by Hamel, B. B.
I just hope all my people come along for the ride, and if they don’t, that they won’t hate me for what I’m going to do.
15
Kylee
He’s going to give up so much for me.
His company, his employees. It’s obvious it’s bothering him, eating him up inside. He’s willing to throw it all away, to let that guilt get him, just for me.
I know what was happening between us was special. I knew it meant something. But I didn’t realize just how much it means.
As I walk back to the dorm, it slowly hits me. This is for real, very real. And if I don’t pull out of this now, there’s no going back.
The problem is, I don’t want to go back. There’s nothing worth going back to in my old life.
It’s strange. I hated Walker when he forced me into this, became my sponsor, did all that. But when I found out that I could get out of this easily, I didn’t go to the dean. I didn’t report him.
I stayed. Because I want to stay.
The realization hits me like a ton of bricks but instead of feeling wobbly, like my world is tilting off its axis, I can’t help but smile.
This isn’t how I imagined my life would go. I pictured getting my degree then maybe meeting someone after I’ve been working for a while. But Walker just stormed into my life and changed everything, and now I can’t imagine being anywhere without him.
I head back to the dorm and find Jenna sitting her in room. Azrael isn’t there, which is surprising, but that’s okay. Jenna smiles at me, her head cocked.
“What do you look so happy about?”
“I decided something.” I walk into her room and sit down on her bed. She pivots toward me, crossing her legs underneath her. She’s sitting at her desk with her laptop open, some essay half-written on the screen.
“Something big?” she asks. “Let me guess, you decided what you want for breakfast.”
I grin at her. “No. I’m going to be with Walker.”
She laughs and grins huge at me. “I knew it.”
“Come on, no, you didn’t.”
“I knew it all along. You so clearly lo—”
“No, wait,” I say quickly. “Don’t say it. Please don’t.”
She laughs but she doesn’t finish her sentence. “Okay, fine. So what now?”
“Now, I just…” I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“I know what you should do.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah? Do you?”
“Trust me here. Take it from someone that knows, okay?”
“Go ahead, tell me.”
“You should move into the sponsored dorm with him.”
I laugh a little, surprised that she’d suggest it. “Didn’t you leave the dorms yourself and refuse to go back?”
“Yep,” she says, grinning. “But I’m different.”
“How?”
“The dorms had a different meaning for me. It’s complicated, but whatever. For you, it’ll be fun. It’ll be an adventure. You got three years in these dorms, I think it’s time to go have a little luxury for your last year.”
I sigh and lean back against the wall. Maybe she’s right. I have really enjoyed living in the sponsored dorm with Walker these last few days. It’s been fun, like we’re real grownups living in an expensive apartment… the sort of apartment he could provide for us for real.
“I don’t know,” I say finally. “I’d miss you guys.”
“Come on. You’ve been halfway living there already, you know?”
“True.”
“So go for it. Do it. Make it happen.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know! I don’t want to do something stupid, like throw away the last year I have here on some guy.”
“Is he just some guy?” she asks quietly. “If he is, you shouldn’t go.”
I hesitate a second, mulling that over. “I don’t know,” I finally admit. “I’m not sure.”
“I think you’re sure. You didn’t come in here and start this conversation for no reason, girl.”
“Ugh.” I kick my legs out and groan. “Why is everything so hard?!”
“Because you make it hard. Really, it’s not complicated.”
“Easy for you to say.”
She gives me a sad look. “Actually, no. I made my life way more complex than it needed to be. I resisted what I really wanted for so long, way longer than you did. I was stupid and naive but now… I’m happy. I’m really happy.”
I look at my friend for a long second and I know she’s telling the truth. She really is happy. I can see it in her eyes, in her smile. I see it all the time. She’s genuinely happy and I think it’s because of her man.
I can have that. I know I can have it. I just have to let myself have it.
“Okay!” I say, getting up. “Okay, damn it.”
“Okay,” she says, grinning. “Gonna make a decision then?”
“Already did.”
“And?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
She rolls her eyes and turns back to her computer. “I have work to do. Come back and tell me how it goes.”
“You think I should go talk to him right now?”
“As soon as you can, at least.”
“Yeah. Right.” I nod my head once. “Okay. I’ll see you later.”
“See you.”
I leave her room and go to turn back to my dorm. I hesitate a second, and in that short moment, my phone buzzes in my bag. I take it out and answer it.
“Hi, Walker,” I say.
“Listen, I want to talk,” he says. “I know you just left. I’m coming down to the dorms.”
I bite my lip. “I was just thinking about you, actually. I want to talk, too.”
“Good. Meet me out front.”
He hangs up the phone and I feel a thrill run through me. I shove my head back into Jenna’s room. “He’s meeting me right now!” I shout.
“Go then, idiot!” She’s laughing as I slam the door shut and hurry down the hall, grinning like a moron.
I get outside and drop my bag on the ground as I see Walker coming toward me. I have a huge smile, grinning ear to ear. I practically run over to him and throw myself up into his arms. He laughs and grabs me, lifting me up, and kisses me nice and deep and slow. Girls are watching us, some of them throwing nasty looks, but I couldn’t care less.
There’s nobody else in the entire world right now but him.
“I need to tell you—”
“I need to tell you—”
We both start at the same time and stop. I laugh and he grins at me.
“Go ahead,” I say.
“You sure?”
“Go!”
He takes a deep breath and nods. “I’m sorry about this morning. I was just stressed, but I think I have an idea that could save the company. Or part of it, anyway.”
“Walker! That’s amazing. All this happened in the last twenty minutes?”
“Yep. All because of what you said to me.”
I grin at him. “I’m so brilliant. What did I say?”
“You said that I should do what I like to do. That there are other things in this world.”
“Exactly. I really am brilliant.”
He grins and kisses me. “I don’t know if it’ll work. There’s a lot of stuff to do, but I have an idea at least.”
“Can you tell me what it is?”
“Not exactly. We’re going to pivot though.”
“Pivot?”
He grins at me. “I’ll tell you more later. But I wanted to thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.”
He laughs and kisses me. I hug him tight and look up into his eyes.
“I want to live with you,” I say softly.
That seems to surprise him. He takes a second to respond. “Really?”
“I want to move into the sponsored dorm. And I want you to stay with me.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
&nb
sp; “Good.” He takes my chin and looks into my eyes. “Because I love you, Kylee. I love you and I’m not going anywhere.”
“I love you too,” I say, finally getting the words out like an explosion from my throat.
We kiss for what feels like hours. He holds me there and I feel so many more doors opening, so many new paths forking. I feel my whole life opening up in front of me.
He’s free, I’m free. We can be together and free and right. Nothing’s going to get in the way because nothing else matters but this. Him and me, together, making things work.
That’s what love can do. That’s what I need it to do. That’s what he’s going to give to me.
16
Kylee
Three Years Later
“Did you get that order?”
I frown at the gray-haired woman poking her head into my office. She’s looking at me like I should know what she’s talking about but, unfortunately, I have no clue.
“Uh,” I say.
She sighs. “He didn’t tell you, did he?”
“Nope.”
“Of course not.” Martha steps into my office. “Walker wants a big ad buy this week. All over if you can.”
I groan. “Really?”
“Really. Internet, trades, whatever.”
“He’s supposed to give me more notice.”
She just shrugs like, what can you do? and I feel a little spark of anger.
“Sorry,” she says. “I’ll pass along the email.”
“It’s almost like I’m not married to the man,” I grumble.
“Don’t worry, hon. He’s just preoccupied.”
Martha slips back out from my office and I sit there for a second until the email arrives. Sure enough, Walker wants a big ad buy and he wants it very, very soon.
“You ass,” I grumble. He has no clue what goes into marketing around here. You don’t just do some big ad buy at the last second. You need to plan for it, build up the creative, get a good campaign all settled. I could reuse what we did the last time but I don’t want to put out stale advertising.
Which means I’ll be working late tonight and tomorrow doctoring what we do have just enough to make it feel fresh.
Annoyed, I get up from my desk and storm out of my office. Martha glances at me and tosses me a sympathetic look. “Don’t say anything,” I shoot at her and she throws up her hands in a peaceful gesture.
I walk quickly down the hall and through the main office. We have about eighty employees now, most of them in this main office but a few in a satellite office in New York. I smile and nod to a few of them in my department, Mikey and John and Tina and Bridget, before I turn left down a short hall and stop outside of Walker’s office.
He’s on the phone, of course. He’s always on the phone like he’s so important. I knock and he looks out at me with a frown on his face. He mouths the words, Another shortage, and I just roll my eyes before stepping inside.
I sit down and cross my legs as he finishes his conversation. He’s mostly making short affirmative statements and I smile as his eyes roam up my legs. I’m doing it on purpose, of course. I know what he’s thinking right now with my skirt pulled up slightly, showing off just a little more of my legs than normal.
He can’t help himself. It’s what I love about him. He’s insatiable and his appetite for me is never-ending.
It helps that I have the same appetite for him, even eight months pregnant.
Finally, he hangs up the phone. “I swear, I’m going to go out there and wring their balls out,” he growls.
“Wring their balls out? That sounds weirdly dirty.”
He sighs and rubs his temples. “I’m so tired I can’t even insult them right.”
“Poor baby.”
He shoots me a look. “What’s up?” he asks. “You come in here just to distract me?”
I smile a little bit. I knew he couldn’t help himself.
“No, actually. I came in here to yell at you about this ad buy thing.”
He sighs. “Look, I know it’s—”
“No, you look.” I lean toward him. “You can’t just leave word with my secretary about important shit like this and you can’t just make these decisions last minute.”
“I get it, it’s just, the new bits are finished and I want to sell—”
“I don’t care what you want,” I interrupt him. “You can’t drop this on me like that. I’m going to have to work late tonight now, and let me remind you that I’m eight months pregnant with your child.”
He throws his hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay, I get it.”
“Do you? Next time, talk to me, face to face. No emails or calls or notes. And please, leave Martha alone.”
“Martha can handle herself.”
“I don’t doubt it, but still.”
“Fine.” He puts his hands back down and smiles, his eyes moving down to my legs again. “Since you’re here, I was thinking I’d close the blinds and—”
“Save it,” I say, grinning at him, then thinking twice. “Okay, maybe later.”
“Thought so.” He grins right back then stands. He comes around his desk and sits down next to me, leans over, and kisses me gently. “How’s my beautiful, pregnant wife doing today?”
“She’s tired and annoyed about her bonehead husband.”
“Understandable. And yet you’re glowing.”
“Shut up.”
He kisses me again before leaning back in his seat. I stand up and drift over to a little work table off to the side with blueprints covering it. “This is the new bit?”
He nods, excitement in his eyes. He gets up and joins me. “Crazy new materials,” he says. “Fusion of diamond and titanium and all this other shit. I honestly don’t know how it works but apparently it’s indestructible.”
“Think it’ll sell?”
“I already have a few interested clients. Your ad campaign will get us a few more.”
I nod a little bit, eyes tracking the bit, my mind already working. I can see the thing tearing through the earth, hitting something, but not shattering like other drill bits might…
“I think I can work with this,” I say.
“I knew you could.” He wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me against him. I rest my head on his shoulder for a second and we stand there looking down at what we built together.
Three years ago, just after we decided to get together for real, he sold his company to his father’s biggest competitor. He sold everything and used that money to start a new business. I took over the marketing while finishing my degree, and although that first year was horrible and difficult, it was one of the best years of my life.
He hired most of his old employees back. Not right away, but slowly, over time. Now we’re hiring even more people and expanding all the time. We build drill bits for oil drillers, and we’re starting to expand into other drilling markets. The company is growing, the money is flowing in, and I can tell that Walker feels a sense of pride on his work that he didn’t have before.
We got married after I graduated. And I got pregnant a little over a year later.
Now we live outside of Austin in a cute little suburb and we commute every day to this office in downtown. It’s a gorgeous area and I couldn’t be happier, although I never imagined that I’d be a Texan.
Life is good. Life is never hard, although work can be hard sometimes. But life, with Walker, is beautiful. We wake up, fuck, sleep late, fuck in the middle of the night, drink coffee, talk, laugh, watch movies, and basically have an amazing and fulfilling existence together. Sometimes working can be tough, but we figure it out.
And soon, the family will grow by one.
“I’d better get back to my office,” I say.
“Long night ahead of you.”
I glare at him then kiss him. “See you for lunch?”
“See you.”
I leave his office and smile at him as I head back to my own. I nod and smile at other coworkers and Martha grins at me a
s I pass.
“You work it out with the mister?”
“I laid down the law,” I say to her.
“Good, thatta girl.”
I laugh and head inside. I sit down at my desk and pull up my computer. The first thing I see is a message from Walker.
Walker: I love you.
Me: I love you too. Get back to work.
Walker: Can’t stop thinking about those legs.
Me: You have a problem.
Walker: I know. My problem is you’re not here giving me what I need.
Me: You’ll survive.
I sign off messaging and smile to myself. I lean back in my chair and look out my window for a long while, just drinking in the moment.
My husband, my job, my life. He’s given me so much and just keeps on giving. I can’t believe how things have happened but I don’t think I’d change a thing, even if I could. I’m fulfilled, blessed, joyous.
Every morning is better than the last and I go to sleep already looking forward to what the next day will bring.
All thanks to my man, my Walker.
THE END
* * *
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