Chapter 18: Doppelbanger: Chapter 18

AFTER JEFFREY GIVES me two of the best orgasms of my life, one with his monster cock and another with his skilled fingers, we decide it’s time to grab some food to soak up some of the alcohol that, according to him, we’ve both consumed way too much of. Personally, I could go at least a few more rounds.

“You’re actually kinda fun when you’re inebriated, CEO,” I observe as we make our way down to the French Quarter for beignets at Café Du Monde.

“Thanks, Tink.” Jeff reaches for my hand, lacing his fingers in mine. My first instinct is to pull away, but it feels nice. Really nice, actually. “You’re not as hard to stomach when the kids aren’t around,” he slurs, his half-assed attempt at a compliment, and I nearly piss myself laughing.

“Wow. You really know how to make a girl feel good, lemme tell ya.”

He looks over at me with a wide, goofy grin. “I’ve always been good with my dick.”

“Oh my God.” He is too much. “I was talking about your Shakespearian way with words.”

His face beams with pride. “I’m very charming as well.”

Someone has definitely been lying to him. “Uh-huh,” I mumble. He’s lucky I’m looking forward to him making me feel good for a third time tonight.

When we reach Jackson Square, there’s a small crowd collected around a pair of dueling violinists. Both Jeffrey and I naturally gravitate in that direction. The music is hypnotic, but it’s when we get close enough to see the couple that I’m truly mesmerized. The guy is tall and lanky, just how I like ’em. He’s got light caramel skin, and a fluff of springy curls atop his head. And his eyes…I’m getting vagina flutters just witnessing the way he’s fucking the willowy brunette with those mossy green orbs.

There’s so much passion in the way the two of them play that I can’t help but imagine what’ll be going down in their room tonight. If they make it that far. I kinda hope he goes all caveman and fucks her right here where we can watch. A girl can dream, right?

“Aren’t they beautiful?” I ask Jeffrey, who hasn’t said a word. It’s the longest he’s gone without talking since we left the strip club.

“You think they’re a couple?” he asks, moving his hand to the small of my back. Goosebumps breakout across my skin as he glides his thumb back and forth.

I nod. “Have to be. Strangers don’t look at each other like that, CEO.”

We watch in silence for the rest of their set, and I wonder if Jeff’s body is having the same physical reaction as mine. I feel hot and needy—bordering on desperate—and I had two orgasms. “I bet if they performed outside of the sex toy shop, they’d sell the place out.”

“You ready to go again, Tink?”

“God, yes.”

The music stops, and the beautiful couple instantly fall into one another’s arms, making out like it’s their life source. I wonder what it’s like to feel a love so intense.

Jeff releases my hand, stumbling over to the tip bucket and dropping a wad of cash inside. “Thanks for warming my girl up for me,” he says at a volume much louder than his usual speaking voice. Then he returns to my side, grabbing my hand and heading in the direction of the café.

He called me his girl. I know it was nothing more than an alcohol-induced slip of the tongue, but I’m confused as fuck at why this isn’t sending me running for the hills. Why’d I like hearing those two words so much? Most of all, why is there suddenly the tiniest part of me that wishes he meant it?

“Where’re you going, Jeff?” He’s suddenly pulling me in the direction of some creepy little alley. “The café is that way.”

He points ahead to a dimly lit table in the back of the alleyway. It’s then that I notice the sign, “Lady Adelaide’s psychic readings.”

“Oh, no.” Turning back the way we came, I tug on his arm. “I’m not doing this shit, Jeffrey. I told you that already.”

“I’ll do it. It’ll be fun. Come on, Tink.” I have a bad feeling about this, but he’s so damn eager and cute and I can’t tell him no.

“Fine. But I’m just watching.”

“Deal.”

Lady Adelaide has a fancy setup compared to the others we’ve passed by, most of which were just a simple black folding table with a handmade posterboard sign taped to the front. This chick has a legit banner and thick purple drapes on rods which she closes around us for privacy. There’s an odd scent…some sort of incense is burning, and the smoke only adds to the creepy atmosphere. I can’t believe Jeffrey’s into this shit.

“Hi. Welcome.” A beautiful Creole woman with the most amazing creamy mocha skin and hypnotic green eyes greets us with a smile. “I’m Lady Adelaide…Are we here for a couple’s reading tonight?”

“Oh, no.” I shake my head, motioning to Jeffrey. “We’re not a couple.”

Her forehead crinkles. “No?” She looks from me to the CEO and back again with a knowing glance. I think she may have just winked at me.

“No,” Jeff agrees, sitting in the chair opposite hers. “We’re definitely just friends.”

Lady Adelaide nods, although she’s clearly not convinced. “All right, so here’s what we’re going to do Mr….?”

“Jeff.”

“Jeff.” She nods. “I want you to hold this deck of cards in your hands and think about your life. Where you’ve been. Where you are now. Where you’re going. Any concerns you may have for your future. I want you to put your energy into that deck for me, Mr. Jeff.”

He takes the big clunky deck of worn cards from her hands. His eyes close, and he’s silent for a moment before handing them back.

“Very good. Now I want you to choose five cards,” she says, fanning them out across the table. “One at a time.”

Jeffrey begins picking out cards and handing them to Adelaide, who arranges them in the shape of a cross in the center of the table. He looks over to me and winks.

“Very good.” She nods, studying the spread.

As she starts to read his cards, my stomach grows weak. Lady Adelaide mentions a great love from his past, and how he’s still struggling with that loss. Jeffrey nods, his face going white and eyes glistening in the candlelight, and suddenly this fun and frivolous adventure becomes so much more than we bargained for.

“This card tells me that you’ve reached a very important crossroads, Mr. Jeffrey. Whatever happened in your past is preventing you from living your life. It’s preventing you from moving forward.”

Jeff coughs, clearing his throat. “My wife,” he finally says, breaking down. “I lost my wife.”

Lady Adelaide rests a hand over his, gently. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”

My heart twists into knots. I can’t handle seeing him in so much pain. I want to grab him by the arm and drag him out of here, putting an end to this torture. Why would anyone willingly submit themselves to this?

“Ahh. But this card here tells me that a beautiful future awaits you. A soulmate, Mr. Jeffrey. And I’m getting the feeling you’ve already met this person.” Her brows raise in question.

I swear the man turns white as a sheet. It’s not even my reading, and I’m freaking shaking. He doesn’t utter a word. Just sits there growing paler by the minute.

“You have a lot to think about. Find a way to deal with your pain, or this new life may never come to fruition. Many people spend their whole lives searching for their soulmates. You’re one of the lucky few to have been blessed with two. This is a good fortune, Mr. Jeffrey. Don’t let it slip away.”

§

“Can I ask what happened?” I work up the nerve to ask after a mostly silent walk to his hotel from the card reading. We’re about to step inside, and I know that once we do there will be little chance for talking. “How’d she—”

“Yeah. No…it’s fine. She died after giving birth to Willow.” His hand scrubs over his face, and he stumbles a little on the uneven sidewalk.

“Oh my God, Jeffrey. I’m so sorry. Did she ever get the chance to see her?” I ask, while reaching for his arm to steady him.

“You don’t have to apologize, Tink. It’s not your fault.” He gives my hand a gentle squeeze, as if he’s trying to console me. “Yeah, she saw her. I have a few pictures of them in the hospital, actually. They’re the last pictures we have of her. She passed away a few hours after Willow was born. Jess was asleep, and I’d gone down to the nursery to check on the baby. When I got back to the room—” His face takes on a faraway look, and I can tell he’s reliving the awful event.

“It’s okay,” I say rubbing his back when I see how upset he’s become. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

“I found her—” he stops walking, biting down on his knuckle, and lets out a guttural cry. “Lying in a pool of blood on the—on the floor.”

My hand lifts to cover my mouth and warm tears line my cheeks as my heart breaks into a million tiny pieces for this man, who lost the love of his life. For Willow, who will never know her mother. For Jessica, who will never get the chance to see what a true joy her baby girl is. And for Evangeline, who had to go through such a traumatic loss at way too young of an age.

“They tried to revive her,” he continues. “But it was too late. She—She’d lost too much blood.”

“Jeffrey,” I say, reaching my hands up to touch his face, smoothing his tears away with my thumbs. His pain is palpable, reaching deep within my bones.

He doesn’t say another word. Just stares into my eyes. I’m experiencing a connection the likes of which I’ve ever felt before. It’s as if I can finally really this man. Truly see him, right down to his soul, and it terrifies me just how much I like what I see.

I’m a little unsure if it’s the right move to make when I pull his face down, bringing his lips to mine. I kiss him softly. Tenderly. It takes Jeff a moment to respond, and I’m afraid he’s about to push me away, but his lips part and his tongue brushes against mine. It’s velvety soft and tastes of whiskey. Jeffrey takes his time savoring every stroke, every breath, every touch.

Knotting his fingers into my hair, he holds me close, as if he’s afraid I’ll disappear. “I need to get you upstairs,” he rasps against my lips, and my heart damn near convulses in my chest.

It takes me a moment to come down from the cloud I’m floating on. “Lead the way.”

The ride in the elevator up to the twenty-sixth floor is excruciating. I don’t know which is fluttering faster, my heart or my nether region. I want another taste of what we started downstairs, but the elevator is packed, so I have to settle for discreet touches. A brush of his hand on my backside. The feathering of his lips at my temple. His warm breath on my neck.

When we finally reach our floor and make it into Jeffrey’s hotel room, I’m all wound up and overly emotional.

“Gina,” he growls, backing me up against the hotel room door. His hands are on my face, his thumbs tracing my jawline, my neck, my collarbone. “Thank you for today,” he rasps, hitting me with another one of his soul-deep stares. “I needed this.” His head shakes, and he lets out a resigned breath. “I needed more than I realized.”

“Jeffrey,” I mewl, unsure of how to respond to such declarations. My heart is racing, my pussy throbbing, and there’s something else—something foreign—and it’s making me all warm and tingly. “I need you.”

He chuckles as I rub myself up against him, and I’m glad I can lighten his mood a little. I hate seeing him hurt. “You really have a thing for my dick, don’t you?”

“God, yes.” I reach for his button, unfastening his pants, and they fall to the floor with a thud.

“Slow down, babe. My wallet is in my pocket. I need a condom.”

I don’t know what comes over me in that moment, but I want to do something with him I’ve never done with another man. He’s shared so much of himself today, and I want to give him something in return. “I want you to fuck me bare,” I say, lifting my dress over my head and tossing it to the floor.

His jaw drops, “Gina, I don’t…I mean, I obviously have, but not since…”

Panic wells in my chest, and I press my finger to his lips. “Please, don’t go there. Not now, Jeffrey.” If he says her name in this moment, I will run home crying like a horny-ass baby. “If you don’t want to, it’s fine. I just thought…Well, I’ve never done it before without a condom, and it was just an idea.”

He worries his lip between his teeth, his eyes roaming up and down the length of my body. “Are you sure?”

Nodding, I rub my hands over his chest. “I had a hysterectomy, Jeff. It’s impossible for me to get pregnant, and I swear I’m clean.”

“You trust me?” he asks, incredulous.

“You’re the most responsible man I’ve ever met, and the only one I’ve ever trusted enough.”

My words seem to flip a switch in him. Jeff scoops me into his arms, carrying me over to the bed where he gently lays me across the middle. Before joining me, he removes the rest of his clothing. The bedside lamp is the only light in the room, and it’s on just long enough for me to get a glimpse of the light spattering of hair on his chest that runs down to a mouthwatering happy trail, pointing straight to the promised land, before Jeff switches it off on his way into bed.

“You’re so beautiful, Tink, lying in my bed with your hair spread over my pillow like that,” he says, crawling in to rest beside me. He trails one finger along the bend of my neck, over the tops of my breasts, down the center of my tummy, finally skimming the waist of my suit bottom.

My entire body comes alive beneath the tenderness in his touch. “No one’s ever touched me like that,” I admit, squirming a little.

“With a finger?”

“With their heart.”