ALL MY HEART WANTS IS YOU

CHAPTER 7 - THE TRIPLET'S FATHER

BRYAN

I left Sarah's hotel room with my emotions on a roller coaster ride. What on Earth was wrong with me? Why had I kissed her? Sure, I had missed the hell out of her but what if my inability to put a rein on my desire for her caused her to pack her bags and run out of town into thin air again? I paused at the swinging doors of the hotel and contemplated going back to apologize to her. Maybe if I promised to stay away from her and the kids she would stay in town and I could keep tabs on them. At least that would be way better than being in complete darkness about the wellbeing of my sons and the only woman I had ever loved.

I had been for years and I hadn't been aware. The revelation was still a big surprise. Sarah had been back in my life for just two days and it already felt like my life was on a joyous rollercoaster ride, but of course I wasn't surprised. It was Sarah Robinson and she had always had an uncanny ability to rock and shake my world.

Sarah Robinson was 'her' for me and I was definitely going to make her mine this time. As I proceeded to make my exit, I spotted the annoying man from yesterday and earlier today at the Robinson's family dinner and I couldn't help the way I clenched my jaws. I didn't like the dude. Who the hell was he anyway? He appeared to have spotted me too because his face was set in a subtle scowl. So that was it huh? If my hunch was right, then he liked Sarah too. I could tell because I had been him for three years.

Without acknowledging him, I walked out of the hotel and when the chauffeur brought back my shiny black Rolls Royce, I got in and sped off.

With my phone connected to the Bluetooth device of my car, I dialed a number. There was no time to be lost. I needed to find out all I could about the possible competition. The person on the other end picked up on the second ring.

"Good evening and a happy new year to you sir," came the cool voice of my personal assistant, Celina McFitz.

"Good evening and a happy new year to you too Celina," I responded then went on. "I need you to carry out an assignment for me."

"OK Sir," she said and with the way every familiarity disappeared from her voice, I could tell she was already set to receive my instructions and fly with them.

"I need you to look into a certain Denzel for me," I said and realized I didn't even know his surname and from the silence on her end, I could tell Celina was also waiting for me to give her more information on Denzel. I let out a low frustrated growl and went on.

"I don't know his freaking surname and I know there are probably a million Denzels out there and I haven't given you much to work with," I paused then went on "But you've got to help me work magic on this one Celina. You can send me pictures and I can identify him so you can get to work. Find out everything you can find out about him for me. Find me the least important detail about him. I want to know when, where and how he was born." I paused again then went on. "Use any resource you need."

"OK Sir, I'll get on it" Celina said but her voice held an unspoken question.

"What is it Celina?" I asked.

"I don't mean to pry" she started then went on "But is he a threat? It will help the direction of my digging" she finished and I went silent. I didn't like Denzel but I couldn't declare him a threat either.

"Well, I guess we'll find that out from the results of your digging but right now, I believe he's after something that's mine" I said.

"OK then Sir, I'll keep you posted," she responded in a satisfied voice.

"Thank you Celina," I said "There's not quite much I can do without you, is there?" I added with a small laugh then hung up without waiting for a response.

Celina had started working with me since the inception of Zenara Wellness and I often joked that she had contributed more to the success of my pharmaceutical establishment than even I had. She was a priceless worker who never hesitated to do way more than she was supposed to do and I had eventually made her my personal assistant and increased her pay by a fine margin. Sometimes, I wondered how I'd cope when she got married and had to start meeting up with family demands too.

I drove on and found myself thinking more about Sarah Robinson, the woman I had fallen in love with and stayed in love with for the past eight years.

I could have gotten over her if I had tried to but I hadn't tried because I really didn't want to. Involuntarily, my brain took me back to that unfortunate day eight years ago and I remembered how I had found her wasted at that bar. I gritted my teeth as I remembered the look on her face the morning after the night I had been too weak to control my desire for her. I let out a sigh and loosened my grip on the steering wheel. Just then, my phone began to ring. When I looked at my phone screen, I frowned. It was Kyle.

Why on Earth was he calling me? I mean, we hardly ever talked since he ditched Sarah at the altar eight years ago. Sure, we still caught up once in a while and we had the shared understanding that we'd always be bros and have each other's backs, but I had made it quite clear to him that I thought he was a piece of trash for what he had done to Sarah. I couldn't tell if that had made him catch on and realize that I was in love with his jilted fiancee, and he never even talked much about it with me.

As much as I didn't mind Kyle and I catching up once in a while over a couple of bottles, receiving a call from him under the current circumstances of things was going to be chaotic. I contemplated letting it ring out and go to voicemail and I did but then it began to ring again. After a moment's hesitation, I accepted his second call.

"Dude!" Kyle started and I let out another sigh. I could already guess at why he had called. Obviously Emily hadn't gotten over her unhealthy obsession with Sarah and still talked about her every chance she got, even though she never had anything good to say.

"Sarah's back in town? And with triplets? How could you not tell me that immediately?" Kyle asked and I frowned. Why did he think I was obligated to tell him that?

"How could you not give me a heads up that I might have a responsibility to three kids? Three freaking kids dude!" He went on and it hit me.

Emily didn't know I was the father of Sarah's triplets and so she hadn't told Kyle. Now he thought he was the father. Seeing how Sarah had told me in the privacy of her hotel room, I wasn't sure if that information was one she wanted to make public knowledge at the moment and so I decided to say nothing to Kyle about it.

"I think I'm going to ditch town. Stay low for a while, you know? I'm in no position to be a father right now. I'm still trying to get my act together," he said and I grit my teeth.

What a douchebag.

"There's no need for you to ditch town," I grunted.

There was a pause on the other end of the line for a long time.

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked finally.

"Sarah Robinson's triplets," I said. "I am the father."