The Inheritance (Forever Bound #1) (2 page)

“I can’t even believe it,” Charity replied in disbelief.

“Do you want me to go to Chad and find out where he is?” Ana asked. At that point, it was pretty clear to Charity that Chad had used Ana to get to her.

Charity shook her head. “I just need to be by myself.” She grabbed her purse and ran out of the shop. This was her battle to fight. She was hit with a mixture of emotions. She was sad…angry…hurt, but there was also a sense of relief. They’d rushed into planning this wedding, and she barely had the chance to breathe. Now, she could focus on what she would do next, and nothing was off the table.

Almost a year later

Charity stepped into the busy club. She glanced down at her phone as it signaled another text.

Ana: Running twenty minutes late. Sorry!!

She slid the phone into her back pocket. She was used to Ana being delayed. However, on this particular occasion, she was a tad surprised. Ana said she found someone, and she couldn’t wait for Charity to meet him. Charity was surprised, to say the least. Ana wasn’t the type to get excited about some guy. Charity couldn’t even remember two guys that she’d met in the course of their twenty-year friendship. Yet, this seemed different. Ana seemed excited and desperate for Charity to meet him.

Charity stood at the door, surveying the crowd in front of her. She spotted the bar with two empty stools and headed in that direction. She could at least order something to drink so she wouldn’t look so conspicuous. The bartender smiled as she sat down. “I’ll take a beer…something lite,” she said.

“Coming right up, little lady.” He reached under the bar and retrieved a beer bottle from the refrigerator. He opened it with a bottle opener, then slid it towards her. She reached into her pocket and withdrew her money, but before she knew what happened, some money slid out in front of her.

“Thank you!” The bartender said, grabbing the money and walking away from her.

She looked up and found herself staring into deep blue eyes. Her mouth went dry, and she swallowed a small lump in her throat. “Completely not necessary,” she said, trying to hand the money to the stranger.

He laughed. “A pretty lady mustn’t ever pay for her own drink.”

She took a slow drink. When she swallowed, she put the bottle down on the bar and chuckled lightly. “Does that line work often?”

He raised an eyebrow, then laughed heartily. “It’s had its moments. Did it work now?”

She shrugged. “Perhaps.”

He snickered. “Then I did my job.” He pointed to the stool next to her. “Mind if I sit down?”

She glanced at the stool. “Don’t ask me. It’s not my stool.”

He smiled. His teeth shone like a Roman God’s. She quickly grabbed another drink as he slid onto the stool next to her. “I’m assuming you're alone, but my question is…why?”

She glanced around, pretending to look for someone. “Who said I was alone?”

He placed a finger to his lips. “Shhhh…I don’t usually divulge my secrets, but the empty stool gave it away.”

She laughed, taking another drink. “They’ll be here soon.”

He smiled. “Then I’ll keep you company until
they
show up. If you don’t mind, that is.”

“If you wish,” she stated. He seemed pleased by her response, and he ordered himself a beer and they talked. It really wasn’t an enthralling conversation, as it started with weather and ended with the price of gas, but it was the way things had been for the past year.

Once Joe broke off the engagement and left her hanging there, she immediately decided love wasn’t in the cards for her. She chose to lead a life of partying and meaningless sexual encounters so she wouldn’t have to face getting her heart broke…yet again. Things seemed better this way. She found herself looking down at his left hand to find an indentation of a wedding ring, or in some guy’s cases, an actual wedding ring. She vowed to never get involved with married men, and it was something she was serious about. In his case, she was pleased to see that he didn’t have a golden band on. When they finished their beers, he turned to her.

“May I have this dance?”

She scrunched up her nose, contemplating things, then eventually nodded. She stood up, and he reached for her hand. His eyes were locked on her, something that was also familiar to her. If the guy liked what he saw, he would be obvious about it. She enjoyed the attention. What girl wouldn’t?

They made their way to the dance floor, just as one slow song ended and another began. He pulled her into his arms, and they swayed to the music. For a few slight moments, it was strictly two people gazing into one another’s eyes and moving to the rhythm of the music. Then he said something.

“I don’t recall seeing you here before. Trust me…I’d remember.”

She smiled and tilted her head. “Do you make a mental note of all the people you see?” she asked.

He chuckled. “If they’re half as beautiful as you are.”

“You do seem to know all the right words to say,” she commented.

He twirled her around and pulled her to him, so she was even closer than before. His breath was warm against her skin. “I speak only the truth.” His voice was husky, and her eyes dipped down to his lips. She was two seconds from kissing him and making out on that dance floor when she felt someone tapping her on her shoulder.

She pulled back, keeping her eyes locked on the strange man that had held her close. “Charity? You coming?”

“Um…yeah…I’m…” she stuttered. Her mind went blank. He smiled at her, and she slowly regained her cognitive thoughts. “Thank you for the dance.”

“My pleasure,” he said.

She waved, then turned around and followed Ana to the table. Her heart raced hard against her chest. It hit her abruptly that he now knew her name. That was another thing that never happened between her and her one-nighters. They never divulged names. Although, this time, it was different. They never actually got to the sex part.

Charity bumped into Ana when they reached the table. Ana turned around and gave her a peculiar look, and Charity just smiled. “Charity, I would like you to meet, Jesse Tremble. Jesse…this is Charity Parker.”

He stood up from the table and produced his hand out to Charity. “Pleased to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”

Charity slowly shook his extended hand. “Likewise.” However, the truth was, she didn’t really know a whole lot about the man that stole Ana’s heart. She sat down and opened up the menu. She looked it over, but her mind kept going back to the guy on the dance floor.

“I’m so happy you two finally can meet,” Ana said.

Charity looked up and smiled. Jesse was looking at her friend, and they were close enough that he could’ve been on her lap. “Me too!” Jesse replied, keeping his eyes glued to Ana.

Charity looked back down at the menu. It wasn’t like Ana to get Lovey Dovey all of a sudden, and she required at least some answers. The waitress approached them, and they each placed their order, and when she was gone, Charity looked up. She was prepared to throw out some tough, but necessary, questions.

“So, how long have you two been dating?”

Ana was quick to answer. “Five months.”

“Wow…five months?” Charity glanced at Ana, raising her eyebrow. Ana gave her a smug smile. Charity had to admit she was impressed Ana stuck with a guy for so long, but disappointed Ana really hadn’t talked about him. She refocused her attention back to Jesse. “So what entices you to my best friend?”

“Charity…” Ana hissed.

Jesse just laughed. “I don’t mind answering that question.” He smiled at Ana and gave her a slight wink, before turning back to Charity. “Her smile…her eyes…her genuineness about everything…” His eyes lit up as he spoke and it slowly started to dawn on Charity; this was real. “She has a good heart.”

“Awwww…sweety…” Ana enthusiastically replied next to him, hanging on every word.

Charity chuckled lightly, looking away from the two of them as they shared their sweet and intimate moment together. Her eyes caught with the strange guy’s, as he continued to stare at their table. She smirked, and he nodded a slight greeting. Her goal was to get back to him, and she was pleased to see that he had the same thought.

***

Derek took a sip of his coffee and placed it back down on the desk. He rifled through the paperwork until he came across the latest map of the renovation of the town. A whole section was being rezoned to include a mall, a few restaurants, and several other businesses that were sure to bring jobs to the area. He was excited to finally get the project off the ground. He looked over the design that Ray, his contractor, had dropped off to the office earlier that week.

He took another sip from his coffee and surveyed each location. There were only a handful of properties along the line that required being bought out, so they could proceed. Luckily, no one drug their feet, because everyone could see it would be a huge advantage to the city. His phone rang, bringing him away from his thoughts.

“Mayor Worthington…” he replied, speaking into the phone.

“Hey…it’s Ted,” His main foreman for the project replied on the other end of the line.

“Hey…what’s up?” He put his coffee mug down and settled back into his chair.

“Have you received the blueprints?”

“Yep. I’m looking it over right now,” Derek answered.

“Well…” there was a slight hesitation on the end of his sentence. Then Ted continued. “I’m out on the property and at the corner of Elm and 64
th
Street, there’s a shed, or a dilapidated old house, or a barn…not really sure which. It’s kind of hidden behind some trees. Anyway, have you cleared it with the buyer to buy it out so we can destroy it?”

“I’m sure we have. Just a minute.” Derek rummaged through the folder and pulled out the contracts he had acquired. He leafed through them, speaking out loud as he did. “Janson…Broderick…Forester…Jacobs…” he stopped. “There were only four people we had to contact, from what I understand. The corner of Elm and 64
th
street you said?”

“That’s right,” Ted responded. “You pretty much had to be searching for it to notice it, but it’s here.”

Derek glanced at the addresses on the pages and found one with an Elm Street address. “Bruce Forester owned the land on Elm Street. Maybe the building came with it.” It would make sense to assume that the building was part of the property they already bought out. At least, he hoped that was the case. However, Ted wasn’t easy to persuade in that direction.

“I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure this would be outside of the property line, but I could check that out. I just didn’t know if you had looked into this.”

“Honestly, I didn’t. I was so eager to get started on this project, and this area has been surveyed numerous times, that I wouldn’t have expected it to get missed. Will you please look into it and let me know.”

“Of course. I’ll see if I can get ahold of Mr. Forester on Monday. Talk to you soon, Derek.”

“Thanks!” Derek hung up the phone and let a soft groan pass his lips. Another hiccup in his plans and he could only hope to find out that he had nothing to worry about. He slid the papers back into the folder and put it in his desk drawer. He turned off his desk lamp and stood up from the chair.

He left the den and nearly bumped into Mary, his maid, as she came down the steps. “Heading off to bed?” she asked with a jovial smile.

He nodded. “You?”

“I have one more load of wash, then I will be. You have a good night, Derek.”

He smiled at her. “You, too, Mary. See you tomorrow.” He headed up the stairs and into his bedroom. There wasn’t a lot of downtime in his profession and when there was…he was quickly reminded of how quiet and lonesome it could be. This was one of those times, and he couldn’t always shake the feeling that there was something missing in his life. He was glad those times were few and far between.

***

Charity stood up from the table. “It was really nice to meet you and get to know you, Jesse.”

“Same here. We’ll have to all get together again soon. I have a friend and maybe we could all grab a bite to eat or something.”

Charity smiled. “I would like that.” She first hugged Ana, then hugged Jesse.

“I’ll call you later,” Ana said.

“Sounds good.” They started to walk towards the front door when Charity stopped. She didn’t want to leave without seeing if the stranger was still there. “I have to run to the ladies room, but I’ll see you guys around. Ana and Jesse waved as Charity turned in the opposite direction. She casually headed towards the restrooms, but she had no intention of making it that far. She immediately spotted him standing in the corner. To prove he was waiting on her, he walked towards her, and they met in the middle of the dance floor. “You’re still here,” she replied.

He nodded. “I wanted to see if you wanted to finish where we left off.” He smiled, staring deeply into her eyes.

“Not really,” she replied with a coy smile. She reached for his hand and pulled him behind her, briskly moving towards the door of the club.

He laughed. “Where are you taking me?”

Once outside, she turned around and grabbed his face in her hands. She pulled him to her, and they kissed. His tongue eagerly dove between her lips and a ripple climbed up her spine. “God I wanted to do that all night.”

He laughed, resting his head against hers. “I’m parked in the alley. Wanna join me?”

She nodded. “First…what’s your name?”

He laughed, tossing his head back. “Brad, but Babe you can call me anything you want.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her down the sidewalk. She had to jog to keep up with him. When they reached a red pickup truck, he stopped and pushed her against the truck. He grabbed onto her leg and pulled her tight against him. She felt the hardness of his shaft beneath his jeans. She groaned, brushing her tongue along his lips. He fumbled with his keys to unlock the door of his truck, and once his door was open, he parted from the kiss. He stepped back, to allow her to get in and she sat down in the driver’s seat. He pushed the button, and her seat scooted towards the back, then he stepped into the truck and shut the door behind him.