Cheaters Anonymous by Lacey Silks Page A

to be.
     

 
    C HAPTER 9
     
    The time at home, away from work before I started my day shifts, dragged. It was only Tuesday, and I wasn’t scheduled at the hospital until Thursday. After I left Hounds I had tried to keep myself busy with laundry and cleaning up the house, but the distractions weren’t working. Scar occupied my mind every minute of every day. Each morning since I’d last seen him, I went for a run, wanting to lose myself in the effort of exertion. I pushed my legs forward until I could no longer feel them. As doubts about starting a potential relationship filled my thoughts I sped up, concentrating on the path in front of me. If we were going to make it work, I would need to commit like I never had before, and that was definitely a challenge. Although when Scar was with me, nothing felt easier.
    The morning fog was still hovering over the grass as I jogged through Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park. My lungs were beginning to burn as I left the fifth mile behind me – which was a good thing. It kept my mind occupied and my body concentrating on other things than Scar and all the ways I could make use of his sex toys. I stopped by a bench at the side of the path and stretched my legs while taking a much-needed break.
    “Good morning, Julia. Or should I say, Doctor Blakely?” The familiar voice startled me. For a brief moment, hearing my professional name outside the hospital surprised me, and then I recognized Brad.
    “Brad? What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to remember whether he lived in the area. My apartment wasn’t far from my old neighborhood and was about a thirty-minute walk from Huntington Hospital, where I worked.
    “Small world. I guess we don’t live that far apart from each other.”
    Lowering my leg off the bench I asked warily, “Do you run here often?” Was it odd that I’ve been here at least three times per week, and hadn’t seen him before now?
    “Just started recently.”
    How recently? And why did I get the feeling that our meeting wasn’t one of chance?
    “Oh, well, I should get going. I have plans with my sister, and she’s waiting for me,” I blabbered. Of course it was a lie that I had plans with Zoey – she was probably still in bed and would remain there until at least noon. But at that moment, all I wanted was to get away, and I didn’t even know why.
    “I’m actually glad I ran into you. I wanted to apologize for the past weekend. I had a few drinks and was a dick.”
    I couldn’t argue with that. “No apologies needed, Brad. No harm done.”
    “Well, when you upset a lady the way I upset you, they are needed. I want to make it up to you.”
    “Really, there’s no need.”
    Actually, I should have said that I didn’t want to run into him again, ever, but I was afraid that would only give him unnecessary ammunition. And the last thing an unstable person like Brad needed was a loaded gun.
    “I must insist.”
    How did he get so close to me again?
    Okay, let me try a different approach. “Well, then, whatever way you’re thinking of making up to me, it would have to be for three people. I’m dating Scar now.”
    That, of course was only partly true, because we had agreed to wait until after the weekend to finalize our decision. Yet at that moment, I wanted nothing more than Scar at my side, as my boyfriend and protector, so that he could ruin Brad’s nose job all over again if there was a need. I knew how to throw a punch, but I was afraid it would be my hand breaking against any part of Brad’s body before he even bruised. And I really needed my hands functional for my job. Where were those CSI guys when you needed them?
    Brad had a weird look in his eyes, as if perhaps the mention of a man who’d broken his nose meant nothing.
    “He was supposed to meet me here, but he got a business call,” I added.
    “Then I’m a lucky man that he got that call.”
    Oh, I so didn’t like this. I was sure if I said, “Get the fuck away from me,”