Deceived - The Complete Series (13 page)

“Thomas, this isn’t the time or place for this. I have to get back to work.”

Once again she watched as her friend seemed to visibly calm down. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry. We’ll talk about it at home later.”

Angela almost told him that she wasn’t going to change her mind, but she decided to follow her own advice. This isn’t the time or place. “Okay, I’ll see you later,” she told him. She walked away, feeling his eyes on her the entire time. When she stepped into the elevator and turned to face the door she saw him standing where she left him, still watching her. He smiled and with Joanne’s words on her mind, she shuddered. She smiled back...things would be better when she got her own place. Lines just got blurred between her and Thomas because of the close quarters. Once she had her own place, she was sure they could get back to where they were...the best of friends.

*****

T
homas stood and watched Angela go. When the elevator doors closed, the smile fell off of his face. He didn’t head back to his office. Instead he turned and headed back out the door of the lobby. Once he was outside he took out his phone and called Kim. “Hey Kim, I’m really sorry but I must have eaten some bad Sushi at lunch. I feel really ill.”

“Oh no! Where did you eat?”

“Over at the Tokyo Gardens on Spring Street.  I thought the Unagi tasted a little strange...”

“You have to be careful with that stuff. Go home and do your best to throw it up. That’s the only thing that ever makes me feel better when that happens. Go to the hospital though if it gets too bad.”

“I will. Thanks, Kim.”

“Of course. By the way, Steve was here a while ago.”

“Oh yeah? What did he have to say?”

“He was really angry. He said some really mean things. His main point though was that he planned on convincing Angela that I was a liar and I sent that text purposely so that she would see it.”

“There’s no way he can prove that. Just give me a little time and I’ll make Ang forget he ever existed. You need to be doing the same on your end though. Bring him to his knees, Kim...I know that you can do it.”

Kim laughed. “I’m trying, Thomas. A few weeks ago, I had him worshipping at the altar of Kim. He’s obsessed with your little roommate, but I’m confident that all he needs is a reminder of how good things were between us.”

“Good, remind him,” Thomas said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks Thomas, feel better.”

“I plan on it,” he said with a smile as he hung up the phone.

Chapter 2

“Are you ready?” Joanne was waiting for Angela when she got downstairs. They were taking her car to Lakewood so that she didn’t have to spend sixty bucks on a cab.

“I’m ready; let’s go get me an apartment!”

They got into the car and Joanne jumped onto the I-5 south. The more Angela rode with her and Thomas in this traffic, the more she was glad that she didn’t have a car.

“So what did Thomas the weirdo say when you told him about the apartment hunting tonight?”

Angela laughed, “Stop calling him a weirdo. He’s such a sweet guy. You’ve known him as long as I have. Why all of a sudden do you have a problem with him?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know, just lately he’s giving off a weird vibe.”

“I think it’s just all of the leftover emotions from Blake...you know? He and Thomas were really close. I know how he feels, it comes and goes.”

“I guess. I hope that’s all it is.”

Angela’s phone started ringing just as Joanne got off the Lakewood exit. She didn’t want to look at it, figuring it was Steve again. It wasn’t, it was the real estate agent.

“Hi Maggie, it’s Angela.”

“Hi Angela, I have some bad news.”

“Oh no! What happened?”

“I wish I knew. There was a fire in the apartment. I showed it twice earlier today and everything was fine. Sometime between then and now, boom!”

“Boom!? There was an explosion?”

“Yeah, they’re still putting it out. No one was hurt, thank God. They think it may have been a faulty water heater...but they won’t be sure for a while.”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you!” Angela was trying to not think about herself at that moment. That had to be so frightening for Maggie and she was right, thank God no one was hurt. Angela was human though and she couldn’t help feeling like there was someone or something up there that wanted to keep her from getting her own place. She hung up the phone after Maggie told her she would call if anything else came up.

“What happened?” Joanne asked.

“There was an explosion in the apartment. They think it might have been the water heater, but it’s too soon to tell. Either way, I’m not getting to rent it.”

“Shit! Wow, that’s good luck!”

Angela laughed. “I was just thinking what crappy luck it was. How do you figure it’s good luck?”

“You could have rented it and got hurt when it exploded!”

“Good point. Okay, we’re looking at it from the bright side,” Angela said.

“So, you want to get a drink?”

“No...if you don’t mind I think I’ll just have you drop me at the loft. I didn’t search any of the ads online today because I was so busy at work...and, I actually had my heart set on this one. I guess it would be smarter to set up appointments for more than one or two at a time.”

“Okay, I should probably go home and do some laundry anyways. It’s either that or stop at Victoria’s Secrets on the way home because I am out. I’m wearing my granny panties today.”

Laughing, Angela said, “I find it hard to believe you even own a pair of granny panties.” Joanne was always the best dressed woman in any room. She’d had a semi-fetish for lingerie for as long as Angela had known her.

“I have two pairs,” she said, “You know, for Sunday lounging and laundry day.”

“That reminds me, I need to do some laundry myself. I’m not sure what’s happening to my underwear. Maybe I forgot a box or something but it seems like I’m missing pairs.”

“Maybe there’s an underwear thief in your laundry room,” she said with a giggle.

“That would just be...ew! I don’t even have words.” They both laughed. Angela loves spending time with Joanne. No matter how crappy life gets, the two of them can always find something to laugh about. It’s hard for Angela to believe that they went so many years without seeing each other. They fell right back into being best friends.

Joanne dropped Angela off at the loft. When she walked in, she heard a noise down the hall and she thought she saw Thomas coming out of her room. “Thomas?”

“Hey! What are you doing home so soon?”

“Well, there was some kind of explosion at the apartment I was going to look at. Were you just in my room?”

He looked confused, “No...I was coming out of the bathroom.”

Angela raised an eyebrow. “You went to the bathroom with your beer?”

He looked down at the beer in his hand. “Uh, yeah...gross, I guess. I wasn’t even thinking until I got in there.”

She dropped her purse next to the couch and went over to the desk where the laptop was sitting. She sat down in the chair and when she touched the mouse she realized that she was still logged in. “Oops! I guess I forgot to log out last night. If I ever do that and you need the computer just feel free to sign me out, okay?”

“Okay, sure. I have my own laptop in the bedroom. I don’t really foresee needing to use yours for anything anyways. Are you going to be long? Do you want to get some dinner?”

“I think I might just order in,” Angela told him. “I’m not really in the mood to get dressed up and go out.”

“Okay, what do you want? I’ll order it.”

“Um...pizza?”

“A girl after my own heart. You do what you need to do and I’ll order it.”

“Thank you, Thomas.”

“No problem, babe.”

Babe? Did he just call me babe? Should I be concerned about that?
Angela watched him go into the bedroom to get his phone with her brow furrowed. By the time he came back out, she was reading an email from Steve and she’d forgotten all about the “babe.”

The email subject line read: Please read, so important. She knew she should just delete it...or better yet, send it to spam so from now on, they’d all go there. But her heart still ached for him and she couldn’t bring herself to delete it without reading it. She reminded herself as she began that curiosity did indeed, kill the cat.

“Angela...I saw the look in your eyes today when you told me that you didn’t want to see me again. I saw the finality there. I saw that you were serious. What I also saw was hurt and confusion. This thing between us has happened like a whirlwind and I know that I am mostly to blame for that. I’ve never in my life met anyone that had me that quickly. The second I laid eyes on you in that club, my heart linked to yours and it doesn’t know how to let go. Had I taken more time to get to know you first and discover what you’d been through...I would have taken things slower. It’s my fault that we rushed into something immediately after I broke up with Kimberly. But please believe me when I tell you: I have been with a lot of women that I don’t deny. But I’ve never been with more than one woman at a time. If there was a relationship between she and I...there was no one else involved, and that’s the truth. The moment I met you, I went to see Kimberly...that very night. I told her that I couldn’t see her any longer. I was honest with her while trying to spare her feelings. As the weeks went on I saw how hurt she was and I felt bad. I agreed to meet her for a drink here and there, but each time I told her that we were over. Ana was the one that told me I would have to just cut her off completely or she was never going to get it. I wish I would have listened. I confronted her about the photos and the message. She tells me they were meant for someone else. I don’t believe her. I believe they were meant for you. She thinks if you’re out of the way, she has a chance. Let me tell you this, she has no chance. Kim was never going to be forever. I’m not in love with her nor have I ever been. I don’t see myself with her in the future. But you, Angela...when I look at you, I see the future. I see family, home, love and peace. I feel it. I can’t walk away from you knowing that this was all a misunderstanding set about by a malicious ex-lover. I want Kimberly to be my last ex-lover Angela, because I never want to be with anyone else but you. Please believe me. I’m not really one to beg, but I’m begging you. I haven’t felt this lost and empty since my father died. He was my rock and I didn’t think I’d be able to go on without him. The only things that have kept me going is being busy with the business that he loved with all his heart and my sister who always has my back, but all of that is still just existing. Then I found you...and I thought my future was finally going to be all I’ve ever wanted it to be. I want a family someday. I want kids to teach all of the things my dad taught me. I can’t imagine any of that without you. I’m on my knees baby. I need you. Steve.”

Angela wiped a tear from the corner of her eye just as Thomas came back in the room. “Hey, are you okay? What is it?” As he crossed the room to her, she clicked off Steve’s email. Thomas came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. “Facebook made you cry?” he asked, looking over her shoulder.

She nodded. Lying was easier than arguing with him about Steve. “It was one of those silly videos that people pass around. Hormones, I think.” She clicked Facebook off the screen and said, “When’s that pizza going to be here? I’m starving.”

The doorbell rang just then and she actually felt a sense of relief when Thomas took his hands off of her shoulders. Joanne’s silly warnings were starting to get to her. This is Thomas. She had to remind herself that all he has ever wanted to do was help her.

Chapter 3

Angela left to go out with Joanne. Thomas waited for a few minutes to make sure she wasn’t going to come back for anything and then he got up and locked the front door. She’s so trusting. She leaves her computer signed on half the time and the other half all he has to do is enter her password...of course it was Blake. He just had to figure out that it was “Blake my love.” It took him about fifteen minutes last week and since then he had access to every apartment she’d been looking at. He’d called the bubble-headed real estate agent from Lakewood the day he’d gone home “sick.” He told her he was only going to be in town one day and then he had to fly “home” to Atlanta. She was more than willing to set up the showing when he hinted to her that his daddy just might own part of the L.A. Dodgers and he would need a place to stay when he flew in and out of town on business. He didn’t want anything fancy, just in a nice neighborhood.

He’d shown up with a big smile and a pretty damned good fake southern accent. While she was rattling on about the crappy apartment’s “amenities” he’d turned the water heater up to high and snapped off the knob. He’d seen it on myth busters. He knew they only had about half an hour to get out so he acted like he was in a hurry to get to LAX and catch a plane. It all went according to plan and he’d got to spend the evening with Angela.

He logged into her email and while he waited for it to load, Thomas thought about how he had watched football and feigned nonchalance as she went out the door. She had no idea how hard that was for him. He wanted to grab her and tell her she didn’t need to go out. Everything she needed was right here...but she needed to figure that out herself. That way, she would appreciate it that much more. One day she would realize that he was the only man she needed to look at her the way that he knew every man in the club would all be looking at her tonight.

Her email came up and as he scrolled through he found a few about apartments. She’d made two appointments for the coming up Monday. He printed those out with the address and phone numbers of the agents. He was about to click off when Steve’s name caught his eye. Why is that mother-fucker emailing her? He opened it up, getting a little angry to see that she’d read it. She should have just deleted it. He read through the words and as he thought back he recalled finding her here with a tear in her eye the night they had pizza. She’d lied to him...something about a video on Facebook. That fucker was begging her to come back to him. Talking about her having his babies...Over my dead body, Thomas thought. He liked picturing her pregnant. Glowing, with her belly swollen out in front and her hips growing wider. But the baby that was in her belly in those daydreams was his. That rich son of a bitch will not get another chance to try and impregnate her. He has got to go.