“I didn’t know until you’d gone,” John tried to explain to her. “I thought about trying to find the restaurant you’d gone to, but I wasn’t sure whether you’d welcome the interruption.”
“I think you should go,” Amy told him weakly. “I want to be on my own.”
“Amy.” John walked over to her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “You don’t need to feel bad about this. None of this is your fault.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is,” she told him sternly. “Where the fault can be found doesn’t change the fact that I only got the job of my dreams because the guy hiring fancied a bit of me.”
“There are worse reasons to get a job,” John tried to lighten her mood.
“There are?” She looked up at him in surprise.
“Sure.” He nodded, although he couldn’t think of any.
“What am I going to do?” Amy asked after another few minutes had passed. “What am I going to do now? I had everything sorted. I was going to take the job. I was going to get my own place. I was going to live my own life. What happens now, though? Do I try again? Do I just accept that I’m never going to get anywhere without your dad?”
*******
Chapter 17
Amy
She was humiliated. What made it worse was that John knew everything. It wasn’t even like she could pretend that she’d turned the job down. She had no real options left. The job she’d been offered wasn’t real. Sure, she’d threatened to go in, but she hadn’t really meant it. She had no interest in forcing herself into a position that she hadn’t earned.
The situation was dire. She knew what she had to do. She knew that she had to go talk to her stepfather. She couldn’t bring herself to do it, though. She couldn’t bring herself to stand up from her bed. She didn’t have the energy. She didn’t have the motivation. What was the point in trying to sort anything out? Her life was ruined.
Amy didn’t leave her room until the next day. Her stomach was growling loudly and her head felt light with starvation. She hoped to make it to the kitchen and back to her room without seeing anybody, but her hopes were dashed when she saw John standing close to the stove. “Hey.” He turned and smiled at her. “You hungry?” he asked as he flipped an omelet in a pan he was tending.
“Starving,” she corrected him.
“Here.” He lifted a plate over to the pan and slid the omelet down onto it. “You have that and I’ll make another.”
“Are you sure?” She watched him pushing the plate on the breakfast bar. “I don’t mind making some cereal. You should have the eggs.”
John laughed. “Don’t worry about it, it’s not like it’s going to take me long to make another.”
“Well,” she took a seat at the breakfast bar, “thanks, I guess.”
He nodded without turning away from the stove. “So, have you decided what you’re going to do about your problem?” he asked her.
Amy took a bite of the eggs he’d made. They were light, fluffy, and seasoned to utter perfection. “Wow,” she said when her mouth was free. “You’re not a bad cook, are you?”
“Thanks.” John cracked an egg into the pan. “I cooked most of my own food when I was at school. The stuff that they serve at boarding school is total crud.”
“Crud?”
“Yeah.” He laughed. “It’s awful. It’s like the pizza and the broccoli tasted the same. How does someone even do that, to pizza? How does someone take a food that is so delicious and turn it into every kid’s worst nightmare?”
“You really did have it tough, huh?” She took another forkful of the eggs and enjoyed the slow releasing flavor on her tongue.
“You can say that again.” John nodded. “Nice change of subject, by the way.” He turned to her with a smirk across his lips. “Well, I should say, nice attempt.”
Amy sighed. What did John want her to say? He knew as well as she did that she didn’t have any real options left. “You know what I’m going to do about the job,” she told him, pushing her fork across the plate. “You know I don’t have any choice.”
“We always have a choice,” John disagreed with her. “It’s just that it’s not always easy to see that.”
“John, if I don’t take the job with your dad, he’s going to kick me out. Without the job at Green’s, I have no chance of paying rent on an apartment. I’d be on the streets. I’ve got nothing of my own. I’ve got no way to provide for myself. I don’t like to admit it, but your father has won.”
“So, that’s it?” John asked.
Amy could hear the disappointment ringing in his tone. “So, what’s it?”
“So, you’re just going to give up?”
“There’s nothing I can do,” she told him firmly. “I need to make sure that I don’t end up on the street. What are you expecting me to do? How am I supposed to fight this?”
“I don’t know,” John admitted. “I just don’t think that you should give up.”
Amy shook her head and put the fork back down on her plate. John didn’t understand. He could never understand. He hadn’t had his whole life planned out for him. He didn’t have his father’s expectations looming over his head. “Well, maybe if it was you then you’d be able to say that,” she told him without trying to hide her irritation.
John didn’t say anything. He just focused on his eggs and let an awkward silence settle between them. Amy watched him quietly. She was done talking about work. She was done listening to what other people thought. They didn’t understand. They couldn’t understand. They weren’t in the position that she was in. They weren’t being faced with the choices that she was going to have to make.
“I know this is hard for you,” John tried to say, but Amy cut him off.
“You don’t know anything,” she told him straight. “You have been gone for eight years. You don’t know anything about me or my life. Maybe you should stop acting like you. Maybe it’s time you stop pretending like you understand anything that’s going on, because you don’t.” Her words were harsh and she found herself forcing the last of what she had to say out.
She stood up. She couldn’t sit in the room with him. She could feel him silently judging her. She had enough to deal with without adding his judgement to the mix. “I guess I’ll see you later,” she said when she’d reached the door.
“Yeah.” John nodded without looking up. “You know,” he stopped stirring the eggs and looked over to her, “I’m not trying to make this any harder for you. I just want to see you happy.”
Amy shrugged. “Well, maybe being happy isn’t something that’s on the horizon for me. Maybe I’m just one of those people who don’t get to experience their dreams. I guess I’m fine with that. I’d rather know now. I’d rather know it now, so that I don’t spend the rest of my life trying for something that will never happen.”
********
Chapter 18
John
The door to his father’s study was closed, but he knew that his dad was inside. He could hear the sound of music drifting through the hardwood door that stood between them. He reached out and bounced his fist off of the door three times and then waited for his dad to answer his knock.
“I wasn’t expecting to see you today,” his dad said as he opened the door. “Have you made progress with Amy?”
John walked into the room without waiting for an invitation. He didn’t bother replying to his dad until he’d taken a seat at the desk. “Actually, no,” John told him hesitantly. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“I don’t understand?”
“Amy has decided to come and work for you. She hasn’t said that directly, but I can tell from the way that she’s been.”
“Well, that’s great news.” His dad looked triumphant. “Why are you sounding so down in the dumps about it?”
“She doesn’t want the job,” John tried to explain to his dad for the thousandth time. “She doesn’t want to work with you, but she feels like she doesn’t
have any other choice.”
“Well, that’s good.” His dad still looked happy. “She doesn’t have any other choices, so I’m glad she’s worked that one out.”
“I want to give you a proposition,” John cut his dad off. “I want you to take me on as your lawyer. You can trust me. I’m your son and you know my education is good. It might not be as great as Amy’s, but it isn’t far behind.”
“You want me to hire you instead?” his dad asked in disbelief. “Why would I do a thing like that?”
“Like I said, you can trust me,” John picked up from his trail. “I’m the next best thing to Amy. If you let me come and work for you, then Amy can go off and do whatever she wants.”
His dad looked thoughtful. “You’ve never shown any interest in working with me. Why should I believe that you’ll do your best by my company?”
“Because you know how much I care for Amy. You know that I wouldn’t let her down, even if I were inclined to let you down.”
His dad nodded. “I guess you have a point.”
“I do.”
“Okay,” his dad said with a sigh. “I’ll make you an offer. You can come and work for me. I’ll let Amy do her own thing and I won’t interfere, but there’s something you have to do for me.”
“What?”
“You have to swear to me that things between you and Amy are over. There can be no feelings between the two of you from now on. You need to move on and find someone who is more suitable.”
“I don’t understand what you’re asking me to do.”
“If I give you this job, then you can never speak or talk to Amy again, unless it’s at a family occasion. You are to be perfect strangers to each other. Do you understand what I’m trying to say?”
“So, you’re willing to give Amy her life back, but only if I stay out of it?”
“Exactly.” His dad gave him a stiff nod. “I’m glad you’re catching up.”
John sat back in his chair. The offer that his father had just made was circling in his head. What was he going to do? Could he really accept the deal? Could he really walk out of Amy’s life for a second time without any explanation? “Do I really have to cut Amy out of my life?” he asked, because he hoped that perhaps his father might find the heart that supposedly beat in his chest.
“It’s the only way that this will work.”
“Why?” John asked. “Why is it the only way that it’ll work? What do Amy’s and my relationship have to do with work?”
“I’m not going to have you ruin my reputation,” his dad told him firmly. “I will not have you two sneaking around. It’s disgusting and it’s wrong. If you really care about Amy, if you really love her in the way that you profess to, then you’ll take this offer. You’ll let her move on, so she can be happy.”
“Fine,” John said quietly. “If that’s the only way, then I’ll do it.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear you,” his dad leered across the desk. “You’re going to need to say that a little bit louder.”
“Fine,” John sighed. “I’ll cut her out of my life, as long as you keep to your word.”
“My word is good, son; you don’t need to worry about that.”
“So, what happens now?” John asked.
“You can start next week,” his dad told him with a thoughtful expression. “I’d suggest that you find somewhere else to stay until then, so you and Amy don’t cross paths.”
“So, what, I can’t even have this last weekend with her?”
“I think that would be for the best.” His father nodded. “I know you care about her, John; my intention has never been and never will be to hurt you. I hope you can understand that it brings me no pleasure to keep the pair of you apart. I’m only doing what’s right. I’m protecting this family and, one day, hopefully you will both understand that.”
John stood up. “I guess I better go and pack a bag then.” He could feel his shoulders sinking into his body. He wasn’t happy. He’d managed to get what he wanted, but it had been at the steepest possible price.
“You’ve done the right thing here,” his dad called after him. “There aren’t many men out there who would sacrifice so much for a girl.”
********
Chapter 19
Amy
Amy was in the kitchen when a dull thumping noise started, coming from the stairs. She pulled herself to her feet and walked out into the hall, so she could see what was making the noise. It was John. He was making his way down the stairs with a heavy-looking bag. The bag kept bouncing off of the stairs behind him as he struggled down with it.
“Where are you going?” Amy asked when he’d reached the bottom of the stairs. “You never said that you were going away.”
“It’s kind of a last-minute thing.” John shrugged.
“I don’t get it.” Amy frowned at him. “I thought you were sticking around for a while?”
“Things change, plans change.”
“I guess,” Amy said reluctantly. “When are you going to get back?”
“I don’t know.” John avoided her eyes. “I’m pretty sure that I’m going to be gone for a while, though.”
“Are you going to write this time?” Amy tried to smile, but there was a heavy feeling lining the pit of her stomach that was making the action harder than it should have been. “You’re not just going to leave me again, are you?” she asked weakly.
It was clear from John’s expression that was exactly what he’d planned to do. “Amy.” He shuffled his feet. “I know that we were close a long time ago, but that was just that, a long time ago,” he told her without looking up from the ground. “I get that life is being hard on you at the moment, but that’s not my fault. I can’t just stick around for you.”
“I’m not asking you to do that,” Amy told him quickly. She could feel her cheeks flushing red from the things that he’d just said. “I’m not asking you to stay; I’m just asking that you stay in touch.”
“Amy, it’s time that you moved on.”
“Moved on from what?” She frowned at him.
“It doesn’t matter.” He lifted the bag back to his shoulders. “I need to go.”
“You can’t just go.” She tried to get in front of him, but he was already at the door. “You can’t do this. Not again,” she tried desperately, but it was clear that he’d made up his mind. “Please,” she called after him, when he’d walked onto the porch. “Please, don’t do this to me again.”
He didn’t stop walking. He didn’t say goodbye. He just got into the black car that was parked in the driveway and left. Amy stood at the door until the car was out of sight. Her eyes were burning, but she wasn’t sure whether that was because of her tears or because she hadn’t blinked since John had walked to the car.
She walked back through the house and to the kitchen, where she’d been before she’d heard John making his way down the stairs. A strange, cold, numbing feeling started to spread over her body. She was confused. She was confused about why John had just left. She’d thought that they were getting along. She’d thought they were getting close again, but obviously she’d been wrong.
“Amy, I need to talk to you,” her stepfather said as he walked into the room.
“Can it wait?” Amy sighed. She’d had enough to deal with for one day. She’d just watched the guy that she loved leave her for a second time. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with her stepfather on top of that.
“No, not really,” he said seriously. “It’s actually a matter of importance.”
“Oh?” Amy looked over at him. “Well, what is it, then?”
“You’ll be happy to know that I’ve filled the position in my company. You will no longer be needed.”
“I won’t be needed?” Amy asked in disbelief. What was going on? Had she woken up to some kind of alternate reality?
“No,” her stepfather confirmed. “You’re welcome to go and apply for any job that you see fit. I will not punish you for your choice.”
> “Who have you got to replace me?” Amy asked curiously. Over the last week, she’d learned that her stepfather had sent his own son away so that he could ensure that Amy would be good enough to join his company. Who had he managed to find that was comparable?
“Does that matter?”
“I guess not.” Amy shrugged. “Do you know that John’s gone?”
“I’m his father, of course I know.” He frowned at her.
Amy didn’t say anything. She could feel the cogs in her mind quietly turning. She was working something out, even though she wasn’t sure what. Her instincts were telling her that something wasn’t right. How could it be? Her father had done a complete turnaround and John was gone. The cogs had stopped turning. That was it. That was what she was trying to work out. John leaving and her stepfather’s turnaround were connected, she was sure of it.
“Did you force John to leave again?” She turned so that her eyes met with her stepfather’s.
“So what, if I did?” He shrugged. “You’ve been given a free pass. You can take whatever job you want. Why are you still complaining?”
“You sent him away.” Amy shook her head in disbelief. “Why? Why did you do that to him? Why have you made him leave his family again?” She was angry. She was angrier than she had ever been in her life. She could feel it burning through her veins, as her heart pushed the violent feeling out into her body.
“You think this is because of me?” her stepfather asked in surprise. “You think that he left because I forced him to?”
“Yes,” Amy said quietly. “Yes, I think you forced him to. He wouldn’t have gone otherwise. He wouldn’t have left me again. I know him.”
Her stepfather laughed. “Well, you’re wrong,” he told her cheerfully. “John left through his own choice.”
Let's Do This: A Forbidden Taboo Stepbrother Billionaire Romance (Sexy as hell Book 3) Page 6