by Blair Grey
“Will just told me everything,” Dad said. “I know the two of you have been having relations. For weeks now, I think he said.” To my surprise, though, he didn’t look mad about it.
I stared at Will with wide eyes, hardly daring to believe my ears. “And you’re not mad at him?” I asked slowly, just to clarify. “I thought you would kill him if you found out that he’d laid a hand on me.”
Dad sighed. “How could I be mad at him? I don’t particularly like it, especially not the way that you’ve been sneaking around and lying to me, but you’re getting to that age where you have to grow up. I always knew I was going to have to let you go one day. Anyway, the two of you have made yourselves feel more miserable than I ever could.”
He winked at me. “Besides, you know I’ve only ever wanted what was best for you. And if that’s Will, then I suppose I can’t be too upset.” He lowered his voice, leaning in conspiratorially. “In fact, Will tells me he has plans to go back to school using some of the money he just got. I think that’s a great idea. Always knew that kid was pretty smart.”
“I know,” I said, my mouth feeling dry. I couldn’t seem to stop staring at Will. What had brought this on? And why hadn’t he been able to say all of this to Dad on Monday, when we’d first gotten back? I couldn’t help feeling like our relationship was ping-ponging all over the place, and that was no way to set a solid foundation for the future. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
“Why don’t I let the two of you talk?” Dad suggested, taking a step back. He nodded at Will and then headed back to the main house, leaving the two of us there alone.
“Do you want to come in?” I finally asked.
A look of relief spread across Will’s face. “Yes,” he said simply, coming inside. He stood awkwardly in the hall for a moment, and I rolled my eyes, leading him toward the living room.
“So?” I asked expectantly when we got there.
“So,” Will sighed. He looked like he wanted to reach for me, but I stepped away from him, giving him a look. As much as I wanted to just fall right into his arms, I wanted him to work for this. To prove to me that he wanted me, for real this time.
He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry about the other day,” he said. “I guess I didn’t realize that you had such deep feelings for me.”
I snorted incredulously. “I wasn’t hiding them,” I said, even though I knew that wasn’t exactly true. I hadn’t come out and told him what I was really feeling. But what part of agreeing to continue our relationship had made him think that I wanted to pretend like there was nothing between us?
Will ran a hand back through his hair. “I’m an idiot,” he said simply.
“No, you’re not,” I snapped.
The corners of Will’s mouth twitched upward, and he looked like he was trying not to laugh. But then, he sobered, looking serious again. “You know, sometimes, you’re just as intimidating as your father is,” he said. “I know I didn’t handle things right on Monday. But you have to realize I was scared. I started thinking about a future with you. I spent the whole drive back from New Mexico thinking about how I had to talk to Ray about this relationship with you. Thinking about how he would never approve of someone like me getting involved with you. About how I had betrayed his trust.”
He paused and then shrugged. “And I started wondering what you were thinking with all of this. Whether maybe the only reason you were doing this was so that you could move out of this place and eventually get a place of your own. Which was fine—I was okay with doing you a favor like that. Only then I started thinking about what it would be like once you moved into my place and then moved out of my place.
“I can’t help it. I want you. Maybe it’s too soon to say this, but as soon as Greg handed me that check, I started thinking about our future together. I started thinking about how we could buy a house and have some kids maybe, and the more I thought about all of that, the more terrified I got that you were only doing this to get back at Ray.”
I stared at him for a long moment, shocked into silence. It was one thing to consider a relationship with him, to think that maybe he had feelings for me. It was one thing to tell Dad about it, to get his approval to date me. But Will was hinting at something much more serious. Talking about kids and a house and whatever else. That was long-term. That wasn’t just a fake marriage or a few sexual encounters.
“I love you,” Will finished. “And I was scared that I was going to lose you.”
I continued to stare at him for a long moment, but I could feel a small smile start to spread across my face. “I told you,” I reminded him softly. “You’re not going to lose me.”
“I know you said that,” Will said, but he looked away from me, shaking his head. “I know you said that, but I don’t have the best history with family stuff. My dad wasn’t the nicest guy. That’s why my relationship with Ray is so important to me. He helped me get my life back on track. I don’t want to screw things up with him, and yet as much as I respect him, I can’t seem to stay away from you. You said that I wouldn’t lose you, but it’s one thing to hear you say that and another thing to actually believe it."
I sighed and took a step closer to him. There was so much depth to that statement that I didn’t even know where to start. I could see exactly how nervous he was, and I suddenly realized that everything he’d done on Monday, he’d done out of love, just the same way that Dad thought keeping me under curfew, unable to go out and have fun, was his way of protecting me.
Will was just scared that he would hurt me one day, that I would decide that this relationship wasn’t worth my time anymore. I just had to show him I’d still be there for him, even when that day came.
This time, I was the one reaching for him, as though my hands were magnets. I took his hands in mind, stepping close to him, hoping he could see the conviction in my eyes. “You’re not going to lose me,” I insisted. “Because I love you, too. This was never about the money or about moving out of this place. I just love you.”
A slow smile spread across Will’s face, and he leaned down to kiss me.
“So you told my father about all of it?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him as we pulled apart.
Will gave me a bashful look. “I left out the details,” he said. “But essentially, yeah. He knows we’ve been dating, and I think that means he knows what sorts of things we got up to over the weekend together.” He paused. “He said you weren’t talking to him, and he was afraid you were upset because you felt like you’d been forced into the marriage or something like that. I hated to think that I had come between the two of you. Were you mad at him for being overprotective and driving me away?”
I sighed, shaking my head. “I didn’t really think things through. I didn’t understand why you’d done that at all. I thought maybe you just didn’t want me. I wasn’t talking to Dad because I just didn’t want to talk to anyone,” I admitted. “I thought I had lost you, I really did. No, worse. I thought that I had never had you in the first place, that I had made it all up.”
“I felt similar,” Will admitted. He shook his head and laughed. “Maybe I need to add a communications course to my class list for next semester.”
I laughed and shoved at his shoulder. “Maybe I need to join you there,” I said. But for right now, it felt like we were finally on the same page, and I couldn’t help beaming at him.
“Your dad wanted to know if you’d join him for dinner, by the way,” Will added.
“Maybe we both should,” I suggested.
Will laughed. “He told me not to get any ideas, that it’s going to take him a little while to get used to the idea of us,” he said. “Besides, I think he wants to catch up with you. It’s not like the two of you to go a whole week barely speaking to one another.”
“True,” I agreed. But now that I had Will again, I didn’t want to let him go.
He chuckled again, seeming to know exactly what I was thinking. “Don’t worry,” he said, pulling me close to him. “We
still have plenty of time until dinner.”
I glanced at my watch, grinning. “That we do, I guess,” I agreed.
“And now that your dad knows about us, he seems to be okay with us doing whatever we want to,” Will said mischievously.
“What did you have in mind?”
Will smirked and pushed me back down on the sofa, wasting no time before covering my body with his. I moaned as his lips found mine, fully opening myself up to him.
39
Will
Three months later
I whistled to myself as I walked across campus at the end of a long but gratifying day. My classes were going really well, and I was actually enjoying myself. More than I’d expected to.
Everything was going really well, actually, I thought as I headed for the diner. Things between Belle and me hadn’t been perfect. Living together had definitely taken some getting used to. But I was still so glad to wake up next to her every morning, and the more I got to know her, the more I couldn’t picture my life without her.
With that thought in mind, I swung by the shop on my way to the diner, picking up the box that was waiting for me there. I still couldn’t believe everything was working out just like I’d planned. I took a quick peek into the box, even though I wouldn’t be able to tell if everything was perfect until I saw it out of the box. Which I would do soon, if all things went according to plan.
“Hey,” Belle said brightly as I walked into the diner. “You’re early.” There was practically no one in the diner, which wasn’t too surprising given that it was just before the dinner hour on a Tuesday. Not exactly prime time. Belle and Nicole both looked pretty bored.
I hopped up on a seat at the end of the counter. “Yeah, my class let out a little early,” I told her. “My professor had to take his daughter to some appointment or something like that. Good day for it to happen; man, my Tuesday schedule is long!”
“Still enjoying it, though?” Belle asked, and I nodded. She gave a puzzled look toward the package under my arm. “What’s in the box?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” I said, deciding to tease her a little longer. I knew how she felt about surprises.
It was one of the things that I loved most about her, actually. Her curiosity just made everything that much more interesting, especially in bed. She was never self-conscious about admitting things that she had no experience with, and she always wanted to try to get better at them. She had signed up for a couple online classes that semester as well, not in anything that would guarantee her a career but just a foreign language class and a couple of English classes, things she said she was interested in more than anything else.
I liked that she wanted to grow alongside me. She was different than anyone I had ever dated before. Smart, cultured. She kept me on my toes. She made me want to be so much better than I was, but she never seemed to think that who I was now was at all inadequate.
Belle laughed and shook her head, leaning against the counter opposite me. “How was your class anyway?” she asked. “This was your drawing class?”
“Yeah,” I said. “And you know, I never really thought that I’d be interested in drawing, but it’s pretty cool. I feel like I’m making some progress, too. My portraits still look kind of more like monkeys than humans; I can’t seem to get the lips and the proportions right. But that’s okay. Soon I’ll be drawing buildings, and I’m pretty excited for that.”
I paused. “Marcus and I were talking about it the other day, and he thinks I’m selling myself short by just going for carpentry,” I added.
“Oh, does he?” Belle asked. “And how do you feel about that?”
“I was thinking that maybe I might try to go for an architecture degree instead,” I admitted. “It would be a four-year program instead of a two-year one for carpentry, but it’s not like I don’t have the time. And I think I might be good at it. My math classes are going surprisingly well.”
“That’s great,” Belle said enthusiastically.
I smiled at her, reaching for her hand. “It’s all because of you,” I reminded her as if she didn’t already know that. “I wouldn’t be doing any of this if it wasn’t for you.”
Belle rolled her eyes, but she was smiling fondly. “Come on, you’re the one who’s putting all the work into this,” she pointed out. “And besides, you were thinking about going back to school before you and I ever started hooking up.” She paused. “But you’re still involved with the guys from Red Eyes? I thought you told them you were taking a step back because of school.”
“I did,” I told her. “But Marcus is still my best friend; you know that. And they keep me informed of some of the business, even if I’m not a regular member anymore. Always good to know what’s going on in my city.”
“Sure,” Belle said, and I could tell that she wanted to say something else about that, but I quickly turned the conversation back to school, not wanting to worry her with talk about the Unknowns or anything else.
“Anyway, I would never have been able to go back to school if it wasn’t for my inheritance. And I wouldn’t have gotten my hands on that if it wasn’t for you. Plus, you were the one who got me signed up for all my classes and everything. Otherwise, I might have just thought about it forever without doing anything about it.”
“I doubt that,” Belle said, but I could tell from the way she flushed that she was pleased. She bit her lower lip, though.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Talk to me.” I assumed she was going to ask something else about the MC, and I wondered if someone had told her something about it. But Ray still hated involving Belle in anything to do with Red Eyes, and I didn’t think Belle really talked to any of the other guys.
Not that there were any big secrets. If there were, I would have told her about them. I didn’t like keeping anything from her. She deserved to know of any threats to her father or the rest of us. The maddening thing was, there was just no new information. The Unknowns had all but vanished. I didn’t know if they were biding their time, planning their next move, or if they had decided to move on. And it technically wasn’t my problem anymore.
Except that if Ray called on me to help the MC, I would have no choice but to help out. I may have paid off my debt to him by bailing out the club with my inheritance money, but I couldn’t help thinking that I would always owe Ray a debt, especially now that he had been so great when I’d admitted I was dating his daughter.
But it turned out Belle didn’t want to talk about MC business. “Nothing’s wrong,” she said slowly. “Just, when you mention the inheritance… we still haven’t gotten that divorce.”
We’d both been dancing around that topic for the last three months now, ever since she had moved in with me. To be honest, I hadn’t seen what the big deal was. There was no reason to get divorced if we were going to stay together anyway. Not that there was any reason to stay married, either; it just seemed like a lot of extra work to get divorced only to turn back around and get married again.
And the longer I was with her, the surer I was that we would end up getting married again eventually. I didn’t know how long it might take. I knew we were both sure that we loved one another, and I knew that we were compatible. Ray had even remarked on it a couple of times, telling me that he could never have picked someone who so perfectly suited his daughter. I took that as a huge compliment, especially since I knew just how protective he was of her.
But we were good together. I didn’t know how, but we seemed to always be on the same page. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. And I was starting to realize that she felt the same.
“Speaking of that divorce,” I said, nudging the box closer to Belle’s side of the counter.
“Uh-oh,” Belle said, looking suddenly nervous. “Is this all the paperwork?”
I laughed. “Of course not,” I said. I paused, taking both of her hands in mine for a moment and looking seriously into her eyes. “Belle, things between us have been going really good these past fe
w months,” I said. “I really feel like you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I only hope that I can make you feel half as special as you’ve made me feel. You make me feel like I have a future. One that I hope to spend with you.”
Belle smiled at me, but I could tell she was still curious about the box. I laughed and let go of her hands, nodding toward the slim white package. “Go on, open it,” I said.
Belle reached out slowly and lifted the lid. Then, she gasped. “Oh Will,” she said, staring down at the intricately beaded silk.
“It was your mother’s,” I told her. “Since you already have the ring, your Dad gave me this to give to you when I was ready to propose to you for real. I got it all tailored, so it should fit you. Nicole helped me with that part.”
Belle whipped around, her eyes finding Nicole, who was at the other end of the counter watching us, a smile on her face. “You knew?” she shrieked. Nicole just laughed.
Belle turned back to me, shaking her head. Slowly, she trailed her fingers over the dress. “Are you sure?” she asked. “You really want to get married? Again?”
“For real this time,” I confirmed, nodding at her. “And not only am I sure, but I’ve already got everything set up. I’ve talked to Ray and the other MC members. I’ve told them everything. I’ve talked to Nicole, and she’s invited everyone that you’d want to have at your wedding. We’re going to get married.”
“When?” Belle asked, still sounding amazed by all of this.
I grinned at her. “Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” she asked stupidly.
I nodded. “I’m not letting you get away from me. And I know it’s soon, but I want to make sure you know that I’m 100 percent serious about this.” I laughed, my eyes twinkling. “And anyway, what’s the worst that can happen?” I quipped. “We might get divorced?”
