Treacherous (Andy Barber)

Chapter 28

Andy's POV

Aurora remained in the hospital for about a week before they felt comfortable discharging her. But before we went back to Colorado, Aurora's father, Drake, invited us to Richmond to spend a few days with him and his new girlfriend. Aurora accepted but as we got ready to board the plane from Roanoke to Richmond... she started to get nervous.

"Rory?" I squeezed her hand gently and pushed some hair behind her ear. "What if she's like Candy?" She blurted out, turning her head to look at me, "What if she doesn't want anything to do with me and makes him choose all over again... Andy, I can't go through that a second time." I took her face in my hands and kissed her gently. "From what he's told you, do you really think she's anything like Candy?" She shook her head no and I kissed her again. "I'll be there the whole time."

"Me too!" Jake said, leaning forwards to peer around me, and smiled at Aurora. She smiled back at him and gave me a kiss before leaning her head against my shoulder.

"Flight 1234 from Roanoke to Richmond, will begin boarding shortly." The gate attendant spoke over the loud speaker. "Dad, can I have five bucks to go buy some gum before we board?" Jacob asked me. I went to reach for my wallet but Aurora beat me by handing him $5.

"Thanks Rory!" He quickly got up and walked to the little convenience store in the airport for gum.

"Where'd you get that $5?" I asked her, raising my eyebrow. "You're wallet." She said, a slight smirk on her face. I patted my pants and sure enough my wallet was missing. I looked over at her and she smirked holding it up. I snatched it back from her and pulled her into me to give her a kiss. "Thief." I mumbled. "What are you gonna do about it Mr. Barber?" She said pulling her bottom lip between her teeth with a slight suggestive tone in her voice that made my pants tighten. Before I could say anything, Jacob came back and interrupted our moment. "Can you guys not be gross in public?"

Aurora laughed and stood up, pulling him into a hug and planting an obnoxious, wet kiss on his cheek. His face scrunched in disgust and pushed her off with a laugh.

Our group was called and I grabbed Aurora's hand as we scanned our boarding passes and boarded the plane. Jacob happily sat by the window with Aurora in the middle and myself in the aisle seat. Jake offered both Aurora and I a piece of gum before he promptly put headphones in his ears and began watching a movie. Meanwhile, Aurora snuggled up against me as we took off towards Richmond.

-

"And that's the tour." Drake said as he led us back into the living room after a small house tour. He lived in a modest 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home with a nice backyard and spacious living room and kitchen. "If you'd rather get a hotel I-" "Dad. It's fine." Aurora said, cutting him off and placing a hand on his arm. "Well. I know you guys all had a long flight... I have to run back to the clinic, so get some rest, okay? Make yourselves at home. Dinner with Nancy is at 7." He said. Aurora simply nodded and gave him a hug before he left.

"Jake my dad said you're welcome to his old video game collection in the office."

"Sweet! He was telling me about those in the hospital!" Jake said, quickly heading off towards the office to no doubt get into the vintage video game collection. I felt Aurora's arms wrap around me and I pulled her close. "Thank you for coming with me." She said, pressing her lips to mine. "I wouldn't be anywhere else." I said, giving her a kiss back. "Come on, let's get some sleep in a real bed." She said, pulling me into the guest room.

Aurora's POV

My father had made dinner reservations for us at Grisette, at 7pm, where we would be meeting Nancy and her 2 sons. Before we had left Roanoke, Andy and Detective Blake had taken me shopping so I would have clothes for the few days we would be in Richmond, and thankfully I knew my dad's restaurant tastes and picked out something formal. I made sure to have Jake and Andy both purchase something nice to wear as well... otherwise we would all have been very underdressed.

"Andy, I'm nervous." I whispered as we trailed behind my father and Jake into the restaurant. "Hey, look at me." Andy said, stopping to make me look at him. "If you want to get out of there, I'll get us out of there, okay?" I took a deep breath and nodded. I squeezed his forearms and he gave me a gentle kiss. "I love you, okay?" "I love you too."

We made our way to the table and a woman who looked to be in her 50's stood up as well as two men who were in their 20's to greet my father. Andy kept his hand securely on my lower back as we approached the table. "Nancy, I'd like you to meet my daughter... Aurora." Nancy smiled and walked up to me, pulling me into a hug. "It's so wonderful to meet you Aurora. Drake has told me so much about you. I'm glad to see you in good health."

"Wonderful to meet you too, Nancy. Please, call me Rory." I said, giving her a smile. She looked to Andy who was standing at my side. "This is Andy, my boyfriend, and his son Jacob." I said. Andy held out his hand and she shook it. "Wonderful to meet you three. These are my children Hayden and Brandon." I waved at them and they smiled at us.

Andy, always a gentleman, pulled out my chair for me. I was seated between him and my father who was at the head of the table, also next to Nancy.

"I'm so happy we're doing this." Nancy said. "Me too." My father replied, placing a hand on top of her's. He looked genuinely happy. We placed our drink orders with the waiter before making some casual small talk until we were all ready to order dinner.

"So Aurora, your father tells me you live in Colorado? And you're a bartender?" Nancy asked. I nodded, "I moved there after high school. Bartending was a good source of income."

"And what's you're major?" She asked me. I tensed up slightly and I knew Andy noticed. "I um, I couldn't afford college, so I dropped out." I looked down slightly and felt my dad place a hand on my shoulder. I knew he would want to talk about that more in depth later but for now didn't say anything. It got slightly awkward for a moment and my dad broke the tension. "Andy here is a lawyer. Isn't that right?" "Uh, yes. I actually started out in Massachusetts and worked my way up until I was an ADA for a while until moving out to Colorado and started my own family law practice."

"That's wonderful!" Nancy smiled, "What made you decide to move?" She asked. Now it was Andy's turn to tense up.

"Divorce. Needed a new start." He said, keeping it kind of vague. "That I can understand." Nancy said, taking a sip of her wine. "I met Drake after moving to Virginia. Both kids were in college, I was newly divorced... needed a change." "And it was love at first sight." My dad said, finishing her sentence and leaning over to give her a kiss.

The rest of the night went by and I enjoyed getting to know Nancy. It was clear she made my dad really happy. So much happier than he ever was with my mom. I also got to know her son's. Hayden was 25, like myself, and currently enrolled in Harvard Law. He enjoyed picking Andy's brain about everything he possibly could about being a lawyer. Brandon on the other hand was 28 and he was a computer engineer. He got along well with Jake who enjoyed hearing about what he did.

Once dinner was over, my dad insisted on paying the bill and we all went our separate ways.

"So, what did you think of her?" My dad asked as we got in the car to drive back to his house. "I really liked her dad. I can tell she makes you really happy." I replied. "She does. I was thinking about asking her to marry me."

"So why isn't she coming back with us then?" I asked him. "Well she knew it would be a full house..." He said, pulling into his driveway. Andy, Jake, and I got out of the car but I put a hand on my dad's door before he could get out. "Go." He only gave me a smile in return before nodding and driving off.

"Well, I'm going to play video games. Night dad. Night Rory." Jacob said, retreating into the office and shutting the door. There was a sofa bed in there so I knew he would be set for the rest of the night. "Night!" Andy and I replied.

"You okay?" Andy asked me, pulling me down onto his lap on the couch. "I'm okay. I really liked her. He's happy. That's all I've ever wanted for him." I said, resting my head against his own. I could feel his hand drawing circles on my thigh slowly and I leaned down to kiss his neck. "What are you thinking about?" I asked him, running my fingers through his gelled hair and making it fluffier.

"Just about us." He said softly, his blue eyes meeting mine. "About how you make me the happiest I've been in a really long time."

"I feel that way too, Andy. I really do." I kissed him and shifted so I was straddling him on the couch. Andy's hands moved around my body, finding a place on my hips. "Aurora?" "Hmm?" I hummed, running my fingers through his dark brown hair once again. "Marry me."