Page 54 of Trust and Obey

I wasn’t thinking of anything much as he went out and retrieved the massage table from the beach. I was in shock I guessed, or maybe dumbfounded disbelief.

Bob had tried to warn me about the lengths spouses would go to when there was money involved… but still I had a hard time reconciling it with the woman I had known. Had Lauren always been this greedy and conniving? Had I just been blind? Or had she changed within the course of our relationship?

Maybe I was the one who had changed her. That was a disquieting thought.

“Ground control to Major Deacon,” Kendall said.

I glanced up and saw that he had set up the table. He patted it with a gentle smile. “Get on up here, big boy.”

Despite everything, I snorted in laughter and then did what I was told.

“You are rock hard,” Kendall muttered the second he put his hands on my back. “And not in the way that I usually like. Seriously, are you okay?”

I chewed my lip for a moment, debating saying nothing at all. Then again Lauren was here, now—holy hell, my soon-to-be ex-wife had followed me across the world. My mind was still blown. At the very least, Kendall needed to be warned.

“Lauren showed up at my door this morning.”

His hands stilled. “Lauren, your ex-wife Lauren?”

“We’re not officially divorced yet,” I reminded him sourly. Then it struck me that this must sound very, very bad from his point of view. I didn’t want Kendall to think for one second that I was calling off our fling in favor of her.

I sat up, and his gentle hands helped me. I gripped his wrist, and he slid our fingers together so that they tangled. His green eyes looked at me, filled with concern. “What happened?”

I shook my head. “I still can’t believe it’s not part of a wild dream. I came all the way out here to distance us for a reason. She wasn’t even supposed to know where was, but she tricked her way into finding out. So, I suppose she took an emergency flight out here, showed up at my door, with a sex tape —”

“Whoa.” Kendall held up his hand. “A sex tape? Why?”

“To force me to give her more favorable terms in the divorce, but she hinted to me that she would take a private payoff as well.” I shook my head, disgusted.

“Oh, Deacon,” Kendall said, “I am so sorry. And I also have so many questions.”

“So do I,” I said. “How could I have not seen this from her before? How long has she been planning this? How could I have…” To my shock, my throat actually tightened over the next words, and I had to clear it to force them out. “How could I have once fallen in love with someone capable of this?”

“Those,” Kendall said crisply, “are important, deep questions, that you should absolutely not be asking yourself right now.”

I glanced up at him. “What?”

“Deacon, what does she think this will accomplish, exactly?”

“She thinks it will give her leverage in the divorce. She thinks it proves infidelity which… I would never—”

“How?” Kendall asked, bluntly. “Was the video full of freaky or objectionable sex?”

I barked out a laugh. “No. It was—she was riding me. She had a wig on, so it didn’t necessarily look like her.”

He waved that away. “Women change their hair color all the time. And I’m sorry, Deacon, maybe it will be important to your social circle but is not like you’re a Kardashian. This sex tape of two married people isn’t exactly going to hit front page news. Plus, she’s a professional herself, isn’t she?”

I frowned. “Well, yes. She’s a teacher.”

Kendall’s eyebrows raised. “It’s not exactly fair, but when a sex tape comes out, the woman’s reputation is usually more damaged than the man’s.”

He was right. It was as if Lauren’s arrival had put a fog into my mind, and now Kendall’s words were starting to lift it.

“Okay,” I said cautiously. “I’m listening.”

Kendall flashed a quick grin at me. “Let’s look at it from the other side: worst-case scenario, what happens?”

“My company’s stock takes a dive.”

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