Travis left and I headed for the shower. I closed my eyes and let the water run over my face, tilting it towards the shower head. I tried to conjure up some feeling towards what we had done, but nothing came. Was I so heartless that I couldn’t feel even the slightest remorse? Even killing a man for justifiable reasons deserved some feeling. There was no doubt Padriac was a threat to me and my family and that threat had to be dealt with. He couldn’t be allowed to blackmail or talk, but what was more important, he had beaten and abused my brother. I wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt my family and live after.
Chapter Eight
The following morning it was business as usual. Travis had the car ready and this time, as I left the house I was greeted with a smile.
“Morning bro,” he said.
“You sleep okay?” I asked.
“Best night’s sleep I’ve had in ages.”
We stood and looked at each other, only for a few seconds, smiled and gave each other a nod. No words were needed. I was going into battle again, this time in a perfectly legal sense. An all day meeting was scheduled to bash out the details of what was proving to be a difficult takeover. A failing company, one that had also defaulted on its loan repayment to Vassago but it had good premises and it was being fought over. I wanted it, another company also wanted it.
I took my seat in the boardroom before the other parties arrived, sipping on the strong coffee Gina had placed in front of me. One by one my team filed in, Jonathan and our three lawyers. We sat and waited. Twenty minutes after the meeting was scheduled to start I heard talking and laughter from outside. Three gentlemen were shown in to a room of silent anger. They must have picked up on the atmosphere, their laughter died down and they quickly took their seats. I hadn’t risen nor offered my hand.
“We thought we would start the meeting with the concerns from the shareholders,” I was told.
I looked coldly at the young man sitting across from me. For a few seconds there was silence in the room, other than the shifting of bodies on chairs as they grew more uncomfortable under my stare.
“You can start the meeting by apologising for being late and I don’t give a fuck about the concerns from the shareholders,” I said.
Jonathan coughed to conceal his chuckle.
“I, err, right. First, may I apologise for our lateness, we were caught in traffic,” came the reply.
“And you don’t have a cell?” I asked.
“Well, yes, I should have called, I’m sorry.”
Now the meeting would start just the way I wanted, with the other party on the back foot, already intimidated. I was annoyed at their lateness, not as much as I pretended to be but it was as good a reason as any to gain the upper hand.
“Before we start, your shareholders need to understand one thing. If they had done their job, if they had shown the same concern over their failing business as they are showing now, we might not be sitting here. So as far as their concerns go, I’m not interested. They either pay me my money, which we all know they can’t do, or they bail out and I take the business. I’m not a charity, gentlemen. I’ve been patient, I’ve been fobbed off and promises have been broken. We are not here to negotiate, we are here to settle this,” I said.
I then rested back in my chair, leaving the lawyers to do their bit.
****
It had been a stressful day and as I crossed the foyer to leave the office by the parking lot door, something made me stop. A sensation in my stomach pulled me up short. I looked around and saw a woman with black hair enter the building. She held a piece of paper in her hand. I stood and watched when her step faltered, her head dip slightly as if she had heard or felt something and she glanced around. She couldn’t have seen me, I was standing against the wall just out of her view, but something had disturbed her that much was clear. She approached the security desk in the foyer asking for directions. There was something about her, even from a distance that drew me to her, that made me want to know more. I didn’t fully understand but she was like a magnet, pulling me. I told Travis to wait in the car and I made my way over to the desk after she had left.
“Stan, where was that young woman off to?” I asked.
“Good Evening, Mr. Stone,” he said. “She’s a friend of Sam Crawley, he rang down for me to look out for her. I sent her up to the tenth floor, I hope that was okay, Sir?”
“Of course, Stan,” I replied as I made my way over to the closing elevator.
I caught the next one and exited on the same floor. Sam, I noticed, was busy on the phone and I watched as she made her way to the kitchen, I followed. As I entered, I saw that she had her back to me but her body stilled, tensed. She knew I was behind her yet I had been so silent she couldn’t have heard me. I saw her hands grip the counter top as she slowly turned to face me.
I found myself looking into the deepest blue eyes I’d ever seen. Against the black of her hair and the paleness of her skin, her eyes resembled the colour of the deepest oceans. She looked straight back at me, her eyes locked on mine. She didn’t speak and neither did I. Truthfully, I was lost for words. For the first time in my life, I couldn’t utter a sound. I saw something flash in her eyes, she frowned slightly and all the time I felt an utter compulsion to move closer to her. I watched her lips part slightly as if she was about to speak and all I could think about was that I wanted to cover those lips with mine. I wanted to kiss her, desperately, and I never kissed anyone. I wanted my tongue to dip into her mouth, to taste her. I wanted to inhale her scent. I wanted to feel her skin and the curves of her body.
I watched as she took a deep breath, perhaps to calm herself. Her features had softened, no longer was she anxious and the corners of her mouth twitched slightly, a smile starting to form. I saw her eyes look over my shoulder to the sound of the kitchen door opening. Sam had obviously finished his call. It annoyed me that the moment had been broken, yet it was an opportunity to find out who she was.
“Oh, good evening, Mr. Stone. I didn’t realise you were working late,” Sam stammered.
“Always, Sam. Now, introduce me to your friend,” I asked.
My voice was low, even to my ears. It was an effort to speak normally, to conceal the longing I felt. Sam told me her name, Brooke Stiles, and that she was from the UK. I reached out with my hand and as I closed it around hers I saw her eyes widen a little. What disturbed me was the current I felt shoot up my arm and explode in my brain.
“Pleased to meet you, Miss Stiles. I look forward to seeing more of you,” I said, cringing inside at how corny that sounded.
Finally she spoke and I was mesmerised by her soft accent.
“Umm, pleased to meet you too, Mr. Stone,” she said.
I opened my hand to pull away and as I did, her fingers trailed across my palm as if not wanting the contact to end and leaving a tingling.
I wanted to stay, I wanted Sam to leave and to be able to stare into her eyes for a little while longer but I also needed to go. Something was happening to me, something I didn’t understand. My brain was foggy, my stomach had a knot and I felt this pull towards her. It was as if my body took on a will of its own. I had no control and the one thing I never liked was losing control. I spun on my heels and walked away.
Every step away from her I took, that pull I felt got stronger, urging me to turn back. I fought it, hating it for taking over my body. Now irritated, I jabbed my finger on the call button waiting impatiently for the elevator doors to open. Why I was irritated, I didn’t know. All I was sure of was that there was something very special about that woman.
I entered the elevator and as the doors started to close I saw Brooke and Sam leave the kitchen and walk towards me. I watched her eyes lock on mine again and I held her stare until the doors finally closed. Releasing a breath I hadn’t realised I had held, I leaned against the wall, letting my head fall back and closed my eyes. She was imprinted behind my eyelids. It was those eyes that captivated me the most. There was such knowing in them. Her soft, slightly plump
lips that I wanted to take between my teeth, came a close second.
And then it dawned on me. I wanted her, badly. Not to fuck, I wanted to know her, mind, body and soul. I opened my eyes and banged my fists against the steel wall as the elevator made its way slowly to the parking lot. What the fuck was happening to me? Her name rolled off my tongue, involuntarily, and I took a sharp breath in. I needed to get a grip, and quickly.
The doors opened and I made my way to the car, I spotted Travis leaning against the Range Rover.
“You okay, bro?” He asked, concern etched on his face.
“Sure, let’s get out of here,” I replied.
I was silent on the journey home, my face turned to the side window watching the world go by. Occasionally I would catch Travis glance in the rear view mirror, his forehead furrowed with worry. We pulled onto the drive at home and I opened the car door.
“Rob, you sure you’re okay? You seem quiet,” he asked again.
“Sure, Trav. Sorry, just got something on my mind, that’s all. I’ll see you in the morning,” I replied, making it clear I didn’t want company.
As I climbed the stairs to the lounge, I smelt food. I wasn’t hungry but Evelyn had prepared a pasta dish for me. I should have texted and told her not to bother but I felt bad enough not talking to Travis. I dished up a small plate while she asked me about my day.
“Busy, I feel shattered. Think I’m going to have an early night,” I said, probably not that convincingly. But somehow I couldn’t stop a stupid grin from spreading across my face.
She looked at me, her forehead furrowed.
“Whatever has you busy, shattered, seems to have put a smile on your face. A smile, I might add, that I haven’t seen in ages,” she said.
“Okay, something happened today, something I don’t quite understand.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“I’m not sure what it is, I just know I’ve found her.”
When the words left my mouth I realised I should have kept quiet. Evelyn was looking at me as if I had just lost it. The strange thing was, as much as I had no idea why I had said those words, on an emotional level I couldn’t get to, I knew I would, at some point, understand. I’d found her. I didn’t know who she was, I knew nothing about her yet I knew she was going to be important to me.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Evelyn asked.
“No because I don’t understand what this means but I’ve met someone. Someone I think is going to be important to me. I’m sorry, Ev, I’m just tired I guess. My head feels like it’s about to explode right now.”
“Okay, you rest up and I’ll see you tomorrow,” she replied as she made her way to the stairs.
With the house empty I finally relaxed, pouring myself a glass of wine and sitting on the sofa. I tried to empty my mind of the image of Brooke, empty my senses of her smell, of the feel of her fingers trailing across my palm, to no avail. I ran my hand through my hair. Finally I headed downstairs. I showered, standing under the jets until the water scolded my skin, dried myself and climbed into bed. The oddest thing happened. I slid my hand across the cool cotton sheets over to one side, as if I was reaching out for someone. I wondered what it would feel like to have her in my bed, in my home, somewhere I had never brought anyone before. I screwed my eyes shut, I was definitely losing it. I shook my head and laughed.
It was in that small room in my office block in Washington, DC, that my life changed, forever.
Message from Robert
Dear reader,
So now you know. This is me, the good and the bad. I haven’t told you my story as eloquently as perhaps I should have. I still find it hard to express my feelings, to know the right words even.
Am I a product of my upbringing? Probably. But I have also chosen to live the life I have. I have done terrible things and I’ve survived terrible things. I am a wealthy man because of it. Would I change my life? No, I wouldn’t change one day. I suffered, I was abused, beaten, I’ve been hungry, cold and lost. Yet all of that has shaped me into the man I am today.
There are thoughts and feelings swimming around in my head and my body that I don’t understand. I do know I have met a remarkable woman, one who is going to be vital to my existence. One that is going to totally own me, screw with my head until I either explode or give in to her. All I hope is that my fight instinct doesn’t last long. I want to give in to her, I need her and I don’t know why. And as for this feeling of having found her. I have no idea what that means. The only way I can describe it is, have you ever meet someone and within a couple of minutes you feel you have known them for a lifetime? The connection you have with them is that strong. That feeling is coursing through my body and to have that must mean I met her before, doesn’t it?
In those few moments, in that kitchen, I felt the strangest, the calmest, the most emotional and scared I had ever felt. Confused? So am I.
Brooke Stiles means something more than just a friend of an employee, I know that. What she means, I have a feeling I’m about to find out. And you know what? I have no doubt this isn’t going to be easy. But I have the strangest understanding that she is going to be worth the trauma I’m about to go through. All I can hope is that she is strong enough to stay with me while I fight through that and she is strong enough to accept who I really am.
Robert Stone
Table of Contents
Copyright
About the Author
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Message from Robert
Robert (Fallen Angel Series Book 1) Page 18
