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Fallon

H omework began early in the semester, considering I’d chosen to take online classes to get more out of my weeks with Kelly. They started early with reading assignments. Fall was the perfect season to have free days for exploring and have late nights for scrambling to finish classwork. I loved Halloween and I would not be missing out on the adventures of spooky season.

Every year we had a tradition of corn mazes, haunted houses, scary movie marathons, and a lot of candy.

No exceptions .

“How are your assignments going?” Kelly poked her head over her laptop.

“I finished most of my work, but I got a head start so we have time to dick around this week without worrying about some of these assignments. This year is going to be crazy since I’m going to play catch up with my classes now that I must change my major because some businessman told me I’m obligated to.” I shoved a sour gummy worm into my mouth.

“Geez. Sorry I asked. I was going to say English was hard, but I will respectfully keep my mouth shut about the difficulties of my classes around you.” Sarcasm dripped from her tone before she laughed and threw her pencil at me.

I closed my laptop in defeat. I wanted to be an exercise science major, but duty called, and I needed to be a CEO babe. Turning off the music from the Bluetooth speaker, I shoved the laptop aside and sighed.

“I also need to tell you something. I needed time to process it, but I think I’m ready now.”

She closed her laptop slowly. Her mouth was wide open in surprise. “Are you pregnant? Is it Brent’s?”

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. How would it have been Brent’s? Or anyone’s? “How would I even know I was pregnant if I supposedly had sex less than a month ago? Don’t people usually find out after like six to eight weeks? Also,” I threw a pillow at her. “I didn’t have sex with anyone let alone that fuckboy.”

“Then what else could need that much time of contemplation?” she retorted.

Good point . “Garrett asked me to be his official girlfriend at the party.”

“Did you tell him that you’re feigning for Brent? Or did you say yes?”

I tried to play it cool but opted to hide my face behind the sleeves of my oversized sweater. “Ugh! I am so inexperienced. The only thing that ever happened to me before this year was a kiss as a dare in sixth grade. But I told Garrett I would think about it. We hung out a bit in his car...and then he dropped me off and we almost had a full make out session on the doorstep.”

It was true. I hadn’t done much, and I didn’t know how I felt about it. Secretly, I wanted to get my virginity out of the way so I could stop stressing out about it. There were some opportunities last semester, but I couldn’t get myself to do it with a random.

“Do you think you’ll actually sleep with him at some point?”

Maybe, but I would be surprised if it was anytime soon. “I haven’t given it much thought. However, when we kissed, I got some fuzzy feelings.”

She giggled. “At least we know he turns you on.”

I fully buried my face in my sweater-covered hands. “I feel like a teenager.” My voice was muffled by the fabric. I looked back up at her and said, “I need some air since it’s getting hot in here with all this talk. Want to come to the back porch with me?”

She agreed and we sat on the porch while I refocused my thoughts to potential holiday plans and future landscaping endeavors for the yard. My mind drifted back to the board of directors and Evans telling me how my life would look in the very near future. The meeting was an introduction–I got some names I wouldn’t remember along with the faces of a bunch of stuffy looking men in suits. They wanted to catch me up to speed as soon as possible with the goings on in the business.

I didn’t want to change my major. I didn’t want to be told what to do. Despite my mother leaving me everything, I knew nothing of businesses–or how to run them. She left me a broken-down car. And I was no mechanic.

To say I was nervous was an understatement. What would running an international company like The Montgomery Group even be like? What was expected of me? Would I make it, or would I run the company into the ground, destroying everything my mother had built for us?

Those were questions for me to address later. I shook them off and tried to lighten my thoughts back to the present. To sitting with Kelly on the porch. “Do you think we should put in a hot tub?” I pulled out my very own pack of cigarettes and a pink lighter I purchased when no one was looking.

Maybe I did want to impress a man . Attention felt nice.

“Since, um, when do you smoke?” Kelly gave me an incredulous look. She never saw me smoke a day in my life–or do anything edgy, actually.

Since Brent , I thought. I wouldn’t tell her that, though.

Ignoring her question, I offered the cigarette out to her. It felt like I was mimicking Brent in a way. “Want one?”

“You should try weed sometime, since you’re quite the bad girl now.” She took it from my fingers and brought it to her lips, drawing in a long puff.

“Very funny. I’m changing topics now. I wanted to get some work done out here and a hot tub installed so we can have some of our own parties.”

“Only if you hire the hottest contractors so we can watch them work.”

“Deal,” I said, scrolling through my phone to find some contractors on a services app. It looked like there was some availability within the next week. Hot contractors here we come!

I swapped apps to look at some travel websites. We talked about heading to Europe for a vacation, but I was feeling like we wouldn’t be able to head out until after Christmas with the business shit I was being thrown into. Despite that, I looked into some places that offered full itineraries.

“What do you think about this?” I showed her my phone. “It’s a six-day trip spanning France, Germany, and Italy.”

“Now that sounds fun.” She released a puff of smoke, looking out into the yard. She seemed to be lost in thought.

She disappeared after we hung out on the porch into her bedroom—-she had a weird look, but I didn’t think too much of it. She reappeared hours later while I was into my homework.

“Hey girl, I’m off!” Kelly adjusted her earring while running out of her bedroom. She had her pinky looped through a pair of heels while she tried to fix her hoop into her ear.

She was always off to someplace with someone. I looked up at her over my laptop. “What’s the adventure this time?”

Before she could answer, a knock at the front door pulled both of our attentions to the foyer. I popped up and went to look through the peephole. “It’s Shane,” I whispered, plastering a mischievous smile on my face.

Kelly was such a maneater. That, or he had a great stash of nose candy. Kelly had a preference for the rich kid substances on occasion—I told her it was no good, but she was in her wild child era.

I opened the door to see Shane standing awkwardly with a bundle of flowers. He also dressed up from his standard casual attire. Kelly stumbled back into the hallway to ready herself just out of our direct line of vision.

“Wow,” I said. “Are these for me? You shouldn’t have.” I held out my hands and took the flowers from him.

He gave a nervous laugh as I took them. “Is Kelly ready?”

She was poking her head out from the hallway with a thumbs up. She was finishing her buckles on her heels. “Yeah. Come on in. She might be ready, or it could take about a year fo her to come out. I’ll go put these in a vase.”

Holding up the bouquet for her to see, I shuffled into the kitchen to get the flowers properly displayed on the dining table. It was bittersweet to see a man come over with flowers, and it made my heart squeeze for her. I secretly wished I didn’t hole myself up when I lived with Sylvia, but it was to protect myself. I had plenty of time to get flowers from a man.

“Almost...Ready!” She called over to Shane as she ran back to her room. He patiently stood in the foyer in wait.

I wondered what her plans consisted of. I never pried beyond what she wanted to share. She kept a lot to herself despite being my best friend. Frankly, with the things I did hear, I didn’t feel the need to pry anymore than she was willing to share.

She finally appeared ready. Frazzled, but ready. I showed them both out and called out after them. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do! Love you, dude!”

I shut the door and sighed. Ah, the house all to myself.

Never mind. My phone rang in the kitchen. I hurried to look at who was calling and instantly wanted to cry. Evans .

“Hello.” Kill me.

“Hello, Miss Montgomery. I would like to announce we have heard that you have not changed your major and we are going to assign you a bodyguard as our new emerging CEO.” His voice lacked personality.

“Is a bodyguard necessary?” Did my mom have one? Did I even know about them? My life was turning into a weird mess one day at a time.

“You are the sole heir to your mother’s company. I would expect you to thank me for sending James, your new bodyguard.”

He was serious and his tone never diverted from being stuffy and personality-less. Speaking with members of the board made me curious about my mother’s life—the one she never shared with me or bothered to mention. She left it all to me, but why did I feel so blindsided by everything ?

“And you didn’t think to send me one when I was younger?” It was a fair question.

“We tried. Your aunt and guardian told us no and sent over the paperwork for refusal.”

Sylvia. The bane of my existence. I always wondered what else she could have gotten up to when I lived with her. Outside of drinking and trying to sleep her way into money, she treated me oddly. Sure, she was cruel and hit me when she was drunk, telling me to go back to my room, but she was always acting...strange. There was always a creepy smile plastered on her face like in horror movies.

Maybe she was possessed by the devil.

“She what ?”

“She was appointed guardian after all. We will discuss it when we meet formally in the boardroom. Be on the lookout for James in the morning. He will bring paperwork for you.” Click .

I was given a bodyguard and had mild anxiety. Somehow Sylvia still haunted me after she kicked me out of her house. When would the drama end? Last semester was far better, and I wanted to go back.

Back to just Kelly and me hanging out at home. Back to no boys around. Back to scary movies and popcorn nights. In reality, I wanted to go back and talk to my mom again so I could ask her all the questions I had. She left me far too soon.

There was no way to go back or way to change the past. All I could do was enjoy the memories.

I plopped myself down on my bed, resigning myself to the thought that I wouldn’t be doing anymore homework—or thinking. My brain was too overloaded and didn’t feel like a sponge anymore. Instead, I grabbed the remote and flipped on the television in my room to watch some low effort, empty brain content.

The sun was right in my eyes, and I looked over at the curtains. Brent’s jacket was staring at me next to the window. What was I supposed to do with it? Would he come back for it?

I got up and ran my fingers over the smooth leather, wondering what adventures it had gone on or the girls it’d seen. The jacket was well worn and had just the right number of creases to show it was used but loved. A few creases here and there. It had been through a lot and found myself relating to it in a way. Looks like we’ve both been through some things.

A thought hit me. “You know what? I’m going to return you to your owner. You’ve had a fun stay at my house, but I think it’s finally time you go home.”

There was no time to talk myself out of it. I pulled the jacket off the rack and stomped my way over to the living room while the sleeves slapped back and forth. He was going to get his jacket back so there were no ties left. I didn’t want him holding this over me somehow.

I swung open the front door and the cold air hit me. Was this a bad idea? Probably. Was I going back? Nope. The jacket was going back to him—goosebumps and cold be damned.

My eyes adjusted to the dim light outside as a figure stepped onto my porch.

“Hey, Blondie.” His voice was just as smooth as the first time I spoke to him—he dripped silk and charm on all the girls most likely. It was irritatingly charming while he used that godforsaken nickname.

I froze in my tracks. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Me? Out for an evening stroll. You?” His tone was so casual. How was he so nonchalant with everything? He probably wouldn’t flinch at a dead body with how at ease he was all the time.

“I’m bringing your stupid jacket back.” My voice was a mix of irritation and exhaustion.

He crossed his arms and smiled. In the low light, I saw where the tattoos crept up his neck and ended at his jawline. His hair was short enough in a buzz cut that everyone could see the tattoos kept going up the sides of his head. Brent was tatted to the max and his face always said try me . “Yikes. Lots of attitude tonight, babe.”

This guy is ridiculous . I fully stepped outside and closed the door, standing as tall as possible. There was no way I’d let him see me shrink away from him even though he looked down at me from his height. He was a tower of a man. I held his jacket in one hand with the other on my hip. “Here.” I held it out while looking him in the eyes.

The jacket jutted out into the empty space between us, and he looked at it like it was a foreign object and cocked his head. “Took you long enough.”

I grunted in frustration. “You could have just taken it with you the other night.”

He pushed the jacket back at me. “Where’s the fun in that?” He took a step closer, and I could smell him. He smelled like trouble—-fresh and warm with a cigarette edge. Why he looked and smelled this good was a crime if you considered his reputation. “Seems like I have been running through your mind for a while.”

“Yes. Like a petulant child.” I flared my nostrils in an angry huff, shoving the jacket back out at him again.

Unmoved, he looked me up and down, his gaze lingering longer than necessary. “So...dressed like that,” he paused, clearly staring, “you decided to come to my house and return my jacket?”

I glanced down at my pajamas——skimpy and consisting of a spaghetti strap crop top that could easily pass for a bra and too short satin shorts. I clicked my tongue and realized I must have looked ridiculous.

He was testing me. Trying to force my hand somehow. What was his angle ? I found it hard to believe that the moment I decided to return his jacket to him he just so happened to be waiting for me on my porch. It was a little too strange to be an innocent coincidence.

Did this guy read minds ?

We locked eyes and the tension held between us felt thick. Palpable. For some reason he made my heart race and adrenaline course through my veins. “Yes,” I said, shaking those thoughts away. I tried to cover myself in a feeble attempt to reclaim some semblance of modesty. It ended up in a weird attempt to cross my arms over my chest.

He mimicked my stance and folded his arms. An eyebrow raised, he played a teasing smile. “I like it when you dress like this all for me. Do you dress like this for that boyfriend of yours?”

I ignored that. “Last chance,” I snapped, holding the jacket back out. “Take it back this time or I’m turning around and going back inside.”

He chuckled and leaned himself onto the porch railing. That deviant smile still played on his lips. His demeanor was nonchalant as usual and it annoyed me. What kind of guy was always playing these types of games? A fuckboy, that’s who. One of his fingers found his chin and he gave a faux pondering expression. “Dealer’s choice, then. The first option is getting my favorite riding jacket back. The second option is getting to watch you walk away from me in those skimpy little shorts of yours.”

Anger rose through my bones at his disrespect. My face reddened in a mix of embarrassment and rage. He really thought he could do and say whatever he wanted. “You’re a disgusting asshole. Take your shit and get lost.”

I threw the jacket at him with all the force I could muster.

He caught it easily. Instead of leaving me in peace, he stepped closer, our bodies barely a foot apart. I looked up at him as he towered over me and his face had that annoying smirk on it again. If he wasn’t as hot as he was, I would probably stab him . “Careful, babe. You’re going to hurt my feelings.” One of his hands came up to his chest in a mocking fashion.

“Unlikely.” I moved my foot to take a step back but realized I was backed up to the door. There was nowhere for me to go unless I opened it and slammed it in his face. “You have your favorite, and probably overused, jacket back. Now, shoo.” My hands flicked away from my body as if that would make him leave.

He wouldn’t leave. Even if I thought he would, I had a feeling that he’d just be back again anyway. It was like he had to finish his conquest before moving on to the next girl, but he didn’t realize I wouldn’t give it up for him that easily. Garrett didn’t even get an answer from me on if I wanted to go exclusive with him or not.

In a move that felt typical for his type, he leaned in and placed a hand on the door behind me. His voice dropped into a low whisper that sent electricity through my spine and down to my toes. “You know what? I have a better idea: you come with me.”

Breath didn’t come easily to me when he was this close. I tried anyway. “I’m...not going anywhere with you.” Lie.

His eyes darkened, his playful tone turning serious. “You sure? Because I’m not really asking.” The space between us became almost nonexistent and his face was inches from mine. Just like the first time we had this rodeo. And there went my breathing again. “Go change, Blondie. Otherwise, I’m taking you just like that.” Hungrily, his gaze traveled down my body and lingered on my barely there pajamas. “Not that I mind. You look so damn good in these.” He snapped the strap of my top.

My heart pounded so loudly in my chest that I was sure he could hear it. I could hear it. Maybe the neighbors too. There was no way he was going to drag me away in basically my underwear! “You’re off your rocker,” I hissed.

Bad idea. He seemed to like it.

“Maybe,” he whispered. Those lips were dangerously close to my face. He moved his eyes from my lips up until he met my gaze; his expression was unreadable. “But I’m dead serious, Fallon. You should get dressed, or I’ll haul you off in your irresistible little shorts. Your choice.”

In the same moment he went to snap the waistband of my shorts, I turned to open and run through the door, hoping to get through and slam it in his face. Before it could latch closed, his hand shot out and stopped my attempt at locking him out. The door halted in place, and I met his eyes with a challenge to try me.

He really thought he was going to cart me off like some prize. “Do you want to play this game?” His voice was low—-daring me to try him.

Giving him my best angry glare, I tightened my grip on the door. As if I could overpower him. “I am not going anywhere with you,” I groaned, struggling to push at the door.

A dark smile played in the crack of the door. He looked like a serial killer . With little effort, he pushed the door open, his eyes never leaving mine. He was asserting a sick form of dominance tonight. “You can try all you want to hide from me, but we both know you’re not going to. Even if you locked me out, I’d still get back in to get you, dragging you out kicking and screaming.”

Who the hell did this guy think he was? Did girls really like this shit? I pushed back with what my little arms could give me, and I secretly hated myself for eating gummy candy and not working out. If I was more fit, maybe I stood a chance. Or not. No dice; the door didn’t budge. The intensity in his eyes showed he wasn’t planning on backing down anytime soon.

I gave up and released the door with a huff. He pushed his way inside and I backed away quickly keeping a close eye on his expression. He looked like the big bad wolf coming for dinner.

Half running, half stomping, I made my way back to my room while making a feeble attempt to cover my ass with my hands. I locked the door. No way was he going to see any more of me. Throwing on a sweater and jeans haphazardly, I wanted to get my clothes on as fast as possible in case he made good on his word to break into locked areas. What nerve this guy had. Kidnapping— really ?

When I poked my head out from behind the wall, I caught him standing casually just inside the door. He was taking in the surroundings and looked far too comfortable in my house. Before I could psych myself out, I walked back into the living room, leaving a couch’s worth of space between us.

His eyes flicked over to me and sparked in approval. Good to know you approve of my clothes on too, asshole.

He closed the distance between us, holding his jacket out. “Here,” he said, spinning me around and draping it over my shoulders. “If you’re going to be—-unfortunately—clothed...”

I looked over my shoulder back at him, confused at his sudden change in demeanor. First, he was trying to kidnap me in what looked like underwear. Then, he was being a gentleman and putting his jacket on me to keep me warm. Sour, then sweet. Just like the candies I ate.

Before I could process any of it, he scooped me up in one swift motion, slinging me over his shoulder like I weighed no more than a sack of potatoes.

“Brent!” I yelped, pounding my fists on his back and kicking out. “Put me down!” It felt pointless to struggle. He had a firm grip on me and patted my ass as he closed the front door behind him.

All he did was laugh while he carried me down the walkway. His car came into view and the realization hit me that he planned this anyway. I was just dumb enough to want to bring him his stupid jacket back at the same time in a twisted coincidence. He reveled in my resistance and slaps to his back—he loved it.

He wanted me to fight back more.

My ass found itself firmly planted on the seat of the passenger side and he strapped me into the seatbelt. We were off before I could get my bearings and another night in this twisted game he was playing started yet again.

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