“Yeah, I hear you, but this shit… Greg, make sure you really want to know because it can’t be unknown. I know you, and I know how you feel about the females in your life. I’m not even going to lie to you. When Dee told me everything, I felt that hard enough that the earth shook. That’s my woman, my life, so I felt that, and I still feel that. I know she’s like a sister to you, and it doesn’t matter if there isn’t a relationship between you two like the one I have with her. That shit will hurt.” I spit the last few words out, gripping the phone so tightly I’m sure it will snap. “Hell, I lived most of it right by her side, and I didn’t even know the half of it.”
“Right. That doesn’t change things for me. I need to know, Beck. I’ve already heard it from Axel. Izzy was in tears for almost three full days. You don’t think I get that this shit is heavy? I know, and that’s what keeps running through my head. One of the most important people in my life was in pain for years, and I couldn’t see shit. I have to know.”
We don’t talk after that. I can feel my neck getting tight in frustration, and I growl in the phone. Fuck!
“It’s not just about you, Greg. I don’t want this to set her back,” I say quietly.
“What?” he whispers, his voice deadly calm. “Set her back from what?”
I realize my mistake right when the words come out. If I had any hope of calling him off before, now it is gone. He’s going to know with those words that it is probably as bad as he has imagined.
“I’m coming over. You want to sit in on this talk, that’s fine, but I’m on my way.”
When I hear the phone disconnect, I slam the receiver down, and push back from my desk with enough force to cause my chair to crash down. Fuck me. Looks like I need to go let Dee know that a storm’s coming.
I need out of this house, and not being able to just go whenever I want is probably the only reason that I’m so antsy to leave. At this point, I don’t even care where the hell I go. I just want to see something other than the walls of Beck’s home. Chelcie is handling this a whole hell of a lot better than I am. Either that or she’s just hiding it better. I think her toes have been painted and repainted about fifty times. I’ve tried to get her to tell me what’s going on with her and Coop, but she just evades the question. If I didn’t think something was going on before, I definitely do now.
This morning has been exceptionally boring. We have all the work done for the next week it seems. When all that you have is time, it’s amazing the stuff that gets finished. I’ve contacted a real estate agent that I know back in North Carolina, and told him that I want it sold. Gone. I don’t want to ever see that building again. So far, there haven’t been any issues with my clients. They know that I will still be handling their business; it just won’t be from the same state.
The policyholder that Adam had screwed with wasn’t too happy when I explained the situation. Luckily, since it had only been a few hundred dollars, they agreed to take a settlement in order to not press charges.
Regardless of how many times I explain the situation, I know there will never be a chance of getting business from them or anyone close to them in the future. For the first time in almost ten years, the job I love is becoming something I hate.
I have just finished emailing the agent handling the sale of Roberts Insurance, NC. Things are looking good for a quick sale. I didn’t expect to get a bite within the first week of putting the listing up, but so far, there are two companies with heavy interest. Thank God.
“Dee?”
I smile when Beck’s voice carries out of the house onto the deck where I’m relaxing with Chelcie. I shut my laptop and look over at her.
“I’ll be right back. Do you need anything?”
She looks up from her own computer for a second, shakes her head, and returns her attention to whatever she’s working on.
Walking through the double doors and back into the living room, I make my way towards where I hear his heavy steps echoing from the front of the house. I round the corner into the foyer and almost collide with Beck. “Whoa there, Big Boy, where’s the fire?” The smile on my lips slips away when I notice the look in his eyes. “What is it?” I whisper.
He doesn’t answer right away. He pulls me into his arms and just holds me. My anxiety is climbing. It really could be anything as long as we have some sick fuck out there watching our every move. “Beck, please, talk to me.”
“Greg’s on his way. I tried. I really did. I know you aren’t ready to have this talk, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I’ll sit with you if you need me to, but I think he needs to know what really went on.” His eyes are pleading with me to understand, and I get what he’s saying. Until Greg knows everything, it won’t be out of the way and in the past.
“Okay.” Wrapping my arms around him, I let his comforting scent and strong body ease some of the tension from me. “I know you would sit there with me, and that means the world, but we both know you don’t want to reopen that wound. We’ve moved past it, and I don’t want to see that pain in your eyes again. I need to do this on my own.”
“Are you sure?”
His arms pull me in tighter and I smile against his chest. What did I do to deserve this man?