Page 4 of August

“Why not?” She told him pretty much the same thing that his brother had. That they were going to take over the company and he was easing them into it. “What happens to you? I mean, will you really go out on your own?”

“Yes, that’s the plan. I had a contract with my dad for a while, but it’s since ran out. Richard thinks that I’m going to continue working for the company with a cut in pay and no more working as a foreman. I have no idea why he thinks that I’ll agree to that, but then he’s Richard, so that makes everything right in his head.” She laughed again, but this time, it was forced. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if he tells people that I’m on my own. He’ll more than likely make it so that I don’t have any jobs to do, and that will put a lot of people out of work. I hired my own crew when I started out and most of them are only making it from check to check.”

“I’ll hire you. With the job that you did for the building that I designed, I’d gladly…I would make you a partner in my company. That way, I can chase you around the desk when there isn’t anyone around.” She laughed again, but it sounded so sad to him. Then she told him he didn’t have to do that. “I think it’s a brilliant idea. We can work together on the jobs and get them done in record time. With your crew able to start right away when the building is up, we’ll be able to get things to flow more easily.”

“And what will you do if my brothers make it hard on you? They will simply because they can.” August told her just what he’d do. “Buy them out? I don’t know if you realize this or not, but it would come at a pretty high cost. Even if they were willing to do it. It’s not been in my family all that long, but it’s still something that keeps them bread and peanut butter.”

“I love that. I’ll have to use that sometime when I’m talking to my brothers.” He saw his brother coming toward him and asked him to wait a moment. “I do have to confess something to you. I told Demitrius about our meeting up last night. Not any details, but he saw a hickey on my neck and put it together. He won’t say anything to anyone. But I wanted to know that I did that.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about that.” He told her that he was sorry. “I guess I’ll have to be more careful in the future about what I leave behind with you.”

He couldn’t help it. He laughed like it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. Christ, he loved this woman. Then he asked her when they could get together, not just for sex but on a date.

“How about tonight? I have a meeting with my dad at noonish today. Which means it’ll be around two, and after that, I might well need a shoulder to sob on. I don’t know what he wants, but it can’t bode well for me.” He asked her if she wanted him to go with her. She was quiet for a time, and he heard her cry. “You’re almost too sweet to be real, August. I’ll call you after the meeting. You could be getting into my heart if you don’t watch yourself.”

When she hung up, he stood there for several minutes, just listening to the dial tone. Turning to look at his brother, he wanted to tell him everything, including how she was taking over his heart andthe business that he thought they’d make together.

“Sounds to me like you got it bad for her.” He asked him what that meant. “I mean, big brother, you’re about in love with the pretty lady, and it suits you. I hope you aren’t jumping the gun here. I don’t want you to be hurt.”

“This just feels right with her. It’s almost as if we were fated to be together. I know that sounds corny but that’s the way that I feel about her.” He headed out to his car with his brother as they talked about the date tonight. “I don’t even know what sort of restaurant she might like. I’ll just take her to something neutral. That way, we can both enjoy what we’re having and have a nice place to be, too.”

There were several restaurants that he thought of, and in the end decided that pasta and steaks were the way to go. As he was taking a shower, wondering if this was the real thing, he thought about Jacklynn heavy with his child. Leaning against the shower wall, it was all he could do not to run out of the house and find her to see if they could make it true if it wasn’t already. Christ, he did have it bad for her.

At one-thirty, he was ready to call it a day. He’d been working on contracts for a new subdivision that was going to go up in Columbus, Ohio. He didn’t much care for this sort of work but he needed to keep himself busy or go make a fool of himself by joining the meeting with Jacklynn and her dad. The way that she talked about him, it made him think that it wasn’t going to bode well for her. He didn’t know why but that was just what he was thinking.

When his phone rang while he was getting himself a sandwich, he saw that it was from Jacklynn. It was all he could do not to try and go through the phone for her when she sobbed. He asked her what had happened.

“Can you come and get me? I’m a mess.” He picked up his key and headed to the door. “I’m at the Blackman corporate offices. Don’t ask me the address I have no idea where it’s at. Please?”

“I’m in my car right now, and I know where the offices are. I’m on my way, honey. Just hang on, and I’ll be there in ten minutes.” He wanted to ask her what was wrong but didn’t. She seemed to be upset enough. “I’m coming, sweetheart. Just hang on for a few minutes.”

He had to take several deep breaths before he left his driveway. He’d nearly pulled out in front of a car; he’d not been paying attention. Keeping his speed down, it took him exactly ten minutes to make it to the building downtown.

As soon as he pulled up, she opened the car door and told him to go. While he drove around, not knowing where to go, she sobbed in her seat until he could find a place that was good enough and quiet enough that he could pull over and help her. As soon as the car was off, he reached for her, and she nearly tumbled into his arms, crying harder.

~*~

She didn’t know how long they sat there, but she was feeling better now. Looking up at August, she couldn’t believe her luck in finding just the right person for her. Clinging to him, she asked him if he’d tell her something. Anything.

“All right. I can do that. I never told you this, but I think that you should know. I’m wealthy. That sounds like I’m bragging, but I wanted you to know that when we get together, and right now that’s about all I can think about, you won’t have to work another day in your life if you don’t want to.” He told her how Locke had bought the winning ticket that had made them all billionaires. August even told her about their abusive father and how they had left town without anything but the shirts on their back. “Then we broke down, literally in front of Martha Garble’s home, and after that, our lives kept getting better all the time. Two of my brothers are happily married, and I’d like to think that I’m next in line for that marital bliss. Tell me what he said to you so that I can go in there and bust his face in for you.”

“Such a romantic. He told me that I was fired. I guess someone saw me with you, and he was told that you came up to my room afterwards. Not to mention not leaving until this morning. I just let him talk at me. Not to me, mind you, but at me until I had enough and left him there screaming at me to sit back down.” He told her that he was sorry. “I think that if it hadn’t been you and I, he would havefound another reason to have tossed me out. He has it in his head that I’ve soiled the name Blackman. I didn’t even point out that I’m over eighteen and have been for some time.”

“Will you marry me?” She told him no once again. “You do know that I plan on asking you every day—maybe every hour until I wear you down, don’t you? Anyway, this allows us to be partners. Does he know who you soiled yourself with?”

“No. I didn’t tell him, either. I was so…I knew that he was going to not allow me to take over the business but to have said—he called me a slut. Who says those kinds of things to their own daughter? Richard had to marry Linda when she got pregnant. She didn’t want to. I don’t think she particularly cared for him. And I know that she doesn’t now. Hang on. That’s my phone.” He drove them to a fast-food place and ordered at the drive-thru. She could have kissed him as she was starving right now.

Not being able to eat this morning, and then he did this to her right around lunchtime…Jack almost missed what was being said to her. Asking Linda to slow down a moment, she took a long drink of her soda before asking her what she said again.

“Richard just told me that your dad fired you from working—who the hell does he think he is? And Richard is walking around like he’s got the biggest fucking dick. I did tell you that he’s barely noticeable when we fucked didn’t I?” She told her that she had and didn’t care to think about her brother’s dick. “Well, I’m filing for divorce. I’ve had enough of this family and their mentality of thinking. Bastards, all of them. They’re still pissed off that I’ve only had the two children, and they’re both—oh no, they’re both boys—I can’t thank you enough for being there when I had Peter and staying with me when I got my hysterectomy. You’d think that I cheated on him because everyone knows that the Blackman males only produce boys. He hates our children because he thinks they’re sissies. So what? They like to cook and play with dolls. They’re kids, for Christ’s sake.”

August asked her if she wanted fries, and that was when Linda realized that she wasn’t alone in the car. After telling her it was all right, not mentioning his name, she told her that she’d had the best sex in her life, and that was why she’d gotten fired.

“Good for you. I’m filing in the morning. I don’t suppose you know a good attorney, do you?” She told her that she did, actually, and told her the name of Zander Erickson. “Why does that name sound familiar? Not that it matters I’m taking Richard to the cleaners after the way that he treats me. Did I tell you that he has to tie me to the bed to have sex with him? Christ, I should have—scratch that. I’d not have my boys if I had aborted one of them. I love you, Jack. Please don’t tell them what I’m up to. I know that he’ll try to kill me if he finds out.”

After getting off the phone with Linda, she told August what was going on. “I knew that he didn’t know about her getting a hysterectomy, but I had no idea about the rest of it. Do you suppose my brother David does the same thing to his wife?” He finished off his burger and fries, and the two of them went through the drive-thru again. This time, he got her a chocolate shake, and he had another burger and fries. She could really get used to this sort of treatment.

“I have a question for you. Two, I guess. Will you marry me now? Today, if we can get it arranged? And the first one is if you will be my partner in my Erickson Design business. The first question, if you answer yes, means that we won’t have to change our name to Blackman and Erickson Design. The first one means that we get to have all kinds of fun all the time and maybe not get as much work done as we had hoped. Not a big deal. I have enough money to last us several lifetimes.”