Dark On Me (Borrowed Faith Book 2) Read online

  “How long have you known you were gay?”

  “I can’t tell you enough how sorry I am.”

  “How long, Ken?”

  “I’m bi, and I’ve known since I was a teenager.”

  “Jesus, that makes this worse. If you were only gay, I would at least know this has nothing to do with me.”

  He rushes forward, so I force my hand out in front of me. “Stop. There’s nothing you can say to fix this. We’re finished.”

  “You have every right to be pissed, furious even, but we can’t break up. We have to figure out a way to work through this. I still love you.”

  Taking a seat on the bed, I glare up at him and his handsome face. I take in the sight of his silky blond hair and perfectly sloped nose.

  Thank God Ken’s not smiling. If he were, I’d become a submissive idiot like I do every time I see his attractive mouth spread open, sending his infectious charm right up to mingle with his sparkling sapphire eyes. He really is Barbie’s Ken, and I wonder if she knows her man is bisexual and a cheater.

  “How can you say you love me when you don’t respect me? I can’t believe you did this at our engagement party.”

  “I didn’t mean for you to find out this way.”

  I stand. “You know what? Save it. You don’t get to explain yourself today. I’m not cooperating only so you can save face with our guests and families.” Pulling my phone out of my dress pocket, I hit the button to dial my younger brother.

  “Who are you calling?”

  “Landon. I’m leaving.”

  “What? You can’t go.” He reaches for my phone, so I hurry into the adjoining bathroom and lock the door.

  “Mom’s looking for you. Where are you?” my brother asks after the first ring.

  “Get Blair and meet me at your car. We’re ditching this phony party.”

  “Hell, yes. Finally.”

  Ending the call, I burst into tears. I need to let out my pain in this room instead of in front of Landon and my best friend. This way, I may hear I told you so a few less times. Oh, and it may prevent them from kicking Ken’s ass in front of an audience.

  “Baby, what do I tell everyone? I don’t know what to do.”

  Wiping my eyes, I sling the door open.

  “You do realize our parents are the most conservative, homophobic people to ever live in the state of California, right? My dad’s a congressman, Ken. You’re hiding something monumental from the man who expects you to follow in his footsteps. Not to mention, your father is his attorney.”

  He scratches the back of his head. “All the more reason I need you to calm down and talk to me. No one can find out about Aaron and me.”

  “You’re a politician in training; I’m sure you can think of a lie to tell everyone. I’m out of here.”

  Running from the room, I take two steps at a time down the shiny wooden staircase and stride back through the kitchen. After I’m outside, I jog around the opposite side of the house from where the party is taking place.

  Guests could spot me on the front lawn, but I’m praying they don’t. It’s not that I want to save Ken from embarrassment; I want to save myself from it. I shouldn’t care what any of these pretentious people think, but for a scandal like this, I do.

  ***

  “I think you’ve had enough to drink,” my bestie, Blair, says as she takes my champagne flute from me. I try to point at her, but my finger sways toward Landon instead.

  “I appreciate you swiping that bottle from the party,” I reply.

  “I didn’t know what was wrong, but I had a feeling you needed it. I’m not so sure it was the best idea now.”

  “I’m good.” I fall over on the sofa after trying to get up to tell them goodbye.

  “I can stay with you tonight,” she offers.

  “No, you can’t miss your hot date. Maybe he won’t be an asshat like Ken.”

  Leaning down, she kisses my cheek, and some of her soft, dark bob falls across my face. Landon follows her and kisses the top of my head.

  “We’re having lunch tomorrow,” he says. “I’ll pick you up at eleven-thirty.” I attempt to focus on his hazel eyes but they’re blurry.

  “Sounds like a plan, baby brother.” As he and my friend walk to the front door of my condo, they whisper to each other...

  Blair turns back. “Please don’t take Ken’s calls or reply to his text messages. Make him sweat, Liv. He deserves to wonder what you’ll do with this information.”

  With my closest friend’s face as my target, I hold my pointer finger up.

  “Right on, Blair Bear. Night, Loofa Landon.” As I giggle, he rolls his eyes and sweeps his fingers through his light brown hair.

  “Hey, the loofa exfoliates. How many times have we been over this?”

  “I’m kidding.” Out of nowhere, the tears come again. “Go, before I start crying like a pathetic loser.”

  “Ken’s the pathetic one,” Blair quips. “Night, sweets. Call us if you need anything.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Zain

  “Ouch!” I push the chick off my aching dick. “I’m all for kinky sex, but my cock’s not an Italian sausage. Sink your teeth into something else. That’s three strikes; you’re out.” I point toward the bedroom door of my suite.

  “What did I do wrong?” the brunette asks as she sits back on her legs in only her red thong. The woman is sexy, but her aggressiveness suggests she’s one of those chicks who goes from calm to crazy in a nanosecond.

  “One, you bit my dick. Two, you tried to bring your phone in the bedroom after I told you I don’t allow it. No sex videos of me are landing on the Internet. Three, you ate all my fries from room service. I’m all for sharing, but you inhaled those potatoes like you’ve got the munchies on National French Fry Day.”

  “That’s a Federal holiday?” she asks with her eyes round.

  “Dear Lord, send one with brains.”

  “That’s ruuude.”

  “I’m sorry. Please leave before your crazy comes out.” Huffing, she climbs off the bed and begins dressing. I’m being an asshole, and it’s not like me.

  Ladies make me happy, but like most of them lately, this one isn’t satisfying my needs. I want to have an actual conversation with someone before and after I fuck them.

  She stomps from the room without a backward glance. I scrub my face, feeling more agitated than ever. Knowing what will mellow me out, I grab my bong from the nightstand. My phone rings next to it, and I don’t recognize the number. It’s Bay area digits, so maybe my dealer got a new phone. She does that frequently.

  “Hello.”

  “That tight ass of Ken’s was supposed to be mine forever! You’re nothing but a home-wrecking, cum-swallowing, salmon-color-loving butt bandit! How could you?”

  Raising my eyebrows, I laugh. “Butt bandit. Clever. Although, your introduction could be construed as quite offensive to many.”

  “Douche. Bag. I can’t believe you did this to us. If it gets out, it’ll destroy our families, along with Ken’s future in politics. We’ll be dragged through the tabloids since my congressman father has openly bashed gays.”

  “Damn, you’re definitely not my dealer.”

  Silence interrupts our conversation and hangs on to the mic.

  “What?” a timid female voice finally replies. She must be another one of those girls who goes from calm to crazy in a nanosecond. Apparently, I’m on the receiving end of the latter tonight. “This isn’t Aaron?” she asks.

  “No, but it sounds like Aaron needs to leave the country before you get a hold of his ballsack and squeeze it like you’re milking a cow.”

  The chick giggles. It’s a cute sound, but she gasps next, and I have to pull the phone back from how loud it is.

  “Oh, my God! Please don’t tell anyone what I told you. I’m begging. I’m drunk, and I don’t know what I’m saying. It’s not true. None of it.”

  “Bullshit. Every word was true, but you’re in luck. I don’t like my dirt sp
read around like fertilizer any more than you do, so my lips are sealed.”

  “Cows and fertilizer… Did you grow up on a farm?”

  “Nope, but I have spent my fair share of time traveling around the country to hear about them.”

  “I thought I dialed Aaron, but he obviously changed his phone number. I’m sorry if I disturbed you. Have a good night.”

  “Wait. Don’t hang up.” I’m not sure why I don’t want the ruthless woman to go, but as silence grabs the mic again, I feel it’s looking at me, saying dude, speak before she disappears.

  “I’ve got all the time in the world if you need to get this shit off your chest,” I say, “aaand, I think I’d be doing a great service for the male species if I saved one guy’s junk by reeling in your crazy.”

  “You’re oddly funny.”

  “If it brightens your night, babe, I can be all kinds of funny. What’s your name?”

  “Seeing how I already said too much, I don’t know if I should tell you. With a little research, you could go to the tabloids and make a killing.”

  “You’re in luck again. I don’t need money.”

  “Hmm, what’s your name?”

  “I asked first.”

  Silence…

  Silence…

  Please don’t hang up. Come on, sweetheart.

  “Olivia.”

  “That’s a pretty name. You can call me Z.”

  “Like the letter?”

  “Yep.”

  “I think you’re holding out on me.”

  “Actually, only people close to me call me Z, so you’re special. Hey, hold on. I gotta rip the bong. Real quick.”

  “Bong… Are you smoking weed?”

  I roll my eyes as I inhale slowly and smoothly. From her surprised tone, it sounds like I have another Apple on my hands.

  “Yeah, I’m smokin’, and sadly, I’m doing it alone. I wasn’t in the mood to party tonight, and the chick I was with bit my dick.”

  “Um, OK. I should go.”

  “No, no. Tell me about this guy who loves that gay color salmon.”

  She giggles again. I could get used to it. It’s like I can see her smile from her laugh alone.

  “I was at my engagement party today and caught my fiancé making out with our friend–a guy.”

  “Damn. That’s some messed-up shit. I wish I could pass you the bong. It sounds like you need it.”

  “I took two pills of unknown origin afterward and drank a bottle of champagne.”

  “I’m guessing that’s not your usual pastime.”

  “No, but it might become it. I must say it felt pretty damn good.”

  “That I can attest to. OK, back to you and the butt bandit. Is there gonna be a warrant out for your arrest tomorrow?”

  “No. I’m not going to wear an orange jumpsuit for the rest of my life and take ice-cold tinkle showers all because Ken’s a lying, insensitive jerk. Aaron, too.”

  “Tinkle?”

  “Yeah, you know, the water dribbles out of the showerhead. Have you never watched Orange Is The New Black? The show is my secret indulgence.”

  “No. I don’t watch much TV. I prefer to play video games.”

  “Is the reason you don’t need money because you live in your parents’ basement, play video games and rip the bong, as you put it?”

  I like her wit. “I don’t live with my parents, and I do have a job. How about you, Olivia? Do you live in your parents’ basement and randomly call people to spill defamatory information about public figures?”

  “You’re going to tell my secret.”

  “Chill, woman. I’m not going to share your shit. I don’t have time to do PI work, nor do I follow politics. I should, but I’m about peace, sex and rock and roll.”

  “Isn’t that phrase supposed to be peace, love and rock and roll?”

  “You and other people I’ve encountered have confirmed that love equates to conflict and pain. My life is stressful enough.”

  “In the beginning, I was enamored by Ken, but we haven’t been close in a long time. I should’ve recognized there was a serious problem in our relationship. Honestly, I’m not all that sad about losing his love. It’s the betrayal I’m pissed about. There aren’t many people I can trust in this world, and now I’ve lost two more.”

  “Why did he ask you to marry him if he was into dudes?”

  “He claims he likes chicks and dudes.”

  “All right, then why did he propose when he’s a cheating bastard?”

  “Even if he’s with Aaron, he still needs to marry a woman and have children with her. You know, for outward appearances. It’s what our families do.”

  “That’s old-fashioned. Your families need to get with the times and let their freak flags fly.”

  That giggle. Fuck, it could easily become my drug of choice.

  “Shit,” she says. “My phone keeps beeping with calls that I’m sure are from my mother and Ken.”

  “You should tell him you missed his call because you were on the phone with TMZ. That site loves juicy stories. You need to make the ass-muncher sweat.”

  “That’s what my friend Blair said to do.”

  “Good friend you got.”

  “I’m tired.”

  “Me, too, but I seldom sleep. How old are you?”

  “Twenty-three.”

  “I’m twenty-four.”

  “I should go.”

  “What if I don’t want you to go? Maybe I want to know if you have blonde hair or brown or what kind of music you jam to. Don’t make me live the rest of my life not knowing if you’re a huge fan of French fries like I am. ”

  “I’m blonde and curvy, and I eat way too many fries–hence why I’m curvy.”

  “I happen to dig blondes and curves, and you can never eat too many deep-fried sticks of heaven.”

  Her yawn stretches across the miles. “I should get some sleep. I’m having lunch with my brother tomorrow.”

  “First, you need to stop saying should and do what you want to do. Second, it is tomorrow.”

  “All the more reason I want to sleep.”

  “Close your eyes, but don’t hang up. It’s not right for you to go to bed alone after what happened today.”

  “You’re funny and sweet, but I still bet you live in your parents’ basement.”

  “I live on a bus.”

  “Ah, so you’re the stoner hippy who converted an old school bus into living quarters on wheels.”

  “It’s a lonely existence on the road.”

  “Thank you for talking to me.”

  “Night, Olivia.”

  “Night, Z.”

  ***

  The pounding on my hotel door wakes me. I lift my head and feel my phone fall from my cheek to the bed. Damn, I actually slept. Thinking of Olivia, I grab my cell.

  “Hello,” I say.

  No answer…

  She hung up.

  For some reason, that sucks.

  Hearing another knock, I pull my jeans on and stride through the suite of the Detroit hotel we’re staying in.

  “Good morning,” Nash says. “I think everyone else is waiting on us.”

  “Come in while I grab my shit.” I head to the bedroom and pack my duffel bag. Picking up my phone, I discover I have a voicemail.

  “Hi, this is Olivia. Sorry I had to hang up this morning. Thank you again for talking to me last night. It kept me from going completely psycho. Prison jumpsuits would not be flattering to my skin tone. Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful life on the road, Z… One that’s full of happiness and adventure. Goodbye.”

  I smile from hearing her voice, but beneath the surface I’m disappointed. There’s something about Olivia I like, and it blows that we won’t talk again.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Olivia

  “Here’s your BLT sandwich and French fries,” the young female waitress says to me, “and the turkey burger for you.” She grins at Landon as she sets his plate in front of him, but he never looks
up to notice.

  “Thanks,” he mumbles instead.

  “Can I get you two anything else?” the brunette asks, still gawking at him.

  “We’re good. Thank you,” I say before my handsome brother hurts the girl’s feelings by not giving her a second of his attention.

  He scoots closer to the outdoor metal table we’re seated at on the patio of a restaurant in Danville, not far from where we live.

  “This meal looks good. I’m surprised you chose a bar and grille, but at least it’s not the country club.”

  “I couldn’t show my face there. Mom probably has security waiting at the door to escort me to her home.”

  My brother tilts his eyes up at me as he takes a bite of his burger. He tries to smile in the process and soon has mayo covering the corners of his mouth. Setting his sandwich down, he grabs his napkin and wipes away the condiment.

  “Mom deserves this for all the pressure she’s put on you to be with Ken.”

  “She lives in denial, not realizing that the life she and Daddy force on me isn’t the one I want for myself.”

  “She knows exactly what she’s doing.” Exhaling loudly, Landon shakes his head and takes a drink of his tea.

  “You’re pissed,” I say.

  “I am. I can’t stand Mom, and I want to kick Ken’s ass for cheating.” He looks toward the restaurant, and the glass shows his reflection. He’s dressed in khaki shorts and a light blue polo, whereas I’m in a sundress. “I also have mixed feelings about the situation.”

  “Is it because he cheated with a guy?”

  As Landon looks back at me, a swift breeze blows the bangs of his light brown hair aside.

  “I know what carrying that secret feels like,” he replies solemnly.

  Shoving some fries in my mouth–more than what’s ladylike, I chew and think about Z and the mean words I said about Aaron. Tears fill my eyes, so I dab them with my napkin.

  “Liv, I’m sorry. I hope you know I’m on your side. Ken cheating on you was wrong, and there’s no excuse.”

  “Don’t apologize. I have mixed feelings about the situation, too.”