Page 10 of Eternally Bound

A knock on my window had me jumping, sending my heart rate into overdrive. William, Callen’s business partner… ex-partner, stood by my car window with a worried look. I quickly opened the door and got out of my little car.

“Hey, William,” I greeted him cheerfully. “What are you doing here?”

“Just came to grab the last few things,” he answered, glancing down at the box under his one arm. “I’m on my way out.”

Callen refused to say what all happened, but I knew somehow William got pushed out. He raved about his partner for years, and then suddenly, Callen no longer had a partner. And right after they signed on Eve Bailey. Yes, she was Lachlan’s wife and would work with Callen, but she trusted this publishing company to enter into an agreement, and now it was all falling apart.

“Will, what happened?” I asked, hoping he’d give me an answer that Callen has been refusing.

“Callen didn’t tell you?” he retorted in surprise.

I shook my head. “He has been so upset. I didn’t want to ask too many questions.”

It was a lie. I asked plenty of questions. He just refused to answer them.

“Remember Liberty Smith?” I looked at him in shock. How could I ever forget her? I nodded, my voice stuck in my throat. “Her husband is Alexander Caldwell. He basically bought out the company for his wife. He felt she was mistreated when Callen picked me to be his partner.”

Alexander Caldwell isn’t wrong.But I kept my mouth shut.

“So, he now owns most of Callen’s company?” I inquired. I knew something was happening but never dreamed it was this bad. If he needed money to save his company, he could have asked me. I had plenty of it to help him. Did he think I would immediately assume he was back to gambling?

Maybe Callen and I were further apart than I dared to admit to myself.

“Well, his wife does. He put it all in her name.”

What goes around, comes around. I was actually happy for her. Her husband must care for her to go through such lengths to right a wrong done against her.

Was it horrible that I cheered for her? It certainly spoke volumes of my devotion for Callen. He never told me that Liberty saved his publishing company. He made it sound like it was all him. My cousin Lachlan was the one that told me he fucked her over big time, and that if he was Liberty Smith, he would have come after him. She certainly had enough ammunition. But she was a better person.

“What does that mean for authors under contract?” I asked him. Callen and William signed Eve Bailey. I’d hate to see her contract broken because of Callen’s mistakes.

“Well, I guess they now belong to Alexander’s wife. What are you doing here?” William asked.

“I promised Callen I’d answer his emails while he was on travel,” I muttered. Truthfully, I was horrible at that kind of stuff. I barely ever checked my own email. I wanted to help so when he asked for my non-existent secretarial skills, I agreed. William still stood there. As I beeped my car lock, I glanced at William. “I guess I’ll see you around town then.”

* * *

“Ainslee, you can’t just settle,”my childhood friend, Isla, scolded. I hadn’t seen her since that night when she, Eve, Lucy, and me got drunk as fuck at Brewdog bar in Edinburgh. The owner of the bar was still upset with us, so we avoided going back there. It was too bad because they had the best lunch.

Instead, we were suffering through the food at a chain restaurant.

“I’m not settling,” I justified myself. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Exactly!” she exclaimed like I just proved her point. “You can’t avoid marriage forever,” she lowered her voice, so there wouldn’t be any accidental eavesdroppers. “If you haven’t made up your mind about Callen yet, he is not the one.”

I knew he wasn’t the one. My hands clutched the table cloth like it was my anchor. If I tugged it on just lightly, the entire table would come tumbling down. Just like my life.

McLaren’s hearts are given only once.It was something my mother used to say all the time. Maybe that was the reason that I couldn’t go all the way with Callen - marriage and all that. Because I already gave my heart away.

Though technically, I wasn’t all McLaren since my father’s last name was Wallace. It was my legal last name too. I only used McLaren as my stage name.

“It’s been twelve years.” Isla’s voice gentled, sadness in her eyes. “I think we both know he is not coming back.”

Yes, I knew it. Survived it. And I moved on. I had a beautiful son that was my whole life. I wasn’t unhappy. But deep down the knowledge lingered that I didn’t love Callen. Not the way I should love him. I should accept that love would just not happen for me.

Not again.

Some people never experience it. I have. And damn if it almost didn’t break me. After years of waiting for him, I finally moved on but at the expense of Liberty Smith. So yeah… clusterfuck all the way around.

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