Folding Hearts (23 page)

This was another first for me. Having someone sit in the tub, washing my body with such gentleness. When he was fin
i
shed
,
he wrapped his arms around my chest and held me until the water started to get cold.
I had started to drift off when he stood up and grabbed me a towel, wrapping me up before getting on
e
for himself.

“You ready for a sundae?” He asked as we walked out of the bathroom.

“I’m not really hungry.”

“Will you at least watch me eat some?” There was something loaded in his question.

“I guess.”

He let his towel drop to the floor and pulled mine off, before pulling my naked body into the kitchen.  Before I could react, he lifted me up onto the counter and turned to the refrigerator. He handed me chocolate syrup, cherries and cool whip and then turned around to face me. “You forgot the ice cream.”

Ty put one hand on either side of my legs. He kissed my neck and then my chin. “No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did.” I pointed to the items on the counter. He grabbed the chocolate and poured some on his finger. I gasped when the freezing cold chocolate hit my nipple. He laughed as he started doing the same thing to the other side. “You are crazy.”

He leaned down and sampled the chocolate on one of my nipples. “Only for you baby.”

“Holy hell!
It’s freezing
”

“
That is a contradiction my beautiful girlfriend.
Now lay back so I can hook this shit up
.”

“What do you mean?”

He gently pushed me to lay down on the whole counter. I felt like an idiot just laying there naked, well, that was until he started making it very enticing.

Ty filled my belly button with
marachino
cherries. He used half a can of cool whip between my legs and I could feel the chocolate syrup drizzle down there, as I started laughing in hysterics. He covered both of my breasts with cool whip and added one cherry to each side, then stood back like he had created a masterpiece.

“Why did we even take a bath?”

“It was on
my to
do list,” h
e said
confidently
.

“Are you just going to look?”

His eyes roamed from my breasts to my crotch. “I don’t know what I want first.” He leaned down and filled his mouth with one of my breasts. When he pulled away his face was covered in whipped topping. “This is the best sundae I ever had.”

No sooner had Ty dove into his food concoction between my legs, did a knock come from the door. He stood up covered in chocolate and whipped topping and in walked Van.

“Miranda
,
are you in ………OH MY GOD!” She turned her eyes away from
us. “Jesus, what did I just walk in to?
Holy shit!
”

“Just let us get dressed
and we can explain
,
” I begged as I tried to stand up without dessert toppings running all over the floor. Ty just stood there in front of me. In the midst of being caught by his ex, a potential snitch to our secret romance, he leaned over and kissed me, then took my hand and led me into the bedroom.

I tried to towel off the
stickiness
, but I knew I would have to shower. Ty got dressed and waited for me without saying a single word. A part of me worried that maybe he would regret our relationship now that she knew about us. I was so afraid to face
her
, especially since Ty and I had been lying to her for a month.

He
took my hand and walked
into the living room. She stood over us and paced back and forth. “How long has this been going on?”

“Does it
really
matter?” Ty said rudely.

“How could you two get involved knowing what it would do to the family? Do you have any idea how pissed they are going to be? This is exactly what Conner was afraid of. You two can’t have casual sex and think it will be okay.”

“There is nothing casual about this.” Ty was confidant and he never let go of my hand. Van stopped pacing and looked at both of us.

“What are you saying? You are in some kind of relationship? Now isn’t that a joke.” She started laughing.

Ty squeezed my hand and I knew he was getting pissed. “It ain’t a joke. Miranda and I are together, like for real together and I am in love with her.”

Van’s eyes got really big and she looked from Ty then back to me. I was still speechless. Her and I were friends, but she was also his ex.

“That is impossible. I know you Ty. You can’t be in a relationship.”

“Well things change Van. The past year has been Hell for me. I lost everything. Do you have any idea how many nights I sat alone wishing I could just end my life? The only thing that put a smile on my
face wa
s Isabella. Miranda and I had become good
friends and after the last visit, when you all sent me away, I knew there was something between us. When she showed up at my door and we were forced to be alone I couldn’t fight my feelings for her anymore. Once I knew she felt the same way, we never looked back. We have been living together for the past month. “

Van finally sat down. I don’t know if she could see it in my eyes, or the fact that it all made sense, but she just sat there. She turned back to Ty.  “How do you know you love her? You told me the same thing for years.
I think you are confusing sex for love.
”

He gave me a smile before answering Van. “Look Van, I am not trying to hurt you, but what
you and I
had was just a puppy
kind of
love. I cared about you and I wanted to believe that you would be the one for me, but be honest, you and I both know it wasn’t real love.
” He looked over to
me and winked
. “When Miranda walks
into the room, my heart skips a beat. She
’s
beautiful and
confident and knows how to make me laugh
. She is the best mother and always puts her daughter before anything. I love her smile and to be there
for her
when she needs to cry. When we are apart, I feel lost
, like a part of me is missing. I’ve never felt this way in my life and there is no doubt in my mind that it is real.”

Van started to tear up. She wiped her eyes and looked over at me. “
Congratulations
you tamed Ty. Now tell me how the hell you two are going to handle this when everyone else finds out? I won’t have this ruin my wedding.”

“Van, Ty and I are adults. Frankly it is none of their business. I don’t understand why I am not allowed to be happy. Why is it so bad that I found someone that loves me and my daughter?”

“Because it’s Ty.” She started rubbing her temples.

“This is why we didn’t tell you,
” I explained.

“Well I would have rather found out on the phone then walking in on Ty with his face between your legs.”

“We are celebrating our one month anniversary actually. If you don’t believe m
e you can check out the bedroom,
” Ty said sarcastically.

“No thank you! Jesus
,
this is not at all how I saw tonight going.”

“Why are you here? Did they send you here for her, because she isn’t leaving.”

“No dumbass. I am try
ing to plan a wedding and since
my mother, Brina, and now Miranda are all here, I flew in to go dress shopping. I left a message for Miranda this morning explaining everything. Obviously someone didn’t check their messages.”

I don’t think Ty liked her attitude. He stood up and walked over to Van. “You really are bei
ng a bitch about this. It pisses
me off that y
ou get to be happy but we can’t;
like we aren’t good enough to have happiness.”

“Screw you Ty. I just think Miranda should know how you promised to love me forever while you had your dick in other girls.”

I put my hands o
n my face and tried to block the two of them out.

“I fucked other girls because I was never satisfied with you. Get off your high horse and take some
responsibility
. You’re the one who screwed my cousin in my fucking bed while I lay in the hospital.”

“You were in the hospital because you got caught screwing Heather and stole a car when you were drunk. It was your fault.”

I stood up and screamed. “STOP IT!” Ty and Van looked over at me. “We all know what happened. It isn’t necessary to rehash things. Van is marrying Colt because she loves him and she deserves to be happy. We aren’t going to let anyone know about us until after the wedding. You don’t have to worry about it. And as far as Ty’s cheating goes, well, I have to believe that he loves me enough to not do it. If it happens then he knows he loses me and Bella. I trust him, more than I trust anyone. He has never given me any reason not to. I’ve actually met Heather and I am pretty sure that little bitch knows he is taken.”

Ty started laughing. “She thought Bella was my kid and it was part of the reason you left me.”

Van put her hands over her face and shook her head. “This is so fucked up.”

“Just spend time with us. I pr
omise you will change your mind,
” Ty suggested.

Van stood up and grabbed her purse. “Brina dropped me off so I could get my car. She wanted me to invite you out tonight, but obviously I interrupted you. Just give me my keys and I will come back tomorrow when I know you will be dressed.”

I walked her toward the door and handed her the car keys. “I have to grab the car seat.”

We got outside and she finally turned around to face me. “Ty lies Miranda. I just want you to know that before you get your heart ripped apart. You are one of my best friends and soon to be cousin. I would hate to see you hurt.”

She handed me Bella’s seat and got into her car. “Are you going to tell on us?”

“Honestly, I wish I didn’t know. I won’t say anything.”

“See you tomorrow.” I watched her pull away, but her words haunted me. It took me forever to walk back into the house.  I didn’t want to doubt Ty, but maybe I was being a fool for thinking I could have a perfect life.

Chapter 22

Tyler

Of all the people in the whole fucking world, Van had to be the one to ruin my perfectly planned night with Miranda. To make matters worse, Miranda came back into the house like she had been slapped in the face.

“What happened?”

She shook her head and started cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. “It’s nothin’.”

I grabbed her and pulled her to face me. “What did she say to you baby?”

She wouldn’t look at me.

“Please talk to me,
” I begged.

“Let’s just say that she warned me about you. She doesn’t think I should
believe
everything you tell me.” When she finally looked up I could tell she was crying.

“I don’t lie to you Miranda. I swear that I love you and I have never thought about being with anyone else. You are all that I want. I will spend the rest of my life proving it to you if I have to.”

She studied my face. “The rest of your life?”

I put my head against hers. “I don’t fucking care what anyone else thinks about me. I am madly in love with you. I only want you. Our relationship is nothing like mine and Vans, you know that.”

She finally wrapped her arms around me and I let out a sigh. “I love you too. I don’t want to doubt you. She has her reasons for not believing you have changed.”

“You changed me. You and Izzy. Do you really think I would risk losing this?”

She shrugged. She fucking shrugged. I let my arms drop and walked into the bedroom. After finding my phone in the pocket of my pants I handed it to her. “Just to start my lifetime of proving that you are all that I need, here is my phone. Take it. Keep it for as long as you want. Go through it. I deleted every girl’s number the first night after we had sex.  I haven’t been on Facebook for months, but I will give you that password and you can delete anyone you want. I don’t
care i
f you delete the account. I have nothing to hide from you. The only secret that I ever had was that I wanted you and fell in love with you. I swear.”

“Do you still have feelings for Van?” As much as I didn’t want her to ask that, I knew it was coming. I deserved to be asked, after all, she was the one who had listened to me cry over her months ago.

I pulled her onto my lap on the couch. “I love three women. My mother, Izzy and you. Van is marrying my cousin and we grew up together. She was my first and I will always care about her, although right now I am pretty pissed off at her.”

Miranda ran her hand over my face. “I have never felt this way and it scares me. It would kill me if I lost you. It would kill Bella.”