The Inheritance (Forever Bound #1)

by Bree Callahan

  She laughed, taking another drink. “They’ll be here soon.”

  He smiled. “Then I’ll keep you company until they show up. If you don’t mind, that is.”

  “If you wish,” she stated. He seemed pleased by her response, and he ordered himself a beer and they talked. It really wasn’t an enthralling conversation, as it started with weather and ended with the price of gas, but it was the way things had been for the past year.

  Once Joe broke off the engagement and left her hanging there, she immediately decided love wasn’t in the cards for her. She chose to lead a life of partying and meaningless sexual encounters so she wouldn’t have to face getting her heart broke…yet again. Things seemed better this way. She found herself looking down at his left hand to find an indentation of a wedding ring, or in some guy’s cases, an actual wedding ring. She vowed to never get involved with married men, and it was something she was serious about. In his case, she was pleased to see that he didn’t have a golden band on. When they finished their beers, he turned to her.

  “May I have this dance?”

  She scrunched up her nose, contemplating things, then eventually nodded. She stood up, and he reached for her hand. His eyes were locked on her, something that was also familiar to her. If the guy liked what he saw, he would be obvious about it. She enjoyed the attention. What girl wouldn’t?

  They made their way to the dance floor, just as one slow song ended and another began. He pulled her into his arms, and they swayed to the music. For a few slight moments, it was strictly two people gazing into one another’s eyes and moving to the rhythm of the music. Then he said something.

  “I don’t recall seeing you here before. Trust me…I’d remember.”

  She smiled and tilted her head. “Do you make a mental note of all the people you see?” she asked.

  He chuckled. “If they’re half as beautiful as you are.”

  “You do seem to know all the right words to say,” she commented.

  He twirled her around and pulled her to him, so she was even closer than before. His breath was warm against her skin. “I speak only the truth.” His voice was husky, and her eyes dipped down to his lips. She was two seconds from kissing him and making out on that dance floor when she felt someone tapping her on her shoulder.

  She pulled back, keeping her eyes locked on the strange man that had held her close. “Charity? You coming?”

  “Um…yeah…I’m…” she stuttered. Her mind went blank. He smiled at her, and she slowly regained her cognitive thoughts. “Thank you for the dance.”

  “My pleasure,” he said.

  She waved, then turned around and followed Ana to the table. Her heart raced hard against her chest. It hit her abruptly that he now knew her name. That was another thing that never happened between her and her one-nighters. They never divulged names. Although, this time, it was different. They never actually got to the sex part.

  Charity bumped into Ana when they reached the table. Ana turned around and gave her a peculiar look, and Charity just smiled. “Charity, I would like you to meet, Jesse Tremble. Jesse…this is Charity Parker.”

  He stood up from the table and produced his hand out to Charity. “Pleased to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”

  Charity slowly shook his extended hand. “Likewise.” However, the truth was, she didn’t really know a whole lot about the man that stole Ana’s heart. She sat down and opened up the menu. She looked it over, but her mind kept going back to the guy on the dance floor.

  “I’m so happy you two finally can meet,” Ana said.

  Charity looked up and smiled. Jesse was looking at her friend, and they were close enough that he could’ve been on her lap. “Me too!” Jesse replied, keeping his eyes glued to Ana.

  Charity looked back down at the menu. It wasn’t like Ana to get Lovey Dovey all of a sudden, and she required at least some answers. The waitress approached them, and they each placed their order, and when she was gone, Charity looked up. She was prepared to throw out some tough, but necessary, questions.

  “So, how long have you two been dating?”

  Ana was quick to answer. “Five months.”

  “Wow…five months?” Charity glanced at Ana, raising her eyebrow. Ana gave her a smug smile. Charity had to admit she was impressed Ana stuck with a guy for so long, but disappointed Ana really hadn’t talked about him. She refocused her attention back to Jesse. “So what entices you to my best friend?”

  “Charity…” Ana hissed.

  Jesse just laughed. “I don’t mind answering that question.” He smiled at Ana and gave her a slight wink, before turning back to Charity. “Her smile…her eyes…her genuineness about everything…” His eyes lit up as he spoke and it slowly started to dawn on Charity; this was real. “She has a good heart.”

  “Awwww…sweety…” Ana enthusiastically replied next to him, hanging on every word.

  Charity chuckled lightly, looking away from the two of them as they shared their sweet and intimate moment together. Her eyes caught with the strange guy’s, as he continued to stare at their table. She smirked, and he nodded a slight greeting. Her goal was to get back to him, and she was pleased to see that he had the same thought.

  ***

  Derek took a sip of his coffee and placed it back down on the desk. He rifled through the paperwork until he came across the latest map of the renovation of the town. A whole section was being rezoned to include a mall, a few restaurants, and several other businesses that were sure to bring jobs to the area. He was excited to finally get the project off the ground. He looked over the design that Ray, his contractor, had dropped off to the office earlier that week.

  He took another sip from his coffee and surveyed each location. There were only a handful of properties along the line that required being bought out, so they could proceed. Luckily, no one drug their feet, because everyone could see it would be a huge advantage to the city. His phone rang, bringing him away from his thoughts.

  “Mayor Worthington…” he replied, speaking into the phone.

  “Hey…it’s Ted,” His main foreman for the project replied on the other end of the line.

  “Hey…what’s up?” He put his coffee mug down and settled back into his chair.

  “Have you received the blueprints?”

  “Yep. I’m looking it over right now,” Derek answered.

  “Well…” there was a slight hesitation on the end of his sentence. Then Ted continued. “I’m out on the property and at the corner of Elm and 64th Street, there’s a shed, or a dilapidated old house, or a barn…not really sure which. It’s kind of hidden behind some trees. Anyway, have you cleared it with the buyer to buy it out so we can destroy it?”

  “I’m sure we have. Just a minute.” Derek rummaged through the folder and pulled out the contracts he had acquired. He leafed through them, speaking out loud as he did. “Janson…Broderick…Forester…Jacobs…” he stopped. “There were only four people we had to contact, from what I understand. The corner of Elm and 64th street you said?”

  “That’s right,” Ted responded. “You pretty much had to be searching for it to notice it, but it’s here.”

  Derek glanced at the addresses on the pages and found one with an Elm Street address. “Bruce Forester owned the land on Elm Street. Maybe the building came with it.” It would make sense to assume that the building was part of the property they already bought out. At least, he hoped that was the case. However, Ted wasn’t easy to persuade in that direction.

  “I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure this would be outside of the property line, but I could check that out. I just didn’t know if you had looked into this.”

  “Honestly, I didn’t. I was so eager to get started on this project, and this area has been surveyed numerous times, that I wouldn’t have expected it to get missed. Will you please look into it and let me know.”

  “Of course. I’ll see if I can get ahold of Mr. Forester on Monday. Talk to you soon, Derek.”


  “Thanks!” Derek hung up the phone and let a soft groan pass his lips. Another hiccup in his plans and he could only hope to find out that he had nothing to worry about. He slid the papers back into the folder and put it in his desk drawer. He turned off his desk lamp and stood up from the chair.

  He left the den and nearly bumped into Mary, his maid, as she came down the steps. “Heading off to bed?” she asked with a jovial smile.

  He nodded. “You?”

  “I have one more load of wash, then I will be. You have a good night, Derek.”

  He smiled at her. “You, too, Mary. See you tomorrow.” He headed up the stairs and into his bedroom. There wasn’t a lot of downtime in his profession and when there was…he was quickly reminded of how quiet and lonesome it could be. This was one of those times, and he couldn’t always shake the feeling that there was something missing in his life. He was glad those times were few and far between.

  ***

  Charity stood up from the table. “It was really nice to meet you and get to know you, Jesse.”

  “Same here. We’ll have to all get together again soon. I have a friend and maybe we could all grab a bite to eat or something.”

  Charity smiled. “I would like that.” She first hugged Ana, then hugged Jesse.

  “I’ll call you later,” Ana said.

  “Sounds good.” They started to walk towards the front door when Charity stopped. She didn’t want to leave without seeing if the stranger was still there. “I have to run to the ladies room, but I’ll see you guys around. Ana and Jesse waved as Charity turned in the opposite direction. She casually headed towards the restrooms, but she had no intention of making it that far. She immediately spotted him standing in the corner. To prove he was waiting on her, he walked towards her, and they met in the middle of the dance floor. “You’re still here,” she replied.

  He nodded. “I wanted to see if you wanted to finish where we left off.” He smiled, staring deeply into her eyes.

  “Not really,” she replied with a coy smile. She reached for his hand and pulled him behind her, briskly moving towards the door of the club.

  He laughed. “Where are you taking me?”

  Once outside, she turned around and grabbed his face in her hands. She pulled him to her, and they kissed. His tongue eagerly dove between her lips and a ripple climbed up her spine. “God I wanted to do that all night.”

  He laughed, resting his head against hers. “I’m parked in the alley. Wanna join me?”

  She nodded. “First…what’s your name?”

  He laughed, tossing his head back. “Brad, but Babe you can call me anything you want.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her down the sidewalk. She had to jog to keep up with him. When they reached a red pickup truck, he stopped and pushed her against the truck. He grabbed onto her leg and pulled her tight against him. She felt the hardness of his shaft beneath his jeans. She groaned, brushing her tongue along his lips. He fumbled with his keys to unlock the door of his truck, and once his door was open, he parted from the kiss. He stepped back, to allow her to get in and she sat down in the driver’s seat. He pushed the button, and her seat scooted towards the back, then he stepped into the truck and shut the door behind him.

  It was a different experience to have sex in the front of that truck, but she easily got accustomed to it. With her clothes shed and tossed to the seat next to them, she helped him roll his condom on. His cock thrust into her, and her lips went back to his. His hands enthusiastically massaged her breasts as they made out in the dark alley as if they were two teenagers that didn’t want to get caught. Her stomach tightened, and the truck started rocking. His hips gyrated hard against hers, and she dug her fingers into his shoulders, just trying to hold on.

  “Oh God…” she cried, breaking from the kiss and arching her back. Her body seized beneath him. “Yes…yes…oh my God yes…” she cried. Her juices wrapped around his condom, and he crashed hard into her. The momentum lessened, but their breathing remained rushed. His eyes locked with hers as slowly he eased down his thrusts. She laughed, breathlessly seated in his truck.

  “Perfect…” he mumbled, softly nibbling her on the chin.

  She didn’t say another word in that vehicle until he had pulled out, she took a few moments to gain her composure, and she got dressed. He crawled onto the passenger seat and got dressed, and that’s when it seemed to hit him that this was a one-time thing.

  “Thank you,” she quietly replied.

  He nodded, then looked away from her. She got out of the truck and grabbed her car key out of her pocket. That’s all it was about…getting a high and fulfilling a need. She didn’t want anything else, because she didn’t want to find herself with another broken heart and this was, by far, the best alternative.

  Chapter 2

  After the latest information Derek received on Friday night about the mall project, he could tell Monday would be busy with meetings and trying to desperately get the project back on track. He started off the day with a meeting with a few board members to go over what Ted had found at the development site. He wasn’t surprised to find each of them ready to pin the blame on someone else.

  I thought so and so was in charge of that area, or, didn’t so and so work that out? He finally just had to toss up his hands and state that if anyone was to blame, it was him. After all, he was in charge and should’ve paid more attention. The important thing was to figure out where to go from there. If it really didn’t belong to any of the people that they talked to, then they needed to find out who did belong to the property. He wasn’t losing hope, especially after coming so far. He adjourned that meeting and went back to his office to work on crunching some numbers.

  Once he sat down, he heard his phone ring. He quickly answered it. “Mayor Worthington…”

  “It’s Ted, and I’ve talked to Bruce Forester. He said the property doesn’t belong to him.”

  “Oh…” Derek slowly replied. He wasn’t surprised. “What now?” he asked.

  “Well, Mr. Forester said that he remembered seeing the building next to his land, but since he never utilized the area, he didn’t really pay much attention to who owned it. I suppose I could call the other people on the list, but frankly…I think we’d be spinning our wheels. It might be most beneficial to find out if we can get the records of who owns the place.”

  “You’re right,” Derek agreed. “I’ll look into it. Thanks for your help, Ted. I’ll be talking to you soon.” They said their goodbyes, then Derek buzzed for Lily, his assistant, to come into his office. She came in, carrying her notebook and took a seat across from him. “Will you check around and see if you can find out who owns a property?”

  “Sure! Have an address?” she asked.

  He pulled a copy of the map from his desk and shook his head. “Not exactly. It’s on the corner of Elm and 64th Street. It’s right next to the property that Bruce Forester just sold us. I know that really doesn’t give you much to go on, but hopefully, you can find something in the records department.”

  She smiled, looking down at the area that Derek pointed to. “I’ll give it my best shot.” She jotted down a few notes, then looked up at him. “Want to go over your schedule for the rest of the day?”

  “Alright!” He pulled up the calendar on his phone and clicked on the date.

  “At 10:00 you’re meeting with Luther Glass to discuss his charity run he’s sponsoring for ALS.”

  Derek scrolled down and nodded. “Check.”

  “At noon, you have a dinner luncheon with Mr. Clawson at Bill’s Diner.”

  He stopped looking at his phone and looked up. “Bill’s Diner? I thought he was coming here, and we were ordering in.”

  She tilted her head. “I told you that the plans were changed. He has another meeting across town, so thought it’d be best to make it at the Diner. Don’t you remember?”

  He looked down at his phone that still said lunch in the conference room with Frank Clawson. “Suppose it slipped my mind. They say
the mind is the first to go.” He laughed and changed the entry in his phone to read Bill’s Diner. Okay, what next?”

  She chuckled, looking down at her notebook. “At two o’clock you have a ribbon cutting at Victory Lanes Bowling Alley.”

  “Check,” he replied.

  “Then at four thirty you’re meeting with the director at the children’s home to discuss fundraising.”

  “Okay, I have that all on my phone. Anything else need to be added?” he asked.

  “Well, I did get an unusual call from Jesse Tremble.”

  Derek frowned. “Jesse? What does he want?”

  She smiled. “He wanted me to add him to the schedule for today, but I told him I thought you might be a little booked. Do you want me to call him back?”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of Jesse. Thanks, Lily.”

  She nodded and stood up. “I’ll get on trying to figure out who owns that property. Do you need me to do anything else?”

  “Not right now. Thanks!” He waved her on and picked up his phone to call Jesse, but was stopped with a knock on the door. He looked up and smiled when he spotted Jesse at the door. “Leaving Lily to do your dirty work?” he asked.

  Jesse shrugged. “Didn’t work, did it? She said you were booked solid and couldn’t be bothered with meeting with me.” Jesse leaned against the door and smugly grinned at his friend. “I actually do need to discuss business with you.”

  “Oh you do, do you?” Derek asked, standing to his feet and rounding his desk. “Honestly, Lily’s right…I’m swamped.”

  Jesse groaned. “This isn’t just going to go away. Sooner or later, you’re going to have to deal with it, and I advise you doing it sooner. Time is running out.”

  Derek stepped back and stared at Jesse. “What are you talking about?”

  “The little matter of your father’s will. It’s coming up on a year, and the clock is ticking. If you’re to get a wife and a child…”

  “Shhh…” Derek placed his hand against Jesse’s mouth. “Do you want the whole world to hear?”