“Well, my dad’s had it tough. Lost his job some time ago…” she trailed off. Then she shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s been depressed. And hasn’t always had the best coping mechanisms.”
A soft scent of honeysuckle drifted my way. Even over the hearty smell of our food. It was subtle and feminine, very much her.
It didn’t matter about who she chose in the past. Now she was going to choose me. I was finally going to take her, like I should have done long ago. I had to keep my mind out of the gutter so I didn’t bust a huge erection.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said, about her dad. “I hope things will get better for him.”
“Well, this will help,” she acknowledged.
“So, about that. In three days, we’re going to get our marriage certificate underway. Would you like to shop for a ring, or should it be a surprise?” I asked Wendy, noting her rose colored cheeks.
“Um, you can choose. I’m not going to be picky. So, go ahead, surprise me.”
“Very well then.” I smiled and took the last bites of my cheesesteak.
“But you do know, I’ll need you living with me. And soon. While I don’t want to take you away from your father, there is work that needs to be done.” I tried to say in the way that made me sound like an asshole the least.
Wendy was a grown woman now. She couldn’t be living with her father forever.
She flickered her eyes up to me and nodded her head without saying a word.
I happened to glance out the window where my car was parked, and I noticed my Aventador had caused a small crowd. I didn’t mind.
But what I didn’t mind was this…
“Oh, God. Why do people think they can sit on anything they want?” I sighed, drumming my fingers on the table.
Wendy raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder to see what I was talking about.
“Ugh. She’s just looking for a sugar daddy.” Wendy glanced back at me. “I don’t blame her though. Yet still, sitting on expensive cars is inappropriate.”
Wendy got out of her seat and I put down a hundred dollar bill to cover the tab, which left enough after covering our meager tab to have a nice tip for the waitress.
“Wendy, wait!” I called after her. But her sights were set on stopping that woman from putting a dent in our dream car.
Physical therapy and the combination of seeing Wendy again must have been doing my legs some wonder, because I found myself picking up speed right behind her.
“Hey,” Wendy barked. “Off my fiancé’s car right now!” she demanded. Her authoritative tone caused some of the people with their phones to back away, even though she wasn’t necessarily talking to them.
“Your fiancé’s?” the woman on the front end of my car said, sliding off. She looked at me and at my silver cane I balanced on as I came through the diner’s doors.
“Oh, that? He’s all yours, sister,” she laughed, flipping her fake blond hair and turning around.
“You know what, screw you. He’s more of a man than anything your stale ass could catch,” Wendy hissed.
The woman kept on her way. Wendy’s words were fighting words.
If I had strolled out here with my regular pair of legs sans the cane, that woman would’ve tried to bull doze over Wendy to flirt with me.
And me?
I would’ve turned her down in the harshest of ways.
“Thanks, Dear,” I said to Wendy, giving her a peck on the cheeks.
The look of surprise brightened up her face and she played it off. “No problem… fiancé. Gonna take me home now? I’ve got to do some things around the house.”
I took her by the waist, loving our little roleplay game. “Sure. That’s my favorite place to take you.”
***
I pulled up into the parking lot by her apartment building. I was surprised they still lived here. The memories…
“Sam? Something wrong?” Wendy asked.
I shook myself out of my daze into memory lane and shifted in my seat. Having Wendy by my side was tempting.
I wonder if she knew that the moment I saw her that I forgave her?
We were just teenagers. What happened shouldn’t have kept us apart for this long.
“Remember, three days. We’ve got to start making appearances and all that good stuff. I really do enjoy this though, Wendy.”
I grasped her hand and gave it a kiss. Wendy’s eyes fluttered and her face blushed over with a dainty pink.
“Goodness. You’re such a gentleman.”
Wendy opened her door and maneuvered her way out of the car after I opened the door for her. She looked like she had the hang of it now.
“See you, Sam. Call me anytime, okay?” she said, as if we were never going to live together.
“Hopefully I won’t have to. You’ll be within arm’s reach. Or limping reach at least,” I teased.
She giggled and shut the door.
That walk. The way her hips swung side to side in that dress made my dick prick up a notch. At least that part of me still worked just fine.
I rolled down the window and shouted. “Wendy, when you move in with me, I have a surprise for you.”
“It better be good!” she said back before disappearing behind a door.
I started on my journey back home with a lot on my mind. My phone rang and my guess was that it was Benson.
But after getting into that car accident, I wasn’t going to answer the phone, nor do anything else besides steer the wheel while driving.
People took their health and current well being for granted.
One second. One second and one bad decision were all it took to turn your life upside down.
Benson was going to have to wait.
Chapter 10 – Wendy
I leaned on the wall before walking up the steps of my apartment building. The gravity of this whole situation had begun to get to me. I was becoming Sam’s wife. I knew we had joked about this when we were about to graduate back in high school, but then Sam took Alice to the prom, ditched me, and we never spoke to each other again.
How were things going to be between us if he decided to do that again?
Calm down Wendy— it’s not like you’re going to stay married with him, I told myself. One point two million dollars! Keep your eyes on the prize.
The door clicked and opened up behind me. I glanced and saw my ex-boyfriend slip inside. Oh, great.
“Wendy,” he said, charging towards me in anger. “What’s up with the dude in that gold Lambo?”
“Look, we’re not dating anymore. We haven’t been for a while. So, would you just leave?”
I began to raise my voice. I couldn’t afford to have him skunking around me with a deal like this on the table.
“But baby—”
“Baby my ass, you abusive ass hat!” I shouted.
One of the neighbors was coming down the steps. It was Mr. Whitaker; he used to be a wrestler just for sport, and my ex knew that from when we had dated…
“There a problem here?” he asked, giving my ex the stink eye.
“Nah, not at all. I was just leaving.”
Danny gave me a quick glare and stormed out the door.
Mr. Whitaker came down the stairs, shaking his head.
“Nothing but a young punk,” he grunted. “You got to find yourself a real man, Wendy,” he said, stopping by me.
He shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweats and relaxed his shoulders.
“I know. And I have, too. He’s a real gentleman.”
“Good, you be careful now. A pretty young lady like you shouldn’t be going around alone.”
The very old-fashioned Mr. Whitaker went on his way and waved good-bye. I jogged upstairs, careful not to roll on some of the rocks and grime that littered the steps. The hallway wasn’t that bad, save for a few cracks.
When I got to my turn in the hallway, I noticed the manager, Ms. Holloway at my father’s door. That outfit she was wearing showed off how flat and sunk in
her ass was. Gross.
But then I noticed she was putting a neon green piece of paper on my father’s door.
“Ms. Holloway? Is there something wrong?” I asked while I approached her.
She finished taping the notice to my father’s door and when I got up closer, I could see the word Eviction. Wow, what a way to preserve someone’s dignity. She clearly hadn’t even tried knocking first.
“Eviction?” I asked, stunned.
She turned around and smirked. There was nothing funny or good about this. “Yes, your father is about three months behind on rent—”
“I just paid rent a few days ago!” I argued, shoving my hands on my hips.
Ms. Holloway looked me up and down. Yes, I did look sexy. Sexier than her, even on one of my bad hair days. Why didn’t she just admit that she was jealous?
Giving my father this notice on his door where everyone could see it was probably her attempt at taking a personal stab at me. I was glad I had caught her in the act.
“Yeah, you paid a month’s worth of back rent. But he’s still behind, and this is company policy,” she said, holding her head high as if she were important.
What the hell? I guess my dad hadn’t been paying rent when I thought he had. I was beginning to cut Ms. Holloway some slack when she smirked at me and added, “It’s also company policy to leave eviction notices. Just because you think you and your dad are so great that you should be special, that’s not the case.”
“I get that it’s company policy,” I told her. “But isn’t there some rule of human decency that allows you to talk to the person first before leaving such notices?”
“Nope,” she said, with an evil grin.
I don’t know why I had even tried to plea my case to her. I snatched the notice down from my father’s door and crumpled it up. Ms. Holloway walked around me and scribbled something down on her clipboard.
“Good luck finding some place that will take bums like you and your dad,” she said.
That was it.
“Screw you. Good luck with getting laid. I know you’re not a virgin by choice, unlike me,” I snarked.
She stopped. That had to cut her good.
I didn’t even wait for her to respond. I just unlocked the door and went inside. She could throw her temper tantrum by herself. I had seen her throw them whenever anything didn’t go her way, and caused her to have to trouble herself to go fix a leaky faucet or smooth down the flower bed after someone’s dog ran through it.
I leaned on the door when I closed and locked it. With my eyes closed, I exhaled and tried to calm my mind. When could I catch a break?
“Wendy.”
My eyes shot open. “Dad? You’re awake!”
With sad eyes, he smiled and looked back down at the dining table where he was sitting.
“Is that the eviction notice?” he asked.
Shit.
I didn’t know what to say so I said nothing.
“It’s okay, Wendy. I’ve been so terrible. I’ve done nothing to keep our little family together…” My father lowered his face and shook his head solemnly. By his side was a cup of water instead of a glass full of whiskey.
As a matter of fact… I sniffed around and didn’t smell the usual hint of alcohol that was usually in the air.
“It’s okay, Dad. I understand what you’re going through… I’m here. I don’t mind helping out.”
My father slowly dragged his gaze back to mine. Then his eyes went wide.
“Wendy, get over here!” he stood from his seat and waved his hand for me to come over by him.
I scampered over to him and turned around to see wisps of smoke coming through the edges of the door frame.
“Dad? Is it a fire?”
He stepped around me and went to the door, feeling over it.
When he opened it though, a huge plume of smoke billowed inside. Dad slammed the door shut, coughing from the small inhalation of smoke.
“Why aren’t the alarms going off?”
I ran back into my room and gathered a few important things of mine.
“Wendy, call 911—” my father called out, but the fire alarms finally started blaring loud.
“Dad!” I shouted, running into the hallway. “We’ve got to go!”
We huddled up and locked arms so we wouldn’t lose each other. The smoke was getting thick, and as we made our way down the hallway, the ceiling fell in, blocking the only exit we had.
“Fire!” I cried, watching the parts of the ceiling burn on the ground in front of us.
“The fire’s coming from above us!” my father pointed out. “We have to go back to the apartment,” he said, pulling me along with him.
Parts of the ceiling fell again, almost falling on me. Dad opened the door and pulled me inside.
“Let’s go to a window and hang our heads out of it for air, okay?”
It’d been a while since I had seen Dad aware like this.
“Yeah,” I said, coughing from the smoke.
We moved into his bedroom and opened the window. Pushing the screen out, we were able to hang our heads out and get some fresh air.
“Breathe slowly, big gulps of air, okay, dear?” he instructed.
“Yes, Dad.” I smiled and he patted my shoulder.
“We’ll be fine.”
In the distance I heard the fire trucks blaring their horns. Above our heads, we saw the smoke, now black, coming from the higher floors.
There was no way the fire department was going to allow us to stay here.
That meant one thing…
I took out my phone and began to dial.
“Who’re you calling, angel?”
“My future husband.”
Chapter 11 – Sam
I pulled into the parking lot with Wendy still on my mind. She was still that delicate, yet feisty person I loved. But now there were a couple of upgrades, like her hips and her breasts.
She was going to be my wife, and naturally, we were going to do what all married couples did: fuck. It was inevitable, especially considering my appetite for her.
“Sam!” Benson called, running over to my car. I was just reaching my silver cane to pull myself out of this short car.
“Sam, there you are! We have the Morgans here to review over some paperwork. I think we potentially have some Japanese clients coming too,” Benson informed me, his eye sparkling. Anything that had to do with money made him giddy.
“Good. The more the better. Any word on Gallock?”
“Not yet. But if he so much sneezes our names, we’ll know.”
I begun to walk back to the building with Benson when my phone rang and buzzed in my pocket.
I dug it out on a whim, and realized it was Wendy calling me.
“Plus, I need to see this wife of yours soon. Don’t hold go holding out on me—”
“Sorry, Benson. Let me take this real quick.” I answered the call. “Hello, Wendy?”
“Sam, I need your—” she broke into a barrage of coughs “—I need your help.”
“Are you okay?” I griped the phone tighter. “Why are you coughing like that?”
“Fire, we had a fire just now,” she said, coughing again after her sentence. “I need your help.”
“Are you safe? Did you get out?”
“Yeah, we’re out. But our apartment is gone.”
“Wendy. Hang on, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes!” I hung up the phone and spun around on my heels to jump back into my car.
“Wait, the office is this way!” Benson said, following me.
“I can’t go right now. I have an emergency.”
My stride was suddenly strong, to the point that I almost didn’t need my cane.
“But, what are we going to do about the Morgans?”
“Handle it for me Benson. You are my business partner, right?”
I smiled and opened my car door.
“Okay. I got you then. Hope everything works out okay.”
“Thanks.”
>
I got in and closed my door. In only a few seconds, I found myself flying down the freeway. I was actually keeping up with traffic this time. If anything, I thought I was speeding.
I checked my speedometer and sure enough, I was hitting seventy.
I wasn’t technically speeding, but it was faster than I should have been driving knowing what could happen in car accidents. Suddenly, though, all I cared about Wendy.
I had told Wendy fifteen minutes. But I sped over to her place in less than ten. The smoke could be seen all the way from the freeway.
The closer I approached her building, the more the firetrucks and ambulances began to whiz by and then other cars piled up. Not wanting to get in the way of the emergency vehicles, I threw my car to the side, parked it, and jumped out the car… leaving my cane behind.
A small ache radiated in my hip. But now wasn’t the time to think about myself. Wendy needed me.
And I was going to be there for her.
A police officer saw me walking toward the building and ran over to stop me. “Sir, you can’t get too close. There are still active flames.”
“I’m looking for my wife!”
“Check over there. Anyone we pulled out will be in that area of ambulances.”
I dragged my body over there faster than my legs willed. Looking around, I couldn’t find Wendy.
I pulled my phone out, ready to call her again until I heard her small pixy voice over the rush of water and sirens.
“Sam!”
I turned around a few times, but finally saw her waving. She was sitting at the back of an ambulance with her father. They both had on oxygen masks.
Taking hers off one more time, she called my name again to make sure I had a stable visual on her. “Sam!”
“Wendy! I’m coming.”
I ran over to her and she stood up to hug me.
“What happened?” I asked her.
“Someone fell asleep while frying something in oil,” Mr. Monroe said, frowning. He shook his head in annoyance and placed his mask back on.
“Ugh. Idiots. You two can stay with me,” I offered.
“Not me,” Mr. Monroe said.
Wendy perked up and sat down by her father. “Why, Dad?”
Sold on the Beach_A Reverse Harem Romance Page 29
