Chapter 8 Shane—Tacos and secret texts
“So, Couliers wants to increase security patrols to three a day. Apparently, the vandalism is happening even when ... You listening, Trigger?” Brax frowned and looked up from his laptop.
Shane was staring out the window, blocking out Brax’s monologue about fluorescent yellow dicks being drawn on the brick wall at the main Couliers branch and increased security patrols.
Trigger was his old nickname from when he and Brax were in the marines.
Brax and Sawyer were the only ones to still use the nickname, but it felt good.
Like family. It reminded him of their bond and shared histories.
“Yeah, I’m listening. Fuck it. No, I’m not. April’s fucking some guy from work and I’m meeting his unicorn tits Tink fiancée for dinner. That’s it. I'm done with her.”
Brax frowned. “That’s a lot to take in at one time. What’s a Tink fiancée? And why have you seen her tits?”
“She reminds me of Tinkerbell. She has unicorn tits. And no, I haven’t seen them naked, just under her top. I’m a starved and horny man going out to dinner with the chick of the fuckwit that April is screwing.”
“Shit. I don’t even know which thread to follow here. Did you know about April? I know you suspected. How did Tinkerbell find out?” Brax asked.
“She saw them kissing. Her name’s Anna and she’s fine as fuck. No idea why her dick fiancé would go behind her back for April, but she’s pretty sure he is. Found some red underwear shit in his drawer that wasn’t hers.”
Brax closed his laptop. “So, this is your shot to find proof? She can’t claim a damn cent from you if you can prove she fucked around.”
Shane nodded, grateful for the infidelity clause. “I want this done quickly with no push back. I emailed Lach this morning and he’s drawing up the papers. I want to be ready to serve her as soon as I have the proof.”
“And where does Tinkerbell the unicorn fit in? Business or pleasure? Or both?” Brax smirked.
“Business. She’ll hopefully help me prove it.
Honestly, I could probably do it without her.
I’m actually motivated to end this and not stay stuck in the shit, so I’m doing some digging this afternoon.
We share a cloud. I wouldn’t have thought April would be dumb enough to sync her phone with the cloud, but I guess we’ll soon find out.
If not, I’ll just get one of the PIs on it.
Tinkerbell will be ... I think I can help her.
She seems a bit broken, and I was probably a bit shitty toward her when she approached me. ”
Brax shook his head. “April’s a raging bitch.
I’m pleased you’re finally doing something.
You should have got one of our PIs on this ages ago.
Yeah, yeah. I get it. You weren’t ready or didn’t want to believe it.
Either way, this is progress. Let me know if I can help.
With anything. Maybe I can help console Tinkerbell.
Business and pleasure. Only fools say they can’t mix,” Brax raised both eyebrows suggestively.
“No. Hell no. Back to these yellow dicks, was anything caught on camera?” Shane turned to Brax. Time to put little Disney fairies with big blue eyes and shapely legs out of his mind and focus on work.
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Shane was seated at the restaurant by 6:50.
He’d been surprisingly jittery in the lead up to tonight.
He felt like a teenage girl when he stood in front of his spacious closet trying to find the right shirt.
He went with a blue Henley and his favorite faded jeans.
Why did he care? As he shaved, he stared at his reflection.
He was having dinner with a beautiful woman tonight; that’s why he cared.
But what could he really do? This woman was brokenhearted and not there as a date.
She was engaged, albeit to a dickhead, but she seemed to care about the relationship.
Even if that wasn’t the case, there was the case that she was well out of his league, physically anyway.
He didn’t know her really. Just that she was brave, beautiful, and capable of softness and emotion.
And with what he’d found that afternoon, she was sure to be emotional.
Luckily for him, and sadly for Anna, April was indeed stupid enough to allow her phone to synch with the cloud.
He didn’t feel capable of delivering the blow to Anna, but she already knew the bare bones.
He would just give her more details if she felt able to handle it.
He was big, ugly, and cold. Once upon a time, he’d just been shy.
Then when he was knifed on a mission, his scars caused him to withdraw further from people.
Meeting women was hard enough when he had an intact face.
Now, it was harder. His scar, combined with his size, seemed to give off a serial killer vibe that women quite rightly avoided.
Sawyer told him it was all about confidence and that women weren’t scared of him, they just found his skulking in corners off-putting.
Even Anna had moved away from him in the car park, though admittedly he’d been terse, and the subject matter was not conducive to a warm and happy introduction.
Shane wasn’t necessarily inexperienced, but he’d never had what he’d term a serious relationship until he met April.
He’d had teen romances and later in his 20s, he shifted to flings that really only lasted a few months.
When he met April at a bar, she was confident and happy.
She paid him attention and flirted heavily, as though he wasn’t scarred and quiet.
He felt normal. He felt like Sawyer or Brax on a standard night out.
Eventually, he’d turned on the charm, pleased that he did have it in him to charm a woman.
April had eaten it all up. It became serious very quickly.
Gifts, flowers, nights out ... she loved it all and he was rewarded for his efforts with professions of love and unlimited sex.
Of course, it all cooled and now he found himself living with a woman who seemed disgusted by his touch. Disgusted by him.
“Shane, hey, good to see you,” a sweet voice interrupted.
He shook himself from his thoughts and stood to greet Anna.
“Glad you could make it Tink,” Shane moved to pull her seat out for her but she’d already plonked herself down and grabbed the menu.
She was wearing her knee-length black boots again, but with a short black skirt and an off-the-shoulder pink fuzzy sweater over a black tank top.
Her hair was braided in some weird combination.
Braids went across the crown of her head and the rest of her hair was swept into the back into a big, braided bun just where her neck met her head.
It looked complicated. She didn’t seem to be wearing much makeup but he truly had no idea.
Her eyelashes were black and long, so maybe some mascara.
Her full lips were shiny, so he was betting on lip gloss too.
She smelled amazing. A dark, intense scent, but it wasn’t overly strong.
It wafted over in subtle waves but didn’t overpower him.
“You didn’t bring any more of my wife’s underwear did you?” he asked, breaking the silence.
Anna stared at him and laughed. A thrilled shiver ran through him at the fact that he’d made her laugh.
“Shit no. Wow, you can be funny in your own dry little way, can’t you? No, I’m not touching that filthy sex rag any more than I have to.”
The waiter came and they ordered drinks and food.
“Given you ambushed me at work, you know what I do. What do you do?” Shane asked.
“I’m a dance teacher. I also compete, but I’m coming off an injury, so competitions have been on the backburner for a few months now,” she explained.
“Like waltzes and stuff?” he asked.
“Sort of. Yes, I do instruct ballroom and modern dance, and junior ballet, but I only compete in acro. You know, lifts and flips.”
“Sounds like fun,” Shane responded.
“Yeah, I love the people I work with. My boss is harsh but deep down, she’s really nice.”
There was silence. The waiter returned with a frozen margarita for Anna and a beer for Shane.
“So, what are we going to talk about?” Anna asked.
“April and I are over. Have been for some time. We’ve not been …
close for a year and avoid each other at all costs.
My company is worth a bit now, and if I can prove infidelity, she doesn’t get a cent.
I’m after proof. But I think you’re after something different.
” He watched her face, assessing her reaction.
She looked down at her drink. Please don’t cry Tinkerbell, he thought.
“I don’t know what I want. Details I guess, no matter how much it hurts.
Closure. I need to know why so I can avoid going through this ever again.
I need to know if I did something. Part of me hopes it’s a fling because it would hurt so much to know that he loves another woman.
But the other part of me hopes it’s true love between them because at least that would be worth him hurting me. ” Anna sighed.
“Well, it can’t be true love. You’d have to have a soul for that, and April was born without one.
I don’t think it’s you. Some guys are piss weak.
Others don’t care and value flattery and validation.
Maybe he was seeking some strange. All those things are on him, none of them relate to you,” Shane said.
“How old are you? How old is April?” Anna asked.
“I'm 30, April is 29. Why?”
“I feel like I just need to know everything. Every little detail. If you want to know, I’m 24 and Mason is 32.”
Shane drank some beer. He didn’t give a flying fuck how old Mason was. So, Tinkerbell was 24. That’s okay. That’s not a big difference, 30 and 24. Why was he even thinking of this?
“Tinkerbell, I did some digging today. I should have done this ages ago, but you nudged me out of my rut and I’m grateful to you for that.
I’ve got messages between April and ‘Tina.’ Tina is the name of her cousin but the Tina in the messages is clearly a man, and I’m guessing it’s your man.
They don’t use each other’s names, but yours comes up.
And mine. There’s photos and one video. You don’t have to look.
I can summarize for you if you want,” he offered, hoping she’d choose the less painful option.
Anna looked up. She sipped her drink and straightened in her chair.
“I want to know everything. He obviously deletes the messages from his phone. Bring it on,” she said.