Page 28 of Breaking Conviction
She shook her head slowly. “I don’t know. Somethin’ just feelsoff.” She tapped the pen they’d given her to write her own notes, since Wes only had two keyboards accessible for him and Nora. “I’ve been trying to trust my instincts more lately, and somethin’ tells me we need to look more into the women we’ve got listed here. Some of their ‘bright’ futures seem a little dim.”
“What do you mean?” Nora tilted her head at Naomi before following her pointed finger.
“Like that one. There’ve only been a few other potential scholarship winners like her, but accordin’ to y’all’s searchin’, she did real well in high school, had plans for her future, friends, all that. And now you’re tellin’ me that she just up and left her family?” She shook her head with more conviction that time. “Isn’t that strange? And as soon as she’s gone, they moved from their mobile home and bought a new house. What’s up with that? And there’s a few more across the lists that aren’t from here but have weird shit goin’ on with them, too. I’m thinkin’ we need to keep diggin’ on those ladies.”
Wes scanned the screens at their version of an Ashland County Elite Fundraiser yearbook with brief bios underneath each picture. As he scrolled down, he saw a few more young women not from Ashland who’d left their homes soon after their attendance at the party.
“Yeah… fuck, I think you’re right.” He took his glasses off and massaged his eyelids. They’d been at it for hours and his blue-light lenses were only helping so much. “Let’s put a pin in it for now—”
Naomi slapped her hand against her hip with a wide-eyed expression. “Shit. Hold on.” She tugged her phone from her pocket and cursed again once the screen lit up. “I-I have to go, y’all. Nora, I’ll call you later.”
She shot out of her seat and into the hall with the phone against her ear. “Hey, I-I was just gettin’ ready to call you.” The lilt in her voice punctuated her lie and Wes winced. If the guy had half a brain, her tell was obvious as hell.
“She needs to leave that bastard.” Wes felt himself grumble aloud unintentionally. “Before it’s too late.”
“Just be patient. She’s trying.”
Wes whipped his gaze to his friend. “How do you know that? She’s got to really love him since she’s stayed with him. What if when she finally figures out he’s wrong for her, her window of opportunity is gone?”
Still not looking at him, Nora’s face hardened and her voice came out flat, almost as if she was somewhere else entirely.
“Women like Naomi hold strong to their convictions. There’s something keeping her there, preventing her from taking that final step. But trust me, she won’t need a door or a window of opportunity. When she’s ready, nothing’s gonna stop her from breaking free.”
Chapter Eleven
Dean stared at the bouquet of flowers in the passenger seat before sighing and turning off his car. His long-ass day had gone down the shitter the moment he received that text message about Naomi. Hopefully, the flowers would make her feel as shitty as he did.
He slammed the door, just to make sure she’d heard him come home, and wondered what she’d do next. Would she greet him at the door like a loving wife to be? Should he confront her about all the suspicions he’d had running throughout his head all day? What would she do then? Keep up the charade? Or come clean? He wasn’t sure which one he’d hate more.
Before heading in, he tossed the bouquet on top of his car and walked outside of the garage to feel the hood of hers.
Warm.
“Not good, sweets. Not good.”
When he’d gotten the alert earlier about Naomi’s newest friends, he couldn’t believe it. BlackStone Securities was the fucking bane of his existence and the sole competitor with his company, AIE Securities. The fact that she would betray him in the worst way by degrading herself with that scum made him sick.
But he didn’t want to confront her about it yet.
They’d been in a silent standoff since he’d lost his cool during their last miscommunication. He’d obviously groveled for too long and this was how he’d been repaid.
It all made sense, really. Mr. Dickins down the street had mentioned he saw Naomi and Thea ride home with a “tattooed man with glasses” who got picked up by some black guy. At the time, he didn’t know what the fuck the ol’ man was talking about, but the story was far-fetched enough that it’d stuck in his mind, especially since it answered a question he’d been wondering for a while. Was she fucking around on him?
He’d always thought that was the case. She was a prude little bitch when she wanted to be, never measuring up to that first night. The liquor might’ve helped, but she’d been so into him she hadn’t even noticed he went without a rubber. Most chicks were on the pill, so he hadn’t thought anything of it at the time.
But then came Thea. When Naomi wound up pregnant, he decided that was as good a time as any to become a changed man. He bought her flowers, took her on dates, and even swore off liquor and one-night stands. It’d been good for a while. She’d looked at him like he hung the fucking moon back then. He missed that look.
There was bickering, sure. She’d been a fiery thing at one point and he’d had to temper that side of her. But over time she lost the fight in her completely and became nothing like the fun, outgoing woman he’d fallen in love with. The arguments got nastier, and they’d been broken up over the last five years for longer than they’d been together. She hadn’t even let him be there when she’d given birth. The fight after he’d found out Thea didn’t have his last name had been a knock-down-drag-out. Naturally after that, his resolve to be the perfect boyfriend dried up, apparently just like her sex drive had.
He’d gotten wild again, screwing everything in sight and letting his temper get the best of him more than usual. It wasn’t really his fault, though. The damned woman had a knack for bringing out old demons and acting like his old man. She always came back though, and after a while, they’d been off and on so many times he figured it was time to shit or get off the pot. Ever since he’d proposed he’d been a saint, but she’d grown too timid, unattractively weak and goddamn puritanical.
Offering up that date had almost reeled her back in. It pissed him off that something came up at work and he’d had to cancel. He would’ve definitely had her in bed after wining and dining her. She was a sucker for that lovey-dovey shit.
He could leave. There was always that option. But Naomi saw something in him a long time ago that he’d come to crave, and he’d always tried to be that man. This last stint of “on” he’d been on his best behavior.
A memory flashed into his mind of the woman at the bar last week when she traveled her hands down his chest all the way to his stiffening cock. He’d come so close to backsliding.
Well, almost my best behavior.
