If Only

3. Thane🎼

Avia: Means Grandma in Latin.

When I got the news that my stupid nephew was cheating on her with none other than her best friend, I rushed back home from London canceled the meeting all because I wanted to make sure that she was okay, for the five years they had been together my nephew had been nothing but a pain in the ass, he didn't treasure her the way a man should treasure their woman, instead he used her for his benefit and his mother’s.

All in the while, she was in the dark, killing herself for him and his family. I prayed for the day that she would find out about their affair. Still, I never imagined it would be like this. Seeing her in tears broke something in me, but the fear of rejection stuck me in the back of my car. Watching, it was the same fear that had kept me away and made me watch over her in the years we were apart.

Some might call it stalking; I call it protecting the woman who could melt my cold heart. Yes, that's right, to the public, I'm the cold-hearted playboy who no woman can get through to. Little do they know I'm pining for one woman and one woman only.

“ Sir, should we do something?” My assistant, Driver Eric, asks anxiously as we watch her throw out my nephew and his female companion, who happens to be her best friend, from the house. From the looks of things, I would say that friendship is over.

“Let's wait and see,” I told him, staring at the house across the street. She was fierce as ever, which was the first thing I noticed when I met her years ago. Her independence and confidence were what attracted me to her. It was a shame that once she got with my nephew, all that was drained from her.

As much as I don't like to see her in pain, I believe this is something she had to go through for her to bust through that bubble that she created around herself.

“ By the way, did you find anything on that thing I asked you to look into?”I ask Eric.

He handed me a folder while saying, “They've been together for two years, but what's strange is that that girl is no good; she had an abortion not too long ago.” He said with disappointment in his eyes.

“ Was it my nephew’s baby?” I ask him.

Shaking his head, “ Strangely enough, no,” He turned to face me. “ The exciting part is that the baby was for the grandson of the Shaw family.”

I don't see how this is exciting. An innocent child lost their lives, he must have seen that I wasn't amused about any of it, cause he said, “ Get that the Shaw doesn't know about it, and from what I gather, she is his first love.”

How could someone so vicious be anyone's first love? I am at a loss.

“Let's keep that information to ourselves for now, but keep digging and find out more about that first love thing,” I told him. Something about it didn't sit right with me. The sound of a car approaching the house got my attention. Who is it? Did Jasper come back? Or did his mother come instead?

The driver quickly exited the car without proper parking, making a beeline for the house. It took me a minute to realize that’s her best friend, Sky, who came rushing to her. That one is a little bit hotheaded. This is precisely what she needs right now.

Satisfied that she won't be alone, I said, “ Drop me at the club.”

Twenty minutes later, I was drinking and joking with the guys at our usual booth. It's been a while since we've hung out, and it felt good to be back. It's like nothing changed.

Sitting back on his chair, Caleb looked at me and said, “ Thane, man, are you going to let her get married?”

Confused, “ Who? Who gets married?”

The look on his face tells me all I need to know: He was being sketchy, which can only mean one thing: he was going to start trouble with me.

Half a grin played on his lip. “ Oh, you know that young girl you've been keeping your eyes on?”

Sitting back on the chair, I look around the club before giving him an answer and getting myself under control. “There's nothing I can do about it; she chose my nephew, and that's that,” I say.

Derrick goes, “ Wait a minute. Are you just going to let her go like that?” As if the idea was something he couldn't fathom.

Over the years, I tried everything to get her out of my head. The more I tried, the more I was pulled towards her like magnets. She has a hold on me that she doesn't even know.

Every night, I ask myself the same question: How can I let her go when she was never mine?

Getting out of my daze, I said, “There's a good chance they might not go through with it.” I told them about the breakup.

“ Your Nephew is a scumbag, the lowest of the lowest scumbag,” Caleb voiced all of our opinions.

“ I knew he was one when he let her stay in the rain to get that contract for him from our Partners. “ Putting his drink down, Derek goes on to say, “Honestly, im shocked it took that long for her to find out.”

Guess what they say, it's true love is blind.

“ Well, it looks like tonight is your night, bro,” Caleb said teasingly as he stared across the room.

Derek and I followed where he was staring and I was shocked to see her sitting there getting drunk, I mean it's reasonable for her to come here and have some fun and try to forget the pain I mean I would imagine when you go through a breakup the first thing that come to mind is get drunk to forgot the pain but in all the years that have passed that was the first time I saw drunk, she looks cute with that bit of blush on her cheeck.

Putting my drink down, I was about to get up when I saw she was making her way to our section. I froze in my tracks, watching, waiting for what? She seems to know what she would do without a doubt in mind.

Swinging her legs over the rope, she skips over Caleb and sits right next to me, placing her legs over mine while her finger trails down my chest. It took my brain a minute to catch up that she was trying to seduce me.

After exchanging words, I picked her up bridal style with the guys cheering in the back. I ignored them and went to the Hotel across the street. Driving right now wasn't possible, not because of the way she felt against me.

Last night was more than I had imagined would happen. Over the years, I have imagined what it would feel like to have her like this in my arms, but the reality was much more than I anticipated. From that moment on, I knew that I had one thing to do and one thing only, and that's getting her to where she belongs.

That's with me.