by Alexa Davis
“Thank you very much, Mr. Taylor. Here are the keys; I hope you enjoy your new building.”
“I’m sure I will.”
We all left the building together with a celebratory feel around us. That warm positivity crept through my veins and made my face break with happiness. I’d done it, I finally had things started. I was now on my way to creating what I hoped would be a very successful charity.
“What do you want to do now?” Dad asked me, sounding happier and freer than before. It seemed that the charity had given him a fresh new purpose, too. “Did you want to go out for a drink to celebrate?”
“Yeah, why not? That sounds nice, actually.”
Dad paused for a second before he spoke once more. “Why don’t you invite your girlfriend? Sorry I was a bit harsh earlier. I just don’t want things to be complicated for you after all you’ve been through.”
I bit down guiltily on my bottom lip. He was making it incredibly challenging for me to tell him that everything was even more complex than he thought. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Why not? Is it because of what I said earlier? Because I am sorry. I would still like to meet her...”
I couldn’t let Dad believe it was his fault, I had to be honest. “No, it’s because she doesn’t know.”
“About the charity?” His eyes narrowed at me. “Or about the money?”
“All of it,” I admitted, feeling more than a little foolish as I did.
“What? Why not?”
“It just... It hasn’t come up, that’s all.”
Dad sighed and shook his head at me. He seemed disappointed in me, which was probably well justified. I should have told Olivia about it, it was only fair. I’d had opportunities to, and I just hadn’t done it. I was foolish, and now I was more than a little scared that I’d accidently ruin everything with my stupidity.
“You have to tell her if you want to keep her,” he warned me. “If you’re serious and think she’s the right one, then you need to be honest with her; you can’t build your relationship on a lie.”
“But what if she looks at me differently? What if it changes her opinion of me?”
“Then she isn’t the one.” He placed a comforting arm on my shoulder and stared deeply at me. “Trust me, son, telling the truth is the only way you can make this work.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Dad sighed loudly before he spoke again. “You know, I kept a secret from your mom once.” My eyes snapped up to him, he hardly ever spoke about Mom, so I knew that this had to be something serious. My heart pounded just a little bit as I waited for him to continue.
“When we first started dating, I got my acceptance into the military, and I didn’t tell her about it. I was proud of it, don’t get me wrong, but I was scared that it’d end things for us. I thought she’d grow bored if I was likely to be away for long periods of time.”
“Why?” This story had me gripped; it made me feel closer to my mom than I had done in a very long time.
“Because she was so beautiful, and she had a lot of guys interested in her.” He chuckled at the memory. I could easily imagine what he was saying was true, I could remember my mother’s pretty face well. “I assumed if I went, one of the others would get her, so I kept it a secret. The date of me leaving kept looming, and still, I kept it inside. It was stupid – I couldn’t avoid the inevitability, but I tried to ignore it anyway.”
“When did she find out?”
“The day I left,” he said gravely. “She came to see me as I was loading my things into the car.” I could only imagine what heartbreak that caused. “She went crazy, obviously…screamed at me for being a coward. Yelled at me for leaving without telling her. My secret caught up with me, and the consequences were terrible.”
“So, what happened?”
“She broke it off with me, like any smart woman would.”
“She broke up with you?” My heart shattered as I realized this story had no happy ending...except it had to, because I was born.
“Yes. And it took me three long years to get her back. I was distracted the whole time I went through my army training; all I could think about was her. I plotted and planned my way to get her back and after a very long time, I did.” He patted my shoulder and grinned. “So, I guess what I’m saying is if you don’t want three wasted years like I had, then be honest. Don’t make the same mistakes that I did.”
Yeah, I didn’t really want to wait for three years to be with Olivia – I wanted to be with her now. Just like Dad, my secret would catch up with me, too. She was already starting to suspect. I had to find a way to let her know that I had the money, then I’d pray that she’d still act the same around me afterwards. I couldn’t lose her… I just couldn’t.
She was the first person to make me smile in a very long time. I wasn’t ready to let that happiness slip through my fingers so easily, over one silly mistake. The next time I saw her, I would tell her everything. I vowed to myself that she’d know the truth about me, one way or another.
“So, did you want to go for that drink?” Dad asked. “Celebrate?”
“I do. Let’s do this.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Olivia
Monday
“Your leg feels great,” I told Zack encouragingly. “You’ve made real progress since you started coming to me, you know.”
“Hmmm.” He really wasn’t giving me much today. I kept getting grunts and noises as replies. Since the last thing we did together was spend the work party dancing and having a good time, I’d assumed that today was going to be a lot of fun. I had thought that we were pretty much dating now, but since he was being so weird with me, I couldn’t be sure.
Please tell me Zack isn’t someone who only wants the chase! If I discovered he got bored because I’d caved to him, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to trust a man again.
“I know you said you did well with your old physiotherapist, Rebecca, but I think you’ve come further with me, don’t you?” I had to keep trying, I couldn’t give up just yet. “You’d never have been able to move your leg with this much flexibility before.”
“Yeah.” His eyes were so glazed over, it felt like he wasn’t even listening to me. I decided to test him,
“So that’s why it’s a shame that I’m quitting the business. I’ve been offered a job as a trapeze artist for the circus, which I’m going to take. It’s always been a lifelong dream of mine, you know how it is. So yeah, I’m leaving next week. Meghan wants to be a lion tamer, so of course I’m going to let her because what that girl wants, she gets...”
“Hmmm.”
“Okay, that’s it.” I lost my temper, dropping Zack’s leg as I stood up. I would not be fucked around by him, I already warned him not to break my and my daughter’s heart, and it seemed that was already happening. If he was already done, then I needed to know. “What the hell is going on with you, Zack?”
“Huh?” He glanced up at me as if I’d gone insane. As if I was the one acting out of character. I wanted to scream. “What?”
“You aren’t giving me anything today. I just told you that I’m joining the circus and you said nothing.”
He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “You aren’t, though, are you?”
“Urgh, that isn’t the point!” I threw my hands angrily above my head. “I feel like you’ve been pursuing me for ages, and now that you think you have me, you’re backing off. I get that you have secrets, even though you want me to be totally honest with you. I’ve tried to be really cool about it, but now... Well, now I don’t know what’s happening and it’s pissing me off.”
Instead of yelling back like I half expected him to, he gave me sorrowful eyes and asked me quietly, “Olivia, can I ask you something?”
“Erm.” I was thrown completely off kilter. “Sure.”
My heart hammered, my mouth ran dry, my thighs trembled so powerfully that I had to take a seat to stop myself from falling down. Everything that Zack had been keeping
from me was about to be revealed and I could barely stand the tension.
“How would you feel if I told you that I was very wealthy?”
Huh? That was not what I’d been expecting at all. I’m an old Hollywood actor, or I’m a notorious criminal would’ve made more sense from what I’d learned. “I guess... Well it wouldn’t matter, would it? It wouldn’t change who you are.”
Tell me who you are!
When Zack didn’t say anything else, I felt the anticipation getting to boiling point. That couldn’t be all that he had to say, he needed to tell me more.
“What do you mean wealthy, anyway?” I felt compelled to ask.
“Really wealthy.” Again, that told me nothing, I didn’t know what to say about that. “How do you feel about really wealthy?”
I wasn’t totally sure that this wasn’t a weird hypothetical thing. There didn’t seem to be much logic about what he was telling me...only the fact that he’d donated to the company and paid for the party. I shrugged and repeated that it still wouldn’t matter.
“Right.” He paused thoughtfully. “Good.”
He leaned forwards with his lips pursed as if he wanted to kiss me, which had my walls shooting up around me. “No, we can’t do that. Not here.” I glanced around rapidly, but luckily there wasn’t anyone in the room to see. Still, I couldn’t kiss Zack at work – it was all kinds of wrong.
“Would you get fired?”
I thought about Tess and Ant, and the way she didn’t care that everyone now knew that they were finally dating. No one had even commented on the fact that they used to work together, but maybe the fact that he wasn’t her patient anymore was key. Either way, I didn’t want to risk it.
“I don’t think it’s written in the rules not to date a patient, but I’m sure it’s frowned upon. I don’t want to risk either of us by making things public at work, if that’s okay with you?”
“Sure.” He smiled thinly. “I understand. Are we done for the day? Do you want to walk me outside?”
“Sure, I can do that.”
I took Zack’s arm as we left, and he leant into me a little more than he really needed to. It was a pointless cover up; if people were going to find out, then they would either way. But it made me feel better to act like it was all strictly professional.
Once we stepped outside the building, a grin exploded on Zack’s cheeks. He tugged me around the corner into the little alleyway there, and he kissed me hard in the shadows. His arms wrapped tightly around me, my hips inadvertently rolled into his, I lost myself so much in the power of his lips that I almost forgot myself completely and jumped his bones there and then. I was so lusty that I wouldn’t have cared who saw us...
But then Zack pulled back and gave me a look filled with desire and promise. While we couldn’t actually have sex here, the image was in both of our minds, and it was something that we’d get to do later on. With a pounding heart and knees like jelly, I took a step back to I run my eyes up and down him. God, he was a sexy man. Even if he was secretive and drove me crazy, I felt lucky to have him.
“I better get a cab,” he rasped at me. “Before I really make you lose your job.”
“Yeah, I suppose. I have another patient in a moment,” I pouted. “I don’t want to let you go, but I will.”
Zack gave me one last, chaste kiss before moving back out into the sunlight. When he did, I couldn’t stop my mouth from wildly running away from me. I should’ve let it go, especially if I didn’t want to come across as some gold digger that was really interested in his alluded-to wealth, but I had to know more. I desperately wanted to work out if he was being serious or playing a game, and if it was the latter, then what was the point of it?
“Zack, when you say really wealthy, what do you mean?”
He didn’t fully turn around to face me and continued moving his body towards the cab, but it didn’t truly matter. I got enough of his answer to understand exactly what he was trying to tell me…even if it didn’t make too much sense.
“Wealthier than some small countries.”
He slid into the car, leaving me on the side of the road with my mouth wide open in shock. He seemed to be serious; he hadn’t yet collapsed into laughter and told me the punch line…which maybe meant that he was some sort of millionaire. Or billionaire, if that was what he meant with that remark.
Either way, something crazy had just happened. Zack Taylor wasn’t who I thought he was. Not at all.
***
“Olivia? You there?” Tess waved her hand in front of my face, bringing me back into the present moment. “You okay?”
Yep, just found out my boyfriend is super rich. Wealthier than some small countries!
“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry I’m distracted, just a bit tired today.”
But if he’s so rich, then why does he live in the same apartment block as me? Why doesn’t he have a fancy place with fancy stuff?
“Okay, well, I was just telling you that Ant and I finally had sex last night, and it was mind-blowing!” Tess rolled on with her story, ignoring my blatant distracted face. “I think all the waiting made it so much better.”
And, why does Zack act like he has no money if he does? There are so many things that don’t make sense.
“And then in the morning, he told me that he is falling in love with me.”
But he did pay for the party... That’s the one thing that makes me think that he might actually be telling the truth, however crazy it sounds.
“I think he’s the one, for sure. I mean, I knew it before, but now I’m certain.”
Either he’s rich, and he kept it from me, or he’s lying. Nether option is great!
“Actually, Tess, I think I feel a sick.” I didn’t mean to interrupt her so rudely, but my head felt like it was about to explode. “Do you think you can tell Ms. Simms that I’ve had to go home and get the on call therapist to cover my final appointment of the day? I only have Mr. Johns booked in, and he’s almost at the end of his treatment plan now.”
“Oh, of course. I thought you looked a bit ill. Is there anything else you need?”
“No, that’s it. Thanks, Tess, you’re a real star. I really appreciate this.”
I felt flustered and nauseous as I walked out the building, leaving early for the very first time since I got the job, but this was something that I needed to do. I had to discover the truth about Zack. I needed him to finally tell me everything – only then could I get my head back in the game for work. I pulled out my phone to text the babysitter.
“H,i Drea, are you okay? Are you and Meghan at home? Olivia”
I wanted to go straight to Zack’s, but I couldn’t walk right past my own home if they were in it. I clutched my phone between my fingers as I stomped to the subway station, with only one goal on my mind.
“We’re at the Natural History Museum, do you need us to come back? Is everything alright? Drea”
I breathed a sigh of relief. That gave me some time to get this sorted once and for all. I could ask all the questions that I needed answering and I could refuse to go until I knew the truth. Telling people that you were wealthier than a small country was not the sort of thing a person did before walking away. I needed Zack to understand that. If he and I were really going to give being together a go, then he needed to start seeing things from my point of view.
“No, just wondered. See you later on. Olivia”
I chucked my phone in my bag and folded my arms across my chest while I waited the agonizing two minutes for the train to arrive. My whole body itched with need, and I felt angry all over. No, not anger. I didn’t know what the feeling was, it was a mish mash of everything. All that had happened between me and Zack would come to a head today – either way I’d know where we were going moving forwards...
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Zack
Monday
I lay across the couch with the television playing in the background with some nineties sitcom blaring what sounded to me like white noise. To
the outside world, I probably looked like I was really relaxed, having the most chilled out afternoon ever, but internally, I was a mess. I’d told Olivia part of the truth in the worst way possible, then I left her with probably a million and one questions unanswered.
I wanted to tell her. I kept trying to work out the best way to do it – and that definitely wasn’t it. I couldn’t have done it worse if I tried.
I rolled my eyes to myself as I cringed internally, recalling the look on Olivia’s face as I confessed my wealth. She would be here as soon as she finished work, and when she did, I would be in for it. Deservedly, too. Whatever she tossed my way, I’d have to just take it.
When a knock sounded at my door, I glanced at the clock in confusion. It couldn’t be Olivia, she wasn’t finished with work yet, and I couldn’t picture anyone else coming to visit me. Lark was away again, playing a tournament... Oh God, I wasn’t in the mood for Dolly. I needed to prepare myself. I had to get ready for telling the first person about the lottery win since Lark.
I hobbled over to the door and swung it open to see an ashen face staring back. “Olivia? What are you doing here?”
“I left work early.” She pushed past me inside my apartment without being invited. “You left me after saying what I can only assume is a joke, and my mind’s been reeling all day long. I can’t believe you’d just say ‘I’m wealthier than a small country’ and then just go. That’s really out of order.”
“But it wasn’t a joke,” I told her simply with a shrug. “I really am that rich.”
“You... You are?” Olivia clapped her hand across her mouth in shock. “So, that wasn’t a joke?”
“That’s right.” I waited for her to digest it just a little bit before I launched into the full story. “I won the lottery a while back. It was the first, and only, time that I’ve ever played and I guess I just got lucky. I only brought the ticket to prove to Lark that I was the unluckiest son of a bitch ever... I guess that backfired, huh?”