Too Good To Waste
1426 Words
“What did you say!? Who is at the door!?”
Amelia jumped out of bed and raced out of the bedroom. Taking two steps at a time she flew down the stairs and ran out to find Nathan walking up the steps with Jenny cradled in his arms.
Seeing Jenny’s pale face, Amelia stifled a sob. Gesturing for everyone to move aside, she quickly led Nathan into the house towards Jenny’s room.
Somewhere along the way, Chris appeared and followed the three like a vengeful shadow. When Nathan had deposited Jenny into the safety of her bed he turned to face Chris.
“Let’s talk outside.”
Nathan took one step but was jerked backward. Looking down with a stunned expression, he found his thobe was caught in Jenny’s tight hold.
“…”
Everyone waited quietly as Jenny forced her mouth open to talk.
“Thank you.”
Nathan’s mouth twitched. Patting her hand gently, he pulled his robe out of her hand and tucked her in properly. Without another word, he stepped out of her room.
Chris stomped after him but Amelia tugged on his arm gently.
“Be kind,” she whispered as her eyes glistened with tears.
Chris nodded curtly before leaving the room.
***
In the Farley estate’s parlor room, two imposing men sat face to face in a silent standoff. Wisps of steam from two tea cups floated gently between the two as if beckoning them to start some form of discourse.
Nathan buckled first.“I owe you all an apology.”
Chris visibly relaxed and settled into the sofa.
“Jenny wanted to call off the engagement Saturday night and I went to convince her otherwise, but she had an accident and I saw that as my opportunity to tie her to me. I thought she would be happy but clearly, I am wrong.”
Chris snorted. “That’s quite an abbreviated synopsis. Why do you think she would be happy to be married to you if she wanted to annul the engagement?”
Nathan sighed. “She— was assaulted by a man and thought I would no longer love her. I tried to tell her otherwise but she wouldn’t listen. I thought that if she woke up and found out that we were already married, she would be relieved…”
“But… she was not,” Chris finished for him.
Nathan nodded once and sighed.
“So why did you bring her back? I had my team try to triangulate your location but they all failed. If you wanted, you could have taken her out of the country and hid her away. Why didn’t you?”
Nathan lowered his head in defeat. “She wanted me to take her home.”
Chris looked Nathan over critically. 'The man wasn’t bad. At least he didn’t try to force Jenny into anything she didn’t want to do; except for that marriage bit.'
Chris chewed on his inner cheek and considered his next words carefully.
“Let’s say, I admire your character…”
Nathan looked up at Chris with questioning eyes. Chris cleared his throat and continued.
“I’ve always been wary of you. In many ways, you remind me a lot of myself and I hate to admit it but you are in some ways superior to me. At such a young age you have built an empire and you have clear moral boundaries that many in our social circle lack. If Jenny wasn’t in the picture, I would love to have you as a friend, but you forced your will on her so you must pay a price.”
Nathan remained silent waiting for Chris’ verdict.
“It’s not up to me to judge so once Jenny recovers, let’s all sit down and discuss how we should proceed with this sham marriage. Until then, just sit tight and wait.”
Nathan closed his eyes in resignation.
Chris stood up and walked to the parlor door, pausing at the entrance he turned to offer Nathan a smile.
“As a father, I want to thank you for bringing Jenny home. You did the right thing in the end.”
Nathan didn’t look up or acknowledge the words of gratitude. He only wished that he could be selfish; that he could keep his beloved close to him despite her protests. Unfortunately, he couldn't go through with it in the end.
He raised his eyes to the heavens in a silent prayer.
***
Dillon learned from his mistake and since then has kept his distance from Amara. Though they were apart, he kept an eye on her from a distance. He felt like a stalker but this was all he could do to sate his desires. He wanted to reign in his feelings, but a decade of one-sided love was hard to overcome, and he wasn’t strong enough to do it.
Like all Farley men, he had a network of spies in major companies to do his bidding. The one he had at Roger Inc. had only one job: watch Amara.
That was how he knew she was unhappy so he took the rest of the day off to sit outside her workplace biding his time…
“She left with the CEO’s secretary.”
“She looks like she is about to cry.”
“Ran into her in front of the restroom and asked her if she’s okay and she smiled but it looked like she cried.”
“She’s packing up to leave early!!”
“She’s heading out the front door.”
Dillon’s phone chimed constantly like a bird in Spring; the updates keep pouring in. When he caught a glimpse of her, he silenced his phone and started to walk behind her.
He felt stuffy as he watched her trudge down the street. Her arm came up every once in a while to swipe her nose and her sniffles were pitifully loud.
After they had walked for twenty minutes, they arrived at a local park. Amara stopped and leaned over the side rail to look at the shallow river below.
Dillon quickly walked forward, afraid that she’d hurl herself over.
“Amara?”
She turned to see Dillon’s pale face. Normally, she would have been annoyed to see him but with all that happened earlier, she was just grateful for a familiar face.
“What are you doing here?”
Dillon cast a quick glance nearby and pointed to the ice cream cart not too far from them. “I had a rough day at the office today so I came out for some fresh air and ice cream… care to join me?”
Amara sighed heavily and looked at the ice cream cart; it did look pretty good.
“Yeah, sure.”
Dillon visibly brightened and matched Amara’s pace as they walked over to the cart.
Dillon glanced at Amara as she looked at the tubs through the frosted glass.
“What are you having?”
Amara hummed. “I’m not sure; either the strawberry or the chocolate.”
“I’ll have a cup of chocolate and a cup of strawberry please.”
“You don’t have to,” Amara mumbled.
The cart owner smiled as he scooped the ice cream. “You got a good boyfriend there, miss. He takes care of you.”
Amara opened her mouth to deny but Dillon beat her to it. “Thanks!”
Amara chewed on her bottom lip and held her silence. It didn’t really matter if the cart owner believed they were a couple or not.
After Dillon paid for the frozen treats, he handed her one cup while holding out his own.
“Here, have a bite of mine.”
Amara gave him a side eye then took a massive scoop of his ice cream and stuck it in her mouth. She grinned like an evil chipmunk at Dillon’s horrified expression.
“My ice cream!”
Devilishly pleased with herself, Amara tilted her back and cackled with a full mouth; a bit of melted ice cream trailed from the corner of her lips down toward her jaw. Embarrassed, she quickly snapped her mouth shut.
Dillon snorted and rubbed a thumb along the sweet trail. Amara stared at him as he casually brought his finger to his tongue and licked it.
He smiled seductively as he murmured, “Too good to waste.”
Amara looked away and quickly headed toward the shaded park benches.
Dillon smirked as he caught a glimpse of her rosy cheeks.
- Writer
