She never wrote back.
In fact, I sat across from her in a car as she checked the mail that day. Watched her face pale as she read my handwritten words. Then I watched her look over her shoulder, up and down the street, to make sure that no one was watching before she ripped my heart to pieces and tossed the paper shreds down the drain.
I never told Trevor that I found her.
I know him well enough to know that he’d never understand it, and he’d add her to our personal list. He’d even insist that he be the one to handle her.
As she chases her oldest son around a makeshift swing, my phone buzzes in my jacket pocket.
“Yeah?” I answer.
“The McGregor job is in the works,” Trevor says. “I need a few more days of research, though.”
“Noted.”
“Where are you on Ryan Teddy, the foster care asshole who Uncle Avery paid off?”
“I’m—” I pause as he steps out of the same house where my ex-mother lives, as he kisses her on the cheek. He’s married to another woman who lives in a different suburb, and he and my mother are, apparently, fucking cheaters.
My blood boils as he waves to each of her sons on his way out, as his familiar, depraved greeting runs through my mind.
“You can call me Teddy, like a teddy bear…Treat me like your favorite teddy bear…”
I shake my head. It’s ironic that my mother flew across the country to tear her life away from ours; she’s unknowingly bound us together anyway.
“Are you there, Michael?” Trevor asks. “Did you find him?”
“I did,” I say, turning around to walk away. “I want to save him for last.”
Michael
Now
The sound of the automatic coffee maker whirring downstairs forces my eyes to flutter open far earlier than I intended. Meredith is sound asleep on my chest—her hair frizzy and wild, her hand still cupping my cock after a long night of insatiable sex.
I’ll never be able to get enough…
Looking at the clock on the wall, I blink repeatedly when I read the time. It says that it’s six fifteen in the morning, but I know that can’t be fucking right.
Meredith collapsed on top of me around midnight, and I’d followed suit an hour later.
If the clock is right, it means that I’ve somehow managed to get five hours and fifteen minutes of sleep. A full fifteen minutes that I haven’t been able to secure in years.
Reaching over to the nightstand, I pick up one of my burner phones—convinced that I’m not seeing this shit properly. Refreshing the screen, again and again, I slowly accept that it’s real.
I’m not sure what to think of this…
Slowly slipping out of bed, I tuck Meredith under the silk sheets and step onto the balcony. Opening a box of Cuban cigars, I lean against the railing and light one, puffing an “O” against the darkness.
There’s only one asshole left on my list, and as meticulously as I’ve planned for that day, I never planned for what comes next. I’ve always looked at my list of properties around the world and thought, “I’ll step away from what me and Trevor built in New York City for a while,” become a bachelor for a few years, and then take my time deciding what I want to do next.
Meredith has changed all of that.
I’m officially in uncharted territory with her, and the ship can only be steered in one of two ways: On ship one, she can return to her life of being “Meredith Thatchwood” with me, and I can come up with an intricate plan to get her life back in New York City. I’ll have to get her out of out any media hailstorms, away from any and all suspicions. That plan will take eleven weeks, though. At least.
On ship two, she can continue living her life in the shadows, never speaking to Gillian, her former coworkers, or anyone from her previous life again. She can play the role of a new character in whatever city she chooses, pick whatever backstory she pleases.
I’ll be there for whichever one she chooses, but I can’t help thinking that she won’t be completely happy with either.
I puff another “O” and hear the soft sound of footsteps behind me.
“Did you get any good sleep last night?” Meredith walks over to me. “Even if it was just an hour or two?”
“I got a little more than what I expected,” I say, noticing that her eyes are red and puffy, that there are tears streaming down her face.
What the hell? “What’s wrong, Meredith?”
“Nothing.” She smiles through her tears, her voice soft. “It’s the same thing that always hits me. Today is my mom’s birthday, so…I apologize in advance if I burst into tears here or there.”
“I’ve told you that you never need to apologize for that.” I put out the cigar, pull her into my arms as she burst into tears again.