Chapter 20
Natasha
I awake slowly and immediately feel the exhaustion of a tired body.
I feel secondhand, maybe even thirdhand.
I feel the weight of someone watching me and I slowly open my eyes.
Hmm, what a beautiful sight to wake up to.
Joshua is naked and lying on his side next to me, leaning up on his elbow.
He smiles and leans in gently for a kiss and his lips linger on mine.
“Good morning, beautiful. Did you sleep well?” I smile and nod, still too sleepy to find my voice. I rub my eyes and roll onto my back. I try and will myself to wake up. He stays silent, watching me, and after about ten minutes of him watching me in silence I turn back to him.
“What?” I smile. He looks at me as if he wants to say something but is trying not to. I raise my eyebrows.
“Well,” I answer again. “Spit it out.”
He smiles and then swallows. “Are you going to leave me?” he whispers nervously.
I frown. “No, dummy, are you going to give me a reason to leave you?”
“What exactly classifies as a reason to you?” he answers.
I close my eyes and start to absentmindedly run my fingers up and down his arm. Why are we talking about this shit first thing in the morning? Give me a break.
“Being with another woman, Josh, is the only reason I would leave you.”
He nods and smiles. “What about when your parents find out, are you going to leave me then?”
I frown. “No, I wouldn’t have come this far if I planned on leaving you, you big dope.”
His eyes widen. “Big dope.” He grabs me hard. I giggle and roll to get away from him as he goes to bite me on the leg. “My precious girl, you just got yourself a one-way ticket.” I laugh again as he grabs to tickle me, and I make a dash to get off the bed.
“To where?” I yell.
He pulls me by the foot back toward him and I giggle.
“To Pound Town,” he snarls. I laugh out loud and squeal as I try desperately without success to escape.
“Pound Town?” I repeat.
“Yes, you’re gagging for a one-way ticket.” I squeal as I am dragged underneath my powerful man in a fit of giggles.
It seems I quite like destination Pound Town. I would suggest you take the scenic route.
We are in the shower and I am very relaxed. I can’t remember feeling so…sleepy. I have told him I love him, and he hasn’t run for the hills—things are looking promising. Although I did notice he didn’t say it back.
“What are the plans for today?” I ask. He kisses my shoulder and continues washing my back.
“I have to do some training. I have a fight tomorrow night.” My eyes widen and I jerk around to face him. “Fight…Josh. I don’t want you fighting anymore. I don’t like it.”
He frowns at me. “Tough shit,” he replies. “I do.”
I’m shocked. “Tough shit,” I reply as my face drops.
He nods to confirm that I heard him right.
I quickly wash the soap off and exit the shower.
I’ll give him tough shit…tough shit, he really should keep that big mouth of his shut more often.
I quickly dress and walk out onto the balcony.
He, however, takes his time and doesn’t join me for at least twenty minutes.
By that time, I am fuming. I am not dating a fucking cage-fighter.
No way in hell. What does he think this is?
An episode of Conan the Barbarian? Annoyingly, he walks out onto the balcony holding our breakfast tray, looking like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
Why would he? I have just been fucked every which way in a porno…
which he produced. I’m an idiot. He smiles warmly at me as he sits down at the table and starts to remove the trays for breakfast. I cross my arms like a petulant teenager.
He raises a brow. “Are you eating?”
Is he deluded? I shake my head. He hunches his shoulders and starts to tuck into his breakfast. I scowl again. He’s so annoying. He doesn’t even care I’ve got the shits. I walk over and pour myself a coffee. I really am starving, and he knows it, the asshole.
“Don’t you care that I’m pissed?” I snap.
He continues chewing his food and shrugs his shoulders. “Not really.” He smiles as he swallows.
My mouth drops open, of all the arrogant…I do wide eyes at him and he has the audacity to laugh. I’m so mad but for some stupid reason I find myself mirroring his stupid smile.
“What’s funny?” I snap.
“You are.” He smirks.
“What planet are you from? I’m not dating a cage-fighter, Josh. End of story.”
He scowls. “What planet are you from if you think I’m going to put up with your shit? You are not telling me what I can and can’t do, Natasha. Just because you love me doesn’t make you the boss of me,” he snaps.
I scowl again. Oohh, touché, idiot. Trust him to throw the love-you thing in. “Why in the hell do you want to do this anyway? I don’t get it.”
“Sit and eat your breakfast,” he sighs as he points at my chair with his knife. I sit and start to eat my breakfast in silence, and he smirks at me.
“Seriously, Josh, I’m going to have a shiny new pair of earrings in a minute.” I hold up my butter knife and he laughs.
“Calm down, psycho, I do it for exercise and the challenge,” he says.
“Challenge,” I repeat. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He shrugs. “Apart from you, I don’t really have any challenges.
Without sounding conceited, most things come easy for me.
I love technology. I would do it for free, but it has paid me a lot more than I feel I deserve.
That money has allowed me to buy the thoroughbred horses I love, so I find polo easy as well.
My cars, houses and women. Everything comes easy.
But when I fight it doesn’t matter how much money I make, or what my brain can do, or how I look.
It just doesn’t matter, it’s just me and my opponent and the ring and if I can’t fight then I’m going to get beaten and that feeling of being equal gives me a massive adrenaline hit.
I love it.” I narrow my eyes as I listen.
“I know it sounds like a head trip but that’s how it is,” he says, deadpan.
I suppose that does make sense. I can only imagine how it feels to be so successful.
I should be so lucky. I know I’m not going to win this argument and it’s true I don’t want him to have to change to be with me.
“Fine, but I’m not supporting this. There is no way in hell I am going to another fight.”
He smiles and picks up my hand and kisses the back of it. “Deal,” he whispers. “I have no wish at all to tell you what you can and can’t do.” He raises an eyebrow.
Margaret Stanton arrives at her lawyer’s office just after nine. She has travelled to Sydney to see this lawyer. She couldn’t trust anyone in Melbourne. They all know her husband. She is shown into his office by his secretary and she nervously takes her seat.
“Can I get you a coffee, Mrs. Stanton?”
“No, thanks, dear.” She smiles. The tall gray lawyer enters and shakes her hand.
“Mrs. Stanton.” He smiles.
“Yes,” she whispers.
“What can I do for you today?” he asks.
She pulls out a large envelope that is sealed with a wax seal and her nerves are obvious, even to a stranger. “I need you to put this in a safety deposit box for me,” she says nervously.
Her lawyer frowns. “You came all the way from Melbourne to put something in a safety deposit box?”
She nods. “Yes, I need your utmost discretion and my husband knows too many lawyers in Melbourne.”
“I’m intrigued, Mrs. Stanton.”
“Please call me Margaret.”
“OK, Margaret, what are your instructions?”
She swallows the large lump in her throat. “If I go missing or am found dead, I want you to deliver this envelope directly by hand to my eldest son, Joshua Stanton. Make sure he is alone when he reads it.”
The lawyer frowns. “Do you think your life is in danger, Margaret?”
She smiles. “I don’t think so, but I am concerned about a current relationship my son is having and if it continues it could be.”
“We must call the police. What exactly is in the envelope? I assure you it will not leave this room,” he breathes.
“No police…please no. I don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to this matter. If I do go missing, I am just covering all bases. After Joshua has read the contents please pass it on to the police.”
“Margaret, this is highly irregular, and I have concerns. What exactly is in the envelope? Are you involved in criminal acts?”
She smiles. “No, nothing like that. It relates to my son’s…paternity.”
He smiles and nods. “I see.”
She smiles a nervous smile at him. “If this information gets out, it will destroy the lives of my husband and son, but it will be catastrophic for a very powerful man who stands to lose everything.”
“How would this information put you in danger?”
“My son is deeply in love with his…first cousin. I have kept this information from him for twenty-seven years but if this relationship continues, I will tell him. I will not let him live a life of guilt when he doesn’t deserve to.”
“Maybe this affair will end.” The solicitor kindly smiles.
“We can only hope. He has been in love with her for seven years and they have recently reconnected. He is not letting her go this time. That I am positive of.”
The solicitor writes the necessary instructions and walks Mrs. Stanton out of his office. “My discretion is assured. Thank you for your trust.”
She smiles and wipes the tears from her eyes.
She hopes to god her son never has to see that letter.
It will break his heart as he idolizes his father.
Pain lances through her as she realizes Joshua is going to lose either way.
The love of his life or his father. Either way it’s a loss she doesn’t know if he will be able to bear and definitely not one that he deserves.