Authors: Evan Kelsey
He
doesn't respond, just turns me in his arms and drops to one knee.
Looking down at him it takes me only seconds to realize what he's
doing. I watch as he slides the engagement ring he once forced on
my hand from his pinky finger. Looking up to meet my eyes he asks,
"Angel, will you marry me?"
I laugh
as the tears fall down my face. I nod. "Yes." I answer, my voice
thick with emotion.
He takes
my left hand in is, sliding on the engagement ring. This time it
feels more real, more perfect, more right. "I should have done this
the first time." He states, disappointed.
He rests
his head on my stomach and I run my fingers through his hair. He
feels exactly what I'm feeling. This is how it should have
been.
"You
forgive me for everything?" He asks, apprehensively.
"I do. Do
you forgive me?" I ask, looking at him lovingly.
He nods.
"A fresh start?"
"Yes, a
fresh start. Not a do over, though. Just moving on from any
mistakes we made and leaving them in the past." I
clarify.
"Prefect." He agrees, standing up and gently guiding me
backward. "Now can we brake the table?" He questions,
hopeful.
"Absolutely not." I state, earning a pitiful pout from
Ruxin. Giving in I smile. "Fine, but we better leave it in
pieces.
********
The next
day I am a woman on a mission. I need to confront William and give
him back his letter. Knowing that Cindy doesn't want to be involved
I plan on leaving the letter somewhere without him noticing. "Why
didn't you come tell me you were awake?" He asks, coming in the
bathroom already dressed. He's been up for a while I could hear him
in the living room. "I wanted you to sleep in."
"Well,
last time I checked you couldn't pee for me and that woke me
up."
"What are
you planning on doing today?" He asks, ignoring my
sarcasm.
"To talk
to William." I reply, as I rub my queasy stomach with one
hand.
"You know
I have to fire him today?" He states and questions at one
time.
I stop
brushing my hair. "You're firing him?" I'm not upset for William,
just surprised.
"Do you
really expect me to keep him? The man is a bottom feeder. He can't
be trusted and I don't risk my people or my money. If he wanted to
get in bed with Sterling he maybe willing to trade information he
has learned about my company. I won't risk it."
"I don't
think Xavier would do that but I understand. Maybe I should hold
off talking to him. It would give me time to meet up with Cindy and
give her the letter back before William realizes its
gone."
"You're
trying to cover her ass?" He asks, as if the thought is
unbelievable.
"She
apologized. I think she was truly sorry. It wasn't her fault her
mother and father played us against each other. I want to get to
know her, the real her."
He gets a
apprehensive look on his face. "Just because she had a moment of
weakness don't for one second think she changed. She's as ruthless
and selfish as her father, I don't want you to be
disappointed."
"I won't.
I'll protect myself. Did you call Dave?" I ask, leaving the
bathroom and walking to the kitchen for some saltine crackers.
"Damn, I'm out." There's a knock on the door as I dig in the
kitchen cupboard. Ruxin opens the door and Dave walks in with a bag
of bagels and a box of saltines.
"God,
you're the best." I say, following him to the table.
"I know."
He replies, bored. Then stops short, turning to look at me
baffled and amused. "What happened to the table?"
"It
broke?"
"Are you
asking me or telling me?" He asks, then looks behind me to a
chuckling Ruxin.
"Telling
you?" I respond, still managing to sound like a question. Which
only makes Ruxin laugh harder. "Ruxin." I growl, in
warning.
Dave looks back at the table and shakes his head
saying, "I liked that table. My mom had the same one." He
walks into kitchen and sets the bags on the kitchen
counter.
"Not as
much as we did." Ruxin responds, devilishly and winks at
me.
"Clearly." Dave mutters amused. "Have you gotten sick
today?"
"No, but
I need to eat something soon or I might." He cuts open a bagel,
putting cream cheese on it and holds it out to me. I take it and
walk to the couch noticing that the candles and rose petals are
still scattered around. Oh, my God! This looks like a porn
shoot.
I ignore it as best I can until Dave comes
in the room smirking. "Utter a word. One word." I
challenge.
This
causes him to smile, but he wisely keeps his mouth shut. Ruxin
walks over to us eating his own bagel and looks pleased with
himself. "Looks like we were filming an X-rated movie here.
Something along the lines of, 'Eva Does New
York.'"
Dave
laughs as he adds one of his own, "Or, 'Eva gets a taste of the Big
Apple.'"
Ruxin
throws back his head laughing with Dave while I glare. Secretly, I
am just glad there are no hard feelings between the two men. I like
being friends with Dave and I feel like Ruxin and him have a
history together. Not a friendship necessary, but a respect for
each other.
"Happy
you two think its so funny."
"Why?
What would you want to call it?" He asks, referring to the title of
our fake porn video.
I roll my
eyes. "How about, 'Ruxin does it for himself for the next
month.'"
"Sounds
awful." Ruxin says, almost horrified.
"Not to
mention no one would want to see that." Dave adds,
disgusted.
I laugh.
"You do have a point. No, one would want to be around him either.
Imagine the man he'd be if he didn't get it regularly." I smirk,
looking at Dave.
"I'd
probably get fired again." He chuckles.
"That was
a lapse in judgment and won't happen again." I say, looking
pointedly at Ruxin.
"I wasn't
worried. I knew you'd straighten him out." Dave replies,
smugly.
"If you
two are done, here. I think we should get going." Ruxin states,
standing up and holding his hand down to me.
"I'm
going with you?" I ask.
"Yeah, I
only have to go into the office for a couple hours. Come with
me?"
For
whatever reason he doesn't want to leave me alone. So, I take his
hand and stand up. I grab my purse on the way out and we wait for
the elevator. "Wait, aren't you firing William? I don't want to be
there."
"I am,
but I'll leave to do that."
"You're
firing her father now?" Dave asks, shocked.
"Since
when do I pay you to ask questions?" Ruxin grumbles.
I slap
Ruxin's chest gently. "Yeah, my father isn't a reliable
employee anymore." I explain. I can tell by the look Dave is
giving me he wants to know if I'm okay with it. I'll tell him
everything, eventually. I just don't want to get into it
right now. I give him a reassuring smile and he doesn't push
the subject.
Ruxin
Novak
Last
night was amazing and I have Julia to thank. I called her and told
her to bring roses and candles so I could set the mood. She showed
up quickly with bags of white candles and red and white roses. She
even added the champagne although she didn't know Eva was pregnant
until I told her and she stopped and filled Eva's glass with orange
juice.
Both of
us scrambled for ten minutes lighting and pulling petals off the
flowers trying to make everything just right. In the end Eva said
yes and it was perfect. I even got to destroy that hideous table
exactly the way I imagined I would.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I smile
at Julia as we make our way towards Ruxin's office. I know she
played a part in the proposal and I want to thank her. There's no
way that Ruxin did that alone while I was in the bath tub. She
glances at my left hand seeing the ring and smiles back at me. Her
job with Ruxin cannot be easy constantly being called to fetch
things has to get annoying. I wonder if shes seeing
anyone?
The
possibility of setting Julia up with Dave or Xavier gives me
something to do today while I wait for Ruxin to finish work. Ruxin
holds the office door open for me and I wave him on. "I want to
talk to Julia for a minute."
"About
what?" He asks, curiously.
"Periods,
clothes, Brad Pitt-"
"Got it."
He raises his hands and walks into his office, purposely leaving
his door open so he can see us from his desk. I watch as he sits in
his chair, burning holes through us with his eyes. I shake my head
at his absurdity and turn to Julia.
"What's
his problem?" I grumble under my breath.
"You're
more then five feet away from him." She jokes, yet there is a
seriousness to her tone.
"God, it
must have been awful while I was gone." I reply,
sympathetically.
"Almost
unbearable." She states, seriously.
"Sorry
about that." I wince.
She
shrugs. "Its my job."
"Well, I
just wanted to thank you for helping him yesterday. It was
beautiful."
"You're
welcome. I'm just happy, he's happy." She states, sounding
genuine.
I smile
at her response. She really does care about him. "Me
too."
I decide
not to take up anymore of her time and give her a small wave as I
walk into Ruxins office. "Shut the door, please." I do as he asks,
amused by his suspicious behavior.
"What did
Julia have to say in regards to periods, fashion and Matt
Damon?"
"It was
Brad Pitt." I correct him and confess, "I didn't ask her about
them."
"So what
did you ask her about?" He questions.
"I didn't
ask anything, I thanked her."
"Thanked
her?" He asks, surprised.
"Yes, for
helping set up the apartment for your proposal. It was beautiful,
but you never would've had time to do it all by yourself." I reply,
knowingly.
He signs,
looking sullen. "It was my idea."
I smile
at his frustration about any credit going to Julia. "Well, it was
beautiful. Thank you."
That
seems to smooth his ruffled feathers and I walk to the chairs in
front of his chair sitting down in one. Its only 9:00 in the
morning and I already feel exhausted. "Tired?"
"Yeah, a
little bit." I admit.
"We have
a doctors appointment at noon today. I want to make sure everything
is okay. Then We'll go home so you can rest."
"How did
you get an appointment so soon?" I ask in awe. Even getting in to
see a doctor for my nausea took several days.
"Money."
He states simply, as he turns to his computer. Of course,
money.
"I guess
being with you does have it perks."
Looking
back at me. "You have no idea." He states, smugly. "However, there
is another matter we need to discuss."
"If this
is about the wedding, please don't. Give me a few days." I say,
tiredly.
"What do
you mean? You don't want to talk about it?"
"I mean
that I don't feel like fighting about it today, but I don't want to
be huge and pregnant when I walk down the isle. So, I guess if we
still have the venue we should do it as soon as soon as
possible."
I can see
the shock go through him, although he tries to hide it. "Good." he
states. "But that's not what I wanted to talk about."
"Oh?"
"I want
to get rid of your apartment. As of now William is paying for it
and I don't want him to do anything in a way of retribution after I
fire him. I would like to have your things moved before I fire
him."
William
wouldn't exact revenge on my things, would he? Recalling what he
did to my mother, nothing is out of the question. William is
capable of destroying the woman he loved, he can do the same to his
daughter. "Yeah, okay." I agree.
Again I
must have shocked him because his ridged shoulders ease somewhat
and he picks up his phone. "Have them start the move." He orders
and hangs up.
"You
already had it planned?" I question, amused.
"Yes,
just needed your blessing."
I guess I
should be grateful he even asked. The old Ruxin would have simply
done what he wanted and apologize later, baby steps. "Thank you for
asking me first."
"Thank
you for agreeing." He smirks.
I laugh.
"You looked ready for a fight."
He
smiles. "With you, Angel. I'm always ready."
Ruxin
Novak
After
convincing Eva to lay down, I respond to a few emails and set up an
appointment with William at eleven o'clock today. I glance over at
the couch seeing her fast asleep and I'm grateful. She needs more
rest, she looks physically weak and exhausted. I know I should have
let her stay home and rest, but I couldn't. I need her with me its
too soon to let her out of my sight. I call Julia into the room and
she comes in quietly noticing Eva's sleeping form.