All Chapters of Stay the Night: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

BLAKEAston and I were in my car, on our way to the hospital. Since it was Saturday, traffic was light, and we were making good time down a wide, double lane road. Palm trees swayed in the light breeze outside, splashes of bright green against an otherwise clear blue sky.“It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?” Aston breathed. Her eyes were glued to the scenery as we drove, and she kept pointing things out to me. Seeing Tampa through her eyes warmed me to the place in a way I hadn’t been before.“Yeah, it actually kind of is.” I agreed. I never really understood why Dad chose Tampa but being here with Aston caused it to begin to make sense to me for the first time. There was a serenity here I hadn’t felt before.“How are you feeling?” She tore her eyes away from our surroundings to look at me. I glanced at her and saw she was wearing a concerned frown, fiddling with her fingers.“I’m okay. I hope my dad’s doing better. They expected him to have woken up by now.” It was worrying me that he wa

ASTONBlake stuck his head out the door and motioned for me to come back into the room. I nodded but took a deep breath before I stood up. I’d been drinking my coffee in the waiting area while Blake had a conversation with his parents.It had been awhile, and my nerves were frayed. I had no idea what was going on inside that room, I only hoped it was good.Blake deserved an explanation from his parents, I just hoped he’d gotten one he could live with. He looked okay, though. He was smiling as he waited for me to make my way to him. “My parents want to meet you.”Blood started pounding in my ears, my nerves sparking at their frayed edges. Not only was I about to meet one of my heroes, but I was also going to meet the parents. Meeting the parents was a big step in any relationship, but in ours it was even bigger since his dad was also my boss.“Okay,” I swallowed past a lump in my throat. People said never to meet your heroes. If mine disappointed me, it would be a double whammy. It wo

BLAKE Dad was awake. Mom was apparently back in our lives. It remained to be seen how long she would stay around this time. Aston was here, then she was gone. I would be seeing her again soon, though.Everything was different than it had been when I opened my eyes just a couple of hours ago, but nothing more so than I was now walking into our corporate headquarters as the acting CEO of the company.I didn’t know how long Dad would be out for, but he hadn’t mentioned coming back at all. I got the distinct feeling that he was retiring for good, not just taking some time off to recover. I was sure he would still be around, and that he would never step out completely, but it felt like he’d placed the reins firmly in my hands.They were heavy, but they felt good. It was like I could see everything more clearly now, like the world had shifted on its axis and everything had finally come into focus. I’d never even considered that I might head up the company one day.In my mind, it had always

ASTONIt had been a month since I had gotten back from Florida and today was the first day that I wasn’t quite feeling the sparkle from getting to meet and speak to Wayne McAllen in person. I had powered through this last month and the branch was doing better than ever.But maybe it was time that I started listening to the staff when they told me to slow down, because I was pretty sure I was coming down with something. The long hours had really worn me down.Exhausted, I trudged into my office two hours before my shift was supposed to start. I fired up my computer but nearly fell asleep before I had done so much as log into my emails.Enough, I told myself. A strong cup of coffee and a little bit of blood flowing through my veins was what I needed to get going.Ignoring the kettle in my office, I headed to the staff break room where there was a state-of-the-art coffee machine we had just received last week. It was a gift from Wayne McAllen himself. The card had been addressed to all o

BLAKEMy plane touched down in California late on Friday afternoon. I couldn’t deny that I’d never been happier to be there. It had been a damn long month without Aston and if I had to wait one more day to see her, my dick and my heart were both going to explode or go on strike.Both organs were desperate to see her, and my brain had become obsessed as well. I planned on spending every waking minute with her this weekend, and to sleep next to her when we couldn’t be awake anymore.There were only a few more things I had to take care of before I could shut down for the next few days and just spend time with my girl. One of them was to finish the conversation I was having with my father on my way to the hotel.“We need to clean up in New York, Blake,” he was saying. “The situation there has been going on long enough and it’s high time to end it.”I sighed and resisted the urge to squeeze my eyes shut. Since I was driving, letting them close was probably a bad idea. “I know, Dad. I’ll ge