JAKE’S POV
“Please, dad, just cut all the bullshit and tell us the plan. This is the third weekend in a row when you have said you were going to lay your plan out and you haven’t done it yet.” I sighed, raking my hands over my face.
“That anxious to take over for me, son?” My dad asked, taking a sip of his whisky. It was barely lunch time, pretty early for a drink, but my dad didn’t care.
I shook my head at my dad. Jonathan laughed off in the corner. No, dad.” Jonathan replied. “We just need to be able to plan. There is a lot that goes into these types of changes. I don’t want to just wake up tomorrow and be told I am running everything. I would at least want to buy a new suit.” Jonathan laughs and pours himself a glass of whisky, joining dad on the couch.
“Well, you better buy the suit!” He raised his glass as he replied. “At Monday’s board meeting, I will be announcing my near immediate retirement.”
My brother and I looked at each other. “Ho
AMALIA’S POVI wasn’t sure why I was so nervous. I hadn’t even known Jake all that long. And, while we had spent a good bit of time talking, texting, and such, it was still a fairly new relationship. Maybe that was why I was nervous. If this was a more established relationship, if I knew more about Jake, then maybe this would feel like just a visit with a boyfriend. Between the new relationship and starting the new job, it was all a bit overwhelming. But it was a good overwhelming. I felt good about all the changes. The relationship with Jake was going to be whatever it was, and I was going to roll with it. For now, it was a long-distance relationship and we would work on that.I sat on my couch, anxiously waiting for Jake to arrive. I was on my second cup of coffee, which had definitely not been a good idea, especially with the nerves that I was already feeling. The extra caffeine was just going to make me jittery. Jake had texted me 45 minutes ago t
Movement on the bed startled me awake. For a moment, I forgot that there was someone in my bed. Even when I was with Dylan, he never stayed at my apartment. He said it was “too far” for him to drive, so I would stay at his place. There were clearly plenty of signs that I missed in that relationship.Once I realized who was in my bed, I sighed and put my head back down. Despite being startled awake, it was the best night sleep I had had in quite a while. It was still early, but Jake had a video conference call and I had work this morning.“What time do you need to leave?” Jake asked, rolling back towards me. He slowly moved the hair out of my eyes, placing it behind my ear.“Normally I would leave by 7, but I don’t really need to leave by 7:30. No reason to leave early when you are here.” I smiled at him. “What time is your call?”He rolled his eyes and pulled me closer to him. “8:30. It goes unti
AMALIA’S POVI was ready to hurry home, excited to spend the night with Jake. It sounded like his meeting went well, which boded well for a good evening for us. From what I understood, board meetings at Viking Pharmaceuticals were held monthly and I was sure they involved a lot of stuffy business talk. I hated that type of thing. As long as they kept funding the various medical research programs, I was happy.This company did some really great things. Pharmaceutical research was the smallest division of the company, and the newest. Katrina had filled me in on a lot of those details over lunch during my first week. Medical equipment and supplies, surgical equipment, and even joint replacements was more the focus of the company. I liked the idea of working for a company that was willing to put forth time, effort, and money for pharmaceutical research. It was my passion and I liked working for a company that shared that passion.Despite working for companies
JAKE’S POVAmalia was up early. On any other workday, I would be up early as well, but last night’s amorous activities had left me spent. I could have slept in, but Amalia had work and I had appointments to see a few condos starting early today. Amalia was moving around the room, getting dressed.“What time is it?” I asked, wanting to pull the covers back over my head.She laughed at me, pulling the blankets back. “It is 6:45. I have a meeting at 8, so I need to head out soon in case there is any traffic. I made coffee and there are muffins.” She kissed my head.“Did you make them yourself?” I asked, finally sitting up in bed.She shook her head. “Nope. Didn’t have time. Although I do love to bake and can make you some one day soon.”Amalia started to walk away but I pulled her back. “I’m going to miss you.” I said, burying my head in her stomach. “And
“Girl, you need to tell me all about Jake!” Jordan yelled as she entered my apartment. I laughed. “Well, hello to you, too.” I replied, coming out from my bedroom. Jordan went to the fridge and put the food she had brought with her in it. “Hello. Now spill.” She stated, taking a seat on the couch. I grabbed two bottles of water and joined her. “What do you want to know?” I asked, taking a sip of my water and handing Jordan a bottle of water. She rolled her eyes at me. “Um, everything. I want you to tell me about how he is in bed.” She laughed. “But I guess start by telling me how the relationship is going.” I couldn’t help but laugh at her. Jordan always liked talking about sexual exploits, either mine, hers, or other peoples. It was just how she was. “The relationship is going good. We have talked or texted nearly every day over the last two weeks. He is supposed to be coming back to Chicago early next week.” “Are you guys exclusive?” She asked while playing with the label on he
I was running late. I hated running late on a Monday. Jake was taking the first flight out of New York this morning, leaving before 6:30. This didn’t stop him, however, from calling me before he went to bed. We ended up talking way too late, and I had a hard time getting up in the morning.It was 8;30 when I finally arrived at work. When I walked into the lab, the team seemed to be in a frenzy.“Finally!” Katrina yelled as I walked into the lab. “We need to get ready.”“Ready for what?” I asked, going to my office, and placing my things on my desk.Katrina rolled her eyes. “Well, if someone wasn’t running late, they would have already seen their email. They announced Mr. Langley as the new CEO of the Chicago office. But that long transition we talked about on Friday? There was none of that. He is starting today!” She called out as she moved around the lab, trying to straighten things out.
JAKE’S POVI was still in shock that Amalia was one of my lead researchers. When Amalia came out of her office this morning, I didn’t know what to say. First, she looked beautiful. Her hair was in a messy bun, and she just looked beautiful without trying. I could tell she looked tired, and I knew that was because we were up late talking, which made me smile to myself. I could see the surprise written all of her face when she saw me. Thankfully, I was able to pull it together enough to speak to her team.The first chance I got, I pulled her in to her office. Once her office door was closed, I pulled her in and kissed her. I could tell that she was surprised by the kiss, but she quickly kissed me back. Amalia was clearly worried; I could see it in the way that she looked at me. In the moment, I didn’t think of anything except having her in my arms. The last two weeks had been long without seeing her. The relationship was still new, which I think m
AMALIA’s POV“This place is amazing!” I was in awe of Jake’s new home. After a busy week that resulted in a few lunch visits and no additional dinner visits, I was glad that it was Friday, and I could spend more time with Jake. Quite frankly, just having him living this close was nice; knowing that I could see him whenever I wanted even if this had been a busy week.“I knew you would like it,” he said as I stepped into his house. The house was large, much bigger than I am sure he needed.Jake had been very busy over the last week. The new position of the CEO kept him always on the go. Two to three times per week he was doing dinner meetings and he often worked late. The team and I had some good progress over the last week and we were formulating our focus for our meeting with Dr. Ochoa next month. The more focused we could be over the upcoming weeks, the better our questions would be and the more productive the meeting would b
Jonathan“Got everything prepared?” Jake asked as Jonathan stood next to him, looking in the mirror. Jonathan was adjusting his bow tie.“Don’t you think I should be asking you that? After all, it is your wedding day.” I looked back at my brother. The smile on Jake’s face told me everything I needed to know; he was more than ready to be married to Amalia.Jake smiled back at me. “Of course I am ready. I have been ready for months now. All of these details are what Amalia wanted. I was okay with whatever she wanted.” Jake paused, turning to look at me. “You know if mom was still alive, this wedding would have been huge. Everyone would have been invited.”I laughed at Jake’s comment about mom. He wasn’t wrong. I remember walking in on my mom talking with my sisters about their weddings. They were young but my mom loved talking to them about it. Mom was the ult
Three Weeks LaterThe last three weeks have been spent healing. I overdid it a bit when I first came home and was sore for a few days. I learned my lesson quickly and followed doctor’s orders for the next two weeks. Now, I was feeling great. My pain was minimal, and I had stopped taking pain medication over a week ago.The downtime over the last three weeks gave me a lot of time to think. Jonathan worked from home the first few days but needed to go back to the office due to some problems with that expansion project that required him to actually be at the project site. While I did miss him, I appreciated the time to go through things in my life.The first thing I did was reach out to Duke University to see what I could do to finish up my degree. I was literally one semester away from graduating. After talking with them, I was able to get set up to take my missing three classes online. I appreciated that I had the option to go online to finish u
TillyThe sound of beeping pulled me from a deep sleep. I had no idea what was going on or where I was. The last thing I remembered was the sharp stinging pain that I felt in my side that followed several loud gunshot blasts. The sounds around me were muffled, which was not a surprise consider both the blast and the gunshots that occurred so close to me. I tried to open my eyes but I was so tired and weak that I was not able to do so. The pain in my side reminded me that something did happen to me. The gun that had been jammed in my side led me to believe that I had been shot and the beeping sound meant that I was in a hospital room.I attempted to move my hand to my face, but something stopped my hand from moving.“Baby, just take it easy.” A voice whispered to me. I smiled when I realized that Jonathan was sitting with me, slowing stroking my hand. “I love seeing you smile. I was scared for a minute there.” His word
TillyI stumbled away from the blast, the ringing in my ears not stopping. In the chaos of the blast, I was able to run away from those around me. I didn’t know where I was going, but I kept running towards the back of the warehouse. There wasn’t much that could be used for cover, but at this point, I didn’t care. I just wanted to get as far away from Gregory and those other men as I possibly could.My heart was pounding and my ears were still ringing as I paused for a moment to try to catch my breath. I could barely hear anything around me. The blast was not so close that I was impacted by the flying debris from it, but I was close enough that my hearing had been impacted. As I looked back towards the area from which I had just fled, I was surprised by what I saw.The men who had been standing in front of me, waiting to “accept” me had taken up a position behind a short wall that ran perpendicular to the door. The door fro
JonathanI hadn’t slept at all last night. After Steve indicated that we were meeting with Vincent Lombardi at 9:00 this morning, I could not stop my brain long enough to go to sleep. Although Tilly hadn’t been gone long, I was significantly concerned for her safety. At one point, Gregory wanted to kill her, and that scared the shit out of me. Gregory was not well liked by most people. He had screwed a lot of people over the years. I couldn’t imagine that anyone would willingly work with him, unless there was a deeper motive. That deeper motive is what was most worrisome to me.The mafia was something I knew about only from the movies. I really enjoyed watching mafia movies. The Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface, and Casino were some of my favorites, but I enjoyed any mafia movie. I also spent some time watching documentaries about the mob. However, none of that meant that I knew anything about what to expect when meeting some
I was annoyed. I didn’t want to sit here and listen to Gregory’s long-winded story. I wanted to know the truth and I wanted it now.I stood up, causing the asshole I had bitten to stand up. I rolled my eyes at him and turned my attention back to Gregory.“Look, I already know that you aren’t my father.” His eyes widened slightly at my statement. His response surprised me, and I wasn’t sure if I had revealed my knowledge of that tidbit of information too quickly. I held my breath, waiting for him to respond.He took a beer from the fridge and then turned back towards me as he opened it. “Well, one less thing I have to tell you, I guess.” He shrugged and walked back towards me. It seemed like it was way too early to be drinking beer, but I doubted that he cared.“Why did you and mom say you were my father when you weren’t? Why have my birth certificate changed?” I aske
Jonathan’s POVI was pissed. After Steve and I had left Alex and Carlo, we attempted to determine where the SUV was that had taken Tilly. Unfortunately, Pierre lost the SUV in traffic. There was an accident that occurred right in front of Pierre and he was not able to get around it fast enough to continue to follow the SUV.Now, Steve, Pierre, Alex, and I sat in my condo, trying to work out a plan, and nothing was going well at this moment. Steve’s tech guy was trying to pull down video from street cameras to see if the SUV could be tracked, but that would take some time. In the meantime, Steve was trying to get plans together for when we were able to locate Tilly.“Alex, call up Robert and see if he can offer any assistance. I don’t have a good sense of what the threat is and I want to be prepared.” Steve continued to provide orders to Alex and Pierre as I sat, feeling increasingly useless.I was frustrated to sa
“Can we please talk about something else?” I groaned as Jake went on to another story about me. “I think that the last story about me running naked through the high school is enough.” I stated, going to grab myself another beer from the fridge. “Isn’t this what families do? Tell embarrassing stories about each other in front of their significant others?” Jake laughed, taking the beer I handed him. “You should have heard the stories Amalia’s parents told me. Skinny dipping in the neighbor’s pool was one of my favorites!” “Ugh. That was so embarrassing. Ok, I am with Jonathan. Enough with the stories!” Amalia chimed in. I liked that she was on my side. I liked how she grounded Jake. He had let my dad control him for so long, that it was good to see that Jake was able to get to this place. I was glad that this was my chance with Tilly to do the same. I smiled over at her. She was talking with Emma and William, who had just come back from putting Cassie down for
JONATHAN’S POVI had been awake for some time, just laying in bed with Tilly. I could not believe that she was with me in my bed – the idea of it was still so surreal that I could barely wrap my head around it. The last week had been a struggle for me. While I should have felt overjoyed to have her back in my life, there were so many unknowns that it made it difficult to fully process what had happened, both with Tilly coming back and to Tilly. I had struggled with knowing what I should do. I knew that it should have been easy to figure out, but I had this nagging fear that Tilly would run, and I could not open my heart back up to her running away again.When I talked with Jake earlier in the week, he asked me what was holding me back from being with Tilly again. I didn’t have a good answer for his question when he asked me that, because when I was honest with myself, I knew that I wanted to be with her. But sometimes, we get in our own way and can hu