Reed's Reckoning (30 page)

Her breath hitches and nipples start to poke through her top.

“Ari, I have no shame in picking you up and taking you in that house right now straight to the bedroom. I’ll push my dick so deep inside you that you will feel me tomorrow. So tell me, who’s in control.”

“Reed, stop, people are watching us.” She tries to step away, but I hold her firmly.

“Are you going to pull a stunt like that again, Ari? You seem to need reminding, this body is mine. Every bit of you is mine. Just nod your head that you agree.”

It takes a few seconds but she does and leans back into me. If she is half as turned on as I am right now, she’s miserable too. “I seem to have a huge problem in my pants now. I’m going to take Davis further into the water and see if I can get rid of it. Give me a kiss.”

“What’s with all the PDA today?” she teases. “Is this part of your ‘operation’?”

“Depends, do you feel special, do you feel loved?”

“I do.”

“Then the answer is yes, it’s part of the plan.” I lift Davis and stroll painfully into the water hoping the cold water will take care of my raging dick.

Little fingers run down my arm and I crack one eye open to see a very happy little boy staring at me.

“Hey, little guy, whatcha doing?” I ask quietly because Ari is still asleep beside me.

“Daddy, I’m hungry.”

I silently groan because I’m exhausted. I motion to him to head to the kitchen and then climb out of bed.

Davis is in his chair waiting on me so I pour him some cereal and milk. I try to remember who all stayed here last night while starting the coffee. The blinds are closed, so someone must be asleep on the sofa. Jack and Sophie are curled around each other on the sofa bed, and thankfully, they are dressed. Luke is in Davis’s room so it must be Bobbie on the sofa.

I pull a slit in the blinds to see the amount of damage to clean and surprisingly it looks decent. “Ugh, can you shut that? My head is pounding.” Bobbie mumbles.

“Sorry, man, just surveying the damage. But it’s not bad.”

“What a freaking party.”

“Tell me about it. Good thing it only happens once a year.”

Last night Luke and I grilled about a hundred hamburgers and hot dogs. Once everyone ate, most of Ari’s work friends, Katy and her friends, and the soccer families went home. We put the remaining kids in the big room to watch a movie. We promised anyone of them still awake when the fireworks started could come back outside. The crowd was much smaller than earlier in the day, but we still had about twenty people here. The guys kept on with corn hole and golf ladder but the ladies sat back and talked. I was surprised that most of the teammates that came rented hotel rooms across the street. Jack brought out the bourbon and beer. Ari, in turn, started making martinis and we let loose. Fortunately for us, none of the kids were awake by the time the fireworks went off.

We turned on the music and the girls danced until one in the morning. Ari changed the music genres several times among rock, pop, and country. When Luke Bryan came across the speakers all the girls went wild and pulled the guys up to dance along too. Finally, a slow song started and I stopped anyone from changing it and took my girl in my arms. I swayed us to the music, holding her tight. A few others joined in but in my mind, it was just the two of us. When the song ended, I saw my mom wiping her cheeks out of the corner of my eye.

Everyone finally left and those staying at my house had to figure out their own sleeping arrangements. I locked up then went to find Ari. I must have taken too long because she was passed out in the bed with only one of my t-shirts on. I stripped down and crawled in beside her then fell asleep.

My sister never showed up but she blew up my phone all day with messages ranging from angry to sad. Mostly asking how I could be so cruel as to have a family party without all of my family.

The bedroom door opens and my mom walks out looking a lot more alive than I feel.

“You look tired.”

“I am, the last few shots got to me.”

“Well, go back to bed. I’ve got Davis and I’ll take him to the park or the beach in a while.”

“You sure? The house is kind of littered with bodies in every room.”

“We’ll watch cartoons in my room once he’s done with breakfast.”

“Thank you God.” Bobbie groans.

“Thanks. See you in a bit.” I get some water and sneak quietly back into my room. Ari is sprawled out over the middle of the bed and the tee shirt has bunched around her waist showing her complete ass. If we didn’t have a houseful of people, I would take advantage of this situation. Instead, I crawl in beside her and drag her limp body across my chest. Her warm breaths heat my skin and I run my fingertips along her side.

I silently thank God for this second chance and vow to never let my family down again.

This cannot be good news, which really fucking sucks because we’ve had an awesome weekend. But if Trey is at my door at four o’clock on Sunday afternoon, something is wrong. He looks at me apologetically when I let him in.

Jack stayed the weekend again and when he sees Trey, his shoulders tense. Ari is in the shower and Davis is asleep so I motion to the back patio. He opens a folder and pours the contents on the table. Pictures fall out and I recognize some of the people in them from college.

“You know any of these people?” Trey asks.

Both Jack and I point out a few faces and I freeze when I realize Alex Moore is in a lot of them. Ari walks out and wraps her arms around my waist.

“Hey Trey, what are y’all looking at?” Her face changes and she grips me tighter. “Why do you have pictures of Sarah Summers?” She points to a blonde in several pictures.

“You know her?” he asks.

“Yes.” She says so quietly we barely hear her.

“Baby, how do you know her?” I urge.

“She works with me at the bank. She’s the one Luke was seeing for a few weeks.”

“I know her too, man. I hooked up with her several times our senior year.” Jack says.

Trey looks at all of us and shakes his head a bit, indicating there’s more to the story.

“Baby, go call Luke and see if he can come over. He needs to hear this.”

She nods and goes inside. I get each of us a beer and sit down looking through the rest of the pictures.

Luke arrives in thirty minutes. Davis woke up so Ari set him up with a movie then joins us again.

Trey starts to explain. “I’ve been digging through old college pictures trying to find the common denominator. We found out about Alex and Cara, but there were still so many unanswered questions. Like why Ari was called into the Dean’s office and how her scholarship could have been threatened. Then there was how this could happen the same day Ari found out she was pregnant. Nothing here is a coincidence. The commonality is Alex Moore. Reed, I need to know all you know about her.”

“She is my sister’s friend. She and her friends followed me around in high school but she was a pain in the ass. She came to FSU my sophomore year and started a fan club for me. I still stayed away, but was polite because of the relationship with my sister. Honestly until a few weeks ago, I hadn’t seen her much since college.”

“Any reason she would be in your college apartment? Look at the pictures in the back of the stack.”

I shuffle through and see a few of her and Cara in my place and I remember the night Cara planned the party. “Yeah, the night Ari and I broke up; my sister had planned a party without telling me. I kicked them out.”

“Well, you may not have seen her, but she has seen you. Records show she moved to Jacksonville after college. On paper, she works for her father, but I’m not sure exactly what her position is. Somehow she has engrained herself into your life. She has been at almost every function you’ve attended since being drafted. This is more than a simple adoration. We may be bordering on obsession. I’ve looked into her and she has your schedule down pat. She volunteers with the same charities, she works with the team on citywide events, and the list goes on and on. When you came up here in May and rented this place, she went nuts that you had disappeared from your normal routine. She went to a buddy of mine in the business and asked him to find you. He was able to blow her off for a while because he thought she was a crazy fan, but she finally went to him with some of these pictures and said y’all were tight and she was worried about your state of mind since the injury. He started looking into you. His trail led him to me and I knew the story about Ari and Davis by then. I explained you were very much alright and had a need for privacy. He gave her money back and told her you were fine then she went crazy. Threatening to have his license revoked and put him out of business.

“He got curious and put a trace on her cell. She started calling your sister again and buddying up to her. Alex was at the party the night your sister had her accident.”

My entire body goes tight. “Did she have something to do with it?”

“We don’t know. Doesn’t seem like it from the accident report. But according to my friends call logs, about two weeks after I turned over the information to you on Davis, Sarah Summers made a call to Alex. They talked for five minutes. Several times since then, they’ve had conversations. Now knowing that Ari works with her, I can put together a scenario. I think somehow Sarah figured out who Ari was and what Alex did in college, and she called her out on it and that’s how Alex knew where you were.

“She has several credit card charges for the hotel across the street. Alex has been watching you. Seeing you get close to the one woman she knows you loved. Then she arranged for her and Cara to surprise you that weekend hoping to scare Ari away. What she didn’t know is your feelings for Ari. I hate to tell you buddy, but she was here this weekend too. I don’t know how she hid, but she was registered at the hotel since Thursday night. I watched her drive out about an hour ago and came straight here.”

“Jesus Christ! The incident with Cara was weeks ago. Alex contacting a PI was months ago, how are we just now hearing this?”

“I stopped following Ari and Davis after I turned over the file and you paid me. I had no reason to keep digging. I’m glad my buddy called me. It’s taken since I talked to you last to gather this information.”

“Trey, are we in danger? Any of us? I am pissed as shit at my sister right now, but I want her to be safe.”

“So far, there are no credible threats. But with this information, I would recommend you file for a restraining order against Alex, here and in Jacksonville. Be aware of your surroundings. But breaking up a college couple because of jealousy isn’t a crime. With her college relationships with these other girls, everything can be seen as a coincidence. I’m not sure without a threat, if you’ll even get a restraining order granted but at least it will be on record.”

“Fucking A’, I was in that woman’s dirty ass bed. What a bitch.” Luke says referring to Sarah.

“Me too, years ago.” Jack adds.

“Eeewwww.” Ari scowls. “I know that’s not appropriate right now, but eeewww.”

“I have an idea,” Luke ignores her. “We need to talk to Sarah and see what she knows.”

“I agree, but how? Ari’s not talking to her alone.” I tell them.

“No, she’s not. I am.”

“Umm, hello, ‘she’ is right here, and I think I am perfectly capable of talking to her. I’ll just corner her at work.” Ari says confidently.

Not even a second passes and all men laugh. Her face starts to turn red and I know she’s going to blow. Before she can scream, I tug her into my lap and hold her tight.

“Angel, you’re a tiny woman that wouldn’t hurt a fly. You would be about as effective as a child.”

“Reed Matthews, I can be a badass! Somehow, Sarah is involved with Alex, who hurt me deeply. I don’t know the extent yet, but I can be very intimidating when I need to be.”

I try hard, but can’t hide my smile. “Baby, I know you’re a badass, but you gave our son my namesake even when you thought I left you because you didn’t want to devastate me. Your heart is too big to deal with this. If she started crying, you would probably hug her.”

“Reed, that’s not a fair comparison, and I would not back down!”