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ChapterTwelve
BEAU
Icouldn’t bring myself to leave her hallway last night. I sat listening to her cry, wanting to wrap her up in my arms and give her the comfort she needed, but I couldn’t do that when I was the asshole that treated her like that.
Fuck. Why did she have to cheat on me with my brother?
We didn’t argue much. We didn’t break up and get back together constantly, because our love was written in the stars. But she did accuse me of cheating once, and we sat just like this, with only a door separating us. It was an hour before she finally came out.
To this day, she never told me who said I was with Bobbi Jane or what made her think that. She said she came to confront me and ended up crying in the bathroom.
This morning, I saw the letter from her dad laying beside her briefcase. It was open on the kitchen table. His last request was for her to talk to me and clear the air. I spent all morning trying to figure out why he would write a handwritten note to his lawyers to insist that I be her bodyguard, but in the letter to her, he advisedherto reach out tome.
Why would she need to reach out to me if I’d already be protecting her twenty-four hours a day?
She comes down the steps, and I hear the beeping of the security pad. “Vanessa.”
“Don’t talk to me.” She hurries out the door.
I run out and grab her arm. “I’m sorry. I just can’t…”
“You can. You did. Until you didn’t. I never thought I would witness the day that you were vengeful and hateful. The day that you would use my body against me.”
Her nose flares and her eyes water. She holds her lips tight as they quiver.
She’s right. I did. I wanted her to feel what it felt like to be brought to the edge and have it ripped away.
“I was caught up in the moment, and I wanted you. I’m man enough to admit that.”
The green dress she’s wearing crosses over her chest, and her skin is covered with red splotches. She’s fair skinned, and there’s no hiding when she’s upset.
“Then why?” she cries.
Tears flow abundantly, drawing my hands like magnets to her cheeks because I’m eager to wipe away every drop. My thumbs stroke each cascading tear as I look into her emerald eyes. Whenever she cries they saturate until they’re a deep, glistening green.
“Why can’t you answer?” she asks whimpering, her head shaking. “Why would you let me think we had a chance?”
More tears. “Why would you mark me?” She pulls the fabric away from her body above her left breast, showing me the purple circle.
“Why would you stake your claim on my heart if you…”
I stare at the small hickey on her left breast and try to see the tattoo. Last night, I was completely entranced and wrought with need that I didn’t notice it. She quickly covers it before I can register what I’m seeing.
“Fuck. Did I hurt you?” It looks bruised.
She wraps her hands around my wrists trying to remove them from her cheeks, but I hold tighter.
“Not physically. Our bodies ignited, and I wanted everything you gave me. But I can’t be with you every day. Not now. I’m pretty sure you’ve evened the score, if that was your intention.”
I drop my hands from her face. Ashamed, I twiddle her fingers in mine, not wanting to release her. She shimmies away and wipes the residual tears from under her lids.
“I called Boyd & Sons. They’ll have your pay by the end of the day. If it isn’t an inconvenience, please fill them in on what happened last night at the club.” She straightens, clutches her purse, and clicks her key fob to open the door to the detached garage.
Vanessa slides into her convertible BMW two-seater and reverses from the driveway, her car squealing and leaving me standing there with my heart run over by four thousand dollars’ worth of tires. But this time, it’s on me.
Back inside, I retrieve my keys along with my shoes that I’d removed in the kitchen. “Did she just fire me?” I ask myself. Yes she did.
I’ve watched her take control of a company she said she didn’t want to run. And it’s been a huge turn on seeing her wild side be constructive, even if her personal side is still destructive. Setting my personal emotions aside, I know this deal with Rome is cutting edge; it’ll be groundbreaking for Barron’s Distillery.
