SEX Unlimited: Volume 3 (Unlimited #3) (2 page)

“You can’t be here right now, Dawn. It’s a bad time.”

My stomach sinks and suddenly my coat feels like a heating blanket. My skin becomes clammy and I’m burning up. Anxiety creeps up my spine as I tip toe back up the stairs, doing all I can to not make a sound. The thumping in my head increases. This is a nightmare. Here I am with nothing but a trench coat on, freshly fucked, in the bedroom of my clients’ ex-husband while she’s merely feet away from me. Shame and gut wrenching regret swirls inside of me. This isn’t me; isn’t my life. I don’t screw up like this. Candace Greene lives an organized, calm life. None of this is right. The volume of their voices rise and I can hear every word.

“Who’s here, Brisban? I see the car outside. You took forever coming to the door and you’re in your boxers. What whore is shacked up here with you this time?”

Whore, yeah, that’s exactly what I feel like right now.

“Calm down. You don’t get to ask me questions like that. Let’s not do this. I don’t like fighting with you. Why are you here?” His voice sounds pained.

“I’m here about Willow.”

“What about…her?”

His tone softens and just hearing the sadness in his voice hurts my heart.

“You can’t even say her name, can you? Have you even said it once since we lost her?”

“Just tell me what you want to tell me.”

Words drenched in regret and defeat is what I hear. I slide down the bedroom wall and hug my knees to my chest.

“The police department called me half an hour ago. They found the remains of a young child on the east side of town in the woods. Hikers came across them. They think it might be Willow.
That’s
why I’m here.”

I slap my hand over my mouth, doing all I can to hold back the cries bottling up in my throat.

“They…you mean…how? Why do they think it’s her?”

I can barely identify his voice. His words are shaky and I want more than anything to disappear into a hole in the floor. This should be a private moment for them. I feel like a voyeur.

Sobbing echoes up and through the stairway. “The heart necklace, the one she always wore, they said one just like it was found with the remains.”

Dawn’s cries are like nothing I’ve ever heard. If pain had a sound it would be her crying right now.

Silence.

Deafening silence.

I have no idea what to do. I can’t leave this room and let her see me. Several minutes pass by. All I hear is Dawn crying and what I can only assume is Brisban consoling her.

“Will you go to the police department with me? I need you to go with me. I can’t do this alone.”

“Yes, of course I will go with you. Can you please wait here while I go get dressed?”

“Okay.”

I stand up quickly and move over toward the bed, sitting on the edge. The sound of his footsteps coming up the stairs makes my heart pound in anticipation. As soon as he makes it to the top of the landing the air in the room seems to dissipate. The man who walked out of this room minutes ago is not the man I’m looking at now. I’ve never seen a human being so shattered in my life. It’s indescribable.

“I have to go. You have the key. Please lock up when you leave.” He walks over and picks up his jeans from the floor, pulling them on as fast as he can.

“Okay,” I whisper.

Pulling a shirt from his drawer he yanks it over his head and turns toward me. “I’m sorry to leave like this and I can’t explain right now, but I will as soon as I can.”

The fact that he’s worrying about explaining himself to me is beyond comprehension with what he was just told. I’ve never known such an empathetic person before.

“Don’t worry about me. Please, just do whatever you need to do. I’m not something you need to be worrying about.”

He steps into my space and reaches out for my hand. His eyes are glassy and darker than usual. “No, you’re more than
something
to me.” He squeezes my hand lightly. “I have to go now. I’ll call you as soon as I’m able.” I nod in response. He pauses briefly and then leans down, kissing me gently on top of my head. He lingers there for a moment. I close my eyes and absorb it, feel it and revel in everything that is Brisban Calloway because I’m certain this will be the last time I ever feel his lips on me again.

“I can’t believe this. You’re up here all over a woman while I’m down there waiting for you to go find out about our daughter.”

My eyes pop open and Brisban instantly straightens. Dawn’s face is red and streaked with tears. She looks like she’s aged so much since I saw her in New York City last year. As soon as she recognizes me, all the redness drains from her face and becomes a pale, milky white color. She waivers some and catches herself with the wall. I shoot up from the bed and take a step toward her.

“Dawn.”

She throws a hand up at me. “No, don’t. Don’t say anything to me.”

She’s visibly shaking and Brisban is so confused, he looks like he’s going to lose it.

“You know each other?” He looks back and forth between us in dismay.

I drop my head. “Yes.”

“She’s my editor. Has been for years,” Dawn, says.

I look up at him and everything I imagined it would be when he found out, turns out to be so much worse.

“You’re her editor?” He looks back to Dawn. “I thought Indie Edits was your editing service.”

“It is. She,” Dawn points at me, “is Indie Edits.”

“Dawn, I swear I had no idea who he was.”

She looks at me with nothing but disgust.

“It’s the truth. You’ve always been very private about your personal life. I had no idea who he was. You have to believe me.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She looks over at Brisban. “None of it matters.” Tears spill down her face. An expression of defeat settles on her face and she turns away, going back downstairs. She never even looks back.

“Brisban, I didn’t know. Until I saw the puzzle pieces and watch, I had no idea.”

He rubs his temples and winces. “I don’t even know what to say. This is all so much at one time I can’t process it. I’m sorry.”

“Please stop apologizing to me. You have things much more important to deal with right now. Go with her and find out about Willow.”

When I say her name he stills. “How do you know her name? And how do you know about the puzzle or watch?”

I let out a sigh. “I’m editing Dawn's story about your life together. I know everything.”

He stares at me, dumbfounded, as it hits him what that means. I know it
all
. Every intimate detail of his life with his wife and daughter are at home on my laptop.

“I have to go,” is all he says before turning to go down the stairs.

I walk over to the window and pull the drapes to the side a bit. I see him guiding Dawn down the outside walkway. His hand is on the small of her back and they fit together perfectly. Even more so, their pain fits together perfectly—two lost souls grieving for their child. A child, the piece of their family puzzle that’s forever lost to them, yet linking them for eternity.

I LOCK THE DOOR TO his condo and drop the key in his mail box with a note I wrote on a piece of paper from my purse.

Brisban,

Here’s your key. Thank you for trusting me with it, even if for only a moment. Please let me have some time to think and take time for yourself with all you have to deal with. I’ll miss you. Please know how very much I appreciate you and all our times together. You’re a special man with a generous heart. You’ve touched my life in a way I never expected. I’m forever grateful for that.

C—

Feelings of despair rest heavily upon my shoulders as I walk to my car. My cell phone buzzes and I pull it from my purse. It’s Janette.

Janette: How did it go? Or are you still there? The coat was a hit wasn’t it?

Me: Can I come over?

Janette: Now? Yes, why? What happened?

Me: Tell you when I get there. I just don’t want to go home right now. I'll need clothes when I get there.

Janette: K

I get in my car and drive in silence to Janette’s house. I can’t get the awful look on Dawn’s face out of my head. Then the way Brisban looked at me before he left; that look will be burned into my mind for a long time. What a disaster on so many levels.

Rain drops begin to fall and I almost laugh at the irony. A sad night and sad weather go together well. As I pull into Janette’s driveway it feels a little easier to breathe. She comes out onto her porch and I cut my lights and engine. I don’t even bother trying to shield myself from the rain. By the time I get to her porch I’m soaked.

“God, you look like hell. Get in here.” She opens the door and puts her arm around me as we go inside, the door springing shut behind us. “I laid clothes out in the bathroom for you. It’s just sweats and a t-shirt. They’re the most normal thing I have.”

I give her a half smile. “Okay, I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll put on some hot tea. I’m sure you’re freezing after getting drenched.”

I go inside the bathroom and take off the damned trench coat. It crumples to the floor at my feet. I almost feel like stomping on it; looking at it represents my naive stupidity. Who do I think I am, anyway? For the love of God, what was I ever thinking? I pull on the pink sweat pants and cinch the drawstring before tying it. The shirt she left me is far from
normal
. It has rapper Lil Wayne’s mug shot and says
Free Weezy
. I shake my head and put it on anyway. Never did I think I’d see the day I wore a mug shot on my chest. I turn toward the mirror and see how terrible look. She’s right—I look like hell. I sigh and tuck the damp strands of hair behind my ears and pick up the coat. The smell of tea brewing fills the air and when I get back in the living room Janette is sitting Indian style on the sofa waiting for me.

“Okay, come and sit. Tell me what happened.”

I drop down onto the sofa next to her. I don’t even know where to begin.

“You’re never going to believe everything that happened tonight. It was bad… then bad again… then wonderful and amazing, then tragic. Just thinking about it exhausts me.” I lean my head back and turn toward her. “Everything is so messed up. I went to his condo and James showed up—he followed me and then—”

“What? He did fucking what?” Janette said, interrupting me. “Oh hell. Please tell me he didn’t ruin things with Mister Sex-on-a-Stick.”

I close my eyes and sigh. “I wish that was
all
that happened.”

“What then? Spit it out. You’re killing me here.”

I sit upright and look at her, trying not to cry because that’s all I feel like doing.

“James left. It wasn’t that huge of a deal. Brisban and I had an intense night—the sex was incredible, as always, but tonight things changed and then changed some more. He gave me a key to his place and told me he has feelings for me. From there things went from amazing and confusing to a disaster.”

The tea pot whistled loudly, and she hops up. “Just a minute. Hold that thought.” Soon she returns with two cups of tea and I start again. I give her all the awful details. Her face goes from shock to sadness to more shock. Even Janette is rendered speechless by my tale which sounds more like fiction rather than real life.

“I know. It’s a lot to take in. I’m still reeling. That’s why I didn’t want to go home and be alone. I’d never be able to sleep anyway.”

Janette reaches out with both arms. “Come here.” I lean into her, needing the hug my best friend was offering. “I’m so sorry, hun. This sucks major ass.”

I sniffle and literally cry on her shoulder. “I know. It’s so fucked up, Jan. I don’t know what to do.”

She leans back and looks at me. “You do what you feel is right. Not what you
think
is right, but what you feel.”

“I don’t know what I feel. That’s the problem.”

She gives me her all-knowing glare and tilts her head to the side. “I think you do. You just don’t want to admit it to yourself. You care for him, I know it. It’s written all over you.”

I stare into my lap, rolling the string of the sweatpants back and forth between my fingers.

“It doesn’t matter if I care for him. Things are way too complicated now.”

She picks up her tea cup and blows on it slowly before saying anything else. “That’s bullshit and you know it. You didn’t know. How
could
you have known? And, so what…you know his story with his wife.” She takes a sip and sets her drink back down. “You would’ve found out anyway if you two stayed together. Eventually he would’ve told you. I don’t think this is as major as you think it is.”

“Then why does it feel that way?”

“Here.” She hands me my tea. “Drink some of this and warm up. And that’s easy. You’re in shock over everything, which is completely understandable. Once things have time to process for each of you I’m sure you can talk things out.”

“I don’t know. He has so much to deal with now, especially with this development about their daughter. I mean…what if this could bring them back together? I have no right to stand in the way of that.”

Janette puts her hand to her forehead. “God, you are such a fucking saint. Stop thinking about everyone else for once. I love you to pieces but, my gosh, you have to think about you right now. Of course you aren’t going to get in between them and what they are dealing with. But you can’t sit around and dream up ideas about things you know nothing about. Have you even
read
the entire story? Do you even know how things ultimately ended with them?”