by Tyler Grey
And yet, the longer I sat here with Alisha, the more it occurred to me that she herself represented the most important thing: people. Investment opportunities would come and go. People I really bonded with, however? Well, she was the first one I’d met so far.
“What?” Alisha asked, breaking me from my reverie.
Evidently, I’d been staring her straight in the face.
“Nothing,” I said, curving my arm around her, “I’m just happy that I’m here. That’s all.”
Alisha’s smile wavered.
“I’m sorry about before, okay?” I added, “It’s just these past few days, this whirlwind of seeing you, being with you—”
“Which you insisted on,” Alisha pointed out.
“I know, I know,” I said, “It’s just, I never thought, I didn’t expect—” I took her hand in mine. “I didn’t expect it to be like this.”
Again, a wary sort of interest passed over her face. “Like what?”
I shook my head angrily. “I don’t know. It’s stupid, I just think about you a lot. And I worry that… I don’t know.”
I turned away, frowning. The more I said, the stupider I sounded. And voicing what I thought and felt wasn’t just hard, it was basically impossible because I didn’t know. That was the problem—I didn’t know what I thought or felt.
Alisha had dropped my hand. Her whole form was drooped, as if growing heavier with each one of my words, while her face was as plagued with indecision as mine probably was.
Impulsively, I grabbed her hand. “Here’s the thing. When I’m with you, I feel light. Too light. Almost sickly so. My face hurts from smiling so much, and sometimes, when I stare into those happy green eyes of yours, I just want to take you in my arms, pull you to my chest, and just hold you there. Right now, right here beside you, I don’t want anything more than to just hold you.”
Her face was softening, but I shook my head.
“And the worst thing is I can’t. I can’t because this path can’t lead anywhere good. Every time I’ve counted on anyone, either they’ve let me down, or I’ve let them down. And Alisha, you have to understand, I’d rather die than let you down.”
Her whole face was a tensing of pain. “Then go,” she said in a cold voice, “Go then.”
She gazed at me with the blank stare of a stranger. I understood then. There was no need to worry about disappointing her; I already had.
I kept on talking so I could avoid the decision implicit in my words.
“And the last time I cared about someone, really cared, they let me down. Over and over and over again. Alisha, when my dad died, you know, I didn’t even go to his funeral—I couldn’t.” My voice shook as I continued, “I couldn’t bear to remember that mean old bastard. How he’d send me off on the stupidest of excursions and errands so he could get rid of me, drink his alcohol, and screw his women. I was a burden to him until the day I turned seventeen and ran the fuck away.”
Her eyes were full now too, but I wasn’t finished yet.
“Up until now, I’ve hustled and worked and clawed my way to the top. Everything I am and have is because I earned it. And you, something as purely good and kind as you, I can’t believe it just dropped in my lap. I’m waiting for the kicker, when the rug gets pulled out from under my feet. When you realize I’m not the kind of guy who’s worth even a minute of your time. Who knows, maybe you already have.”
Now it was Alisha shaking her head, a blond lock falling out of her braid to wag its own refusal.
“No,” she said, “Not yet. But Seth, what are you saying?”
I stared into her eyes, those beautiful green irises, as if I’d somehow find the answer there.
“I don’t know,” I finally said with a laugh, “All I know is that when I’m with you I’m happy. And when I’m not, I’m miserable. All I know is, today I’m not leaving your side.”
Alisha swallowed thickly and nodded. She held up a donut.
“Does that mean you’ll let me have the last chocolate glazed?”
A half-hysterical half-jubilant laugh tumbled from my lips and, ecstatically, I nodded.
“You can have all of them.”
She grinned.
“You’ll be the death of me yet, Seth Jackson.”
I took her hand and helped her up. “Want to head back to check on Nana and Christian?”
She nodded. Together, we made our way back to the elevator and up.
Back in Nana’s room, Christian was still asleep, while the nurses were nowhere to be seen. I sat on the bed beside Alisha, both of us attacking the donuts, devouring one after another, saying nothing. Maybe she was afraid of the same thing I was—the silence after the donuts were done.
When the door smacked open, Christian woke up with a start.
“Hello,” the same bald doctor as before said. He turned his beady eyes to Alisha, who I could feel stiffening beside me. “The surgery was successful. Your grandmother is in post-op coming out of the sedation.”
Before Alisha could respond, as if sensing her next reply, he said, “You can’t visit her at this time or for the next few hours. Realistically, tomorrow will be the earliest she can have visitors. She was sedated for a long time, so it will take her awhile to recover from that and get settled.”
Alisha let out a sigh of frustrated relief, and I patted her hand.
“She’ll be moved to a non-ICU room for the next few days. That was a bad fall she took, and she's going to need a lot of rest.”
I rose and shook the doctor’s fleshy hand.
“Just so you know. That woman in your care is incredibly important to us, so I want her to have top-of-the-line service, you understand? Money is no object.”
Surprise registered in the man’s black little pupils, then he nodded. “I understand.”
Once he’d left and the door had shut behind him, Christian, Alisha, and I caught each other’s eyes and cheered. Alisha patted me on the chest, while my lips made for the giant smile on her face. When we kissed, there was one moment of absolute bliss before Christian made a disgusted barfing sound. Alisha and I broke apart, all of us laughing.
Right, that’s how this felt. Perfectly and undeniably right.
Chapter 34
Alisha
Home sweet home. How different it felt, pulling in the driveway this time. Inside, the door had barely shut behind us before Seth was turning to me with a resolute set of his jaw.
“You’re not cooking. We’re ordering in.”
“Mom,” Christian said, in a determined tone of his own, just as I was about to protest.
I threw up my hands. “Fine.”
“Woohoo!” the boys yelled.
Next thing we knew, there was a knock on the door. I gaped at Seth.
“Vincenzo’s. The same restaurant as… You didn’t.”
His lips tugged up into a half-smile. “Well, you really did seem to like it the last time.”
He paid and thanked the pudgy delivery boy, then together we brought in the bags of food.
“Holy crap,” Christian said, as we set out the black mesh bags onto the table, “This is gonna be a feast!”
I took the first container out of the box and opened it to reveal a massive swirl of spaghetti Bolognese.
“You got that right.”
It was a matter of seconds before we started eating. The rich aromas of Italian deliciousness coming from the bags had us opening them before we even had plates on the table. Then, it was one long spaghetti, pizza, chicken parmesan “feast,” as Christian had so aptly put it. Indeed, he heaped his plate with a tower of food so gigantic that he only managed to finish half of it. Seth, on the other hand, polished off all Christian’s and my leftovers easily.
“Work really gives me an appetite, what can I say,” his easy grin explained.
“Speaking of,” I said, putting down my spoonful of spaghetti so I could glance at Seth. “Shouldn’t you be working on that acquisition? I’m not exactly in dire need of support right now.�
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Swooping my noodle-filled spoon into his mouth, Seth took a bite and shook his head vigorously.
“You kidding me? Look at you two, alone with all this food. You’ll eat yourselves to death without me.”
“Seth…”
He took my hand, squeezed it. “We’ll talk about it later.”
Which wasn’t all that far off, as it turned out. It only took ten more minutes for Christian to pass out right at the kitchen table, a stray noodle hanging out of the corner of his mouth.
Seth and I exchanged a look. I nodded.
“Bedtime.”
Seth easily carried his bony body up the stairs and into his room. I tucked him into bed, wiping off his sauce-covered cheek before giving him a kiss. As we made our way back to the stairs, my phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Ms. Townsend. This is Ms. Myers calling.”
I exhaled, my heart rate speeding up already. Nighttime home calls from the school were never good.
“Yes?”
“It has come to my attention that Christian has been absent from school several days without a parental note or a call.”
I sighed. “Yes, sorry about that. These past few days have been a whirlwind. My grandmother fell down the stairs, and we had to rush her to the hospital. It’s just been one thing after another.”
“I understand,” she said, in a tone that sounded like she didn’t, “But you also have to understand that policy is policy, and I can’t have Christian missing multiple days of school without any parental consent or note of any kind.”
“Okay,” I said, straining to keep my tone even, “Consider this as me giving my parental consent.”
The sound of something shifting in the background, then Principal Myers, as cool as ever, said, “Unfortunately, that is not how policy works. As it stands, if Christian is absent for another day, he will be suspended.”
This time, I couldn’t hold in my exasperated gasp. “Are you serious? Christian is bullied so badly he practically begs me not to go, and you’ve done nothing, then he misses school because his grandmother almost died from a fall, and you’re actually considering suspending him?”
“Ms. Townsend—”
Now I was enraged. Clutching the phone so hard that my fingernails went white, I leaped up. “No, don’t you ‘Ms. Townsend’ me. Your establishment has been failing my son in every way possible, and now you have the nerve to tell me he’ll be suspended for it.”
A measured pause, then I heard, “That may be so, ma’am, but what I said still stands.”
I gritted my teeth to swallow back the rage overtaking me. “The next day of school, he’ll be there.”
I hung up before she could give her response.
“Alisha?” Seth asked.
I only shook my head, leaning against the wall, phone still in hand. It rang again, and automatically, I picked up.
“Hi, Alisha, it’s Jim calling.”
Oh, fuck. I inhaled sharply. First the principal and now this? Seth looked at me quizzically, but I shook my head and put a finger to my lips.
“What’s going on?” I asked, trying to make my voice casual.
I went over to the stairs and sat on the carpet, my back resting on the railing.
“Well, right now, nothing. It’s just,” uncertainty filled his voice, “I thought I should tell you what they were saying in the office today.”
Irritation flashed through me. “I appreciate your concern,” I said, icily “But is this really necessary? My grandmother has been in the hospital today, and I’m not in the mood for office gossip.”
Silence.
“Oh. Sorry, Alisha, I uh, knew what Alexandra was saying was probably full of shit, but, well, she said that she’s a hundred percent sure you are involved with Mr. Jackson, and that he left today all upset because of it. Everyone thought it was weird how you both weren’t there, especially with this big acquisition coming up.”
Seth’s hand had found mine and was squeezing it. I pushed him away. Think, that’s what I needed to do. I needed to think.
“Alisha?” Jim asked.
“I don’t know what to say,” I said, my voice shaking, “Today has been just too much. If you see any of the gossipers tomorrow, you can tell them my grandmother broke her hip and that I’m fine; thanks for asking.”
I hung up.
“Jesus, Alisha, who was that? What happened?”
Seth’s voice right beside my ear surprised me, even though he’d been there all along. I slumped my head onto his shoulder.
“That was Jim. People in the office noticed we were both gone, and they’re talking.”
“Who was it? I’ll fire every last fucker who dares say a word against you.”
Tiredly, I pawed at his lips.
“Seth, please. You know what this means.”
He maintained a stubborn silence.
“Seth. When I go back to work, you’re going to have to transfer me to another department.”
He seized my hand, bringing my phone up to his face.
“Your phone, it’s all cracked.”
“I was upset the other night, and I dropped it.”
“Will you at least let me get you a new one then? Since it was probably because of me.”
I swiped a hand across my brow; it felt hot, yet I felt cold.
“I, I’m too tired now to think,” I said, avoiding his gaze. “Maybe it’s best if you go.”
“So, what are you saying?”
Under the ferocity of that interrogative look, I cracked.
“I don’t know, alright? I don’t know what’s going on here, if I’m doing the right thing with anything anymore, all I know is—”
Seth took the words right of my mouth, “This feels right.”
Sitting there, side by side, I gazed into the turbulent gray of his eyes. I wanted to slap him, yell at him, hug him, kiss him, but I didn’t have the energy for any of that.
Now, his lips were at my ear, telling me softly, “Whatever happens, I’ll be here for you. And I care a lot about you and your incredible family. I mean, that kid, he,” his voice cracked. He released my hand, averted his gaze. “Of course, whatever you decide, I’ll respect your decision, I’ll—”
He wrenched back to face me with a desperate light in his eyes.
“Fuck it. Alisha, look at me and tell me we aren’t good together. That we couldn’t make this work.”
I stared into those downturned blue eyes, steeling myself for what was to come, the words I had to say. “I—”
But before I could speak, Seth seized my lips and kissed it away. Next thing I knew, I was being carried downstairs to the living room and placed on the couch. Plopped there and sunk into its drooped belly, Seth draped a blanket on me before climbing beside me and wrapping me with his arms too. As the old gray thing groaned and threatened to actually touch the floor, Seth chuckled.
“It’s seen better days, eh?”
I mumbled a noncommittal response, my eyes fluttering closed. Seth was right. This felt so good, so genuine.
The next time I opened my eyes, I was back on the second floor, being carried to my room. After my questioning glance to Seth, he responded with: “It’s your turn for bedtime too now, supermom.”
His lips were set in a firm line, so I gave a weary nod.
“Good,” he said, “Now I can give you your bedtime kiss.”
With that, he gave me a big smacking kiss on the lips.
“Seth!” I cried, giggling with surprised satisfaction.
Seth held his finger to my lips, an evil smile rising on his own. “Shhh, you’ll wake Christian.”
Once he entered my room, Seth gently placed me on the bed. With a tenderness I would have thought him incapable of, he draped the sheet over me and tucked it in under my chin.
Leaning over, his lips pressed my cheek, then paused. I could feel the arousal radiating off him in waves as his enrapt gaze flicked irresistibly to my lips. Shaking his head, he took a
step back.
“You’re tired. You need to rest,” he said, more to himself than me.
“So you’re not spending the night?” I asked.
Again, that heated excited look came in his eyes; then he shook his head again.
“You’re tired. You need to rest,” he repeated robotically.
I took his wrist, ran my fingers up and down it. “I’d rest better if you were by my side.”
Seth wasted no time in complying with my request. Seconds later, he slipped into bed beside me, spooning against me and wrapping me in his arms. We sunk into each other, breathing together. As I dozed off, I fought to keep my eyes open, to stay awake for just a little while longer, enjoying this while it lasted. This moment when everything was as it should be.
Chapter 35
Seth
So warm. My eyes fluttered open to Alisha. To her absolutely serene, stunning face. Just like on the swings. Was I responsible for this look now? I took another long minute to savor it; then I climbed out of bed.
There was a bathroom connected to her room, so luckily, I didn’t have far to go. Once I was done, I checked my phone. Tucked away in this flower-wallpapered bathroom, what I saw on the little electronic screen didn’t seem real.
The first few were from the accounting team last night, Miranda and Paul.
“Finally finished, boss. How should we proceed?”
“Mr. Jackson. What should be done now?”
Then, one from the company I was looking to buy, Cerrel Corp.
“Sir, it has come to our attention that you are also interested in the acquisition of our firm. What will your counteroffer be?”
And then, finally, one from Randy Reynolds, the bastard from Reynolds Incorporated, our biggest rival.
“Too bad you lost out on Cerrel, eh? Better luck next time.”
Staring at the messages, rereading them one after another, I waited for the stab of regret to come. But the longer I stood there on the cool tulip-flowered floor, the more I realized that it wasn’t coming at all. The concern, caring about losing the acquisition to my rival. I actually didn’t give the smallest of shits about it for some reason.