Or so I thought.
His image lights up the screen on my phone. The button on my steering wheel connects us, and his hard tone is instantly permeating the interior of my car.
"I'd believe you if it wasn't only two weeks ago, I got the same excuse."
Dammit.
I let out a long breath and decide to explain myself. "Lance, I'm sorry, but I just don't like Danny. He's a nice enough guy and all, it's just, how do I say this…"
"Spit it out because I'm interested to hear how Danny is any worse than Quinn. That bitch is the one putting ideas in your head about not wanting to see me, isn't she?" He argues.
"What? No! She didn't say I shouldn't see you." I think back to our conversation in class, and it's just the opposite, but I'm not telling him that. "I've told you about Danny's advances before. Tonight, I'm just not in the mood for fighting him off."
"I've told you, I talked with him about that. He means no harm. You should feel flattered he shows an interest in you. He's a nice-looking guy and can easily have any girl he wants."
My mouth drops open at the words currently filling my ear, it renders me speechless. How could I have thought this man is anyone I saw myself with? If that's the way he feels, then I need to end this…tonight.
"Harlyn, you still there?"
I take in a deep breath and let it out, regaining my composure and mustering up the courage to say what I must. "Lance, we need to talk, but not over the phone. Can you meet me here at the house around six?"
"With bells on." He replies sarcastically before ending the call.
Glancing down at the blank screen of my phone, I wonder if inviting him to the house was the right decision.
Chapter Four
Francis Harlyn Aldridge
It's 5:45 pm, and my nerves have adrenaline pumping through my veins at a rapid rate, in pace with each tap of my sandals atop the marble floor in the foyer as I pace from one side of the room to the other.
Twenty steps each way is what I've counted.
There's no reason for this type of anxiety. I've tried to end it in the past and was even successful for a few months. But somehow, he always finds a way of pulling me back in. Maybe it's the sex, or perhaps his ability to prey on my one weakness—fear of being alone.
With parents who never really wanted kids, I've mostly been living the life of an orphan.
Having a child was yet another stipulation of my grandfather's agreement. Mother wouldn't get any of the Simmons inheritance until she married and produced offspring. She didn't even get to pick her suitor. An arranged marriage between Silvercret's Harold Aldridge and Red River's Maria Simmons set forth at the tender ages of twenty-one and eighteen.
Money is a motivator. Controlling people's lives and driving their decisions. What the agreement didn't specify is, who would raise me.
From the day I was born until my sixteenth birthday, nanny Grace raised me. She still works for us, and I still love her to pieces. She's been more a mother to me than my own ever could have been, but as much love as she gives, it'll never fill the hole in my heart as only parents can.
Because of that fear, I'm stuck in a relationship that'll never work. I don't love him and probably never will. He deserves better. Hell, I deserve better. He may not know what's coming, but somehow, I always knew in the back of my mind.
The knock at the door pulls me from my thoughts. He's here. Taking a glance in the entry mirror, I smooth loose strands of hair with my hands and run a finger over a smear of lip gloss beneath my lip before turning and opening the door. Suddenly wishing I hadn't.
Anger radiates off him like hot rays of the sun, burning my skin before uttering a single word.
He knows.
"Is there someone else?" He asks, but his attention isn't on me; instead, he looks out over the running creek just yards from where he's leaning against the railing.
"No, Lance, it's not like that," I reply, stepping out onto the porch, but keeping my distance.
Lance always the detective, jumps in. "Who is it?"
"Why don't you tell me what it is like Harlyn because I thought we had something. Why are you suddenly sidestepping and giving-up on us? Is it because I don't come from the kind of money the rest of you people do?"
The urge to remind him things ended months ago is right on the tip of my tongue, but I refrain when I realize what he's said. After all this time, his assumption of me being that shallow and this breakup is about money or status sets me off. I move into his line of sight "Lance, you know money was never the issue. We don't see eye to eye on anything."
"I didn't hear any complaints in the bedroom." He says flatly.
"Sex alone isn't going to hold this relationship together. I like you for you, not your money or how good in bed you are but I don't think that's enough…do you? Aren't you looking for someone who will love you with all their heart, not just like?" I ask, placing a palm on his cheek.
He lets out a deep breath. "I disagree. There's something more there I just don't think you're willing to admit it." He takes my chin between his thumb and forefinger. "I'll make you see it one way or another, Harlyn."
Without so much a second glance, he turns on a heel and is straddling his motorcycle before I realize what just happened.
Was this a breakup, or have I just raised a challenge with a man who doesn't hold my heart?
Chapter
