CHAPTER FIVE

Crystal

Present Day

Sometimes people who you least expect to surprise you, do things that will stay with you forever.

Another workday was over. I went out into the street and closed my eyes before I took a deep breath and for the first time in weeks, felt like there was no need to rush anywhere or think about doing dozens of other things at the same time. It was such a relief. My long-expected vacation was about to begin in a few days, and even though I didn’t have a damn thing ready for my trip, I couldn’t care less. I could open my suitcase, throw some clothes and a toothbrush in there, and I would be fully ready to go anywhere I wanted.

After the fashion show was over, I thought it was time to give myself a break. Liz insisted on booking a tour for me, so I didn’t even need to worry about tickets or the hotel to stay in. She did everything for me, and I welcomed her help like never before.

I don’t know why, but recently I felt like I wasn’t strong enough to get a grip on myself and keep living my life that somehow didn’t bring any pleasures, but endless disappointments. If it weren’t for my work in the studio, I would most likely lock myself in my room and never leave it, for the rest of my existence. But my fate, which in most cases loved being a bitch, had different plans for me…

“Hello, Beautiful.”

I opened my eyes, surprised to hear the sound of the voice I remembered so well.

“Trevor?” My ex was the last person in the world I expected to see tonight or any other night for that matter. “What are you doing here?” I was one hundred percent sure he was still in prison, or at least that was what I had last heard about him.

His cocky grin was still too damn charming to ignore it. “I’ve missed you.”

I laughed. “No shit?” To my surprise, I was glad to see him. We have always had a great time together. Well, until the moment he thought that breaking into his neighbors’ house was more fun than going on a date with me. Stay away from bad boys, mama always said. I never listened.

“I was hoping to hear that you’ve missed me too,” he said a little offended.

“I didn’t know you were allowed to have visitors when behind bars, or I would have paid you a visit.”

He chuckled. “Liar.”

“I sure am.”

He shook his head and pushed himself off the hood of a bright yellow Lamborghini. I watched him from a distance as he moved towards me. He was still as pants-dropping sexy as I remembered. Bright blue eyes, sandy hair, charming smile that made two cute dimples show up on his cheeks, and a pack of perfectly-built muscles that always made me swoon along with the tattoos on the inside of his arms that I could now see peeking out from under the elbow-rolled sleeves of his blue shirt.

“Is it too late to take back the words said years ago?” I asked as he stopped in front of me.

“It depends on the words you want to take back. If it’s something about me being a number one ass and the douchiest of douchebags in the world, then no, it’s not too late to say you never meant it.”

Laughing, I said, “Forget it, people don’t change, and you are not an exception.” I stepped closer and dived into his warm embrace.

“You are wrong, Beautiful, people do change.”

I moved so I could see his face. “Hmm… Just don’t tell me you have changed.”

“I have. A lot.”

“Interesting…”

He ignored the irony in my voice. “Are you done for today?”

“I am.”

“Good. ‘Cause I’m taking you out.”

He took my hand in his and dragged me to his car.

“Wait! What if I have a husband and three kids waiting for me at home?”

He turned to look at me and gave me one of those ‘you are so full of shit’ looks.

“Fine. Maybe I don’t have a husband and kids. But what if I have a boyfriend who might not like whatever you have in that dirty mind of yours?”

We stopped at the passenger door of his car, he opened it and said, “Even if you did have a boyfriend, and I know for sure that you don’t, it wouldn’t stop me from taking you out for late night tacos.”

“How selfish of you, Mr. Armstrong. I thought you said you had changed.”

“Not that much.” He winked at me and waited for me to get into the car. “When it comes to you, I will never stop being selfish. I’ve always been crazy about you, which is another thing about me that hasn’t changed, by the way.”

With a mischievous grin on his face, he went around the car and took a seat next to me, then started the engine and sped down the road into the glowing night of the city.

“After you were arrested, I swore off dating,” I said, enjoying the unexpected, but very welcomed peace of the moment. “You did your best to make me hate the entire male population of the world. Now look at me – I’m going on a date, with you. Who would have thought I would be that hopelessly crazy about you?”

He chuckled under his breath. A moment later, his face became very serious. “I should have said that a long time ago…” He said quietly. “I’m sorry, Crys, I really am. Last time we met, I was being an ass with you. I didn’t listen to you and made the biggest mistake of my life. The break-in was a turning point for everything. I didn’t mean to get that drunk and then do something I would regret doing for the rest of my life.”

We stopped at the crossroad, waiting for the traffic light to turn green.

Trevor turned his head to look at me. “There’s so much I need to tell you…”

“Tacos are good to go along with anything you want to tell me.” I smiled and rubbed his forearm. Something was telling me that the night was going to be long.

We went to Papa Sancho – the place used to be our favorite twenty-four-hour snack bar.

“I haven’t been here for years,” I said, stepping out of the car.

“Me neither. But I hope they still have the best tacos in the city.”

A few guys standing at the door gave Trevor’s car a curious look.

“Don’t even think about it,” Trevor said with a warning. “This baby has a tracker. So if you don’t want your asses to end up in a bullpen, you’d better stay away from it.”

I giggled. “Are you sure it was a good idea to come here in a brand-new Lamborghini?” The place was not the safest place in the city. But we knew the owner and he would never let anything happen to us. Though I wouldn’t be so sure about Trevor’s car.

“I thought your dad said you would never get a penny from him after what you did. How on earth did you make him buy you this car?”

Trevor’s face became unreadable. “The old man kept his word. I didn’t get a penny from him.”

My eyes went wide. “Then where did you get that much money?” I turned around and gave his ‘baby’ one more glance.

Trevor smirked. “Don’t worry, I didn’t rob anyone’s house.”

“Hope not.”

We entered the snack bar and I immediately felt my mouth start to water. The smell of tacos was one of those things that could make me do absolutely anything in the world, even get naked and dance on one of the tables standing around. Um, no, it was not just another memory from my past. Well, not exactly… Never mind. Dating Trevor consisted of doing a lot of stupid things.

We were the only customers in the place, so he came to the counter and rang the bell standing on it. “Papa Sancho, we know you are here!”

The man in his late sixties came out of the kitchen door and cursed in Spanish.

“No puedo creer lo que ven mis ojos! I can’t believe my eyes - Golden Boy and the Missy!” Those were the names he gave us the very first time we came to his bar. “Where have you been all this time?” He came to hug Trevor and then hugged me as well.

“It’s a long story,” I said. “Do you still have the best tacos in the city?”

“Pues claro que si! Of course! Take any table you like, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He went back to the kitchen and Trevor and I sat down at one of the tables near the window.

“So tell me, Beautiful, how have you been doing all this time?”

I took off my jacket and put it on my chair. “Good actually. You?”

“Not so good… But let’s take one step at a time. I heard about you and Liz working together.”

“Yeah, she opened a design studio and I’m helping her run it. I really love my job, despite the amount of time it takes away from me.”

“I was actually sure you would be married and have at least three kids by this time.” He smiled. “But I’m glad my guesses have no proof.”

“I can’t say I’m glad I’m not married, but you know my story… I had always been extremely careful when it came to men.”

“Not when it came to me.”

I chuckled. “True. But you know what I mean.”

Trevor was the only person in the world who knew the whole story, the whole truth about me and the origins of the scar on my belly. It was another reason why it was so easy to be around him.

He gave me a troubled look. “You are not thinking about that night anymore, are you?”

I lowered my eyes. I didn’t want to lie, but telling the truth was not an option either. “I try not to.” 

“I see.” The worry in his eyes got stronger. “Anyway, we are here to celebrate another date, and I’m glad I could find you, Crystal. I missed you like hell.”

“I missed you too.”

He slammed his palms against the table. “I knew it!” A victorious grin lit up his face.

With a smile on my lips, I said, “You know me too well to buy my shit.”

He nodded; his face suddenly hardened. “I was afraid you wouldn’t even talk to me…”

“But here we are – talking and laughing and you know what? I have never been angry at you. Well, maybe just a little. But considering how much you helped me when I needed it most, I couldn’t stay angry at you for long. If you showed up on my porch the day after you broke into the damn house, I wouldn’t have said a word. Who knows, maybe I wouldn’t have become a feminist and we could still be together?”

“There was something I needed to do before I could come to see you again. And I don’t mean doing a nickel. The truth is - I never went to prison.”

“What? But I thought that was where you had been for the last – how many – three years?”

“Four actually. But no prison ever happened. My father paid me off. And that was the last thing he did for me.”

“What happened next?”

“He wanted me to start working for him, for free, for another lifetime or so. He thought it would be the punishment I deserved by humiliating him. But I turned down his ‘generous’ offer, packed my things and left the house.”

“Where did you go?”

“I went to Canada. I have cousins there and they kindly let me stay at their place. I got a job in one of the local supermarkets, saved enough money to continue my studies and sent my documents to the University of British Columbia, that is in Vancouver. After I was accepted, I moved to the city and found another job to keep me living there. My grades were high enough to let me choose a place to work after graduation. One of my professors asked if I wanted to stay at the university and teach students of the World Economics department. I said yes.”

My mouth dropped to the floor. “No freaking way… You are a university teacher now?”

“Yep.”

“Do you know that sleeping with the pretty students is forbidden?”

He giggled. “I’m well aware of that rule. In fact, I’m a very strict teacher. Students are scared of me. Some manage to pass my exams on the third try. If they are lucky, of course.”

“Okay. But I will never believe that a teacher’s salary is enough to buy a Lamborghini.”

“Apart from teaching students, I head one of Vancouver’s insurance companies.”

“A university teacher and head of an insurance company… I need to see it with my own eyes!”

“I don’t see any problem here. Come to Canada with me.”

“What?”

One look into Trevor’s eyes was enough to realize that he was not kidding.

“You really mean it, don’t you?”

“I do mean it, Crys. Come to Canada with me. You will love it there.”

I shook my head. “I can’t. My life is here.”

“A life that keeps binding you to your past?”

I didn’t respond to that.

“What is really stopping you from changing everything and starting over from scratch?”

I was going to say ‘my job’, but the words just didn’t come out of my mouth, because I knew it would be another lie. There was something else that made me postpone my plans about the future, or to be exact, there was someone else whose existence complicated my life on so many levels. As if reading my mind, Trevor said, “Just don’t tell me you are still drooling over that idiot.”

Well, yeah, he knew a little more than any other of my friends or family, including Liz and Stanley, did.

“I am not. Or maybe I am… I don’t know. It’s… Complicated.”

“It has always been complicated, Crys. But don’t you think it’s time to turn that page of the story and move on?”

“That is exactly what I’m trying to do.”

“And how is it going? Wait, don’t answer. Not successful, right? I have eyes, you know? I can see that the mere mention of him makes you nervous. God, I thought you were over him.” He ran one hand through his hair, and leaned against the back of his seat. A vein popped out on his neck; his jaw clenched.

I felt a little guilty, though I didn’t know why. Maybe because I knew that Trevor was right, and it was time to turn that page of my story. But I just didn’t know how to make myself start a new chapter.

Papa Sancho broke the silence between us. “Here you go kids, your favorites.” He put one plate with food in front of Trevor, and another one – in front of me. Then took a seat at our table and started asking questions that were like a breath of fresh air. Even though I knew the conversation Trevor and I started was not over yet, a short break was a relief.

It looked like the tension that started to hang over Trevor’s and my heads like an axe that was about to separate us for the next life or so, started to lessen. I kept catching his eyes on me; he pretended to be listening to Papa’s stories, but I knew he was still thinking about what we had been talking about before the food was served. And for some inexplicable reason, I wanted to say it all out loud – everything that had been bothering me for years. And Trevor felt just like the right person to become my ears and a shoulder to cry on. Maybe not right now, but one day.

“It’s been a pleasure to see you kids again,” Papa Sancho said, walking us to the door.

“Likewise.” I smiled, hugging him good-bye.

“Come here whenever you want, the doors are always open for you two, youngins.”

“Thanks, Papa.”

 

By the time Trevor stopped at the gates of my house, the clock on the dashboard panel showed midnight. We didn’t talk much during the ride.

“Wanna come in?” I asked.

“I think you have had a long day and need to rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You are staying in Pittsburgh? For how long?”

“My next lecture is on Monday, so for the next five days, I’m all yours.”

I was glad to hear that he was not leaving first thing in the morning.

“Where are you staying, by the way?”

“In a hotel.”

“No desire to see your folks?”

“Mom comes to visit me in Canada every three months or so. As for my father… I don’t think that my unexpected return will change anything between us. Even though I don’t need his money anymore.”

“But you will try to talk to him, right?”

Trevor sighed. “I haven’t decided yet.”

I didn’t have any right to push it, so I let the questioning go. “Okay. See you tomorrow then?”

“Sure. What time do you finish working?”

“Well, if I pretend it’s just a normal day for me, I’ll be free around six.”

“Then I’ll be in the studio by six.” He leaned closer and kissed my cheek. “It was nice to see you again, Beautiful.”

“Never thought I would admit it, but…it was nice to see you too.”

Laughing under his breath, he got out of the car and opened the door for me, offering his hand.

“Good night,” I said.

“Sleep well.”

“Ugh, I wish it was that easy. In my case, it’s more like ‘I already want to take a nap tomorrow.’”

“I didn’t know things were that bad.”

“You can’t imagine…”

He scratched his jaw, watching me, with those familiar devils in his eyes that promised trouble.

“Don’t even think about it,” I warned him. “I’m not letting you stay in my bedroom.”

“Why not? You are a big girl now, right? Not that the presence of adults at home ever stopped you from opening the back door for me.”

I punched his arm. “Shut up, smartass. It was a long time ago. Now I only let men through the front door, and if they match the list of my expectations, they are allowed to come in and stay.”

“Holy shit… It means you haven’t had sex since we broke up!”

“Ha-ha, very funny. I’m not that much of a hole-in-the-wall, you know?”

“Right,” he said, with as much doubt as he could put into that one word.

One thing that surely hadn’t changed between us with time was that he always knew everything about me. Or even if he didn’t, he acted like he did, and I – well, I always failed to convince him otherwise.