Ash

Amber’s home is cramped, but no more so than my small accommodations at the Redmond Estate had been. The difference is that it’s filled with love and laughter, especially little Bailey’s. My nephew might have the misfortune of being the son of a charlatan, but his upbringing is all Amber.

As soon as I arrived, Wolfe started paying child support. He’s skirted his responsibilities for years but now that I’m here, he’s honoring his part of our bargain. I keep my ears to the ground and see what information I can glean about what’s happening at the Redmond Estate. The purse strings shut pretty tightly on Ella, but I know that Wolfe won’t let it stay that way for too long.

He’s pinching the pennies for now because it’s a scare tactic. Once Ella has had enough, he assumes she’ll go crawling to him. Then he’ll be her savior and he’ll have an in with her again.

For a man who spent so many years working on Ella’s grandmother and being in close proximity to know how Ella works, he’s clueless. The day I left, I broke Ella’s heart. But it’s for the best.

Once Wolfe makes his move, I’ll find a way to get in touch with her and share my suspicions.

It might just be that she’ll end up with him. He’s scary, controlling, and an all-around asshole, but he orbits her world. He’s on her level.

The thought alone makes me itch to kick someone’s ass.

I spend too many hours of the day thinking about Ella. Her hair, her pale skin, her full lips, and her body.

God, that body.

It’s enough to make my cock hard even though I know I shouldn’t be thinking of her that way anymore.

“Are you any closer to finding a job?” Amber asks.

“No.”

Yeah, that’s another lie I told Ella. There’s no job. There’s nothing except what money we’re receiving from Wolfe. If not for the fact that it’s his money that keeps us off the streets, I know there isn’t a person in this little apartment that would accept it. Even little Bailey is smart enough to know his father is a deadbeat.

Once upon a time, my family wasn’t in such dire straits. That all changed when Wolfe came into the picture. His family swindled us for all we were worth, leaving us penniless and Amber in trouble.

I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that she once went to bed with him without any threats hanging over her head. How anyone can mistake any act of his as benevolence or decency is beyond me. But I can’t hold it against Amber because she has it hard enough already.

“I don’t want to take that man’s money forever,” she says.

Amber avoids saying his name because she doesn’t want Bailey to know when she’s talking about Wolfe. I haven’t told her I suspect Bailey knows everything that happens. Kids are like that. They pick up on everything and are far more aware than most adults give them credit for.

“I know,” I say. “I’m trying but there just isn’t anything. You know how it is, with this economy. And besides, as much as I hate him, that money is for Bailey. Bleed him dry if you can.”

“I can’t believe you gave up your job,” she says.

She’s doing the dishes while Bailey plays with his toys on the floor. I’m reading the paper, looking at the classifieds to see if I can find anything that might pan out. It’s slim pickings out there for us unemployed folk.

“Well, believe it.”

I avoid this subject as much as I can because I don’t want to face Amber’s wrath when she finds out how I left things. She’ll call me a coward just as Ella had. Maybe that’s what I am. Maybe I should’ve fought harder.

There’s a knock at the door—a quick tap tap tap. Bailey jumps up to answer it. He’s at that age when he wants to take on as many adult tasks as he can. It’s adorable but also dangerous if we don’t know who it is. It’s not like he’s tall enough to check the peephole and tell us.

“Hold on, buddy,” I say. “Let me get this one.”

The look he gives me makes me feel like I kicked his puppy. I make a mental note to make it up to him later.

Forgetting to check the peephole myself, I open the door. On the other side stands Ella.

“Red,” I say.

“We have to talk,” she says, barging in without waiting for my invitation. I shake my head, but I’m smiling because it’s typical Ella.

“Ella, this is my sister, Amber.”

Amber dries off her hands and looks at me quizzically. Ella isn’t looking at me but rather at Bailey, shocked.

That’s probably because he’s the spitting image of Wolfe. I mouth, It’s okay to my sister.

Ella just looks at Bailey for the longest time. “Is he…?”

“Yeah. Unfortunately.”

“God.”

She takes a deep breath. She remembers her manners and greets Amber, getting all the pleasantries out of the way.

“You won’t believe what I uncovered,” she finally says. “He lied. There’s no trustee for the estate. He made it all up. The money is all mine. Everything is mine. He played me for a fool.”

I want to say all of this blows my hair back, but the truth is, it doesn’t. Ella’s grandmother was a kooky old woman, and it’s not outside the realm of possibility that she really did leave things in that nonsensical state when she died. Nevertheless, it did strike me as odd. I just couldn’t prove my suspicious at the time.

The fact his actions don’t shock me doesn’t mean I’m not angry.

“Who did?” Amber asks.

There are a lot of blanks she’s not aware of, and there’s no time to bring her up to speed with Ella here.

“Jared Wolfe,” Ella replies. “He—he’s a crook.”

Ella launches into the whole sordid tale, starting with the very first day she got back to the Redmond Estate and ending with how she found everything out. Amber is riveted throughout the whole thing, even gasping at some of the hairier parts. Little Bailey doesn’t pay us any mind, lost in his playacting.

It’s probably for the best.

“So, I want to talk to you,” Ella says. She’s shy all of a sudden. Turning to Amber, she adds, “And it’s the kind of thing I would like to do privately, if possible.”

Amber takes the hint and carries Bailey over to her bedroom.

“Red, I am so sorry,” I begin saying.

She shushes me. “No, I am. I was so hurt when you left the way you did. I cursed you in my mind for days. Weeks. I never stopped to consider that…”

“It’s okay. This is all my fault. I never should’ve left you alone.”

“I’m glad you see it that way.” She clears her throat. “I want you to come back. I want to give you your old job, with a sizable raise, of course.”

That takes me aback. “Red, look—”

“No, you listen. You didn’t have to leave, and you yourself said just now that it was a mistake. So please come back.”

She looks so fucking beautiful, with the loose strands of hair framing her face. She’s wearing no make-up, but her lips are still rose red. So kissable. If I hadn’t fucked it up with her…

“I can’t go back. Not as an employee. It’s not what I want.”

“I don’t understand. Now, with Jared gone and everything perfect, you don’t want to come back? Am I that repulsive? Did it really mean nothing to you? Did—”

“Red, listen!” That gets her to shut up. “I don’t think I could go back to just being a worker on your estate. I know I said a lot of mean things when I left, but it was only because I thought that me distancing myself from you was ultimately in your best interest. But you have no idea how fucked up it left me. It made me realize that…”

“What?” She’s hanging off my every word, and that gives me hope.

“You’re… You’re everything.”

I hold my hand out, giving her the option of taking it or not. She does and comes close to me. Our faces are mere inches away from each other.

The urge to kiss her is intoxicating.

But I don’t dare. I need to get through what I have to say.

“I want more,” I say. The room gets very quiet, so quiet that it would be possible to hear a pin drop. “I want forever with you.”

“You’re serious?” she whispers.

“Yes, I’m serious,” I say. I take her response so far as leave to bring her closer. “So, what do you say?”

“I say yes!” she cries.

“Yes?” I ask again, this time just teasing her.

“Yes, you moron. It’s always been you.”

I waste no more time. There’s a lot of time I could’ve spent with her the past month to make up for.

I start with a kiss.

There’s forever to get to all the rest, and I plan to make good use of every moment.