Two

 

 

The only thing that I think I’d ever taken seriously was my job in the family’s oil business. It wasn’t until Ren found Maya that it even occurred to me that I could settle down at some point and have a family of my own. I hadn’t gone actively looking for it, but I’d stopped messing around outside of work and had sat watching as Ren showed me the alternative to how I’d been living. Then along came my niece and the twins, and now Cole was going to be a dad too…

 

Sitting back, I watched Sabine walking around getting ready for work. She was the difference, my turning point and the one thing that I’d said I never wanted. Then again, I guess I wasn’t lying because I hadn’t met her at that point so I couldn’t have known the difference that one woman made.

 

We’d been back from spending Christmas with my family for three days and not one of those days had passed with me wishing that we’d just stayed in Piersville. It had been non-stop with work, issues on sites that needed resolved and then the letter that I’d walked in to find on my desk yesterday morning.

 

Things had been relatively quiet recently with the bullshit going on with whomever was targeting my family, until I’d gotten a reminder of the message I’d received at Cole’s wedding. The Queen will fall. Those words played on a loop in my brain. I hadn’t slept last night thinking of all of the things that had already happened and then imagining them happening to Sabine. The thought of losing her or her being hurt made me sick to my stomach.

 

She was different in so many ways. I was her first, she’d given me the biggest gift a female could give a guy. In return, she was my first – my first love, the first female to mean something to me who wasn’t family; my first everything.

 

“I’m ready,” she stopped in front of me and broke me out of my thoughts. Focusing on her, I took in her outfit. She had on a dark red dress that was tight and fell just below her knees. I fucking loved this dress. I fucking loved her! “Are you okay, Brett?” Her head tilted to the side like it always did when she asked a question.

 

“Is that a French thing?”

 

Doing a quick glance down at her outfit in confusion, she looked back up and crossed her arms.

 

“My dress? Something is bothering you, no?” Another thing to add to the list, her accent. There was never any rhyme or reason for why some words in a sentence would sound French and the rest English. Even my brothers wouldn’t shift their focus when she spoke. Tom described it as accent and word porn and would deliberately get her to say certain words just for the thrill it gave him, the asshole.

 

“No, the head tilt when you ask a question.” I deliberately ignored the last part of her question.

 

Shrugging, she picked up her bag from beside me. “I do not know. Is it an American thing to ignore questions?”

 

She was too sharp for her own good. Standing up, I walked toward the door, holding it open for her. “After you.”

 

 

“No fucking way,” I roared as I threw my mug across the office.

 

“It’s the only way to keep her safe, Brett.” Coleman hadn’t even flinched as it had sailed past him. “Look man,” he leaned forward in his seat. “You need to look at what is right there in front of you. Doing this might keep her safe, keep her alive!”

 

This morning there had been a thick envelope waiting for me on my desk - no postage, no delivery company, nothing. When I’d opened it, there had been photos of Sabine with her face scratched out or with a red cross over it.

 

It was the last one that had hit the hardest, though. The photo showed her getting a coffee from the coffee bar opposite our building, the person taking it pointing a gun at her back and she had been completely oblivious. The real shit of it was, her security was fucking standing beside her and they’d been in a busy coffee shop. If they’d shot her, it would have been at point blank range and no one would have even been able to stop it.

 

“I can’t send her away.” My voice sounded so croaky as I said it, but I just couldn’t. She was everything to me.

 

“It’s the only way, Brett!” Coleman voiced what I knew was true.

 

Sitting down heavily, I put my head in my hands and grabbed handfuls of hair. I hadn’t said the words to her yet, but I loved her. How could I hurt her? Fuck, how could I live without her?

 

“What’s the plan?” I didn’t lift my head, I just continued looking at the floor beneath me. I was walking a fine line between a range of emotions and if I looked up at that moment I might give into the urge to do something fucking stupid. Top of my list was walking to her office and shooting anyone who came within twenty feet of her. Unfortunately, that would mean shooting innocent people, but were they actually innocent? If someone got that close to her in a public place without her security keeping a close eye on them, did they know her?

 

“Brett, look at me.” It was an order to get my shit together and look up. Taking a shaky breath, I raised my head. “It’s not permanent, but you’ve got to make it real for her. They have to think that it’s done or they’ll still go after her. Do you understand?”

 

“Just tell me what to do.” My voice didn’t even sound like my own anymore. Looking back down at my shaking hands, I swallowed down the yell that I wanted to let rip out of me.

 

She was my world.

 

Sabine

Six hours later…

 

I watched out of the window as the plane took off, not actually seeing anything. I had known that something was different with him over the last couple of days when he wouldn’t touch me or come near me, but I’d thought it was something work related.

 

The Brett that had just so callously thrown me out of his life was the Brett that I had heard and been warned about, not the Brett that I thought I’d known.

 

You’ve been fun, but I’m done now. Because you’ve lasted longer than most, here’s a pair of earrings to say thanks.

 

When I’d tried to get him to talk about it, he’d made me feel like I was a nuisance and had thrown it all back in my face.

 

Yeah, thanks for the cherry, but it really didn’t mean that much, so don’t make more out of it than it actually was. Take the earrings and leave. We’ll send your shit to wherever you go.

 

Well he could keep my shit. He could keep the earrings, he could keep all of it. He’d thrown my virginity back in my face. Until that point, that night had been one of the best memories of my life and one that I thought, regardless, would always be something that I cherished. How stupid of me.

 

Months previously…

 

Walking into his bedroom, I decided it was time to pack up my things. My knee was healed enough that I could look after myself now and I didn’t want to impose on him any longer. No matter how much he denied it, and what he did for me, I was always worried that I was being a burden to him. It was also a weakness of mine after my family had made it clear that I was only there for their financial gain and that anything else made me a nuisance, so I felt it was better to go now before he actually told me to.

 

“What are you doing?” Brett asked, looking confused as he watched me pick up my bags from his closet and bring them through.

 

“I think it’s time to give you back your home and independence, Brett,” I laughed as I opened the first case. I was trying to make light of it and not make him feel like I was begging for a denial to my thoughts.

 

“What are you talking about?” The look he gave me as he walked up to take my bags out of my hands and put them back in the closet was almost hilarious.

 

“I can walk better now,” I followed after him to try and get my bags back. “And the pain isn’t like it was before. In fact, the doctor…”

 

“He was a quack,” he snapped, putting my bags up on the top of the shelving unit where I couldn’t reach them.

 

“You said he was the best,” I sighed, going back through to the bedroom and sitting on the edge of the bed.

 

“Well, I was wrong. It’s still painful, isn’t it?” At my nod, he continued. “And are you still taking the pain medications?” It was a rhetorical question because he knew that I was, so I just sighed and watched him as he paced around in front of me. I’d actually expected him to be relieved to get his freedom back, so when he dropped to his knees in front of me I thought maybe he’d tripped and fallen. “I don’t want you to go.” The words came out so quietly that it took a couple of seconds for them to sink in.

 

“I’m only going to my apartment, Brett. I’m not leaving the country.” His face tightened as I said it, but apart from that his expression was impossible to read. “You’ve been a great friend…”

 

“I’m not your fucking friend,” he growled before reaching up and gently pulling my face down toward him.

 

I hadn’t been expecting it, and as soon as he kissed me, any thoughts of arguing with him over going back to my own apartment left my brain.

 

 

That was the night that I’d given him my virginity. The night that everything had changed. And, the night that he’d just thrown back in my face.

 

My grandmother had raised me to know what love was, but also to have dignity as a lady. I wouldn’t be giving Brett Townsend any of my time ever again.

 

She’d also told me repeatedly that time healed everything. I really hope that she’d been telling me the truth because, right now, it didn’t feel like that would ever happen.

 

Two days later…

 

Devonshire had always been my go to place as a sanctuary. My grandmother had owned a cottage in a village called Appledore, which she’d left to me when she passed away. The second that Brett had ended things, I knew that I was going to come back here. I’d considered going somewhere else, anywhere really, but I just couldn’t do it.

 

So, here I was in the only place that I’d ever really considered ‘home’, and I was still wondering if I’d made the right decision.

 

Lying in bed and staring up at the ceiling, I wasn’t sure if it was the jet lag or the fact that I couldn’t stop the replay of what he’d said to me still going through my mind, but when I couldn’t fall back to sleep, I waited until the sun was starting to rise and then went out for a walk through the town down to the quayside.

 

There were a few locals who I knew well here - one of which was an old childhood friend of mine called Finlay. He owned a veterinary practice in the village, but was one of the on-call vets for a safari park, Longleat, in Wiltshire. He was there at the moment so I hadn’t seen him, but I’d texted him to let him know that I was home and he’d replied that he was coming back to Appledore tonight, so we were going to the pub for dinner.

 

His grandparents had owned the house next to my grandmother’s, which he’d also inherited from them, so not only would I have my best friend nearby, I’d have a neighbor too. Our properties only had a small road and a stone wall separating us from the seafront, so at night it was a bit eerie.

 

My cottage was an old stone one that had been added onto over the years, but it was protected by the Heritage Trust so my grandmother had to stick to an original looking extension when she’d built onto it. It looked old and rustic from the outside and I adored it.

 

The living room had a beautiful fire place that warmed it up quickly, so I started a fire before sitting down to answer some emails.

 

An alert for Townsend Oil caught my attention first and I opened it up, wishing quickly that I hadn’t. It was for an online gossip column and I should have known better than to read it, but I just couldn’t help myself.

 

Brett Townsend attends annual Autism Awareness charity ball with an unknown beautiful Texan belle.

 

Well-known for being a bachelor, it was a shock to see him turn up with his arm around the brunette beauty. Sticking close to her throughout the night, Townsend looked like a man in lust.

 

Is this a sign of love to come?

 

I didn’t want to, but I had to. Clicking on the link, I looked at the photos of the event as bile rose into my throat.

 

I made it to the toilet just in time for the coffee that I’d drunk that morning to evict itself from my stomach.

 

Brett

 

Reading through the small article that accompanied the numerous photographs of me and Brit from the night before, I could only hope and pray that Sabine didn’t see them.

 

“What the shit is this?” Maya snapped as she held the screen of her phone in my face.

 

I’d flown home after the ball to try and get my head together, and also in the hope that I could get away from the bullshit that had become my life.

 

I guess now was as good a time as any to let the family know what was going on, though.

 

Sighing, I leaned forward to look at the floor as I told them. The irony that the last time that I’d been in this position was when Coleman was telling me that I had to end things with Sabine wasn’t lost on me.

 

“Someone has been threatening Sabine,” I started. I’d expected an outburst from the peanut gallery, but all I got was some gasps. “To keep her safe, I ended it.” Looking up, all I saw were the glaring faces of my family looking back at me. I’m only slightly ashamed to admit that I regressed to a sixteen-year-old and bitch squealed on the guy whose idea it was. “Coleman told me to!”

 

All of the heads snapped in his direction at the same time, and the man who wasn’t afraid of anything took a step back. The women in this group were beautiful inside and out, but shit they could be scary, so his reaction was understandable.

 

“It was the best thing to do!” Obviously, their expressions had gotten scarier because he held his hands up and started looking around him for a way to escape.

 

“So, what’s your plan?” Cole asked while the women continued to intimidate Coleman beside us.

 

“Adam has a couple of friends who are helping me,” I replied. Adam was one of Maya’s cousins and it had been a stroke of luck that he’d been in Houston when Coleman concocted this whole plan. “The plan is to make it look like…make my life look like normal,” I choked on the word; the way I was feeling was anything but normal. I couldn’t eat and I was struggling to sleep. Putting my arm around Brit last night had been torture. Fortunately, she knew what she was doing and was under Adam’s protection too, so no one would be able to get to her after being associated with me so publicly. We’d also fed the story to the rag that had printed it online, making sure that the wording was as misleading as it was.

 

“You’re a dick,” Ebru muttered as she got up and went to leave. “And you’re a big old dick too,” she growled at Coleman who took a step back, bumping into the wall. “If I wasn’t pregnant I’d kick you in the balls,” she sniffed as she walked out of the room.

 

The tension in the room was thick as we all watched her leave.

 

“Well I’m not pregnant,” Mom stated, standing up at the same time as Gram. “You take that twat and I’ll take this one,” she started in Coleman’s direction as Gram came in mine.

 

I’d just covered my balls with my hands when Ren caught her. Unfortunately, the tip of her shoe hit me right in my left ball and was probably aided in its trajectory by Ren lifting her up at the moment she kicked out.

 

The pain rushing up through my gut, bringing me to my knees, and I vaguely registered the thud as I fell forward. Over the feeling of lava pouring through my body, I heard another thud as Coleman joined me on the floor.

 

“That made me hot,” Gramps groaned as he grabbed her hand.

 

I think the rest of the room made gagging noises, but they might have just been my own…and Coleman’s. He was definitely making them as no one had managed to catch Mom before she lashed out.

 

“That’s what you get,” Mom made a lunging motion as she said this, and then sniffed and walked out of the room.

 

I was still trying to recover when Cole walked over and nudged me with his toe.

 

“You okay?”

 

All I could muster was a groan in response.

 

“Cool, so what you gonna do?”

 

Another groan.

 

“Oh, come on, she didn’t get you that hard!”

 

Groan.

 

“Don’t be such a baby. It was like this,” the intrepid shit stick argued as he demonstrated…by accidentally kicking me in the balls. “Oh shit!”

 

I’d kill him later…once I got my balls out of my brain.