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“Ben stayed over last night. Jeremy was calling incessantly this morning, and then Ben answered. He isn’t happy about the engagement either,” I grit out, leaning back on the cushions, trying to get comfortable.
“He is a bad man, Em. We need to try to get you away from him. You shouldn’t have to deal with this.” I can hear the anger in his voice.
“I am sick of running, George. I’m sick of hiding. Wherever I go, he will find me. He has the money to do anything he wants, and I can’t compete with that. I can’t disappear from that.” My body is fraught with trembles, tears running down my cheeks. I hate him for making me feel this way. I hate him.
“He will stop… he has to stop,” I say again, not really believing it. Now that he knows Ben is in my life, I know he won’t stop. The only saving grace is that at least he won’t touch Rosie. He never has, and he prefers to act like she isn’t even alive, to ignore her entirely. It is me he wants. And it is me he can’t have.
“He will stop when you are dead, Em, then what?” When a new round of sobs flows out of me, George takes a breath, then softens his tone. “I’m sorry. Are you sure you don’t need the hospital?”
“I’m fine, George. Can you please just look after Rosie? I don’t want her to know he was here.”
“Maybe we need to talk to someone else, find a lawyer or something.” It isn’t the first time he has mentioned this.
“I can’t afford a lawyer, and besides, what can they do? Jeremy has never been charged. Again, it is his word against mine.” I sigh, taking a deep breath to calm myself.
“What about Ben? He could help. That big law firm could do something good.” I shake my head, even though he can’t see me.
“I can’t get Ben involved in this. I have only just met him. I can’t put this on him; this is the last thing he needs to get involved with,” I say, already feeling guilty for even having this issue while being with Ben.
“You need to move back in with me. At least I can be with you, be a deterrent now that he has been to your apartment,” George presses.
“I just… this apartment is my first step into independence. It is my first attempt at having a real life, one where I can just be me. I don’t want to continue to run and hide. I don’t want him to have that control over me. Damn him. I want to just live my life.” Living with George is safer and makes sense, but I don’t want to change up my whole life again, and Rosie’s, because of Jeremy’s actions. I know there’s another way.
“Why don’t you think about it. You know my door is always open to you and Rosie. I love having you both here,” George says, and I know. We love being there too.
“Thanks, George. For everything,” I say before hanging up and lying back on the sofa, ice on my face and on my ribs. And that’s where I stay, all night, until I watch the sun come up the next morning.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE - BEN
It has been a few days since I saw her. I have called her and texted, wanting to come over or take her out, but every time, she has been busy. I also don’t want to come across as needy, but I want her, preferably with me, underneath me, every night. Although the traffic was a nightmare on this Wednesday afternoon, I have made the trip to the school for art class again. The urge I now have to see my girls hums through my body. I clear my throat, trying to get a grip on these new emotions, as Ralph dodges through the cars.
My girls.
Emily has been under my skin since the moment I met her, and I can’t wait to see Rosie for our next installment of Cinderella. I haven’t been around many kids before. My brothers and I are not really family people, ever since Dad died and broke our fantasies of what a true family means. But Rosie is a cutie, and she’s making herself a home in my heart just as much as her mother.
It is all fake, the devil on my shoulder shouts into my ear, and I grind my teeth. I need to keep perspective. She is my fake fiancée. I hear Harrison’s voice in my ear from our phone call earlier. All my brothers and I were on a call to lock in our next golf day when I told them all about Rosie and how I spent the weekend with Em. Tennyson laughed, Eddie sighed, and Harrison had nothing but disbelief in his tone. That was quickly followed by an email from Beasley this morning, reiterating his push for this property and having concerns for my choice of fiancée, stating that we will talk about it at our next meeting. I have my team scouring for an alternative, hoping that I may be able to convince him to buy somewhere else, but the feeling in the pit of my stomach tells me that he won't change his mind.
Harrison hasn’t had any luck either, but had renewed enthusiasm for the project once he learned more about Em and Rosie and my feelings about them. His team have spent hours reviewing protocols and chatting to the mayor since. Although it seems his hands are tied at this point. It is a commercial decision; there is nothing the state can do.
I rub my eyes as we pull up to the school. The afternoon sun is streaming down, and I see it in a new light. It is bright, colorful. The laughing kids can be heard from the moment I walk into the school foyer, making me smile, where I see the same woman at the front desk.
“Good morning, I am here to see Emily Carr.” Keeping it professional, I grab the sleeve of my shirt and fix my cuff link that probably costs more than this woman's entire wardrobe. She lifts the phone and calls someone, relaying that I am here.
“You can go down. Emily is in the room on the left.” Nodding to her, I head down the familiar hallway, hearing shrieks and laughter from the kids in the other classrooms as I pass. I was going to bring flowers, but I thought it may not be entirely appropriate. I haven’t thought until now how difficult it is going to be to not touch her when I see her. Approaching her room, I open the door and knock a few times as I enter. I see the same kids as I did last week, and this time George is also in the class, appearing to be assisting Emily.
Her hair is down around her face, her ass looking way too good in those jeans she is wearing, as usual. She looks up when she sees me and her smile is bright, and I can’t help but smile back just as wide. Fake, fake, fake. I quickly look at George, who has concern etched into his brow, but I offer him a brief smile, and he nods at me in return.
I grin like a loved-up fool and am grateful my brothers aren’t here to witness how much of a sap I have become. I didn’t have time to dress down today, so I have worn an older suit, one that if paint gets splattered, it won’t matter as much, although I may stick to coloring today.
She walks up to me in the effortlessly sexy way she does, looking straight at me, her head angled upward, making me feel like I am the only person in the world who matters. That is the biggest turn-on with her; she makes me feel like I am everything. I feel invincible. Stopping right in front of me, my stare falters as I see slight bruising around her face and a small cut above her eye.
“What happened?” I ask her, my eyebrows pulling together as I gently touch her face, pushing the hair back so I can see her more clearly.
“Oh, just a silly accident. I fell at home. I’m okay,” she says, smiling as she takes a step away from me, pulling her hair down back around her cheeks like she is shielding herself from me, and I don’t like it.
“How are you, Mr. Rothschild?” she asks a little louder in her schoolteacher tone, but before I can reply, I hear Rosie.
“Ben? Is Ben here?” she asks excitedly and comes walking over with her cane out in front, doing a good job of dodging the chairs and desks around the room.
