Torn (12 page)

“So…are you ready for your trip?” I asked and then quickly jumped into defense mode. “I know you
don’t want to go, but who knows, this might be a good opportunity!” I could see that he was annoyed
with this topic, but I tried to act like I was looking the best of the situation.

“I guess. I know that this good could be a good opportunity, Ryleigh that’s why I am going. That is why I
was chosen to go, because they enjoy the work that I do and the amount of work that I get done. I am
number one around there and this is a huge project that they want closed.” Liam said cockily.

“Ummm…I spoke with my mom the other night.” I quickly changed the subject. “She told me to tell you
hello and that we needed to get together with her and Avery for dinner soon. Would you mind if I set
something up for next weekend?” I asked softly.

“Yeah, that would be nice. I like Avery; he definitely has some good stories to rattle off. Let’s plan for
Sunday night. I should be back from New York on Thursday but I have a meeting set up on Friday.
Saturday I just would like to actually enjoy not having a day where I have to work or travel. Does that
work for you?” I wanted to ask him what kind of meeting, but I choked back the words.

“Yep.” I didn’t know what else to say to him. ‘
Did you want to bring Amber or her friend along? I am sure
that would be a lot more entertaining than Avery’s stories of when he was our age and in the coast
guard working in South Carolina.’ I thought.

Our food arrived and I couldn’t wait to dig in. I hadn’t lied about needing some sort of food in my
stomach. The bread did a great temporary job, but I was ready for some meat. As we began to dig in, I
glanced up towards the bar and felt my heart stop.

Caleb was at the bar talking to the bartender, it appeared as if he knew the guy. I dropped my skewer of
meat on the table.

“Ryleigh, are you okay?” Liam asked with a bit of worry.
“Oh, yeah. It just slipped, but I see a friend of mine here. Do you mind if I go say hi for a moment?” I
asked in a huff.

“No. Go ahead.” He seemed a bit confused and annoyed that I was interrupting dinner to go say hi to a
friend.

 

I quickly jumped out of my seat and walked hurriedly over to the bar. He was obviously not paying
attention to see me coming up to him, so I sluggedhim in the arm.

 

“What in the world are you doing here?” I said through my gritted teeth.

 

“Well, hello to you too! I’m here having some dinner and Daniel here is a friend from Texas, so we’re
playing catch up. Are you having a nice time?” He was being a smartass. “You look…Wow, in that dress.”

“Don’t be a smartass; I know that you SOMEHOW got a hold of Courtney, which don’t even get me
started on that one, but she told you where I was having dinner. Seriously, why are you here?” I could
tell that I was just seething. He continued to eye my dress.

“Ry, I am not going to start any trouble. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.” He said
defensively.

 

“Caleb, whether you like it or not; he is my husband and yes I am more than fine! Will you please just
go?” I demanded.

 

“Yep, right after this.” He nodded his head for me to look behind me.

“Oh shit, he’s really coming over here, isn’t he?” I began to go into panic mode. I quickly calmed myself
and wrapped my arm into Liam’s. “Hey, honey, I would love to formally introduce you to my friend,
Caleb. Caleb Martin, this is my husband, Liam Andrews. Liam, Caleb and I go way back; we have known
each other since the sixth grade.” I tried to be as calm as I could during the introduction even if my heart
felt like it was going to race out of my chest.

“Nice to meet you Liam, Ryleigh has said nothing but great things about the wonderful guy who was
lucky to snag her up.” Caleb reached out his hand to shake. Liam shook his hand firmly but had a scowl
on his face.

“It is nice to meet you too Caleb. If you don’t mind, though, I would like to bring my wife back to dinner.
Ryleigh?” He placed his hand on my lower back to lead me back to the table.

 

“Caleb, it was nice to see you again. We should catch up soon.” I said as I gave him a glare and walked
back to the table.

Liam pulled out my chair and helped me scoot back in. He took his seat and went back to eating, without
saying another word to me the rest of the meal. I couldn’t tell if he was angry or just hungry. I didn’t
want to press the issue. I had seen Caleb leave shortly after we had returned to his table. I was not quite
sure what his motive was when he showed up here, but he definitely was going to hear about this later.
“Wow, I’m so incredibly full. I think that I could slip into a mini coma for the next few days.” I tried to
muster up a laugh, but it was uncomfortable to laugh. “I don’t think that I have eaten this much food all
week.”

After Liam picked up the tab, we headed out towards the parking lot walking hand in hand.

 

“It was absolutely delicious! No room for dessert?” Liam gave me that wink.

“I don’t know if I am going to be able to get in the car, let alone make love.” I grabbed the back of his
neck and began to run my nails up and down the back of his head and neck. I leaned in and kissed his
ear.

“Well let’s get home and then we can just get you out of those clothes at least.” He seemed rather
disappointed.

 

“Sounds good.” I responded softly.

The car ride home was very relaxing and quiet; however I found that I was more lost in my thoughts
than ever. I don’t think that was the best for me, but I had to confront him at some point and I kept
saying that this was better time than ever. How would I bring it up? Part of me thought the best way
was to have to start with a fight. What could really get him pissed? The other part of me kept saying;
don’t ruin a good night and I just needed to wait until he got back from New York. I hated being in the
silence lately.

We pulled into the garage at home and we both moved sluggishly, both of us obviously had way too
much to eat tonight. I dragged ass up the stairs with Liam right behind me, I thought that I hated this
dress before and now I wanted to rip it into a million pieces just so I could get out of it and get into my
sweats.

Liam had undressed down to his boxers and climbed into bed, switching on the television. He found an
old episode of Seinfeld on and started chuckling. As I got dressed, I began to remember how on the
weekends we would stay in bed almost all day and watching marathons of different shows and we had
both cracked up watching Seinfeld together.

In the middle of my stroll down memory lane, his phone started to ring. I peeked out of the bathroom
with the look of ‘who is calling you at this hour’?

 

“Andrews. Yeah. Umm, well it was going to be a nice evening at home since I had to leave on Monday.
Yes, I understand. Give me an hour? Alright, see you then.” He hung up and gave me that sorry look.

 

“Who was that?” I could tell it wasn’t anyone from work by the ringtone.

“One of the New York guys, Kevin, he wanted to getsome of the contracts together so we could all sign
them and be done pretty quickly. This way contractsweren’t the one thing that we had to worry about.
It would just be schmoozing and the big presentation. I guess we have to present to them on Monday
and then a few other offices are coming in on Wednesday to check it out. Tuesday we just have the day
to get everything signed. So Kev, just had a few things he wanted to go over in the outlined portion and
make sure everything was up to par.” He was already getting dressed as he was giving me this story.

“Oh. You can’t do it over the phone or Skype?” I asked as I began to bite my nails.

“Just easier if I go down there and then if there is any sort of corrections to be made, it doesn’t come as
a surprise. I won’t be gone too long, okay? Who knows, when I get home maybe your stomach has had
time to settle and we can make love the rest of the evening.” He leaned in and gave me a kiss. I tried to
be as passionate as I could with him, but this time he was the one that seemed to be put off.

“Alright, well, be careful and just call me or text when you are on your way home?” I was kind of hurt
that he was leaving. Granted it could have been for work, but at the same time I almost felt like whoever
called was now more important than me. Especially if it were another woman.

I heard the garage closing and could see his car coming down the drive and speeding off a moment later.
I grabbed my cell phone and texted Courtney.

 

Dinner. Yeah…. Awkward…

 

She must have been sitting next to her phone waiting for my text.

 

How? Did Caleb show up? Does he know that you know? Sorry again. Where is he now?

 

I forgot about the whole ratting me out to Caleb, but the sorry made me remember all over again.

 

You’re lucky you are preggo! I should kick your ass! He showed up and met Liam! Liam still
doesn’t know I know…he left!

 

I began to cry. I quickly typed up a reply, knowing I was going to have to explain.

 

He left????? Where’d he go?

 

I sent my reply.

I think one of his skanks called for him and he said it was work. Said he wouldn’t be gone long,
but left! I don’t care…it was so weird to be with him. He and I seemed to have drifted apart in the
last few days….

It took her a few minutes to respond. I think that I had eaten all of my fingernails waiting. My nail polish
I just had done was already looking like a wreck, I was kicking myself.

Ryleigh, you drifted because you are finding out shit on him. It’s not that you have just lost
interest, well I guess you have but, he’s cheating… technically you are too. But you have found
your love. You need to come out and say something and just move on. Things are going to be
more and more awkward! Here if you need me! Love ya.
She was right. It wasn’t so much that we had drifted but rather fallen apart. We just were two people
who are completely different than we were, 6 years ago, 6 months ago, even 6 days ago. I wanted to call
Caleb, but I was happy to put my phone on the charger and cuddle up with my own pillow. I needed to
get some sleep and in my own bed tonight.

As I lay on my own pillow, I imagined Caleb’s fingers rubbing all over me. I could feel his kisses on my
neck and down my spine. I missed him right now. I looked down at my wedding band and tried to put
Caleb out and figure out what would make my husband do these things without any sort of remorse.
This was eating me alive and he didn’t even appear to have any problem doing this.

Even with a clouded head, I welcomed sleep.
Chapter Twelve
I woke with a startle. I felt like I had only been asleep for a few minutes, my heart was racing so fast. I
hadn’t turned my phone down or put it on silent, it was ringing and vibrating. Scared the shit out of me!

 

“Hello?” I was still half asleep when I answered. I didn’t even take a look at the number that was calling
me. I rubbed my eyes and glanced at the alarm clock, 4:42am.

 

“Good morning, Mrs. Umm. Andrews, this is Lieutenant Marquez down at the Denver Police
Department.” I could hear him shuffling through papers, as if he wasn’t quite prepared to talk to me.

 

My heart began to race faster; the fact that the police were calling me at this time was not a good sign. I
rolled over to find that Liam was still not home. Shit!

 

“How can I help Lieutenant? Is everything okay?” I asked in a panic.

“Oh, yes ma’am. Sorry I have four other angry wivesto be called here in a moment. The reason for my
call, we have your husband down here in our facility. Right now he is being held in our detox room, we
were going to book him but it seems as if he had quite a bit to drink. Since he is nowhere near being able
to drive home, would you like to come and pick him up? You are more than welcome to make him sleep
it off here, but if we don’t release him into your custody we will place him under arrest.” He paused and
I interrupted.

“I’m sorry, what would he be under arrest for?” I demanded.

“Public intoxication, there was a bar fight that he was involved in. There are several people pointing
fingers in different directions on who started it but we do know that he was one of the main
characters.” Lt. Marquez was still shuffling through papers. “Mrs. Andrews?”

“Oh I’m sorry. I’m still not quite awake.” I sighed. “I’ll come pick him up. Do you know if his car is still at
the bar?” So much for going into work, Kevin, or even being home in a little bit. Now would be as good
of time as ever to have my talk with him.

“Yes ma’am. He thankfully didn’t try to drive. The bar owner, he is used to cars being left overnight, so it
shouldn’t be an issue for you to leave it until later this morning. Do you know where we are located?”
He now seemed to be rushed to get off the phone with me.

“Yes sir. I’ll be down there in a little bit. Do I need to ask for you?”

“No ma’am, anyone will be able to release him into your custody. Drive carefully, Mrs. Andrews. I am
sorry that we had to call you this early.” He sounded so sincere.
“Thank you for the call Lieutenant, I really appreciate it.” I hung up and pushed myself to get out bed. I
padded to the bathroom to get my hair clip.

I headed out towards my car, thinking that I should leave his ass down there and see how this story
would come up. The lies that would just pour out of his mouth would be humorous.

I began my drive down to the police station and wondered what fight he could have gotten into. Liam
was obviously was a jerk when he got drunk, but I had never once seen him get into a fight. He and
Jason once had a pushing match, but all was in funand games. Now he was getting into bar fights? I felt
myself begin to drive a bit faster; I could not WAIT to hear this one.

I pulled into the parking lot and even though I was in a police station, I pushed the lock button on my
remote three times. I walked up the stairs and wasgreeted by a rather hefty officer behind the desk.

 

“Can I help you?” He asked, he sounded like he was rather grumpy.