Forever True (The Story of Us) Read online

  “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.

  “Well, are you going to show me?” He asked. I had no idea where the bravery came from, but I lowered the phone to where my hand rested between my thighs. I heard Alex groan. “Fuck, I want to see it all. Take your panties off.” I tried to use one hand to hold the phone steady while the other did as he asked.

  “Now touch yourself.” I was so turned on that I didn't even think twice. I put my hand to my throbbing sex and touched my wet folds. “You are so hot, Court. So fucking hot. Now, let me see those gorgeous tits.” I angled the phone to give a better view of my upper body as I pushed the cami up and over my breasts. I ran my hand over each tight nipple and down my stomach and back to the place where I ached for him.

  “That's it, baby. Let me see it all.” Soon I was lost in the moment. I could only focus on my hand, his voice and the way he was breathing heavily. I tried to focus my attention on the screen, and I saw that his jaw began to grow slack as his body shook rhythmically. He was touching himself too. I could see myself in a tiny box at the corner of the screen and it just made everything even more erotic. The only noises were our moans and pants. The slick sounds between my legs got even louder the wetter I became mingled with the noises of Alex jacking himself with his hand.

  “Ah, Court. You ready? Gonna come, baby.”

  “Yes. Fuck, yes. I'm going to come.” The phone dropped from my hand and landed somewhere beside me, and I quickened my pace in order to bring myself to climax. When I heard Alex begin to groan and curse I let go too.

  “Ah, God, Alex. Alex.” I moaned as I came hard against my hand and rode out the sensation that seemed to last forever. My bones felt like mush, and my brain was fuzzy as I reached for the phone. Alex's phone was focused on the ceiling. I could hear the faint sound of water running. When he finally returned and picked up his phone, his eyes were sleepy and satiated.

  “Hey, I had to go get cleaned up. Things got a little messy.” He grinned devilishly. I smiled and shook my head at him. I was too relaxed and tired to think of any witty banter, so I snuggled up on his side of the bed and pulled his pillow close.

  “I wish I could wrap up with you right now.” I yawned.

  “Me too. I love you so much. I'll be home soon.”

  I nodded and asked, “Will you stay on the phone with me for a little while.”

  “I would do anything for you, Court.”

  He stayed on the phone with me until I felt myself falling asleep. When he called out that he was going to end the call, I blew him an uncoordinated kiss before the screen switched to my home page. I stared at the picture of Alex and me from the old apartment. It was right after we moved in, and we were lying in our new bed, I was snuggled up next to him as we both looked up at the camera while he snapped the picture. It was my favorite photo of us. There was so much love and happiness in our eyes. It always reminded me that we had a good foundation; it's just that sometimes old structures need to be renovated now and then.

  Chapter NineAlex

  “I'm hungry.” Erica whined. She was seated at the small table in my hotel room with her laptop open. We had a presentation to give in the morning, and when I checked the reports Pamela had uploaded to the company's shared drive today, it wasn't complete. I know that it was because of the situation with Mitch. I also found out that Pamela had given her resignation the day after I had agreed to come to Houston, but later rescinded it. It was obvious that more was going on with that situation.

  “Fine. Call and order something.”

  “But I don't want take-out food, Alexander.”

  “Well, that's all there is, Erica. I don't know what else to tell you.” I grumbled as I sat on the sofa with my laptop open, toggling between documents double checking the numbers on the final report. I had been on edge the entire day as I replayed the conversation with Courtney last night. I was tired of men going after my wife and being worried whether someone will say the right words to steal her away from me. It was an everyday fear. What made me feel like shit though was that she told me about Will and Kimmie right away. She didn't want there to be any secrets between us and she was trying to regain my trust. Now I was glaring at the secret I'd been keeping for three years and wished I would have confessed a long time ago.

  “We could go out.” Erica replied hopefully.

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I said no.”

  “What's your problem? There is no reason why two responsible adults can't go out and have a meal together. Unless, you are worried that you can't control yourself.”

  I snorted at her but remained silent. I could definitely control myself around Erica especially when I have to try hard to remember what I saw in her besides the fact that she had the largest tits of any girl in middle school. Now, I realized that she was just an early bloomer because she turned out to be pretty average in that department.

  “Look, why don't you just call your wife.” She said the last word as if it gagged her to say it, “Tell her that you are going to dinner with one of your managers. It's not a lie.”

  “Erica, for the last time. Either order something or keep quiet.”

  “You're so rude.” She huffed and turned back to her laptop where her fingers began tapping furiously on the keyboard. My phone buzzed on the nightstand where I left it plugged to the charger. When I reached for it, I saw Court's name flashing across the screen.

  Shit.

  It was the second time that she had tried to call me within the last hour. I couldn't keep ignoring her. I shot a quick glance at Erica warning her to be quiet. She simply rolled her eyes and focused her attention back to her laptop. I cleared my throat and hit the answer icon.

  “Hi, baby.” I said, trying to keep my tone even.

  “Hey. I tried to call you about an hour ago. Are you still working?”

  “Yeah, Pamela's presentation was all screwed up, so I'm working on it with Er...” I caught myself before I completed the sentence. “Ah, um. Errors. I've found a lot of errors.”

  “Oh, babe. I'm sorry. Is there anything I can help you with?” Courtney was an accountant and would probably be a big h
elp with the formulas, but I wanted to quit while I was ahead.

  “No, no it's fine but thanks. I appreciate that. I think we, er, I will be able to get it all done in time.”

  “Oh, are you going to be all night? I was hoping we could do the video thing like we did last night.” She said in a low, shy tone. I felt my breathing quicken at the memories of last night, and I had to hold back a groan. I really wanted to do that again.

  “You liked that, huh?” I asked as I cupped my mouth with my hand to muffle my words so Erica couldn't hear.

  “Mmm hmm.”

  “Me, too. Let me get back to work and I'll call you later. Do you want me to wake you up?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Okay, then I better go so I can get all this shit done.”

  “Alright, call me. No matter what time.”

  “I will. I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  When I ended the call, I tossed my phone onto the bed where it bounced a couple of times before it stopped.

  “Gag me.” I heard Erica call out from behind me and mimicked “I wove you,” and “I wove you too,” making puppets out of her hands. I shook my head at her and went back to my spot on the couch.

  “Don't be jealous. It's not a good look on you, Erica.”

  “Jealous of who?” She spun her laptop around to show that she had been looking at photos on my Facebook page. “Her? She's so lame.” Erica turned her face up in disgust and pointed to a picture that I took of Court holding up the autographed book from her favorite romance author that I had given her for Christmas. I thought she looked cute with no makeup and messy hair as she beamed at the camera.

  “Stop, Erica.”

  “I have no doubt that if I hadn't broken up with you, we would still be together.”

  “Not a chance.”

  “Why not? You were into me. I know for a fact that you were.”

  “I am done talking about this.”

  "I mean, you are the one who's making it an issue, Alexander. Just because you've made the idiot decision to keep things from your wife doesn't give you the right to be an asshole to me. If anything, be mad at yourself for choosing a boring wife who was still stuck in 2008 with her horrible fashion sense. That was totally your fault."

  “You can barely remember 2008.” I grumbled under my breath.

  “What?” Erica gasped.

  "Look, I said that I was done with this, Erica."

  She never missed an opportunity to pick on Courtney. I knew that my marriage bothered her even if she wouldn't outright admit it. Not because she wanted to be with me but because she was thirty-five and still alone. I knew it agitated her more when I ignored her comments instead of engaging them.

  “Oh, yeah I remember.” She scoffed. “The Great and Powerful Alexander has spoken. That means the end of the discussion.” I glared at her for several seconds trying to send her a telepathic message to shut the fuck up.

  “Okay, sorry. I'm out of line.” She apologized. “I'm just hungry and you know I tend to get a little crazy when I haven't eaten. I guess I'll just order something.” She walked to the side table where the takeout menus were. “Hey, what place did Stiller say was good? Was it Thai food?” As much as Erica irritated me, she was still my friend. She had her issues but deep down I knew she was a decent person or at least she wanted to be. She might even be right about my misdirected anger but I would never admit that to her. I felt my shoulders slump as my own stomach growled with hunger.

  “Let me check,” I replied as I rose from the couch. “I had him text me the name of the place because it sounded great. I think I'll order something too.”

  I grabbed my phone from the bed and saw that it had an active call that had been going for three minutes. To Courtney's phone. I felt like my body was moving in slow motion as I raised the phone to my ear and held my breath.

  “Hello?” I said into the phone. There was a long breath on the other end followed by silence.

  “Court. Baby? Are you there? Listen, I, uh. Shit. I--” The next sound I heard was a beep that indicated the end of the call. I stood there and stared at my phone like an idiot.

  What did she hear? Was she mad?

  I redialed her number, but it rang until the voice mail picked up. Immediately, I tried again but this time it only rang once before the voice mail picked up again.

  Fuck.

  I knew I was going to have to tell her sooner or later, but I had hoped to do it face to face. I sat down on the bed and ran my hands repeatedly over my face. This was not good. Not good at all. Maybe she didn't hear anything. Maybe the phone never disconnected the first time, and she didn't know it either. Maybe.

  Yeah right. You are fucked, Turner.

  I focused my gaze on Erica, who was sitting in her chair and staring back at me. Thankfully, not saying anything.

  “Erica, I need you to go.”

  “I'm really sorry. I hope that I haven't caused--”

  “Just fucking go.” I interrupted her. “This was a big mistake. Having you here. Getting you a job at PVA. All of it.” I said this more to myself, but it was for her to hear.

  Erica packed up her stuff and exited the room without another word. I sat up for the rest of the night trying to think of something good to say that would help my case. What I ended up with was that I didn't have an excuse. Letting Erica back into my life was something I shouldn't have done, and I certainly had no business keeping it from my wife. I only hoped that it wasn't too late to ask for forgiveness.

  Chapter TenCourtney

  As soon as I hung up with Alex, he called right back. I answered the phone, grinning from ear to ear. I heard muffled conversation and when I listened in I heard Alex speaking...to a woman...to Erica?

  “Don't be jealous...” then I heard muffled voices. “...Erica.”

  “Jealous of who?...Her? She's so lame.”

  Wait, is that…his ex-girlfriend, Erica? It was the only Erica that came to mind. My heart stopped at what I'd just heard. The rest of the conversation was muffled, probably because they had both moved away from the phone. I wanted to scream Alex's name loud enough for him to hear me, but my voice was stuck in my throat. My heart was now lodged there and blocking the way for anything else to pass.

  I sat there frozen for what seemed like forever but was probably just a few minutes. The voices stopped, and there was silence followed by Alex speaking in the phone hesitantly.

  “Hello?” Pause. “Court. Baby? Are you there? Listen, I, uh. Shit. I--.” I wanted to rip into him and shout a million questions yet no words would form. I was so angry, hurt and completely taken by surprise that I hung up on him in the middle of speaking. I paced the room going over it all in my head. Erica? What was he doing with Erica? Why was she in Houston? Why didn't he tell me? The little voice in my head was saying. “You know why, dummy!” I just couldn't bring myself to believe it. Alex and I have been through so much this past year, and we knew what a gift it was to find a way back to each other, what reason would he have to throw it all away?

  My phone rang several times, and I ignored his calls each time and finally powered my cell down. The house phone started ringing after that. I really wanted to talk to him, just not now. I was scared that I wouldn't like the answer. I laid in bed for hours staring at the ceiling and trying to make sense of the situation. It had to make sense. I wasn't ready to lose Alex, not again. My reconstructed heart couldn't take it.

  ****

  After I'd taken the girls to school and was finally alone in the car I dialed Alex's number. He answered on the first ring.

  “Court, hang on. Hang on.” I heard him speaking to someone followed by the sound of a door closing. “Sorry, I was in a meeting. Baby, I'm so, so sorry. I should have told you about--”

  “Erica? Was that your ex-girlfriend Erica?”

  “Let me just expl--”

  “No, Alex. Answer. My. Question. Was that your ex-girlfriend Erica?”

  “Yes, but--”
>
  “Oh my god! Are you serious, right now, Alex? Erica? After all these years? Oh my god.”

  “Court, please let me explain. It's not what you think. I promise you it's not what you think.”

  “Oh really? What else can it be? You just randomly bumped into her in Houston? Wait, are you even in Houston?” I screech as the hysterics begin to surface as all the possibilities regarding the extent of his deception come to mind.

  “Court. Courtney, stop it. You are going to escalate this to something bigger than it needs to be. Please, baby. Let me explain.” He pleaded.

  “Fine.” I said after several moments, and he wasted no time speaking.

  “Okay. A while ago, Erica messaged me on Facebook and told me that she had gotten into some trouble in California. The only way her probation officer--”

  “Wait, probation officer?” I interrupted.

  “Will you please let me finish?”

  “Okay.”

  “The only way she would be allowed to move back to Florida was if she had a job lined up and someone at the company to vouch for her. I helped her out and got her a job in the PVA dispatch department because it was only supposed to be temporary.”

  “Temporary? How long has she worked there?”

  “Three years.”

  “Three years? Three fucking years, Alex?”

  “I know. I know. I had no idea that she would be good at the job and end up getting promoted.”

  “Three years! Why didn't you tell me? Why were you trying to hide it?”

  “I wasn't trying to hide it. On purpose. I just didn't mention it because like I said I thought it would be temporary. She never held a job for more than a couple of months at a time. I didn't think there was any point in bringing it up. It wasn't until things started to work out for her that I knew too much time had passed, and I would be in this exact situation right now. You're right; I should have said something. I am so sorry for keeping this from you.”

  “Why is she in Houston? I didn't think dispatchers went to those things?”

  “Well, remember when I said that she was promoted? She manages the entire dispatch department.”