Cocky Bastard

She headed for the bathroom, and I trailed behind her.

“Stop running from me as soon as you start to feel something.” I put my hands on her shoulders to stop her. “Look at me, Princess.”

She turned around, appearing as if she was about to cry. “What?”

Here it was. I knew it was now or never. I shut my eyes then opened them before taking a deep breath. “I love you, Aubrey. Can’t you see that? I am head over heels in fucking love with you. I love you more than anything in this entire world. When I look into your eyes, I don’t just see you, I see my children. Hell, I see an entire farm of children and deaf, dumb and blind goats. I see my entire future. Without you, I see nothing. Nothing. Even those two years locked up, memories of you were what gave me the strength to go on every day. I know you have to resolve things with him, and I don’t expect a confirmation right now with me standing here in this towel. I’ll wait. In the meantime, I’m here. You have me. The question is, do you want to keep me, or will you throw me away?”

When she opened her mouth, what came out was the last thing I ever expected. “Richard told me some time ago that the firm is dissolving and closing up shop by the end of the year. He was offered a position at a Boston patent law firm as a partner there. I just found this out yesterday. He wants to try to hire me. Either way, he asked me to go with him.”

Adrenaline rushed through me as my body was gearing up for a fight. I swallowed the massive lump in my throat. “When does he leave?”

A teardrop fell down her cheek. “Two weeks.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

I barely slept after the bomb Aubrey dropped last night. I knew I was starting to get to her, although she was still fighting it. Two weeks was not a lot of time to gain back her trust. But what choice did I have at this point?

Thirteen days. I picked up my cell phone and stared at the time. The damn minutes seemed to tick away faster than they ever had. In prison, waiting for a day to pass seemed like an eternity. Yet now, it felt like the hands on the clock were spinning at warp speed.

I buzzed by Starbucks, picked up a coffee and paid for Aubrey’s. I also ordered an apple fritter and gave Melanie instructions to warm it for my girl before she gave it to her. I hoped it would subliminally remind her of our bike excursion for apple pie.

My brain was still frazzled, and I needed to work off the growing feeling of frustration, so I headed to the gym. It was noon by the time I finally made my muscles burn enough to think about something other than thirteen days.

Not knowing what else to do with myself, I headed to Aubrey’s with a dozen more flats of flowers. It was busy work, and in only two weeks time, someone else could be appreciating the garden. But I couldn’t let myself think about that now.

I was coming from the backyard with a wheelbarrow full of mulch when I saw Dick pull up outside of Aubrey’s. He looked right at me, and I had no desire to hide anymore anyway.

Maybe the Princess Fucker wouldn’t recognize me shirtless and sweaty. I continued down the driveway as he approached.

“Mr. Bateman?” He squinted, clearly confused by my appearance.

“That’s me. What can I do you for?”

“What are you doing here?”

I looked down at the wheelbarrow and back up at Dick with a face that said ‘can’t you figure that shit out yourself’?’ “Planting flowers.” I shrugged.

“I can see that. But why are you here planting flowers?”

“I guess that would be because Aubrey likes flowers.” Something you obviously didn’t know or give a shit about seeing as what the place looked like when I first arrived.

Dick folded his arms over his chest. “I thought you were going back to Australia?”

My jaw clenched. I was torn between telling off the asshole for not taking care of Aubrey’s property and punching him in the face for trying to take the woman I loved away. Just then, Aubrey’s car turned the corner. No matter how bad I wanted to ruin things¸ I couldn’t do it to her.

“Ohhh.” I nodded my head as if something just dawned on me. “You must think I’m my brother, Chance.”

“Excuse me?”

“Chance. He’s the better looking brother for sure. But we’re identical twins. I’m Harry.” I extended my hand.

He was skeptical for a moment, but the dumb bloke fell for my line of shit easy enough. My hand was hot, sweaty and dirty. The suit wearing snob looked like he wanted to find somewhere to wipe off his hand after we shook. Not used to man hands, are you, Dick?

“Well that explains it then. Your brother was a client of Aubrey’s. I met him in the office.”