Accepting Destiny (26 page)

“What do you mean, what I think? I know you aren’t referring to me coming to work for you again, are you?”

He leans back in his chair and eyes me speculatively
, as he takes another bite of his sandwich, but he doesn’t answer my question, the jerk. I lean back in my char and stare, this feels so domesticated, sitting here at the table having lunch together. Makes our relationship seem more...I don’t know, real, I guess. Then again, the shit got real about three months ago, when this man came swooshing in to my life.

“What are you thinking?” He asks me, one eyebrow raised.

“Isn’t that something the girl is supposed to ask?” I ask, raising my eyebrow back at him. Well, I tried to anyway and I figure I probably look ridiculous, because Jackson busts out laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“You are, Ally. And yes, typically it is a question the ‘girl’ usually asks, but you looked lost for a minute. Penny for your thoughts?”

“I was just thinking how ‘domesticated’ you and I look, sitting here at your kitchen table having a casual lunch. Just seems, strange I guess. After all that has happened over the past months, this just seems...... casual. I
don’t know, I can’t explain it,” I say, leaning back in my chair.

“Well, get used to it Ally. Cause, this...” he waves his arms around, “will be happening often. I like having you here. Maybe o
ne day you’ll be here every day,” he says quietly, and I almost don’t hear him. It’s as if he changed his mind mid-sentence. I decide to not address it at this point. It’s too soon for that anyway. Right now, all I can think about is getting my life back to normal.

An hour later, we are in the back of the Bentley
, pulling in to Lenox Square to go shopping. As long as I have lived in Atlanta, I have never been to Lenox. It’s too upscale for little ole me, so I usually end up at TJ Maxx. The car stops in front of Neiman Marcus. Whoa, this is way out of my league. “Jackson, what are we doing here?”

He looks at me as if I’ve lost my mind. “I told you were going shopping. We need
to get you a dress for tonight,” he says, as James opens the door to let us out.

“Neiman Marcus? Jackson, I can’t afford Neiman Marcus. This....this is too muc
h. We need to go somewhere else,” I say, as I dig my heals in to the carpet of the car, Jackson trying to pull me out.

“Come, Alexandra,” h
e says, with a twinkle in his eye. I immediately remember the last time he told me to come. I smile a wicked smile at him. Maybe he’ll get the hint and get back in the car.

“You like telling me what to do, don’t you?” I ask
, as I give in, sliding across the seat to get out of the car.

“You have no idea,” h
e says, as he helps me out of the car. I stand tall and take in my surroundings. From the outside it looks like a typical mall, but I know once we get inside....well, I’m preparing myself.

Jackson leads me through the store, straight to the formal wear
, where a young blonde is roaming the floor, looking for her next victim. “We’re here to see Amanda Poole, please,” Jackson tells her. Her eyes travel up and down Jackson’s body, from his eyes to his feet and back up. I can see she’s affected by him and I restrain myself. I retract the claws, as she looks me over, a look of pity across her face. I can already tell she’s a bitch and she hasn’t even spoken.

She smacks her gum and looks back at Jackson. “Jus
t a minute, I’ll get her.” As she disappears behind a rack of clothing, hopefully to never be seen again.

“Who’s Amanda?” I ask him.

“Personal shopper. She is going to help you find exactly what you need for tonight.”

“A personal shopper? You don’t think I can pick something out on my own?” I snap. The audacity of this man sometimes throws me for a loop.

“Of course I do, but I want to do this for you. It’ll be fun,” he says, as a taller, brunette walks up with an actual smile on her face. Her hair is pulled tight in to a bun and her makeup is about six feet thick.

“You must be Jackson Bentley. I’m Amanda Poole, very nice to meet you. And you must be Alexandra, yes?” I nod, because her British accent has thrown me a bit. I was expecting the typical southern twang, but she’s refined and swanky.

“I understand you need cocktail attire for this evening. Any particular style?” She asks, as she looks me up and down. What is it with these people and their blatant staring? Oh wait, I get it. They’re finding it hard to believe that I am standing here with Jackson and not some long, tall and slender woman. Well fuck ‘em both.

“Yes, we are,
” I answer, a little sharper than I’m used to. Jackson just smiles down at me, a look of approval on his face. He must see it too.

“You two go ahead. Ally, I have an errand to run. I’ll be back in a bit. Text me if
you get done before I get back,” he says, as he leans in and kisses me. He’s leaving me here with Elvira? Yes, apparently, he is, because he just walked off towards the exit. Nice, thanks a lot Jackson.

Amanda takes me through the store
, pulling a garment rack behind her. Wow, she must really think this is going to be a good sale, because she’s milking it for all it’s worth. Before I know it, the rack is full of dresses, in all styles and colors. I try them all on and finally decide on a black lace dress, that seems to have glitter on it. It’s gorgeous. It hits just above my knee and the bateau neckline is all sheer lace. It’s fitted, but not so tight that it’s uncomfortable. I look at the price tag and immediately begin to take it off. No way am I letting Jackson spend sixteen hundred bucks on a dress. One that I will probably only wear once.

“Perfect!” Amanda says
, in her thick English accent. “You like?” She asks.

I nod my head, because I really do like the dress, but it’s too much. “Umm, do you have anything a little less....expensive?” I ask, a frown crossing her face. Ha, she thought she was going to get a huge commission.

“Mr. Bentley hired me to help you find a dress. He said money is no object, so you don’t need to worry about that,” she says, as I head back in to the fitting room. I suddenly feel sick to my stomach. How can I let him spend this money on me? He might feel comfortable with it, but I sure don’t. Heather would be in Seventh Heaven though.

Next I am traipsing behind her
, on our way to shoes. “What size?”

Size six and a half, please.

She nods, then goes in to the back stock room, coming out juggling four shoe boxes. I immediately fall in love with the first pair she shows me. It’s a lacy pump, with too high of a heal, probably three inches or so and a big lacy bow on top of a peep toe. “Ah yes, these will be perfect,” Amanda says, as she sets the box on the counter, heading back in to the stock room to return the other boxes.

I peek at the price, but she comes out and snatches the box before I can see it. All I know is they’re Valentino, so I can only imagine how much they are. I decide that I really don’t want to know.

I follow her once again to accessories, where she grabs a black clutch and then turns back to me. “All done. Let’s head back to dresses and I can get this all bagged up for you,” She says, as she turns on her heel, leaving me in the dust. Thankfully, the dress department isn’t that far away, or I would have gotten lost.

When we arrive at the counter, Jackson is leaning against a mirror
, playing with his phone. Before he looks up, my phone dings, indicating a text message.

J: Where r u?

“I’m right here,” I answer him. He jumps a little, like I a startled him and I let out a laugh.

“Shit, you scared me.”

“I can see that. How long have you been standing there?

“Just a few minutes. Have you got everything you need?” He asks
, as he eyes the garment bag, that now houses my dress. Good, he didn’t see it before she wrapped it up. Now I can surprise him, though I expect he’ll be surprised enough when she tells him how much all this shit costs.

“That’ll be Two thousand, four hundred sixty tw
o dollars and eighteen cents,” she says, with a devious smile on her face. Yeah, her commission will be good tonight.

Without blinking an eye, Jackson hands her a credit card and looks back at me smiling. I remember the last time I had to charge an outlandish amount of money and I damn sure wasn’t smiling.

He signs the slip and puts his card back in his wallet, then reaches for the bags. I let him carry the dress, but I take the other bag from him, to carry myself. “What are you doing, Ally? I’ve got this.”

“Um no, Jackson. You just got out of the hospital.”

“Yeah, well so did you.”

“But my injuries weren’t as bad as yours, I can carry the bag.”

I flash my eyes at him and he smirks, while he hands me the bag with the shoes and clutch. I stick my tongue out at him as I turn towards the exit, but he yanks my arm back. “The door is that way Ally,” he says, pointing the other direction.

Well, so much for getting in the last word, damn it.

As we step outside, James pulls up in the Bentley and gets out and opens, the trunk, taking the bags from us and putting them in.

We climb in the car and once James is back in, he pulls off.

“Where to now, Mr. Bentley?” James asks.

“Home.”

“So where did you go while I was shopping?” I ask him.

“Just had a few errands to run.”

That is the extent of his answer. I want to dig more, but he’s looking out of the window and I figure he’s not going to tell me anyway. So I look out of the other window and watch the office buildings fly by us. Well, I guess actually, we are flying by the buildings, but whatever. You get my point.

He lays his hand on my thigh and I immediately tense up. His fingers begin lazily stroking against my jeans, pressing just firm enough to let me know he’s there. It’s an intimate gesture and I take this as an invitation to scoot over a little closer. As my leg presses up against his, he lifts his arm and drapes it over my shoulders.

“Thank you,” I tell him quietly.

“For what?

“What do you mean, for what? You just spent an outrageous amount of money on me. I was thanking you, even though you shouldn’t have done it.”

“Alexandra, one thing you will learn about me
, is that when I love someone, I lavish them with things, they love. It makes me feel closer to them, knowing they are wearing something I gave them. Get used to it.”

“But Jackson....” He cuts me off, again.

“No, Ally. You’re doing it again.”

I sit back and look
at him, his arm dropping off my shoulder.

“Doing what again?”

“Over thinking it. Please, don’t. It’s something I like to do and I’m sorry if it makes you feel uncomfortable, but, I enjoy it and I have nothing better to do with my money.”

I huff out a breath, because I really hate him doing this, but I hate arguing with him even more, because he always wins. “Well, if you keep doing it, then I’m going to keep thanking you. So you’d better get used to that.”

I realize after I’ve said it, how stupid that sounds and immediately wish I had a retract button built in to my mouth, but I don’t. I sometimes wonder why my mouth insists on spitting out whatever my brain thinks of, but then again, I didn’t think. I keep quiet and wait for it, cause I know it’s about to happen.

At about the count of three, Jackson bursts out laughing. I try not to look at him, because I know I’ll start laughing too
and I’m not in the mood to laugh. Jackson just spent over two grand on me and he’s laughing. I’d be crying if I just spent that kind of money. I guess we’ve already gone over that, huh?

He pulls me in to his side and squeezes so hard
, I cringe. I guess the bruise on my rib cage isn’t quiet healed yet. I try my best not to groan out in pain, but I can’t get anything past Jackson and he releases me immediately, “Are you all right?” He asked, dark sympathy in his eyes.

“Yeah, just still little sore, b
ut I’m good.”

“Damn that bitch.”

Whoa, where did that come from? He seems angry now and I’m not sure how to react to that. He hasn’t brought her up since before he left the hospital, but I feel like I need to bring it up now, though I might be opening up a big ole can of worms.

“What’s going to happen to her?” I ask quietly, not wanting to rock the boat.

“Who cares? She can burn in.....”

“Jackson, no. Don’t say that. She’s sick, something’s wrong with her. She needs help, in more ways than one.”

“How can you be so sympathetic to her? She almost killed us both! She needs to be put away for life. I only wish I could be the one to prosecute her, but that would be a conflict of interest,” he mumbles.

“But you
aren’t actively practicing law,” I say, a bit of confusion lacing my voice.

“I will be, that’s why I want you
coming to work at the magazine,” he sighs. “I was going to discuss this with you in Miami, but I guess now is as good a time as any. I’m shutting down ops in Miami and moving it to Atlanta. I’ll keep the New York office because well, it’s New York. But Miami is small and three out of the four people have already agreed to relocate. That’s why we’re going down there, so I can tie up the loose ends and lock the doors.”

“Why would you close that office?”

“Because I want to spend more time in Atlanta, with you. Three offices is too much to manage on my own and since I plan to open my own law firm, I need the brunt of the operation close by. My mother would kill me, if I let it all shut, that was her baby. I promised her on her death bed, that I would continue it, but after all that has happened, I feel I would be better suited putting assholes behind bars. That’s where you come in.”

“Jackson, I know nothing about running a magazine. I’m an i
nterior designer, not an editor,” I tell him, but his eyes look so hopeful that I’ll take on this job.

“I’ll pay yo
u double what Tim is paying you,” he says to me. “And Heather, if she’s interested. Between the two of you, I think the magazine can be more successful than it is now. Please, think about it?” He asks, batting his lashes at me like a puppy.

Double? Shit, that sounds like.....like he’s buying me. Wait, surely that is not what he’s doing.

“Double? I don’t know Jackson, it kinds feels like you’re buying me. I.....”

“No Ally
, I’m not. Shit, I can’t get into it all, right now, but after the trip, you’ll understand. I promise.”

“Okay, then you can wait for my decision?”

“Of course, I wasn’t even going to bring it up again until the trip, but bringing Madison up, kinda screwed that idea.” Oh, so now it’s my fault?