The Proposal (Forever Bound Book 2) (8 page)

****

“Ouch! I deserved that!” he replied, still rubbing his cheek.

“Damn right you did!” she snapped.  Derek opened his mouth, but she glared at him, and he shut it again.  “It’s my turn to talk.  Who the hell do you think you are?  I get that you’re the almighty Mayor and all, but you can’t walk all over people and expect them just to take it.  You should’ve told me about the inheritance because now every time you open your mouth, I’m going to question whether any sincerity is in your words.  Like right now.  You love me?  Come on, Derek, you don’t even know what love is.”  He didn’t open his mouth to object, so she continued.  “You’re worth billions…not millions…billions and you want me to believe that you’ll give it all up for love?”

She stared at him long enough that he did ask the question.  “Am I suppose to answer that?”

She shook her head.  “Don’t bother.  I know that answer.  You went years being alone.  You didn’t need someone to fulfill that need.  There’s no shame in that, but you can’t speak to me as if you think I’ll buy what you’re selling.  It’s ten billion dollars, Derek.  I may be gullible, at times, but I’m not stupid.”

She moved past him and opened the apartment door.  He turned around and stared at her.  “If you want to be angry with me…fine, but it doesn’t appear you were too honest with me either.”

She gawked at him with her mouth half hanging open.  “What are you talking about? I was completely honest with you until you screwed things up.”

He crossed his arms and kept his eyes intent on her.  “Oh…is that, right?  So you met this guy after I screwed things up?”

She frowned.  “Guy? What guy?”

“The guy who I saw you with earlier this evening.  He lives in Briar’s Ridge, and you seemed comfortable with him.”

Her jaw dropped.  “You have no right to follow me, and you definitely have no right to question who I can and can’t hang around.”  She was livid.  She couldn’t believe the audacity of him.

“I know.”  He quietly responded.  “I’m just trying to—.”

“You’re just trying to control me,” Charity interrupted him.  Derek tried to argue, but she continued.  “It’s just best that we cut ties right now.  You go on being Mayor, and I’ll go on being a citizen that you barely know.”

He sighed.  Charity was hurt, and even he should’ve been able to see that.  “So, you’re quitting your job, without any notice?” he asked.

She snickered.  “Uh…yeah!  I’d say so.”

“There’s nothing I can say to change your mind?  After all, you’ll need a job…steady income.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.  I got another job.”  He lifted his eyebrows and nodded, moving closer to the door. 

“The daycare…I figured.”  He hesitated, staring at her, and she looked away from him.  “Wow.  So, it really is all set.”

“Yep!” she nonchalantly replied, but the truth was she could barely keep eye contact.  The realization hurt her, more than she cared to admit.  She would’ve given anything to believe him and all of his words, but she couldn’t take that chance.  Plus, Damian’s words while he was sleeping kept pressing in the back of her mind.  It all seemed so confusing, and she didn’t know what or who to believe.

“I’m not going to give up without a fight, Charity. Maybe I shouldn’t have had you followed and you’re right…I shouldn’t have questioned who you’re hanging around, but it killed me inside to see you with another guy.  Please at least understand that.”

Her eyes met his and she shrugged.  There was no intimate connection in her eyes, and there was no desire that he once saw.  Instead, he found her gaze to be filled with nothingness, then she responded with,  “I suggest you get over it.  You better start looking for another woman to marry so you don’t lose your money.  Time is running out.”

“Dammit, you’re not listening to me.”  His mind raced for her to listen to him.  “I don’t care about the money.  What’s it going to take for me to convince you?”  She shook her head.  There was nothing he could do to make her believe him.  She hated having doubt in her life, but it was there, and there was nothing she could do to change that.  “I’ll find away.  You’ll see.”  He stepped out of the apartment and turned around to look back at her.  “I love you, and you’re not changing my mind on that.”  He moved away from the apartment and she watched him walk down the stairs and head back to his car.  She stepped out of her apartment and watched him pull out of the parking lot, then went back inside.  She closed the door behind herself and walked over to the couch. 

She sunk down into the plush leather and spotted Ana as she peeked her head out of her bedroom.  “He’s gone,” Charity quietly replied.

“So…everything alright?” Ana asked.

Charity shook her head, and she looked up to stare at Ana.  Tears stung the back of her eyes.  “No…nothing’s alright.” 

Ana walked over and sat next to her.  She wrapped her arm around Charity, and they just sat there for a moment, before Charity felt comfortable enough to tell her problems.  She unloaded everything, even mentioning her relationship with Derek, to which Ana pointed out that she figured something was going on between them. 

“I don’t know what to do,” Charity replied quietly.

“Do you like this Damian guy?” Ana asked softly, leaving the judgment out of the voice. 

“Like him?  Yes.  Have I contemplated anything else between us other than a friendship with the added benefits of sex?”  She shook her head slowly.  Up until she heard Damian use the word, love, she wouldn’t have thought about it, but now…it all seemed so strange.  “I suppose the notion hit me once or twice, but honestly…I don’t think I would’ve ever contemplated it.  The feelings haven’t been as strong as they’ve been with…” her words trailed off and she bit her tongue.  It was too late to take it back, as Ana captured her meeting.

“They haven’t been as strong as your feelings for Derek?  Is that what you were about to say?”  Charity nodded slowly.  Why hide the obvious?  “Do you still have those feelings?” Ana asked, again she kept her judgment voice out of the equation.

Charity sighed, wanting to say she lost all feelings for Derek once she found out he lied to her, but she couldn’t lie about it.  Instead, she nodded her head. “I wish I didn’t.”

Ana draped her arm around Charity and pulled her to her.  “No matter what you do, it will be the right decision.  You have to trust your heart.”  It was like a saying in a greeting card, but Ana was right.  That was the only thing she could do.

****

This wasn’t like Derek.  He couldn’t sleep after talking to Charity and not getting through to her.  Three days passed by and the only thing he could do was repeatedly tell Amanda that he didn’t want her to set out looking for any more applicants, go to meetings and think about Charity and everything he still wanted to say to her and toss and turn in his bed because he was getting nowhere. 

It was the slowest three days of his life.  When day four arrived, he decided he needed to do something more to try to fix things with Charity.  He went to Jesse.  He wasn’t sure how Jesse could help, other than he could at least see if Jesse was able to get through to Ana.  So, he went to Jesse’s office.  When Jesse looked up from his phone call he was on, a look of surprise washed over his face.

“That’s right!” he said into the phone.  “Alright.  Give me a call if you have any questions.  Talk to you later!”  He hung up the call and stood to his feet.  “Derek?  This is a surprise.”

“Hey!  Do you have time to talk?” Derek asked.

Jesse glanced at his watch and nodded.  “Will it take more than a half hour?”

Derek shook his head and shut the door to Jesse’s office. There were plenty of people around Jesse’s office that would hear every word, and he wanted to make sure things stayed between the two of them.  “Ana…have you tried contacting her?” Derek asked.

Jesse raised his eyes at Derek’s question.  “Not within the past few days.  Why?”

“Well, I’ve talked to Charity.  I went back to the apartment.”

Jesse stood up from his chair and leaned against his desk.  “Hm…interesting.”  He paused, before explaining his nonchalant attitude.  “Honestly, I thought giving her space would be the correct answer.  She didn’t return my calls before this method, so I’m trying out something new.”

Derek heaved a sigh.  “I get that, but my thought was that we could help one another out.  If you get through to Ana, then maybe Charity wouldn’t be so angry with me.  If I get through to Charity, then maybe Ana wouldn’t be so angry with you.”

Jesse chuckled.  “Do you think that will work?”

Derek shrugged.  “It’s worth a shot.  After all, can it go any worse?  She’s not buying a single word I’m saying to her, and I don’t know if she’ll ever forgive me for this lie.”

Jesse crossed his arms, before asking a simple, yet hard question.  “Why do you think she’s so angry?” he asked.

Derek thought about that, then shrugged.  “She’s angry because she was duped…I suppose.”

Jesse nodded.  “Well, that’s one way of looking at it, but do you think she’d be this upset if she didn’t care one way or another.”  Derek frowned and didn’t respond because he still wanted to think about the question.  Jesse rephrased his question.  “Do you think she’s acting this way because she was hoping you really did fall in love with her?”

“I did,” Derek groaned.

“I know, and I get that, but she thinks you betrayed her, and you were just using her.  If she didn’t care about you, she wouldn’t be so hurt.  Right?”

Derek shrugged.  He hadn’t considered that, but he wanted to believe Jesse knew what he was talking about.  “So, how exactly am I going to make her see that I never wanted to hurt her?”

Jesse locked eyes with Derek and Derek could see the wheels turning.  “I’ll try calling Ana again, but I can’t make any promises.”

“Totally fine.  As long as you give it a shot.”  Derek stood there and glanced down at the phone in Jesse’s office.

Jesse snickered.  “You want me to call now?”

Derek shrugged.  “What better time than the present.”

Jesse groaned and picked up the phone.  He dialed up Ana’s number and his lips curved downward.  “Voicemail,” he replied.  He didn’t hand up, just waited for her message to run through, then left her a voicemail.  “Hey, Ana, it’s me.  I just really wish you’d call me back.  We need to talk.  Everything has just been a huge misunderstanding.  Please give me a chance to explain.  I love you.”  He hesitated before finishing off the message with, “Call me!”  He hung up and glanced at Derek.  “Happy?”

Derek nodded.  “Thanks!”  He hoped Jesse kept on top of it.  They said goodbye and he left Jesse's office with a little more hope than what he had before talking to him.  He went back to his own lonely and quiet office and sat down at his desk.  He read through some emails, even though the words just ran together.  He got up from his desk and headed back out of his office and to the elevator.  He couldn’t just sit around and wait for something that might not happen.  He still had a project to do.  He needed to head to the construction site and see how things were going because it was only a week until they’d break ground and that was one thing he could control.

****

“What do you want to eat?” Ana called from the kitchen.  “Burgers and fries? Spaghetti? Tacos?”

She continued listing items, as Charity walked into the kitchen and found Ana looking through cupboards and the refrigerator.  The agreement seemed to work that Ana did the majority of the cooking and Charity did the majority of the laundry.  It evened out along the way.  Charity shrugged.  “Doesn’t matter to me.”

Ana groaned.  “I chose last night, so tag…you’re it.”

Charity laughed.  “We sound like an old married couple.”

Ana snickered.  “Yeah, I guess we do.  I don’t—.” Her voice was cut off when her cell phone rang.  She looked over at the counter, where it laid next to the sink, then went back to what she previously started to say.  “I don’t care what we have.  Really…I don’t.”

“Who’s calling you?” Charity asked as the phone continued ringing.

“No one,” Ana snidely remarked.  Charity knew better than that.  Since they’d both been in the apartment, the cell phone rang at least five times, and Ana never answered it.  She was obviously avoiding someone, and Charity knew exactly who.  “How about burgers and fries?” Ana excitedly asked like she’d just made a momentous decision.  She started grabbing out the skillet and items from the refrigerator and completely ignored Charity.

Charity could sense the nervousness behind Ana’s actions.  The phone signaled that a voicemail was left, and Ana stopped what she was doing to glance over to the phone.  They both knew what the voicemail was.  Then she went back to grabbing things she needed to make supper.  Then a text message sounded, and she paused again.  Charity could only watch Ana’s demise right before her eyes.  Charity grabbed her own phone, and Ana looked at her. 

“What are you doing?” Ana asked.

Charity laughed.  “Ordering in Chinese.”  She looked up as Ana started to argue.  “You’re a nervous wreck and at this rate, we’ll be eating at midnight.”  Ana put down the supplies and reluctantly stood back while Charity called in an order and was informed it would take twenty minutes.  She hung up the phone and glanced at Ana.  She opened her mouth to mention something about the phone calls when Ana’s phone rang again.  “He’s persistent,” Charity replied with a slight chuckle.