Ten Thousand Lies (43 page)

Ricki

Present Day

“…so that’s how
that
ended up in
Haunted Bonds
. My wife couldn’t keep her mouth shut about it. Granted, it was pretty damn epic. But it’s kind of skeevy, that God knows how many people have read about that.”

Oliver Fairfax stared at me, his eyes a little wide, like he was stunned or something.

“What?” I asked. “You all right, mate?”

He let out a slow breath. “Xanthe used to go with Deo?”

Now,
I
was the stunned one. Ronen busted out laughing.

“You just bloody found out I’m James fucking Godwin, that Ronen, Rex, and I do some hairy fucking shite for the Locals, and all you got out of that is Xanthe used to go with Deo?”

Ollie blinked. “Yes.”

Ronen lost his shite.

I shook my head. “Fucking hopeless.”

Ollie stood. So did I. Ronen continued to laugh his arse off.

“So what?” I asked the Brazilian beast. “You’re seriously going to hold her past against her?”

“She…” He swallowed thickly. “She never told me. She knows I work with him, and she
never
once said a fucking thing.”

The man was
furious
.

“Why would she?” Ronen snickered, wiping moisture from beneath his specs. “You had a fucking conniption when she hugged me for more than five Mississippis. Probably wanted to avoid that sort of shit again.”

“Years,”
Ollie seethed. “She was with him for
years
, and she never said a fucking word about it!”

I saw it. Something clicked in his head. An epiphany of sorts bloomed behind his eyes.

“The sex she writes about…it’s
them
, isn’t it?”

“Uh…” drawled Ronen. “Not anymore?”

I was getting pissed. If this fucker was going to break our Xanthe’s heart because she hadn’t told him she used to bang Deo, I was going to take him out. I’d just spilled my fucking past all over him, brought him further into our lives than ever before, and he was going apeshit over something Xanthe couldn’t—and wouldn’t—change.

“What are you going to do, Ollie?” I asked, my voice venomous. “Are you going to end it with her because of this?”

Fury flashed in Ollie’s eyes. “When did
they
end it?” he demanded.

“A while before she met you,” said Ronen. “Ollie, man…”

Striding to the door, Oliver yanked it open and stormed out, leaving Ronen and me staring after him.

“Ricki?”

“Yeah, mate?”

“Are you scared?”

Surprised, I looked at him. “Are
you
?”

“Honestly…yes. I think I’m more afraid of Xanthe than I ever was of your old man.”

“Fuck.”

As the day wore on, Ronen and I heard nothing more from Oliver. Or about Oliver from anyone else.

I’d called Ellen not long after he’d left the shop, but I’d gotten no answer, and she hadn’t called me back.

Jaime was acting normal. Neither Ronen nor I had told her what had happened or that Ollie intended to propose to Xanthe.

“Meet you guys at King’s Buffet in a couple of hours then?” Ronen asked as we headed out of the shop for the night.

“Yep,” piped Jaime, giving him a bright smile. “Have either of you spoken to Rex?”

“I’ll call him on my way to get Lilla,” Ronen offered.

“I’ll call Xanthe,” said Jaime.

Both Ronen and I froze.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” replied Ronen a little too hastily. Without further ado, the man scurried down the street in the direction of the hostel where Lilla worked.

“What the hell was that all about?” my wife asked me.

My wife.

Even though we’d been married for seven years, Jaime was still the reason I woke up each morning with sunshine in my heart and fell asleep every night wrapped up in dreams come true. I knew I was going to be in some serious trouble soon, so I took her hand, lacing our fingers, as we walked the few blocks home.

We’d bought our house not long after we’d come back from our honeymoon all those years ago. It was my greatest haven, my security and peace, and it was all ours.

“Doll,” I said, getting ready to face the danger before me, “I think I might have fucked up.”

“Oh, yeah? What’d you do this time?”

I grinned in spite of the fear making my heart trip. “Promise you’ll forgive me?”

She stopped on the sidewalk, making me halt my steps. “What the hell did you do, Ricki?”

“I, uh…”

So, I told her about Oliver and the engagement ring.

“
Five
carats?” she gasped.

“I’ll get you seven,” I stated offhandedly.

“Don’t even,” she snapped, letting go of my hand and wrapping her right hand around her left, guarding the ring I’d given her seven years ago.

I proceeded to tell her the rest of it, finishing the one-sided conversation with, “And he freaked because he didn’t know Xanthe and Deo used to go together, and I feel like the biggest prat for bringing it up.”

My wife stared at me. In shame, my eyes went from hers to her feet.

“Ricki?”

“I’m in deep shite, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, babe. I think you are.”

“She’s going to kill me.”

She sighed and took my hand once more. “No worries. I got your back.”

Jaime

Ellen had decided to join us for dinner at King’s Buffet. I stood behind her while she dug out all the loose crab claws from the crab leg bin, rolling my eyes at the back of her head. After piling her plate with every single last one, she turned to face me and dropped half of them onto my plate.

“Thanks, Ellen.”

“Mmhmm,” she replied, moving on to the crab rangoon.

Ollie’s best friend, and Rex’s boyfriend, Trey was making his way down the line, loading his plate with all sorts of different fried foods. It was the one day of the week where he let his diet rich in salad go buck-ass wild. He’d put on a little bit of weight since I’d first met him. Rex moved along with him, nearly twice Trey’s size in width. They were so cute together.

Ronen and Lilla had left their daughter Maddison with Marta, at the hostel. They were sitting in the booth, knocking back some beers. Ronen looked nervous, and he should. I didn’t think he’d told Lilla about what had happened because she’d asked where Xanthe and Oliver were, and he’d pretended he hadn’t heard.

No one had heard anything from either Oliver or Xanthe—well, Ellen might have because she’d been suspiciously tight-lipped when they’d been mentioned.

Dinner ended up being slightly awkward with the silence. Trey and Lilla were their normal cheerful selves, but they soon caught on that no one else was, and they fell into the strangeness with us.

Ronen sat back to rub his full belly.

“What’s going on?” asked Trey.

Rex sighed.

“Ricki and Ronen done fucked up and told Oliver that Xanthe used to date Deo,” replied Ellen, like it was no big thing.

“Who?” asked Trey.

“The Sophisticated Caveman,” said Rex. “Deo Dahl.”

Trey’s eyes bugged. “Shut the fuck up.”

“You’d bend over for that, wouldn’t you?” asked Ellen, her lips twitching.

“You’re damn right I would,” replied Trey. “Shit. That woman gets some seriously hot men, doesn’t she?”

“Thanks, Pound Cake,” Rex said, patting his boyfriend on the back.

“Well, it’s true.”

“Indeed,” said Ellen. “I bet they’re having a serious knock-down, drag-out fight. Oliver’s probably raving like a lunatic, and Xanthe is getting sarcastic enough to drive him batshit crazy.”

“You don’t think they’ll break up, do you?” Lilla asked quietly.

We all grew silent.

“Nah,” replied Ronen. “Xanthe doesn’t like making Oliver cry, and he’s probably sitting on the front step, bawling his little bitch eyes out.”

Sighing, I nudged Ricki to let me out of the booth. “Here, let me up. I’ll try to call her.”

I headed outside while the others took care of the bill. It took a full five rings before Xanthe answered her phone.

“Yeah?” she snapped.

“Don’t get snarky with me. I wasn’t the one who got you into trouble.”

“No, but you’re married to the one who did,” she grumbled.

“Actually, I think we both know
you’re
the one who got yourself into trouble here, Xanthe. You didn’t tell Oliver you had a ten-year on-and-off thing going with Deo, and it’s come back to bite you in the ass. Why weren’t you up-front with him about it?”

“You know how he gets!” she hissed. “He can be so jealous and possessive; it’s bloody maddening. He knows he has nothing to worry about, but it doesn’t stop him from being an absolute douche.”

Ricki stepped outside, pressing his hand to the small of my back. I winked at him.

“Tell them we’re heading to the Blue Room. They can meet up with us for drinks,” my husband told me.

I nodded. “You hear that, Bro Dawg?”

“Yeah. I guess we’ve missed crab legs,” grumped Xanthe.

“Indeed you have, my friend.”

“Is Ricki scared?”

“Mmm…I think Ronen is more so.”

“Excellent. See you in a bit then.”

The Blue Room was where we all went when Rex didn’t want to spend another goddamn minute at Wurther’s, and Ellen felt like getting her groove on. There was a small dance floor, and the music tended to lean toward old-school hip-hop and disco.

Ricki liked going there because he, too, loved to get his groove on. I didn’t, but I enjoyed watching him and Ellen break it down on the dance floor. Ronen would be nagged by Lilla, and after a few drinks, he would grudgingly head out to dance with his wife.

Rex and Trey sat at the bar, having some alone-but-not-alone time. They were probably discussing the new development brewing between Xanthe and Ollie.

And, speak of the devil, Xanthe made an appearance, looking ready to do damage, while Ollie trailed behind her, looking defeated. My heart went out to him. No doubt, Xanthe had defended her bad decision well enough to make him feel slightly ashamed for being so angry.

She marched her ass up to the bar and ordered what looked like a Long Island iced tea.

Man, she’s hitting the strong shit already.

As she headed toward me with her drink, I noticed her eyes looked bleary and rimmed with pink.

Good. She needs to shed some tears for Ollie, too.

“Hey,” I said as she plopped down next to me.

“Hey.” She trapped the straw in her mouth and sucked down a good amount of alcohol.

Oliver stood at the bar, ordering a pint, and my guess was he was paying for both drinks.

“Everything all right now?”

Xanthe shrugged. “Who knows?”

Oliver came and silently sat next to his woman. Xanthe stabbed her drink with her straw, making the ice tinkle. I looked out over the dance floor. Not many people were out there, but Ellen was doing a Jive Turkey, and Ricki was busting some white boy moves that had me fighting not to laugh.

“Xanthe…” Oliver said softly.

I pretended I wasn’t there.

“What?” Xanthe snapped.

“I need to know. I mean, you were with him for so long—”

“I told you, Oliver, we were over a long time before I met you. We never lived in the same city, not even in the same country, throughout our entire relationship.”

“Yeah, but to hold on to something like that for so long…were you in love with him?”