Chance(30)

"Rowan? Are you okay? What's happened?"

I pull my gaze up to meet his just as my eyes fill with tears. "Caleb," I whisper his name softly.

"Get out, Sonia," he says harshly as his eyes lock on mine. "Leave."

I take a step to the side wanting to cower away from his anger.

"Caleb, I…" the woman starts to speak. "I don't understand."

"You need to leave now." His hand flies into the air. "You have to go."

I don't break his gaze as I sense movement beside me. I listen to her footsteps as she walks briskly out of the library closing the doors behind her.

"Tell me what's wrong?" His hand leaps to my chin. "Tell me why you're upset."

I shift my body to the right, look past his shoulder and focus on the picture of Caleb and me on the day I graduated from high school. He's staring at me, I'm smiling into the camera and there's absolutely no denying the raw emotion on both of our faces.

"You have a picture of us." I nod towards the table.

He turns quickly to grab a look before he rubs both his hands over his face. "It was an important day. I wanted a remembrance."

"Why were you there?" It's a question I've never asked before. The day was jubilant and filled with raucous celebration. I'd graduated at the top of my senior class. I'd been accepted to the college of my choice and I was dating the captain of the debate team. The fact that Caleb had come home from college to witness my graduation didn't hit me until right this very minute. "Why were you there?"

He pulls on the collar of the dark sweater he's wearing. "Our families were close, Bell. I wanted to support you."

"You were the only Foster there." I glance at the picture again. "No one else came. Only you."

"They wanted to come," he says sheepishly. "They all wanted to be there but they were busy."

Even Asher, who I saw on an almost daily basis back then, had made other plans. "You came though. I didn't come to your graduation."

He stares at me. His eyes briefly fall to the floor before they level back on my face. "I came because I had to. I came because there is no one on this earth who matters more to me than you."





Chapter 26


The words he just spoke should only hold one meaning. If you've kissed a man and he's brought you intense pleasure with the gentle stroke of his fingers, you want those words to mean that he aches to be with you. You want them to capture the essence of what is in his heart. I want Caleb Foster to love me. I've always wanted that. Right now, listening to him tell me that I matter more to him than anyone else, I want that to translate to him pushing me against the wall, kissing me until my breath falls into him and making love to me in a way that binds us together forever.

"I was proud of you." His head tilts to the side as he studies my face. "I'm still proud of you. You're killing it over at Corteck."

I bite my bottom lip to stave off the urge to push him more about how much I matter to him. "I like my job. Clive is good to me."

"When you went after a business degree I thought you'd come work for us." He shifts on his feet as he gazes back at the photograph of the two of us. "It's always felt like you're part of the family. It didn't make sense when you went to work for him."

It didn't make immediate sense to me either. Foster Industries is an umbrella company that houses many divisions. The fashion brands are just two of their endeavors. They have a new lingerie brand, a blossoming home accessory line and they're moving into the app business. I would fit in perfectly there save for the fact that my friendship with the brothers would inevitably suffer if we all worked together. The destruction within their family is proof enough of that.

"I wanted to make it on my own. I needed to make it on my own." I cross my arms over my chest in a defiant gesture. "My career success is because of me and no one else."

He wrings his hands together. "Mine is because of my family. Everything I have I owe to them."

"You work hard," I offer because I know it's a fact. Caleb normally puts more hours in at the office than even I do, which says a lot. "Your parents put the wheels in motion. You and your brothers took the business to the next level."

"Gabriel and I did," he subtly corrects me. "I don't think it was ever Asher's thing. He loved his music. We didn't support him in that."

Asher has been writing music since we were teenagers. I'd sometimes hear the soft sounds of his guitar floating through the open window of his bedroom and into mine during the warm months of the year. I'd often lie in my bed at night, with the gentle wind whipping my sheer curtains about while I drifted off listening to Asher's raspy voice singing the songs he'd written.

"He loves his music." I rub my fingers over my brow. "Maybe once he gets back, he can focus on that more."

"You have no doubt at all that he'll be back, do you?" His eyes plead with me to confirm that even though his voice is steady and unwavering.

"I trust that he'll find his way back here."

"I'm worried." He crosses his arms over his chest before reaching up to run his hand over his chin. "I'm worried I won't get another chance to make things right with him."