Keep You Close - HO

•6•

After Tom had left last night, I read the book until one in the morning.. in fact, I finished it. The couple in the story went through everything Haz and I did, and in the end they got back together and had their happily ever after. What Haz doesn't realize, is that we don't live in a story book where everything just works out. We live in the real world.
I start to get ready for the day. Since I'm off today I decided to go get brunch with Maggie. I should write some revisions, but that can wait.
"Yeah he just drops all these presents off like it's no big deal." I groan to my sister over FaceTime. My mother, father, and sister live in the states because they had to move there two years ago for work. I miss them all the time.
"Well he obviously had some crazy revelation when he saw you that night, it's weird that he went from leaving you alone to being creepy and obsessive." She comments.
"Just as I was starting to forget about him and boom. He's in my life again." I say.
We talk a bit longer, and I finish getting ready. There's a knock on the door, and I quickly hang up to run downstairs and answer it.
"Ms. Waters?" The guy in a nice suit asks.
"Yes?" I say.
"This is for you, from Mr. Osterfield." He says, handing me a very small gift box.
"He's sending his assistants now?" I mutter to myself, opening the box to see a key sitting inside.
"What is this for?" I ask.
"It's for that." He says, pointing across my driveway.
"Holy shit.."
A white Tesla sits in my driveway with a gigantic pink bow on top. I actually find myself unable to move or speak, as I'm in complete shock. Why did he do this? The flowers and books are one thing, but a car? This is absurd.
"Is he at the office right now?" I ask.
"Yes ma'am." The guy answers.
I walk past him, shutting the door to my house behind me. I pull the ridiculous pink bow off the top of the car, and throw it to the ground.
"Ms, may I ask, could you maybe make sure he knows that I didn't do anything. I really don't want to get fired." He says.
"I'll beat his ass if he fires you. You've got nothing to worry about." I assure the assistant before getting in the amazingly cool car, but I'm too angry to actually enjoy it to full extent.
It's really hard to not fall in love with this car as I drive it to Haz's office. It's fast, smooth, gorgeous, it's everything I want in a car, but I will not take a car from him. At this point he's just throwing his money at me and I don't want it.
I get to the office, and walk inside. I quickly come to the realization that I haven't been here in forever. Everything is different, it's more modern and upgraded.
I start to walk past the front desk but I'm stopped by security.
"You didn't check in." The man says.
"What? Since when do we have to-" I see Tom walking by, and I call for him. "Tom! Hey! Will you tell them to let me in?"
He laughs, walking over to me.
"I'm sorry who are you?" He asks and I glare at him. "Nah I'm just kidding, let her in guys."
"But sir, Mr. Osterfield made it clear, no one gets in without ID scans." One of the security guards say.
"Shes his lady friend, you know? His burning flame, the peanut butter to his jelly." Tom starts making analogies and I groan.
"Alright.." the man says, letting me by.
I walk past them, and Tom happily slings his arm over my shoulder as we walk.
"Miss me?" He asks.
"Nope, I'm pissed at Haz so I came to yell at him." I say.
"Oo can I watch?" He asks and I roll my eyes.
"Absolutely not." I say.
"It's okay, I'll just watch on the security footage." He shrugs.
"When did all these fancy changes happen?!" I ask.
"About five months ago." He says. "Haz went from making seven figures to making nine."
Well shit.. I didn't realize his business was doing that well. I'm so proud of him, but I'm more so angry at him than anything. So what he's even more rich now and is gonna try to buy my love?!
"His office is at the end of the hall now." Tom says.
I walk down the hallway, seeing many new faces. It's like he basically replaced the whole business with a new one. I grasp the doorknob, and open the door to see Haz sitting at his desk, typing on his computer. His head lifts, a smirk settling on his face when he sees me.
"Don't smirk at me, what the fuck is this?" I ask, setting the key on his desk.
"You gave me no choice." He states.
"What is that suppose to mean?" I ask.
"You weren't responding to my other gifts, so I decided the best way to get your attention is to piss you off." He says.
Of course he came to that conclusion. He knows me better than anyone else, and I forget that sometimes. He knew I'd get mad, he knew I'd come see him and talk to him face to face. This is what he wanted all along.
"Well, it worked. congratulations. Take the car back, I don't want it." I say.
"Of course you want it, it's amazing." He laughs.
"Yeah it's great but you're not going to buy my love so.."
"Buy your love? That's not what I'm doing." He scoffs.
And here we go, this playful banter between the two of us is the one thing that never died, and it makes it really hard to stay angry with him.
"Then what are you doing?" I ask.
"Trying to get your attention, trying to get you to talk to me." He shrugs.
I take a seat in the chair across from his desk, and he tries to hide the smile on his face. If he wants to talk to me so bad then let's get it over with.
"Go ahead. Talk." I say.
"You claim that there's nothing left between us but then avoid me because you can't handle having me around. It brings up too many memories. You can't say you're over me and miss me at the same time." He says. "So I have a proposal for you."
"Haz this isn't a business deal." I laugh.
"Hear me out." He chimes.
Oh here we go. When Haz proposes a business deal, he's convincing. He knows how to sweet talk a person into giving him whatever he wants, it's what makes him such a good businessman. I've seen him in action, I've seen him do the impossible, and now he's going to use that against me.
"Move in with me again for a month-"
"What?" I laugh loudly.
"I said hear me out. Move in with me for one month, I'll show you I've changed. If by the end of it you still don't want to be with me, I will fund all the promotions for your book and have my own marketing team working it." He offers.
Well.. his marketing team is practically a group of gods. If anyone can get my book up off the ground and make me a successful full time writer, it's them. They are all extremely talented, and I would love to have the best promoting my book..
"One week." I give a counteroffer.
"What? I said a month." He frowns.
"This is a negotiation. I learned from the best." I tease.
He shakes his head at me, a smile on his face.
"Fine. Two weeks." He says.
"One."
"Two."
"One."
"This isn't how this works, Angel." He laughs.
"Just for the nickname were down to five days." I mutter and his mouth drops.
"You loved that nickname!" He gasps in offense.
"Just keep talking, your days are going down." I say.
"Fine. Ten days." He offers and I sit on it.
Ten days in the mansion while he's going to probably be at work all the time anyways? Who would say no to that?
"You've got yourself a deal, Mr. Osterfield."
He grins, putting his hand out to shake mine.
"Glad to hear it Ms. Waters."