BRENTON
What had I done? At some point last night, I cared less about making sure I got the offer on the table and more about getting to know more about Helen. She was so beautiful and when she spoke, I felt like we had such a strong connection. I had rarely felt that with other women – maybe I had never felt it. Even now, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.
The way she leaned into my touches, the way she pulled my hair, the way her body bounced with my movements; she drove me wild. But so did her stubbornness. I knew I wasn’t entirely out of line in asking her to delete those photos. I should have said it in a slightly less hostile tone, but I had let my fear get the better of me. I was terrified that I’d lose my children if Amber saw those photos. She could use them against me in court. She had sunk lower than that before.
I sighed thinking of the way Helen had stormed out, the extreme rage on her face. I was fairly certain I’d never get my hands on those curves again nor would I get my hands on that apple tree. Why on earth would she still consider selling Dudley’s property to me?
I called Charlie to update him about the photos and to get advice from a friend.
“Hey Brenton. What’s up?”
“Hey Charlie. I had a few questions for you, as a client and a friend.”
“Alright, but first things first: I looked into Dudley’s property and you were right. It was never put on the market after his death but it’s not his niece's yet either. The home is temporarily in the name of Dudley’s lawyer. I called him up and he was very hush hush about the entire thing, but I was able to dig up that Dudley’s niece was given a will that detailed his plans for his estate and his savings. She is technically due to receive the deed to the property, but for some reason she doesn’t have it yet. That’s all I could find. It definitely complicates things in terms of you purchasing the property. I’ll keep pestering his lawyer to see what more I can learn.”
“Interesting. Thanks for digging all that up, man.”
I couldn’t believe it. She didn’t own the property? Why was she lying to me? I guess she didn’t entirely lie, but she wasn’t telling me the truth either. Here I was asking her to sell it to me and she had no legal right to even do so. Was this all a game to her?
“Of course. What did you want to ask me?” Charlie broke me from my internal anger.
“It’s about Dudley’s niece again, actually.”
I asked Charlie about the photos and he said unless they turned up on social media or the internet somewhere, he couldn’t do much. However, I shouldn’t be too worried about Amber accessing them.
“We’ve been talking about this Helen chick a lot recently,” Charlie said.
“Yeah, well she’s kind of become a thorn in my side.”
“Anything else I should know about her? As your lawyer or your friend?” Charlie sounded suspicious.
“Um, I may have, sort of…slept with her.” I winced into the phone.
“You what?! Bro, I thought you were trying to get on her good side. That’ll never end well.”
“You’re telling me. It ended with her storming out. She is one of the most frustrating people I have ever met, Charlie.”
“I hope it was worth it.”
“Oh, it was. It was amazing.”
“I’m not gonna lie. You definitely needed it, man. Your stress has been through the roof recently. Just keep it on the down low okay? I don’t want Amber using it against you. Photos of her on your property are one thing, but trying to convince the court that this relationship is different from your last one is another thing entirely.”
“I know.”
“If things do get serious, don’t let anyone find out until after you’ve won custody.”
“I don’t think we have to worry about things getting serious. She and I are way too different. She is itching to get back to the city and I am perfectly content where I am.”
Suddenly my phone beeped with another incoming call.
“Hey Charlie. I have to take this. I’ll call you later this week.”
“No problem. Talk to you soon.”
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hi dad.”