Page 106 of Empowered
“I’m not asking you to marry me,” he continued. “Or at least not yet. We can cross that bridge when the time feels right.”
She nestled against his chest. “I didn’t think you were.”
“But I want you, Sarah.” He stroked her hair with insurmountable tenderness. “I want you to be with me, whatever I end up doing.”
“I love you.” That was all she had – needed – to say. Lucas would pick up her intent.
He did. When he kissed the top of her head and muttered more loving affirmations, Sarah decided she was perfectly fine with her current lot in life.
So why did it have to end so abruptly?
Neither of them wanted to acknowledge Lucas’s ringing phone. Under most circumstances, he would have ignored it this late in the evening. Yet not even Sarah recognized the ringtone. She had been in the business world long enough to know that at his level, Lucas Blackbourne assigned certain ringtones for certain numbers that presented very certain situations. When his eyes opened wide and he turned toward his phone without thinking, Sarah knew it was important. More important than her, anyway.
“Blackbourne,” he greeted with a gruff voice. “Uh. Yes. Are you sure?” He rubbed his face with the breadth of his hand. “No. There’s no need for the police. Send her up.”
Sarah sat up. “What’s going on?”
“That was the front desk downstairs.” Sighing, Lucas flung back the bed covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Jill’s here, and adamant about coming up to see me.”
Shit.This was about what Sarah had done earlier, wasn’t it? So much for her reprieve from the serious amount of embarrassment she suffered now.
“I’m sorry, Angel. I have to see her.”
“Don’t worry about it.” She watched him dress in a pair of jeans and one of his fitted T-shirts. Should Sarah get dressed as well? What would she even wear? Did it damn well matter?
The door buzzer rang. Lucas finished straightening out his T-shirt and went out to meet his ex-wife. Sarah hopped into the bathroom to freshen up. By the time she had clothes on and combed out her hair, Jill was already in the living room – her own hair disheveled and her posture tilting back and forth.
Sarah knew she was drunk right away. That became even more apparent the moment their eyes met across the room.
Bloodshot. Crazed. Every inch of Jill Blackbourne shaking from anger, directed at her ex-husband.
“You!” Her shaking finger wagged in Sarah’s direction. “You fucking bitch!”
Another day, another jilted ex-lover angry at Sarah Clayborn.
“I won’t argue with that,” she muttered.
“Calm down, Jill.” Lucas held up his hands but did not dare touch her. “Maybe it’s best for you to wait in the bedroom, Sarah.”
“Yeah,Sarah,go wait in the bedroom for my fucking ex-husband.”
“Jill.” Lucas’s voice was sterner than the posture he erected between his ex and his current girlfriend. “Leave her out of this. What do you want?”
“What do I…” Scoffing, Jill threw her hands into the air, sweat pouring off her face. “I want heroutof my face, Luke! Tell her to butt the fuck out of my business!”
“I’m sure Sarah won’t be bothering you any longer. We’ve had a long talk about what’s happened today.”
“You talk to her before or after you stuck your dick in her today?” Jill slung daggers over Lucas’s shoulder when she peered in Sarah’s flabbergasted direction. “All while you continue to drag the family’s name through mud? What about our son!” She shoved against Lucas’s shoulders so hard that he had to take two steps back to balance himself.
What the fuck?Sarah had never seen that look on Lucas’s face before. It wasn’t fear – not for himself, anyway. But itwasutter disbelief and the realization that he needed to steel himself in case Jill really flew off the handle.
Sarah wouldn’t let it get that far.
“What is this really about?” she asked Jill. “Are you jealous? You had your chance with him. You blew it. Even I can take responsibility for what I’ve done.”
Jill opened her mouth to spew vitriol toward Sarah. Except that was when Lucas intervened, gingerly placing his hands on Jill’s shoulders and steadying her where she stood.“You’re drunk, Jill.”
Her demeanor instantly changed. Gone was the anger, the storm brewing behind two bloodshot eyes screaming for revenge. When Lucas showed her that level of empathy, she cracked like a fragile egg teetering on the edge of the kitchen counter. All it took was that touch. A touch that was probably so nostalgic to this sick woman that she crumbled for a lack of anything else to do.
