Run Hard. Run Fierce.

TOBIAS:

With my hands clenched into fists, I stand by the wide glass window and gaze down onto the street, where Keri is standing in a white summer dress that flutters in the breeze. 

She wipes her face, looks at her watch, and mumbles something before turning around and sprinting across the street.

“Run, spitfire. Run hard. Run Fierce. It only makes me hungrier to catch you, dragging out the inevitable that you will be mine.” I whisper possessively, loosening my hands at my sides.

I knew stepping into the Appleton bakery was a bad idea yesterday. Every nerve and every muscle in my body screamed for me to stop in my tracks, and get back into my vehicle.

But as usual, my brain defied my body, and now I fucking ache for her.

I shouldn’t feel this way about Keri Appleton. She should be off limits, like a forbidden fruit that will be my demise.

However, I cannot help myself. The desire to see her after all these years had grown intolerable; it had become my undoing.

Yesterday’s encounter wasn’t a coincidence, I knew full well that the bakery belonged to Keri Appleton, my former and late best friend’s little sister, who has blossomed into a fucking bombshell.

I brush a frustrated hand over my face as I watch the taxi she slipped into pull away from the curb, merging into the early morning traffic, and I sink into my office chair glaring at the door she had left wide open after she ran out of it.

Curse my mother. Curse my father and curse the gods for the shitty hand I have been dealt in life.

Drumming my fingers on top of my desk, I can’t seem to rid myself of the heart-wrenching pain that had blazed brilliantly in Keri’s eyes as she forbade me to speak of that fatal night that tore not only her family apart but mine as well.

“You must marry by the end of the week, Tobias.” My mother’s voice rings in my ears. “Or you will lose all of this to your cousin.”

I couldn’t care less about my inheritance, but I do love running the company. I doubt my mother would take my being married to the company for the past three years into consideration.  

Buying businesses in great need of help, only to help replenish them and see them blossom to their full potential, has become a passion of mine.

It's like watching a toddler grow into a powerful magnate who is untouchable and highly desired among others.

Money isn’t an issue for me, I have enough money in my personal bank account to retire as it is. But my mother doesn’t need to know that, nor does Keri.

Fuck me, when I blurted out: Marry me.

It was my mind's way of letting me know that it was on board and that we would disregard the red signals pointing back at us confirming my idea of marrying Keri is a death trap.

The instant the words danced around us, the entire mood between us grew sickeningly intense, the air tasted bitter, and the challenge in her eyes, the way her voice altered into subdued caution like I’m a fucking monster.

It killed me to see it, to know that I am the source of her unhappiness and the silent tormentor in her life.

Still, I am too selfish to walk away and one day I will hate myself for it, but today isn’t that day.

Whether Keri wants to admit it or not, her bakery is in a financial crisis, and I promised her brother that I would always take care of her, knowing that taking care of Ava would naturally follow.

I have never considered myself to be a selfish man, but after seeing Keri in person yesterday, I will use every tactic under the sun to make her mine.

It appears that my teenage crush on her has not diminished in the least.

By marrying her, I know my mother will approve, and my father will be dancing in his grave. He loved Keri, he knew she was special, and he would always say that she had a heart of gold, she was a rare gem lost in a sea of diamonds.

That was until my family turned everything to shit for her; making her heart as hard and rough, as the sea of diamonds she was drowning in.

Her piercing jade eyes have blinded me in every way possible. I didn’t know I was looking for her in other women until Davis pointed it out to me one night while I was on the prowl for someone to satisfy a hunger that I couldn’t seem to satisfy.

“Raven hair, green eyes with a whip-like tongue, Tobi, don’t you think you are searching for Keri Appleton among the sea of women who throw themselves willingly at your feet?”

After the words had left his mouth, it was like a switch flipped in my head, and he was right. I was looking for the green-eyed girl with a sharp tongue that made my heart skip a beat every time I saw her growing up.

I jump out of my chair, sliding my suit jacket on, and I walk out of my office to Melanie’s desk.

“Mr. Landry,” She shrieks, “What can I do for you?” She asks as she fluffs about trying to clean her clutter-free desk.

“Please advise Marcus that I am on my way to his office. I need him to prepare and finalize a contract before I deliver it in person." I say in a clipped tone knowing what I am doing is all kinds of shades fucked up.

But the devil is sitting on my shoulder, and he is compelling me to feed off my sinister desires and to take what I want from them.

And what I want is to help Keri keep her bakery and for me to continue my line of work without Davis getting in the way or calling the shots.

Melanie picks up the phone and starts to punch in Marcus’s number, “Sure, I can do that for you now.”

“Excellent, I also need you to find out where Keri Appleton resides. You can leave her address on my desk along with the finished files I gave you yesterday and I will view them when I return.”

Her brows slightly furrowed, if I had blinked, I would have missed it. “Yes, Mr. Landry.” It's no secret between us who Keri is to me. 

I may have spilled the tea one evening between us after office drinks.

But like a doll, Melanie hasn't breathed a word about that night. 

I nod my head, pulling my car keys out of my pocket, and I make my way to the bottom car park to retrieve my vehicle and put my plan into motion.