I am not really a breakfast kind of person, my appetite is usually incredibly low in the morning, making it hard for me to eat. But this morning is different, I have an unusually big appetite and I have cleared all the food on my plate, which was a lot. “This is so strange,” James comments as a small smile clings to his lips. “What is?” I ask him without looking at him. “You eating real food in the morning,” He says and I finally look at him. I can’t help but chuckle. “So cereal isn’t real food?” I argue harmlessly with him, causing him to roll his eyes playfully. “According to my standards, not even the slightest,” He replies and I place my hand on my chest as if I have been hurt by what he just said, causing Carlos to laugh. We are all done eating and the table is being cleared by the helpers. It has been an hour, why is Jen not here? She said she was right across the street. I feel so tempted to just go and get her and jake but I also don’t want to let my emotions control me
“Don’t do this, Robert,” Jen says as she closes her eyes briefly while wagging her head slowly.“Do what?” I ask as I laugh humorlessly.“Tell me what you are thinking right now,” I demand her and she stands to her feet.“You should have not lied, but you got that money not to blow it on girls or in the club, you did it for us,” She reminds me.“And that I will always be grateful for that,” Her words calm me instantly. “I trust you, and will always,” She says as she closes the distance between us and hugs me. For a second, I stand not knowing how to react. She acted the exact opposite way that my brain told me that she would.But then it is like my instincts kick in and I hug her back. She smells like lavender and baby food.“You smell like baby food,” I say to her when we break the hug and she laughs. James and Carlos also find what I said to be funny, for they are chuckling.“I’m sorry that I got upset,” I apologized because I feel slightly guilty for my outburst.Jen and the other
“Hello,” The guy speaks to me, he sounds tentative as if I would be nice to him, considering that I treated him almost like he was nonexistent the last time.“Hi, you’re that guy from the night of the argument,” I say while I point my finger at him.“Yeah, I am,” He chuckles nervously, and looks at the guard who has a stony look on his face before looking back at me.“Are you here for something?” I ask him and he nods.“Yes, I was trying to get this guy to understand that Jen invited me over,” He says and I raise my eyebrows in surprise.“Oh, she did?” I ask him and he smiles politely while nodding.I don’t really have a problem with this guy being at the house but at this hour? It is almost nine at the night, could he not come over the next morning. What is Jen’s plan?Yes, she did. It is concerning some business plans,” He makes himself clear and I can’t help but chuckle.Jen is calling this guy over to help with business plans? What is she thinking? I hope he isn’t trying to scam h
“Jen made an offer?” I ask no one in particular, James and Carlos look as shocked as I am, and they both shrug when I look at them.“Yeah, after you explained about the loan to us, I decided to call Rob and have a talk with him,” She begins.“I made a very hefty offer to him and he said he would think about it,” She explains and I am still left confused, because where would she take a hefty amount from? The money I got from the lady who bought the company from me does not even reach a billion, and all the other offers on the table are billions.“I still don’t understand,” I say as my forehead wrinkles in confusion. Jen and Rob share a look and they both smile as if they just passed said something to each other, but silently.“As Jen said, it is really not about money, money doesn’t mean crap,” Rob says and by the look on his face, I can tell that he really means what he is saying.“Yeah, for you, but money has meaning for me,” Carlos joins the conversation and James nods in agreement.
As I dive into the pool, the water is just right. The temperature, everything, it is just perfect. I emerge from under the water and I use my hands to remove my wet hair from my face and lay them backwards.“A midnight swim?” I hear a familiar voice and when I look toward it, I realize that it is Robert. He has showered and is wearing pyjama pants and a long-sleeved woolly shirt.“Yeah, I felt like I needed it,” I reply to him as I swim to the edge of the pool.Robert walks toward where I am and he squats so he can be closer to me. His hair is unruly and looks like Jake’s, which makes me chuckle.“You’re laughing at me?” He asks as a wobbly smile clings to his lips. “No, your hair just reminds me of Jake’s right now,” I let him know why I am chuckling and he laughs.“It’s night and I am going to bed, do you expect me to gell my hair backwards?” He asks in a soft tone. I like how soft his voice can get, it is such a turn-on.“No, I get it, Mr Jones,” I say and a look crosses his face,
The next morning meets Robert and me in our bed, cuddled in each other arms. I don’t think we have slept like this for a while and I missed it. Robert groans as he awakes, and I try to untangle myself from his body. As much as I love being here with him and I would love to be like this forever, but we live in the real world and there are things that we have to get done today, including looking over the legal documents and perhaps signing them for the properties from Rob today.“No, stay in bed with me,” Robert begs me as I drag my naked body from the bed. He tries to pull me back to the bed but I am already out of his reach, his attempts are comical and they have me giggling.“Robert, you know that we have to meet Rob today and there is so much to do,” I remind him and he rolls his eyes playfully, which causes me to laugh.“You are being such a child,” I tell him as I try to find my way to the bathroom in the room, which is quite easy.“I am a manchild!” He says loudly so I can hear
“Hello, Chad?” I say hopefully into the phone, expecting him to speak.“Hi, Jen,” Another voice startles me mildly but I recognize it in a heartbeat, it’s Naomi.“Hello, Noami,” I reply to her after sighing. I still have not forgiven her for how much she has affected my life and everything around me, but let’s face it, my life was not a fairy tale before she kidnapped Jake, so it’d be best to give her the benefit of the doubt.“You don’t sound like you are going to chew my head off,” She says and I chuckle.“Yeah, you got a point,” I say in a breathy way.“I know you called to talk to Chad, but he is not here. He went to the store a couple of minutes ago and left his phone,” Naomi informs me, and I nod as if she can see me.“But we could talk until he comes back…” She suggests tentatively and I laugh. Is she being serious? She does not like me and I don’t like her also, we just tolerate each other because of Chad. But I guess we could try to talk and see where it leads.“Sure,” I agre
SEVEN MONTHS LATER and Jake has grown as fast as lightning, and he is such a talkative. Carlos went back to America to meet spend the holidays with his family. Chad and Naomi came from West Africa and they have opened up the side that was given to them, it is an African store that has African-styled slippers, and clothing. The side that was given to James and Carlos is now a Salon and barber shop merged together and it is doing so well and bringing a great amount of profit.Robert and I have finally opened up our side, but we took the longest to do so, why, I don’t really know but I am grateful that we took our own time. The bakery is up and running and we have a couple of bakers that are also helping me learn how to bake. Jake is finally going to start school, but that is going to be tomorrow. Right now, he is with us in the car and we are headed to the beach. Robert is driving and Chad is in sitting next to him while I sit in the backseat with Jake and Naomi.Chad and I settled ou
My eyes widen and I immediately try to open the door of the moving car so I can jump out but all the doors are locked. Adrenaline floods every part of my body, it is like it is all happening so fast and I have no control.“What are you doing? Stop that! Do you want to get yourself killed?” Russell shouts as Usman increases the speed of the car so jumping out would seem more painful to me if I decide to do so.“Stay the hell away from me!” I reply to him aggressively when he tries to reach out to me and he raises his hands in surrender.“Okay, okay,” He says and then he settles back into his seat.“What the hell is going on?” I ask after a full minute of silence. I am much calmer right now, I was acting out of instinct when I realized that the person that was sitting next to the driver was Russell.How is that even possible? Was he not in an induced coma a few days ago? “Are you finished with trying to jump out of a speeding car just to avoid me?” Russell replies to me and I hear Usma
“Natalie is smart, I will give her that. She had all the video evidence cleared before we could get our hands on it,” Taylor explains and I at everything else in the room but her.“May I ask, who are you professionally?” I ask her, and she smiles lopsidedly.“I work with the police department in Russia, I am the police chief,” She informs me and I nod slowly. “As I was saying, Natalie made the investigation a lot more difficult for us. Her skills in covering evidence are impressive, but I believe that she got some inside help,” Taylor continues what she was explaining.“And?” I beckon her to explain more. If Natalie covered up our tracks so well, how does she know that Natalie did it? That she was the one that pulled the trigger and not me.“I know you want to know how I know that she was the one who pulled the trigger, and I am going to explain just that to you,” Taylor tells me.“Okay,” I drag the word as I wait for her to tell me what she knows.“I am Russell’s third wife and it h
What in the world is happening? Why am I even being arrested? Even if this is about Russell Marshall’s investigation, the person they should be arresting is Natalie, I was not the one that shot the man in the head.“This has to be a joke, right?” Chad laughs but when he sees that the military guys are not even smiling, he realizes that this is serious.I gave the piece of document that they handed to me, I read it quickly and it authorizes them to arrest me, but what I don’t see is the charge.“Your hands, please,” One of the military guards says a bit softly and I do as he says. I place my hands behind my head and I hear Chad scoff.“Do you want us to do something?” The guards that we have at the entrance ask me but I disagree by wagging my head. It would only make things worse, from experience, going peacefully with the authorities is always the best thing to do.“I am calling Robert, and then the lawyer. We would get this settled in no time,” Chad tries to comfort me as he makes a
Yes, we certainly need to talk. I put Jake down from my arms and he protests that he wants to tell me secretly. James, Natalie, and Cara watch my exchange with him with smiles on their faces.“Okay, what is it?” I ask him as he gets close to my ear.“I love you,” He whispers in my ear and I can not help but smile. Some people say having kids is a nightmare, and the truth is that it is at times, but most of the time, it is the greatest joy anyone could have.“Mommy heats you right back,” I reply to him in a whisper, and he giggles before he runs onto James.I stand upright and I bid James and Jake goodbye as I join Natalie and Cara in the living room.“We have a serious hiccup in our plans,” Cara begins when we have all sat down on the couch.“I know,” I reply to her, and Natalie chuckles but I can hear the worry in her voice.“Of course you do, it is all over the news,” She tells me and I stay quiet, not knowing exactly what to say.“So what are doing?” Cara asks no one in particular
“What do you mean that he’s alive?” I ask Robert as he stands to his feet, he looks worried but that is in no way compared to how I feel right now. Gosh, does Natalie know this? I need more information.“Which news channel did you learn that from?” I fire another question at Robert, not giving him the chance to answer the first. “Here, take a look, it is all over social media, and all the big news broadcasters are airing it,” Robert says as he hands his phone to me. The last time I held it was when I found out that he was partially cheating on me.I can not say that he was actually cheating because he did not sleep with Amanda, but he did receive nudes from her and whatnot. In my book, that is cheating, but I am just going to call it partially cheating in light of what Robert and Amanda explained to me.But that is not the issue at hand right now, we have a huge freaking problem. I need to get dressed and let Natalie and Cara know what has happened.I take the phone from Robert and I
Some might say that we are moving a bit too fast, but I have known Robert for close to a year now. Still, it seems like such a limited amount of time to decide to spend your entire life with someone, but why wait any longer?Robert and I have had our fair share of storms and problems, but we have weathered everyone one of them, plus we have a great support system. Chad, James, Carlos, and Jake are sure to be there for us if we happen to begin to feel the storms of life raging again, and of course, we will.The amount of crazy that I have been through individually is insane, my entire life has been far from normal and I am starting to stop wanting normal. Besides, normal is a bit overrated. Marrying someone you have known for only almost a year is not very expected, or should I say, normal? But that is the thing, I am not normal and do not even want to be anymore.“Well?” Robert asks me as I drag my body off the unmade bed. He suggested that we should get married next week after I ment
I can not believe that this just happened, Robert proposed to me! This is amazing and I feel so good, but I also feel like this is too good and I don’t deserve it. But I am just going to sum that up as insecurity trying to present itself in the form of me not being worth it enough to get proposed to.After I said yes, I think Jake was more excited than everyone else. Chad and the others came out soon after and I have a strong feeling that they somehow knew that Robert was going to propose. Robert placed a very expensive ring on my finger and he rose from his kneeling, I placed Jake in the chair where I was sitting and Robert and I embraced. We then shared a kiss and everyone joined Jake as he clapped. As soon as the applause died, the rain ceased gradually and the sun began to shine through the dark clouds. It seemed too perfect that I literally had to pinch myself two times to make sure that I was not dreaming. Good thing I was not, because I would have been so mad at myself.We e
It is usually sunny here, but today is different, and besides, it is a Saturday. I think the weather chose the best time to be like this, I don’t have to drive Jake to school and I get to spend the entire day with him.Yesterday was so eventful, I had to explain all that happened to me in Russia to Robert, James, Carlos, and Chad about three times before they finally could grasp it all. I also had the responsibility of explaining why I have suddenly decided to trust and forgive someone that caused me so much trauma, Cara was quiet when I took my time to make them all understand that I have finally decided to bury the hatchet concerning what she did.I am not going to pretend like I don’t feel a stab of emotional pain when I look at her, but I am going to try my best to move on. I am currently sitting on the porch alone while listening to the beating of the rain on the ground and roof, it is very soothing and I have never felt so relaxed in my life. Everybody else is in the house and
I open the door of the house and I walk in as Cara follows behind me slowly and tentatively. We are out of Russia and in Cyprus, though only Cara came along. Natalie took a later flight because she wanted to come with Susan, her grandmother.It took us a couple of hours to fly from Russia to Cyprus, especially because I did not have my passport on me. Cara had to pull some strings and call in some favors at airport security, and to my pleasant surprise, it all worked out smoothly.“Are you sure that they would want to see me?” I hear Cara’s voice as we walk further into the house. Everything looks pretty much the same, but I don’t see anyone here. “Where is everyone?” I say to myself in a low tone as I continue to explore the house.Suddenly I hear heavy footsteps and I look toward the source, someone is walking down the stairs. As soon as the person's eyes meet mine, they stop in their tracks.“Whoa, am I tripping, or am I seeing Jen Davis?” Chad asks me and he continues his descent