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Chapter 38: What Does Furniture Have to do with Sex?
Last Updated:
2022-10-26 14:06:25
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The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 39: He Gives Couches as Gifts?
Ashley's been impulsive in the past, but I can't see her going out and charging this to a credit card. Hell, I don't see a furniture store needing sales enough to approve her for a credit card with her student loan debt.I find my way into the room and stand at the end of the couch where Ashley flips the channels on the television.She grins. "It matters because this is from your loverboy." Without looking in my direction she passes me a small white envelope with my name scribbled in hasty masculine penmanship across the front.I take the card from her slowly, concerned it may burn off a finger when I touch it. Because if it's from Vincent it might."Movie night tonight. He hooked us up with all the streaming services," Ashley says as I step away from the couch and find my way into my bedroom. It's been a long day already and I need privacy. Time to reflect and process.My door is closed in the short hallway, but when I open it, I catch a similar sight as the living room. An
Last Updated : 2022-10-26The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 40: The Guy From Marketing
I shrug still chewing. Lunch needs to end so I can get back to the office and continue my stalking behavior in private. I don't want witnesses."The guys from marketing make really stupid jokes from old people TV shows I've never watched. They call each other steak sauce or something. It's so stupid."If what he said was a pickup line, it's the weirdest one I've ever heard, but it brings a smile to my face so I suppose in a way it works. "I'm Mackenzie," I say reaching out my hand and shaking his."Levi." He mixes up a small carton of chocolate milk like they served in high school and opens one end.I bet Vincent loves the milk here. It hits on his love for childhood food.No, Mackenzie. Don't think of that jerk now."Chocolate milk?" I ask.He laughs and takes a large swallow. "Some things are worth bringing into adulthood. You can't judge a man for his drink choices."It was so far from the coffees Vincent forced me to get him every day. I couldn't see my stuffy boss
Last Updated : 2022-10-26The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 41: Vincent Did What?
"My boss said something?" Vincent spoke to Levi? When? How? With whom?He shakes his head twice and his easy smile returns. "Forget about it. I probably misunderstood."But I can't let it go. Vincent hasn't spoken to me all day, but he talked to Levi? Why? "You had a conversation with Vincent Valiant today?" I ask as together we walk down the steps and make a right once we hit the sidewalk."Yeah, he stopped by marketing and said it was extremely busy in his office. He and his assistant had to worry about the priorities. Work came first for top notch employees."Vincent was in the marketing department today but never stopped in his actual office. Interesting. "I have no idea what he was talking about," I say honestly. Today I played sixty-seven games of solitaire. There's nothing busy about my work day.A few clubs, bars, and other establishments dot downtown Lansing. One of them is Omar's, a strip club, which probably has more secrets than the national archives. If you keep
Last Updated : 2022-10-26The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 42: The Nerve of the Man
The runner stops, his chest rising and lowering, but only when he lifts his gaze do I recognize his features.Vincent shakes his head, looking at me puzzled, as if I'm a mirage he's not quite sure is real. "What are you doing out here alone?" he asks.I look at him just as puzzled. "I didn't see you today. You said I'd see you Friday. Where were you?"The jerk smiles, his breathing slowing. "It's still Friday and you're seeing me right now."This man could drive a woman insane. His old assistant didn't have a baby. She fled the country to be away from him."That's not what I meant and you know it. Why didn't you come into work? Levi said you were in marketing."Vincent crosses his arms. "So, you met with him," he says, emphasizing him like it's a dirty word.A-ha! He was checking up on me. Wasn't he?"Why are you out here alone?" He's a bazillion-zillianaire or something. It can't be safe for him to always be wandering around unguarded.Vincent rolls his eyes and poin
Last Updated : 2022-10-26The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 43: Family Crisis
The phone rings again and I shake my head. Vincent would never let me call him V or refuse a telephone call regardless of how excited I might have him.Another ring fills the space, and I roll over, getting caught up in the comfortable sheets. My eyelid cracks open and I feel lower, noticing I'm still wearing pants. Speckles of light shine through the large bedroom windows of the apartment, and Vincent isn't in bed beside me. The side of the bed where he lay a second earlier in my mind is cold. City lights twinkle under a starless sky, and with one hand I reach out and find my phone on the dark wood nightstand that came with the bed."Hello?" I say into the phone, not checking to see who is calling."Mackenzie," my mother's voice screams into the phone and I sit up, clutching the covers to my chest as an icy chill causes my muscles to flex."Mom?"She sobs into the phone so loudly I'm forced to pull it from my ear."What's going on? What happened?" My body grows heavy with
Last Updated : 2022-10-26The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 44: A Rescue
Yet, for some reason I don't put my car back in gear and return to the highway. Instead I shut it off and sit in the driver's seat in the far corner of the Price Road park-and-ride waiting for my jerk of a boss and his driver to get here. It takes less time than I expect for the black car to stop in the open spot next to me.Vincent gets out of the front seat and approaches and opens my door. I turn to him, the tears starting again, and wrap my arms around his middle. With heavy but safe hands, he draws me from my seat and walks me over to his. I slide into the smooth leather bench and nod once at Davis who looks at me in the rearview mirror with sad eyes.Once the doors close, Davis starts again, and Vincent tucks me under his arm in a warm embrace unlike anything I'd expect from the man. Where's the cold heartless jerk I spoke to on the phone twenty minutes ago?"I'm sorry I'm crying." This isn't the way a boss should see his employee. Especially my boss."Take all the time y
Last Updated : 2022-10-26The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 45: It's Not About the Chips
For the first time since we've met, he doesn't bite. He only shakes his head and points to the revolving door at the front of the hospital. What a wonderful time for him to become the bigger person and leave me standing on the sidewalk looking like a fool alone.With slow steps I walk past him and into the cold white building. As I follow the signs for intensive care, my steps pick up until I'm almost running when I barrel through the large metal doors to the unit where my mother said my father has a room. A small lobby with chairs and vending machines is to the right and a woman, my mother, with a tear-stained face steps out."Kens," she says grabbing onto my arm while clutching a small cup of coffee in her other. "Have you heard from your brother?""No," I say and her face falls. There's so much sorrow in the lines of her face and I don't know how to fix the problem.My mother wraps me into a deep hug squeezing tightly as if she can somehow suck the life out of me and return
Last Updated : 2022-10-26The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 46: Back to Formalities
Her eyes brighten at the thought and she nods for the first time. "Something cheesy. No salt and vinegar."I smile. Salt and vinegar potato chips have been an ongoing struggle in my home growing up. They are my father's favorite and my mother can't handle the smell of them. "On it," I say digging through my purse for loose change.If she wanted to munch on cheesy chips rather than food then I could at least give her that wish. There wasn't much else I could do to help her.She grabs onto my hand as I step out of the room. "If your brother contacts you, run right back to the room."I agree, promising I will, but I'm no further than the corner of my dad's room before my real thoughts surface. Like hell if my deadbeat brother finally contacted me would I race back in and tell her. I'd walk slower while telling him the fuck off. His crazy behaviors caused my father to have a heart attack, and he ran away from the problem. The not answering phone calls is the least of his issues onc
Last Updated : 2022-10-26
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The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 171: Epilogue
My enormous stomach stretches against the seatbelt in Vincent's expensive car. I'm no longer just showing a small bit as my due date creeps ever closer. The trees have budded along the highway as his car continues to travel north."Vincent, where are we going?"He smiles. "Our weekend place," he gives me what I suspect is the first semi-honest answer he has the entire trip.When we left this morning, I asked if I needed to pack a bag, but he said it was only a day trip. If I am being completely honest, my first thought was he bought the home in Okemos and planned to drive the fifteen miles to get away for the weekend. But we've been driving for over an hour at this point, passing my family home along the highway to continue north."I can't give you any more than that, Mackenzie. It's a surprise." He says turning off the highway.I hold back a sigh. They never do any good, anyway. "And you know how much I hate surprises.""Yes." His hand falls to my knee and squeezes, rubbin
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 170: Doctor's Orders
"I promise you, Mr. Valiant, your wife and baby are perfectly fine. I don't even see signs of a concussion. She's one lucky woman." The doctor's smooth voice does nothing to lessen Vincent's irritation."Can't you check them both again?" he grinds out annoyed he has to ask.The steady beeping of the baby's heart monitor, a large device they've wrapped around my tiny stomach, beeps consistently. "Vincent, I am fine."He looks back at me in the hospital bed and squeezes my hand. "I know, baby. I just want them to check you again."The doctor sighs, smiling at me as if apologizing I have to put up with the man for the rest of my life, but I wouldn't have it any other way."They've looked me over three times. I'm perfectly fine," I run my fingers over his arm, but it doesn't lessen his scowl."Your wife is right, Mr. Valiant. We've run every test. She and the baby are healthy. I'm going to write up her release papers as soon as I leave the room. Go home and get rest. That's the
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 169: November Winds
"I'm sorry we can't go on a honeymoon right away,""Vincent, I promise I understand. Really." He's an important CEO of a billion-dollar company. I don't expect him to take off whenever he wants. He can throw together a quick weekend wedding, but we can't drop everything and go on a three-week honeymoon like he's promised without notice. We have plans to make.I wrap the sheets around me tighter, the northern winds of November howling outside the window. We've been newlyweds for exactly twenty-four hours, and after I sneezed four times yesterday, Vincent decided I need to take Monday morning off to lie in bed and stay warm. He's obnoxiously worried about me catching a cold while pregnant. Any other time I would find it annoying, but the baby is involved so I'm listening to his heavy-handedness. This time."I'm sure I'll forgive you for not whisking me away on a honeymoon immediately during the three weeks we're on the boat in the Bahamas over Christmas." He thought of the best way
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 168: Two Weeks Later
Another two weeks laterA gust of wind batters the outside of the car, but the frigid temperatures we're walking into aren't enough to sway Vincent. He allows Davis to open the black limos door and then reaches for my hand when he exits."Is your mom going to kill us?" I ask as I step out into the freezing temperatures of northern Michigan in the late fall and wrap the white fake fur shawl around my shoulders."Probably," Vincent says with a devilish smirk, meaning he doesn't care what his mother will say. I wish I had his self-confidence.At least we'll go down together. "Good because my mother is going to murder me in my sleep."The newest personal protection guard—I'd never get used to that name—steps up to my side. Nicki is tall and her body thin, but she's never once looked at Vincent inappropriately over the last two weeks she'd been protecting me.When Vincent introduced her and brought her into the team, I hadn't argued. Safety isn't something I can take for granted
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 167: Too Early to Tell
Two Fridays laterMy eyes have just begun to close as I settle into the post-work catnap. The doctor said it wasn't a big deal I hadn't experienced any morning sickness or other complications during the pregnancy and I should consider myself lucky. But from the way I dozed off at my desk every couple hours the last few days at work, the exhaustion part of being pregnant is hitting me hard and making up for lost time of the first trimester.I still can't believe I'm pregnant. I've seen the evidence, we have the pictures to prove it, but besides being tired I don't feel different. Even though it is too early, I definitely haven't felt anyone moving around in there. Because I lack so much evidence, it is hard to picture me with a baby. It's even harder to picture my big rigid Vincent as a father. Not that I have any doubt he'll be a great one, I've just never seen him with kids. I rarely even babysat myself. Only once or twice in high school. I spent a couple of nights watching the Wa
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 166: You Can't Hid Glam Wear
Without thinking about, it I place my hand on my desk and the metal in the ring that sits so heavily on my finger hits against it with a clink. It draws my attention back to the fresh addition to my finger and I smile as I stare at the beautiful piece of jewelry.I tried not to wear out of the house this morning. It was Monday and even though Vincent's employees handled his email well, I couldn't imagine it would get the same response as the newspaper article outing his previous wife. I prepared for a full-on tizzy. To my relief the article didn't publish as expected. Vincent answers my text with only a smiley face—so unlike him. I figure it cost him a pretty penny, but he worked his magic.Me walking through one of the company floors wearing a big ass ring on my finger would only add to the clusterfuck I was sure our day would turn into at any moment. Therefore, in the name of less drama I tried to leave the item on my nightstand, but Vincent must have swiped it. He followed me on
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 165: Book Deals and Broken Promises
Vincent moves my feet off the couch and sits in the space. I don't like him being so far away, so I reposition myself until I'm leaning next to his body and getting into his personal bubble.He leans back on the couch wrapping one of his muscular arms over my shoulders. "Today's been shit. Huh?"He'd spent most of Sunday on the phone with his legal team and public relations employees. Everyone in Valiant Industries had quite the weekend. Even though he said he didn't plan to take action against Tiffany, he wants to stop the book from being published. Vincent doesn't elaborate on how he plans to make that happen, but I have faith in him.His legal and PR teams worked for hours and now had a course of action moving forward. Tiffany might strike the first blow with the article about her book, but Vincent wouldn't take it lying down. Tomorrow morning his office would release a statement countering the article and hopefully combatting any speculation. There will still be rumors and ta
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 164: Agreements
By the next morning we still haven't come to an agreement on the house. I want to continue living in the penthouse and Vincent wants to spend an exorbitant amount of money on a weekend place fifteen miles out of the city—a home we won't officially move into until the baby is school age.Something warns me if I don't put up a big fight, Vincent will buy the house and just not tell me about it right away, so I make him promise in the car on the way home he won't do anything without getting my permission first. It's his money, and I feel bad bossing him about his own bank account, but a house is a big damn deal. You can't just buy a house. I'm only half sure making him promise will work, but it's time for me to stretch the trust part of our relationship."You're hiring the chef who made the sandwich and the chocolate cake. Right? I ask biting off another piece of my breakfast bagel."We are hiring and yes."All the meals we tested were delicious, and my core heats remembering the
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 163: A Ruined Evening Fixed
The early Saturday morning sun wakes me the rest of the way after Vincent's alarm starts the job by rattling on his bedside nightstand. Who sets an alarm for Saturday?Vincent rolls over and wraps his arm underneath mine cradling a breast in his hand. I snuggle my back to his chest and reposition my head on the pillow, hoping I can fall back to sleep and he can do whatever he incorrectly believes is important enough to wake up early on a weekend."I'm sorry last night was ruined." He kisses the back of my neck sucking lightly."You mean when your wife broke in here and tried to steal what I strongly suspect was an engagement ring?" We'd talked about many things the night before but never got around to that topic.I'd planned to ask him, but after finding out Tiffany's demands for his sperm and then the sex, the thought completely fled my mind. We lay in bed together for another hour as Vincent held me tightly, but eventually he slipped from under the covers.Hours later I fou
