Blackstone Inc. (Book 2)

Part 44

*Preston Cont'*

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As I sat in a chair listening to the soft sounds of the lake and all its inhabitants, I heard the French doors close quietly and soft steps making their way to where I was at the end of the dock.

I figured it to be one of my siblings come to check on me so I sighed before saying, "No offense but I want to be alone right now."

"Your mother is worried about you, Preston," my fathers' voice rang out from behind me.

I stiffened without turning around, "Sorry, I didn't realize it was you."

He came to sit in a chair beside me and we were engulfed in the sounds of nature again.

I checked the time on my phone and saw that it was 7:38. Why hadn't she called already? Surely she was done driving for the day, right? It was already dark and there was no way it was safe for her to be out right now, but I hadn't gotten any messages from John or Alonzo either so that led me to believe that all was right with Daisy so far.

I still wondered what she had gotten from the store. It couldn't have been groceries as she could just get them when she stopped for the night, so what was it?

I sighed and did something I never thought I would...I asked God why he brought me such an amazing woman and then ripped her from my arms. I hadn't been a religious man, though our mother dragged us to church up until we were out of the house, but I needed some divine intervention.

'Please bring her home,' I silently prayed, 'I can't change her mind on my own.'

"Are you ready to talk about it?"

I was startled out of my thoughts at the sound of my fathers' voice.

Clearing my throat, I turned to him and saw his eyes still cast out over the water, "Not really."

He nodded, but continued, "Is it about this girl you were supposed to bring?"

I flinched slightly and then sighed again. I couldn't exactly lie to this man. He always figured it out and there was no getting out of this now that he brought it up.

"Yeah, it's about her."

He nodded again, "Why isn't she here?"

I scrubbed my hands down my face and then clasped them together as I leaned forward, "Long story or short?"

"Short." Of course. What had I been thinking?

"She thinks I deserve more--," --which is absurd.

He seemed to mull over my answer for a moment before asking, "So she left you?"

I growled and immediately regretted the sound. He didn't comment on it, though, like I thought he would. In the past, if we ever let our emotions show we were chastised for it.

′A good businessman leads without expression or emotion.′

I hated the saying he ingrained into us but it did come in handy. Us Blackstones never got ran over, we made the rules and all others played by them and it was all thanks to the reputation of the man to my right.

But at this moment, I wished I was a normal man with a normal father who showed normal emotions so that he could give me normal fatherly advice on my normal relationship.

"Yes," I tried not to let my emotions out in my words, "She left me."

"And is she who you called earlier?" So quizzitive tonight was this stoic brute of a man.

I sighed again and nodded, "Yeah, I had to check on her. She's...traveling and I'm..." Worried. So God damn worried that I'm going out of my mind.

"Do you deserve more than her?" In her eyes, yes.

In mine, "No. I deserve her." I want her. I need her. I love her. There was no doubt about it. She was it, she would always be it.

He made a noise at the back of his throat that could've been misconstrued as a sound of approval, but he wasn't one to show those kinds of emotions.

"And you've tried...stopping her?"

I snorted, "If--no when you meet her, you'll understand why simply 'stopping her' wouldn't work. She's..." Amazing? Hard-headed? Headstrong? Unable to be persuaded against what she wants? A lunatic? All of the above.

He hummed, the sound almost non-existent. "She...loves you?"

I felt my chest tighten, that small flame suddenly stoaked with his words, "She says so."

"I assume there's more to this story," he sighed as he mimicked my posture, "So lay it all out for me."

And so I proceeded to tell him about who she was and what position she held at the company. I told him about the fake relationship turned real...and then about the party and Hawthorne--careful to only state that he was mentally unstable and dangerous--and how when I woke up this morning...she was gone and everything else up to this point.

He was silent for a long while and this usually meant he was going over the situation, analyzing it in his mind and coming up with the best possible outcomes. The worst one would be if he decided that she was a lost cause and that I should cut my losses.

That would start a war I wasn't mentally prepared for. Especially when he thought his word was final and while it usually was...

It wouldn't be in this case. I was willing to leave the company for a while and travel with Daisy. I was willing to sacrifice being at the helm for a few weeks, months even, for this woman.

I knew it was crazy, I knew that my obsessions and emotions led me to make rash decisions, but what good is life if you don't live it to the fullest and with your heart wide open?

"And she still hasn't called?"

"No, not yet," I said quietly.

"You know where she is," he asked, but I was fairly certain he already knew the answer.

"...Yes."

"Well then, you're going to go see her. You'll bring Katherine since you two are close." The command was clear though I had some adjustments I needed to make.

"Um, I wasn't exactly planning on bringing my little sister...to see my girlfriend..." I had hoped he would see the glaring reasoning.

"Non-sense. You'll bring her and you'll come back with this girl. What was her name?"

I inhaled sharply because it did no good to argue with him, "Daisy."

Even saying her name out loud caused my chest to tighten again.

"You'll leave Tuesday and then you'll arrive back here in time for Thanksgiving--with all in tow. Do not disappoint your mother. She was really looking forward to meeting this Daisy."

Had he not heard me when I stated that Daisy wasn't the type of woman to be easily coerced?

I silently prayed that the Lord give me the strength to persuade a hard-headed woman because I didn't think that 'Hey, I know you're trying to run from me and your brother but my father demands that you come to Thanksgiving so that my mother isn't disappointed,' would quite do it.

I had a very vivid vision of her laughing in my face and then slamming a door.

"Are you listening to me, Preston Connor?"

I stiffened and turned to see him looking down at me--though we were the same height--with narrowed eyes, "Of course, Father. Tuesday and then back by Thanksgiving. I only hope she listens..."

"Use any means necessary. Think of it as a business deal and then go from there," he said before standing up and patting my shoulder.

"Yes, Father," I answered like the dutiful son.

Only he would make relationship problems seem like business deals.