Keeping Her

by Allie Everhart

  "Rachel," I say loudly to make sure the woman hears me.

  "Rachel who?"

  "Kens—" I stop before I say it. I need to remember to use her maiden name until after our wedding. "Evans. Rachel Evans."

  The woman sighs and lowers herself back on her heels. She lets go of my shirt. "I should've known."

  "Known what?"

  "That you were with Rachel. She always gets the hot guys. It's not fair." She rolls her eyes. "I guess if you're as pretty as her it makes sense, but still."

  "How do you know Rachel?"

  "We went to high school together. She's a year younger than me. All the guys wanted to date her. She was homecoming queen. Star of the swim team. She even had some Olympic coach come here asking if he could train her."

  "Really?" I put my eyes back on Rachel. "And she turned him down?"

  The woman waves at Rachel, getting her attention. "Rachel!"

  Rachel hurries over to us. "Jen! Good to see you!" She hugs her. "I see you met my fiancé."

  "Fiancé?" Jen steps back, eyeing me up and down. "You're marrying this guy?"

  "Yep." Rachel hugs me from the side and I lean down and kiss her.

  "Does he have any brothers?"

  Rachel laughs. "Sorry, but no."

  "He's smoking hot," she says, not caring that I can hear her.

  Rachel nods, smiling. "I know. Girls have been telling me that all night."

  "You better get him out of this place before someone tries to take him."

  "Nobody's taking me." I move behind Rachel and wrap her in my arms. "I'm all hers."

  Jen puts her hands on her hips and looks at Rachel. "Okay, where did you find him? Because I want one."

  Rachel laughs again. "I found him in Connecticut, but I think he's one of a kind."

  She smiles. "Then I guess I'll have to settle for one of the losers here. I'll see you later."

  She walks off, tripping on her heels and falling on a guy, who catches her and smiles. I think she tripped on purpose.

  Rachel turns to me. "Are you having fun?"

  "Sure."

  She smooths her hand over my shirt. "I know you're not, but we don't have to stay long."

  "Should I get us some drinks?"

  "Yeah. I'll take a beer."

  "I'll be right back." I make my way to the bar. There's only one bartender and he's backed up with orders. It takes several minutes before I finally get two bottles of beer. I take a drink because I'm dying of thirst. It's cold outside, but it's hot and stuffy in here.

  When I get back to the dance floor, I can't find Rachel. I search left and right and check behind me and still can't find her. Maybe she went to the bathroom. I scan the bar again and spot Adam, Rachel's former fiancé, a few feet from where I'm standing. He's facing the wall, talking to someone. He moves slightly and I see that he's talking to Rachel. I push my way through the crowd until I reach her.

  I hand her the beer. "Let's go to the dance floor." I put my hand on her lower back, keeping my eyes on Adam.

  She tries to go past him, but he steps in her way. "Why are you still with this guy?"

  "Adam, we're done talking about this. Just go back to your friends."

  "I found out he's a billionaire. Is that why you're dating him? For his money? So you're a gold digger now?"

  That's it. I'm not going to let him talk to Rachel that way. I don't like to fight, and I usually don't, but I know how to. I've been trained by the best.

  I set my beer on the table next to us and get in Adam's face. "What did you say to her?"

  Adam tries to back up but there are people behind him, so he goes around me, ending up with his back to the wall. "So now you're going to fight me?"

  "It wouldn't be a fight. You'd be down before you even had a chance." I tower over him. He seems even smaller now than when I saw him at Rachel's apartment.

  He's breathing fast, but he tries to appear unaffected. "You may be bigger than me, but a city boy like you can't take on someone from the country. We know how to fight. You don't."

  "Is that so?" I step forward, backing him against the wall. "Should we test that theory outside?"

  "Pearce, no," I hear Rachel say.

  "I don't need to fight you," Adam says, trying to sound calm even though his forehead is sweating. "I don't want her back. You can have her." He looks behind me to where Rachel is standing. "Although I don't know why you'd want her. She can't even have kids."

  I don't think she heard him, but even so, his comment and that smirk on his face is enough to set me off. I grab his shirt and lift him up with one hand and slam him against the wall.

  There are people all around us but they do nothing to stop me, so either they want me to beat up Adam or they're used to people fighting in the bar.

  I hear Rachel behind me, telling me to let him go, but I'm not done yet.

  Adam is silent, afraid to speak, and I feel him shaking a little.

  I look him right in the eye and lean in just enough so he can hear me. "When it comes to my enemies, I am not a nice man. You have no idea what I'm capable of. And if you'd rather not find out, then I'd suggest you leave this bar right now. You will never speak to Rachel again. If I hear otherwise, I will hunt you down and show you just how unpleasant I can be. Do you understand?"

  His eyes move to the floor, and he nods.

  I lower him back to standing, then wait for him to leave. People are watching us out of the corners of their eyes. Adam turns and squeezes past some people and keeps going.

  I feel Rachel's hand on my arm. "What did you say to him?"

  I watch Adam work his way to the front of the bar. He stops and says something to his friends, then walks out the door.

  "Pearce, what did you say to him?"

  I lean down and kiss her. "I told him to leave you alone."

  "He looked scared to death."

  "Did he?" I pick up my beer from the table. "I didn't notice."

  She smiles and pulls me down to talk in my ear. "Thank you for dealing with him."

  "My pleasure." I grin as I think of Adam's face just now. Rachel's right. He was scared to death.

  We stay for another hour. Rachel dances some more while I watch. Then we head back to her house. I drive this time because I've never driven a pickup and wanted to try it out.

  "Thanks for going with me," she says, leaning her head back on the seat. "I had fun seeing everyone again."

  "That friend of yours…the redhead?"

  "Jen. We weren't really friends. She's a year older than me."

  "She was saying you got a visit from a coach wanting to train you for the Olympics."

  "That's weird that she would tell you that. It was such a long time ago."

  "So it's true?"

  "Yeah. Freshman year, a man who trains a lot of Olympic hopefuls came here to see me. He'd seen me swim at state and said I had potential."

  "But you weren't interested?"

  "Well, yeah, I was interested, but it costs a lot of money. My parents aren't poor, but they're not rich either. I didn't want them going broke sending me to the training facility and hiring the coach. Because what if it didn't work out and I didn't make the team? Then my parents would be left with nothing. I couldn't do that to them."

  I reach over and hold her hand. "You continue to amaze me."

  "Why?"

  "You just do." I smile at her from across the seat.

  It's true. The more I learn about her, the more she amazes me. Tonight I learned she's great with children. That she was homecoming queen. That she can line dance, which she said is what they call that type of dancing. And I learned that if she wasn't so worried about spending her parents' money, she might've made it to the Olympics. Even more amazing is that she doesn't seem to think any of this is a big deal.

  When we get back to the house, her parents are already in bed.

  "May I walk you to your room?" I ask when we're in the upstairs hallway.

  She pretends to ponder it. "I guess that
would be okay."

  I walk her down there, stopping at her door. I give her a quick, innocent kiss. "Goodnight."

  I turn and head down to my room.

  "That's it?" she whispers.

  I turn back around. "You didn't invite me in."

  "Get back here!" she whispers.

  I was teasing her because I know she's been dying to be with me all night. For some reason she really likes seeing me in this shirt, and I think getting rid of Adam earned me some bonus points.

  I return to her door and she pulls me inside her room. And I do what I've wanted to do all night. I make love to my hot, sexy, beautiful wife. Twice. Because tomorrow I can't. I'm leaving. Going back to Connecticut. Back to my other life. Back to the hell that awaits.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  8

  PEARCE

  The four of us go out for breakfast on Saturday to a restaurant that serves different kinds of pancakes. Rachel loves pancakes and this was one of her favorite places growing up, so she insisted on taking me there. I've never had pancakes, so it was another first for me. I didn't care for the pancakes, but I didn't tell her that.

  We spend the rest of the day back at the house. I watch more football with Henry while Rachel helps her mother put up the Christmas tree. It seems a little early for that, but Rachel told me they always put the tree up a day or two after Thanksgiving. Rachel loves holidays, especially Christmas.

  I've never really cared for Christmas. This time of year always consists of going to parties I don't want to be at and talking to people I have no interest in talking to. Even as a child, I didn't care for Christmas, probably because my parents never got into it. My mother didn't play Christmas music or make Christmas cookies. She always hires people to decorate the house and every year it looks the same. The same big tree in the same spot with the same white lights. That's it. No other decorations.

  But the Evans' house is full of lights and decorations. After Beth and Rachel put up the tree, they strung colored lights around the windows and along the fireplace. Then Henry brought down boxes from the attic filled with decorations and Rachel and her mother found places to display them throughout the house. I find all the Santa and reindeer figurines a bit much, but I do enjoy all the lights.

  At four, we go to the airport. Rachel could've taken me, but her parents insisted on coming with us. Her mother even packed me a sandwich in case I get hungry on the plane. She's such a kind woman. Her and her husband truly are the nicest people I've ever met. It's no wonder they raised such a great daughter.

  They hug me goodbye, then wait in the car while I say goodbye to Rachel.

  She hugs me really tight. "I know it's only a day, but I'll miss you."

  "I'll miss you too. I'll try to pick you up tomorrow, but if I can't get away I'll send a car."

  "You really don't think your father will let you leave?"

  "He scheduled a meeting the same time as your arrival, but I'm hoping I can leave early and come pick you up."

  "Don't worry about it. I don't want you and your father fighting even more. I'll just take a cab."

  "We'll figure it out tomorrow." I kiss her. "I love you."

  "I love you too."

  The next day I go to the Dunamis meeting. It's at a mansion in Stamford. The mansion belongs to one of our members and has an underground room.

  Technically, this is a sentencing, not a meeting, so it should be fairly short. A sentencing is as it sounds; a handing down of a punishment, in this case, my punishment.

  Sentencings are attended by a smaller group of members than would attend our usual meetings. They're led by the ruling council, which consists of ten members who have been chosen to make the final decision regarding a person's punishment. Members serve on the ruling council for six months and you never know who is on the council at any given time. It's a secret because the organization doesn't want people trying to sway the decision of the council. So to hide their identities, they wear black hooded robes to the sentencing and sit in the dark so you can't see their faces.

  I've only been to one sentencing. It was a year ago. I didn't like it. I found it to be quite ominous. I hoped I wouldn't have to attend another sentencing for a very long time. But now here I am, and this time, I'm the one being punished.

  When I get in the room, I'm led to the middle of the floor. I stand there, facing the ten hooded robes. Behind me are the other members who were invited to attend. I know my father and Jack are here, and Arlin Sinclair, but I don't know who else is behind me. The room is dark, except for the light shining down on me, the accused.

  The man in the hooded robe, seated directly in front of me, pounds his gavel. "The sentencing will now begin."

  Please let it involve me, and only me, I say in my head, over and over again. They can hurt me. Torture me. I don't care. But they can't hurt Rachel. I won't let them.

  The man continues. "Today we are faced with a situation we have not encountered before. Pearce Kensington, the accused, has announced to the world that he is marrying Rachel Evans, an outsider. Following this announcement, we learned that he had already married this woman during a secret ceremony that took place in Las Vegas. Therefore, his engagement announcement to the press was merely an attempt to keep us from forcing him to get an annulment. We could still order him to get the annulment and call off the wedding, despite the fact that it will reflect poorly on him, thus adversely affecting Kensington Chemical, or we could let the marriage continue and punish him some other way. Given that this is such an unusual case, we are breaking protocol and opening this topic up for discussion. Would any member like to offer an opinion on this matter?" He nods at someone to speak.

  I hear Jack's voice. "Although we all know Pearce was aware that a wife would be chosen for him, he is technically not in violation of any rules currently in place."

  The hooded man nods. "Yes, which is why this is such an unusual situation. Although Pearce's actions did not violate an existing rule, his behavior does show a blatant disregard for both our traditions as well as the sanctity of our organization. Therefore, we feel punishment is warranted."

  "What do we know about the girl?" I hear someone ask.

  The hooded man answers. "The girl is Rachel Evans. She is a graduate student at Hirshfield College in New Haven. She comes from a small town in Indiana and her parents are—"

  "Stop," I blurt out. You are never to interrupt the ruling council, but I didn't want him talking about Rachel. The room is silent so I continue. "I'm very sorry to have interrupted you, but I don't think information about the girl is relevant to this discussion."

  "Of course it's relevant," I hear my father say. I'm not allowed to turn around so I can't see exactly where he is, but I think he's sitting directly behind me. "The girl is the whole reason we're here. If it weren't for her, there would be no need for a sentencing."

  God, I hate him. I hate him so much. He knows how much I want to protect Rachel, so he's purposely trying to bring her into this. He wants to make sure this marriage ends, even though he knows how much Rachel means to me. He wants to destroy me. Take away everything I have that's good and replace it with whatever will make me most miserable. Taking over the company. Working a hundred hours a week. Marrying whoever he picks. That's the life he wants for me. A horrible, miserable life.

  I take a calming breath. "I respectfully ask the council to leave the girl out of this and focus your punishment on me. The girl is not a member. Therefore, she is not aware of our rules or our traditions. She should not be punished for my actions."

  "Is the girl aware of our existence?" Arlin Sinclair asked the question and I know why he did it. He's trying to help me out. He's trying to give them another reason why they should leave her alone.

  "No," I answer. "She doesn't know we exist. She knows nothing about us."

  "Are you willing and able to keep this a secret from her?" Arlin asks. "Even if doing so causes discord within your marriage?"

  "Yes," I say. "Absolutely. She w
ill never know."

  There's mumbling among the ruling council and I can see their shadows leaning toward each other. After about a minute, the hooded man leading the sentencing says, "Escort Pearce out of the room so that we may have a private discussion."

  A robed man appears next to me and leads me down a hall. He takes me to a small room with nothing in it. Not even a chair. Once I'm inside, the man closes the door and locks it.

  I wait there, nervously pacing the floor, wondering what they're saying. I know my father is against me, but I think Arlin and Jack are on my side. I don't know who's in attendance so I'm not sure if there's anyone else there to support me. If Royce is there, I think he'd support me, but it's hard to tell with him. He has his own needs to protect, so he could pretend to be against me just to show his support of the organization and their disapproval of outsiders.

  After what seems like the longest hour of my life, I'm finally escorted back to my spot in the middle of the room.

  The hooded man leading the sentencing says, "We were unable to come to a consensus regarding your punishment. Therefore the decision will be elevated to a higher level."

  Fuck. That's bad.

  I don't know who the higher level members are because lower level members like myself aren't allowed to know. But I know it takes a long time to get to that level, which means the higher level members are likely old, probably in their seventies and eighties. People that age tend to be set in their ways and even stricter about rules and tradition than members my father's age.

  "What about my marriage?" I ask, my heart pounding so hard I feel like it might break through my chest.

  "Your marriage will continue and the wedding ceremony will take place as planned."

  I breathe a sigh of relief. They must've decided they didn't want me to look bad by calling off the wedding. The members know I'm the only one who can take over Kensington Chemical someday, so their concern about my reputation must be based on that.

  The man continues. "Your engagement announcement has already generated a great deal of press and we are certain the wedding will as well. Therefore, we will be taking over the wedding and using it as a networking and promotional event for our members and their companies. A committee will be assigned to make the guest list. The people who are invited will be those who can provide the most benefit to us, both as members and for our organization as a whole."