The Other Side of Love (Forever Love #3)(32)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“You act like that’s a bad thing.” She stood up and walked over to me. “You act like you didn’t get off f**king me in that stranger’s house after we stole the handbag.”

“We didn’t steal anything.” I took a step away from her, feeling my body temperature rising. It was getting harder and harder for me to disguise my feelings.

“No one would believe that you weren’t in it with me. Were you not in the house with me?” She laughed cattily, and ran her index finger all the way down my chest and to my crotch, which sat motionless. She looked up at me with a pout. “There was a day when all I had to do was touch you and you would rise to attention.”

“I’m not in the mood.” I looked away from her.

“Do you not find me attractive anymore?” Her tone changed to one of pity and hurt, and I looked over at her. She looked distraught, but I wasn’t sure if it was because she was genuinely sad that I was pulling away from her or just because her feminine wiles won’t working.

“You’re beautiful.” I stared at her and answered honestly.

“I don’t mean to be like this, you know.” Her eyes were open and held a touch of bleakness. “I’ve just been through so much in my life. Every day I’m just in survival mode. I’m just trying to get by. I just want to be free.” Tears slid from her eyes. “I just want to get out of here and be free.”

“I know you do.” I held her hand and squeezed it compassionately, and for one moment we were once again united in our grief.

“I hope that today hasn’t been filled with too many bombshells,” I grimaced as I got into the car with Robin. “I bet you’re wishing that you didn’t come over to the Johnsons’ today.”

“Not at all,” she laughed. “Though it has been one of those Days of Our Lives types of day.”

“That’s a lot of family information for you to get at one time.” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing as we pulled out of the Johnsons’ driveway. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you never wanted to see me again.”

“If that’s all you’ve got, then your life is nothing compared to mine.” She grinned at me, but I saw a tinge of truth and sadness in her eyes. “But, just to clear things up: no, I do not want to not see you again. I’m actually glad that Zane and Lucky intervened.”

“So am I,” I laughed again. “Though do not tell them that. I don’t want them thinking that they can try to dictate my life, but they definitely helped me here. Especially after the other night.”

“What happened there?” She looked over at me curiously.

“I’m not sure.” I looked at her. “I got the feeling that we both weren’t ready to be in a certain place.”

“Yeah, perhaps.” She sat back and looked out the window. “I guess we’re both treading water here.”

“Would you like to go to a movie with me?” I blurted out before I could think about it too much. “I can also just take you home if you prefer.”

“What about your brother? Don’t you want to be with him?”

“I think he’d rather be with Lucky right now.” I smiled at her, happy to see that she was the kind of woman who thought about others before herself. “I’m sure we’ll be doing more talking tomorrow. Once he has time to get over the initial shock, I’m pretty sure he will have a lot more questions.”

“That was brave of you to tell him at the Johnsons’.” Her voice was light and non-judgmental, which I appreciated. “Weren’t you worried he would just lose it and go off on you?”

“Yes,” I laughed, “but Sidney is like my family. He’s known pretty much everything. He was the one who helped me find the private detective. He’s the one who has been badgering me to tell Zane. I know this sounds crazy, but I always knew I wanted Sidney to be around when I told Zane. He’s like my support system. Do I sound like a total weirdo to you right now?”

“No, of course not.” She reached over and squeezed my arm. “He seems really nice and so does his wife. Before you and Lucky arrived, I was talking to them and they really showed a genuine interest in me. It was like they knew exactly what to say to make me feel better about myself.”

“It’s a gift that they have.” I smiled at her warmly, glad that she had taken to them both. “It’s like they can see into your soul and the worries that you have, and they soothe you with their words and care.”

“Yes,” she nodded. “When Sidney spoke to me, I felt like he knew where I was coming from and what my dreams and obstacles were. It was funny.” Her voice grew low. “It’s hard to meet people who genuinely care about you like that. Who want to know your story, rather than just talk about themselves.”

“Yes, yes, it is.”

“So, you were in witness protection?” She changed the subject. “How did I not know that? That’s crazy.”

“I wasn’t technically in witness protection.” I laughed. “But yes, I was helping the FBI and the DEA with a case and I had to disappear.”

“Okay, I take back my earlier statement. Your life isn’t like Days of our Lives, it’s more like Mission Impossible.”

“Not really. All I had to do was go hide out in a small town in Florida. It was Zane who was actually getting to the bottom of the case.”

“That must have been hard, though, leaving your family.”

“It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life.” I found myself driving back to Zane’s house instead of the movie. “The day I realized that I had to fake my own suicide and have my brother believe I was dead is still surreal to me.”

“What made you go along with it?”

“The agent who was in charge of the case told me that unless I complied, it was likely that they would come after me and my family, which, honestly, I doubted. But then he said, ‘Think of all the other innocent lives you could be saving. The lives that get caught in the crossfire. They were drug dealers, they didn’t care who they hurt.’ And that’s when I knew I had to do it. Special Agent Waldron had shown me photographs of many of the people that they believed were killed by the cartel and there were over twenty children. I didn’t want there to be any new faces added to that pile.”