Forever True (The Story of Us) (6 page)

****

Early the next morning, with a takeaway coffee in one hand and my laptop bag on my shoulder I shuffled in the convention center where Pure Valley Aqua was holding their annual bullshit conference. The Company Owner and Chief Executive Paul Deal lived in Houston, so he expected everyone to come to him every year even though the corporate office, where I worked, is in Florida. It was basically a week’s worth of crap that we already knew, combined with the latest directives to improve the company’s bottom line but cause more work for us. Oh, and of course a bunch of innovative shit that sounds awesome but probably won't ever pan out.

I found a seat at the conference table and was setting up my laptop when I saw someone pull the unoccupied chair back next to me and sit down.

"Alexander?" A familiar voice purred next me. My stomach sank as I turned and frowned.

"Erica." I replied with a nod. I hated that she still insisted on calling me by my full name, something that she has done since eighth grade.

Yes, that is
the
Erica. My ex-girlfriend, Erica.

About three years ago, Erica contacted me out of the blue. She'd recently gotten out of rehab. The rumor among our friends was that she had gotten hooked on prescription drugs. I knew that she smoked pot, and messed around with mushrooms and shit like that back when we were dating. At the time, it didn't seem like she had a problem. But, I was young and pretty stupid when it came to a lot of things back then. After we broke up, and I got serious with Courtney, Erica disappeared. No one had seen her for a while but heard that she hooked up with a group of surfers and was traveling to beaches all over the place. I was very cool with that. She was no longer my problem, and it felt fantastic.

Then I get a message from her asking for my help. She needed to have a job lined up and someone to vouch for her as an upstanding citizen by order of her probation officer. She explained that she had been arrested for petty theft and drug possession. She and a group of surfer chicks were caught trying to steal a couple of $500.00 bathing suits. They were all high and out of their minds on some weird combination of hallucinogens and prescription drugs. The cops found these drugs in their possession, and they were arrested. This apparently wasn't her first time in trouble with the law, so that judge put her on probation and forced her to go to rehab. This is when she claimed to see the error of her ways and wanted to remove herself from all of the bad influences in her life. In order for the probation officer to allow her to move she needed to have a job lined up and someone to vouch for her. As much as I wanted to tell her no, I couldn't. I managed to secure her a position in the PVA dispatch department. I didn't expect her to last very long. To my surprise she was able to get dispatch very organized and within a year she was heading up that department. Now she's in charge of all distribution center dispatch and reports to me.

The kicker to all this is that I never told my wife about it.

At first because like I said, I didn't expect Erica to last very long. Now, so much time has gone by that Court would be mad that I kept it from her and for as long as I did. The old Alex would never have said anything and if caught would have tried to make Courtney feel like she was over reacting. The new Alex realized that it was a problem. A big problem.

"I thought I saw you getting into a taxi this morning at the hotel. Why didn't you wait for me?" Erica continued.

"I wanted to get here early." My laptop decided to pick now to do an update so I couldn't even pretend like I was doing work in order to ignore her.

"So, do you want to grab dinner tonight at that restaurant we like?" Erica asked sounding very hopeful. I winced at the reminder of another thing I was keeping from my wife. Every time I've traveled to Houston over the last three years, Erica has been with me. We've had dinner with Stiller and his wife. Ashley and Erica have even become friends. Erica found out that Courtney didn't know anything about her working with me last year when Stiller posted pictures on his Facebook and was tagging us all in them. I knew that Erica was in some of those pictures, and I made Stiller take them down in the middle of posting. Why was I posing in pictures with my ex-girlfriend and hiding the fact that I pretty much see her every day? Because I'm a fucking idiot, that's why.

"Um, I don't think so but thanks anyway." My eyes sent silent signals for my computer to finish updating so I could be less available to talk.

"Alexander, are you trying to avoid me?" She turned her seat in my direction and leaned back in her chair while she folded her arms to stare at me. I used to think she was the prettiest girl I'd ever seen. She had the softest chocolate brown hair and captivating grey eyes. She was like kryptonite to me as a horny teenage kid. She traded her long locks for shoulder length waves and today she was wearing a tailored cream suit jacket with matching skirt. All grown up and professional looking. No signs of the wild surfer girl with a drug problem. 

"What makes you think that?" I cleared my throat as I stop my eyes from going to her long legs that were crossed in front of her.

What the fuck, Turner?

"Because I know you. You love that restaurant and never turn it down. We always go there when we are in Houston."

"I just can't, okay.  You know that Courtney and I have only just gotten back together, and she still doesn't know that you work for me. I need to tell her. So until I disclose everything to her and see how she feels about it, I can't hang out with you, Erica."

"I don't see what the big deal is. You and I have been over for years."

"I realize that."

"Besides, if I wanted you, I'd have you already."

Before I could respond to her statement Paul Deal, the Pure Valley Aqua CEO, walked into the conference room to start the meeting. My thoughts were reeling from Erica's statement.

If she wanted me, she could have me?

I knew that she actually believed that, and it was the precise reason I needed to come clean to my wife before all of this spun out of control.

Courtney

I giggled at an incoming text from Alex. It was a selfie of him sitting in a darkened room illuminated by a faint light with his eyes crossed. The caption read:

“Really enjoying this blah, blah bullshit presentation.”

Today totally made up for yesterday. He called first thing this morning, his voice still groggy from sleep; I preferred that much better to my usual 6:15 am alarm.  He also called again while in a taxi on the way to the conference. And now he sent me a picture of him in his boring morning meeting. I have to admit that I was disappointed when I didn't hear from him yesterday. I hadn't expected him to call during travel but at least when he got settled into the hotel. When the call didn't come, I dialed his number only for it to go to his voice mail. All of the old feelings of neglect and insecurity crept it's way inside and as much as I wanted to ignore it, I couldn't. I managed to refrain from Facebook stalking him and sending a million texts. I called him once and left it at that. I was very proud of myself. The remorse in his voice made up for all of it. I just wanted him to care that he disappointed me. If we continued to put in this kind of effort, I could see us mending all of our past issues bit by bit.

My phone buzzed, and I picked it up smiling, expecting to see another text from Alex.

Will: Are you free for lunch? I just want to talk face to face.

Me: I don't think that's a good idea. I'm sorry.

Will: I promise I'm not trying to be a psycho. You broke up with me over the phone. I wanted to see you in person at least.

The old me would have given in and met him because I couldn't see the harm in it. I did care about him. He was always a sweetheart to me, and I knew that breaking up with him over the phone was a crap thing to do. The new me understood that there was a lot of harm in it. I knew Alex would hit the roof if I met Will for lunch. I knew for sure that I would lose it if he met with Kimmie. As a matter of fact, I needed to tell him that I ran into her at the grocery store. No more secrets between us, no matter how insignificant they might seem. I vowed to be forever honest and open with him. That is exactly what I am going to do.

Me: No, I'm sorry. I won't meet with you but please take care of yourself. 

Will was only a chapter in my life. I wanted Alex to be the entire story.

****

“And you didn't meet up with him?”

“No.”

"Why?” I felt he had every right to ask me this. He still needed to work through his insecurities. Instead of reacting and becoming defensive, I took a deep breath and calmly answered his question.

"Alex, I did not want to meet up with him because I don't care to see him, and it wasn't necessary. I said everything during the phone conversation. Right in front of you."

"I don't like it." He growled.

"I know, honey." I replied weakly because what else could I say. I caused this.

“Do you understand how much I hate feeling like this, Court?" I could hear the anger growing with every word.

"Alex, I--"

"Okay. Okay." He paused and I could hear him breathing. "Let's not blow this out of proportion, alright? Thanks for telling me.”

I'd found a way to ease in the topic of Will asking me to lunch that evening when Alex called. It was 11:00pm. He went to a late dinner with some of his co-workers and seemed to be in a pretty good mood. I wanted to get it over with because I felt like the more time that passed the guiltier I would seem. 

“Alex, I want you to be able to trust me again. I will never keep anything from you.” There was a long silence on the line, I assumed the reason was that Alex didn't know how to respond. I knew he didn't trust me completely, but he wanted to. It was going to take time, and I had no problem with that. We had forever. 

“One more thing I want to tell you.”

“Shit.” I heard him breathe out in irritation."What now?"

“I ran into Kimmie at the grocery store on Sunday.”

“Oh?”

“How do you feel about that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you care at all that I saw her?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No, Courtney.”

“Okay.” I would be lying if I said I wasn't pleased with his response.

“Look, I could probably be a nice person and ask how she was and what you all said to each other. But honestly, as long as she didn't say anything mean or misleading to you then I don't give a shit. We have moved on from that part of our past. I don't want to dwell on it.”

“Okay.”

“Okay then."

“I love you, honey.”

“Love you, too.” I heard muffled sounds that probably meant he was moving around. “Let's talk about something else.”

“Like what?”

“Like how much you want me right now.”

“Nice transition there, smooth guy.” He laughed sexily, and I felt my toes curl at the sound.

“You know you've been thinking about me all day.”

“Maybe.”

“Just maybe? Baby, that actually hurts because I haven't been able to think about anything else but you.” He even sounded a bit wounded, and I did start to feel bad.

“I'm sorry. You know I've missed you.”

“How much?”

“A lot.”

“Do you miss me now?” He asked huskily.

“Yes.” I breathed.

“What part of you is missing me now?”

“Alex...”

“Baby, I am rock hard right now thinking about how much I miss you. Do you ache for me?”

“Yes.” God, yes. I felt a pulse between my legs.

“Touch yourself right now and tell me if you are wet.”

“I am wet.”

“Did you touch yourself?”

“No, but I can tell.” I could feel the dampness increasing between my legs.

“Courtney, just do it.” I felt slightly awkward. We had never done anything like this over the phone before. I felt silly, and a little embarrassed but I couldn't stop my hand from traveling down my body and letting my fingers slide into my panties.
Wow.
A moan escaped my mouth.

“Are you wet?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Can you show me?”

“Whaa...what? How?”

“Turn on the video chat. I want to see you.”

Before I could chicken out. I went to the app on my phone and connected with Alex. He had set his phone down long enough to unbutton his shirt and toss it away. Then his handsome face was in front of me while he rested his head back on the bed pillow.

“Hi.” He grinned; his eyes were already cloudy with desire.

“Hi.” I answered, nervous that we were actually going to do this. Alex knew every part of me, and it made no sense to feel shy with him, but I couldn't help it. I wasn't one of these sexy romance novel vixens with no inhibitions or insecurities. This was real life, and I was terrified of looking ridiculous. As I stared at my husband, a man who was gorgeous beyond belief, I realized that he was mine, and he wanted me. Flaws and all.