Top Love: An Alpha Billionaire Romance (Young Adult Stepbrother and Billionaire Romance Stories) (43 page)

“And I’ll blacken the other one if you don’t get the hell out of here, Eddie!” I shouted after him.  He left without much else to say.  I just went back to working on my truck.  The damn starter had been giving me fits, and I was trying to rebuild it myself.  This was the fourth time I had re-installed it with hopes that it would turn over the engine.  No luck. I threw my wrench at the engine.  It bounced back at my hand and cracked my knuckle.  “Son of a mother….” I shouted as I cradled my hand in my other.  I decided to leave the engine alone for a bit.  I was too angry to be fooling with something that required concentration, and Eddie had certainly knocked off my concentration.  

Krystal wasn’t home at the moment.  I went inside, poured myself a glass of iced tea, and sat down to enjoy the air conditioning for a moment.  I looked around at everything.  Gage’s swing was over in the corner.  Photos lined the walls.  Krystal and I had made a nice life for ourselves here so far.  My dream was to take her away from all of this.  She doesn’t realize it, but I’ve been saving money to move her and Gage out west.  Maybe we’d land in Seattle.  I hear it’s beautiful out there.  Montana sure has some spacious land.  We could own a horse ranch.  Maybe we’d move out to New England.  Vermont, I’m told, is beautiful in the fall. 

So many thoughts spiral in my head.  My mind drifts back to the year after I graduated—the year I proposed to my wife. 

It was her senior year, as it was Jen’s and Eddie’s.  I planned the perfect night for her.  I managed to get an entire Saturday off from work.  Of course, I told my boss that I was going to propose to my girlfriend.  I’m certain that had a lot to do with it.  He gave me the day off with his blessing and told me I could come to work late Monday if I wanted.  I recall how I considered, but if I was going to do the right thing and make a life for my soon to be wife, I needed to work as much as possible. 

I made reservations at a really fancy Italian place outside of town called Rotolo’s.  It had a very quaint and private atmosphere—something I was looking for.  This was a private moment.  I wanted it to be special.  Everything was planned to perfection, but that’s just my opinion.  I would take her to dinner.  Then, we’d go outside on the patio alone and dance to the violins playing ‘
I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You’
.  I would sing softly to her in her ear—something she’s never heard me do but that I’m told I’m really good at.  When the song was over, I’d retrieve the box from my pocket and get on one knee, which would signal the violinists to play her favorite song softly—‘
Vivo per Ella’. 
While that played, I would ask her to be my wife. 

My memories skipped forward to that exact moment in which my plans became a reality.  Nothing could have prepared me for the look in her eyes or how beautiful she would look that night under the light of the full moon as the light cascaded over her sun-kissed creamy skin. 
God, she is beautiful
, I recall thinking.  Her hair was perfectly pinned to her head in a way that made her look like Rachel McAdams with dark hair.  She doesn’t wear a lot of make-up, which is something I love about her, but she wore a little tonight.  You could barely tell.  Her lips looked so soft and taunting—I just wanted to stop everything in this moment and kiss her the entire night.  My lips were aching to be pressed against hers, but I had to fight the urge.  I needed to make this woman mine forever. 

Marriage is not something I take lightly.  I’m a bit old-fashioned in some of my beliefs.  I feel that once you get married, despite everything that happens, you stay married.  You try to work it out.  You forgive each other.  We are all human.  We make mistakes all the time.  I know that if she says ‘yes’, I will end up making some stupid mistakes in our marriage.  I may leave the lid off of the mayonnaise jar and leave it out on the counter.  I might forget to put the toilet seat down.  She may feel, after the ‘honeymoon phase’ is over, that I don’t pay enough attention to her.  She might even think I’m seeing someone else, but it’s only her.  Despite whatever may happen—it’s only her.  She is who and what I want for the rest of my life. 

After the music ends and I finish whispering in her ear that I can’t help falling in love with you in my best Elvis Presley impression, I slide my hand down her arm and toward my coat pocket.  I reach in and wrap my hand around the black velvet box.  I hold it for just a moment.  Our lives are about to change forever.  I draw the box from my pocket while opening it and simultaneously falling to one knee.  I take her hand and present the box.  The look on her face is something that will be etched into my memory forever. 

“Krystal, I’ve been able to think of no one but you since middle school.  I’ve wanted no one but you.  My heart is sold—it’s you I want to walk through this life with forever.  Will you marry me?”

Tears streamed down her face.  I doubt she was expecting anything like this.  I know I come off sort of ‘stoic’ to her or ‘hard’.  I know I’m not outwardly sentimental.  However, if people knew the
real
me, they’d probably think I was some sentimental slob.  Well, I kind of am.  I like what I like, and I can’t help that.

Still, I sit here on this couch thinking about all of those precious moments.  I recall the day she told me she was pregnant with Gage.  I was ecstatic.  Most men hope for a boy to carry on their traditions.  While I was happy to discover she was giving me a son, I secretly hoped for a girl.  She would be daddy’s princess.  I’d buy her a pony, read to her, and dare any boy to hurt her.  Still, when she showed me that home test with two little lines—I went through the roof with joy!  I think she was expecting a different reaction.  We had barely been married, and now we were expecting.  I know she probably didn’t expect to have children this early in our marriage, but I believe she will settle in once the baby is born.  And did she ever!

As soon as little Gage was born, she went into ‘instant mommy’ mode, as I call it.  She was perfect with him.  I would get up in the middle of the night with him to give her a break, but by the time I got to Gage—she already had him nestled in her arms half asleep.  She’d tell me to go back to bed.  I admit, I was kind of jealous at first.  I wasn’t jealous of the attention she gave Gage.  It’s natural for a mom to be attentive to her baby.  I was more jealous of the amount of time she got to spend with him.   I work so much and it would have been nice to have a few special moments of my own with him.  But the thought of his toddler years and those moments he would trail after me while I fixed stuff usually made me feel better.  He’d be my ‘buddy’.  I’d make sure he had a toy lawnmower with toy tools so he could “fix” stuff, too.  And maybe one day, we can give him a little sister to protect. 

I am still sitting here on this couch and thinking about everything.  Krystal isn’t home.  I wonder where she is, but things have seemed tense as of late.  So, I’m trying to give her space.  I know this much about women—if you try to force them to talk, you can end up getting in deep trouble.  I want her to know I’m here when
she
is ready to talk and will listen.  I figure it’s now eleven o’clock at night, so I should probably get some sleep.  She must have gone to her parent’s house with Gage.  Maybe I did something wrong and didn’t realize it, so she went to her folks to cool off. 

I lay here and my eyes finally feel heavy enough to drift off to sleep…

***

Eddie

How did we all get here?  Things have become totally banjaxed as of late.  I mean, I have known I loved Krystal from day one, but how did things get so complicated?  Why couldn’t I just be a good boyfriend and stay faithful?  Why did I have to be such a horrible person?  I mean, I can’t believe I actually lied about cancer when it was just appendicitis!!!  God, I’m such an eejit!  I start to think back on times when things were so simple—I was so much better at hiding my feelings for Krystal. 

Senior year of high school was interesting for me.  I gained so much freedom at such an early age, but I was never the partier.  I liked to keep my social circle pretty small.  So far, it’s just Jen, Krystal, Jimmy, and myself.  Jimmy is one that I don’t particularly care for.  I’ve never been good at being friends with a jock, but he seems somewhat decent.  He doesn’t act like the typical jock.  He seems to treat Krystal pretty well from what I can see.  That’s important.  If I can’t have her, I’d rather the person who
did
have her make her happy.  She seems to be happy, but bored.  I guess it’s because between work, hunting, and fishing—she might not feel like a priority, but then again, she’s got to realize that Jimmy lives in a different world than we do.  He’s already graduated.  That means that he has to live in the world of an adult.  He has to pay for his own meals, a roof over his head, and all that.  Not only that, but he has to work for the money to pay for all of that—unlike me.  I just essentially had it all handed to me.  Don’t get me wrong.  My family isn’t ‘rich’ by mega millionaire’s definition, but they were well off enough for my grandparents to leave me a nice inheritance that pays for the life I want to live.  My grandparents have always known I was ‘different’.  My family is the ‘cookie cutter’ type of family.  Think ‘Leave it to Beaver’ meets ‘The Brady Bunch’.   I’m more of a ‘Green Day’ type of kid.  I am laid back, but I do like my home to be clean.  Everyone thinks I have decorated my home and clean it to perfection—well, those who do get to see it seem to think so.  However, here’s the secret:  my mom did the decorating and I have maids come in three times a week.  I
am
a teenage boy, for crying out loud.  You honestly think that my house would be
this
clean from
me
doing it?  Think again. 

Anyway, I am preparing for a recent gig I got at this club.  I’m about to go put on a show.  I’ve invited Krystal, but not sure if she’s going to come.  I know she has the baby and all.  I sit here in my dressing room and think about everything in general.  I remember the first day I laid my eyes on Krystal. 

She moved here in eighth grade, but she didn’t notice me right away.  I certainly noticed her, though.  Damn, she was gorgeous.  Summer had been more than kind to her in so many ways.  I couldn’t even begin to think about my own lanky body.  Her eyes made the night sky look as if there were no stars left.  I could stare at her for hours.  Her skin was so smooth—so perfect.  I was fighting a horrible bout with acne.  I also looked like a fence post.  I remember Jimmy at this time, too.  He was already built like a grown man.  Summer had been far too kind to him, in my opinion.  One time, I was about to approach Krystal, but Jimmy got there first.  He asked her to sit with him at lunch.  If only I had gotten there faster…

Fast forward in my thoughts to high school.  Man, those were better years.  Krystal and I were really starting to bond, but I couldn’t show her I had a crush on her.  She and Jimmy were on and off again a lot.  I tried to give her space to get over him.  Just when I thought enough time had passed, she’d wind up dating him again.  It took me a couple years, but finally figured out that I wasn’t going to have Krystal.  I was officially ‘Friend Zoned’ and it seemed like it was for good.  I would have her, though.  One day, she’d realize that I’m her best friend—something that makes me the better option for her as the man in her life.  “One day…” I tell myself aloud. 

Still, being in the friend zone was better than not being in her life at all.  I’d rather have that than nothing.  So, I settled on my second choice—Jen. 

Jennifer Raevyn Sanford.  She was just as beautiful as Krystal, but in a different way.  Jennifer, or ‘Jen’ as we called her, didn’t have the passion for life that Krystal seemed to have had.  Jen just seemed to ‘float’ along coasting through whatever life threw at her.  Krystal knew what she wanted, or thought she did, and made sure she got it.  She was a ‘take charge’ kind of woman—
my
kind of woman. 

Being with Jimmy seemed to have quieted her spirit far too much.  I couldn’t stand it.  I was so glad when Jimmy graduated.  I could finally get to spend all the time I wanted with Krystal, though I had to balance that and time with Jen.  I couldn’t have Jen finding out how I felt about Krystal. Jen was a wonderful person.  She was sweet, charming, kind, and had a huge heart.  She had plans for us.  I know this, but she wasn’t Krystal.  So, I had to get my fix as best as I could and as often as I could.  I didn’t want to hurt Jen.  That’s why my recent actions have been so horrible.  I hate myself for it, but the show must go on. 

Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door.  The stage manager shouts through the thin particle board door, “Three minutes, kid.”  I’m snapped from my memories.  I’ve got to finish getting ready for the show.  I wish Krystal would come. 

***

Krystal

Eddie doesn’t know I’m here.  I hide in the back where I know he can’t see me.  What am I even doing here?  I can’t believe that Jen actually left him.  Gage is with my mom.  I’m glad she isn’t the kind to ask questions.  Then again, I rarely ask her to watch Gage.   I’m kind of mad at him, though, for intercepting my letter to her.  Isn’t that some sort of federal offense?  I mean, I know it was ‘catty’ of me to have mailed her in the first place.  I should have done it in person.  He didn’t act alone.  I’ll always regret not controlling myself.  I was the one who pounced him, after all.  I continue to think back.  I recall that night Jimmy proposed to me.  I definitely never saw it coming.

He planned everything so perfectly.  The restaurant, the violin quartet, and the way he sang to me that night—everything was just so perfect.  I definitely don’t deserve him, that’s for sure.  He’s such a good man.  Why is he even with me?  What have I done to deserve him?  I’ve cheated on him with my best friend, but he has forgiven me with no troubles.  I know it hurts him deeply.  Yet, here I am again.  I find myself here to see Eddie’s show and cannot fathom why I’m even here at all.