Page 46 of Erotic Behavior (Observant Behaviors)

“You realize how crazy this sounds, right?”

“Yes.”

“What about your sister?”

“My sister and William are why I did all this.I guess my mother was a contributing factor back then, but I couldn’t care less about that anymore.I was never worried about me, but Ashlee and William need the money.I have more than enough to support them now, but it makes me feel better to know that with me in charge of the business, they would always be taken care of.My sister is a bit too prideful for her own good.She would just as soon live on the streets than take handouts from me.I have money from the business transferred directly to accounts for both her and William every month from the company.It was an arrangement I told her my father wanted put in place so she didn’t argue with me.She never worked for the firm, and I never wanted her to.I didn’t want her and my mother to know about my father’s illegitimate children.The affairs were hard enough on the family while he was alive.”

“Children?”

“There are four others with two different women.At least that’s all I know about so far.I’ve hired investigators who have done as much as they could to find everyone.My father wasn’t exactly a family man, if you know what I mean.”

“When is this deadline?”

“September twenty-sixth.”

“That’s in three months, Beckett.”

“I know.”

“Is this why you want me pregnant?Why haven’t you pushed the marriage thing?”

“I want you pregnant because I can’t wait to start our family together.I love you, Raven, and I meant every word I’ve said to you.I want nothing more than to see you carry my children.As for the wedding, I knew you would come around eventually to the idea, and I didn’t want to force you into it right away.”

“But that was the arrangement you made, wasn’t it?To buy me at a fucking auction so you could have the wife and child you needed for money?”

Beckett tried to reach for me, but I unbuckled my seatbelt and stood.I looked down at him.“If I find out you are the reason my best friend is married to an asshole who won’t let her talk to me, then it doesn’t matter how much I love you.I will never forgive you.”

I walked toward the back of the cabin and pulled open the small door I had seen there earlier.It was a bathroom that didn’t look anything like you’d see on a typical plane.It was still rather small, though, so I pulled the door behind me and locked it.I looked into the mirror and I barely recognized myself.In a short time frame, I’d gone from a former college student who wore clothes off the clearance rack to a woman who wore designer clothes on a private jet from New York City to Colorado.I reached for a tissue and carefully wiped the tears from my eyes.I was so emotionally exhausted, I didn’t even have it in me to break down again.Between my father and now Beckett, I just wanted the world to stop spinning so I could jump off.

“Raven.Are you okay?”I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath as I heard him knock softly on the door.

“Give me a minute, Beckett.I just need a fucking minute for once in my life.”

“Okay, I get it.I’ll be here when you are ready.”

I dropped my head in defeat.His voice sounded almost sad, but I couldn’t help it.I was pissed, and I still didn’t even have all the information I needed.I had no way to get away from him, hell, we were on a plane in the middle of nowhere so I had no choice but to deal with this.I looked back up at myself.The woman in the mirror was still me.I was just pretending I had my shit together when I didn’t.The rest of the story is what I needed.I needed to know who the hell I was living with and why he spent more time lying to me than telling me the truth.I’ve never needed my mom and Talia more than I did in that moment, but I didn’t have anyone other than myself to count on, so that’s what I was going to do.For the first time in my life, I was going to trust myself to make the right choices with no one else’s opinion.

I pulled open the door to find him standing right in front of it.“I take it space wasn’t something you were willing to provide me?”

“I stopped knocking, didn’t I?”The crooked smile he gave me nearly made me give in, but the awful feeling in my gut still hadn’t subsided.

“I want to know why you arranged for me to be at that auction and why Talia got pulled into this mess.It’s the whole truth now, Beckett, or the second this plane lands I leave.”

Panic

Beckett

Ineverunderstoodpanic.I don’t think it’s an emotion I’d ever really experienced until Raven stood in front of me and told me she would leave me.I knew I loved her and I had seen love do crazy things to people that never made sense until that very moment.

“Let’s sit down.”

I stepped to the side and gestured for the couch in the back of the cabin.We still had a long way to go, and I had a lot I needed to tell her.Raven took a seat at the far end of the couch and pointed to the chair across from it.Clearly, she didn’t want me next to her.I took off my jacket and sat down.

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“How about with the question I just asked you?”

“I had nothing to do with Talia being recruited other than telling them who she was and how close the two of you were.From there the company took it upon themselves to get her to sign.They are the most reputable company that does this sort of thing, so I had hoped by going with them you both would be safe throughout the process.”

---