When Faults Collide (Faultlines #1) (12 page)

I grabbed his hand, fighting back a tear from escaping my eye.

“Who was it?” I whispered.

His eyes met mine and the light bulb went off for him. We stared at each other in a knowing way. Similar to how an addict may recognize another addict, a sexual assault survivor sees it in another.

He blew out his breath. “My first foster home. The one that was bad. There was a teenage girl there. She was eighteen; I was twelve. She got me drunk one night and raped me. I told my foster dad
about it but he slapped me on the back and told me that I had become a man. My caseworker found out about it and had me moved, but yeah...I haven’t had sex with anyone else. And I’ve never dated anyone.”

I pursed my lips and realized that he just shared something with me that I had been fighting off sharing with him. I blew out a breath.

“The day that my mother died, I left to go find a doctor. I knew she had TB; I had seen it before. It took other women all the time. Well, I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, and as soon as I left I was dragged into an alley and raped by this man. I don’t know who he was, or where he is now, or anything. He hit me so hard I passed out. When I came to I was in shock and still tried to get to the clinic, then realized that my mother had died. She died while I was getting raped in an alley next door.” Tears flowed down my cheeks at this point.

He squeezed my hand in a knowing way, and wiped away my tears.

“And I’ve never dated anyone either, or had sex with anyone else. In fact, other than my therapist, you are the only one who knows. Nobody else knows.”

His eyes widened. “You’ve never told your dad?”

I shook my head, wiping away a few more stray tears. “No. It’s one of my rules. Don’t burden anyone with my bullshit.”

He pulled me into him, holding me and rubbing my back.

“Oh, beautiful girl. I can’t believe you’ve been carrying this around with you. Thank you for sharing this with me.”

I pulled back and shook my head. “No, Blake. Thank
you
. Thank you for sharing with me.”

Time stood still again as he pulled me in to kiss me. He put his
hands on my cheeks and his mouth searched mine.

We found solace in each other in a way I had never experienced.

We finally got up. Blake went next door to change and I changed into my running gear. We met on the porch as I was making my way out to go for my run.

“How about I make us a coffee here and meet you in your kitchen when you get back?” he said giving me a quick kiss.

I nodded and smiled, then went down the stairs. I did my normal stretching, hitting shuffle on my iPod and landing on Korn’s
Get Up
, then took off.

I kept my pace as I made my way to the park and started doing laps. I inhaled the scent of the park, enjoying the barbeque smells wafting over from Alamo, a barbeque place directly next to the park. I heard the kids laughing at the playground and listened closely to the sound that the leaves, which had drifted down to the sidewalk, made when I ran over top of them.

I breathed in and out, paying attention to the sound of my feet hitting the pavement.

This was my centered feeling. My grounding.

The temperature had dropped in the last few days with a slight cold front moving in and I realized I was going to have to bust out the winter gear soon.

My playlist switched to Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood’s
Something Bad
.

I finished my tenth lap and kept running the same pace as I headed back to my house.

I had to stop at a crosswalk and decided to send out a Tweet as I jogged in place, waiting on the light.

I slipped my phone into my jacket pocket as I took off and rounded the corner towards my house. I paced myself and slowed down to a jog, and then a brisk walk, before getting to the house.

I went up the stairs, checking the mail before I went inside.

I slipped off my shoes and rounded the corner to the kitchen to find Blake standing there, dressed for work, holding out a coffee for me.

I smiled and then lifted myself up onto my toes to give him a kiss before taking the cup.

I took a sip. “Thanks handsome.”

He winked. “No problem, beautiful.”

I motioned towards the dining room and we went in and sat down.

I ran my finger around the rim of my cup.

“Are we doing this right? I mean, is this too fast or whatever?” I asked him.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. Does it feel too fast to you? Do you want to slow down?”

“No,” I answered quickly. “I love how things are with us. I just don’t want to do something wrong. I don’t know how all of this is supposed to work.”

He laughed softly. “That makes two of us. Although, I don’t think there’s a manual for how two children of prostitutes and abuse survivors are supposed to go about this.”

I laughed. “True!”

His eyes locked onto mine and he looked at me seriously. “We can go however slow or fast that you want, Asha. If I’m being honest with myself and you, though, I love every moment I’m with you and every moment just makes me want more.”

The corner of my mouth twitched up into a smile. “I feel the same way.”

He squeezed my hand. “So what’s on your agenda today?”

“Blogging, reading, a little working. Someone has to get back to me about the mock ups I sent over.
Ahem?
I said, eyeing him warily.

He kissed the back of my hand. “Yep. I had the managers look over it yesterday. You will get a formal email from Mr. Daley later this afternoon, Ms. Harris.”

I nodded. “Good. Ms. Harris is looking forward to that email. So what do you have planned today?”

“Mostly paperwork. We have the truck coming in today to deliver our booze, and my bar manager is out sick, so I’ll have to look over that. I have to stay for the show tonight, so I won’t be done with work until late,” he said, keeping his eyes fixed on mine.

“Okay.” I said simply.

“I was hoping that maybe when I’m off we could hang out.”

I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

With that he kissed me and then went to work.

I made my way upstairs to get a shower and get my day started.

Katherine was going to have a field day with all these new revelations.

Chapter Thirteen

      
My therapist says that two people with the histories that Mr. Green Eyes and I both have—survivors—are either amazing and healing for each other, or they could ruineach other
.

      
While the good doctor and I don’t always see eye-to-eye, I see what she means
.

      
To be honest, it scares the crap out of me
.

      
We (Mr. Green Eyes and I) have been living our lives on fault lines, occasionally moving or causing friction, but mostly just existing, waiting on the bang
.

      
So here we were, two faults, existing and surviving, and we just collided full force
.

      
Are we going to be spectacular and create mountains, making beauty from our chaos, or are we a city-leveling natural disaster?

      
Tell me your thoughts and leave me some comment love
.

xoxo, Asha


I minimized Blogger, spun around in my chair a few times, and
stared at the ceiling.

I heard my phone ding.

Subject: Re: Shine Logo Mock-ups

Ms. Harris
,

The managers and I love your mock-ups
.

We particularly liked the more modern one. Continue along the same lines, and I have attached some event photos to be featured on the website
.

Could you provide me an estimated time of completion for the site?

Thanks
.

-B. Daley

I grinned. My phone dinged again, this time with a text.

If I thought I was grinning before, it had nothing on the smile pasted on my face now.

I decided to respond to the email first.

Subject: Re: Re: Shine Logo Mock-ups

Mr. Daley
,

Thank you for your promptness
.

The first step is completing the logo, which can be finished today with a little tweaking
.

I will send over three more options in various colors with the more modern option. Whichever one you select will be the final logo, unless you want additional changes
.

Since this is currently my only project, I estimate that I can have the site completed in a week’s time
.

Please get back to me ASAP if you have any questions or
concerns.

Thanks!

-Asha Harris

I switched over to my texts.

I smiled when I got his response a moment later.

I responded.

It again only took him a moment to respond.

I smiled before standing to go grab a cardigan and head downstairs to go to the store.

My phone dinged with a text from Lily as I was locking the front door.

I opened my car door and slid inside before responding.

I drove down the hill to the grocery store, parking, and picking a basket before my phone dinged again.

I rolled my eyes, moving my cart towards the produce before responding.

I picked up some cauliflower, a few potatoes, and an eggplant then rounded corner and picked up garlic, onions, and tomatoes.

My phone dinged as I made my way down the meat aisle.

Tarrants is an old drug store downtown that was converted into
a hip, more pricey restaurant. Pricey or not, the food was amazing.

I picked up some beef tips then went down the dry goods aisle and picked up some lentils and jasmine rice.