Fated - A Mermaid's Curse 2 (11 page)

We reach a red light and I glare at her. “I’m marrying Arianna, Brooke. Just let it go.”

I expect my harsh words to get through to her, but she just laughs.

I start driving again and I hear her laugh at my side.

“
Come on, Blake. I know your family. That’s never going to happen.”

I don’t bother saying anything else after that. I turn the radio up to avoid having to listen to her. Once we get to the hotel, I hand her the keys, get out of the car, and walk away. I start to make my way toward the restaurant across the street. She tries to talk to me, but ignore her and just keep walking.

Eventually, her voice fades away, and I reach for my phone and call a cab.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

ARIANNA

We get back to the table to see that Brooke and Blake are gone. I glance around and don’t see them anywhere.

“
Brooke wasn’t feeling well,” says Jonathan. “Blake took her home.” He pauses. “I hope you don’t mind, but I ordered your meal while you were gone: pasta… no seafood.”

I look at him awkwardly. “Oh. That’s fine. Thank you.”

He stands up motioning for me to sit next to him and I feel obligated to do so. He smiles at me, but I can’t manage to return the smile. All I think about is Blake and Brooke alone. Jonathan talks to Mr. Jones about golf and from time to time he tries to engage in conversation with me, but I just give him short answers that lead the conversation to a dead end. Jonathan doesn’t give up though.

“
How long are you in town for?” he asks me as the waitress places our plates on the table. “Maybe I can take you out to a few local places. I’m not from here, but I’ve been here enough times, right Jones?”

Mr. Jones nods. “That you have.”

“
She’s actually going back tomorrow,” Carol lies.

“
Oh, that’s too bad. Maybe next time I’m around Blake’s office, we can get together. I travel there just as often.”

“
Maybe,” I finally say just so he’ll leave it alone.

Jonathan and Mr. Jones go back to talking about work for a while and I sit there silently, just moving the food around the plate.

“
Well,” says Carol as they finish eating. “I think it’s time to get the check and head home. Arianna had a long day with my dragging her around shopping all day.”

That makes me smile.

Jonathan nods. “Let me get the check.”

After he and Mr. Jones fight over the check, they finally settle on splitting the bill. Jonathan walks me to their car. He has his hands on his pocket the entire time and for some reason that makes me feel more comfortable.

Once we get to the car, he reaches for the door and opens it. “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you,” he says and catches me off guard when he pulls me into a hug. I awkwardly hug him back. “My pleasure,” I say.

He hands me a card with his number and asks me to call him.

I agree even though I know that I won’t.

I get in the car. Jonathan shakes hands with the Mr. Jones and Carol, and then leans over where I’m sitting. “I mean it. Call me. I would hate having to ask Blake for your number, but I’m not below that.”

Good luck with that
, I think to myself.

He winks at me, closes the door, and stands by the car watching us until we drive off.

***

The ride back to the house is quiet. I lean my head back on the seat and close my eyes until I hear Carol, “We’re here, sweetie.”

As we drive up the driveway, I see Blake sitting on the front steps. He has his head down but as soon as he hears the car, the stands, with his hands in his pockets. I notice that the top buttons of his shirt are undone and so is his tie. His gaze is on me as I walk out of the car. He looks so nervous and concerned that it breaks my heart.

Without waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Jones, I walk over to him.

“
How long have you been here?” I ask.

“
A while. I dropped her off at the hotel and got a cab,” he says in an apologetic tone.

I sigh.

He still hasn’t moved. His hands are still in his pockets and I know he doesn’t know what he should do because he has no idea how I’m going to react to what just happened.

“
I’m sorry,” he says. “I knew this was a bad idea. I just didn’t know it would get this bad.”

I know he means every word and even though I want to be mad, I can’t. I throw myself against his chest, and he instantly removes his hands from his pockets and his arms go around my lower back, pulling me close.

“
I love you,” he whispers in my ears.

“
I love you, too.”

“
I think the Mike and Carol are waiting on us to be done so they can go in,” he says.

I laugh and pull away to find Carol and Mr. Jones pretending not to be watching us. I smile over at Carol and she smiles back.

This time, they come toward the door to let us all in.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

BLAKE

I can’t even believe that she’s still talking to me right now. Once we step into the house, all I want to do is take her to the room and be alone, just Arianna and me.

Mike stops me before we can excuse ourselves. “Blake, do you mind if I have a word with you in private?”

I give him a puzzled look. “Of course not.”

I leave Arianna with Carol and walk into his home office.

“
Please, have a seat,” he says and we both sit on the couch across from his desk.

“
I’m sorry about dinner tonight. I know it wasn’t the ideal situation.”

“
Please, don’t apologize,” he says.

He sighs. “Son, I’ll be honest with you. I’ve worked with your dad for years and I never understood how or why he runs his household the way he does and it’s none of my business, but tonight… It’s painful even to watch what the two of you are going through. And Carol, if you can’t tell, she really likes Arianna and made me promise to do what I can to help you.”

I watch him curiously, not even interrupting to ask how he thinks he can help.

“
I have some cases that I need help with and your dad owes me a favor, so I doubt he would say no to anything I ask of him—“

I see where this is going and I already know it won’t work. I can’t just get up and move here. Before I even say what is on my mind, he answers my unspoken questions.

“
I know you still have school and most of what I need done can be done from your home. You won’t even have to see your dad. There will be an occasional trip down here for meetings, but you are welcome to bring Arianna. Carol would love the company. Oh, and if you accept my offer, your payroll will be done from the local office. I know how controlling your dad can be,” he smiles. “So, what will it be?”

I can barely contain myself even though I know my dad will give him problems. My mind goes back to the loopholes mom talked about. Dad wants me to keep working for the company and I’d still be doing that.

“
I wouldn’t know how to thank you, Mike, but—”

He puts his hand up, grabs his cell phone and dials a number.

Then he puts his phone on speaker and I can hear my dad from the other side.

“
Hey, Mike, how are things?” he asks.

“
Everything is perfect. Papers were signed earlier.”

“
Good. So you didn’t run into any problems with my son?” he asks and I shake my head.

“
Of course not. In fact, there is something that I want to talk to you about.”

“
Okay.”

“
I hate to call on that favor that you owe me, but I need Blake’s help with some of my cases. He’ll be able to live there, but I need his assistance full time.”

There is a pause.

“
Well, Mike. I have an even better option for you. Owen has been doing a great job at the office here and he has no strings attached so he can even move close to you while he is helping.”

“
I don’t think so. I already have my mind set on Blake and you know I won’t let go until I get what I want. I’m used to working with him anyway.”

There is another pause and then, dad let’s out a groan. “Fine, Mike. How long until those cases are closed?”

“
I’m not sure yet.” Mike grins. “But I will keep you updated.”

“
Okay… if this is necessary.”

“
Absolutely. And since we don’t know for how long, I’m getting Blake’s payroll transferred over to this office.”

“
Mike, that’s not necessary.”

“
Oh, I insist.”

“
Is there anything else?” Dad asks Mike in a frustrated tone.

“
No. That will be all.”

They hang up and I already can’t wait to tell Arianna.

As if reading my mind, Mike smiles and says, “Go. Tell Arianna.”

“
Thank you, Mike. You have no idea—”

“
I do. Now go.”

I rush out of his office walking past Carol who knows what happened as soon as she lays eyes on me.

“
I guess my Mike worked his magic, huh?” she asks.

“
You have no idea,” I say and can’t stop grinning.

“
She is in the room,” she says and walks toward Mike’s office as I walk toward the room.

CHAPTER TWENTY

I open the door to the room to find Arianna already in bed, sleeping. I wonder over and over again how I got this lucky. I know she had a long day so I let her sleep. I quietly get undressed and get on the bed next to her, putting my phone on the charger by the nightstand. I want to put my arms around her but I’m afraid to wake her up, so I just lay there, watching her sleep.

It’s already close to one in the morning when a text message comes through my phone. In my mind, I’m already cussing Brooke. Who else would text me at this time? I grab my phone with every intention of blocking her number, because honestly, I’m done with bullshit. When I look at the screen I see that the text is from Mikaelis. “Hey man. Would you mind giving me Arianna’s number?”

I delete the message and slam the phone on the dresser harder than I intend to. I turn around and find Arianna awake and watching me.

“
Is everything okay?” she asks.

I pull her to my chest. “You have no idea.”

I tell Arianna about Mike’s offer and his phone call to my dad. I can tell that the news lifts a weight off her shoulders just by looking at her.

I reach over and brush a lock of her hair back. “I can’t wait to be married to you.”

She tenses and looks away. She sees that I notice and quickly says, “Me too… I just… there is so much that we don’t know about one another.”

“
And I’m looking forward to knowing every little thing about you. It doesn’t matter if we are married or not before I learn those things. Either way, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

She smiles sadly. I know the fact that in her mind she is married to someone else, even though their marriage is far from legal, is one of the reasons getting in the way.

“
I want to meet your dad… and the guy he forced you to marry, even though the marriage wasn’t legal or real. I can tell it matters to you and I want to talk to them to ask that they let you go.”

She rolls over and stares at the ceiling. “I wish things were that easy, Blake.”

I sigh. “It’s okay. We don’t have to do anything until you’re ready. I’ll wait for you for as long as I have to, even though if it was up to me, I would marry you right now.”

She looks to the side and smiles, moving closer and putting her arms around me. I put one arm over her waist, resting my chin on the top of her head. I close my eyes and inhale her scent. She has no idea how much I want her right now, but I decide to wait until she shows me a sign that she is ready for me. For now, I’m just happy to have her fall asleep in my arms without having to worry about anything.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

ARIANNA

I wake up in his arms and everything feels like a dream… Blake here with me… Mr. Jones’ offer to help us get away from Blake’s dad…

Blake opens his eyes and stretches. “Good morning, beautiful.”

I reached over and kiss his cheek. “Good morning.”

“
Are we going back home?” I ask.

“
No. We’ll stay until tomorrow,” he says. “In fact, there are a few places I want to take you to.”