Running Into Love - The Complete Box Set

by Annalisa Nicole

  They discharged Adrian later that day, with specific instructions on what to look out for and the whole waking him up thing when he sleeps that night. He’s cleared to go back to work at the end of the week. I heard him talking to Max on the phone about the accident and I’m just as worried about the whole thing as he is. The thought of someone out there that wants to hurt Adrian, still out there, sends chills up my arms. Until Adrian goes back to work, he’s agreed to let me wait on him hand and foot. I make us some sandwiches, then I plop down on our bed ready to dig into our lunch in bed.

  “What the hell is this?” he asks, peeling the sandwich apart.

  “What, it’s a sandwich. Is there something wrong with it?” I ask confused, looking at it thinking there’s mold on the bread or something.

  “Uh, it’s bologna and ketchup. That’s disgusting,” he says flatly.

  “What else would you put on bologna? I’ve only ever eaten it with ketchup.”

  “Mayonnaise,” he answers simply.

  “Gross, now that’s disgusting. Do you put mayonnaise on your hot dogs too?” I ask.

  “No, why would I put mayonnaise on a hot dog, that’s even more disgusting,” he answers.

  “Exactly, so why would you put mayonnaise on bologna? What do you put on your hotdog? Bologna is just a flattened hot dog cut into a circle.”

  “I put ketchup and mustard on my hotdog. But bologna is not just a flattened hot dog cut into a circle,” he replies, with a disgusted face.

  “Well, you don’t have to eat it if you don’t like it,” I say getting angry.

  Why is he being so difficult, all I’m trying to do is be nice to him?

  “I’d rather eat you instead,” he says and takes my sandwich out of my hand, tosses it on the floor, then proceeds to do just that.

  I guess he really is feeling better.

  Chapter 13

  Adrian

  By August, things have settled down and moved back to normal. Well, as back to normal as they can be. Max said he had an idea who may have tampered with my equipment, but he won’t tell me anything until he’s certain. This Sunday at family dinner, we’re all going to celebrate my niece, Abbey’s, second birthday. It’s hard to believe my younger brother Asher now has two kids. So far, Shay and I have not been successful in conceiving. It’s not for lack of trying and I can tell that she’s starting to become impatient. I have a big surprise for her coming up next weekend though and I can’t wait.

  Sunday dinners just keep getting better and better. Seeing my family and extended family grow as they have, makes me smile. I see the light shining in Shay’s eyes dim ever so slightly every time she sees Aaron. I long to put that spark back in her eyes and give her a child. I want to have a baby just as much as she does. It breaks my heart to see her plaster a fake smile on her face every time she sees a baby.

  Amelia and Kyle’s son, Noah, is now walking. He’ll be turning one next month and I can’t believe how in such a short time, he’s already turning into a little charmer.

  At dinner, I share with Amelia and Ava my plans for next weekend and leave all the family details to them. I have my own plan I need to finalize and make perfect for her.

  The next week at work I double check my safety equipment before hooking up. I’m still a little on edge and I wish the person responsible would get caught, so Shay and I can rest a little easier.

  “Don’t make any plans for Saturday. I arranged for us to go horseback riding again,” I tell Shay at dinner.

  “You did? That’s great. Wait I’m totally fine, you aren’t planning this ride because you think I need to decompress, do you?”

  “No, not at all, I thought we could get one more nice ride in before it gets cold, that’s all.”

  “Alright, in that case, I can’t wait.”

  Friday night I call Amelia to make sure the rest of the family is on board and know exactly what to do. She assures me all the details are in place and that it’s going to be an amazing day.

  Saturday we pull up to the ranch, where the same horses we rode before are waiting for us.

  The stable owner comes out and asks, “Would you guys mind if my photographer friend tags along with you and takes candid photos of the horses? She’s just starting out in the business and needs more experience with moving objects. She’ll print all of today’s photos for free, as a thank you for letting her tag along. She’s a very close friend of mine and a very talented photographer.”

  “We wouldn’t mind at all,” Shay says with a smile.

  The photographer comes out of the stable adjusting her camera strap and smiles at us.

  “My name is Jenny. Thank you for letting me tag along. I promise I won’t get in the way, just pretend I’m not even here,” she says.

  Shay mounts Patsy and puts her helmet on with a big smile. I get on Dusty, put on my own helmet, pat his electric white mane, and off we trot on one of the trails. I love seeing Shay at one with her horse. It’s like she doesn’t have a care in the world when she’s atop her kindred spirit. I come up behind her and give her a wink, then click my heels on Dusty and take off in a gallop. Shay giggles and makes a clicking sound with her mouth to her horse and off they go. There’s no way she can take me. My horse is way faster than hers. We race for a few minutes, then walk the horses side by side to let them rest. I fall back a little behind Patsy.

  “I think there’s something wrong with Patsy’s back leg,” I say, trying to keep a straight face.

  “Oh no, is she limping? I didn’t run her too fast, did I?” she asks concerned.

  “I don’t know. Try and hold her still and I’ll get down and look at it,” I tell her.

  I get off Dusty, bend down on one knee, reach in my pocket, and take out the small velvet box.

  Shay turns her head to look at me and says, “Is she alrig…”

  Her hands fly to her mouth, when she realizes that I’m down on one knee getting ready to propose to her. I can hear the photographer that I hired to document every moment, clicking away in the background.

  “Shay Bradshaw, I’ve loved you since the tenth grade. I’ve never stopped loving you. You are the air that I breathe and the firm ground that holds me up. You made me the happiest man when you agreed to marry me all those years ago. Can you please make me the happiest man again and agree to be my wife, a second time?”

  She swings her leg over Patsy and slides down the side of her. I catch her around her waist and guide her to the ground. She flings herself around my neck and squeezes so hard she’s cutting off my air supply.

  I pull her away and get back down on one knee and again ask, “Will you marry me?”

  She gets down on her knees in front of me and searches my eyes with her teary ones and says, “Yes, yes I will marry you.”

  With both of us on our knees, I pull her in and hug her with relief. I myself, have a few tears escaping my eyes. I sure hope the photographer doesn’t capture that. I’ll never hear the end of it from Asher.

  Jenny gets close and continues to snap shot after shot.

  Shay wipes her eyes and looks at her, then to me and says, “You planned all of this? There’s nothing wrong with Patsy then, is there?”

  “Yes, I planned it all, and no there’s nothing wrong with Patsy. I just needed an excuse to get down on one knee and ask you to make me the happiest man ever…again.”

  Shay

  We both mount our horses and slowly trot back to the stables. Today came as a complete shock to me. I couldn’t be happier though. Becoming a Wellington for the second time, is something I could never wrap my brain around ever happening again. I mean, I dreamt it, but that’s all I ever thought it would be, a dream. It’s truly amazing and my heart hurts so much from the pure joy and happiness, that I think it may explode right out of my chest.

  As we get back to the stables and tie our horses to the hitch rail, Adrian grabs my hand and leads me over to the large, wooden doors, “Come on, let’s get them a treat. I think there are some inside the s
table.”

  “Good idea. We rode them pretty hard, they deserve a treat,” I reply.

  We walk hand in hand, then he pushes open the large, wooden door to the stable.

  “Surprise!” everyone yells.

  The entire Wellington family, their extended family, Mia, my boss Stewart, and several other friends are standing in the stable clapping their hands.

  I literally jump out of my skin and grab Adrian’s arm out of fear. I’m sure my eyes are as big as saucers, too. I instantly start crying. I can’t believe he planned all of this. This has been the best day ever! The entire stable is decorated in my favorite colors, seafoam green, just like my mother, and peach. There are hay bales set around for seating and several tables with seafoam green tablecloths, trimmed with peach tulle, swaged artfully from the tops. They’re lined with all kinds of food and beverages. There’s even a small table with nothing but candy on it. Every piece of candy is either seafoam green or peach. There are M&M’s and all sorts of sugary treats. There’s even a three-tiered cake sitting on its own table decorated with white fondant trimmed with green and peach flowers.

  Everyone in the family rushes over. All the women hug me with tears in their eyes, while handshakes and bro hugs go around for the men.

  Ava grabs my hand to inspect my ring. “It’s beautiful, just stunning,” she says. She looks to Adrian with a tear in her eye and says, “You done good, brother.”

  All of his brothers and sisters are here, so are his parents. Chloe and Max are here too, along with Chloe and Kyle’s parents Mary and Steve.

  We take several photos with family members and the horses. The photos with Abbey and Noah on the horses are going to be just adorable! I can’t believe I’m so lucky to have this entire day documented. I can’t wait to get these pictures back.

  Asher, Willow, Amelia, Adrian and I are standing together talking about possible wedding ideas when Chloe comes up to us in kind of a panic and asks, “Have you seen Max anywhere?”

  Just then we hear a big thud outside against the stable doors. Everyone rushes to the doors to see Max wrestling with what looks like a woman.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Adrian asks.

  “I had my suspicions about who tampered with your safety equipment and they were just confirmed. I’ve been tailing her for weeks and when my employee called me and said she was here, I knew she was going to try something again. I caught her messing around under the hood of your car, she had your brake lines in her hand,” he says.

  The woman’s face comes into view and I can’t believe my eyes. It’s Adrian’s ex-assistant, Ireland. Chloe is in a semi-freak out. I know she’s seen him in action when he helped rescue her, but I don’t think she’s ever seen him in action while being in love with him. Ireland somehow manages to get free, she grabs Chloe by the hair, pulls her head down toward the ground, then punches her in the face raising her whole body off the ground. I’ve always heard the expression that people see red when they’re angry. I seriously think Max’s eyes turned red with anger. Ireland’s down on the ground, pinned under Max before anyone can even blink.

  As he holds Ireland down, all he has eyes for is Chloe. Kyle is by her side in an instant. She’s hunched over sobbing and has her hand on her eye and nose. It’s killing Max not to go to Chloe. I hear Asher on the phone with the police. The look of worry on Max’s face changes from a look of concern, to a look of anger and I’m confused by the transformation.

  Soon the police are there and have Ireland in handcuffs sitting in the back of a squad car. Chloe looks to be alright, but she’ll have a nice black eye for a few days. Max is off to the side brooding, he hasn’t said one word to Chloe since the whole thing started. We all give our statement and Adrian and I are assured that Ireland will be held in jail.

  The rest of the evening goes off without any further interruptions. It’s all forgotten, except Ava ended up taking Chloe home. Max has been giving her the silent treatment and keeping his distance. Chloe is more upset about Max’s behavior toward her, than being punched in the face by Ireland.

  Later that night at home, Adrian and I are snuggled in bed together and just about to fall asleep when the phone rings. Adrian answers, again not so happy about being disturbed so late at night, and wonders who could be calling so late.

  “Hello,” he says.

  He looks to me, then puts the phone between both of our ears. It’s Ava and she sounds upset.

  “Hang on, slow down, Max did what?” he questions, then I put my ear next to the phone so I can listen.

  “Max broke up with Chloe tonight. She’s a terrible mess. I’m calling an emergency family meeting at my place to cheer her up,” Ava says.

  “You want us to come to your place at this time of night to cheer up Chloe?” he asks.

  The tone in which he asked, I didn’t think required an answer. I take the phone from Adrian and decided to take over the conversation.

  “Hey, it’s Shay, what’s going on?” I ask her.

  She explained to me that, without any warning, Max just broke up with Chloe. He showed up, knocked on the door, and within two minutes Chloe was hysterically crying on the bathroom floor. She’s completely devastated. Neither, Amelia or Chloe, saw this coming. As far as she knew, Max and Chloe were as solid as a rock. They have no clue why he broke up with her without even an explanation, just that they were over.

  “Alright, we’ll be right over and we’ll bring some wine too,” I tell her.

  “We will?” Adrian questions me as more of a, ‘is that right, you’re off your rocker if you think we are’ tone.

  “Yes, we will. Come on, get dressed. Chloe is just as much a part of this family as the rest of you are. Your sister asked us to come, we’re going.”

  Adrian’s look changes from angry to ‘yeah, your right’ and he gets up and gets dressed. We stop at the store and buy two bottles of good wine and head to Ava and Chloe’s. When we get there, we see that the rest of the Wellington siblings have all just arrived, too, and they’re all getting out of their cars. Amelia and Kyle, Asher and Willow, Aiden, Adrian and I all go inside together. Everyone has either a case of beer or a wine bottle or two in their hands.

  Ava opens the door and we find Chloe sitting in a chair, with red swollen eyes and tissues in each hand, sobbing uncontrollably. They have, “Somebody That I Used to Know,” by Gotye, playing on a loop in the background.

  “What are all of you doing here?” Chloe asks hiccoughing.

  “When one of us is hurt, sweetheart, this is what we do, we’re all here for one another,” Willow says.

  “First thing first, this shit is coming off,” Amelia says.

  She stops the sad song on repeat and plugs in her phone, then cues up some music. Next thing we hear is, “Happy,” by Pharrell Williams, and almost instantly the atmosphere changes.

  “Up you go,” Aiden says.

  He grabs Chloe’s hands, pulls her out of the chair and starts dancing with her. He waves his hands in the air like he just doesn’t care. Chloe can’t help herself and she laughs. Everyone is singing the lyrics of the song at the top of their lungs, as filled wine glasses and beer cans are passed around. The doorbell rings, bringing Chloe’s expression back to a sad, worried one.

  “It’s OK. I’m sure it’s just the pizza delivery man. Asher and I called it in on the way here. I’ll get it,” she says, and turns the music up on her way to the door.

  Everyone is either up dancing like idiots, or laughing their asses off at the ones doing the dancing. After about an hour of drinking, someone got out Twister, and Chloe, Ava, Amelia, and Aiden are contorted in and around each other laughing their asses off. Chloe is laughing so hard, she snorts.

  Twister has long been discarded, the alcohol is mostly gone, and only a few slices of pizza are left. Everyone was successful in distracting Chloe from her heartbreak. Willow is passed out sleeping on the couch in Asher’s lap. He has his mouth hanging open, snoring with his head laid back on the cushion. Kyle
has somehow ended up sleeping in the bathtub, cuddled up with Amelia. I only know this because I went to use the bathroom and found them like that. I decided to find another bathroom. Aiden is crashed out on the floor, hugging a pillow like it’s a fine woman. Chloe and Ava long since went to their own beds. I walk over to the couch and cover Adrian with the blanket that’s folded over the side of the couch. I can’t help but smile and think that this is such an amazing family. What they all did by coming together for one of their own just goes to show how amazing they are.

  Everyone banded together at the drop of a hat to help one of their own. Chloe is as much a part of this family as I am. I curl up to Adrian on the couch and fall asleep with a smile.

  Chapter 14

  Adrian

  I wake up the next morning with a pounding headache and I question where I am. It takes a few minutes to piece last night together, but eventually it all comes back to me. Shay is sleeping in my arms on Ava’s couch. Aiden is laying on the floor dressed in only his boxers, scratching his balls, and I really don’t want to know how he ended up that way.

  I think I’m going to need to scrub my brain, because I think I hear Amelia and Kyle getting it on in the bathroom. Asher and Willow are snuggled together on the other couch still sleeping. My cell phone buzzes in my pocket. I try not to disturb Shay and reach in my pocket to see who’s calling. Reading the display, it says, ‘Max calling.' I ease away from Shay and replace me with a pillow. She sighs softly and cuddles the pillow. Damn, I wish that was still me. I head outside and answer the call.

  “Yo, what the fuck dude?” is how I answer the call.

  “Look, I just wanted to check in on her and make sure she’s alright,” Max says.

  “If Ava finds out I’m even talking to you, she’ll have my ass,” I say and start to hang up.