The Playboy King's Bride

Chapter 5

Stella had meant to take a shower before the boys got back, but as soon as she saw her bed she collapsed into it. Her entire body felt heavy enough to fall all the way through it, the floor beneath it, and maybe through the floor beneath that. At that moment she couldn’t care less that she was covered in grime from the mixture of sweat and smoke.

Almost before her head hit her pillow her eyes were closed and her mind drifted off. She didn’t move at all when Gareth opened the front door and yelled that he was home, or even when Perce knocked on her door and pushed it open quietly when she still didn’t answer.

Only after a few moments of him nudging her worriedly did she open her eyes.

“Hey, are you OK? We’ve been calling for you for a while…and you’re covered in…gunk?” He eyed her with a frown.

“Long story, but I’m sure it’ll be summed up on the news tonight.” She sat up and stretched her arms above her head before grimacing at the oily feel of her skin. Now that she’d had that refreshing nap she really needed a shower. Followed by a bath, maybe.

“OK. Well, Dad wanted to talk to us, something about Mr. Crawford.”

“That can’t be good. I’ll shower and meet you downstairs.” She waved him out of the room, before hurrying to freshen up, debating whether she should just trash her clothes. The thought of ever wearing them again made the image of an overturned truck appear in horrifyingly vivid detail in her mind.

She scrubbed herself raw with the water just cool enough not to cause third degree burns until she thought she would faint before stepping out and finding her loosest clothing. It turned out to be an over-sized hoodie from an ex-boyfriend and over-sized sweatpants from the breakup.

When she felt good enough to face the rest of the house, she moved downstairs. Gareth and Perce were both standing in the kitchen, talking in hushed tones until she came into view. Gareth immediately looked her up and down.

“Are you alright? Perce said you looked…?”

“Like you had been caught up in a war.” Perce finished when Gareth couldn’t quite find the words.

Stella could only chuckle. She was very glad that she only looked like she had been in a war, but not been injured by it. Her mind went back to her rescue man, and she hoped that he had made a recovery by now. Looking at the clock, she had been asleep for a little over three hours, so that should have given him recuperation time.

She played down how close she had been to the truck, but Gareth seemed overly worried about the after-effects of the smoke. He reiterated that she should go to the doctor the second she felt anything to be off, which she readily agreed to. She still wanted to watch the news once it came on in case there was an update on any victims.

Perce only furrowed his brows and stared at her, as though she were lying about being fine and his gaze would draw out the truth.

“OK, so we’ll watch the news as soon as it comes on…but there’s something I need to talk to you kids about.” Suddenly Gareth began fidgeting on his feet and looking at everything except his kids.

“I, uh, met with Mr. Crawford today…”

“The lawyer? Is there a problem? I thought everything was handled months ago…”

“Yes, well. Everything, paper-wise, was handled months ago. He was able to pull up a very detailed list of every account that needed to be paid off, and when…and for how much…”

He trailed off and stared dejectedly at the ground, while Perce and Stella exchanged quick, hurried glances.

Stella felt a pit open in her stomach and wished the truck had hit her. Gareth had only had to give them bad news one time before and it had changed their entire worlds. She couldn’t speak for Perce, but she knew she was still recovering.

“OK. So, what’s the problem now?”

“Well, it’s the “how much” part. Why don’t we sit?” Gareth plopped onto his place on the couch and covered his face with his hands. Stella and Perce moved to stand in front of him, but seeing that his hands were shaking slightly, Stella sat beside him. She pulled one hand into hers and clasped it on her knee.

“OK. I knew there were a lot of unpaid bills, but I remember he said something about payment plans to break it all up.” Stella looked at Perce, though she wasn’t sure why. He hadn’t been part of any of those discussions since he was only fourteen at the time.

“Yeah…and they wanted down-payments to get them all started, and they were still high monthly payments, even after that…” His free hand reached for the remote lying beside him.

“OK, so he wanted to talk about the payments? Are you behind on any of them? I still have a little set aside from moving back, I can catch them up.” Though she knew it was only a couple hundred dollars she had set aside for bad situations.

“Uh, just a couple small ones, they’ll be dealt with next payday…the big one is the one from Mr. Crawford himself.”

The TV clicked on and Stella was temporarily distracted by the now-familiar sight of an overturned truck. On the side of the screen was the face of the man she had saved! Thankfully, he had been the only casualty, though it did say he was still in the hospital.

Stella still sighed in relief. They hadn’t said that he was a John Doe, so they must have identified him, and been able to find someone to come to him. Once her mind was cleared she turned back to Gareth, who frowned at the screen before looking at her completely.

“You were in all that mess?” From a helicopter view in the sky, it almost looked worse than it had on the ground, since the smoke covered a much larger area than she had thought it did. The front of the truck had been crumpled from all the things it had hit and fire flicked out from under the hood, but the video feed showed several firefighters surrounding it.

Stella only nodded as his frown deepened. After reassuring him and Perce that she felt completely fine, she turned the topic back to the one Gareth wanted to avoid.

“So a loan from Mr. Crawford? I thought his agency only handled the documents, not gave out loans.”

Gareth coughed and refused to look at her. “Well, his agency doesn’t give out loans. He does, as a way to help his clients through difficult times.”

“That seems like a conflict of interest on his part…are you sure that’s legal?”

Gareth sighed and set the remote down before clasping his hands over his knees. “I didn’t have much of a choice at the time. It was the only way to pay the medical bills those last few months…and even after. We would have lost the house long ago if he didn’t offer the loan.”

Stella and Perce shared a look. This house went through a lot, but they had both been born and raised here. Up until a few years ago it had been filled with laughter and love. Even though Stella had moved out for a while, she couldn’t imagine it ever not being in the family, and being a place she could come back to, no matter what.

“So, what about now?” Perce asked in a small voice, dreading the answer.

“Now…he’s demanding the cost in full. I didn’t want to say anything before, but I had put the house up as collateral, as a trust-,”

“He’s demanding the house!?” Stella jumped to her feet and loomed over Gareth. “My mother’s house? How could you put that up?”

He didn’t even look at her as he rubbed his hands over his face, explaining that he didn’t have a choice. His pension wasn’t anywhere near enough to cover Lillian’s treatments, even after what insurance covered. In her last few months, he had just tried to get enough to keep her alive until a potential cure could be found, but when it had only strained him further, and when she passed anyway he still had to cover the costs.

“This is bullshit! He’s not a loan company. How can you even sign the house over to him?”

“I was Lil’s power of attorney, and she willed the house to me, but going through a mortgage company would have taken time she didn’t have. He got me the money the next day. I didn’t have a choice…but now. He said he would give me ten years to pay him back, but I trusted him and didn’t look for that in the contract. So now I haven’t paid…”

“So he can just demand the house now? After all that, this was all she had and now that greedy bastard is going to get it?” She felt like screaming, or punching, kicking, biting, anything to inflict some pain on someone or something. She wanted to grab Gareth and shake some sense into him, even knowing that it was already done.

Gareth wiped his eyes. Stella calmed a little, seeing him shaking as he breathed deeply to keep tears at bay. Perce sat on the other side of the couch, looking blankly at the ground in front of him, apparently oblivious to the world, but Stella could see his jaw clenching.

“I’m sorry kids. I really am. There’s no excuse other than I did what I thought I had to. But I have enough we can get a small apartment nearby to live in, but things are going to be a bit tight for a while.” Gareth inhaled and looked up at Stella with wide eyes, hoping against hope that she would someday forgive him.

She only sighed and unclenched her fists. Raging against him wouldn’t do any good, and her head began pounding from all the trauma of today. After claiming she needed to rest she sharply left the room without another word, unable to meet Gareth’s heartbroken eyes.

Upstairs she slammed her door closed without really meaning to, but the loud BANG of the wood did satisfy her slightly. Face-planting onto her bed again, she wondered if she actually had been hit by the truck, and this was just a coma nightmare. Or hell.

She didn’t move for a while until her phone dinged, but she didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. She pulled it out to put it on silent, but paused when she saw a message from an unknown number.

“Hello Ms. Knight. Today you heroically came to the rescue of Mr. Arthur King during a road accident. I am pleased to inform you that he has regained consciousness, and is politely requesting your presence at the hospital. A car has been dispatched and should be arriving soon to escort you. We will see you soon. -Marvin.”

Just as she finished reading, the doorbell rang. She could hear a stranger's voice before Perce called out that someone was at the door for her. Unsure what was happening, and really thinking that she was dreaming, she walked downstairs again and found a tall man in a dark purple three-piece suit standing at the front door. He gave her a small smile.

“Ms. Knight. I believe you were expecting me. Please come with me and I’ll take you to the hospital.” The way he spoke reminded her of a servant robot from movies, meant to be friendly, but still eerie. She looked at Perce, but even he seemed shocked at how out of place this man seemed to be.

When the man raised an eyebrow at her, and his small smile fell just marginally, the thought entered her mind that he wouldn’t allow her to say no, so she moved to follow obediently. He led her to a black car with tinted windows and held the door open for her. Once she was settled in the back seat, he moved to the driver's side without another word or glance at her.

“Great. In one day I’ve nearly died, lost my childhood home, and been kidnapped without even putting up a fight.” Stella could only sigh and hope that she woke up from whatever messed-up coma she was obviously in soon.