Page 111 of Tease Me (Dark Odyssey 1)

Over the last few weeks of knowing Mia I’ve been like a fucking butterfly. Flittering here and there in emotion and desire. I go from wanting her to be mine to not wanting her to feel for me. It makes no sense and yet it does.

It’s good and bad fighting inside me, although I don’t have a good bone in my body. It must be that knowledge though, that awareness that Mia is good and it compels me to take note of what could happen if she ventures down the path with me.

I care…

For the first time in my life I care. That says something because I had Vanessa. I haven’t felt like this since her.

Sherine straightens up against the chair and gives me a long stare like she wants to say something more.

“What’s up? You look like you need to talk more than usual,” I thought I should ask to make it easier on her.

“Can I confide in you in something? I know there’s so much more at work here and there’s some stuff I know that I haven’t said.”

This is curious indeed. I want to hear it.

“Talk to me.”

She looks ashamed. “I think he betrayed you. In fact I don’t just think it. I know. From what happened I know.”

“What are you thinking Sherine?” Tommy must have spoken to her.

“He got hooked on drugs. Really badly. He did Nick, and it worsened after his cousin’s bachelor party because… he cheated on me.”

My eyes almost pop out of my head. I go to tell her that Tommy would never do that, and since I was at that bachelor party I’m sure he didn’t. But it’s a fruitless thought. She’s not saying she thinks he cheated, she’s telling me he did.

“Sherine, I swear I didn’t know,” I’m apologizing by default. I hope like fuck she doesn’t think I knew and didn’t tell her.

I guess though, if I had known, I wouldn’t have told her because it wouldn’t have been my sin to confess.

“I know,” she gives me a weak smile. “I know you didn’t know and if you did, I wouldn’t be mad at you for not telling me. I wouldn’t be anything. It’s just one of those things. But, anyway, he was high at the party and he says he didn’t know what he was doing. I love him enough to accept that and believe him.”

“It’s not right Sherine,” I don’t know why I say that. I’m already worked up enough over Tommy, this just adds to it. High or not, if memory serves me right and it fucking does, she was heavily pregnant at the time.

How can you cheat on your pregnant wife?

Even in my fucking twisted brain I know that’s fucked up shit you don’t do.

“I know, I know Nick and I’m willing to bet you’d kick his ass for me if you knew and he wasn’t in the condition he’s in.”

“Fucking right I would,” I vow.

She nods. “I know. That is however when the trouble began. First it was the woman he slept with trying to blackmail him. She wanted money to keep quiet. To not tell me. She must have come back on the scene after the baby was born because he just got worse. He told me what happened eventually but the not knowing what was up with him and having a new baby and being a first time mom was so hard on me. It’s still hard,” she pauses and presses her dry lips together. Seeing how hard this is on her, I set my mug down and cover her hands on the table with mine.

“Sherine, you don’t have to talk about this. It’s painful. It’s all painful.”

“I need to talk Nick. It’s all eating me up, you know? It’s eating me up and I just want to get it all out. I want you to understand that he didn’t set out to betray you, it was like he wasn’t himself.”

I feel worse because none of what she’s saying is anything I recognize. I never saw any sort of weird behavior to suggest anything was wrong with Tommy.

I guess though she would know more than me since she lived with him.

“Okay, tell me. I’m listening,” I give her hand a gentle squeeze and she continues.

“He went to the Fontaines just to get a loan for the woman. She wanted half a million. He said he didn’t go to you because of the drugs. The money was given to the woman and I found out. I found out first then he told me what happened. I was going to leave him Nick but I realized I love him too much and he needed help. He just kept going back to the Fontaines because of their link with the drugs. He got addicted so bad and wouldn’t admit he was suffering. Then they got to him with the shipping company. He let that slip and that’s how I know. I don’t know any more though. I figured it out as the weeks have gone by that something went wrong. Something in relation to the shipping company. Is that right?”

I nod but that’s all I do, all I will do.

Women out of business.

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