Page 43 of Trick
“I’ll ask, man. I hope she’ll agree to it, because she’ll be pissed as hell if we have to go behind her back. I’ll let you know.”
I ended the call, then took a deep breath and stepped back inside, finding Lauren sitting on the couch with her Kindle.
“Did he find anything?” She set the Kindle on the coffee table as I sat down next to her.
“Not yet. He does have an idea that might help, but it would involve you giving him access to your email account.”
Lauren look conflicted, and I rushed to assure her that Bull could be trusted not to snoop through her personal shit.
“It’s not that,” she replied. “It just seems like a waste of his time. Beau is a pain in the ass, and he may have lashed out and said something that could be taken as a threat, but I can’t honestly see him hurting me.”
“He was never violent? Never threatened you before?” My fists were clenched as I waited for her answer, and God help that bastard if her answer was ‘yes’.”
“No, never. He was a cheating asshole, but I never felt unsafe.” I looked at her closely, trying to judge if she was being completely honest with me – and with herself. I understood better than most that abused women sometimes downplayed the situation because it’s so hard to admit the truth that the person you loved and trusted is actually hurting you.
She reached out and placed her hand over my fist, gently squeezing it.
“Truly, he never – not even when he was angry or jealous –neverbecame physical or lashed out at me in any way.”
I took a deep breath and rolled my shoulders to relieve the tension. I relaxed my fists and turned my palm up so that I was essentially holding Lauren’s hand. Her skin was soft, her fingers long and delicate, with dark red polish on her fingernails.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d held a woman’s hand. Back in high school? Middle school, even? I forced my attention away from how good her hand felt in mine, and focused on her ex.
“In the last two emails, he mentioned that you were making him jealous. Was he always the jealous type?”
She sighed as she shifted on the couch, and I wondered if she was even aware that she had scooted a little closer to me. “Sometimes. It started getting worse after we were engaged and bought the condo together. He started questioning where I was going, or who I’d be with, how long I’d be gone…that kind of thing. I didn’t think much of it at first, I just thought he was being overprotective or something. Then one day he accused me of flirting with our new neighbor. I’d barely talked to the man, and certainly hadn’t flirted,” she huffed angrily.
“We talked it out, and he apologized. A few weeks later, I was really late getting home from the studio due to some issues with the sound equipment. I hadn’t bothered calling Beau to let him know I’d be late since he had plans and was going to be home late himself.” She stopped and sighed heavily. “As soon as I walked through the door, he accused me of cheating on him. I thought he was joking at first, because it was so ridiculous. Then, I realized he was serious. I spent the rest of the night defending myself and reassuring him that I would never do that to him.”
I squeezed her hand, trying to offer comfort while at the same time plotting all the ways I was going to fuck up her ex. “You know, I went to a therapist for about six weeks after the break-up. She said that many times, cheaters exhibit jealousy and accuse their innocent partners of cheating because it’s a reflection of their own guilty behavior, or they’re trying to divert their partner’s attention. If you’re busy defending yourself against baseless accusations, you won’t have the time or the energy to question the cheater’s actions.”
“That’s a real mindfuck,” I observed, causing Lauren to snort, and then chuckle.
“So, I don’t know if he was ever really jealous, or if it was just a way to gaslight me,” she added bitterly. “I have no idea how I ever fell in love with a jagoff like that.”
“Jagoff? That’s a new one on me.”
She shrugged one shoulder. “It means jerk, or jackass. It’s a Pittsburgh thing, kind of likeyinz.”
She’d lost me on that one. “What the fuck is a yinz?”
That caused her to laugh outright. “It’s Pittsburghese, short for ‘you all’. In the south, they sayy’all. In the ‘Burgh, it’syinz.”
“I didn’t realize Pittsburgh had its own language,” I chuckled.
“Oh, you have no idea,” she assured me. I didn’t have any plans to visit Pittsburgh unless it was to kick Beau’s ass, so I’d have to take her word for it.
“Jagoff, huh?” I laughed again as something occurred to me. “I can’t wait to tell Jagger he has a new nickname.”
She giggled, lightly smacking me on the arm.
Chapter 14
Lauren
Trick gave an exaggerated grunt of pain as the back of my hand made contact with his rock-hard bicep.
“I thought he was one of your best friends?” I asked, grinning.
