50 Shades of Drake 1 and 2

50SOD II: Chapter Ninety-Nine

    Destiny turned frightened eyes onto Aubrey. "Don't say that," she whispered.

    "If you're going to kill someone, you don't have to worry about digging up dirt on them anymore."

    "I'm glad you told the police everything," she said with a shake of her head. "They'll be able to look into Palmer now. Find him. Question him. Or look for any video evidence that can tie him to the scene of the crime, at least. I don't have to live with Brian anymore. You're in danger just as much as I am. So now I can stay with you, and you can hire a ton of security guys, and we can be together."

    He turned and gave her the weirdest look. "Are you kidding me?"

    She blinked at him. "What?"

    "Didn't you see what happened up there?" he demanded. "It was a fucking bloodbath up there. You could have been in there with Carlos when that happened. I don't want you anywhere near me or this building. You can't be anywhere near me."

    "But..."

    "No, Destiny. All this did was prove that I was right in having you stay with Brian. There's no way I would let you stay around me with shit like this happening."

    "If Rafael was working for Palmer then Palmer already knows about us!" she exclaimed, pounding a fist on her thigh in frustration.

    "We don't know that Rafael was working for Palmer!" he shouted back.

    "But...it's the only thing that makes sense."

    "The answer is no." He started the car. "I'm going to take you back to work. You can take it easy today, after what has happened, but I'll feel better if you're surrounded by people. You'll be safe there."

    She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

    She can pout all she wants, he thought. But she's going to continue staying with Brian. I have to keep her out of harm's way. Hell... if I think about someone sneaking into my condo for another minute, I might pack a bag and go to stay with Brian my damned self.

    He drove her back to Graham Enterprises, but he had no intention of going back into the building. He parked the car and both of them sat in silence.

~~~~~~

    Destiny stared down at her lap. Seated close to the man she loved, but feeling like she was miles away from him. She wished that the two of them could just go away somewhere. To some private island where he could run Graham Enterprises via phone and e-mail communications for awhile. All she wanted was to be with him, but with this most recent development, he didn't seem to be letting up. He didn't want her around him. He felt like Palmer was targeting him and he didn't want her standing by him if he had a big, red target dot on his back. She sighed and stared out of the window at her side. All of this over some dumb article. All of this because a couple of politicians didn't want to back a musical education program idea of Aubrey's. People are dying. People are dying because of a few names that were spoken in an interview. People are dying, and Aubrey and I are having to live apart.

    "You mean everything to me," he told her. "I want to make sure you know that. But I can't have anything happen to you. Seeing Rafael like that...that could have been you. It could have been you or anyone else I care about."

    "I don't want to be apart from you anymore," she told him. "I can't live without you. Brian has been great, but I'm...I'm falling apart without you. I need you. I need...I at least need to be able to talk to you."

    "We can't chance it."

    "Aubrey!" she shouted, tears springing in her eyes.

    "You didn't see it," he said, his voice shaking. "You didn't see what I saw." He ran a hand over his head. "I am going to hire security. For myself, my mother and my closest friends. And for Brian's house. I'm going to have my investigator check to see if he can locate Carlos. Carlos could still be dead. We don't know. But we'll find out. In the meantime, I need you to be safe. Okay? I need you to stay away from me."

    She closed her eyes and shook her head, tears sliding down her cheeks.

    "I know this is hard. It's hard for me too. I hate living without you...but that's how it has to be right now. If you need to talk to someone or confide in someone, you can talk to Brian."

    "I don't want to fucking talk to Brian. I want to talk to you." She felt like she was whining. She felt like she was being immature, but she couldn't help it. Her heart was breaking in half. With all of the craziness going on, there was no telling how long she'd have to live without him, how long she'd have to go without talking to him. The fact that he'd told the police about Palmer was a step in the right direction, but the police still had to find something to link Palmer with the murder - there was no telling how long that would take. She lowered her hands to her stomach and another tear fell.

    He leaned across the console and nuzzled his face against her shoulder. "Everything will work out."

    "I don't believe you."

    "You should."

    "I don't think even you believe what you're saying," she said, sounding miserable.

    "Everything will be fine. There is something that I need to handle, but what I need for you to do right now is go back to work. Even if you sit in your office and do absolutely nothing, that's fine. But I need you to be around other people in a public place right now. I'm going to make sure your car is delivered to Brian's today. I've slacked on that and I'm sorry. I don't like the idea of you driving alone, to be honest. I'm strongly considering having a security team member drive you to and from work."

    She rolled her eyes. "This is ridiculous."

    "All I'm asking is for you to just...hang in there with me. Bear it for a little while." He dropped his gaze. "I mean...you can do whatever you want with whoever you want, but just...come back to me when all of this is over."

    "Ugh." She threw open the passenger door and stood out of the car. She started to close the door, but thought better of it and leaned down, peering in at him. "You see that I'm sitting here next to you heartbroken, and you feel the need to keep repeating that I can do whatever I want with whoever I want. You are the one I want! So stop telling me I can do whatever I want. It's really annoying."

    He looked up at her with sad eyes.

    "And just so you know?" she added. "I think I'm pregnant." With those words, she slammed the door shut and walked away from the car.