The Fourteen Day Soul Detox (3 page)

My mother always said that the best
time to kill gossip was before it ever began, and being a teacher, my
mother would know. I hated talking about what happened with Logan,
but I could practically feel Whitney heating her iron to brand me
with a big ‘A’ for adultery.

I looked between both their faces, and
then exhaled. “My husband died about a year ago. I still wear
the ring at work; I must have forgotten to take it off. Cameron was
my husband’s best friend and he helps us out a lot.”

“Oh wow, I’m sorry,”
Whitney said, giving me a ‘your life sucks’ look.

Patrick, however, didn’t look at
all surprised. He gave me a sympathetic straight lipped smile.

I nodded. “Thanks. Anyway, I
can’t make it to your fundraiser and I have to go now. So, good
luck with it all.” Waving, I crossed up to my car door and
crawled inside.

Before I even started my car, I texted
Beza:

Me:
You
are in so much trouble.

Beza:
Who
me?

As I pulled out of my parking spot,
Patrick looked over at me. He stood a few cars down, still talking to
Whitney. He raised a hand, and gave me a slight smile.

I returned the smile and the wave, but
the moment I was out of the parking lot, I called Beza. When she
didn’t answer her cell, I called her work number. Normally, I
would never stoop this low, but I was feeling pretty low right now.

“Karen Blanche Wedding Services,”
a female receptionist answered.

Gasping and making my voice sound as if
I was crying, I said, “Hello, I’m a bride, I mean I’m
a client of Beza’s, can I speak to her?”

“Can I get your name?”

I made a crying sound into the phone,
and the receptionist must have connected me because suddenly I heard
Beza’s voice, “You’ve reached Beza.”

I stopped pretending to cry. “Hello
my supposed friend. You set me up,” I said in a serious voice.
“I know that you are at work and I don’t want to get you
in trouble. I’m going to ask you a series of yes or no
questions and you better tell me the truth. Got it?”

“Yes, Miss Summers, I have a
minute,” she said in a professional voice.

“Did you talk to Patrick the
Hunky Dad about me?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“You buttface, I knew it. Did you
tell him I was single?”

“Yes, I did,” she said.

“Did you tell him that I think
he’s cute?” I asked.

I could hear the smile in her voice
when she said, “Well…”

“No, you didn’t! You did
not tell him I call him the Hunky Dad!”

“I did,” she said.

I paused. “Is he single?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Okay, last question: if I
murdered you, do you think I could get away with it?”

“No,” she said, not
sounding the least bit worried.

“You are officially the worst
friend ever,” I said.

“I know. You’re welcome,”
she said before hanging up on me.

Pulling up to my duplex, I jumped out
of my car. Upon exiting the parking lot, I looked to my neighbor’s
yard. Finding it empty, I rushed up to my door.

I turned the knob quietly and slowly,
finding the door unlocked. “Hey Cameron, sorry I took so long,”
I called out as I opened the door. “Whoa,” I said,
stopping right inside.

Cameron, just on the other side of the
door, stood only an inch from me. He reached behind me, shutting the
door but left his arm on the door, boxing me in.

Backing up, my back hit the door behind
me. “Hi,” I whispered.

His other hand reached to the door on
my other side, surrounding me. “Hi,” he said. Then his
lips moved into mine. At first he kissed me slowly, but then he
kissed me furiously, as if he was unleashing a kiss that had been
pent-up for hours. The length of his body pressed into mine.

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders
and my legs around his waist, climbing him. A little gasp escaped me
as he ground against me.

He pulled his lips away from mine for
one second to say, “I need to be inside of you.” Then his
lips pressed back into mine.

We broke our kiss only for a moment so
that he could pull off my sweatshirt and shirt.

His hands went to my breasts and I felt
him groan against my lips. “I love that you’re not
wearing a bra,” he whispered.

I laid my head back against the door,
closing my eyes as he ground into me.

Uncurling my legs from around him, I
set them down to stand on shaky legs. His hands immediately went to
my button and zipper, and mine reached for his. As soon as my pants
were undone, I wiggled out of them.

Cameron’s hands wrapped around my
ass and he lifted me until he was poised to enter me. He paused and I
pressed my knees into his hips, breathing heavily.

Leisurely, he pushed into me. When we’d
both reached our release, he let his body collapse into mine against
the door.

“Oh, baby,” he whispered
into my ear, chuckling, “Baby, baby, baby.” He then
whispered something so low I couldn’t hear him.

“Huh?” I asked, blinking up
at him.

He pulled out of me, setting me down on
the floor, and tucking himself back into his pants. His face came
down, lips just brushing over mine. As his fingers combed into the
hair at the back of my head, he intensified the kiss. After a minute,
he pulled away. “I really want to do that again, and take my
time this time.”

“But…?”

“But I am supposed to open up the
shop at ten-thirty, and I’ll already be a little late for
that.”

“Of course,” I breathed.

“And you have that birthday
lunch,” he said.

“Oh, yay,” I said without
enthusiasm.

He chuckled. “Want to shower
together?”

“Um, you go ahead, I haven’t
eaten anything and I’m starting to feel a little lightheaded,”
I said.

“Let me make you something,”
he said, leaning back and looking at me, concerned.

“No, no, I’m just going to
microwave some oatmeal. You go shower,” I said.

He kissed me. “You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” I
said, nodding.

He walked backwards away from me,
looking sexy with his pants open and boxer briefs riding low. He gave
me a huge grin. “You keep standing there all naked and ravaged
like that, and I’m going to fuck you again.”

“Is that a threat or a promise?”
I asked.

“Oh, sexy, you’re going to
get me in trouble. I’m forcing myself to turn around now,”
He turned, saying, “I have a new customer, wants some custom
work done on all of his cars and a bike, top dollar.”

“That’s great,” I
grabbed the sweatshirt off the ground and shrugged it on. It hung to
just below my butt and I kept the hood on.

“I thought so. And he has friends
who need work done as well. Things go right, I might be able to hire
another guy or two and free up some time during the day.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked.

He turned around at the bathroom
doorway, and said, “You know, to spend more time with you and
Sarah. Dinners and stuff like that.”

“Yeah?” I said, steadying
my voice, “That’d be great, fingers crossed.”

“Fingers crossed,” he said,
turning around and moving out of sight into the bathroom. After a
second, I heard the water turn on.

My body slid down the door and I curled
into a ball. Tears coursed down my face.

“What am I doing with my life?”
I whispered. Sobs ripped from my chest as I rolled forward onto the
ground. My face brushed against the shag carpet. It was disgusting
and I wanted to get up, but as the tears and sobs continued, I
couldn’t make myself.

I dug my fingers into the coarse carpet
as the ragged sobs continued.

Hands grabbed me, and suddenly Cameron
lifted me into his arms and carried me across the apartment into my
room. He set me on my bed, curling up around me and holding me to his
chest.

“This is so embarrassing,”
I whispered, my words broken with sobs.

“Please, no, don’t be
embarrassed. I don’t want you to hide it from me.” He
kissed me on the back of my neck. “Can I be here for you, or do
you need me to go?”

“Um…I… I think I’ll
go take that shower with you,” I said as I scrubbed at my face.

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. That carpet made
me all itchy,” I half-cried, half-laughed.

“Yeah, I
hate your carpet. The people who own this complex are serious
cheapskates; it should have been re-carpeted years ago. Come on, I’ll
wash you,” he said.

When I climbed off the bed, I realized
that Cameron was already naked and I had not noticed. I had obviously
lost my sanity for a minute there, because when Cameron was naked, I
was pretty sure all the angels in Heaven started singing.

I ran my hands down the muscles of his
back as we crossed the hall into the bathroom, just because I could.
He smiled over his shoulder at me, a glint of white teeth.

“You feeling a little better,
baby?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Okay, I just need to do one
quick thing.” He turned, grabbing his phone which had been
sitting on top of a pile of his folded clothes on the bathroom
counter. He texted a message, then set the phone back. “Oh, and
don’t let me forget to give you your birthday present.”

I looked down. “I thought you
already did.”

“Funny girl,” he said.
Grabbing the bottom of my sweatshirt, he pulled it up over my head,
so that we were now both naked.

Switching the faucet to the
shower-mode, he turned on the hot water, then the cold. Keeping his
hand under the flow, he turned his attention back to me. “What
I did to you in the living room was a present I gave to myself. I
have an actual real material present I
bought
for you.”

“Oh, okay,” I said,
smiling—or trying to smile. “I love presents.”

“I know you do. Here, come on
in,” he said, gesturing to the shower.

Climbing in, I pushed my face into the
hot spray. The water pelted me, beating against my eyelids and
cheeks.

“Here, get your hair wet,”
Cameron said.

Bending my neck forward, I let the
water saturate my hair.

Hands on my hips pulled me back a step.
There was a squirting sound, and then Cameron’s hands were in
my hair. He massaged soap into my scalp, rubbing his fingers from the
top of my head, behind my ears all the way to the base of my neck.

A small groan escaped my mouth.

His hands guided me around and he
pushed me back a step, into the spray. I closed my eyes as he
continued to massage the soap out of my hair. His hands again went to
my hips and he led me a step forward.

Opening my eyes, I looked over to where
Cameron was browsing through the bottles at the side of my bathtub.

“I do know how to wash myself,
you know,” I said with a smile.

“Yeah, but why would you when I’m
so happy to do it?” He grinned up at me. “Close your
eyes.”

I rolled my eyes before I closed them.
“Okay,” I said.

There was another squirting sound, I
smelled my lilac bath soap, and then Cameron’s hands were
slowly massaging my shoulders. He rubbed the soap up my neck, then
down my arms. His hands worked down my chest, taking a very long time
rubbing soap into my breasts.

“My boobs must be very dirty,”
I said with a laugh.

“Very, very dirty,” he said
in a low voice close to my ear. His hands moved down, washing my
stomach, over around to my back and butt, then down my legs.

When he pushed me back into the spray,
I whispered, “I think you missed something.”

Cameron went to his knees. “That
part I clean with my mouth.” He looked up, raising an eyebrow
at me. “Hold onto something.”

I grabbed the faucet above me as
Cameron’s hands spread my legs apart. My back pressed into the
cool tile, while the warm water sprayed across my middle.

He lifted one of my legs, placing it
over his shoulder, then did the same with the other.

Exhaling heavily, I looked down at him.
The corner of his mouth turned up as his eyebrows lifted. He lowered
his mouth.

Mere minutes later, the aftershocks of
pleasure pulsed through me. My throat was so dry, I let the spray
from the shower run into my mouth.

I realized the water hitting me was ice
cold, and I couldn’t help but breathe a laugh.

Cameron looked up at me. “I
thought I could brighten your mood,” he said with a
self-satisfied smirk.

I moved my shaky legs off his
shoulders. “Uh, yeah, you could call it that. But what about
you?” I said, pointedly looking down to where he was
very
ready for round two.

“I… am going to stay in
the shower and cool off,” he said.

“Are you sure?” I asked,
smiling.

“No, definitely not.” He
got up off his knees and rubbed my arms with his hands. “But,
if I don’t get going, I’ll probably lose this customer.”

“Yeah, we should probably be
responsible adults,” I said, kissing him. “I’m
getting out though, it’s freezing in here.”

He smacked me lightly on the butt as I
climbed out. Wrapping my hair in one towel and my body in another, I
looked for some spare towels but couldn’t find any. It had been
over a week since I’d done any laundry. Yet another thing I had
to do.

As the towel around my body was only
damp, and the one around my hair was already soaked, I left the damp
towel on the rack for Cameron.

I dried the rest of me with the soaked
towel and threw it on the wet floor on the bathroom.

As much as I wanted to wear sweatpants,
I knew that I would have to go into work for a little while after
lunch, and I didn’t want to have to change later.

Unfortunately, the only clean jeans I
had were from about a year ago and a full two sizes too big. When I
threw on my too-big Coffee Spot T-shirt, it looked like I was
dressing up in someone else’s clothes. I put on a belt to make
sure the pants didn’t do a diving act, and slipped on some
tennis shoes.