Exposed (2 page)

She nodded, making their heads touch as he squeezed the top of her hand. "Damn, somehow even with all the evidence, I just kept hoping."

Pain flared in Nia's chest, striking back the numbness.

Jack knew the producers weren't happy with Nia's response. She was more shocked and fragile than she was hopping mad and ready to kick her husband's butt. Yelling confrontations sold shows. But he didn't give a damn about their show. They were only a means to an end.

When he walked up to his house, with the cameras and producers around him, he was centered on one thought:
Do not kill anyone
. He had to control his anger. He knew the show wanted a fight between him and the man balling his wife. But he was there for Sadie. To reveal her lies and backstabbing by the way she always threw it back on him.

She wouldn't be able to do that this time, and he'd be able to reclaim some of his dignity. He wasn't going to mess that up by brawling. Besides, he didn't want to leave an enraged man, which fighting could incite, for dainty Nia Cooper to have to deal with later.

Jack looked back at Nia behind him. Another cameraman and producer were latched on to her. He stood at his front door, ready to unlock it, and then go inside with a surprise attack. Nia's face was so pale against her shoulder-length fluffy brown hair. But she tightened her bow-shaped lips and she nodded silently, understanding that he was waiting for her.

He quietly unlocked the door and pushed it partway open. They were all supposed to move in quickly, with one cameraman just ahead of them to immortalize the destruction of two marriages.

Jack found them quicker than he anticipated, and it startled him. He had the sickest feeling they'd be in the master bedroom, in their marriage bed, on the far side of the house. But the cameraman motioned that he'd found them, straightaway, in the empty dining room.

Hands pushed Jack forward to the entrance, and he just caught the cheaters becoming aware they were not alone as bright camera lights blazed across them. They were on some type of large camping mattress, on the floor.

He vaguely wondered where it had come from as he saw Sadie kneeling on her hands and knees, naked, while Dan Cooper, equally naked, fucked his wife from behind. Jack saw red slashing his vision for a moment as Sadie screeched and Dan Cooper cursed.

"
Who
the hell are you people? Get out of here!"

There was a sheet and Jack was glad for it, because he didn't want Sadie to have to do this naked. Pandemonium arose, and he looked for Nia, hoping like hell she'd not seen the sex act. Especially the position. Her face looked like a wisp of pain as she clutched her middle.
Damn.
She'd seen it.

"Nia!" Dan Cooper yelled, as he tried hopping on one foot to put on some boxers. "Nia! What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Jack! Get these cameras out of here!" Sadie shrieked. "How dare you!"

Jack nearly exploded, but he forced himself toward the overly long breakfast bar on the far side of the pass-through kitchen. Then he pushed himself farther, on to the other side of it, so he'd have it between him and his wife—and her lover. Sadie's normally styled hair was a mess, in only the way hard sex could leave it.

"Dan,
why
?" Nia cried in the midst of the chaos.

"Because you asked for it!" Jack heard Cooper's bellowed reply.

He heard Nia denying that she’d asked for it, as Sadie wrestled the sheet around her so she could stomp up to the breakfast bar. There wasn't going to be any ashamed feelings from his wife, Jack could see that. Had he really expected any from her?

"How long?" he demanded, going on the offensive.

"How can you do this to me, Jack? These cameras!" Sadie yelled, as if she had the right to yell about something. "Get them out of my house. Now!" Her face was blotchy with anger.

He smirked at the last of her remarks. Little did she know how prepared he was. "This"—he swept his hand to indicate the cameras and hosts—"was because you wouldn't tell me!"

"Mrs. Andersen, don't you think you need to talk to your husband about this?" Sheila, the producer, interjected, pointing her microphone toward Sadie.

"I can't believe you people do this without any permission!" Sadie yelled at Sheila. "You take your cameras and get out of my house right now or I'm calling the cops," she yelled. "You're trespassing!"

Jack grabbed the mobile phone from its cradle on the counter behind him, turning back while saying, "They have
my
permission to be here." He smacked the phone down onto the breakfast bar in front of Sadie as he snapped, "Here! Call the damn police, Sadie." Then he added, “You can use
this
phone, because I see you don't have your cell phone on you at the moment."

Sadie's splotched face grew redder, and a crash sounded, turning all of their gazes to where Nia and Dan Cooper confronted one another. It was just a beer bottle breaking that had been littered on the floor with about a dozen others. Cooper must have kicked it as he was struggling to pull on his pants.

That was the first Jack noticed the booze: beer bottles and a bottle of Crown Royale. Only the good liquor for Sadie. Now Jack knew how they’d met. His gaze found Nia's across the room. Her brown eyes looked wounded, and it seemed to him they silently spoke to each other across the distance.
God, if this had happened to them, they'd be apologizing. Not screaming and accusing.

N
ia couldn't believe how nasty Dan was being. It had to be like cornering a wild animal that turned and snarled. Dan was snarling, and she could tell he'd been drinking. But Dan wasn’t usually a mean drunk; normally he was everyone's buddy when he drank. Apparently Sadie Andersen was Dan's "buddy" too.

Nia hated how pretty Sadie was. Not at the moment, because Sadie was disheveled. But Nia could tell Sadie was a stylish woman when not so disheveled—from
screwing
Nia’s husband. Nia flinched again at the unbelievable thought as she decided Sadie was the classy kind of woman. Sadie had her hair styled and colored regularly, her nails done, and she wore designer clothes ... when not taking it doggie style from Dan.

Sadie Andersen had curves. Was that why Dan wanted her, Nia wondered—because Sadie had ample curves and Nia had none? Her chest ached with her thoughts. Men liked voluptuous women, didn't they?

"Nia, you need to get these damn cameras out of here so we can talk," Dan ordered her sharply. At least he had his pants on.

"You can talk here and now or there won't
be
any later," Nia stated, as firmly as she’d ever talked to Dan before.

"Don't threaten me," Dan snapped back at her, and he looked as if he truly did hate her.

Nia turned away from him, walking into the kitchen to about five paces from where Jack confronted his wife over the breakfast bar. This was getting her nowhere. Dan was not answering any of her questions, when he should be on his knees begging to answer.

Then she heard Dan threaten her. "You'll have to be home, all alone with me later, Nia. Just remember that!"

Nia stomped back to him. "You are
not
coming home with me," she exclaimed, feeling her anger finally bust free and pound through her. "I
never
want to see you again!" she yelled ... finally.

Dan looked about ready to hit her as he came toward her and she flinched, backing away from the clenched fist he was raising. "Bitch," he spat, bare-chested, his face red.

Nia knew he was going to hit her. "You weren't even using a condom," she hissed, getting her last shot in before he smacked her. Only she backed into something solid. It was Jack.

"Don't you fucking touch my wife," Dan snarled.

Nia could hear Jack's laughter bark once at the absurdity, and then she was bodily lifted and moved to the side, behind Jack as he blocked her. Dan's fist seemed to bounce off Jack's bicep, but she knew it had to hurt.

"That's a joke, right, Cooper?" Jack uttered. "Me touching your wife after you've been sticking your dick
in
my wife."

"If you can't hold on to your woman, it's not my problem!" Dan yelled. "Get that camera out of my face!"

They were going to punch each other, Nia could see they were on the verge of it, and she wanted to grab Jack to stop him. Not to save Dan, but she didn't want Jack hurt.

However, Sadie grabbed Dan, hauling him back as she yelled at the cameramen, then she shouted, "Stop it, Dan! They just want it on their TV show!"

What amazed Nia was Jack. He looked angry enough to plow into Dan, but instead Jack backed away, pulling her with him. She heard Jack saying under his breath, "Back off, back off. It's not worth it."

Nia touched his forearm, and his eyes jumped to hers, with his gaze drilling her as if he was confronting another attack. She gasped at the intensity. Then, hearing the sound she made, he seemed to focus and promptly turn down his aggression to eighty, out of one hundred notches.

He cupped her hand on top of his forearm. "Sorry, Nia." His voice was a rumbling tenor. "I'm rattled," he confessed.

She nodded, looking beyond him to see that Sadie had effectively pulled Dan back into the dining room. They huddled with their heads together, animatedly discussing their situation while the hosts tried to get them to answer questions. Maybe it was symbolic—those two huddled together against outside aggressive forces, which made her know, in that instant ...

Her marriage was over.

She didn't want to cry. Not in front of all the people gathered and the cameras. Not in front of Dan and giving him the satisfaction. She'd had enough of it all.

"I can't," she said brokenly, looking back up at Jack. He put his arm around her shoulders. "I'm-I'm ..." she stuttered, trying not to cry. "Going," she finally managed, without crying. "I've seen enough.”

She felt bad, as if she were leaving Jack when she should stay and support him. But his brown eyes only held concern.

"I think you should stay here with me a while," he said, very firmly, while his gaze tracked back to their spouses.

She couldn't help it—she leaned into him. It wasn't right, but she needed support. She was pretty ragged, so, as much as she wanted to leave and never see Dan again, she took Jack's advice and stayed. She thought that Jack must have good reasons for wanting her to stay. Then she saw Dan glaring at her over Sadie's crazy hair, and even though she was mad at herself for doing so, she pulled away from Jack's support, moving from his embracing arm.

Jack felt as if his chest was never going to stop aching. It went into his chest and into his head. He saw Cooper embracing Sadie with the hosts and camera crews surrounding them like a pack of dogs.

Jack turned away from the sight, hearing Cooper exclaim, "You need to let her get dressed."

That was the point, wasn't it? Jack’s wife undressed with another man. Jack heard a commotion and he turned to see a cameraman blocking Cooper and Sadie's attempt to go down the hall.

"Jack?" Nia asked expectantly. Her hand was on his forearm again. It felt good, amongst all the bad.

"Let them go through," Jack ordered. "Sheila!" he said with a raised voice until Shelia looked at him. "Let her go through and get dressed."

Sheila looked perturbed, but her television crew moved aside so that his wife and Cooper could get through. Jack knew they were all surprised when Cooper went right into the master bedroom with Sadie, then slammed the door shut.

Nia made a wounded sound, turning toward the sink behind them. The sounds made him want to grab her and hold her tight. Maybe he was transferring the hurt onto her so he wouldn't feel so bad. He swallowed past the lump in his throat.

"Sheila," he called, motioning to the host. Of course, the cameras followed her. "Mrs. Cooper wants to leave and go home, but I'm worried about her safety, as angry as her husband is."

"The man cheating with your wife?" Sheila asked for the audience and cameras.

"Yes," Jack acknowledged with anger, but the answer was for the TV show's benefit. They were hard to take, but then the show to him was just a means to an end. An end that had finally helped him find the truth.

Sheila said," We will have our people take her home and ensure her safety from her enraged husband."

Jack felt relieved. They had some burly men in their crew. He watched Sheila swinging the microphone toward Nia.

"Guilt, Mrs. Cooper—do you think it’s guilt making your husband angry, when he was the one caught cheating?"

Jack wondered if it was worth it, playing it out in front of an audience, when he looked at Nia's delicate features marked with pain.

"I don't ever want to see him again," Nia said, with anger and finality in her tone. "Thank you for finding this out for me, but I am done now."

Her gaze looked up at him with pleading qualities, and he wondered about her for a moment. He would never just let their cheating spouses get away with what they'd done, and run away like she was about to do. As hard as it was, he'd make them face their lies and downright cruelty.

"Take her home," he said, turning away from Nia's waifish hurt.
Let her run
, he thought, a bit angrily.

Jack heard them moving away, going toward the front door, then he heard the bedroom door opening. He thought he would have heard that from a mile away. He looked impatiently at his watch.

"Need to get back to work, Jack?" Sadie's voice rolled across the room with snide inclinations.

He tensed as though he were revving up for a fight, but then he realized she wasn't worth it as he lifted his gaze to look at her. She'd put on lipstick even though her heavy makeup was a mess. That was Sadie through and through. She'd also put on a tailored burgundy pantsuit with black high heels and she had her keys in her hand.

Jack felt satisfaction at seeing those keys. He walked over to her, and her married boyfriend looked as if he was going to try to shield her. Jack stopped, not willing to get into how pathetic that was.

"Sadie, just tell me why," Jack demanded, with the need to know eating at him. Cooper started pulling her arm as though to drag her from the answer.