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I had to have cut her off in traffic or something.
“Um, yes,” I said. “You want me to sit?”
“Stand,” she replied stiltedly.
She looked familiar, but I couldn’t figure out why.
I figured out why a few minutes later when Laric arrived in the building.
I knew he arrived because my nipples all of a sudden stood at attention.
Now whether that was due to the cold gust of air as he opened the door, or the fact that he was in the vicinity, I didn’t know. But whatever the reason, they were definitely very much aware he was close.
That’s when I saw that you could see the entire parking lot from this vantage point, and if I’d been paying better attention, I would’ve been able to see Laric arriving through the large plate-glass windows.
I smiled at his appearance and turned back to see Chastity looking at me like she wanted to reach forward and yank me into the desk using my messy bun.
I blinked.
Her eyes narrowed, and then a smile lit her face.
“So how long have you been dating Laric?” the very pissed off and trying to hide it woman asked.
“Umm.” I hesitated, not wanting to answer with the truth—that we weren’t dating—because I didn’t want to go into the explanation of why Laric was dogging my steps. I didn’t know how to answer.
She frowned hard at me, her face a shadow of anger.
Why was she so freakin’ familiar?
“Do I know you?” I finally asked, unable to help myself.
Chastity cleared her throat. “Laric and I used to date. You might’ve seen pictures of me on his phone or something.”
No, that wasn’t it.
I hadn’t seen photos of the woman at all. In fact, of the photos that Laric had in his house—I would know since I’d been studying everything that wasn’t nailed down over the last few days—not one single one had been of a girl.
Hell, none of them had even been of an adult.
They’d all been of dogs or young children with their dogs.
There were no women. Period.
She moved closer to me, her face going in close, and a scar on her right eyebrow caught my eye. One that I thought looked like a complete circle inside of a circle. A bullseye.
That’s when I realized who she was.
The chick at the beginning of Laric’s video.
The one that I was fairly sure he had no clue about.
The one that I needed to tell him about.
The one that, if I was right about, would get him severely pissed off.
I bit my lip.
The next twenty minutes of my appointment went like this.
Who is Laric to you? He’s my fiancé.
Liessss. You’re such a liar, Catori Stoker!
How did you meet him? Through work.
Technically not a lie.
Have y’all been together long? Oh, only about two years now.
I was such a liar McLiarson.
It was when I’d said that last bit that had her pressing in a little too deep into my shoulder, causing me to groan in pain.
“I finally figured out where I knew you from,” I admitted. “He must’ve told me about you.”
Her eyes narrowed. “And you’re okay that we were together during your relationship?”
No, I wouldn’t be.
What I would be was telling Laric about this. I had to.
“We have an open relationship,” I lied. “I was with a sailor around that time. So it evened out.”
I waved my hand in the air like I just didn’t care. Which seemed to piss her off even more.
“Tell me when it’s too far, then we’ll hold,” Chastity urged, her voice not so much angry as it was calculating.
She helped me raise my arm, and a screaming pain ripped through me at the movement.
“That’s far enough,” I cried, repeating her earlier words.
She went farther, and I swear to God I almost saw stars.
My knees went out from under me, and I hit the ground with a bone-jarring thud.
That groan in pain, as well as the thump of my body hitting the floor, had Laric quickly glancing across the room.
His eyes narrowed, as if he’d just now spotted where I was, and he was standing, a look of anger and alarm filling his face.
Okay, so he didn’t like me being with this chick.
That, or he knew that I’d get myself into trouble.
Either way, I was fairly sure that I needed to end this.
That, and I had a really good reason. My shoulder was now throbbing so bad that it was making my head hurt.
“I think I need to call it a day,” I admitted from my position. “I…”
“You okay, baby?” Laric arrived like a knight in shining armor. He bent down, scooped me up onto my feet, and pulled me in tight.
Hearing Laric’s whiskey-rough voice speaking to me, even if that baby was likely a tool to piss off his ex, was enough to make me groan in relief.
“Laric.” I smiled and buried my face into his chest. “This therapy thing really, really sucks. Take me home?”
