Shuttered Affections (Cornerstone #1) (12 page)

I let out a single amusing chuckle and continued to walk toward
building P.

A few seconds later, a flash of dirty blond hair zipped
passed me and touched my ass on his way. I looked ahead and Aiden was leaning
against a pole, wagging his eyebrows and waving my phone in the air in a
tantalizing fashion.

Damn it. He must’ve taken it out of my pocket.

I hurried forward and was going to protest, but he put his
hand up to my lips to make me chill so he could explain. “I’m just going to
program my cell and home numbers into your phone. It looks like you never saved
my number. I already have yours in mine and I’d like you to know it’s me when I
call you.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you
how you got my number in the first place…”

“Because, it’s in your school records, Angel. I’m not a
stalker or anything. I just have an advantage.” With that, he winked, turned,
and kept on walking at a brisk pace while still fiddling with my phone.

As we approached the building, he discretely handed my phone
back to me and motioned for me to follow him. We went around a different way so
we could go into a back door, which led right into his office.

“Ooh. This is convenient,” I said with a sly grin.

Once in his private office, I noticed he had mat board taped
over the small vertical window on the office door. There were no other windows
in the small room, which meant we had full privacy.

Aiden looked over at me with an unreadable expression.

Oh, what I wouldn’t
give to know what’s going on in his mind right now.

He had about fifteen minutes before his next class and the
thought of leaving him pained me. The electricity between us was undeniable and
completely foreign to me. No man had ever made me feel this way before.

Slowly, he put his camera down and sauntered toward me. Raising
his hand to my head, he gently swept a curl away from my brow, his fingertips
leaving tingles in their wake. He pressed his hand to my cheek and I leaned
into him, closing my eyes and savoring his touch.

He gently and reverently kissed me. This kiss was much
softer and gentler than in the meadow, but was still full of passion.

“Thank you for lunch. I enjoyed myself. I especially enjoyed
spending time with you, Angel,” he murmured against my lips and then dove in
for another fiery kiss.

Just as I brought my hands to the taut muscles of his back,
his pocket began to vibrate.

A low curse passed his lips, making me chuckle and pull
away.

He pulled the phone out of his pocket and frowned when he
looked at the caller ID.

“Julia, I have to take this. It’s my wife.”

As he answered the phone with a quiet
Hello
, I felt like someone sucker-punched me in the stomach and
left me to rot. I know he saw my eyes widen and my mouth gape open at him as I
backed away toward the door. I didn’t care.

I quickly gathered my things and began to leave through the
back door of his office. He lightly grabbed my wrist and I jerked away from his
hold on me. Surprised with my reaction, he told …
his
wife
… to hold on for
one second.

“Julia, I’m sorry. I’ll explain later. Please, don’t be
mad.” Without responding to him or even giving him a chance to finish that
stupid statement, I turned and left.

“Not only was I attempting academic suicide by getting
involved with my professor, but I was going to hell for screwing around with
someone’s husband to boot.”

In a fit of rage and emotional exhaustion, I decided not to
go to the ceramics studio. I needed to get to my car before the damn tears
started to fall. As soon as my ass was in the seat, I broke down.

“He’s married?” I sobbed to no one in particular.

Not only was I attempting academic suicide by getting
involved with my professor, but I was going to hell for screwing around with
someone’s husband to boot.

I knew I shouldn’t drive while my vision was blurred with
tears, but I didn’t want to risk him coming out after me. There was no reason
we should hash anything out on school grounds. And honestly, I didn’t think I
even wanted to give him a chance to explain. He didn’t say ‘ex-wife’ and who
knows if he would have told me about her if she hadn’t called at that
particular time.

As I pulled out of my rock star parking spot, I saw him
round the corner of the building. I carefully accelerated through the lot while
watching him in my rearview mirror. He stood with one hand on his hip and the
other running through his hair. A gesture I now realized he did when he was
nervous or upset.

Just as I saw him turn and slap the wall of the building
with his hand, I glanced forward to the sight of taillights. I managed to stop
in time to avoid hitting the minivan that was backing out of a spot.

When I looked back in my rearview mirror, he was gone.

Why did he even tell me? It wasn’t like I could see his
phone or tell who was calling. He could have just said he needed to take a
private call. I would have been none the wiser.

Hitting the main road and stepping on the accelerator, I
drove home with thoughts of him clouding my mind and my judgment.
Sid better be home.

I was positive I never saw a ring on his finger. Did he take
it off just so he could land some tail?

Pulling up outside my apartment, I saw Sid’s car and sighed
in relief.

“Thank God she’s home. I need my friend,” I muttered to
myself as I sprinted from the car and up the steps to my door.

I busted into the apartment and immediately darted to Sid’s
bedroom door.

“Sid!” I yelled.

Just as I got to her closed door, I heard a thud and an
oh, shit
come from a male’s voice.

Damn it! She’s not
alone.

“Damn, Sid. I’m sorry to bother you, but I need to talk to
you. Please…” I sulked through the doorjamb as I pressed my forehead against
her door and let new tears fall.

Within seconds, Sid’s door swung open. There stood my friend
with just-fucked hair, tying her silky robe around her thin waist. Sean was
behind her buttoning his jeans.

I flung myself at her and she caught me with strong, loving
arms. Unable to hold myself up anymore, I slid to the floor.

“Shit, Jules! What happened? Shhh… you’re okay now. Just
tell me. I’m here.” Her soothing words helped calm me a little, but the past several
days were making it difficult to stop my insistent blubbering.

“Julia,” Sean’s voice was soft, soothing, and so full of
pity it made me cringe. “I’m going to pick you up and carry you to the couch,
okay hon?”

I just nodded and let him pick me up. I didn’t realize how
strong Sean was, but he didn’t seem to struggle under my slightly excessive
weight.

As soon as he sat me down on the couch, Sid was by my side
again. She grabbed my face in both of her hands and looked at me with wary eyes.

“Julia, tell me what’s going on. I haven’t seen you like
this since…” then she stopped as realization hit her. “He’s here, isn’t he?” It
wasn’t a question. She knew.

“Oh, Sid!” I sobbed again, the tears even worse this time. The
fact that my friend knew me so well and still didn’t even know the half of my
predicaments over the past four days made my emotions a relentless
rollercoaster.

Sean came back with a glass of water, keeping his distance,
but still making sure I was taken care of.

“Um, I’m going to give you two some privacy. I have
somewhere I have to be anyway. Everything is going to be okay, Julia. Call me
if either of you need anything.” And with that, he kissed us both on the top of
our heads and left us alone together.

Sean was a really good guy. I was so happy Sid lucked out
with someone as sweet as him.

“Does he… does…?” I had to clear my throat just to spit it
out. “Does he know?” I pointed toward the door Sean just went through.

“No,” Sid said as she shook her head. “I had no reason to tell
him and didn’t want him to feel bad for you about something I thought was in
the past. Geez, Julia! Tell me what happened.”

“I don’t even know where to begin… the past four days have
been heaven and hell all wrapped into a slur of confusing shit.” I sniffed
between every few words, attempting to reign in my burst of sobs.

“Just start from the beginning. You were fine the last time
I saw you, which I believe was Monday morning, if you don’t count work on
Tuesday. So, what’s happened since we last saw each other?” She was trying her
best to speak calmly, even though I could tell she was about to jump out of her
skin.

“Okay, okay.” I sighed. This was going to be tough. “It all
started when I went to school on Monday morning.”

I went through the whole story… About Aiden being my new
professor and how he showed up to surprise me at the club. The notes I found
when I got home and on my car. Aiden’s emails and text messages. The way Aiden
talked me to sleep so I wasn’t alone. The non-date with Vic. The heavenly day I
had with Aiden today in the meadow. Then the phone call that brought all my
emotions crashing back down to earth.

“…and he’s married, Sid. He’s fucking married,” I sobbed.

“Jesus, Jules. Where the hell have I been while you got beat
to shit by life?” she said with anger. Not at me, but at herself.

I just shrugged and then felt like I should make her feel
better. No reason she needed to feel bad about spending time with her
boyfriend.

“Sid, I didn’t call you. It’s not your fault you didn’t
know. I just didn’t expect to be blindsided by so many things all at once. The
fact that …Rob,” Ugh—just saying his name out loud made bile rise in my
throat. “The fact that Rob knows where I am is terrifying. But I was really
trying to just put it out of my mind. I thought this cluster-fuck of an affair
with Aiden would help me do just that. But I had no idea what I was getting
myself into. I feel so naive. So stupid.”

“Don’t you dare blame yourself for any of this!” she said
sternly as she looked into my eyes. She put her hands on my shoulders and made
me look at her. “You can’t control any of this. The only thing you can do is
not let it ruin your life. Cry about it, get it out of your system, and move
on. Men just aren’t worth all the crap.”

“But…”

“Wait,” she said as she held one of her hands up to stop me
from speaking. “Let me finish. I do think, however, that you need to get a
restraining order against Rob. I’m not saying run from him, but you do need to
think about your safety. You’re an adult now. You’ve never had the help and
support of your parents, and that is likely not going to change. Get the
restraining order and protect yourself.”

I nodded and grumbled as I thought of all the stupid work
that was involved in getting a restraining order. Especially since it has been
so long since the… incident.

“So, about Aiden…” Just as she began to speak, my phone
vibrated. I frowned and pulled it out of my back pocket.

“Speak of the devil,” I said, rolling my eyes as I read the
text from a person named
Highway Robber
.
The name he programmed for himself actually did make me chuckle internally,
even though I was not in a mood to laugh.

“Aiden is a damn good excuse.”

I was half tempted to throw my phone across the room and
never touch it again. I didn’t feel like dealing with it. I just wanted to
crawl under a rock and let everyone else pretend I didn’t exist.

Curiosity got the better of me and I clicked on the button
to view the text message.

Angel, please don’t be upset. I need to explain and that
is hard to do in a text. My wife and I are not romantically involved. I can
explain in more detail tonight if you will let me.

I turned the phone around to let Sid read it. She just stared
at the phone with a bewildered look on her face before crossing her eyes in an exaggerated
act of annoyance.

“Angel? Why does he call you that?” she asked with
puzzlement. “Does he know about your tattoo?” That was totally not the issue at
the moment, so I ignored her.

“Should I let him explain? Should I trust him?” I needed
answers.

“I think you should give him a chance to explain, but I’m
not so sure you should trust him. What if he’s lying? What if he is just
telling you that so he can get in your pants?” she said with skepticism and
curiosity obvious in her tone.

“I don’t think his only motivation is trying to get into my
pants. He had a chance to do that earlier today before I found out about his
wife, but he chose to wait. I really do think we have some sort of deep
connection to each other. But for him to be so dishonest…” my thoughts trailed
off.

“I can’t get over the fact that he neglected to tell me
about this. I mean, who is married, but not romantically involved with their
spouse? Even if they used to be and he’s in the middle of a separation, then
why wouldn’t he tell me? When he answered her phone call, he said,
It’s my wife,
like it was no big deal. He
said it like I should have already known,” I continued rambling, attempting to
understand just where he was coming from.

“I just… I guess I won’t know if he’s sincere unless I let
him explain. I think I’m going to wait to respond to him. Make him wait. Even
though I will allow him to explain, I’m not sure I want to see or talk to him
tonight. Plus, I have to work tonight anyway.”

Pausing for a moment, I continued rambling. “What sucks is,
if I don’t talk to him tonight, I’ll have to endure photography class tomorrow
with all this friction between us,” I said as I motioned between the phone and my
chest.

“Then don’t go. You haven’t missed a day of school yet this
semester. Just skip and go pamper yourself. Maybe we can make a day of it.” She
grinned wide at the idea of us spending a spa day together. It wasn’t really something
we could afford, but splurging might have been necessary at that point.

“I don’t want to skip all of my classes, but maybe skipping
photography is a good idea,” I agreed as I took a long draw of the water Sean
so kindly poured for me.

Then, I realized something. I told her about my date with
Vic, but never told her about turning him down.

“Oh, there’s something else that happened on my date last
night.” I looked over my glass at her inquisitive eyes.

“Well, Jules… spill it!” she said as she gestured her hand
out with impatience.

“Well, I went bowling with Vic, but honestly, I had my
sights set on Aiden. So, I turned Vic down. I told him we should just be
friends and that I was interested in someone else. He called me a tease for
even accepting his invitation out and then left me at the bowling alley in the
middle of the game. Luckily, I insisted on meeting him there, otherwise, he
would have left me stranded,” I said as I shrugged.

“Wow. That sucks. Was Aiden the only reason you turned Vic
down? Because it seems like keeping your options open would be the wise thing
to do. If you actually have interest in Vic, that is. But making sure you drove
yourself… That makes total sense, Jules. You’re so sensible sometimes,” she
said as she grabbed my fingers and squeezed.

“Aiden wasn’t the only reason I turned him down. There was
something that was… off about him. His mood seemed to change drastically from
one moment to the next. I didn’t even get a chance to spend much time around
him and I noticed the drastic mood changes. So, I can’t imagine what it would
be like if I were to spend a lot of time with him,” I explained, and then
smiled. “But, Aiden is a damn good excuse.”

She just nodded her approval.

By three in the afternoon, I was spent. Sid had to leave a
few minutes later. Her shift at the club started much earlier than mine today
because she was scheduled to help Lib stock the bar for extra cash. I didn’t
need to be at work until seven that night, so I decided to take a long,
relaxing bubble bath.

My phone vibrated on the edge of the tub and brought me out
of my almost dream-like state and back to reality. I figured it was probably Sid
saying she forgot something, so I quickly dried my hands off and checked the
messages.

1 new text from Highway
Robber
was displayed on the screen.

After a pause, I decided to check it.

Juliana, please let me know you’re okay. I’d hate myself
if something happened to you after I scared you away. Please, just let me know
you’re all right.

I decided to have pity on him. I didn’t want to talk, but I
didn’t want to make him sick with worry either.

I remembered watching Sid go through just that, pacing the
floor, worried when she couldn’t get in touch with her parents after they were
supposed to return from their trip to Georgia. She found out two days later
they were killed in a car crash, burned so badly they were unrecognizable. I
wouldn’t wish that upon anyone.

Mr. Stone, I do not wish to talk right now. But, I am home
and safe from the boogieman. Thank you for your concern.

I was really hoping he would get the hint and not text back.
My hopes were shattered with the two short buzzes from my phone.

“Dang.” I sighed.

I understand if you don’t want
to talk now. I will respect your space. What are you doing atm?

I immediately furrowed my brows. Why did he want to know
what I was doing? Maybe it was devious of me, but I wanted to make him squirm.

Taking a bubble bath.

A satisfied smile plastered itself on my face at my
boldness.

Oh, I would give anything to be
a fly on your wall. You have no idea what you do to me, Angel.

Well, now. That was not what I expected. I was at a loss for
words. What the hell did I say to that? We only met a few days ago and yet he’d
already kissed me, lied to me, and was now text-flirting with me?

My head was spinning with unknown emotions all because of
this man.

My phone vibrated in my hand.

May I come over? I would like
to see you. Please?

I frowned. Didn’t he just say he
would give me my space?

I don’t think that is such a
good idea, Mr. Stone.

With a shiver, I realized the water was beginning to get
cold. So, I pulled the tub plug with my toes and started the shower to wash my
hair.

I heard the phone’s double buzzing a few times while it sat
on the bathroom counter. I figured it was probably good for him to stress it
out for a little while.

Knowing Sid wasn’t home, I dried off and wrapped my hair in
my towel, not bothering to cover my bare body. I walked out of the bathroom,
into the hallway, and came face to face with Aiden.

I froze with panic.