Abby paused for a moment, thinking. But then she shook her head to my astonishment.
“No, it doesn’t make sense,” she said slowly. “I’m so sorry but it doesn’t Jared. Thanks for your time, I’m gonna take the elevator now, no need to show me out. The regular elevator,” she said with an emphasis.
But I seized her wrist then, every cell in my body panicky. Holy shit, I’d just offered a relationship to a woman, and she was turning it down? What the hell, didn’t the brunette get what that meant? Didn’t she see it was a golden ticket, that the mother of my child would have a free ride for life? Dozens of women have begged me for it in the past, and I’d been a laughing bastard, dangling it in front of them like bacon before a dog. But what I was giving freely now was being rejected, which made me double over with shock. The one girl who I wanted didn’t want me.
And nodding slowly, she pulled her wrist from my grasp.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. White,” the brunette said formally, not meeting my eyes. “But I’m looking for the real thing. Not something that you’re offering just because I’m having your kid. So thanks, but no thanks,” she said softly. “We’ll co-parent somehow, people make it work.”
That tore me in two. Fuck, I’m a hard-hearted bastard but those words absolutely devastated my soul. Because this wasn’t what I wanted at all. I’d been an asshole to her through and through, and even my apology had the ring of douche to it. Plus, co-parenting? That sounded like psychobabble bullshit along the lines of “loving uncoupling” and all that New Age bullshit. Fuck that, no way in hell. This called for the big guns, taking risks that I’ve never taken before. But I had to because Abby was worth it and we were dangling on a precipice, I was about to lose her. So baring my soul, I let it all out.
“I’m sorry,” I said sincerely this time, eyes blazing, chest so tight I could barely breathe. “I’m sorry baby girl, I screwed up and I hope you can forgive me.”
Maybe it was the my tone, maybe it was the desperate gleam in my eyes. But Abby really looked at me then.
“Sorry for what?” she said, chin set. “What are you sorry for, and what’s gonna change going forwards?”
Those were smart questions and I had to give her credit for asking.
“I’m sorry for blaming everything on you,” I growled. “All that shit, all the pressure to go up for auction when you didn’t want to, forcing you to …”
She cut me off.
“I didn’t want to sell myself, but I did, of my own free will,” she said slowly. “Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want to at first, but by the end, I did it because I’d decided to,” she said forcefully. “Not you.”
I nodded slowly.
“But I brought you to the Club,” I said hoarsely. “I made you into property, I treated you like you were nothing but a horse to ride at the races.”
The brunette nodded slowly.
“Maybe it started that way, but I always wanted you,” she said, looking at me, brown eyes inscrutable. “I came of my own free will, Jared. No one told me that I had to go anywhere or do anything.”
I stopped then. I’d thrown myself at her knees, begging for mercy, and it had been given. Everything that I’d apologized for, she’d turned on its head, making sure that she owned the narrative, that this was her story to tell. And I respected that, I loved Abby’s strength, her control, and her giving heart. Because she could have kicked me to the curb, could have made me beg until my heart bled, but Abby wasn’t like that. Instead, she’d re-framed the issues, helping me see her side, showing that there was more than one way to look at a situation.
And I knew I had to have her then.
“Abigail,” I ground out. “I’m so fucking sorry for everything, but I want to try. For real this time. I want to wipe the slate clean and start over,” I said in one breath. “With you.”
She looked at me, those brown eyes so intuitive, with solid judgment and incredible smarts.
“If we try, will you leave the brotherhood?” she asked slowly. “The Club’s been terrible for us so far. Will you leave, so that we can give ‘us’ a fair start?”
I took a deep breath, heart pained. Because the Billionaires Club is where I belong, it’s where I spend most of my time, work, play, everything important in my life took place there. But my obsession had made me grow careless, skewing my world views, making everything black and white instead of shades of grey. And I had something else now, something more important, more precious, and more valuable. So taking a deep breath, I nodded.