A Life More Complete(55)

“It’s okay. I have a confession. I’m jealous of Charlotte.” He turns me to face him.

“No reason to be. I never wanted her.”

I lie and tell him the same thing about Ben. But he should be jealous of Ben. If there’s one person who can make me question my loyalty to Tyler it’s Ben. I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss him and as I press my lips to his I feel the urgency move though my body. I need to forget Ben and Tyler pressing against me is the best way to do that. We move to my bed and all is forgotten as he climbs on top of me.

While we are lying in bed, I decide to take a nap. My hangover is still with me and I have that stupid event tonight. Tyler kisses me and begins to leave the room to catch up on some work.

“Wake me in a few hours. I have to be in L.A. by five,” I say. “So make sure I’m up by two.”

“No problem. Love you.”

“Love you, too.” I smile and say, “It never gets old.” He agrees and leaves me to sleep.





---Chapter 16---





I wake a few hours later feeling much better. I climb out of bed and hear Tyler on the phone with someone. I listen for a few minutes before he notices me. He walks over and pulls me into a one armed hug and kisses the top of my head. He is talking to another lawyer, I assume. He’s talking about someone possibly not getting probation and how this really f*cks up the case. It gets too wordy for me and wiggle out of his grasp. I do a little strip tease for him in the doorway to my bedroom and he shakes his head at me and narrows his eyes. At one point he mouths the words “stop it” but when I do he puts his hand out indicating that I should continue. I shake my head as I stand in a red bra and underwear. He grits his teeth and moves back toward the kitchen to finish his call.

I shower and stand in my closet in a black and white bra and matching underwear when Tyler comes up behind me. He kisses my neck making me tremble just a little.

“If you were trying to distract me, it worked,” he says.

“I’m always trying to distract you. A work call?” I ask.

“Yep. Our little princess got herself into a heap of trouble. This is gonna be a train wreck.”

“Trini?” I ask and my voice is full of worry. “What happened?” This is the first time she has come up besides our meeting on Friday.

“She stole a car from the valet last night and crashed it. So in addition to her drug felony, DUIs and battery case, I have this shit to clean up. She’s not going to get off easy. I’m guessing jail time.” He can see the look of panic in my eyes. “But in L.A. that means she’ll be placed in holding for a few hours and released. As long as she can stay out of trouble she should be fine.”

“I’m not sure she can. I think you should clear your schedule for a while. That is until you quit. She’s a pain in the ass. I’ve been with her for a long time now. Seven years and it just keeps getting worse. I don’t know what to do anymore.”

“It’s a job Krissy. Nothing personal, but you need to remember that. I couldn’t give a shit about my clients. Just do your job and move on. Being a criminal defense attorney, I’ve seen it all. They’re all asses. Since I’m not a public defender, I get the worst of the worst. I get the paying clients, the ones with money. They think they can buy their way out of everything and sometimes they can. She’s just another screw up with money.”

“She’s a friend,” I say. But maybe that’s been my problem all along. She should’ve never become my friend. It would have put me in a much better situation when she went off the deep end. I could have washed my hands of her and moved on. But no, I jumped right in along with her. “Have you actually met her?” I ask.

“No. I don’t really care to, but I’ll have to eventually,” he says casually.

“She’s not what you think. You’ll like her, trust me.”

“Oh, I believe you, it’s just that I don’t care. I don’t become friends with my clients, nice or not, it doesn’t matter.”

As much of a pain in the ass that she is I can’t seem to shake the feeling that Tyler’s who-gives-a-shit attitude bothers me. I want him to like her. She’s been a huge part of my life and I really hate to see her struggle so tragically. My relationship with Trini has always been like mother and daughter, or like sisters, and it follows the path that makes it okay for me to criticize her, but I’m the first to defend her if anyone else dares to speak ill of her.