behind him and rubbed her hands down his chest
while licking and sucking on his earlobe, sliding her tongue up and down the
side of his neck.

He moaned, “Mmm, baby.”

Megan kept up her assault on him as she walked around to
face him. Straddling him, her lips found his erect nipples; she pinched a
hardened nipple between her teeth. He winced from the pain. “Ouch, watch the
teeth.”

“Love is pain and you never once heard me complain about
the pain.”

“I didn’t know I was hurting you,” he winched again as she
switched nipples.