Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
TRULY
"Idon't care if I'm on the moon or in a whole other universe. You better call me when these things happen!" Mabel scolds me through FaceTime.
"I know, but finals."
"Whatever. I could have taken a break." An irritated breath leaves her, and I don't try to argue.
I know, and so does she, that Mabel can become very fixated on things, and during finals, that should be her only fixation. If she knew all this, it would have thrown her off her game. Mabel does her best work when she's hyperfixated on one thing at a time.
"I'm sorry," I tell her. "I'll be quicker to tell you the next time the husband whom I planned to divorce ends up sweeping me off my feet and admitting his undying love for me," I tease.
Mabel raises her palm and makes a reverse circular motion. "You never said you two said the L word."
"We didn't.” I lick my lips, trying not to fidget. “It's just a saying." I shrug, downplaying it.
"It's not just a saying." Mabel calls me on it.
"I know he does. It's in his actions." Mabel is still skeptical, and I don't blame her. I'm sure I'd be the same if the script was flipped. She only wants the best for me, and she’s not going to spare my feelings if she believes I’m not getting it.
"But you still haven't talked to your parents and heard their side?"
"Not yet." Crap. "You think it will be different?"
"Do you think if it is true, they'll cop to it?"
"I don't know." I hate the dread that is trying to creep back in.
"They could say Blake is full of shit and he was the one that strong-armed his way to take over the company, and the marriage was to ensure he couldn't take everything. That your family still had a claim."
"The hell, Mabel?" I never even considered that Blake wasn’t telling the truth.
"Just saying." She cringes with a sympathetic shrug, letting me know she doesn’t want to say it as much as I don’t want to hear it, but it needs to be said.
"But you are also a creative writing major, which means you come up with many crazy ideas.
" Once she was convinced the two girls across the hallway from us were undercover cops.
In our dorms! I'm not bringing that up. We still bicker about it because I could never prove they weren't, but nor could she ever prove they were.
"I know that's a wild one, but all I'm getting at is that there could be more you don't know. Don't forget you were manipulated into all of this and sent across the pond. All of them could be just as guilty. Who knows?"
"I trust Blake," I say defensively.
"You trust the boy you once knew. That boy is not the same man as Blake. None of us are."
"Then he's playing a good game. He can't keep his hands off me." It's been a few days since Blake and I made love. Both of us have been insatiable. Mabel opens and then closes her mouth, cutting herself off before she can even begin. "What?"
"Nothing, really." She glances around.
"Say it," I growl out.
"Well, of course he can’t keep his hands off you, but what if he's trying to knock you up? That could really get you hooked in." My hand goes to my stomach. I’m not naive, I knew I could end up pregnant, but I was okay with that unless the baby wasn’t conceived purely out of love. Love that isn’t one-sided.
"No." I'm shaking my head before she can finish.
"Everything the man is saying is too perfect is all." Now Mabel has me going over everything in my mind. Is it all too perfect? Even with the inkling of doubt Mabel has inserted, I still can’t bring myself to believe that Blake could do something like that. Could he?
“You think I should reach out to my parents?” I told Blake that I wasn't going to, and I wanted him to take whatever action he deemed appropriate. He’s been going into his office to do just that.
“I don’t know. This is hard. I don’t know any of these people, but in the short interaction I had with your parents, they weren't great.” They aren’t.
“They still could have come to see me.” I let out a sigh. “Talking to you was supposed to make me feel better.”
“Tru, I’m sorry.” She leans in closer. “I love you, and you can tell them all to go kick rocks. Then you come here.”
“Are you staying put?” Mabel said she wasn’t going back home, but things changed.
"Yes." She glances down, and I know it’s a sore spot. I leave it be. When she wants to talk, she will.
I change the subject over to a lighter topic. We gossip about a few of our classmates before we say "I love you" and end the call. I fall back onto the couch, staring up at the ceiling. I don't know where to go from here.
Now Blake telling me not to go anywhere unless I was with one of his security guards is sticking out in my mind. He said it was to be safe with everything that is happening. I trusted that.
What if I'm doing it all over again? Believing what I'm told and taking it at face value? Everyone could be lying to keep me in my place. To use me to gain the upper hand somehow.
What steps might I take to seek answers? I stand, glancing around like a clue is going to hit me in the face that I hadn't noticed before.
I sent Blake a text telling him that I miss him.
He responds back that he misses me too. Now I'm not sure why I thought that might reveal anything.
I try a call next, and he's quick to answer.
In the background I hear a female voice, and I know it's his assistant.
She doesn't care for me. I can sense it.
I went to a very prestigious school. I can spot a mean girl from a mile away.
"Honey, is everything okay?" I suppose this is the first time I have called him. When he's gone into the office, I haven't bothered him. He is working and trying to untangle a mess. What if it's not that at all, and he's simply working, but he's got me on a line and in my place?
"Yes."
"You miss me that much?" I can hear the smile in his voice, making me feel guilty.
“Was only checking in on you. See if you want me to bring lunch.”
“Lunch?”
“I already ordered lunch,” Emily says in the background.
“You want to come here for lunch?” he asks, and I don’t know if he’s ignoring Emily or hoping I didn’t hear her. Or I’m simply trying to find out if he’s up to something.
“No, it’s fine. You do what you need, and I’ll handle dinner.”
“Shit, I meant to text you. I have a late meeting. I’ll see if—"
"Don't. I can make us a later dinner. You just text me when you're going to be wrapping up.” This is the life I thought I would have. My husband would work, and I would tend to the home knowing that he’s a workaholic, but we loved each other. Now, that isn’t a life I want at all.
A part-time husband and father isn’t going to work for me.
If it is true that Blake wants to leave, it could only mean he wants to exit this company. He could go on to start another of his own. He expanded his old company with this one. He might want that back, and Blake has always been very driven. It’s a part of who he is.
“You sure?" He sounds hesitant.
“Yes, I’m going to finish up the rest of my unpacking.”
“Good, I want you to settle in.”
“I’ll talk to you later."
“Bye, honey." I end the call quickly, barely letting him get the honey out. It was self-preservation. I didn’t realize what or why I did it until it was done.
When you end a call, you say "I love you," at least people that love each other do. Mabel is the only one I’ve ever done that with. Whether I gave Blake the opening to say it or not, I can’t be hurt.
What does that say about me? That I’m not trusting him as much as I’m telling myself that I am? I hate how helpless I feel. It yanks me back to being in college and being so far from everyone and forgotten. Feeling as though I was stuck.
I will not allow that to happen to me again. I need to come up with a plan or go digging around. I won’t sit idly by. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.