“Mom?” Aubrey asked, looking at her mother with real curiosity.
“It’s true. Why do you think your father and I are so adamant about you doing things properly? When you don’t, situations like these arise. We should have waited until we married. We didn’t, and we paid the price. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. It was a long time ago. A mistake that I regret, but know I did the right thing in the end. We could have never cared for a child at that age. And neither can you two.”
Their mother’s attention was back on Ben and Mackenna, who continued to argue with their father. Aubrey’s thoughts had left the living room and were somewhere else, wondering who her elder sibling was.
It wasn’t until Ben stood with Mackenna’s hand in his that she came back to the moment and heard the words that would change everything.
“Get out! I will not have a disrespectful and ungrateful child living in my home! You think you can take care of yourself, your girlfriend, and a child? Then prove it. Pack your shit and get out.”
Aubrey watched as her father stormed out of the room, her mother sobbing, and Ben’s face contorted into utter despair. Aubrey ran out of the room after their father. He couldn’t do that. He had to see reason. Perhaps, if he calmed down, or had someone to talk to about it, he would change his mind.
“Dad! Wait! You can’t really want to kick him out. You’re just trying to scare them, right?”
“He needs to learn a lesson. When he is ready to apologize, and abide by the rules, he can come back. But I won’t let a child talk to me that way, and I certainly won’t let his girlfriend, pregnant or not, live with him like a little married couple. I am going to call her parents today, try and smooth things over, or at least get an open conversation going, but no. He has to leave. At least for a few days.”
Aubrey could understand his position, and was glad he was going to help even if he didn’t tell Ben and Mackenna that, but she had no idea where they would go in the mean time.
“I get that, but Dad, he has been terrified of telling you for two days, and you just confirmed his fears. You should at least tell them you will speak to Mackenna’s parents.”
“You’ve known? Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Right, because telling you and causing not only a fight between you and Ben, but between him and I, was the best thing to do. I didn’t let him ignore it. He told you, didn’t he? I found out yesterday. He told you today. I would say that’s not horrible. And now that you kicked him out, he needs someone in this family to be able to talk to.”
“No. You will not speak to him either. He needs to learn, and we have to do that as a family unit. When he is ready to apologize, he may come home and do so. Until then, we are a united front, once he steps out that door, that’s it.”
“And if he doesn’t apologize? What then? You will just pretend you have no son or a grandchild on the way?”
“He will. It may take him a bit, probably until his friends parents catch wind of why he is spending the night so often, but he will come back, and we can deal with the whole situation.”
“Right.” Aubrey shook her head and walked away from her father. If he thought that was going to work, he was crazy. Ben wasn’t going to apologize for standing up for Mackenna. Her father would never have allowed anyone to speak about their mother that way, and he sure as hell wouldn’t apologize for anything that came out of his reaction to it. Ben and their father were much more alike than either was willing to admit.
“I mean it, Aubrey,” he called after her. She knew he did. She also knew she would never let her brother be homeless. It was time to get an apartment.
~*~
The next week went by in a blur. Aubrey did nothing but work, drive to and from work, or scour the papers and internet for a place to live. Ben and Mackenna had been house hopping their friend’s places, but it was getting old for everyone involved.
Lying on her bed, Aubrey circled two more apartments to check out on her lunch break that day. If it worked out, she would have to find out about school transfers and technical guardianship for Ben, unless she could convince her mother to sign the papers and help—without telling her father.
When her alarm went off, not that she had been sleeping, and she got up and dressed for the day. With the paper tucked under her arm, she headed downstairs and out the door without a word to her parents. Ever since her intentions became clear, she was on the do not talk to list as well as her brother. She really hoped they would come around.
Rain poured down on her car as her windshield wipers tried valiantly, yet unsuccessfully, to clear her view. Aubrey pulled off to the side of the road and fished her phone out of her purse. If the weather kept up this badly, it would take her forever to make it to the office.
The phone rang, but even the sound of the ring was static-y. Aubrey watched the clouds darken before her eyes and a flash of lightening lit the sky. A second later, thunder boomed.
“Viola Gaming Industries, how may I direct your call?” the receptionist answered.
“Fiona, its Aubrey. Can you put me through to Mike?”
“Sure, but beware, he is in a mood.” The phone line clicked over to the hold music, which just so happened to be game soundtracks. Aubrey racked her brain trying to figure out why Mike was in such a mood.
“What is it, Aubrey?” Mike’s gruff voice said into the phone.
“Just that I’m stuck on the side of the road with this damn storm, and I might be late if it doesn’t lighten up here soon.”
“What? Oh, right, the storm. Be careful and get here when you can.” The line went dead. Aubrey checked to see if she lost signal, but no, she hadn’t. Mike had hung up on her. Aubrey stared at her phone a moment longer before slipping it back into her purse. Shutting the car off, she watched the storm over her.
A loud knock came from the window beside her, causing her to practically jump three feet. With a hand to her chest and the other on the window button, she let it down just an inch to see who stood there.
A very wet Henry stood there, worry evident in his eyes. The coat he wore looked to be more of a hooded zip up sweater (with a Batman logo across the chest) than a rain jacket. He was soaked to the bone. Another flash of lightening streaked across the sky, causing a beautiful reflection to dance in his eyes.
“What the hell are you doing out there?” she demanded.
“I saw your car on the side of the road, inches from a large ditch, in the middle of a damn thunderstorm. I was seeing if you were okay.”
His concern was touching, even though she wished she could be annoyed. “Well, I’m fine, as you can see. I just couldn’t see through the rain.”
“Okay. I guess I’ll be on my way then?” Henry looked back at his Mustang, then back to her and waited for her response. Did she want to be alone for who knows how long in the middle of a storm?
“Or you could wait with me?”
The smile that stretched across Henry’s face was the only answer she needed. When he disappeared from her side, she quickly rolled the window up and pressed the unlock button just before Henry reached the passenger side. The wind howled when he opened the door, and nearly took her door clean off her car with its strength before Henry was able to close it. Once the two were in the confined space together, Aubrey started to think twice about her decision.
“So,” he said.
“So,” she repeated.
“How’s your week been?”
“Long. Yours?”
“Same, but I know what happened in mine. I am much more interested in yours. Want to talk about it”
Did she? No. But if she didn’t, he might consider that not opening up, not allowing herself to make connections not based on sex. She wouldn’t lose the bet on a technicality. Not that she actually wanted to take his million dollars. Too close to charity, but she wanted to win the bet anyway. She wanted to shove his money in his face. Aubrey Vincent couldn’t be bought.
“Well, it started with a trip to a hospita
l, then being practically called a slut by not only a guy I slept with recently but also my father. I was offered a ton of money to change my ways and turn into a better person, then my brother knocks up his girlfriend, our father kicks him out, tells me I can’t talk to him if I live there. I’ve been apartment hunting to help my brother, and now I am stuck in the middle of a storm, in my car on the side of the road, with a man who does nothing but infuriate me while being so damn sexy I can’t help but want to fuck the shit out of him, but I can’t because he imposed a no sex rule. How’s that?”
“Sounds like a hell of a week. So, apartments, huh? What have you looked at so far?” Henry looked at her, cool as a damn cucumber, completely glossing over the sex thing. She was shocked, but also a little expecting it somehow.
“I looked at a place on 7th, but it was small and dirty. Then a place on Elm, which was okay, but the rent was insane. And another on Forrest Ave, but the whole area gave me the heebie-jeebies. I had planned on checking out this new apartment building that just opened last month later today, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
“The apartments on Kendall? Those are really nice.”
“Thanks, I will. I just hope they are not only affordable, but a decent place. I mean, if all goes according to plan, my brother, and his girlfriend, and their soon to be baby will be there. I don’t want a baby in crack alley, ya know?”
Henry just laughed and repeated ‘crack alley’ then shook his head. “You never cease to amaze me, Aubrey.”
“Um, thank you?”
“Relax, it was a compliment. I wish you could see yourself the way most of the rest of the world does. I see you, the real you. I may not know you all that well yet, but I see you. I always have.”
The conversation was beginning to turn uncomfortable for Aubrey. It felt like she was under a microscope with a sexy scientist staring down at her, flaws and all.
“So, uh, what about you? How was your week?” She wasn’t really sure she wanted to hear how he saw her, or what the hell he was thinking with that stupid bet, but if it got the focus off her, it would be worth it. Aubrey wouldn’t look Henry in the eyes, so she found a loose string on her shirt, or a bit of dirt under her fingernail to occupy her attention.
“Well, I was going crazy. There’s this girl that has been on my mind for so long, and I knew that when I reconnected with her, I should be honest. But she had no idea who I was. She didn’t remember me. I thought that maybe that was in my favor. She wouldn’t think of me as the geeky kid no one liked in high school. She could see me for who I am now. But then, she didn’t know who that was either. And it was so refreshing. She wanted to spend time with Henry. Not Henry the billionaire. And lord, was she sexy. But she kept me at arm’s length. But eventually, we both gave in and had the most mind blowing night in the back of my town car.
“I wish it had never happened though. The minute it did, she was done with me. Or trying to be. I also wish I had told her who I was when I found out she worked for the company hell bent on blaming me for their short comings. I just couldn’t figure out how without coming off like an asshole.”
Henry was staring at her. She couldn’t see him. She was, after all, doing everything she could to avoid his eyes, but she could feel him. He was waiting for a reaction out of her. Anyone would be after saying all of that. But what could she say? No, she wouldn’t have cared who he was? She didn’t want to believe it would have mattered, but it might have, and that thought scared her. She was an awful person.
“So then in my attempt not to be an asshole, I was a bigger one, showing up at a meeting I knew she would be at but she had no idea I would, just to see her again and to tell her the truth. And then she wouldn’t listen, not that I blamed her. When I saw this girl at the bar, being taken advantage of, I saw red. I was angrier than I ever had been in my life and did something stupid that I will never regret. I beat the shit out of the guy and got my girl to the hospital. The next morning, when I went to check on her, she was with another man. I watched this girl that I had realized I had fallen for kiss another man, and I said some stupid shit, but I still stand by it. I did it wrong, but a promise is a promise, and the idea that I will have three months to win her over gives me hope. Oh, and when I got back to the city, I got arrested for the first time in my life, was given a fine, and I now have a record. All because the asshole who drugged a girl couldn’t handle being beat up by a geek.”
Aubrey turned to face Henry so quickly that she nearly pulled a muscle in her neck. He was arrested because of her? And there she was being an ungrateful bitch. Her hand reached out to his before she knew what she was doing and squeezed. She didn’t know what to say, but she wanted him to know she did hear him.
A small smile touched his lips, warming her heart, and then his other hand came to rest on top of hers, cocooning her beneath his warmth.
“I didn’t know.”
“I know,” he said.
“That asshole pressed charges?” she asked a little awkwardly. It was her fault, after all. She felt horrible.
“Yeah, but once I told the judge why I did what I did, she went easy on me.”
“I wish I could prove he did it. Then I could return the favor. The hospital should have my tox screen, right?”
“Do you really want to go through with that?”
“I know I should. I mean, if he had the stuff to put in my drink, he could do it again.”
“I’ll ask the owner if where you were sitting is covered by the cameras. I know the dance floor is covered. They got every single second of me pounding into him.”
“Thank you.” She found herself thanking him again for one thing but meaning so much more. She knew that, at some point, she would have to admit that Henry meant more to her than she would like. She just didn’t know if that point were then.
“It’s not a big deal. Anyone with half a heart would have done the same if they knew what I did.”
“It is a big deal, and no, they wouldn’t have. You did though.”
“Aubrey,” he said, and then trailed off. She looked at him, this man who was funny and caring, and kind, and generous, and smart, and… lucky for her, oh-so-gorgeous. She couldn’t comprehend what he saw in her. She was shallow, and apparently, slept around and still lived in her parents fucking attic. She couldn’t keep a relationship going, either platonic or romantic. She was a mess, and he was perfect, even if he did have a thing for superheroes.
Aubrey leaned in and brushed her lips lightly against his, before pulling back just enough to look in his eyes, but still close enough to let his warm breath wash over her skin.
“What are you doing?” he whispered, his eyes searching hers,
“I don’t know.” She leaned in again, less hesitant than before, and pressed her lips firmly against his.
His hands moved from where she held them and ran up her arms to her shoulders and pressed slightly, breaking their kiss.
“This isn’t what I wanted, Aubrey.”
His words were as if a knife had wound itself into her stomach. “Then what did you want?”
“I want to know you. I want to know you in a way that no one else does. And I want you to know me, really know me. Not because I want you to, but because you want to, because not knowing me causes you so much heartache that the thought of walking away from me is torture in itself. I want you to think of me and feel for me what I do for you.”
Aubrey looked away. She didn’t want him to see the tears escaping from her eyes. She didn’t know if she could ever give him what he wanted. And what she could give him he didn’t want. The rain had stopped at some point without either of them noticing.
“Rain’s done,” she said, letting him know the conversation, and the moment they had found themselves in, were done, too.
“So it is. I guess I will be on my way then. I’ll see you around, Aubrey.” Henry opened the door and left her sitting there. It was exactly what she wanted to happen, but for whatever reason she hated to see hi
m go.
“I do think of you,” she whispered to no one. A stray tear fell from her eye before she wiped it away. The car rumbled to life, and she pulled back onto the road. She dared not look in her rear view, because if she saw him, she just might turn around and give him everything he wanted. It would be good for a while, possibly great, but something would happen, and it would all come crumbling down around them, leaving them both broken and hurting. Was it really worth it?
~*~
Aubrey made it to the apartments on Kendall after all. And Henry was right. They were perfect. She signed the lease right then and there. Within two days, she had moved in.
Getting her mother to agree to transfer Ben’s school wasn’t quite so easy, but she had done it. No one wants to see their child on the street, even if they were trying to teach them a life lesson. At fifteen, that is too harsh of a lesson.
Ben and Mackenna had their own room and Aubrey had hers—on the other side of the apartment. There were also rules that she came up with, and that was the hard part. She tried to think of things that were fair and more like a roommate than a mother.
Aubrey called them into the bare living room, and they all sat on the floor in a circle. She had enough money to get the apartment, just not furnish it. She would in time, and it would be perfect. She just knew it.
“Okay, I know that we said I didn’t want to be mom, but I think we need some rules. All of us. So let me say what I have to first, and then we can discuss anything you want. Got it?”
Her brother and his girlfriend just nodded their heads, their hands clasped together between them on the floor.
“First off, you will both get a job for after school and weekends. Mackenna, when you are too far along to work and right after the baby, of course that doesn’t apply. Second, you will help with bills, and you will put money away to pay for that baby. Neither of you has any real idea how much this kid is going to need. You will need to have money for all of that, too. Third, you will stay in school. Period. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. You will be in the apartment by midnight. My room is mine, your room is yours, but the rest of the apartment is for all of us, so the cleaning of it will be on all of us. Any questions?”
The Billionaire & The Barfly (Coming Home) Page 9
