Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

L ooking at the clock, I see it’s midday. I’ve never hated Mondays more than I do today. Partly because I wanted to stay in that little blissful bubble I had with Bentley over the weekend in Queensland. We flew back in last night and went straight to her mum’s house. She broke the news to her mum and sister about her father’s murder. There was a lot of tears all around.

I ended up sleeping there with Bentley last night, because she didn’t want to leave her mum, and I wasn’t about to leave her . To say it’s awkward to wake up in the morning at your girlfriend’s mother’s house is an understatement. Also another first for me.

The second reason today sucks so fucking much is because I have to be in court for this fucking lawsuit Clive has issued against me. I trust Xavier. I know he’s fucking good and I have no doubt he’ll have this claim thrown out within minutes. We’ve been over the documents; discovery was short and quick because there isn’t anything incriminating submitted from the other side. I honestly have no idea how they even managed to get an attorney to take the case.

There’s a tap at the door before it opens and Bentley walks in. A smile immediately graces my lips. “You’re a sight for sore eyes,” I tell her, raking my gaze up and down the length of her.

“You saw me two hours ago.” She laughs.

“Two hours is a long time to not be looking at you.”

“Smooth,” she says, leaning her ass on the corner of my desk. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with?”

“I’m sure. Besides, you have a shitload of your own work to do. I hear your boss is an ass. You probably don’t want to give him a reason to reprimand you.” Then again, that could be fun, now that I have the image in my head. Bentley bent over my desk, ass up on display and pinkened by the slap of my palm.

“Get those thoughts out of your head. I can work overtime tonight if you want me to be there. I don’t mind,” she offers.

“I have much better plans for you tonight, Bentley. I’ll be fine. I won’t even be that long. I’ll be back before you know it,” I tell her, and stand to place a kiss on her lips.

“Okay, but you’ll call me if you need to, right?” she continues to urge.

“Always.” I kiss the top of her head and pick up my keys, wallet, and briefcase.

“Okay, well, I’d say good luck but you don’t need it.” She follows me out of the office and we walk in step down the hallway.

“I’ll see you soon,” I tell her as we part ways.

“You can get me off on the charges if I knock the fucker out, can’t you?” I murmur to Xavier.

“I can, but I don’t want to have to,” he says.

“Well, if he keeps looking over here, you might just have to,” I tell him.

We’re sitting in the courtroom, listening to the clown of an attorney present their case. It’s almost laughable, and I can tell by watching the judge’s face that he’s thinking the same thing.

“He’s trying to egg you on. Ignore it. You’re smarter than that,” Xavier hisses at me.

I roll my eyes. I might be smarter but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to get up and knock some of his teeth out of his mouth.

“Mr Christianson, your turn,” the judge, one we’ve both been in front of many times, says with a bored tone.

“Your Honour, this won’t take long.” Xavier steps in front of the counsel table with a handful of papers.

“Let’s hope not. I have a golf game to get to,” the judge mutters under his breath.

This is the kind of case I would normally close outside court. The difference is there was no way I was settling or coming to any kind of deal with the little fucker suing me.

“And to think you doubted me.” Xavier chuckles as we exit the courtroom an hour or so later.

“Not for one second,” I tell him. I never once doubted his ability to practice law. I doubted that my luck was going to continue, that someone like me could actually have everything.

I don’t talk about my past; it’s not pretty. So when shit like this happens, it always feels like the other shoe has finally dropped and I’m going to lose it all. I don’t care about the money, the job— I used to . They were what I worked so hard for. Now, the only thing I don’t ever want to lose is Bentley.

That thought has me pulling out my phone and scrolling through my contacts to find the real estate agent I’ve been dealing with for the past few weeks; he’s been trying to find me the kind of house Bentley wants.

“I need to make a call,” I tell Xavier as we walk side by side towards the courthouse exit.

“Ben, it’s Nathan Miller. Any luck yet?” I ask him.

“Mr Miller, I was about to call you. I’ve just had a property land in my hands. It’s not listed yet, and when it does go on the market, it won’t last longer than two days. If you want, I can meet you there today.”

“What time?” I ask, glancing down at my watch.

“Thirty minutes. It’s in Toorak. I’ll flick through the address,” he says.

“Sure, I’ll meet you there.” I hang up and pocket my phone. “We need to make a detour on the way back to the office,” I tell Xavier.

“Where to?”

“To look at a house.” I press the button, unlocking my car.

“Why are you looking at a house?” he questions while sliding into the passenger seat.

“Because Bentley won’t move into my apartment, and I fucking want her to move in with me.”

“You’re buying a house on the off chance she’ll move into it with you.”

“Yes.” I shrug.

“Sounds like a solid, foolproof plan and a great use of funds,” Xavier says, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

“I thought so too.” I laugh. I’m more than aware of how fucking crazy I am. I know I’m going out on a limb here, buying a house I intend to live in with Bentley, a house we can grow a family in.

“It’s four bed, five and a half bath. Three living rooms, a games room, a theatre and a gym,” Ben says, unlocking the door to the most suburban fucking family home I’ve ever seen.

I hate it, which means Bentley is going to love it. I’ve been told sacrifices have to be made in relationships. And if I have to live in this over-the-top, showy, suburban nightmare to be able to have a future with Bentley, then I’ll do it. With a damn smile on my face.

Walking through the door, I stop in the foyer. There’s a staircase to the right, and as I look up at it, I can see my whole future play out. Right here, in this spot. I see me fucking Bentley on that staircase. I see Bentley pregnant, walking down the stairs. I see our kids running up and down it their whole lives as they grow into adults. I don’t need to see the rest of the interior. This is meant to be our house.

“I’ll take it,” I tell Ben.

His jaw drops. “Ah, do you at least want to look at the house first? It’s an impressive foyer and all but still. Plenty more to see.”

“Give us the tour,” Xavier says from behind me.

I follow Ben through the house, vaguely listening to everything he’s saying. Xavier is the one asking questions about the structure, building, amenities, and so on. Me? I don’t care. Each room I enter, I can see us in it. Our family that isn’t here yet, but it will be.

“Okay, so I’ll put in your offer and have the papers drawn up,” Ben says, locking the door behind us as we exit the house.

“Sure. I want as quick of a settlement as you can get us,” I tell him.

“I’ll be in touch.” He nods as he makes his way to his car.

“Are you sure about this?” Xavier asks me as soon as I pull away from the property. “You hate suburbia,” he reminds me as if I don’t already know that.

“Bentley loves it though, and I love her. So I will love it here,” I reason with him. I don’t admit that the more I walked through that house, the more I fell in love with it. Or rather, what it represented.

Now I just have to wait for settlement and to move Bentley in with me.