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Chapter 42: The Nerve of the Man
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The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 43: Family Crisis
The phone rings again and I shake my head. Vincent would never let me call him V or refuse a telephone call regardless of how excited I might have him.Another ring fills the space, and I roll over, getting caught up in the comfortable sheets. My eyelid cracks open and I feel lower, noticing I'm still wearing pants. Speckles of light shine through the large bedroom windows of the apartment, and Vincent isn't in bed beside me. The side of the bed where he lay a second earlier in my mind is cold. City lights twinkle under a starless sky, and with one hand I reach out and find my phone on the dark wood nightstand that came with the bed."Hello?" I say into the phone, not checking to see who is calling."Mackenzie," my mother's voice screams into the phone and I sit up, clutching the covers to my chest as an icy chill causes my muscles to flex."Mom?"She sobs into the phone so loudly I'm forced to pull it from my ear."What's going on? What happened?" My body grows heavy with
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 44: A Rescue
Yet, for some reason I don't put my car back in gear and return to the highway. Instead I shut it off and sit in the driver's seat in the far corner of the Price Road park-and-ride waiting for my jerk of a boss and his driver to get here. It takes less time than I expect for the black car to stop in the open spot next to me.Vincent gets out of the front seat and approaches and opens my door. I turn to him, the tears starting again, and wrap my arms around his middle. With heavy but safe hands, he draws me from my seat and walks me over to his. I slide into the smooth leather bench and nod once at Davis who looks at me in the rearview mirror with sad eyes.Once the doors close, Davis starts again, and Vincent tucks me under his arm in a warm embrace unlike anything I'd expect from the man. Where's the cold heartless jerk I spoke to on the phone twenty minutes ago?"I'm sorry I'm crying." This isn't the way a boss should see his employee. Especially my boss."Take all the time y
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 45: It's Not About the Chips
For the first time since we've met, he doesn't bite. He only shakes his head and points to the revolving door at the front of the hospital. What a wonderful time for him to become the bigger person and leave me standing on the sidewalk looking like a fool alone.With slow steps I walk past him and into the cold white building. As I follow the signs for intensive care, my steps pick up until I'm almost running when I barrel through the large metal doors to the unit where my mother said my father has a room. A small lobby with chairs and vending machines is to the right and a woman, my mother, with a tear-stained face steps out."Kens," she says grabbing onto my arm while clutching a small cup of coffee in her other. "Have you heard from your brother?""No," I say and her face falls. There's so much sorrow in the lines of her face and I don't know how to fix the problem.My mother wraps me into a deep hug squeezing tightly as if she can somehow suck the life out of me and return
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 46: Back to Formalities
Her eyes brighten at the thought and she nods for the first time. "Something cheesy. No salt and vinegar."I smile. Salt and vinegar potato chips have been an ongoing struggle in my home growing up. They are my father's favorite and my mother can't handle the smell of them. "On it," I say digging through my purse for loose change.If she wanted to munch on cheesy chips rather than food then I could at least give her that wish. There wasn't much else I could do to help her.She grabs onto my hand as I step out of the room. "If your brother contacts you, run right back to the room."I agree, promising I will, but I'm no further than the corner of my dad's room before my real thoughts surface. Like hell if my deadbeat brother finally contacted me would I race back in and tell her. I'd walk slower while telling him the fuck off. His crazy behaviors caused my father to have a heart attack, and he ran away from the problem. The not answering phone calls is the least of his issues onc
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 47: It's a Stupid Crush
In the end, after a few seconds of internal back and forth, I realize there is no way I can say no. It's my father."Okay, thank you." I say and realize for his faults and for the times he's upset me, I owe Vincent a thank you. A big ass one. He never waits to hear appreciation for his last good deed before doing another. It's amazing and... annoying. How can he be a saint and an asshole at the same time?"The next time you see your father's doctor, let him know I'll have someone there in the morning and to get the OR prepped. And for the love of God, Mackenzie, keep your phone on so you get my texts." The first signs of his annoyance show through in his voice."I'm sorry. There's no signal in the room.""Well, check in on occasion. Doesn't the hospital have guest Wi-Fi?" His overbearing concern has me smiling even if it's ridiculous. I have no place being happy in a hospital waiting room. There was an unlocked Wi-Fi, but it sucked too. I considered it a commentary on the entir
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 48: Bad Motives
He tracks each of my steps to his table, and as I get closer, he pulls the second chair from the opposite side to sit beside him. Next to his laptop a brown sandwich with big yellow arches sits beside him next to a steaming cup of coffee."They serve coffee here. You know?"Vincent's nose crinkles. "I can only imagine the taste resembles river water.""Hey, we treat everything before we drink it." I'm sure Vincent has Davis driving all over town looking for an acceptable cup of coffee, and I can picture his disdain when he found out there isn't anything. McDonald's is as good as it gets."How did you survive without a place to get a decent cup of coffee for eighteen years?" Vincent asks unrolling the top of the brown bag."We made it at home." Or we have low standards of coffee. It's obvious he hasn't spent much time away from the city. Life doesn't work the same way here."I picked you up one of these. I figured you wouldn't eat breakfast this morning."He hands over a w
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 49: Henry's Return
What?He must be joking.I pull my hand back a fraction, puzzled at his response. All of this is to get me back to work? It can't possibly be the truth, but why would he say it? Why can't he admit that he feels something too?I shake my head, gathering my thoughts, and realize maybe he hasn't admitted it because he doesn't. It's possible those things people say about billionaires becoming rich because they're ruthless is the truth. There's no shining nice guy hiding under his gruff exterior. Would Vincent do this for his other assistants? The man is so utterly frustrating.But as much as I tell myself he's a jerk and stare at him as he goes back to his computer undisturbed by the fact we're no longer holding hands, I can't see past what he's done.The obvious jealousy with his client in Chicago and the help he's gotten for my father. The furniture in my apartment. Hell, the apartment. These are not the things an asshole does for his employees. It's so much more.And the kis
The Valiant Trilogy Chapter 50: Annoying Men Everywhere
Vincent told me to take as many days I wanted, but I hadn't planned on a week. It went by so quickly with my father in the hospital and then my father coming home. After that I need an extra day to help get him set up to recover in front of his TV in the living room. My brother returned to school in Big Rapids to finish out the summer session and it left me and my mother to do the dirty work.I lean down, hugging my father in his chair and squeezing him hard, his face the constant reminder of how close we came to losing him. My family and I might not always agree, but in the end they're the only people we have in times of need. I vowed multiple times throughout the week to do a better job of being a good daughter."Stay healthy, Daddy," I say squeezing him one last time and pulling back."Of course, your mother will feed me nothing but broccoli for the rest of my life.""If that's what it takes for you to have the rest of your life then so be it." He needs to make sure and live
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