I take a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts. Fuck.
“Tell me what, Lauren?” Ty’s voice is cold, and I recognize his stance. I saw it not thirty minutes ago in a courtroom.
“Cary, can you please leave us alone?” I ask, my gaze not leaving my angry man. Cary backs out the door, shutting it quietly behind him.
“What didn’t you fucking tell me?” Ty asks in a low voice.
“Jack threatened to rape me that day he showed up at the house,” I say matter-of-factly. I’m running on adrenaline now, almost defiantly. If Ty wants a fight, I’ll give him one.
“And you didn’t think it was important to tell me?”
“I was too embarrassed to tell you.”
“Let me get this straight.” Ty shoves his jacket angrily down his arms, throws it on top of his desk, and rolls up his sleeves. “Some asshole threatened to fucking rape my girlfriend, and she didn’t tell me because she’s embarrassed?”
“She wasn’t your girlfriend then,” I whisper.
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” he roars.
“Don’t you dare yell at me!” I roar back. “Jack doesn’t want me, Ty! He wanted to scare me, and it worked!”
Ty scrubs his scalp with both hands and paces away from me, then returns to me, standing two feet away, but doesn’t touch me.
“What, exactly, did he say?”
“I’m not telling,” I whisper.
“Oh, yes, sweetness, you are.”
“You’re not my husband and you’re not my lawyer, Tyler Sullivan.”
“I’m the one person in your life who cares about you above everything else, goddamnit!” His eyes are hurt as he watches me, and I feel like such a shit. Ty is the last person I ever want to hurt. I swallow hard and mentally pull up my big-girl panties.
“He said that if I didn’t give him what he wants, he’d come back and remind me what it feels like to have him fuck me.” The last five words are whispered so softly I don’t know if Ty can even hear me. Bile rises in the back of my throat, but I swallow hard again and meet his eyes. “It’s mortifying that I was ever connected to someone like that, Ty. Why would I tell you that?”
“Because I’ve been going through all of this shit with you.” His voice is still hard. “What else aren’t you telling me?”
I shake my head and laugh humorlessly. “You know what? I don’t have time for this.” I move away from him, hitching my purse over my shoulder. “I have a deadline to meet in”—I check my watch—“thirteen hours, and I still have two chapters to write.”
I turn to leave, but he halts me with a quiet “Stop.”
I turn to face him. He hasn’t moved. He’s watching me with his arms crossed over his chest. “We are too important for you to just walk away, Lauren.”
“I’m not walking away from you. I’m irritated with you and I need to go home. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“You don’t want me to come over tonight?”
I shake my head no. “Let’s just take a night off from each other, Ty. I’ll be working all night anyway.”
He nods, still angry, but his eyes have softened. In relief? I’m not sure.
I leave his office, ignoring Sylvia as she calls out to me, asking if I want to make an appointment with Cary.
I can’t deal with this right now.
I took the afternoon off because I missed Ty and I wanted to see him in action in the courtroom. Now I have a good eight hours of work ahead of me before I can e-mail the manuscript to my editor. She wants it by the time she gets to her office at 9:00 a.m. eastern time.
I can do this.
I push thoughts of Ty and his hurt eyes out of my head as I pull up to my house and let myself in and march straight back to the my pool house. The men finished up yesterday, thank God, and I can finally swim again. Seventy-five laps or so should get my head back in the game.
I strip naked and swim. I love the feel of the water over my skin, the sound it makes as it rushes past my ears.
Fuck, I even love the way it smells.
After the last lap, I climb out and brace my hands on my knees, panting and dripping water all over the concrete floor. I reach for a towel, dry off, and pull my clothes back on. I stop in the kitchen to grab an energy drink on my way to my office.
Two hours later, there’s a knock on my door, pulling me out of the story. I save the document and walk to the front door, surprised to see Jillian standing there, white plastic bags dangling from her hands and a big grin on her pretty face.
“I’ve come with provisions, per Ty’s orders.”
“What did you bring?” I step back and let her breeze past me, shut the door, and follow her to the kitchen.