Chapter 5

I’m all about meaningful things in life: sex, ass grabs, surprise candy bars, and kisses.

-Verity’s secret thoughts

Verity

You know those people who go to the gym and you just know that they’re not really there to work out?

Those girls who prance around smiling in their cute little leggings with the perfectly cut holes in the thighs with the matching little sports bra, with their perfectly made up faces and perfectly coiffed hair?

“You can’t trust them,” I told Randi as sweat dripped down my face. “They’re not here to work out. I don’t think I’ve seen that one,” I pointed to a brunette with tits the size of cantaloupes, “do a single thing but flirt with that guy by the bench press machine.”

“That guy’s gay,” Randi observed as she sucked back her water in between pants. “I wonder if she knows she’s barking up the wrong tree.”

I placed the weights down, and spun around so I wasn’t facing the mirror, scrutinizing the play-by-play between the two in front of us.

“That woman is under the impression that she can get him anyway,” I surmised as I realized what I was seeing. “That’s Tessie. She’s a bitch and she knows exactly who that man is. I take a class with both of them, and the majority of the time he comes in with his boyfriend, Todd.”

Randi sighed. “Why am I here with you if you take a boot camp in the morning?”

Because I didn’t want to get fat…or fatter.

“You know why,” I told her, spinning around and returning to my set.

Today was arm day.

I was doing three sets of ten on the bench press. Curls, triceps, and butterflies before I walked another two miles around the track outside that circled the building.

“I know, but you’ve already lost a good twenty pounds since the wedding. You look good. I don’t see why you’re trying as hard as you are.”

I didn’t, either.

Only that working out had been the turning point that got me through a lot of lows. Canceling trips to Hawaii were hard when the trips were being utilized at the time.

Then there was the hotel stays and car rentals. Venues and other fun stuff that I had to get my money back on.

So yes, it’d been a trying few months, and working out had been the balm that soothed my soul and kept me from eating when I got frustrated.

Though, I had a lot of appreciation for my trainer, Emily.

She was the bomb and encouraged me to try my hardest even when I didn’t think I had anything left.

“Whoa,” Randi said in surprise. “The best-looking beard I’ve seen on the continent of North America just walked in here. Oh, and look! Your girl just left the gay dude. She’s in hot pursuit.”

I turned, ready to see this beard, and froze.

“That’s Truth,” I murmured softly.

Softly enough that I wouldn’t bring attention to my position.

Maybe if I didn’t move, he wouldn’t notice my bright neon green yoga capris that were likely stained with sweat around my ass.

“I know it’s the truth,” Randi said. “I called it first.”

I rolled my eyes.

Randi and I played a game. It was simple, really. The first one to call the beard—kind of like a game of slug bug—got to punch the other.

I held up my hand when she reared back.

“No,” I stopped her. “That’s Truth,” I hissed. “The man I slept with.”

Her eyes widened, and she threw a hand over her mouth to stifle the scream.

“Oh, my God,” she gasped. “The man that rocked your socks off?”

I nodded my head.

“That’s the one.”

She moved to stand in front of me, and gestured for me to finish my set with a wave of her hand.

I laid down and picked up the bar, thinking about the man who was likely getting the brunette gym bunny’s phone number.

Maybe he’d at least call her back.

I couldn’t say the same consideration had been afforded to me.

He hadn’t responded to any of my calls or messages. In fact, this was the first time I’d seen him in a week. He was a wham, bam, thank you ma’am kind of man, I supposed. Apparently, he just didn’t feel like talking. Whatever the case, I would ignore him.

“Does my hair look terrible,” I breathed through a rep.

Randi looked at my hair, then lied like the good friend she was.

“It looks perfect.”

I snorted.

I could feel the sweat causing my hair to stick to my forehead, and I could see the colored strands of my purple highlights in my peripheral vision every time I moved my head a certain way.

It was apparent that my braid was coming undone whether I wanted it to or not.

And Truth was going to see me.

There was no way around it.

The gym we were in was small, and one of the only ones in the city of Mooresville.

It was either work out here, or at home, and I hadn’t seen any weights in Truth’s small house or workshop.

I should’ve known that he’d be here at some point; especially with the amount of time I spent here.

“You have four more, and then we can go, right?” she asked.

Randi knew all about Truth.

I’d told her all about our first time, and then again seven days ago when it’d happened for the second time.

Randi, of course, had informed me that I needed to drive over to his house.

I, on the other hand, told her that had he wanted me there, he would’ve answered one of my many phone calls or texts.

I nodded my head at my best friend, then pushed myself to finish my last four reps.

By the time I was finished, I had even more sweat all over my face, and I was fairly sure I was about to die.

“Ohhh,” Randi breathed. “Here he comes.”

Then she leaned forward and covered my face by standing with my head underneath her thighs. Inches away from her vagina.

“Uhh,” I said to her vagina. “I don’t think this is necessary.”

She reached between her legs and placed her hand over my mouth. “Shhh, it feels weird when you’re talking to my vagina and not me.”

I started laughing then and pushed her away.

“Go,” I said. “Breathing in your vagina fumes crosses all kinds of boundaries that are best not crossed.”

She smacked me just as Truth stopped what he was doing, which was curling a fifty-pound dumbbell.

The minute he realized that one of the two weirdos was me, he re-racked the weights and turned to face me.

“Where, exactly, have you been?”

My brows rose.

“I’ve been here. Where have you been?”

He tilted his head.

“Working,” he answered again. “But, if I had your number, I would’ve at least tried to call you once I got off of work.”

My brows rose.

“I did call you…and text you,” I said. “Though, I can see how I might’ve forgotten to give you my number.”

“You might’ve forgotten…” he repeated. “And you never told me where you lived. How, exactly did you expect me to get into contact with you?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “How about answering one of the texts I sent.”

“Were you the one who sent those one word texts four times, once each day, over the last few days?” he guessed.

I nodded my head.

“Four times,” he said. “One phone call, and four texts, each of which just said ‘hey.’”

I grimaced.

“Well, that was more than I got from you.”

He snorted.

“I was working,” he said. “And I have been for the last week because a new semester started. Not to mention it’s kind of hard when I don’t know it’s you that was texting. Would it have killed you to say ‘hey, it’s Verity?’”

My brows furrowed at his words.

I sighed.

He was right.

Randi, however, was tired of being silent.

“I’m Randi.” She held out her hand. “Do you have any friends with nice beards?”

I smacked my friend’s arm.

“You have a husband with a nice beard,” I chastised her. “And I’m pretty sure he’d take exception to you asking some stranger that.”

“He’s not a stranger,” Randi countered. “He’s obviously more than friends with you. So, about those friends.”

I sighed.

“You’re off the hook. You can go eat now.”

She looked torn.

I knew how much she detested the gym, and only came because she was a nice, supportive friend.

However, she’d been telling me about the tacos her husband had started making since we’d started the workout, and I knew she was ready to get home and eat them.

Hell, I was ready to eat them and I hadn’t even been invited.

“Fine,” she finally settled on. “But I’ll be hearing everything there is to hear tomorrow, understand?”

With that she left, leaving the two of us standing in an uncomfortable silence.

“What else do you do besides working on your bladesmith stuff?” I asked him, circling one finger around the braid of my hair and twirling it as I waited for a response.

“I’m a firearms instructor and police academy instructor,” he answered. “How much longer do you have until you’re done?”

I hadn’t known.

I thought that he only worked on his blades. It was news to me that he had another job on top of that one.

“Umm,” I hesitated. “I was going to go walk outside…to catch Pokémon.”

His mouth twitched. “How long will that take you?”

I looked at my watch. “About an hour or so. Why?”

He nodded once.

“That gives me enough time to finish up here, and then you can go with me to dinner.”

I pursed my lips.

“What makes you think I want to go to dinner with you?” I asked.

He leaned in close, and was about an inch away from touching his mouth to mine when we were interrupted.

“Um, excuse me,” a hesitant, sugary sweet voice called from behind us. “But would you mind showing me how to use this machine?”

I turned.

Truth, however, was not deterred from his goal.

His hand hooked around my chin, turned my face to his, and then I could taste him.

He’d had something pepperminty, and I could taste it on his tongue.

His beard tickled my jaw, and it took everything I had not to collapse in a puddle of goo at his feet.

Then he released me, and went back to his weights.

I stood there, watching him with a dumbfounded expression on my face, and ogled while he lifted.

He’d gotten to the number ten when he said, “Those Pokémon won’t catch themselves.”

I jumped.

“I’ll be outside.”

Then I ran away, trying not to let my vagina do the thinking.

Because if I did let her out to play, I’d be doing him in the freakin’ locker room, and he was right.

Those Pokémon wouldn’t catch themselves, and I had an egg about to hatch.

***

He found me outside an hour later, and I was staring at the screen of my phone with a determined look on my face.

“Come on, you little fucker,” I grumbled, tossing another ball at the piece of shit that refused to stay captured.

Hands grabbed my hips, and I gasped and spun, coming face to face with a sweaty and amused Truth.

“I called your name three times,” he said, explaining why he’d scared me.

I grinned and closed my phone, shoving it into the pocket at the back of my capri pants.

He watched me do it, and grinned as he gestured toward the parking lot.

“Let’s go,” he said.

I followed him, resisting the urge to grab his hand, and walked side by side with him through the small garden that was outside the gym, stopping only once when the ducks from the pond tried to demand food from us.

“Where do you want to go to eat?” he asked.

I pursed my lips.

“Sushi?” I offered.

If I was going to break my diet, I might as well break it thoroughly.

He nodded once and came to a stop in front of my car.

“You can ride with me if you want,” he offered.

I looked around for the familiar looking bike with no seat, and furrowed my brows.

“What are you driving?” I asked.

He pointed to another bike, this one with a seat, and I frowned.

“Did you get rid of the old one?”

“Nope,” he denied. “Still sitting in the same spot I parked it after leaving dinner with you.”

“Did you have this one?” I continued.

He handed me his helmet and I took it, pulling it on over my messy braid while continuing to hold eye contact.

“Yes,” he answered. “But I’d sent a few pieces of the engine in to get fixed, and just got them back yesterday. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to drive the other one.”

I tilted my head to the side.

“Destiny and Kenneth are bad people,” I told him. “So they did it on your bike…who cares? Just put the seat back on and ride it. It’s not like you had any responsibility in why they cheated.”

He gestured for me to get on, and I did, waiting for him to answer.

Reaching forward to strap my helmet on tighter, he said, “It’s tainted. Everything about that bike was mine. I’d built it from the ground up. To have them do that on my bike…it left a bad taste in my mouth. It is a signal of my failure, and I didn’t want to continue to see that, and be reminded of that. The bike, although it was my baby, is replaceable. Why continue to use something that doesn’t make me happy anymore,” he smiled evilly then. “Plus, wouldn’t you stop sleeping in your bed if you found out that she was fucked by your man in it?”

I paused, my lips pursing, and sighed, “Well, actually, I did have to replace my bed. So, I do understand.”

He nodded once and took his seat in front of me.

When he sat down, it was on top of my thighs, so I scooted back as far as the seat would allow me, which sadly, wasn’t much.

With the two of us on this bike, I was unsure of the power.

However, the minute he started it, and I felt the power of the motor between my thighs, all doubts fled my mind.

Instead of worrying about how my ass was hanging off the back, or anything else pertaining to my ass, I wrapped my arms tightly around Truth, and let the wind take me.

And when Truth pulled up in front of the same pub, I realized that he was giving me a gift.

He was sharing his world with me, and I was going to let him.

Two hours later, I took him to my house.

Well, I gave him directions, anyway.

The moment he saw it, he stopped at the end of the driveway and stared.

“This is a big fucking house!” he yelled over the din of the motor.

I snorted.

“Call it what it is! A monstrosity!” I yelled back.

He put his foot back up onto the pedal thingy while turning the throttle with his hand, and we were off again, setting off through the gate and straight up my driveway, coming to a stop next to my car—which somehow had magically appeared.

Though, really, I knew it was Randi.

Her and her husband likely were responsible for it, and I made a mental note to thank the both of them tomorrow.

I’d do it today, but I had a feeling we were about to be very busy.

He shut off the bike and stared up at the house, his jaw going slack as he took it in.

“It’s big,” he murmured, holding his hand out for me to take.

I did, sweeping my leg off of the bike and staring up at the house, trying to see what he saw.

I didn’t know what he saw, though.

I’d been coming to this house for my entire twenty-nine years of life, and I didn’t see it as anything but home anymore.

“How many rooms does this place have?”

I gestured for him to follow me while placing the helmet on the seat he’d just vacated, and he fell in step beside me as I started to explain.

“This is what they call a Colonial,” I murmured. “It has thirteen bedrooms. There are eight bathrooms, a kitchen, two living room areas, two formal dining rooms, a ballroom, and an indoor pool,” I explained.

“Did the pool come original with the house?” he asked as I led him around the side of the house.

I used the back entrance instead of the front.

Mainly because I had to walk all the way through the house to get to the kitchen, and usually had groceries of some form or fashion.

Not to mention my great-grandmother always used to use this door, so it seemed only proper that I used it, too.

“No,” I fished my keys out of my purse. “The pool was added during my GG’s time here. She moved out a few years ago, and now she lives in the little row house next to the lake.”

“There’s a lake?” he turned his head to search behind him.

“Yes,” I pushed the door open and led him inside, hearing him close the door securely behind me. “It’s beyond the trees that you see at the end of the lawn.”

“Who mows this place?” he asked.

I started to snicker.

“That would be me,” I said. “Every Saturday that I’m off.”

“When are you not off?” he asked as he looked around. “I haven’t actually seen you work yet.”

I knew what he was asking.

How the hell did I afford a place like the one I was currently living in.

“My great-grandmother was one of the original Cassidy Winemakers in Mooresville County,” I started to explain.

His eyes closed, and he started to nod.

“That explains the CW on the gate,” he surmised.

I smiled softly.

“When my great-grandmother died, she left my GG this place, and me a sizeable trust fund that I was able to access four years ago.” I walked to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of wine. “Want any?”

His brows rose, but he nodded anyway.

“What?” I asked.

“That bottle looks old,” he murmured.

“My GG and great-grandmother were wine connoisseurs. You can’t expect a person, such as my grandmother and great-grandmother, to not have wine just lying around the house.”

“Touché.”

I nodded firmly and handed him the bottle and the corkscrew.

He took it deftly, easily removing the cork and handing it back to me.

I placed two glasses in front of him, and he poured them not halfway like most would, but all the way up to the top.

“You know me already,” I giggled. “I thought it was only Randi and me who didn’t waste any time or effort when it came to wine. It’s good to see you have the same thought processes.”

He winked.

“The house?” he reminded me.

“My GG gave it to me three years ago when she moved out, although I’ve been living here for most of my life.”

He nodded silently.

“Your grandmother or great-grandmother ever have any men here?” he questioned. “This is a big ass place for someone like you to run on your own.”

“Yep,” I confirmed. “Though my grandfather’s health declined to where he couldn’t help in the later years. They hired a caretaker who came out once a month to do any major repairs before he passed.”

He winced, and then picked up a vase, causing me to giggle. “That’s my paternal grandmother.”

He set it down and backed away.

I snorted.

“I know you’re wondering why my mother didn’t get this place,” I said. “And I’ll go ahead and appease that curiosity. My mother is a squanderer. She’s selfish and greedy, and that sets her up for failure which is why she is barely holding onto her wedding planning business by the skin of her teeth.”

“Teeth don’t have skin…” he looked up to study the kitchen cabinets. “And your place really needs a complete remodel.”

I snorted.

“Yep,” I confirmed. “It needs one yesterday, but I don’t have time. I work full-time for the newspaper, and when I’m not working, I’m trying to keep my mother’s business in line, and stop the whole thing from imploding.”

“You don’t have any time for you?” he tilted his head to study me.

He was now leaning against my GG’s china cabinet, and I realized how out of place he looked in front of it.

“I blow.”

He blinked.

“That’s good news, I guess,” he drawled.

I snickered and went back out the kitchen door, and straight to the small workroom that I used to do my hobby.

“This,” I said, pushing open the door, “is where I blow glass.”

He looked around the room, studying everything.

“That’s amazing,” he finally said. “Did you make this?”

He picked up a hummingbird feeder the color of blood, and I picked up its twin.

“There are a lot of imperfections,” I admitted. “And yes, I did make it.”

He fingered the small stem that was where the hummingbird would feed when it was hung.

“Fuckin’ amazing,” he finally murmured. “I’ve always looked at these things and wondered how it was done. Will you show me?”

I smiled.

“Yes.” I placed the feeder back on the shelf. I had to ship them out tomorrow evening. “But not tonight. Tonight, I want to eat, kick back on the couch and watch our movie. I’m exhausted.”

“Why are you so tired?” he asked. “I’m not saying that you didn’t kick ass at catching all those Pokémon, but you have bags under your eyes that look like you haven’t slept in days.”

I fingered said bags.

“It’s rained the last three mornings in a row, and in the newspaper business, that’s not a good thing,” I told him. “People call and complain about the stupidest things, but when it’s raining, it’s a relentless stream of calls that never ends.”

He took my hand in his, and then led me back to the house.

“You can give me a tour of the rest of your mansion. Then you can show me what you have to cook, while you go find us something to watch on TV and I cook it,” he murmured as he pulled me along behind him. “Then we can have a Netflix and chill kind of night.”

I rolled my eyes. “Netflix and chill doesn’t mean what you think it means.”

He looked at me over his shoulder.

“I know.”

That was how I found myself becoming one with my couch while Truth made me the most delicious spaghetti and meatballs I’d ever tasted.

My food normally came out tasting bland, but the spices and overall taste of Truth’s sauce was something that I would remember for a long time to come.

And I would enjoy the hell out of my leftovers tomorrow during lunch.

Now we were watching Battleship, my most favorite movie in the world. I had a How to Get Away With Murder marathon planned after this movie.

“Why do you like this one so much?” he asked.

I smiled where I was at, leaning with my back to his chest, my head leaning against his collarbone.

“Because there are hot men in Navy uniforms in it,” I teased. “The Navy is my favorite.”

“Hmmm,” he murmured. “Interesting.”

I bit my lip.

I told myself not to ask, but Truth just struck me as a military man, and any information about him, even the most insignificant, I soaked up like a sponge.

“Were you in the military?” I asked.

He seemed to hesitate, and then he nodded. “Yes.”

Curiosity started to get the better of me, and even though I could tell that he wanted me to drop the subject, I didn’t.

Instead, I pushed.

And nearly lost Truth before I even had him.