Page 12 of When the Last One Falls
Chapter 8
Brantley~
Four weeks later, I was still pissed as fuck. As soon as I’d left my parents’ house, I had left for the island as planned. The only communication that I’d had with my wife had been the emails going back and forth, requiring her signature.
When I had arrived at the island, I’d expected a drug lord to come shooting me off the property with all the armed guards that had been stationed on the island. Instead, I’d met with the property manager-if that’s what you could call him-and after one conversation with Keris and a shitload of signed documentation later, I’d been allowed free reign of the island.
Sleep hadn’t been an option, what with me still needing to do my job stateside, so to say that these past four weeks had been hell was an understatement. Of course, Beau hadn’t been any help, either. He had called to give me shit about not inviting him to the wedding. He had also talked a lot of shit about fucking my wife if I couldn’t stomach the duty. I’d almost flown back home to kick the shit out of him.
The only bright spot was that I hadn’t heard from my father during the entire four weeks that I’d been on the island. Granted, after our argument at the house, he knew better than to keep pushing when I was feeling like this. Lack of control was something that I didn’t deal well with, and that’s what I’d been feeling when Keris Bishop had walked into my parents’ house that Saturday morning.
While I’d always been aware of how beautiful Keris was, I’d never stood that close to her before, and her beauty from afar was nothing compared to her beauty up-close. She’d been fresh-faced, not an ounce of makeup on her, and I’d never seen a complexion that creamy before, or eyes that particular shade of green. I had acted like an asshole, but I’d had to. No way had I been about to let my father win the first round. I’d had a statement to make, and I’d made it.
When he had followed me out of the sitting room, it’d been my mission to destroy any hope that he might have had about a grand alliance with the Bishops. As far as I was concerned, mine and Keris’ marriage was nobody’s business but ours. I didn’t answer to my father when it came to my personal life, and no matter what he might think, Keris was now part of my personal life, no matter that this had started out as a business arrangement.
Removing my clothes, I headed towards the bathroom, knowing that I was going to have to sell the condo eventually. I had every intention of living at the house with Keris, and a condo in the city wasn’t a good look. Despite what I’d told my father, I planned on doing my best to be a decent husband. Out of the both of us, Keris’ reason for going through with this marriage was more noble than my reason, so she deserved the benefit of decency.
I also had no plans on cheating on her. All that venom had been just to piss my father off, and it served him right since he thought that he could intrude on my personal dealings with my wife. After I had agreed to marry Keris, I’d gone through all my contacts, deleting the numbers of any females that weren’t business related. I had also deleted the two escort services that I used, canceling my accounts for good.
The only person that had deserved a phone call had been Rochelle. For the past few months, Rochelle had been my go-to for formal events and whatnot. Tall, blonde, built, and beautiful, Rochelle was the perfect arm accessory for any man. Of course, after a while, she had hinted to wanting more, but I had put a stop to that kind of talk immediately. For all her beauty and refined grace, deep down, Rochelle was your quintessential gold-digger, something that I had no interest in. Though a great fuck, her pussy hadn’t been good enough to make me come to heel. Still, I’d been seen with her enough times that a phone call had been warranted when breaking it off with her. Of course, I hadn’t given her a reason, and I could only hope that the next time that I saw her, she didn’t cause a scene.
Stepping underneath the hot spray of water, I turned the shower jets on high to ease some of the tension in my muscles. I had flown in only two hours ago, and I was still operating on little to no sleep. Nevertheless, there was an art charity gala tonight, and Keris was expected to be there, representing Impressions Gallery. This would be the first time that we’d be in public together, and considering that it was more of a work event for her than it was for fun, we needed to make a good first public impression as a couple.
I knew that I was taking a risk, showing up without letting her know first, but I didn’t want to take the chance that she’d tell me not to show up. While I might be an asshole, I wasn’t a stupid one. I had treated her terribly enough that Saturday morning that she hadn’t even said goodbye when she’d left. Still, when I’d heard from my mother that Keris had moved into the house, that had given me hope that she was willing to listen to me about why I had treated her the way that I’d had.
After my body felt better, I went to finishing up my shower, getting as cleaned up as I could. Normally, art charities weren’t my thing, but that was something that I was going to have to get over. With my wife being a museum curator, art was going to be a part of my life from now on.
With a tux always on hand, I quickly got dressed. When my look was as good as it was going to get, I shot off a group text.
Me:Either of u going to the charity auction 2nite?
Onyx:Nah. Jewel is being a bitch again. Gotta handle sum shit
Mag:I’m already here
Me:Is my wife there?
Mag:Yep, and ur 1 lucky sonofabitch
Me:B there in a bit
I almost texted my brother just to make sure that he wasn’t there, but I just didn’t have the energy to deal with his bullshit. Plus, if he wasn’t, me sending him a text might prompt him to show up, and I wanted him nowhere near Keris until she and I talked. I also had no idea if either of our parents were going to be there, in addition to the rest of our bullshit. Granted, they’d all be on their best behavior in public, but there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t bemecausing a scene this time.
Most of the time, my temper was manageable; it had to be. I wasn’t one to fly off the handle, no matter how badly I wanted to. It wasn’t that I feared going to jail, considering that money could buy you out of almost anything, so no. People just weren’t eager to do business with someone unpredictable. If that were the case, then Beau would be more successful than me and our father combined. People wanted stability when they were handing over their money or business propositions. They wanted to trust in someone that could keep a level head during a crisis. So, for all that I had a bad temper, I kept it under wraps for the most part. Only Magnus and Onyx were witnesses to the few times that I’d lost my shit.
Grabbing my wallet, keys, and phone, I headed downstairs. I’d had the car service stick around, knowing that I’d plan on heading to the charity auction as soon as I’d gotten ready.
The ride over was quiet and uneventful, though I’d been going through a ton of emails that I needed to address on Monday. I was always working, and I honestly didn’t know what I’d do with my time if I weren’t. I suspected that I’d be bored out of my fucking mind.
My thumb fiddled with my wedding ring, something that I’d started doing almost as soon as I had slipped the damn thing on my finger. It was habit now. My finger felt naked without it, and I was still a bit surprised that it had taken very little time to get used to the weight of it on my finger. Tonight would be the first time that I’d be seen in public with it, and I knew that the gossip was going to run rampant. While I had every confidence that my parents and Keris’ parents weren’t advertising the merger, my father had been right, and my marriage was officially public record. Anyone with a vested interest in me could easily learn of the news. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ares Cormac knew about it.
Of course, nothing was official until it was splattered all over social media, so with both Keris and I keeping mum about our marriage, no one would believe it until they saw it for themselves on some sort of social media platform or another. It amazed me how many people took what they saw on social media for the absolute truth, rather than picking up a book and reading the facts, or actually listening to factual news. Everything was a goddamn opinion these days, and if everyone’s opinions didn’t line up, then that’s when all hell broke loose. Personally, I had better things to do than give a fuck about what a bunch of strangers had to say about shit that didn’t affect me. In all honesty, I rarely gave a fuck about what the people that Ididknow said.
Pulling up to the font of the Harrington Hall, I saw people dressed in their best finery, making their way up the stairs and into the building. Paparazzi used to be a big thing at these things, but with everyone high on selfies and wanting to be seen, there was no real need for them anymore.
Letting myself out of the car, I sent the car service back, done with them for the night. My hope was that my wife was going to be willing to give me a ride home later this evening.
Chapter 9
