He nodded, “Of course.”
“Thank you.” I buttoned my suit as I slid into the car.
I leaned on my arm, staring out the window. Olivia is going to be surprised to see me. She won’t answer my calls, she asked for me to help her, but now she’s cock blocked me out of the one thing that could save me or ruin me. I smiled as we passed Sophia’s favorite coffee shop.
We stopped at a red light; I looked ahead at the traffic, then back out the window. I did a double take from what I saw. “Sophia?” Was she with Tristen? “What the hell?” I watched as he turned down the street, and she crossed the other.
“Tim, pull over up here.” I leaned forward.
“Yes sir.”
The car stopped, I opened the door immediately. “Sophia” I called out after her, she was a few steps ahead of the car.
She whipped around, surprised to see me, “What are you doing?”
“That’s what I’m wondering about you?”
She looked back in the direction Tristen went. “I’m going to work.”
“I saw him.”
“He showed up.” She gave me her pleading eyes.
“We can talk in the car, I have somewhere to be. Tim will drop you off.”
“Won’t I make you late?” She said as she moved closer to the car.
“I’d be late for you any day.” I held the door open for her. “Now please get in the car or we will both be extra late.”
After Tim started driving again I looked over at her, “Why were you with Tristen?”
“He has a meeting in the area. He went to the coffee shop that I always go to.”
“He’s stalking you.”
She leaned on her arm, staring at me, “He’s not. I told him about it.”
I kept her eye contact, “I don’t believe it for a second.”
“Stefan,” She placed her hand on my cheek, “I love you.”
She was probably telling the truth, but it still didn’t sit well with me. I’ve known Tristen for years, and he’s made it pretty clear that he’s interested in her.
I sighed, “I don’t know why you still insist on taking the subway to work anyway. Tim is very capable of driving you.”
“I’m also very capable of getting there on my own.”
She knew I was annoyed by her response. She placed her hand on mine, “You’re agitated. What is this place you need to be?”
“A surprise meeting.”
“Surprise meeting? Sounds interesting. Will the outcome be good?” She knew better than to ask exactly what the meeting was for.
I looked over, placing a kiss on her forehead, “I hope so.”
“It’s not with your father is it? I don’t think any meeting with him has a good outcome.”
I laughed, “No it’s not.”
“Good, I need you in good spirits later.” She squeezed my hand.
“Why is that?”
She gave me a look with a small smirk, “It’s a surprise.”
“You think you’re cute.”
She giggled, looking out the window, “I try.”
We stopped at her building; she waved at Tim to not get out to open her door.
“Thanks for the ride.” She pressed her lips to mine. “Don’t get into too much trouble today.”
“I won’t” I smiled against her lips.
“Bye.” She slid to get out of the car, opening the door.
I grabbed her hand, “Wait.”
Her head turned, I pressed my lips to hers again, this time with more force. I pulled back, “For good luck.”
She smiled, as she got out of the car, “Sorry for the show, Tim.”
“No problem at all, Miss Brooks.”
She looked at me one more time, biting her bottom lip, and then shut the door.
I fell back against the seat, “Damn, I love her.”
“Did you say something?” Tim asked.
I laughed, “Nothing. Nothing at all. Olivia Greenberg’s office please.”
Olivia’s office was buzzing. I stepped off the lift, and almost got side swiped by a girl carrying files. I looked around the room, and proceeded to walk past the secretary.
“Excuse me, Sir where are you going?” She waved at me.
I stopped, “I’m here to see Mrs. Greenberg.”
“She can’t see anyone right now, she’s extremely busy. I can let her know you stopped by.”
“She’ll see me.” I said firmly.
“Who might you be?”
“Stefan Edwards.”
Her eyes went wide, as she pushed a button on the phone, picking it up. “Mrs. Greenberg Stefan Edwards is here to see you.” She stared at me, setting the phone back down. “You may go back.”
“I know. Thank you.” I gave her a flat smile, as I turned down the hallway.
When I walked into her office, she glared at me over her glasses. “You really picked the worst day to come here.”
I laughed, “You weren’t returning my calls, what did you want me to do?”
She tossed the papers onto her desk, “Maybe I wasn’t returning them for a good reason. Did you ever think of that?”
“I don’t like waiting.”
She sat down, “Don’t start acting like an Edwards now. It’s not a good color on you.”
“But I am an Edwards.”
“Yes, but the good one.”
“Fare enough,” I leaned into her desk. “Now have you made any progress?”
“I can’t tell you any more than you already know.”
“Which is basically nothing.” I threw my hands up. “You ask me for information on my family and give me nothing in return.”
“Stefan, your father is hard to pin down. He’s a fortress. He will take you down with him if his ship rocks enough.”
“I know, I'm prepared for that.”
She stared at me, “Are you? I don’t think you understand what could happen, and I’m worried because I think that’s exactly what is going to happen.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Will Sophia?”
I clenched my jaw, looking away from her. “I’ll be fine.”
“Be ready, because,” She pauses. “Excuse my language, but shit is about to hit the fan.”
“Can I get a timeline? You’re telling me to be prepared, but for what and when?”
She stood, “Stefan, I can’t say more. You shouldn’t even be here.” She gestured to the door.
I glared at her, as I stood. “Thanks for...well I don’t know what I’m thankful for.”
“Goodbye, Stefan.” She gave me a look, as she shut the door behind me.
Sophia arrived home before I did, I noticed her purse when I walked inside. I kicked off my shoes, making my way toward the kitchen.
“Up here.” She yelled, from upstairs.
I stopped, turning to go up stairs. Noise was coming from her room, I opened the cracked door, she was holding up a dress in nothing but her bra and thong.
A small smile formed in the corner of my mouth. “What are you doing?”
She dropped the dress on the floor, “Getting ready for tonight.”
“Oh right the surprise.” I made air quotes as I sat down on the sofa.
“You’re going to like it.” She pulled a shirt from her closet. “You’ve been stressed and it might relax you.”
“What should I wear since you’ve now gone from dress to t-shirt?”
“Oh that dress is dirty. That’s why I threw it on the floor. You should wear jeans.”
“Jeans?” I leaned back, taking in her body.
She slid the shirt over her head, “I know you spend most of your life in suits, but I also know you do in fact own jeans, even if they do cost $300.”
I laughed, “You make me sound snobby.”
“You might be the anti rich kid, but I’m not the one with expensive jeans.” She shimmied into her pants.
“Ouch, you’re sassy today.”
She gave me a sweet smile that cou
ld make me do anything, “Go change.”
Chapter Eleven
Stefan
We were about to leave, Sophia was putting on her Keds. She eyed me as she tied her shoes. “I like you in jeans.” She smiled. “You seem normal.”
“I didn’t know I wasn’t?”
She laughed, walking up to me, “You live an extraordinary life, you are far from normal.”
I turned off the lights, as we walked toward the door, “Are you going to tell me where we’re going now?”
“A place where extraordinary is null and void.”
I laughed, “Ok, I’ll bite. You have my attention.”
“Good.”
We took the subway instead of the car. Sophia leaned her head on my shoulder the whole way there. We got off at our stop, I knew the area, but I was still confused as to where she could be taking me.
We stopped in front of a building with a few people standing outside. I looked around realizing what it was.
“Sophia, this is a rehabilitation center.” I looked up at the sign, then back to her.
She studied me, “Yes.”
“If you brought me here to hand out food so that I could feel good about my one good deed, count me out. That’s not how it works.”
She sighed, “Stefan, come back down to earth. I brought you here to appreciate what you have. The world isn’t always full of shiny cars and arguments over companies.” She gestured to the building, “This is the real world, not the stuff you have been stressed about.”
I stared at her, trying to understand her point.
“Just come inside, and talk to them. You’ll want to sell your whole damn company after we leave.”
I ran my tongue over my bottom lip, “Fine.”
Everyone was so pleasant when we entered. Sophia said hello to almost everyone we passed. She stopped at the front desk, signing us in. The woman took the clipboard back from her, and smiled.
“Hello, Miss Brooks. Thank you for coming. If you head down the hall, Jim will direct you where to go.”
“Thank you.” Sophia smiled back.
“What are we doing here?” I whispered.
“It’s a game night for fellowship. It’s part of their program.”
“How did you find out about this?”
“Google,” She giggled, rolling her eyes.
“What did you search? How to make your boyfriend not act like a complete arse?”
“No, my friend Jim told me about it actually.”
“Who’s Jim?”
“Jim?!” Sophia said excitedly, rushing down the hall.
I looked up to see a tall skinny guy with blonde hair. Oh great. Who’s this chummy fellow? I watched as she wrapped her arms around him.
“Jim, this is my boyfriend Stefan.”
He shook my hand. “Stefan, I’ve seen you around before. Nice to formally meet you.”
“Where have you seen me at?”
Sophia touched my arm, “Jim works at the coffee shop.”
“Oh yeah, I think I've seen you in there before.” I lied. I had no clue who this guy was.
Sophia looked back at Jim, “How long have you been volunteering?”
“Ever since my sister started coming.”
“She volunteers too?”
“No, she’s in the program.” He said casually.
“Oh.” Sophia was surprised by his answer.
Jim smiled, “It’s done well for her. She’s at table 2 if you want to meet her. Her name is Alice.”
“We would love to!” Sophia smiled brightly.
“Follow me.” Jim walked around the corner.
We followed him into a large room with at least 15 tables. All marked with numbers and what game was being played at it. I was surprised to find so many people. I guess I didn’t even know something like this existed until now.
We stopped at table 2. Five people were playing Uno, all smiling and laughing. Two men looked identical, they could possibly be siblings. An older woman sat next to a young blonde girl, and the last was a guy that could have been my age. Rehabilitation at my age?
“Alice,” Jim tapped her on the shoulder, “I don’t mean to interrupt, but I wanted to introduce you to my friends. This is Sophia and Stefan.”
She smiled up at him, “No worries, we just ended. I won.” She winked at the woman next to her as she stood. “Nice to meet you two, would you like to sit? We can pull up chairs.”
“Oh, we don’t want to intrude.” Sophia said politely.
“Nonsense.” One of the possible siblings stood. “Here I’ll grab two seats.”
“Thanks.” I told him, as he sat a chair down in front of me.
Sophia sat down with Alice to her right, I had the guy who was younger to my left. I reached out to shake his hand, “I’m Stefan.”
“Josh.” He nodded. “I’m assuming you’re volunteering, since you know Jim?”
“Yep. Sophia here brought me.”
Her head turned to us, “Hi, I’m Sophia.”
Alice leaned forward, “Oh I should probably tell you everyone’s names…” She went on properly introducing the table. The woman next to her was Barb, and the siblings were actual siblings Aaron and Matt.
“Do you two want to join our game?” Barb asked.
“Sure.” Sophia and I said in almost unison.
We played two rounds. Snacks were delivered to our table; Juice and cookies. I lost both rounds. Sophia won one. She got caught up in deep conversation with Alice when we ended the second game.
I learned that Josh was from New York, born in Brooklyn. He had been coming to the center since he was twenty. He was only a year younger than me; I had to hold back my shock. I suddenly felt very naive to how others lived.
“What made you start coming?” I asked him, setting my juice down.
He folded his arms across his chest, “My parents were never home, they never paid me much attention. I got involved in some stuff I shouldn’t have at a very young age. I came home one day, and my parents had disappeared. So, I wound up on the streets.”
“They just left?”
“Moved I guess.” He shrugged. “The locks on the house changed, I broke in and found that everything was gone.” He smiled at Matt as he got up from the table. “I hadn’t been home in months; I guess they never looked for me. It wasn’t until Barb here became my friend. She used to give me leftover pizza after her shifts. I hung out at a convenience store near her apartment, and one day she brought me here.” He gestured the room. “And I slowly got better.”
“What do you do now?”
“I work with Barb.” He smiled at her. “We spend most holidays together. She’s like a Mom to me.”
As I listened to Josh’s story, I kept thinking about my own parents never paying any attention to me. Josh went down one path, I was sent away with a personal driver. It sent a shiver to my core. I looked around the room at everyone playing games. In Manhattan people pay attention to every single thing I do, but here, I’m no one to them. I liked being no one.
We stayed until they were cleaning up. Sophia found a new friend in Alice. They exchanged numbers as we helped clean up. On our way out Sophia stopped at the water fountain to take a sip. She pressed the button, but nothing came out.
“Your fountain is broken.” She said to Jim.
“It’s been like that for a year. The water is no good even if it did work. We’ve petitioned the city to come look at it, but they ignore every request.”
“Well that’s annoying.” She furrowed her eyebrows.
“It’s life.” Jim set the papers he was holding down. “Thanks for coming.” He hugged her. “The both of you.” He patted my shoulder.
“We enjoyed our time.” I nodded.
I wrapped my arm around Sophia, pulling her close as we walked down the sidewalk.
“How was it?” Sophia looked up at me.
I laughed, running my free hand over my mouth, “I want to sell my whole damn company and give them every p
enny.”
“Your problems seem small now, don’t they?”
“I feel grateful.” I squeezed her. “I want to go back.”
She smiled, “We can keep volunteering.”
“I’d like that.”
I’ve been so wrapped up with the investigation on my family, that I forgot how to appreciate life itself. As we walked toward the subway I kept glancing over at her, pinching myself that she was mine. Her heart is more tender than most. How she fell into my life will always baffle me. Showing up at my doorstep? What are the odds? Is fate a thing?
“I need to find a dress for the ballet.” She said as we walked out of the subway.
“I’ll have Tim take you shopping.”
She took my hand, “So, you finally decided that we’re going?”
“I have. I can’t avoid it. I think they’d drag me there if I kept refusing. Nothing makes any sense, but I suppose we will find out that night.” I kissed the top of her hand, “Plus I don’t want them showing up at your work anymore.”
She laughed, “I agree.”
When we got home, she walked in first. I let the door shut behind me; she stopped to remove her shoes. I took her hand, pressing her up against the wall. I needed her.
She smirked, looking up at me, “What are you doing?”
“Loving you.” I placed a small kiss on her forehead.
“What for?”
I pressed her hands against the wall, “You turn me on.”
“I can tell.” She giggled, looking down toward my crotch.
I smirked, pressing my lips to hers. She intertwined her fingers with mine against the wall.
“Tell me what you want to do?” Her eyes looked into mine. I could feel the hint of mischief coming from her.
“Well,” I bopped her nose with mine, pressing my body against hers, “I want to trace every inch of you with my fingers making your skin tingle until you can’t stand waiting for me to enter you any longer and you’re begging for me to please you.”
“Uh huh.” Her breathing falters, her chest rising and falling. I knew I had her.
“Then I’m going to make love to you like you have never felt before.”
She bit her bottom lip, her eyes flicking back and forth between my eyes and my lips. I could tell her mind was running wild.
“Are you ready?” I whispered.
Until Him: Book 3 - Until Then Series Page 7