“What about Miss VanderCrest?”
“I used Cece VanderCrest to hurt Miss Matthews, and for that I am sorry. We struck a deal when I broke off our engagement. I agreed to make a generous donation to her family’s foundation for the next five years if she had a retraction delivered to the news within an hours time.
Cece VanderCrest was a family friend, nothing more. She is no longer a friend of mine. I have never had sex with her. Ever. It is impossible that her baby is mine, and I am willing to take any paternity test, and even let you film the entire process to provide irrefutable proof. Miss VanderCrest has gone out of her way to intentionally implicate me in this situation. And she has also intentionally hurt someone I love. I don’t know who the father really is but I feel damn sorry for the poor son of a bitch.”
“Are you going to marry Miss Matthews?
“If she would have me I would marry her right now in front of you all.”
“Are you and Waverly Matthews still together?”
“No.”
The crowd of reporters stood in hushed shock, parting for him as he opened the door to the still waiting car, climbed in and shut the door.
The camera went black.
“There you have it, folks, straight from the most eligible, bad boy, bachelor, of the Windy City. Multiple sources now confirm that there has never been a romantic relationship of any kind between Mr. Rike and Cece VanderCrest.
The father of Miss VanderCrest’s baby is rumored to be the very married Buckley Kent, sources report that the two have been romantically involved for months. His wife, who brought her family money to the union has confirmed the affair between her husband, Mr. Kent and Miss VanderCrest. Mr. Kent’s prenuptial agreement confirms that he will forfeit any money from his marriage, and the VanderCrest family has issued a statement that Miss VanderCrest has been excised from the receipt of any further family money.
When we reached out to Cece VanderCrest, she had no comment.
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
Waverly looked up from the tablet, stared out her office window for a few minutes then looked over at Benn.
In a surprisingly calm voice, though her head was spinning with everything she had just discovered, she whispered, ”He just told the entire city that he was in love with me.”
“Yep.”
He smiled hopefully at her.
“He was telling the truth, he isn’t the father of her baby - I didn’t believe him, I let myself be manipulated by TwinSet. Cece had manipulated her. Cece was involved with the despicable slime ball Buckley Kent?
“Yep.”
Her head turned, her eyes wide with disbelief focused on his face.
“He just told the entire city that he would marry me?”
“He did.”
“Oh Benn, I think I’m the dumbfuck asshole.”
Benn took a large step away from her, increasing the distance between them before he answered.
“Yep.”
Waverly turned away from Benn slowly, Walker had broken his personal hard limit of privacy for her. He plastered his private life all over the news? She had to get to him, to tell him that she was wrong, to apologize...to tell him she loved him.
“Benn, I’ve screwed this up so badly. I love him, Benn. I really, really, love him,” she whispered, “He must hate me.”
Benn smiled at her, “That man just told the entire world that he loves you, you idiot. Way, go to him.”
Prying the tablet out of her hand, he kissed her on the cheek and gave her a gentle shove towards the door.
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
Five hours later, Waverly parked in front of Walker’s farmhouse, having deleted all of his contact info in a fit of anger she was relieved to find that her GPS had saved the directions to his farm.
She had desperately wanted to drive straight to Walker and throw herself into his arms, but there was something she needed to take care of first.
Flipping down the car mirror, she checked to see how she looked, thankfully after all of the day’s turmoil, her starting-over-without-Walker outfit and makeup had held up well. Grabbing her handbag, she climbed out of the car, her legs wobbly with excitement and apprehension. Running as fast as she could down the gravel path to him was what she wanted to do, but the heels she had chosen for the day and the gravel path prevented that, so she settled for a brisk tiptoed walk.
Waverly counted on knowing Walker well enough to assume that he wouldn’t be in the main house, he would be in the barn, probably with his boat listening to music and nursing a bourbon or scotch. Drawing closer she could see the soft glimmer of light coming through the window of the side door and hear the light hum of music.
The room was chilly, although the small space heater he kept there was humming away. She breathed in deeply, the familiar smell of freshly cut wood, linseed oil, and Walker soothed her nerves slightly. There was no sound other than the music, she didn’t see him and couldn’t hear him working although he might have run back up to the main house for something.
A glass of bourbon sat on the worktable counter, his phone placed next to it, picking up his phone she saw missed calls from his parents, Benn, Anne, and Steve.
“Walker?” No answer. Walking around the boat, to the back of the barn where the worktable and storage cupboards were, she found him. Leaned back on two legs of his beat up wood chair, head resting against the weathered plank wall staring straight ahead. Waverly stopped short, An almost, empty bourbon bottle gripped in one hand, one eye swollen and black, his cut lip still smeared with blood, tattered baseball hat on backward, jeans ripped, sleeves of his long sleeve t-shirt, pushed up on showing off his forearms.
Waverly just stood there, heart beating faster, he looked so handsome that it stunned her. He was hands down the most impressive man she had ever seen. It wasn’t just his looks she loved. He was intelligent and complicated, a man who constantly gave her a run for her money intellectually. It was his rough, low voice that she always looked forward to hearing. His patient way of listening to whatever she was saying, as if she was the most important person in the world to him. The way his eyes held hers, looking deep inside when they had sex as if he was trying to draw her soul into his heart.
Even though he didn’t move or bat an eye, it was obvious to her that he knew that she was there. She had watched his grip tightened on the bottle of bourbon he had in his hand.
“Walker,” she called out softly, he didn’t move, look at her, or answer. Walking the last few steps to him, she knelt down putting herself directly in his line of sight and looked up at his dark blue eyes. Nothing.
“Walker?”
Reaching to pull the bottle from his hand, his grip on it tightened further, his eyes blinked and focused, tilting his head he looked directly at her. One eye was swollen almost completely and there were other scuffs and bruises over the rest of his face and knuckles. When he finally looked directly at her she could see despair flickering in them.
“Waverly,” he croaked out gruffly, his voice rougher now made her shiver slightly.
“Yes,” she whispered, pulling the bottle out of his tight grip and setting it aside on the floor next to him.
“Are you okay?”
She asked softly, reaching up to run her hand over his jaw, feeling his stubble and running a finger gently over his broken lip.
He flinched away from her hand, sitting up a little straighter.
“I’m fine. Why are you here?”
“I...I, saw the news,” she stammered.
Silently staring at each other in some sort of bizarre standoff Waverly realized that he was not overjoyed to see her. He was not going to welcome her back with open arms. He was not going to make this easy on her, and, she really couldn’t blame him. But, she was his, and he was hers, they belonged together. They were irrevocable. She would fight to get him back, so they could be together, be the family to each other that they truly were meant to be.
“Good.”
With an empty loo
k, he blew out a harsh breath and continued.
“So you came here to find me. Why? I’m not the man for you, Waverly. You made that very clear?”
“No, Walker, no. I was wrong, so wrong,” she pleaded, kneeling between his legs, and leaning her head down to rest it on his thighs.
“Yes,” was his flat response.
He didn’t move to touch her or push her away from him. Nothing. It was like he had frozen over, his heart was frozen toward her.
Sliding her arms around his waist clutching him, her fingers bunching the fabric of his shirt, trying to pull him back to her. Tears started quickly turning to heavy sobs, dripping a puddle of heartbreak into his jeans.
Her mouth dropped open.
“What?” She whispered incredulously, “But you said, you said,” she hiccuped, “you said you loved me.”
“I do. I love you, Waverly, I’ll always love you. There will never be anyone else for me. It’s only you.”
He still hadn’t moved, hadn’t reached to touch her, his voice remained toneless, emotionless as if attending a board meeting or going over facts and figures.
Waverly sucked in a breath at the tone of his voice, then choked back a sob.
“I love you, Walker, so much.”
“I know you do.”
For the first time since she arrived he moved, reaching down and clasping both of his hands firmly around her head he raised it so she was looking into his eyes. His very sad eyes.
“But, it’s not enough.” He paused, she thought he was finished talking.
“You didn’t believe me. I told you the truth and you didn’t believe me.”
With a heavy sigh, he dragged a finger across her cheek, swiping a tear away.
“You always leave. You don’t trust me. I don’t think you’ll ever trust anyone...
The corner of his lips lifted in a small sad smile on his handsome face.
“You’re here now but how long until you run away from me again? Is your cab driver waiting out there with the meter still running?”
Her head pulled back away from him, she was still on her knees, begging him to help her put the two of them back together again, and he sat cold, empty and defeated his gaze fixed across the room.
“I think of myself as a strong man Waverly, but when it comes to you I lose that strength. You’ve hurt me and I’m a man who doesn’t handle hurt well. You won’t stay, and I....I can’t go through that again.”
“I’m not the only one who ran, Walker, you got engaged to Cece to push me away, to hurt me. That was you, running away from me, remember?”
She stood, moving back pulling herself away from him a few steps.
“I had good reason not to believe you when your baby momma said she was pregnant,” she retorted indignantly.
“Why didn’t you tell me what she said to you, in the ladies room? Why didn’t you just fucking trust me enough to come and tell me?”
He pushed up wearily from his chair moving towards her.
“I would have protected you. I could have stopped all this from happening...but it’s better this way. Better this happened now.”
“I was trying to solve it myself, not make a fuss, to protect you, Walker,” she shouted, desperate for him to understand her.
It was going so horribly wrong.
He stalked towards her, leaning in staring at her, his gaze unwavering.
“Protect me? I’m a man Waverly, I can protect myself,” he answered tersely, finally a spark of emotion from him.
“Well, I’m sorry, but that’s stupid. When I love someone I want to protect them...not hurt them,” she taunted him, “And, not run and engage myself to someone as soon as possible...just to hurt them,”
“You love me but you’ll run as soon as you get scared, then we’ll be right back here. Do me a favor, just rip the bandaid off and leave me now, it’s what you’re good at.”
His response was dripping with sarcasm, infuriating her.
“Listen to me,” she shouted at him, “I love you. I am not going to run again.”
Walker turned away from her, rubbing his hand over his face, he groaned, trying to find some patience, when he finally felt like he could continue without shouting at her he turned back. Waverly had turned away from him, reaching out a hand he gripped her waist, she flinched letting out a small wince at his touch.
“Wave, what’s wrong? What did you do?”
Turning her to face him, he tried to look her over with his unswollen eye. Waverly was somewhat clumsy, oddly he had found it endearing, she had so few faults in his opinion. He had also enjoyed taking care of her scrapes and bruises, which often led to her appreciation which then led to him getting her naked.
“Nothing.”
Lifting her chin defiantly, she jerked herself further away from him crossing her arms protectively, as he tried to look her over. She avoided his eyes.
“Did you fall? Bump into the desk again?”
Daring a peek at him, she was surprised to see that the angry look on his face was gone, his eyes were soft. A faint smirk played on his swollen and bruised face, his hands reached out quickly to grab her by the elbow.
“Oww, stop, what are you doing. Stop,” Waverly wiggled and twisted to escape him, he could see she really was in pain.
“You are so goddamn stubborn. Stop fighting me, Wave and let me see what happened.”
Moving swiftly she tried to twist out of his grasp but he moved quicker grabbing her by her jacket, pushing and pulling it down her arms to remove it.
“Stop it, get off of me. I’m not going to show you a...bruise.”
She was pissed now, he could see it - and she was hiding something from him. He was determined to know what it was. Had Cece done something to hurt her?
Waverly yanked herself away from Walker leaving him holding only her jacket. Dropping it to the floor, he stalked toward her. The predatory, ‘I will get what I want’ look in his eyes brought up memories she did not want in her head right now. That smug and all knowing look always bent her to his will, it hooked her every time.
“Show. Me.”
Studying her with a composed, immovable expression Walker reached out, studiously watching his own hands, he reached for the top button on her blouse, paused, looking right into her eyes, he unbuttoned it. His eyes went dark and hooded, with each button he continued the process, watching his hands, then locking his eyes on hers as he slipped the button free. Breathing heavily, she licked her lips then reached out to rest her hand on his bicep, over his tattoo, and whispered his name as his hands crept lower and lower unbuttoning button after button. His eye contact breaking only once to look down at her breasts, then back up to her eyes. Her breathing was fast now, her face flushed and her eyes soft as she watched his concentrated efforts. He got to the final button and yanked the shirt roughly out of her jeans and then spun her around so her back was facing him.
Stilling as his warm hand smoothed steadily all of the way down her back, to the top of her ass, causing her to flinch slightly again. He fumbled briefly with lifting the gauze covering.
“Fuck me.”
She heard him mutter,
“Ego sum eius,” he whispered, running his finger gently over the new tattoo.
“I am yours.”
It wasn’t a question, he wasn’t asking, his fingers reverently stroking over and over her reddened skin, his other hand gripping and flexing the other side of her waist. Waverly turned tilting her head down to see his eyes warm and soft, looking up at her.
She had done it for him, to prove to him that she knew, what he already knew, that she belonged to him and he belonged to her.
Rushing out of her office after seeing the video of him with the reporters she went straight to the tattoo shop close to her condo. Barging in without an appointment, she paid extra to jump the line and have the guy hurry. It had hurt like hell then and it hurt like hell now. Throughout the entire process Bruce the massive, bearded, tattoo guy, worked steadily, producin
g an occasional grunt as she nervously blurted out the entire story. When he finished, he gave her a quick pat on the ass, saying, “Go get ‘em, killer, this guy would have to be a real dumbfuck to turn you away.” Surprising him she had leaned over placing a smacking kiss on him and hurried off to get to Walker. But right now she just wanted away from him, she turned away from him and tried to wriggle and pull away but he just tightened his grip.
“You said it’s not enough. You told me to go. Let go of me,” she huffed, twisting and turning to escape his grip and smacking at his hands.
“No. Waverly, stop,” he growled at her wrapping his arms around her from behind and tucking his head next to hers so his mouth rested right next to her ear. She could feel his hot breath on her neck, tickling her ear, his voice rough and low he spoke right into her ear.
“Baby, you did this for me.“
His arms felt so good around her strong and safe. She could feel what she always felt when he touched her, want, need. She almost melted into a puddle of quivering need at his feet, all of her anger toward him evaporated. Turning in his arms she flung herself at him. Wrapping herself around him as tightly as she could.
“I wanted to show you. Show you that I wouldn’t run,” she sobbed into his neck, “I’m so sorry, Walker, I’m so sorry. I should have believed you, I should have trusted you.”
He crushed her to him, then pulled back quickly reaching one hand up to lift her head up, he bent to look her in the eye.
“I don’t care about that anymore. I love that you did it for me, Waverly,” his voice was warm and husky. His hands slid down to grasp each of hers as he pushed her back a step, leaning in to kiss her. Waverly leaned back, away from his kiss, as much as she wanted him nothing was resolved between them.
“Wait. Walker what about..”
Leaned in, he forced her another step back.
“I don’t care. I love you, the rest doesn’t matter. You came to me.”
“But...”
They took another step back, his eyes focused on her with intent, intent she recognized.
The Dumbf*ck - Part Two of The DumbFuck Series: A Billionaire Bad Boy Humorous New Adult Romance (The DumbF*ck Part Two Book 2) Page 15