“Maverick,” she whispers and I shake my head at her.
“He needs to pay for this,” I hiss.
“Just leave it alone, Maverick.”
“Not this time,” I tell her.
I grab my keys and drop a kiss to her forehead before turning away. Beth’s not the fighting kind. She’s woman enough to walk away from a problem. I’m not man enough to let shit slide. I’ll apologize to her later, but for now…for now, I’ve got an itch to punch someone’s face in. If those bastards aren’t going to pay for what they did to Beth, then I sure as hell won’t get more than a shake of the finger for exacting revenge. I’m not worried about getting kicked out of school. I know exactly how the system works. And having kept my shit together the way they wanted me to, neither Coach nor the Dean are gonna get their panties in a twist over what I’m about to do.
I slip behind the wheel of my car, thankful that I haven’t gotten rid of the Lambo just yet. As I speed down the highway, memory after memory crashes into my mind. I remember the day we lit Beth’s skirt on fire, the time we dumped soup all over her, the slime bath, the gum attacks, and the rotten food.
Anger boils in my chest again. How the fuck could I have been such a fool? Such a piece of shit?
What have I ever given her besides grief? Absolutely nothing.
I don’t imagine a new haircut will count for much when I’ve made her life such hell.
Before I get to Central Park, a bright yellow sign in a window catches my eye and all of a sudden I’m not so focus on shifting Jared’s face out of place anymore. I pull over along the sidewalk and hop out of the car.
My phone dings and I pull it into my hands and quickly read the message. Not much to my surprise, it’s Beth. ‘Please don’t do anything stupid.’
I’m sure that I will. But today, a bright yellow sign has fucking saved me from that. I’ll put Jared’s punishment off until tomorrow. Maybe even the day after that. But, one way or another, he’ll get what’s coming to him.
A bell jingles as I push through the bold glass doors. Instantly the strong, earthy scent of polished wood hits me, filling my lungs with something magical. Bethany would come alive in a place like this and I almost feel a hint of regret being here without her.
“Hi, welcome to Woodtunes. How may I help you?” A tiny lady with white hair and wide rimmed glasses grins up at me. She’s dressed to the nines in a sleek black dress and shiny heels. A small nametag to the right corner of her dress reads, “Milla.”
“I uh...I’m actually not sure. My wife recently lost her violin.” She seems visibly surprised by my marital status and I’m even more surprised at how comfortably it rolls off my tongue.
Bethany Hendrickson is my wife. The entire school knows it and I don’t give a damn. It’s the most liberating feeling in the world.
“Okay we have a variety of options for you to choose from right over here,” she says. “If you tell me a bit about her, then maybe I’ll be able to point you in a more specific direction.”
I follow behind her, listing off Beth’s musical talents, describing her old violin. Milla’s smile brightens as she leads me to the far corner of the sales room where something instantly catches my eye.
“What’s that?” I ask and she turns to look at a photograph and smiles.
Confusion mars her brow as she looks at me and then the picture, seemingly unable to understand why the picture would be of any interest to me. “Our luthier and his first music teacher.”
It’s remarkable how many lives my mother has touched on this side of the sea. As I stare at the picture, I’m suddenly very proud to be her son, and I know she would approve of what I’m about to do.
“Is he here today?” I ask her.
“Uhm, yes he’s in the back, but he’s pretty busy,” she says, trying to be professional.
“Do you think I could steal a minute of his time? I promise, it won’t take much longer than that.”
She smiles politely and nods. “I can give it a shot.” Not long after, she disappears into a room I hadn’t noticed before.
After a few minutes a tall blonde man with strong features and an apron walks out of the room. He extends a hand, giving me a firm shake when mine touches his.
“Marvin Rusaw,” he says.
“Maverick Williams,” I say.
He nods and then glances over at the photograph which tells me Milla let him know that the picture had something to do with my request to see him.
“The lady in that photograph-” I say, but don’t get much further than that.
“She was an excellent musician…way ahead of her time.” He smiles and there’s no questioning that he’s diving deep down memory lane. He tells me of the first time he met her. Of the many concerts she played just around the corner. Of the kind of musician he was able to become because of her. That he learned the craft of creating instruments because of her. It’s always awakening and enlightening to see the impact my mother had on so many people.
“I assume that you know her?” he asks after a moment of silence.
“She was my mother.”
His jaw just about hits the ground, but even before he’s taken the time to pick it up, he throws his arms around me.
“She was an amazing woman,” he tells me.
My heart swells, filling my chest, replacing the hate. Somehow this feels worlds better than the revenge I had set out on exacting. If I didn’t believe it before, I’m pretty convinced that sometimes the universe throws us a sign. In this instance, it was bright and yellow and shaped like a violin.
Marvin Rusaw releases me from his hold.
“Would you mind helping me with something?” I ask him and he wipes his eyes and nods.
“Absolutely.”
“There’s something I’d like to have made for my wife.”
Chapter
Beth
I haven’t sported hair above my shoulders in a very long time.
“I thought I was going to hate it,” I giggle at Bridgette while staring at the bounce and volume of my layered bob cut in the vanity mirror.
“You look gorgeous, honey.” She winks, packing up her equipment.
“Do you think he’ll like it?”
“If I know him the way I think I do, I think he will,” she smiles at me.
“You never got around to telling me that story actually. How’d you two meet?”
A moment of pause fills the room and Bridgette takes a deep breath before completely blowing my mind wide open. “He saved my daughter’s life a few years ago.”
“He saved you daughter’s life?” I ask, just to make sure I’m one hundred percent correct on what I think I heard.
Bridgette clasps my hands in hers and in a voice painted in unshed tears she begins to illustrate to me why loving Maverick is not such a bad idea. “The first time he came into my shop with one of his airheads,” she rolls her eyes and I grin at her. “He overheard me talking about my daughter. She’d gotten in a horrible accident. Her legs were pretty much mangled, but not unsaveable, save for the fact that the procedure that could help was one I wasn’t even close to being able to afford.”
“Bridgette,” I whisper and squeeze her hand in mine. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thing is, I didn’t even realize he was listening in on the conversation. I’d been on the phone all day with family friend after family friend trying to get enough money to do the surgery. I was so frustrated, I could hardly pay attention to the customers that came in that day.” She pauses for a moment and when she speaks again her voice breaks and a tear falls to her cheek. I drape my hand around her shoulder and pull her down to me.
“Maverick secretly paid for the operation,” she whispers and the words crawl through the cracks in her voice, falling clumsily into my heart.
“How did you know that it was him?” I glance up at her face in the glass and her sad smile returns.
“Even with the money, there were still complications that affected the surgery. Appare
ntly my baby girl has one of those rare blood types and the hospital didn’t have enough blood. I thought the universe was plotting against me, you know? Why put us through the ringer to get the money and then throw that into our face?”
“She can be a stone cold bitch sometimes,” I say and she chuckles.
“That she is, but apparently that was the only way I’d find out what he did for her, so at least that came out of it. Apparently Maverick had been pressing my boss for updates. He dragged his ass to the hospital as soon as he learned of the curveball we were thrown. Turns out he was a match. He gave enough blood to do the transfusion successfully and now.” She pulls her phone from her purse to show me a picture of her daughter and Maverick. “She’s just about to turn ten. He’s never missed a birthday. She thinks he walks on water.”
“Oh. So she’s the reason for his inflated ego then,” I joke, “I should have a talk with her.” Bridgette laughs, dabbing her nose with a tissue. “Well I’ve been dramatic enough.”
I smile up at her. “I’m happy you told me. It’s something I’ll try to remember the next time I feel like killing him.”
“You’ll have to take it up with Kelsey if you do.”
“Hmm… I don’t think I can handle that.”
She smiles at me with a twinkle in her eye and I get it. I get why she was so adamant on defending him the first time I met her.
“I’m glad you stuck around, Beth. You’ve been so good for him.”
I don’t know what to say to that. I’ve also been very horrible to him. My mind goes back to the things I said when I left him. “I’m glad I stayed too.”
Not long after, she walks out of the room, leaving me with my newfound knowledge and some interesting thoughts. I can’t help but wonder if she even knows why he did what he did besides the fact that he has a good heart.
I suddenly can’t wait to see him. He’s been gone for a while and I’m worried he’s gone ahead and done something tremendously stupid. I check my phone for missed calls and see nothing, so I try to call him and it goes straight to voicemail.
“Have you heard from Maverick?” I ask Bridgette, walking out into the living room where she’s staring down at her phone.
“He just messaged me, actually. Apparently I’m supposed to drop you off somewhere.”
“What? Why didn’t he just message me?”
“No idea but he sent an address.” She shrugs and nods toward the door and I follow behind her, hoping that we’re not about to head to the police station to post bail for Maverick.
55
“We’re here,” Bridgette says, throwing me a life saver and I wade out of my head and back into reality. It’s been twenty five minutes and I have no idea where I am. I look around, trying to figure out where “here” is and what exactly it is that I’m doing here, but I’m stomped.
In the sunset, the piazza has a soft glow and I can hear an intriguing rendition of Vivaldi’s Concerto for 4 violins in B minor being played on the inside.
“Get out of the car, Beth,” Bridgette laughs, urging me to exit.
“Are you sure we’re at the right place?”
“Only one way to find out.”
I hop out of the car and start heading towards the building to get a peek at the musician, but I freeze when I spot Maverick standing in the doorway. He’s dressed in a very sharp, black suit rather than the clothes he was wearing when he left. In his hand is a single red rose. He looks nervous which makes me nervous.
“What’s going on?” I whisper when I’ve closed some of the distance between us. Now, he’s standing just an arm’s length away from me and a flurry of wild butterflies dance around in the beautiful rose bush that is now my stomach.
Maverick hands me the rose and I bring it up to my nose, breathing deeply before I fix my gaze on him once more. “Maverick, what’s going on?”
“You look beautiful.” He smiles at me and I can tell from his eyes that he’s growing more and more nervous by the minute which unsettles me even more.
“You look beautiful too,” I say. “You’re wearing a suit. You…weren’t…You weren’t wearing a suit when you left.”
Pulling me closer, he runs his fingers through my hair. “You look really, really beautiful.”
“And you look nervous. Why do you look so nervous, Maverick?”
He doesn’t answer. Instead, he guides a hand behind my back and pulls me until our lips are flush against each other. The kiss isn’t erotic, despite the fact that it works little butterflies all the way down to my core. When we separate, his eyes are alight with something that looks a lot like love.
He smiles and kisses my forehead before reaching into his jacket pocket and brings out the smallest, most elegant violin I’ve ever seen in my life.
“Where did you find this?” I giggle, turning it around to admire the craftsmanship.
“I had it made.”
“It’s beautiful. I mean…I’m not sure I’ll be able to play a violin this small, but…”
Maverick smiles down at me and slowly pulls the tiny violin from my palm.
I’m about to rebel, to tell him that I want it back, but he’s moving lower and lower. Until his knee touches the ground. The tiny violin is still in his hands. He’s opening it now, folding the lid over to reveal…
“Will you marry me? Again?”
In an instant the entire world disappears behind a fog. I’ve stopped breathing. I’ve stopped existing. I will my feet to move, my lungs to expand and my mouth to speak, but nothing happens.
The traffic is muted, the lights are blurred, but the edges of the fog start to stretch to include him. Only him and now it’s just the two of us and that stunning ring and the unanswered question. Fragments and phrases are the only things I can manage as my hearing returns and the world and all its noise compete for a spot that is no longer theirs to claim.
“Will you sign a lease agreement with me using my last name instead of yours? Go on real vacations with me? Forgive me when I’m wrong. Love me even when I’m right?”
I can’t seem to find my voice. My hearing, yes, my voice, however, has run off to scream on the mountain tops of another galaxy that this man loves me. By law, we’re already married, which somehow makes this moment even more special. It changes what we have into something bigger, something real, a memory I’ll want hold onto until the end of time.
I close my eyes and imagine the rest of my life without him. It’s not a life I want to live and when I open my eyes again, he looks like he’s about to explode.
“I’m dying over here,” he groans and I nod.
“Yes.” Fragment number two complete.
“Oh thank god.” He stands and slips the ring on my finger before spinning me around.
There’s a loud cheer from inside the building and he grins up at me.
“I have a few more surprises for the rest of the night.”
“Really? I don’t think I can handle any more surprises for the night to be honest.” I grin, staring down at the rock on my left hand. I’d be damned.
Before the words have a chance of cementing themselves, my mom walks out of the building carrying a garment bag.
“Mom!” I squeal and run over to her. “What are you doing here?”
“I was told to give you this really pretty dress as well as something old, new, borrowed and blue.”
As I glide down the aisle in this breathtaking tulle and lace mermaid dress, I feel like a storybook princess.
My father squeezes my arm as Maverick walks down to meet us. I can feel my knees shaking like paper planes dangling from string in a windy room. I look around at the faces I had been too nervous to register while coming down the aisle. My mom is crying, and my father is barely holding it together. Coach and the Dean are present, so is Collin, and for the first time since coming in, I spot the musician. That’s when my breath stops. Like really, really stop.
“Maverick,” I whisper, my voice scratchy and unbelieving. “Do you know who that is?
”
“You’re screaming over another man while we’re about to get married?” He quips and I squeeze his hand, suddenly very star struck.
Alekos is a legend! A legend who is playing at my wedding? My wedding? How did today’s events turn into this? Who the hell pulls off an entire wedding in less than three hours?
“Bethany,” Maverick says. My hand is in his and I squeeze it gently, needing the support rather than giving it. “The more I got to know you, the more you showed me just how little I understood about life and love. You showed me kindness that I did not deserve and forgave even my biggest flaws. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. The smartest person I’ve ever met. The most stubborn and infuriating person, the most talented, daring and the most beautiful human being I have ever met.” His voice breaks and a tear slips past his lashes and cascades down his cheek. That’s all it takes for me to lose control. My own tears burst past the flood gates and I hold onto him even tighter.
“You see me,” he continues, his eyes never leaving mine as he bares the soul I’ve fought to uncover. To restore. “You see me, Beth. You’ve broken me down and built me back up into something better. Into somebody who’s worth a damn.” He smooths my hand with his, pulling me closer until our lips touch. “I want to spend forever and eternity loving you.”
Chapter
Maverick
Beth and I are on the dancefloor, our bodies pressed together, our souls connecting even more. The sway of her body beneath my hold, the softness of her skin and the rapid staccato of her breaths are all that exist right now. Despite the flashing cameras and crowds surrounding us, we’re alone in this moment, dancing the song all the way to its end.
When the music dies down, I don’t hesitate to kiss her. This isn’t just perfect, it’s perfection. I’d been planning this wedding for some time now, but not for long enough that I really thought I’d be able to pull this off in one day. After the day Beth had, however, I knew I at least needed to give it a shot. Of course, there are some things missing. This is not the location I’d initially picked out, and the cake, gorgeous as it might be is just a simply white and gold cake her father picked up on the way. Looking at her now, the smile on her face, the happiness in her eyes, I can truly say that it was worth it. The fact that everything came together so seamlessly simply might be the universes way of enforcing that this is right. We are right.
Vile Intentions: A Dark Sports Bully Romance Page 29
