Blurred Lines (12 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Lauren knew her mouth was gaping open, but she was unable to move. Libby had been making out with Michael on the sofa. None of it made any sense. Thankfully, they were still fully clothed. Lauren did not realize she was holding her breath until she exhaled when Michael climbed off the couch, and off Libby. As Libby sat up and straightened her clothes, she did not try to hide her satisfied smile.

“Libby?” Lauren squeaked out.

“Surprise,” she said in a sing-song voice.

The word cut through Lauren like a knife. It was evident Libby was enjoying the shock and awe written on her face.

“I don’t understand.” Lauren shifted her gaze to her husband. “Michael?” It was a quest for answers, a plea for comprehension.

He ran his hands through his hair. His expression was less clear than the one Libby wore. “You were going to find out sooner or later, I guess.”

“Find out what exactly?” Lauren let her bags fall to the floor, her shock morphing steadily into anger. “I don’t understand this.”

“Libby and I,” Michael answered, pointing out the obvious. When Lauren continued to stare at him awaiting more information, he continued. “Libby and I have been seeing each other for a while.” He stopped to send a glance in her direction. “It’s been about six months or so now.”

“Six months?” Lauren said incredulously. It sounded like a question, but it was not. She was beginning to piece it all together now. The words and images passing through her brain were finally starting to work themselves into a comprehensible pattern. “Michael, you told me to leave. After Dean and I, you were—”

“I know, Lauren. And I was pissed you slept with that guy. Hell, I still am. It is hypocritical, I know, but it does not change how much it upsets me to think about it.”

Snippets of things Libby had said were running rapidly through Lauren’s head, too, pieces of the puzzle falling into place far too late. She turned to face Libby, unsure of who she should be angrier with. “Libby, you
encouraged
me. You and I were friends.”

She scoffed at her statement, waving her hand in the air dismissively. “Please, Lauren. After I realized you were introducing yourself as someone else entirely, I knew you would be easy to convince. In fact, your willingness made it
really
easy for me.” Then she laughed, making Lauren’s cheeks flush red with fury and humiliation.

“You played both Dean and I.”

Libby rolled her eyes dramatically. “The only one playing games was you…Sarah.” Her wicked smile made Lauren bite the inside of her lip to stop herself from answering rashly. She needed to think everything she said through before saying it out loud. Her words could be used against her later on. She turned away from Libby, thinking perhaps Michael would give her answers.

“I want the whole story, Michael. Start to finish. I know I have made mistakes but you have to admit, you owe me that much.” She did not blink, staring into Michael’s eyes defiantly. After a long pause, he nodded. He knew it wasn’t too much to ask. He also knew Lauren, just as she knew him, and they both preferred things clear and concise. This situation was no different.

“I wanted out, Lauren. We’ve been unhappy for a while, you have got to admit that.” She just nodded at him, urging him to continue. “Anyway, I didn’t know if you had hit the same stage in our relationship that I was in…”

“Is that where you cheat on your spouse with someone else? Yeah, I guess I didn’t reach that stage until after you did.” The words spilled from Lauren’s lips before she could stop them. She pinched the bridge of her nose and squeezed her eyes shut tightly, trying desperately to swallow her emotions.

“Anyway,” Michael said again, “I knew our prenuptial agreement became null and void if you were unfaithful, so—”

Lauren’s eyes grew wide. “Our prenuptial agreement? You mean you…”

Suddenly, it made complete sense. Their prenuptial agreement from when they were married four years prior clearly stated that Lauren would get nothing should their marriage dissolve due to her infidelity. At the time, she never believed she would be capable of such deceit. Now, however, she was no longer certain of what she was capable of or what she believed.

“The ranch. This is all about the ranch.” Lauren hissed the words, summing up the thoughts racing through her mind.

“I could not afford to lose it, Lauren.” Michael’s words were so matter-of-fact.

Splitting up their assets evenly would have resulted in Lauren acquiring the usual fifty percent of the house and properties they owned, which included the prestigious Carrington Ranch, inherited when Michael and Ellis’s father had passed away. Not only was it the family business passed down through generations, it was owned outright and its worth was well into the seven digits.

“So, you set me up. And you did it so you wouldn’t lose your precious money.”

“You made it so easy though, Lauren.” Libby could not seem to contain her enthusiasm. “I only pretended to enroll in class with you so I could maybe find a way to figure out where your head was in regards to Michael. Having Dean added to the mix was not only luck of the draw but also the last nail in your coffin, so to speak.”

Lauren glared at Libby. It was hard to believe she had considered her a friend only a few hours before. “You weren’t even enrolled in the class?”

“Professor Erickson, Anthony, whatever you call him, made it real easy to come in and out of the class as I pleased considering he couldn’t care less about attendance.”

Lauren had the sudden urge to slap the smug expression off her face.

“You could at least try to hide your satisfaction, Libby,” Lauren spat out, and Michael sent a look in Libby’s direction telling her to calm down.

“You should really be angrier with yourself instead of me, Lauren. I mean, you can’t honestly believe I convinced you to cheat on your husband. I may have pushed you in Dean’s direction, but you willingly did the rest. You played right into it, so you have no one to blame but yourself.” Libby crossed her arms, waiting for Lauren’s response.

Suddenly, a thought rendered her speechless, and she struggled with the words she needed to get out. “And Dean? He was in on this whole set-up, too?”

“I swear, I didn’t know,” a voice from behind Lauren said. The surprised looks on Libby and Michael’s faces caused Lauren to whirl around.

“Dean,” she whispered, unsure whether to laugh or cry at the sight of him.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“I promise you, Sarah, I didn’t know a thing about it until right now.” Dean stared past Lauren to glare at Michael and Libby. “And trust me, I wish I still didn’t know. You two make me sick.” Lauren turned to face them as well, convinced the rise in tension in the room was tangible. She could feel it deep within her, and a twinge of fear arose with it.

“What are you doing here, college boy?” Michael sent an angry glare in Lauren’s direction. “You brought him with you. Now that is bold, even for you, Lauren.”

Lauren opened her mouth to protest, but Dean interjected before she had the chance.

“She knew nothing about me following her here, Michael.” Dean spoke his name with such disdain that it caught Lauren off guard, but when he switched his gaze back to her, his eyes softened slightly, making her relax under his stare. “You told me the name of the ranch your husband owned. That’s how I knew where to find you. I told you before, Sarah, I want you, and I knew I couldn’t let you come all this way back to the likes of him without at least trying to make you realize I meant it.”

Lauren could see it in his eyes. According to Dean, right now, there was no one else in the room but the two of them. He was starry-eyed and infatuated, but it was not with her. Not the real her, anyway. A flood of sadness swelled inside of her for him, knowing his attraction was to someone he could never truly have, someone who did not even exist.

“Well, well, well. Isn’t that just the most touching thing I’ve ever heard?” Michael’s taunting voice broke Lauren from her thoughts. “Get out of my house, Dean. You are not welcome here.”

“Dean, I’m flattered you came all this way, but really, you should go,” Lauren pleaded. She was not prepared for any further escalation of the situation at hand. Her world was spiralling downward before her eyes. People she had thought she knew were strangers. Hell, she was a stranger to herself as well. She could not take much more in the way of uncertainty and betrayal right now.

“I am not going anywhere without you, Sarah. Not after what I just heard.” It was evident in his eyes that he meant every word. However, as he took a tentative step, his hand outstretched to touch her arm, Michael held up his own hand and closed the gap between them.

“I told you to get the hell out of here,” Michael warned.

“And I already said I’m not leaving.”

A wicked smirk played on Michael’s lips. “You are either really brave or really stupid, Dean. I am thinking it is the latter since you have just walked into my house after having your hands all over my wife.”

Dean arched an eyebrow, meeting Michael’s smug grin with one of his own. “That’s a little hypocritical, don’t you think? Especially since you seem to have strayed farther than Lauren has, and for a longer period of time, right under her nose. Then you sit back and let your little whore taunt your wife about it.”

“What did you just call her?” Michael narrowed his eyes. Behind him, Libby snickered, knowing full well Michael was not going to take kindly to his girlfriend being called such a thing. Lauren, however, knew exactly what Michael could be like when angry. It took a lot to push him, but once he was pushed over the edge, there was no turning back. The rising redness in his face told her that Michael was not far from that point.

Lauren quickly turned and grabbed for Dean’s arm. “Dean, enough. It’s time to leave.”

“You should be ashamed of yourself, Michael,” Dean said, even though Lauren was attempting to push him gently toward the opened door. “You gave up this…for that.”

When Dean motioned from Lauren to Libby, Michael dove for him, catching Dean against the shoulder hard enough to shove him back against the doorjamb. Lauren screamed for Michael to stop, but he wouldn’t listen. Her next attempt at diffusing the fight by trying to break the two men apart was futile. Michael had his hands clenched tightly at Dean’s throat, and Dean was tossing punches wildly at Michael’s face and neck.

“Stop it, Michael!” Lauren yelled. She took one more chance at trying to come between them, but was promptly pushed backward by Michael just before he ducked sideways from another one of Dean’s punches. A sound of outrage escaped Dean’s throat as he stole a glance at Lauren, who had lost her balance and ungracefully fallen against the side of the sofa. Fueled by the sight of Michael pushing her, Dean clenched his fists tighter and caught Michael under the chin with a renewed fervor. Michael let go of his throat as he brought both hands up to cup his jaw, letting out a low growl of pain.

“You will pay for that, college boy.” Michael’s words were low and frightening. He swung Dean around and pushed him hard into the living room wall. Lauren heard the lungful of air come out in a sharp gasp as Dean slammed into the plaster.

“Michael, stop it, please!” Lauren screamed at him, but it was no use.

She turned to stare incredulously at Libby, who stood nonchalantly against the far wall with her arms crossed, watching the battle before her with wide eyes and an amused grin. “Libby, make him stop!”

She rolled her eyes. “But you’re doing such a fine job of that yourself,
Sarah
.” The way she tauntingly used her character’s name made Lauren want to slap her. Instead, she turned back to Michael and Dean.

“Michael, come on! Dean, enough!”

Michael pushed Dean again and punched him, connecting with Dean’s clavicle. The groan of pain Dean uttered made Lauren’s stomach churn.

“Shut up, Lauren!” Michael shouted back. As he did so, he turned and stole a glance in her direction. It took only a fraction of a second for Dean to take the opportunity and throw a punch, hitting Michael hard in the side of the head. A soft grunt left Michael’s mouth, and the three of them watched in horror as he fell backward, landing on the other side of his head against the corner of the oak coffee table with a sickening thud. He didn’t move.

Silence blanketed the room suddenly. Dean panted as he tried desperately to calm his heart rate. Libby’s sudden, shrill shriek sounded even louder in the quiet room, and Lauren watched as she ran to Michael, dropping to her knees by his shoulders.

Lauren realized she was holding her breath and let it out in a long exhalation. Fear crept into her body, overshadowing her hurt and anger. Slowly, she brought her hands up to her face, covering her mouth and nose with her hands as she watched Libby start to panic, her hands flitting from Michael’s throat to his wrists in a desperate search for a pulse.

A moment later, when Libby raised her head to stare disbelievingly into Dean’s shocked and fearful eyes, her own eyes brimming with hot tears, Lauren watched the scene with the casualness of an outsider, someone not so intimately a part of it, overcome by a wave of calm and disconnect, as though through the eyes of a stranger.

“What have you done?” Libby’s words emerged in a hoarse cry, as though she were on the verge of a panic attack. “What have you done?”