Hello my lovlies! For those of you who are wondering, yes, I have every intention of completing this book. When I will complete it, I don't have a solid answer, but I assure you that I have a full plot line figured out and it's simply a matter of finding time. I do appreciate all of you who have stayed with the story this far. I love you all! Enjoy!
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Chapter 14
We started the drive in silence. After a few tense minutes I felt Trent suddenly take my hand.
“What? What are you doing?”
Trent gave me that very masculine laugh that I was beginning to hate. “Holding my wife’s hand. Is that a crime now?””
I gave him a confused sideways glance. “But why?”
“Do I need a reason?”
“Yes.”
“Because I want to then.” Trent gave me a playful smirk and watched me as he drew my hand up to his lips.
“Will you watch the road?”
Trent wiggled his eyebrows as me as he turned his head back to watching the road and slowly lowered my hand back down. After a few more moments of lighter silence Trent gave me his full attention again. “You doing alright?”
“What do you mean?”
“I know how much you just love drama of any sort or confrontation and most of the evening was just that. So, you doing alright?”
I sighed and took my hand back. I crossed my arms and stared out the window. “I’ll be fine.”
“Hey,” Trent’s hand went to me knee and gave it a light squeeze. “I want to help if I can.”
I sighed. “Do you want to tell me what that was all about back there?”
“What do you mean, Mikaela?”
“You and my dad?”
“That will pass.”
“You do realize that my dad never yells, right?”
Trent shrugged not even bothering to look at me. “He just cares about you. You don’t read the tabloids much, do you?” Trent asked, he was deliberately staring ahead.
“No, they seem like a waste of time, money, and brain power. Why?”
“I’ve been on the front cover of them more than once.”
“So?”
“The headlines aren’t always favorable.”
“Meaning?”
“My reputation precedes me.”
“Oh . . . what sort of reputation is that exactly?”
Trent sighed and looked to be gathering his thoughts. He was quiet for a long moment. “I’m kind of known as a flavor of the week kind of guy.”
“Well, are you?”
“I was.”
“Oh . . .” An awkward silence weighed in on the car.
“I’m not like that anymore.” Trent offered after a while.
“What changed?”
“I grew up.”
“Somehow, I believe there’s more to it than just that.”
Trent let out a bitter laugh. “You’re not wrong.”
“Are you going to tell the rest of the story?”
Trent shook his head. “Not tonight. I think we have enough to think about before we go and unpack our baggage. So, about what your dad said, what do you think about that?”
“I, uh, I don’t know. I never really thought about it. My plan never involved getting married in the first place.”
“You never thought you’d get married?”
“No.”
“I thought every little girl dreamed of getting married to prince charming.”
“I’m not every girl,” I snapped.
“Fair enough. Well, now that you are married, has anything changed for you?”
“What?”
“Now that you are married, ever thought of any of that stuff? Would you ever want any of that stuff? Like babies and things?”
I felt my face flush. “What?”
“Could you ever see having a family of your own? Not necessarily now, or even anytime soon, but someday?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have time for that sort of stuff. My schedule is pretty hectic. I don’t really think about stuff like that. Besides, I don’t think I’d be any good at it. I don’t even like little kids.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Why?”
Trent shrugged. “Just curious.”
“What about you?”
Trent nodded. “I want kids. Eventually.”
“Oh,”
“Plus, it’s kind of expected. I am the heir to the Ralston name.”
“Oh, yeah, got to carry on the family name, I suppose.”
Trent nodded.
“I guess I really don’t know anything about you, do I?” I asked, feeling a strange numbness.
“What would you like to know?”
“I don’t even know.”
Trent reached over and grabbed my hand again. “I have an idea.”
“What’s that?”
“Come out and meet my family.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone. That does not need to happen.”
“It’ll be fun. I’ll make it fun.”
“How is that going to be fun? I would have to go and meet them and lie the entire time. That doesn’t sound like fun to me.”
“You don’t have to lie.”
“Um, yeah I do. I have to pretend to be your wife.”
“You agreed to let me do this the right way. Part of that involves meeting my family. I just met yours.”
“You made that choice.”
“Mikaela, it will be fun.”
“I think our ideas of fun are very different.”
“Let me show you a good time.”
“I have work to do. I don’t have time to take off.”
Trent gave me a clearly annoyed look. “You have spent weeks working. I’m sure you can afford to take a week off.”
“I really can’t.”
“Come on, there’s Skype and video chatting and email. What’s a couple of days away?”
“Trent,”
“You’re just looking for an excuse.”
“Yeah, and? I don’t want to go and meet your family.”
“Why not? What’s the harm?”
“I hate lying!” I snapped. “Just drop it, will you?”
Trent sighed. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“It’s complicated, but part of this arrangement will involve you meeting my family at some time. Sooner rather than later is preferred.”
“Why?”
“In order for this to be believable, they’ll need to meet you.”
“So I need to convince your family we’re married and what? Then they can interrogate me?”
“Well, I don’t want that last part to happen, but basically.”
“Why is this so important to you?”
“It just is.”
“Yeah, not buying this, either you tell me what’s really going on here or you can count me out.”
“Then you let me in.”
“What?”
“I’ll trade you secret for secret.”
I rolled my eyes. “No. Tell me what’s going on or don’t expect me to go anywhere.”
“Then don’t expect unlimited funding.” Trent snapped.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
“You cannot keep threatening my funding. Either do it or don’t. This hot cold crap is getting old fast. My work is my baby and if you threaten that you will not have any sort of cooperation from me. Period. End of story.”
“I didn’t say I’d pull your funding. I would just limit it.” Trent chided.
“I’m done with this game. I can’t do this. Quit jerking me around.” I barked. This was one of the many reasons I didn’t associate with many people.
“Mikaela,”
“No. I’m done. I can’t do this. Especially not for a year. Take your funding back. I don’t want it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,”
“I’m not being ridiculous. I’ll figure something else out.” I felt exasperated. The tears were stinging my eyes. I knew what I was giving up. I was hurting myself, but also a lot of people I cared about. I was damaging my entire team as well as the aquarium, not to mention anyone who would later benefit from the research we were doing. I stared as hard as I could out the window. He would not see me cry. I would not cry in front of him. I took a few calming breaths that came out shaky.
“Mikaela?” Trent’s voice was softer now. I ignored him. He was the last person I wanted to be trapped in a car with. Trent’s hand went back to my knee and I jumped. “Hey,”
I scooted over as far as I could in the seat and faced as much of myself to the window that I could. I could not deal with this right now.
“Are you crying?”
“No,” I snipped.
Trent pulled over onto the shoulder of the road. “Yes, you are.” He put the car in park and unbuckled his seat belt. “Hey,”
“Just get us back to my apartment.”
“Mikaela,” Trent started to rub my back and I flinched away. “Hey, don’t cry,”
“Trent, can’t you just leave me alone?”
“No, not when I know you’re crying. Especially when I know it’s my fault.”
“I think you’ve tormented me enough for one night, thank you very much,”
“Mikaela, at least look at me.”
“You’re always the one making demands, aren’t you? I’ll just bet you’re used to giving orders. Well, I’m not going to just be another one of whatever you’re looking for. I’m not a notch in your belt or some toy you can play with then discard when you’re done. Can you just take me home? I really just want to get this year over with as quickly as possible.”
“Mikaela,”
“Save it,”
Trent sighed but got the car back on the road. There was a tension in the car so thick it was stifling. “I don’t think of you like that,”
“What?”
“I don’t see you as a notch in my belt. You’re not a conquest.”
“I have no idea what you really want from me. I don’t trust you.”
“I’m going to earn it then.”
“Good luck,” I snorted.
“Mikaela, let’s start over.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Why won’t you give me a chance?”
I stared at him incredulous. Seriously? Why on earth would I let him have a chance when he already stated all he needs is a year. You want to jerk me around and hold my funding over my head? I don’t think so. I’ll pass. I’ve had enough emotional bull to last me a lifetime. I wasn’t willing to bury myself further with his dramatics. “I’m not your prize. Get over yourself.”
The rest of the ride was awkward at best and borderline hostile at worst. I was exhausted and all I wanted was to go to bed. When we got back to the apartment I went to the bathroom and put the water as hot as it would go.
What in the world was I going to do for the next year? A year with my emotions being ripped at wasn’t an option. I sat down as the water beat down on me and started crying. I sobbed quietly to myself. I was overwhelmed. If I wasn’t strong enough to do this then my team, who’ve worked so hard for so long, would be let down. This was probably our only shot at having unlimited funding. I felt defeated. There was only one logical answer. I had to figure this year out. The question was, what would this cost me? I had to find a way to survive this year without destroying myself in the process.
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Yes it's short, but it was a good stopping point for me. I don't plan on it taking several months for the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed my darlings! <3