Chapter 34 Kaelee #2
“Nonconsensual sounds so mild,” Kaelee mused.
“Fine. In my opinion and recollection, I rejected his advances. I was not aware of the engagement and had not dated Kyle. Following his assault, I left Durham, moved, and changed my name. I discontinued contact with the Aldens as a result of their compliance in the acts that led to unwelcome congress with Kyle, a protégé and employee of my father’s, who was significantly older than me. ”
Marissa wrote down every word, and Kaelee paused and read the sheet.
“Make sure to send a copy to Julia, too. Tripp doesn’t communicate well with women,” Kaelee said mildly. The hope that her mother hadn’t known was a thin one, but it existed despite time and countless evidence that she was his puppet.
Kaelee walked away while Greta and the attorneys finished whatever business was needed. She was reasonably in control of her emotions, but in this case, she still needed a moment to collect herself. She strayed into the living room where she looked out a window at the sea of towering buildings.
A few moments later, Marissa came to stand beside her. “You’re handling this all so very well. Be proud of yourself.”
Kaelee nodded.
Marissa continued, “Would you want to split a cab? I don’t think I’d feel right sending you into the wild alone just this moment.”
Kaelee didn’t want to say she was staying right here, so she just said, “Thank you, but no. That was kind of you to offer, though.”
“I am heading out, then,” Marissa called.
“Thank you, Risa,” Greta said, walking into the room. She glanced at Ms. Everette. “Are you going with her?”
“Not just yet. If you want to walk out with her, Kaelee, please do. We’ll be in touch.” Then she stepped over to Greta. “I like the décor changes,” she said, hand brushing the back of the sofa.
Greta frowned at her.
“Were there other matters?” Kaelee prompted.
“No. You can head out for whatever festivities you have planned.” Ms. Everette smiled, and Kaelee felt an unfamiliar rush of possessiveness toward Greta.
“Actually, my plans are with Greta.” Kaelee walked over to Greta’s sofa and sat.
“Oh.” The attorney looked between them. “So that’s why you’re so protective, Greta!”
“Tash.”
Kaelee looked between them. “This is Tasha?”
“She talked to you about me?” Tasha asked, sounding stunned. “She’s usually very discrete.”
“We’re close,” Greta countered, lips tight and entire expression tense. “Kaelee is my guest.”
“And here I was going to apologize for my mistaken theories about your late nights.” Tasha’s tone became catty.
Greta shook her head. “Until I met Kaelee, I had never, not once, slept with anyone in the industry.”
“And we didn’t meet in the industry,” Kaelee felt compelled to add. “We met online.”
“Ah. The app.” Tasha nodded. “I meet most of my fuck friends there, too. Simplifies matters.” She smiled again in her very intimidating way, but this time, Kaelee didn’t find it appealing. “I matched with Greta a year ago. I’m sorry, Marie.”
“Is this going to be an issue?” Kaelee asked.
“No. Is it for you? Knowing that I was…”
“She told me,” Kaelee said bluntly. “I knew you were consulting.”
“Oh.” Tasha’s entire demeanor shifted. She glanced at Greta.
“Honestly, I stayed to ask if you wanted to grab a drink some night, Greta. Maybe start the new year together. I made a mistake in giving up on us. I thought that every time I saw you after the breakup, but then you stopped answering my calls.”
“I’m seeing someone, Tash. What did you think would happen? You cheated on me.”
“I panicked, okay? I wanted to be … where I am now, and I felt lost trying to do that and be yours and…” Tasha threw her hand upward in frustration. “I was still trying to figure me out, and you were just so sure of everything.”
“I wasn’t.” Greta stared at her, mouth agape. “I had a career that was slow to build, and you were climbing the ladder like it was flat ground. Polished, poised, so sure of yourself.”
“I just wanted you to think I knew what I was doing.” Tasha’s voice was soft. “Law and winning arguments are pretty much all I knew then. Now? I’ve spent a lot of hours in therapy. I should’ve said something when we…” She glanced at Kaelee. “When I called you all those nights.”
“Okay, I don’t need to hear all this. Can you or can you not represent me without bias?” Kaelee said in the tense silence. “Because it sounds like there are some big issues here.”
“I can. I will,” Tasha spoke so unwaveringly that Kaelee felt certain it was true.
Kaelee nodded. “I’ll leave you to talk, then.”
She didn’t look back as she walked toward the bedroom where she had been sleeping with Greta. Walking out and leaving the two women alone took a lot of self-control, more than Kaelee typically felt like she had—and she wasn’t a weak-willed woman. Even so, she felt panic rise at leaving them.
They were engaged.
They loved each other enough to plan for forever.
Tasha is poised and powerful. Greta likes that.
I love her, but until I came along they were still hooking up and … they were engaged.
With visions of needing to leave filling her mind, Kaelee pulled her suitcase out of the corner of the room where it had been sitting since they arrived here after Toni and Addie’s wedding. She opened the drawer she’d been using and gathered up her clothes.
There’s no way she’ll want me if Tasha wants to get back together.
And she shouldn’t. They both live in New York. They deserve time to …
“What are you doing?” Greta asked, closing the door quietly behind her with a soft snick.
“Packing.”
“I should’ve told you that was Tasha when she walked in.” Greta took the shirt out of Kaelee’s hand and dropped it on the bed.
“I should’ve guessed when she didn’t offer her name,” Kaelee said. “I swear my mind is muddled when I think about Tripp and Kyle.”
Greta scooped all of Kaelee’s clothes up and carried them back to the drawer. She dropped them in a now unfolded heap. “Don’t leave me.”
“You and Tasha would look good together. She seems nice.” Kaelee half choked on the word. “Nice” wasn’t what Tasha seemed. Deadly. Fierce. Sexy. There were a lot of words, but “nice” wasn’t one of them.
“Tasha’s a bitch. A smart, cutthroat bitch. It’s one of the many traits that meant that when she offered to help Risa with your legal needs for free, I didn’t refuse.”
“And you didn’t think that was a suspicious offer?” Kaelee pressed, staring at Greta.
“Oh, I suspected it was an apology of sort.” Greta widened her eyes in what Kaelee suspected was to be an innocent look.
“You knew she was trying to make amends and you … took advantage of it?”
Greta shrugged. “She owes me an apology. Why not let her apologize with her offer of free legal services?”
Kaelee laughed unexpectedly. “Damn, woman. Remind me not to underestimate your temper.”
“I wasn’t trying to make today awkward. I specifically told Risa that we only needed her for the meeting.” Greta pushed Kaelee backward onto the bed.
“So her apology didn’t sway you to go back to her arms?” Kaelee stared up at her as Greta straddled Kaelee’s lap. “We can stop this and—”
“I have no feelings for her. I thought I might when we were … when she started calling after the breakup. I thought we could fix it, but she only wanted to see me in her bed or a couple times in some club.”
“Did she get you off on a dance floor, darlin’?”
“She wouldn’t. Just the bathroom,” Greta said. “Even in her drunken calls for sex, she still only wanted what she wanted. Not my interests. Not my needs.”
“You were engaged, though,” Kaelee countered. “If you still love—”
“I don’t. I love you.”
Kaelee swallowed back the words.
“I don’t think my heart even has room to hold on to anger or disappointment in her.
What I feel for you has taken up all the space,” Greta said boldly.
“You. You fill my thoughts; my heart is yours, Kaelee. And I want you. Just you. As much as you’ll give me, even if that’s just texts and weekends and some holidays. ”
“Greta…”
“No. No arguing right now,” Greta said. “I keep telling you that I don’t expect you to say it back, but I love you. Only you. I still have my work and my life here, and you have yours. Two independent women who meet, have beautiful experiences, and then go back to our regular lives.”
Kaelee rested her face against Greta’s shoulder. “Can we stay in and just … have a quiet night?”
“Rain check on the rest?” Greta asked.
“I’m sorry.” Kaelee looked away, feeling uncharacteristically exposed by the day’s events. “Talking about my past and … meeting your ex … I feel a little overwhelmed.”
“Popcorn and television with you? Sounds like a perfect night to me.” Greta kissed her cheek.
“I am here with you, Kaelee. No matter what. No matter how. I cannot imagine my life going back to a Kaelee-free one. And as much as I like being adventurous in our sex life, I also like snuggling up with you.”
“I’m here, too. In this,” Kaelee said, her voice rough and scratchy. “I want to be here. I want both of those things you said, too. All of them. I feel the same as you. You know that, right?”
“I know,” Greta said before giving her a sweet kiss.
And Kaelee let herself be held as she tried not to let all the feelings of today drown her in a flight of panic. This thing with Greta was the best thing to ever happen to Kaelee, and she had to be willing to say those feelings aloud.
Saying it won’t make Greta leave me.
Kaelee felt like she’d been starving for something her whole life, only to find it unexpectedly. The thought of saying those words made her panic and choke.