32-REAGAN
He was crazy. He was crazy about me, and we were jamming months into days. I honestly didn’t mind it. What I did mind was absorbing the aftermath of both of our climaxes into my underwear. The cold autumn air was pricking at me through my jeans.
A black car is parked near the house. Not quite at it, but close enough. I wonder if it is Vanessa’s and keep moving. The girl inside is brunette like her, and the truck at his house earlier was proof that random people were in and out all the time.
She catches my gaze, and the driver’s door latch sounds before she gets out. “Reagan?” She calls out.
I stop, and my core tightens. Something is telling me to run. Run to the house or run to Vincent. But I don’t. I turn and face her. “Yeah?”
She struts towards me, far too comfortable for the situation. “So you’re the little stable girl.”
“The what?” This wasn’t Vanessa. Why did this feel like a trap?
“You know. Vincent’s little toy until he gets bored. Nothing is ever serious with him, not since he and I were a thing.”
I shoot up a brow, “Okay, and you are?”
She reaches out and attempts to fix my hair. I let her play her role because I am not intimidated by her. “Adorable, really. I’m Jori. His former girlfriend of four years. We were taking a break, and now we are trying to—” Her eyes dart behind me.
I follow her gaze and see Vincent finishing up his belt before jogging towards us while fixing his shirt. “Jori, you need to leave.”
“Wait—” Her mouth dropped open, “Did you guys just fuck?” Her expression said she knew his patterns all too well.
Vincent huffs. “Not that it’s any of your business, but yes.”
“Gross.” Her arms crossed in front of her. “In one of the stalls?”
“No, Jori. In the tack room, just like you always asked. For four years, you begged me to have my way with you in there. The truth is, even then I knew I couldn’t leave a memory of you in a place I respected so much.”
She pauses like she is digesting his words before continuing. “Well, now that you’ve sowed your wild oats. Are you ready to settle down?”
Somewhere between the two of them, I realize this conversation wasn’t mine.
“Yes, actually.”
What? My brow knits, and I can’t help but side-eye him.
“Good. Get rid of this poor gi—”
“Not with you, with Reagan. After everything you put me through, you think for a second I would choose you? For years, I questioned what the fuck I did to have you up and leave like we didn’t exist. To come home and find all of your things gone and my number blocked.
I would have gone to hell for you. After you disappeared, I did.
All alone, I scraped the pieces up and made something of myself, something you don’t deserve. ”
Jori steps closer, and he steps deeper between us. I am suddenly behind his arm, being protected by what might come verbally or physically. I can still see Jori, and she reacts to his gesture.
“Oh, honey, you have him on a leash.” Jori’s eyes dash back to him.
“Tell me, Vinent, do you get a gold star every day you’re sober, or does she hide the liquor cabinet keys?
” She scoffs. “You want to know why I left? I didn’t want a project—I wanted a man.
But I guess Reagan is used to mucking stalls, so cleaning up after a drunk should be easy work for her. ”
“I don’t have a drinking problem, and you know that.
My father died suddenly, and you belittled me when I tried to grieve him.
Alcohol was enough to help ease the pain.
So, yes. I was a wreck, and you weren’t the reason I was drowning.
But you also stood and watched, almost like you enjoyed it.
I was hard to love, and you’ll always remind me of the man I hated.
I don’t care about you, answers, or any of that shit anymore.
So just go, leave Reagan and me alone, or I’ll call law enforcement. ”
Without a word, she scowled and spun on her heel before walking off.
“Oh, Jori.”
Her head snaps around.
“Keep my name off the internet, or I’ll get an attorney involved. You know I can afford it.” He stands there until Jori completes a u-turn and near the gates. “You okay?”
I give a nod. “You?”
“I’m not bothered by it.” He smirks, “still thinking about the tack room. Let’s head up to the house.”
?
Hair dripping from his shower still, Vincent closes his bedroom door behind him. “Fuck, what a day.”
“Cookie?” I offer from the bed. I had gone to check on Beverly, and, of course, she was done. She wouldn’t let me leave without a small plate of cookies.
“I’m going to get fat being with you, aren’t I?”
“You can go to Pilates with me.” He plants a kiss on me and swipes the cookie from my hand.
“Maybe. But I figured you might want to go over the costumes I had planned.”
“I do. Do you want to talk about anything else?” I was giving him an opportunity to debrief on the day, the night, or why I was so special that he would desecrate his sacred tack room.
Part of me wondered if I was just a fun thing for now.
You know when you’re dating and after a month or two the fun has worn off and you’re faced with a shell of a human.
But after what he spilled in front of me—maybe not.
Vincent flopped next to me. “Nah. I don’t want to waste my breath or time with you on the past.”
“Alright. So, costumes?”
“I was thinking you would make a fine saloon girl.”
?
The paperwork had gone through, and I worried I had overstayed my welcome. Vincent said otherwise, but I wanted to be safe. And if he liked me as much as I think he did, I knew I would be back. I also had a few orders to make, along with Miles’ request for the Halloween party.
The ride back to my town was peaceful. The Monday late morning offered bare roads and little traffic. Vincent didn’t want to talk about his conversation with Jori, but I had questions and now was the time. “So, I have a question about what happened last night.”
“Alright, shoot.”
“Jori mentioned that you get bored easily and you’ll drop me when that happens. Is what’s between us just for fun?”
“Jori said I get bored?”
I nod, and his fingers dig into my shoulder, but his gaze stays on the black asphalt.
“I do. I get bored with the games, the lies, the showing off. Everything that made Jori the girlfriend she was for me was exactly what I didn’t need, and I ended up begging her to be the girlfriend I needed.
I’m not looking for someone who is interested in cherry-picking what they want to love about me.
I want someone who can look at me and love me at my lowest. Someone who can sit with me in the dark and not try to find a life raft to save themselves because things got tough.
What other questions can I answer for you? ”
“You—” The air left my lungs, and I mustered the strength to ask the question. “You said you were ready to settle down…with me?”
“Yeah. I like you. I like everything about you. But I know that you don’t want to tie yourself up with another man when you have your husband dragging his feet. I don’t mind waiting with you with the chance that I could be first in line to be yours afterward.”
“First in line? Vincent, you are the line.”
“I doubt it. I saw some of Tate’s friends eyeing you at that restaurant and not in the ‘I’m going to tell her husband’ way. You were fresh meat draped over that table, and it probably hurt to see you walking off with me.”
“Whatever.”
“Don’t believe me if you want. But I think you underestimate how quickly a guy will drop his friends for a piece of ass that’s improved since she left his buddy.”
“So if I was single when you met me—”
“You wouldn’t be single now.”
“Again with sounding so sure of yourself.”
He pulls me in tighter and kisses my temple. “You’re relentless.”
I melt into him and ask my final question. “So you’re over Jori?”
“I’ve been over her. She only came around because of the whole Forewarning news.”
“And is she into that?”
“Yeah, it’s the reason I started, and in some fucked up way I thought fate would bring us back together. But after the first year, I was over her. The thrill and pay were enough to come back to. Plus it led me to you, even if I did cheat.”
His words were a knock to the gut. He started doing this for her? This was years ago. Could I really be mad? “Did you only have sex with me in the tack room because it’s what she wanted too?”
“What?” His grip on the wheel tightened. “I have your number tattooed on my arm, and your teeth mark burned into my saddle. Hell, I’ll give you the deed to my house if it shows you how serious I am. I want you everywhere, Reagan. You’re the closest thing I have to euphoria.”
“I’m sorry for asking. The thought of you doing the run for her had me second-guessing whether I was just the replacement. Someone to fulfill her fantasies with.”
“No. Absolutely not.”
“I guess Tate ruined the part of me that helps express my feelings. I really like you, too, and I don’t have half the words to say it like you do.”
“I know you do. I see it in the way you blend with my family, how you claimed the middle seat in my truck since day one, and,” he nuzzles close to my ear. “The way you looked up at me this morning with my cock in your throat.”
That made me blush, because we snuck off to do it. Like we were teenagers all over again, and this time it was with the right person. My knees aren’t quite what they used to be, but my head game is probably much better.
Vincent pulls onto my street. “I want you to call me if Tate even drives by. It’d be nice to just park my truck here, show him you’re not alone and you’ve moved on. But I need it, and I don’t trust the fucker.”
“Well, hopefully the restraining order works. But I’ll see you Friday?”
“Most certainly. Maybe sooner if I can get away for an hour or two.”