Just for Now (Sea Breeze #4)(53)

Preston came walking out of the bedroom in a pair of sweats and pointed to the bathroom. “It’s Dewayne, and we both know he ain’t here to kick my ass. Go take a shower, and don’t come out in a towel.”

Smiling, I walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind me.

Pressing my ear to the door, I listened to see what Dewayne wanted before I turned the water on. He could be here to warn us Marcus was on the way.

“She in here?” Dewayne asked.

“Word travels fast.”

Dewayne let out a bark of laughter. “Hell yeah, it does. You messing around with Marcus’s sister, that’s screwed up. Even for you.”

“Shut up, D. What do you want, other than to see if Amanda is here?”

“Ah, you know, the usual. You got Marcus ready to pound in anyone’s head who looks at him the wrong way. Rock and I have to keep him from getting thrown in jail. So I need to know, are you just f*cking her, or is this more than that?”

“It’s Amanda, D. Don’t say that. Ever.”

There was a pause. “So Rock was right. For you to mess around with Manda, it has to be for a bigger reason. She got to you.”

“I’ve been attracted to her for a couple of years now, but she was too young. She’s not anymore, and I . . . It’s different with her. Everything is different.”

Hearing him admit that it was different with me eased the worry that he might never love me. Just to know he felt something.

“I’d say it was your business, but since we were kids if something goes wrong with one of us, then it is everyone’s business. Just be careful. I know shit you probably don’t know I know. It ain’t the kind of thing relationships are built on. And Manda ain’t the kind of girl you just use for a little while.”

“I know that. Don’t you think I f*cking know that?”

Another moment of silence, and then the front door opened and closed. I stepped back and took a deep breath.

The bathroom door swung open, and Preston walked inside with a wicked grin on his face. “Since you waited on me while you listened in on that conversation, I think I’ll help get you clean and you can show off those singing abilities of yours in the shower. I’ve been waiting all damn day to hear them.”





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.