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“No.” There’s conviction in my voice and I feel it all the way to my toes. Even if Linkin isn’t who he says he is, there’s no way I’m going back to Chris. My heart is no longer his, if it really ever was.
“No?” he asks, glancing over at Linkin. “But, he’s-”
“Whatever he is isn’t your concern, Chris. We’re over. Even if you hadn’t gone and had the vasectomy, things weren’t going well. I was alone all the time, and I wasn’t happy.”
“But I was working hard to give you everything you could have dreamed of,” he whines in that tone that has always grated on my nerves.
“Except, you didn’t. You denied me the one thing I wanted more than anything, and not the baby. I wanted your time, Chris, and you never gave it to me. I was second to everything else in your life, and it was finally enough. Finding that paper under our bed was the straw that broke the camel’s back.” Taking a step forward, I place my hand on his arm. “It’s over.”
Chris looks completely forlorn, and his sadness breaks my heart. Not because I love him, but because I don’t anymore. Because whatever I felt for him is gone, and getting to this point was still painful. It hurt when I realized my marriage was over, even if I masked that hurt with anger.
“But him? He’s trouble,” Chris says, pointing to Linkin.
“And I can explain everything in those pictures,” Linkin says casually, his arms still crossed over his chest as if he doesn’t have a care in the world.
“Well? Let’s hear it,” Chris encourages, his tone sarcastic and impatient, as he crosses his arms trying to mimic Linkin. There’s no comparison in size, and definitely not in muscle volume.
Linkin turns, giving my ex-husband his back and giving me his full attention. “Hi, baby,” he says, offering me that smirk that does weird things to my panties. “I was planning on telling you all of this, but wanted to wait until it was over to spill the details.
“My stepfather was a gambler. He was a lousy piece of shit who lost everything my mother worked for. He was barely around, and when he was, he was usually drunk. He owed a shit-ton of money to bad people, and when they came to collect, he ran, like the chicken-shit coward he is.” Linkin’s features are tight as he tells me more about his past than he ever has.
“My mom was losing everything. She owed a lot of money, but couldn’t make ends meet. Everyone in town was talking and it started to get back to the boys at school. Jeff got into a fight when some kid called him a loser like his dad, and I knew it was time to move.
“Mom agreed easily, and we decided on Jupiter Bay because it was far enough that not everyone knew the details of her husband’s transgressions, but close enough that we could make the payments needed to pay off the money owed.”
“But it wasn’t hers or your debt,” I say.
“No, it wasn’t. The man you see in that picture came to me and said my stepfather owed him fifteen grand and he was gonna take it from my mom if I didn’t pay the money, and he didn’t mean it nicely.”
“He can’t do that!” AJ says, causing us to all glance to the small circle around us.
“Legally, no, but I wasn’t exactly looking to go to the cops with this shit. So, I stepped up and paid.”
“You paid the fifteen thousand dollar debt?” Meghan asks.
“Well, not all of it. Hector, the man in the photo, told my mom the debt was two grand. Over the last nine months, she has been paying what she could and still get by raising my brothers,” he adds.
“You told her it was a two thousand dollar debt,” I figure out. “You didn’t tell her about the rest owed.” It’s not a question, but a statement.
Linkin shakes his head. “She didn’t need the stress of wondering how she was going to pay the other thirteen grand.”
“You paid it.” The realization is heady and sends me reeling. “And you never told her.” Linkin doesn’t need to confirm. I already know the answer.
I already know what kind of man he is.
“That picture was me paying the final five grand. And, before you ask, I made that money legally. I work two jobs and every tip, every bonus received at Christmas went to pay off that man. I needed his hold on my family, on my mom, gone forever.”
My heart is pounding in my chest and I’m unable to keep myself back. I need to have his arms around me, I need him to know I understand. I launch myself at his chest and he easily catches me, holding me tightly against him. My lips seek his, needing the feel, the coarseness, the closeness of his lips on mine.
He’s not expecting my kiss, but recovers quickly, swiping his tongue along the seam of my mouth and delving in urgently. The kiss is vital to my very being, a burning sensation spreading through my body, taking over my lips. I’m practically climbing him like a tree, my body wrapped around his much bigger, much taller, much firmer one.
“You’re amazing,” I tell him without removing my mouth.
“I’m not really. Not as amazing as you are, Lexi,” he says, tightening his hold on me. I can feel his hard-on pressed exactly where I want it – well, with far less clothes.
“I love you,” I blurt out, not able to keep the words contained any longer.
If Linkin is shocked by my confession, he doesn’t show it. Instead, he smiles brightly; you know that ornery smile that makes me wet and wanton. “That’s actually pretty fucking great because I’m in love with you too,” he says.
