Saved (A Standalone Romance) (A Savery Brother Book)

by Naomi Niles

  “Jesus, man, I was about ready to check between your legs and see if you still had a pair down there.” He popped open his wrapper and took a bite of his honey bun. He still found a way to get his words from out of his crowded mouth. “So umm, yeah, about that account I told you about. Um, the Lancaster account… If I can close that one for us, then we will be sitting pretty for the rest of the year. That contract is worth almost 100 thousand, man.”

  He shoved another bite into his mouth. “Shit. We can all take vacations if we get that. Hell, you can buy Sarah two or three cars for her graduation later this year. She’s still up for that, isn’t she?”

  I finally ripped the packaging from my honey bun. “Yeah, she’s up for it. It looks like she will graduate with that 4.0 GPA, too. Shit. She’s gonna want something nice, though and I’m going to make sure she has it. She deserves it.”

  “Hell yeah. A fucking 4.0 GPA? Shit. I was lucky to get a 2.5 in my day. If I got a 4.0, I think my parents would have died from a heart attack as soon as they saw it.”

  “Either that or just been thankful for whoever you were cheating off of.”

  He laughed as he propped his leg over the other. “Yeah, that, too, shit. But I know you’re proud of Sarah. After all she has been through and still managed to bust her ass in school? That is a special girl, man. A very special girl.”

  “Yeah, I know it.”

  I took another bite of my honey bun as I glanced at a picture of Sarah on my desk. Her long, curly, sandy blonde hair dropped just beneath her shoulders and her eyes were stained with blue like the sky above. She looked just like her mother, Susan, and that was the only reason I couldn’t hate her for leaving as much as I wanted to.

  “Harrison? You alright?”

  I looked at Brian as he sat in the chair with one eyebrow raised above the other.

  “What?”

  “I’ve been talking to you for the past minute, but you’re just staring off into space.”

  “Oh, yeah, I’m fine, man, I’m good. Just thinking about my baby girl, that’s all. I’m proud of her.”

  Chapter Two

  Caroline

  I sat in the back of the classroom, listening to the professor ramble on about classwork. I looked to the right at Sarah’s seat. It was empty, and the class had started 10 minutes ago, so I sent her a text message to see where she was at. She was close to reaching her 4.0 mark, and if she started missing classes, it wouldn’t help her in the long run.

  I slid my phone back into my purse as the professor’s beady eyes peered back and forth over the classroom as he continued in his dry, monotone voice. I couldn’t believe that Sarah managed to maintain an A in his class, because I could barely stay awake throughout his lectures. A few minutes later, Sarah crept into the classroom.

  She mouthed, “Sorry,” to the professor as she crept past him and made her way down the aisle to her seat. I fixed my eyes on her, waiting for an explanation as she settled into her seat and hung her purse on the back of her chair. “Girl, you don’t want to know,” she whispered to me.

  I scooted my desk closer to hers. The loud screech sent the professor’s eyes in our direction. I smiled. “Um, sorry, Professor Morgan.” He kept his gaze in our direction for a few seconds, silently watching like a nosy neighbor, then continued his lesson. As he continued speaking, I whispered to Sarah, “No, I do want to know!”

  “I ran into Bradley a little while ago, and he almost got me to go back to his apartment with him for an early morning, um, sex show.”

  “Sex show! Bradley?”

  “Yes! I almost went, but I know that Professor Morgan is going to give a pop quiz on this lecture and I couldn’t count on you to take the notes for me.”

  “Oh, gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  The professor cleared his throat in the front of the classroom, causing me and Sarah to freeze. We had waited for a few minutes before we started speaking to each other again. “So, anyway, he was telling me about a party tonight. I think we should go.”

  “Tonight?” I looked to the front of the classroom to make sure Professor Morgan wasn’t going to look our way. “No, I can’t. I have to study for a test that I have tomorrow. I haven’t studied shit for that class, and I can’t afford to fail that test.”

  “Oh, come on, Caroline! Live a little! We are about to graduate, and then after that, it’s the real world. No more parties. No more staying out all night, drinking. Just regular, boring adults.” She glanced to the front of the room. “And you’ll probably end up marrying somebody like Professor Morgan.”

  “Ew, no!” I covered my mouth when I realized that I had spoken louder than I wanted to. A few students around us snickered as Professor Morgan peered at us. He removed his glasses and let them hang from the string around his neck.

  “Ladies, is there something you want to say to the class? Please, go ahead. You have the floor.”

  “Um,” I cleared my throat, “no, Professor Morgan, I don’t have anything to say… except… that you’re doing a wonderful job teaching this class and I can’t wait to hear more of your lesson.”

  Sarah giggled as she hid her face behind the student seated in front of her. Professor Morgan’s thin lips pursed together as his frail body stood in front of the classroom. His sweater hung loosely from his body, and his black tie was tied into a small knot around his neck. After a few moments had passed, he slid his glasses back onto his face and continued his lesson as if he was never interrupted. Sarah smirked as I shook my head, and we kept our silence until the end of the class.

  Afterward, we went to grab something to eat before our next class began. Sarah and I had been best friends since we were in kindergarten. We both had Ms. Caven’s class, and I remembered her walking into the classroom with two ponytails on each side of her head and tears in her eyes. Ms. Caven introduced her to me, and from that day forward, we became best friends. She didn’t know much about her mother until she was a teenager. She told me that she ran out on her and her father when she was younger.

  I remember the day she came to my house and told me. She cried for a while after that because she felt like there was a side of her that she would never know because of how her mother ran out, but I comforted her the best I could. She had a good father, though. Mr. Zimmer did everything thing he could to make up for the fact that her mother wasn’t in her life. He was at every mother/daughter dance that the school had, and he even tried his hand at doing her hair.

  He had help, though, because Mr. Zimmer was always a handsome man. He looked much younger than his age, and the mothers of students in our grades would always flock to him, especially when they found out that he was a single father. I didn’t realize how handsome he was until I was a teenager. Actually, the majority of girls in our high school saw how attractive he was. Sarah used to hate when I joked around about him, but I only did that to mess with her. I knew that as long as she was alive, her father would be off-limits.

  “So, are you really going to study instead of going to that party? Seriously, Caroline?” She took a handful of french fries and shoved them into her mouth.

  “Yes, I am serious. I am not like you at all. You can get good grades by looking at a few things at the last minute. But me? I can study for two days and still get a D on the tests.”

  “Well,” she said after she took a sip of soda. “That is more reason for you not to waste your time studying because you will most likely fail anyway.”

  I rolled my eyes at her as we sat in the middle of the small campus café. Sarah was born smart, so she could ace tests that she barely spent any time studying for. It was uncanny, and she’d been that way for as long as I knew her. “Listen Sarah, I am not a mutant like you, OK? I can’t magically get an A without studying. So, I’m going to have to pass on this party, but,” I sighed, “I know it is going to be fun and I hate that I won’t be there.”

  “Wow, Caroline. So, you’re really going to make me go to this party by myself?” She poked her bottom
lip out. “All by my wittle bittle self? What if the monster is out there and he tries to take me?”

  “Oh, please, Sarah. I’m sure if a monster decides to take you, it is because you want him to. If not, once he takes you, he will bring you right back once he finds out how ANNOYING you are.”

  She laughed and nudged me with her foot underneath the table. “You are a loser! Fine. I’ll just go to this party by myself, and I will put it all over Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook just so you can see how much fun you are missing out on! This is our last year in college, and you want to waste it studying!”

  Just then, Bradley and Johnathan walked over to our table. Bradley was on ASU’s football team, and Johnathan played basketball. Johnathan was interested in me, and we had been on a few dates with each other, but as of right now, it was nothing serious. He was tall with a short haircut and a toned, athletic body type. He looked more like a model than a basketball player, and he wasn’t that good in the sport, but his height is what gave him the opportunity. People warned me that he had a bad side to him, but I never saw it. After all, rumors are just that: rumors.

  “What’s up, ladies?” Johnathan said as he pulled a chair to our table. “So, I know you two are going to the frat party tonight, right?”

  “No,” Sarah spoke up before I could respond. I glared at her as Bradley shook his head. “I tried to get her to come, but for some reason, she wants to study instead of going to a party. Can you believe that? We are in college, and she would rather study than go to a party.”

  They laughed at the irony of her statement as I sliced my burger in two. “Well, yeah, I need to. I have to get at least a B in this class, and if I don’t, I can kiss my career goodbye. I need to finish strong with all the courses in my major.”

  “Blah, blah, blah,” Sarah mocked. “Well, you can be a nerd and stay home and study, and we will have all the fun for you.”

  “I hate that you won’t be there,” Johnathan said, with his hazel eyes lighting the path to my heart. “I was looking forward to hanging out with you tonight.” He slid his hand on top of mine. “Maybe I can come to your dorm and keep you company instead of going out.”

  I smiled. “No, I can’t ask you to do that. I know this is a big party and one person is already going to miss it, there doesn’t need to be two. Go ahead and enjoy yourself. I’m sure there will be more times for us to hang out afterward.”

  “Yeah, there will. I will make sure of it.”

  “Well,” Sarah interjected, “that’s enough of that. I need to get to class, and you need to keep being a nerd.” She got up from the table and grabbed her trash. “I will see you tomorrow and rub your face in all the fun we had tonight.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure you will.” Johnathan and Bradley stood up to leave the table as well. “Um, Sarah,” I called out to her before she walked away, “you be safe tonight, alright? And don’t have too much fun. I want to see you again in one piece.”

  “I will be safe, I promise. Oh,” she said as she turned to me once more, “you be safe, too, you know? With all that studying going on. I know things can kind of get out of hand with all those books laying around.” The three of them laughed together as they walked away from my table.

  I hated that I wasn’t going to be able to go to the party with them tonight, especially since it was one of the last ones of the year. I knew that I was doing the right thing, though. As I watched them walk away, I nearly reneged on my decision to study and let them know I would come along with them to the party, but as they walked further away, I kept my mouth closed. It is for the best, I said as I poured more sugar into my iced tea. It is for the best.

  Chapter Three

  Harrison

  I flipped on the news with a cup of coffee in my hand. The warm coffee mug heated my hand as I held onto it. I looked at my watch. It was almost 8:30 am, and I still hadn’t heard from Sarah. I laughed and shook my head; I know she must’ve had a late night. As the clock approached 8:45, I decided to get myself ready for work. It wasn’t like Sarah to ignore our morning phone calls, but she had done it occasionally because she was out partying the night before. She didn’t admit it right away, but eventually, she would come clean.

  I tried not to let it worry me because if she didn’t call at our normal time, she would end up leaving an extended voicemail about how sorry she was for missing our morning talk. I arrived at work just before 10 am. Brian pulled in right behind me as I sat in my car. He knocked on my window, and I unlocked the passenger’s side door for him to get in. “You’re running a little late today, boss. Everything alright?”

  “Yeah, everything is fine. I just had a late night.”

  “Late night?” he asked, nudging my arm. “I guess I should ask you what her name was and if she was at least 18.”

  I laughed. “Oh, come on, man, you know I’m not messing with anything under 18. Hell, I probably would think twice about calling them if they weren’t at least 20.”

  He took the construction gloves out of his pocket and tossed them on the dashboard. “I don’t want to hear it, man. I just want to know your secret. How are you pulling all of these young women in like that? What is your secret, boss? That’s all I want to know.”

  I glanced at him; then my eyes shifted down to his wedding ring. “I don’t think you should be worrying about my secret.”

  He shook his head and stuffed his hand into his pocket, “Yeah, yeah.” He sighed. “Marriage. That is a completely different beast, and if you had free time for the next five years, we could talk about it all. Right now, I am just looking for a safe haven, man.” He laughed, more out of depression than anything else.

  “I hear ya.” Silent beams of sunshine pierced through my windshield as the moments passed. “Well, let’s get on in here and get to work. Maybe we can cut out a little earlier today.”

  We walked through the quiet office building. Our footsteps echoed off the floor as we walked to my office. “Oh yeah, boss, I forgot to tell ya. Our lawn guys aren’t coming in today.”

  I slid the key into the hole. “What? Why not?”

  “Some bug is going around, man. I know a few people who got wind of it the last few weeks. It’s pretty bad from what I heard, but the main guy called yesterday, and I forgot to let you know. I figured I’d take care of it since we had a little downtime.”

  I tossed my bag onto the small leather couch in my office. “You’d take care of it?”

  “Yeah. I don’t mind. It’s not like I haven’t cut a little grass and trimmed a few bushes in my day. Anything to help keep the office looking good, and besides, we can save a little money in the process.”

  “Shit. How about you just do it all the time?”

  He laughed. “No, it’s not my thing. I’d rather have it done professionally anyway, you know? When I get the job done, it’s just done, but when they do it, it’s a fucking work of art.”

  I laughed and walked over to the closet to grab the hedge clippers. “Well, let’s get to work. I’m not going to let you go out there and do it alone when I am able to go right along with you. Lead by example, right?”

  “Yes, sir!” Just as we started out of the office, my phone rang. I hesitated about going back to answer it, and as I stood in the doorway, I figured I’d let the voicemail pick it up. We walked outside. The heat hadn’t peaked up to its highest point yet, and we had a few hours to work before that happened. “So, that account I was telling you about yesterday. I think today is the day that we close on it. The guy knows that nobody in the area is competing with our price and quality. Our resume speaks for itself.”

  “The Lancaster account, right?”

  “You know it.” He pulled the lawnmower out of the shed and filled it with gasoline. The stench lingered in the air as I wiped sweat from my brow.

  “Nice, Brian! Nice! You are making my job much easier. If I wasn’t a smart man, I would say that you were trying to take my position.”

  He laughed. “No, sir, not at all. We are a team here.
Bert and fucking Ernie. As much as you have helped me with advances and bonuses, I figured that the least I could do is make sure your business goes off without a hitch. Hell, it does me good just to know that this business is flourishing.”

  Brian had been the second man in charge here at Harrison Construction for the past 10 years. He started off as a regular construction worker, but once I realized how diligent he was about his work, I quickly moved him up the ranks. “Oh, and another thing. I think we are going to need an accountant. The one we have now is doing a shitty ass job.”

  “A new accountant? Bridgette isn’t working out, huh?” I pulled another lawnmower from the storage shed. It had been almost a year since I needed to use it myself. The dust fluttered from the top of it in a cloud as I smacked the surface clean.

  “No, man. Not only is she lazy, but she is getting numbers wrong in the books. I know we just brought her on, but it may be time to look in another direction. Just a thought, you know? You’re the man to make the final call; I just wanted to put that in your mind.”

  I glanced towards the sky. The sun’s heat picked up as we started work on the lawn. We were used to it, though, since we’d both spent our time doing construction under the same sweltering heat. Some of the workers drove into the parking lot as we cut the grass. I loved leading by example. If the head man in charge wouldn’t hesitate to come out here and do yardwork, then I knew it would make them work harder for me when the time came.

  Almost an hour and a half passed by before we finished our work. The sun hung directly above us. Our shirts were soaked with sweat to the point that we had to change as soon as we got inside the building. The cool air conditioning made it feel like we walked into a cold shower. I removed my shirt once I got into my office and plopped down on the couch. “Man, I am getting too old for this stuff, Brian.”

  He grabbed a cold water from the small refrigerator and tossed me one before he plopped down on the other side of the couch. “Yeah, I hear ya. It’s been awhile since I had to do some work like that.”