Under His Watchful Eye
She loves me.
Anna Mallon loves me.
And now I won’t stop until I have her where she belongs. Back in my arms.
Chapter Eight
Anna
A week can seem like an entire year when you are nursing a broken heart. It can seem like eternity when you add hurt into the equation. My cousin and her husband have been tip toeing around me like they are afraid I will break. My mood is always low and my appetite even lower.
My days in the past week have been comprised of cleaning nearly every surface on my cousin Terry’s house, scribbling away at my notebook, and remembering every single moment with Liam. Terry and her husband Robb seem to be barely tolerating my behaviours and barely putting up with the cleaning. I am miserable, but thanks to the pandemic, I can’t exactly drive home to Maryland no matter how much I want to. Basically, I am going through the motions feeling miserable but unable to have my mother’s arms to comfort me. There is a knock on the door to my assigned room before Terry’s head pops in.
“You need to get on the phone Anna. There is someone persistent about talking to you.”
The only person who knows where I am is my mother. She knows I am broken hearted from what Terry has been telling her, but I thought she was giving me time to come to terms with my emotional state. There is only one reason I can think of to explain why she is being persistent.
“Is this an intervention?”
She gives me a sweet smile, “Just get downstairs.”
Terry is the sweetest person I know, but she can also be quite stubborn. If I remain in this bed, Terry is not above dragging me there herself and we both know it. Pushing myself off the window seat, I stomp down the stairs to the phone making my displeasure known.
“It isn’t a good time Mom. I will call you later and…”
“Please don’t hang up Anna. Hear me out.”
I am slamming down the receiver before he can say another word.
“That wasn’t my mother on the phone. That was Liam Thorne.” I say turning seething eyes towards Terry. She looks non pulsed to her credit and the sweet smile is till on her face.
“I didn’t say it was her on the phone.” She sends me an arched eyebrow then continues, “He has been looking for you Anna.”
I knew he would look, but I didn’t know he would find me this fast.”He thinks I am a saboteur and that is why he is looking for me. I don’t want to go to jail for something I didn’t do.”
Her head is already shaking before I am done talking, “He knows you had nothing to do with it. Some guy named Tim hacked your computer to make it look like you were selling company secrets. Liam just wants to talk to you.”
Did she just call him Liam like they are best friends from high school? Wait, my immediate boss set me up?
“Have you been talking to him?”
The traitor has the nerve to smile.”I have. At first I wanted to know what was going on, but when he explained that it was just a misunderstanding, we started getting along.” When I keep looking at her like she has sprouted a second head she adds, “He is a nice guy and you are a snoop.”
WHAT?!!!
“Liam said I was a snoop?”
“No, but you picked up his phone without his permission. How are you not a snoop?”
The phone starts ringing again and we both stand there looking at it. Terry’s eyes are asking me if I am going to pick the phone up, but I don’t know if I can find the strength to talk to him now that I am not going to jail. Voicemail picks it up almost immediately.
“You feel hurt and I get that. But considering I fucked you on every surface in my house without any kind of protection, do you really think that is wise?”
Oh no.
Terry is looking at me like I am a very interesting scientific experiment now and my brain is zeroing on the fact that he is right. We didn’t have any talk about pills or diseases when we started sleeping together. It just kind of happened and now I might be pregnant for my boss. My cheeks flame red before Terry’s laughter pierces the air.
“Damn Anna. You have been busy, haven’t you?”
Luckily, Terry and Robb have been trying to conceive so she lends me one of her kits so that I can check. Six finds me calling Liam on Skype and checking my emails on Terry’s phone as I wait for him to answer. There are more than fifty emails from Liam alone along with a few others from Ava and from my mother. He answers just as I am about to give up and my lady parts clench hard.