Chapter Nineteen
Preston
Letting Amanda go home was hard. I wanted to keep her here. Every time she walked out my door, I worried that she wouldn’t come back. That she’d find out the truth about me. Tonight was family dinner at her house. She said her brother had told her that he didn’t want her to tell their mom. She wasn’t emotionally stable enough to deal with it.
I didn’t expect her mother to accept me. She knew I was from the wrong side of town. She knew I’d gotten in trouble all through high school and Marcus had helped bail me out. I was Marcus’s charity case in her eyes. I’d never be good enough for her daughter.
My phone vibrated in my pocket, reminding me of my appointment. Every time I had to go work, I loathed it more. I’d started looking in the paper every day for a job that could pay me enough to take care of the kids and fit into my schedule with classes and baseball season when it started up. So far there was nothing. I wasn’t qualified for anything. But I wasn’t giving up. I had to find a way out of this. I wanted to be worthy of Amanda, and I knew I never would be as long as I continued doing what I was doing.
I reached over and picked up my keys. I had to go do this. If I wanted to keep my scholarship and feed the kids, I had to do this.
* * *
I walked up the back steps to the three-story brick house that belonged to our illustrious mayor. He was shagging his secretary and his wife was paying me for the same service. She had been for over a year now.
I had to park half a mile down the road and walk up from the back of the house and use the back door. She’d leave it unlocked.
Opening the door, I went inside and headed for the stairs. Sometimes she waited on me in some ridiculous piece of lingerie, and sometimes she was just upstairs in bed naked, drinking wine. Depended on her mood.
I reached the first step and heard voices. That couldn’t be good. She was always alone when she called me. I froze and listened. It was another woman. I recognized the voice, but I couldn’t put my finger on who it was. Surely she hadn’t invited over another one of my clients for a threesome. I charged extra for that, and right now I wasn’t sure I could pull it off. Getting up for just her was going to be hard enough. I was having to close my eyes and pretend lately. It was the only thing that worked.
“I’ll see you at the committee meeting next week, then. Thank you, Janice, for offering to help. Having your name behind it will always drive more volunteers.” Janice was the mayor’s wife. This was an impromptu visit she was dealing with, and they were coming around the corner. Shit.
I’d started to make a run for it when Mrs. Hardy turned the corner and our eyes met. Fucking hell.
Janice’s eyes found me, and they went wide with surprise. She hadn’t been expecting us to get caught either.
I stood there unable to move from this train wreck. How did I explain this? I didn’t need this woman to know what I did. I was going to find another job, and when I did, I was going to make myself worthy of Amanda. Her mother knowing this dirty secret of mine would ruin everything. She’d tell Amanda. If she ever found out about Amanda and me, she’d tell her.
“Oh, Preston. I’m so glad you’re here. The uh, toilet that is broken is upstairs to the left. It just keeps running over.” Janice’s forced smile and high-pitched voice weren’t very convincing. “Run along now and get it fixed.” She waved her hand and smiled back at Amanda’s mom.
Mrs. Hardy’s eyes were still locked on mine. She was connecting the dots, dammit.
“Yes, ma’am. I thought you mentioned that your washing machine was broken too.” I was a hell of a lot more convincing.
She nodded nervously. “Yes, yes it is. But go on and get that toilet fixed.”
I nodded and headed up the stairs, praying Mrs. Hardy believed this bullshit.
“Sweet kid. He can fix anything,” Janice said in the same nervous, high-pitched tone.
“Is that so?” Mrs. Hardy asked. The tone of her voice made my stomach knot up. She knew.
Fuck it all to hell. She knew.
Amanda
Preston had gone to work out again today. He got a call from his coach and had to leave unexpectedly. I’d been on my way over here. We were going to go down to the beach. We only had a few weeks of heat left before the fall air started making it impossible to enjoy the beach.
I scrolled through my text messages to kill time, and I saw Jason’s unanswered one. It had been two weeks since he’d sent it. He hadn’t sent another one. I’d been so wrapped up in Preston I’d forgotten about it.
Me: I am so sorry I haven’t responded. With school starting back up and everything, I’ve been busy.
I might need to call him. Two weeks was beyond rude. Jason’s response popped up on the screen.
Jason: That’s okay. I’ve talked to Sadie. I know you are seeing someone. Lucky guy.
Sadie hadn’t mentioned Jason when we’d talked the other day. She was happy for me, but she’d sounded worried too.
Me: Yeah. That too. I should have responded, though. I’m really sorry.
Jason: Don’t worry about it. Just promise me if things don’t work out that you will give me a call. Keep this number.
He was really sweet. If things didn’t work out, I’d be crushed. There would be no calling someone else.
Me: I’ll remember that. Thank you again for the offer. Flying to NYC for dinner would be amazing.
Jason: Offer stands. Just say the word.
The door to the apartment opened, and Preston walked in with a scowl on his face. He’d only been gone an hour and a half. He wasn’t very sweaty, either.
“Hey,” I said, laying my phone down to get up and go to him.
He held up his hands to hold me off. “I’m nasty. Let me get a shower first.” He didn’t say anything else. He just stalked to the bathroom and closed the door. Loudly.
Was he mad that I was still here?
My phone played the text song, and I reached down to get it.