by KB Winters
“I need you with me,” she said, coaxing me forward.
She didn’t have to ask twice. I lifted the blankets, climbed in beside her warm body, and she molded herself against me, making me wonder how I’d ever slept without her. Before long, all my cares about Heller, the company, and what we were going to do tomorrow drifted away, and I fell into a deep, comfortable sleep.
In the morning, I showered again and changed into my office clothes; khakis and a polo, ready to confront Heller. Meg woke as I was stepping out of the bathroom, and her eyes were wide. “Are you . . .”
I sat down on the bed beside her. “It’s all right. I’m going to work, and I’m going to pretend like none of this happened. But I need you to do something for me.”
“What?”
“Do you have the flash drive?”
She nodded. She reached into her purse on the bedside table and pulled it out and handed it to me.
“Thanks.”
I went into my office and returned ten minutes later and handed it to her.
“I want you to text your uncle. Tell him you have something to give him, but you’ll only give it to him this afternoon. That should give me enough time.”
“Time for what?” She stared at the flash drive, then at me. “Is this . . .”
“Yep. It’s the app. I wanted to make sure you had the most recent version.”
“But if I give it to him . . .”
“It’s okay.”
A crinkle of worry appeared on her brow. “How’s it okay, Gabe? You worked years on this! It doesn’t deserve to be in his hands. He’s a snake.”
“Maybe. But it’s okay. I believe in Karma, don’t you?”
“Sometimes it doesn’t strike swiftly enough for me,” she mumbled, shuddering. “And I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to see him again.”
“I know,” I said. I didn’t want her to. I wanted to keep her locked away from him, safe. But this was necessary, to keep up appearances. “Just one more time, and then you and I will both be free.”
She gave me a suspicious look. “What are you plotting?”
“Me?” I said innocently. “Nothing.”
She crossed her arms. “For the first time ever, Gabe Cranford, you’re not wearing your heart on your sleeve. Who knew you could be sneaky?”
I stood up. “Who, me? Sneaky? I’m just going to work.” I kissed her on the top of the head. “I’ll text you.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “What are you going to do?”
I shrugged. “What I guess I should’ve done a long time ago.”
“Which is?”
I shrugged. “Give up the company and let your uncle have the reins. He should be happy about that, don’t you think?”
Her jaw dropped. “But you—” She shook her head, disbelieving. “You can’t do that. I know how hard you’ve worked to develop E-Ventures. You can’t just give it over to him. He doesn’t care half as much about it as he cares about getting rich.”
I dug my hands into my pockets and shrugged again. “It’s okay. You think I’m a one-trick pony? LuvMakr is the first of a bunch of apps I’ve been developing. There’s a lot more where that came from. The one I’ve been working on as of late has been really exciting. It’s called The Clincher, and it uses blockchain to . . .”
I was bubbling over with excitement explaining my new app but then stopped when she glowered. I think Meg was more upset at my giving up E-Ventures as I used to think I’d be if ever this day came.
“But E-Ventures is your baby,” she said with a pout.
I grinned. “I’ve got another baby now,” I said, my eyes drifting down to her middle. “And I care more about this one. Just trust that whatever I’m doing, it’s for us. Okay?”
She smiled slowly and nodded, but I could tell there was still doubt in her eyes, even when I smoothed back her hair and kissed her.
As usual, even just wearing one of my old t-shirts, she was warm and inviting, and sexy as hell. It was hard to leave her. But once I got outside, I felt a surge of power. I was ready to get this done.
When I arrived at the E-Ventures headquarters, Heller was locked in his office, so it was easy to skirt around him. That was preferable. Meg knew me well. I always wore my heart on my sleeve and had a terrible poker face. I wasn’t sure I could trust myself not to throat punch the son-of-a-bitch for what he’d done to me and Meg. But as I closed the door, I looked around the office and took a few deep breaths, knowing it wouldn’t be mine for long.
Then I got to work.
First, I made a call to our accountant. Then, I spoke to our lawyer. I didn’t give specifics. I told them that I had a sudden family emergency and needed to divest myself of the company as quickly as possible. By the time I was done, I heaved a sigh of relief. It turned out, things between Heller and me weren’t as entangled as I’d thought. Since none of the financial investment had been my own, I could very quietly remove my name from the company, give Heller full control, and that would be that.
Then I texted Meg. Hello, beauty. How are you?
Meg: Fine. I texted him. I’m meeting with him.
Good. Where?
Meg: Same place I met you. At noon.
Ok. Give him the file. Don’t tell him anything else. I will be nearby to make sure you’re all right.
Meg: I’ll be okay. He won’t do anything in broad daylight.
I’m not taking that chance.
It was nearly eleven-thirty by the time I’d finished getting everything in order. When I opened the door to the office and poked my head outside, I saw Heller coming down the aisle toward me, checking his phone. On his way to the meeting with Meg, I assumed. He spotted me before I could duck back into my office. I tried to play it calm and put on my “just a normal day at work” face.
“Hey,” he said casually. “How are things going with the app?”
I swallowed. It was now or never. “Fine, fine. Coming along as promised,” I said, motioning to my office. “Hey. Do you think we could talk for a moment in private?”
I knew he didn’t have a moment. He checked the time on his phone and winced, but said, “Of course,” and followed me into my office.
He sat down across from me, crossed one leg over the other, and tented his fingers. I watched his smug expression.
Asshole.
I could feel the heat building under my collar, but I did my best to stay calm, reminding myself that Meg and the baby depended on my ability to play my part and not give anything away.
“You were right about your niece trying to screw me over. Not only was she spreading those rumors, but I think she also stole the app from me.”
He blinked as if he had no idea. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “I don’t think there’s any way she can deny it. It’s likely she’s been working with someone else who will undoubtedly be able to bring it to market before we can.”
“Shit,” he said, slapping his knee. “How could you let this happen?”
His performance was damn impressive.
“I only wish I could have figured out what she was doing sooner,” I sighed.
“Well,” he began. “Perhaps our lawyers . . .”
“As it is, I’ve called our lawyers. There’s nothing we can do. What we can do is release the app as quickly as possible and hope that we beat them out. But you know I’m not good at speed. That’s why I want you to handle it.”
“Me?”
I nodded. “And part of me just wants to . . .” I looked down at my lap and sniffed, then threw up my hands. “Heller, I’m tired.”
“Tired?”
I nodded. “After what happened to me with your niece, I’ve given things a lot of thought.” I sighed again. “And I think that owning my own company isn’t for me. I want to get back into working for others. This experience has proved that to me.”
He crossed his arms, studying me. “Are you sure, man?”
“Of course, I don’t want to leave you hanging,” I said,
although I was thinking, that’s exactly what I want to do. “So I’m prepared to stay on as long as you want me.”
“Well, I understand,” he said. “But if you need to go for your own mental health, don’t feel you need to delay on my account.”
I nodded. I’d expected that from him. “All right. What I will do is pull myself from this company and leave it all to you. Every last bit of it. You are the one who secured the investments, so you deserve to be at the front of this company. You deserve the accolades.”
He shook his head. He was too good a liar, I almost believed him when he gave me that sad face. “All the work you did. I don’t know how you could even conceive of giving it up.”
“You know me. I just want a quiet life. I like it behind the computer,” I said. “My mind is made up. I’m having the lawyers draw up the papers now, so that we can make it official.”
He nodded slowly. “Well, as long as there’s nothing I can do to change your mind.”
Like he would. “No. Nothing,” I said bluntly, adding, “And what can I say? I really felt something for Meg. She broke my heart.”
He stood up. “I’m sorry. For what it’s worth, you are a good man and deserved better than what she did to you,” he said, nodding at me before he left.
I knew he was probably celebrating, but it wouldn’t be for long. He was now the owner of a soon-to-be-bankrupt company. I looked down at the office that had been more home to me than my apartment. I felt nothing at leaving it. Then I thought of Meg. On to better things. It would be worth it.
“No, I’m sorry,” I whispered under my breath when he was gone. “Karma’s a bitch.”
Epilogue
Meg – Six months later
Gabe nudged me away from my computer, where I’d been working on my first novel, full of romantic suspense. In Gabe’s eyes, brilliant, but that was what he said about everything I did. Closing my eyes, I let him lead me outside, wondering what surprise he had for me now.
“Just walk straight ahead,” he coaxed me, little-boy excitement in his voice.
I could feel his strong arms around me. I trusted those arms now. I knew the man attached to them wouldn’t steer me wrong. It’d taken a while, because I was so used to people giving up on me. But Gabe never would.
“All right, all right,” I said, letting him guide me as I took baby steps down the pavement toward the parking lot. “This better be good. It’s freezing out here.”
“Oh, it is,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
Safe. Reliable. Strong. Those were words that I always thought of whenever I thought of Gabe. But who knew that he could also be fun? Surprising? Exciting? Every day, it seemed like he had something new for me. I could tell from the lightness in his step that he couldn’t wait to show me this.
I guess I never would’ve known this side of him if I hadn’t agreed to help my uncle bring down his partner.
All things happen for a reason. And maybe I’d gone through all of those years under my uncle’s thumb just so I could find Gabe again. So he could save me, or I could save him. Humble, and wonderful, and soon to be the father of my very lucky baby boy. If he grew up to be even one-tenth as wonderful as his father, I would be happy.
“All right,” he said, and I could feel him skirt away from me. “Open your eyes.”
Blinking in the bright sunlight of a clear, frigid January day, I opened my eyes.
There it was, parked beside my motorcycle. A giant, bright red behemoth, otherwise known as a minivan. “Oh, wow,” I said, smiling at it. “It’s . . . certainly red.”
He shrugged. “Well, I wasn’t going to let you put the baby on the back of your Harley.”
I nodded. It made sense. He’d been hinting at getting me a safer ride for the longest time, so this wasn’t a surprise. Until now though, I hadn’t really thought of myself as the minivan type. But now? Maybe I was. Gabe had made me into a lot of things I’d never thought I’d be. And I had to say, I loved it. I loved everything about who I’d become. Except, maybe, the fact that I was as big as a house.
“Want to take it for a spin? Cruise around?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Well, I definitely don’t think this is a magnet for the opposite sex. So you have nothing to worry about there.”
He grinned at me and jogged to the side of the van, sliding open the side door. “And look at this.”
I peered inside. There was already a car seat in there. “The baby isn’t due for another month.”
He shrugged. “Best to be prepared. And . . .” He ran around to the back and lifted the gate. I followed and saw a fully assembled stroller folded inside.
“Well, you thought of everything,” I said, grinning at him. He’d already spent most of the weekend relocating his office to a corner of the living room and painting the spare room a shade of sky blue to make a proper nursery for our newest addition. We’d picked out a crib, and all the bedding covered with Alice in Wonderland characters. My choice, of course, but Gabe was easy to persuade.
“Thought we could take the new ride out tonight.”
I shrugged. “Why not? It’s impressive.”
“So you like it?”
I nodded. He pulled me toward him; at least, tried to. My stomach wasn’t having any of that. When he leaned over and kissed me, he tapped the top of my belly, which protruded from my winter coat.
“Need help getting ready?”
I stared at him like he was nuts. He knew I didn’t need much help with anything. Mostly, he just wanted an excuse to cop a few feels. Funny that the pregnancy hadn’t changed anything with our sex life. We were still horny as rabbits. He didn’t seem to mind my huge size at all. Well, the pregnancy had changed some things. The positions were different, of course.
I checked my phone. “No. But if we don’t hurry, we’ll be late.”
“Okay, okay,” he said.
We rushed inside and began a frenzy of preparations, the two of rushing about the apartment, taking showers, getting ourselves outfitted in our best clothes. Maneuvering around in his little apartment meant lots of bumping, jostling and excuse me’s to get us turned out for our special date night.
No, it wasn’t the life either of us had imagined. But something told me he didn’t want it any other way. He told me once that if he hadn’t run into me, he’d probably be relegated to a life working for something that wasn’t his dream.
Now, though? He was happy. Happier than he’d ever been, at least, that’s what he said. I didn’t have to take his word for it. He smiled all the time, even now, he smiled at his reflection in the mirror, fixing the bow tie of his tuxedo. God, he was handsome in head-to-toe black and white, with his five o’clock shadow he knew I loved.
When he turned away from the mirror he stared at me, open-mouthed. “You look exquisite.”
I was wearing a silk dress in almost the same shade of red I’d worn the night we’d re-connected at RAIN. This one didn’t bare as much skin, and it had another noticeable difference: Twice as much fabric was needed to accommodate my growing belly.
I wasn’t yet waddling, but I couldn’t do a sexy sashay as I used to, either. I came up beside him and inspected myself in the mirror. “The curves aren’t going exactly the way I’d like, but I guess it’ll do.”
“Well, it’s exactly what I want,” he said, running a hand over my belly, and I knew he meant it. “You’re sexy as fuck.”
Our new car had a smooth ride, which I appreciated, considering I worried that any unexpected bump could send me into premature labor. As we drove to the event venue, we eventually fell into a game that we’d been playing often these days:
“Griffin,” I said.
He wrinkled his nose. “Gregory.”
I shook my head. “Joseph?”
“Jeremy?”
“Justin?”
We were stuck in evening commute traffic, inching along bit by bit, and Gabe was never much of a multi-tasker. He looked flustered for a moment, tapping his fi
ngers on the steering wheel, then burst out with, “Jambalaya?”
I stared at him. “What?”
“I’m sorry. I’m hungry. I’m thinking food. I hope they have good food at this thing.”
He didn’t need to talk to me about food. Since I’d gotten pregnant, I’d put on about fifty pounds, feeding my constant cravings for pizza, mac ‘n cheese, hell, anything cheese.
“So, Jambalaya?” I said, testing the word out on my tongue. “So what would his middle name be?” I grinned. “My-Dad’s-An-Asshole?”
He laughed. “Jambalaya My-Dad’s-An-Asshole. It has a certain ring.”
I laughed so hard that tears came down my face. I had to hold my stomach because I was afraid the baby would fall out. “Yes, he definitely won’t get made fun of on the playground, or anything.”
After I checked the mirror to make sure my make-up was still intact, I got down to business again. “Jonathan?”
“Jason?”
But . . . suddenly it hit me. It must have hit Gabe at the exact same time because as he applied the brakes, he looked over at me, and we both burst out with, “Jacob!”
I grinned. “That’s it.”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
I tested it out, in my head, loving the way it sounded so much that I had to say it aloud. “Jacob Cranford.”
“Jacob My-Dad’s-An-Asshole Cranford,” he said suddenly, sending me into fits of laughter again.
“Why don’t we just stick with your dad’s name, like we’d planned?” I offered.
He nodded. “Jacob Edward Cranford. I like it.”
“I do, too,” I said, leaning back and relaxing. It felt like I’d just checked off an enormously important item on our to-do list. “Jake for short.”
He nodded. “Of course. He will be a doctor.”
“Or, he could just be a brilliant software developer like his father?” I suggested.
We pulled into the venue. Ironically, it was RAIN in Teaneck, the same place where I’d met up with him all those months ago. The lot was full, the event already underway. A few snowflakes drifted down from the sky; the clouds were heavy and dark, promising to unleash a blizzard. Gabe asked if he should drop me off out front, but I said, “Don’t be silly. Walking will do me good. Plus, I want to make the grand entrance with you, since you’re the VIP.”