Sweet Surrender

Chapter 6

Above is Alana! I was scrolling through pictures and when I saw this I was like "and we have a winner!" This afternoon I'll find Andrew and I promise we'll have an Andrew next chapter!

###

"Well I guess you should know that I won't be putting out with you if that's still what you care about in a relationship."

Alana's father had been taking a sip of water when she said this and choked.

His coughs mixed with the hard slaps Alana's mother was giving him to the back, trying to get him to breathe normally again, and this was the only noise in an otherwise silent room.

Never breaking her gaze, Andrew spoke to his father. "You can't make me do this."

Alana blinked in surprise. Andrew's voice had gotten a lot deeper since the last time she had seen him and he had definitely gotten a lot handsomer.

He was wearing a dark navy suit that contrasted with the stark blackness of his hair. Each part of the suit was fitted perfectly to his skin, hugging his broad shoulders perfectly and showing off the muscles he had obviously gotten since high school.

His once undefined jaw was now sharp as a knife and there were only a few wrinkles on his face that mostly centered around his eyes. Alana remembered that Nikki had constantly complained that Andrew had terrible eyes but thought glasses would make him look nerdy and that contacts would get stuck in his eyes. He had always been squinting, but he claimed to anybody that would listen that he still could see perfectly fine.

Even now, his eyes were slightly narrowed as he met her gaze defiantly.

"I can make you do this," Andrew's father warned, "And you will. If you want to maintain you lifestyle, she's the only way."

"I don't care," Andrew responded, "I'll go broke before I get involved with that."

He pointed at her and that was when Alana broke. "Stop!" she yelled, turning to address her parents, "You can't just pawn me off on him! You know how much I hated him! Both he and his father are treating me like an object that can be bought and sold!"

Before her parents could answer, Andrew's father cut them off, "But you can be bought and sold Lana dearest. Your parents have already signed a form officiating the marriage and everything. Your signature is just a formality, honestly."

Alana had felt uneasy at first at the use of a nickname for her by Andrew's father who had no right to do that, but her annoyance turned to outrage when she heard the last part of what he had said.

"Fine," she said, turning to face her parents, "You want me to do this so bad? I will. But Merry Christmas, Happy Easter, and Happy fucking Birthday to the both of you, because this is the last time we're going to speak for a while. I'm going to resume life like as it was, I'll just have a man who's like a disease with me now."

She reached over and grabbed the paper and signed her name at the bottom.

Before she could put her pen down though, Andrew unfolded a piece of paper from his pocket and placed it down on the table. "You'll need to sign this as well if I'm going to go through with this," he said with a smirk.

"What's this for?" Alana started to ask, but her mind was so clouded with anger she said, "You know what? I don't care. I'll just sign it."

She signed her name with a flourish across the paper and slid them both across to Andrew's father.

He inspected each slowly and his face broke into a grin as he saw the second. "Marvelous, just marvelous Andrew. I knew you agreed with me," he muttered.

"With what?" Alana's mother asked softly.

"You lost the right to question me when you signed those papers," Andrew's father said. He turned to face Alana.

"Your engagement will last one year. Tomorrow night, I have a reservation for you and Andrew at six o'clock at The Clarington downtown. Andrew has a ring already and he will be proposing to you in front of many reporters that I will have already tipped off. After that, you will begin your new life living with Andrew and working alongside him. Your parents will handle the wedding plans. You don't have to do anything whatsoever to help plan for the wedding."

At that point, Alana's head was spinning. She couldn't really keep anything in focus and everybody's voices were becoming muffled.

Andrew's father was still speaking, but she cut him off. "Is my car out front now?"

Andrew's father paused, and answered, "Yes, but we still have many things to discuss."

Alana couldn't take anymore. "I don't care. I'm leaving."

She got up and pushed her chair back, ready to leave.

As she took a step though, she must have been weaker than she thought because her leg faltered and she stumbled.

In a flash, Alana felt herself falling. Before she could hit the ground though, she felt a pair of strong, large hands wrap around her waist and pull her up.

She smelled a sweet scent that came off of Andrew as he pulled he up to stand next to her. She resisted the urge to lean into his and sniff.

"It's alright, Father. I think we've both had enough for today wouldn't you agree Alana?"

Mutely, Alana nodded and let Andrew lead her across the room towards the doors that lead to the elevator.

As soon as they had reached the doors, Alana turned to him and said, "There's got to be a way out of this."

Without looking at her, Andrew shook his head. "My father makes his contracts rock-solid. There's no getting out of this. I was relying on you putting up a fight. It so guess I should have come up with a better plan than that. We'll be engaged for one year and married for two."

Alana had to lean against a wall to support herself. She hated being weak, but this day was enough to take the energy out of anybody.

"And you're just fine with this?" she asked Andrew.

"I never had a choice like you," he said quietly, " I've always had to obey my parents to maintain my lifestyle. It sucks."

"Don't act like you didn't have a choice in this," she hissed, "Don't you have an older brother that could have married me instead? He's taking over the company anyways, right?"

Andrew was silent for a few moments as the doors to the elevator opened and they got on. He stayed silent all the way through the elevator ride.

Alana kept wondering why he wasn't answering, but when they got to the doors that led to the outside, he muttered quietly, "He died two years ago so now I'm stuck with you."

Alana opened her mouth to say some sort of comforting words, but Andrew silenced her with a look.

"Look," he said, "You and I have never gotten along, so I don't see why we would start now. We're too much alike. We make impulsive decisions, we let our heart control our actions, and we have controlling parents. This "relationship" between us is going to be nothing more than a business partnership, okay?"

Alana nodded in agreement. "I couldn't agree more," she said.

By this time, they had reached their cars that had been parked out front and Andrew got in his and left Alana struggling to find her keys in her purse.

He rolled down his window and said, "Tomorrow morning. 7 AM. I'll be at your apartment that you share with that idiot guy... Reid, to pick you up. Make sure you have everything packed because you're moving in with me."

If it hadn't been for the bomb that had just been dropped on her, Alana would have found the air to defend Reid. Moving in? With Andrew?

"Uh, no. I'm not moving in with you?" Alana said. "Not now, not ever."

Andrew laughed. "But you already agreed to it. You signed the contract didn't you?"

With that, he flipped his sunglasses on and put all the windows down on his Jeep. He raised one hand in a brief wave and Alana flipped him off as he backed out and drove down the highway, leaving Alana feeling dumbfounded and alone standing in front of a shack in the middle of nowhere.