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“On people? Nothing. I take that back. I feel the same way about lashes on cars as I do about excessive lashes on people. They look silly.”
“I agree with you there.” I looked back at the car. “I probably won’t do too much to it.”
“Well, it’s yours.”
“It’s not mine until I hand over the funds and you hand over the title and bill of sale.”
“Let’s get to it then.”
He went into the glove compartment and grabbed the title and registration. After that, we climbed into the truck, headed to the bank, and then the DMV. I was sure we would be there for a while, but I would have officially bought my first car once we walked out!
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
Callum
The smile on Pasha’s face when we walked out of the DMV with the title to my SUV officially in her name was priceless. She smiled all through our lunch date, and she was still smiling when we got back to my house. When we stepped over the threshold, she led me to my bedroom, stripped both of us down, and gave me the ride of my life. Gone was the shy, timid woman. Present was this strong, confident sexual prowess.
I loved seeing her genuinely happy. She deserved so much more, and I wanted to give it to her. The $2,000 she gave me for the car would sit in my safe until I could find a way to sneak it back to her. I didn’t want the money. I didn’t need it, and I was sure she could use it for something.
A few days had passed since the exchange. I’d seen her every day since then. Whether it was me taking to her lunch or seeing her after work, every day we were together. I loved being in her presence. I loved how comfortable she’d become, curling up in my lap while we watched TV or simply held a conversation. The side of her I’d been waiting to see was shining through.
Today was Friday, the day of the dinner at the mayor’s mansion. Whenever there was an event involving city officials who booked my car service, I always included armed security for an additional fee. I met with the drivers and the security team to discuss the protocol for tonight’s event.
I’d just finished and was gathering my things to leave when someone knocked on my office door. I looked up to see William standing there. I hadn’t seen him since the funeral and hadn’t spoken to him since he called, apologizing for his mother showing up at my house.
“What can I help you with?” I asked, motioning for him to sit.
“I wanted to speak with you.”
“About?”
He sighed as he sat while I continued to stand. “I know we can’t just put everything that happened behind us, but I’d like to try to work through it.”
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. I made peace with that at your father’s funeral. It’s definitely not going to happen after our family members collectively decided to come to my house and show their asses. I don’t want or need that type of negativity in my life. I said I was okay with possibly building a relationship with you, Mo, and Jess again, but after that, I think it’s best if we keep things as they are.”
“I just feel like family should be better than this, man.”
“William, Bella and I have spent seventeen years isolated from ‘the family.’ You know what we’ve done in that time? We built a family of our own. They may not be blood, but they have been solid.”
“I understand that. And I’m sorry it had to come to that.”
“That’s the thing. It didn’t have to come to that. A bunch of greedy people decided that a dollar was more important than family. My father warned me long ago that I had to watch out for certain people in our family. He always told me that he prayed every night for God to allow him and my mother to live to see Bella and me reach adulthood. I always wondered why he said that.”
I took a seat across from him and laced my fingers.
“You want to know an interesting piece of information I learned about five years ago, William?”
He looked curious. He didn’t say anything, but he nodded his head.
“When our grandmother died, she left her children quite a bit of money. Now, Aunt Glenda and Uncle James blew through theirs. She spent hers tricking off on men who wanted nothing more than her generous hand. Your mother helped your father spend his living lavishly, and now they have nothing to show for it. My mother put hers into a trust for Bella and me.
“Not even my father knew about this, but her siblings and your mother did. You see, when I overheard them talking about the money they all thought they should get to share, I assumed that it was the insurance money. But, no. It was the trust. A trust I didn’t know about until I found the paperwork when I remodeled the house a few years back. It was under a loose board in the back of their master bedroom closet.”
My grandmother died when I was thirteen. The trust was opened when I turned fourteen. That paperwork sat in a box under the floorboards for an additional fourteen years because the only person who knew it was there was gone. When I found it, the first person I called was Bella. She verified everything with the bank. We went through the legal channels and came out with several hundred thousand dollars apiece. We invested it over the years, and it blessed us tenfold.
I sat back in my chair. “You know what your mother said to me when she came over spewing all that animosity? She said it was too bad that I wasn’t on that boat with my parents.”
