255Standing in the aisle of the old Civic Theatre, Bailey felt the familiar bitter sting of tears filling her eyes as she scanned the building that had been her safe haven for more years than she could remember. Yes, the building was old and unappealing now due to years of neglect. Moth eaten velvet curtains in an off shade of maroon fell to the dust covered floor. The carpet leading up the aisle was nearly black with dirt and was spotted with black spots that had once been chewing gum. She suspected the dust covered seats would squeak if you pushed it down due to the hinges having not seen a drop of oil in years. The smell of dust and damp had become overwhelming to some but to Bailey it was like a warm embrace welcoming her home each time. However, it was a haven that she would no longer have.
Collapsing onto one of the chairs; that did squeak as she pushed it down; she let the waterfall of tears escape from their ducts. Bailey should have realised that it would never be more than a dream that one day she would own this place. It was a perfect spot location wise. Smack bang in the centre of the town and she knew that business men like Chandler Child would adore the idea of opening a hotel here or maybe opening a tower of flats in the spot. She should have realised that it would have been snapped up immediately. Why did she not move it quicker? She had the money. TJ had been more than prepared to spend every penny of her savings so that they could get this building and Guy had been more than willing to help her to work everything out. She had just hesitated for a moment too long.
She could still hear the unapologetic tone that the condescending estate agent had used to speak to her when he had phoned to explain that the property was no longer on the market. "Ms Adams, I am just ringing to inform you that there was a real offer placed on the theatre from a landowner that was immediately accepted. Therefore any offer that you had hoped to place..." She had rung off on him before he could continue. If she would have had the balls, she would have phoned his management and complained about his attitude but that had never been her style. How dare he believe that her offer to buy the building had been anything but real? She had thought that her lack of property knowledge and credit history would make it hard to step onto the property ladder but she had hoped that the owners of the Civic Theatre would have given her a chance. However, it seemed that they had just been out to make a fast pound to and did not care much about the future of the building.
She should have asked what was to become of the building.
Not that she did not expect that in a few months there would be metal gates around the building with signs attached that stated that it was private property and that trespassers would be prosecuted. Eventually; if they were really professional; there would be big glossy billboards put up that showed the words 'COMING SOON' and a cartoon image that showed off the prospective finished product. She just did not have the patience to wait that long to find out. She desperately wanted to know what was going to become of her beloved building. Why had she not asked?
"I believe you're trespassing," a familiar voice said from behind her but it still caused her to jump up in shock, her hand covering her chest as she whipped round to glare at him.
"The hell are you thinking? You can't just sneak up on people like that. They could..." She did not know what they could do. It was not as if she had something she could hit him with by accident – as much as she would like to. Recovering from her slight fright, she sighed as she turned back to look at the stage. "Go away, Wolf. I'm mourning here and I can't be bothered for the first time I see your god damned face in so many months is to be when I'm upset," because she knew that recently she had been a loose cannon. Yes, she had gotten over how Wolf had treated her. She realised that she could not wallow forever but it did not mean that she could not think of the man with a slight edge of disdain. She had loved him, and she had thought he loved her, but he had simply took her heart and squeezed it. No, destroyed it. Yet she still held a torch for him which was the annoying thing.
"And what if I don't want to go away, Bailey?" His voice was so quiet that she had to almost strain to hear it but she heard it all the same. She chose, however, to ignore his question and asked one of her own.
"How did you even know I was here?" The answer would inform her on who she had to kill for giving away such private information and for not warning her that this man was going to decide to re-enter her life again.
"You told me that this was your haven when we were at the library that time," he pointed out as he moved to sit in the row behind her, grimacing slightly at the state of the chairs but decided that this was not the time to start worrying about his expensive suit. He looked around the place, a sigh escaping his lips as he realised that this dump had been what was most important to Bailey. With a wry smile, he realised that Bailey was probably from the same kind of background that he had been from but whereas he had strived to get out and never need again Bailey was more than happy to live with the simple things in life like loving a derelict building. "I must admit though, Bailey, I don't see the appeal of the place."
"Well you're not meant to try and understand the appeal of my favourite place, Wolf." Turning round to look at him, she studied his face before shaking her head. "You're not meant to try and understand anything about me any more because we are over." Then all of a sudden, the loose cannon emotions that she had worried about earlier seemed to snap because before she could stop herself she spat out "and besides, you didn't take much of an interest in getting to know me when we were together?" She attempted to stand up but his hand closed around her wrist and kept her anchored to her chair.
"And whose fault is that, Bailey?" He growled as he got into close proximity with her. "Who was the one that wanted to be like a closed book? You could have been open with me about anything."
This is what had plagued him since she had left him. How many opportunities had she had to tell him about Jerry? How many late nights at the offices? How many meetings with Jerry sitting right there in the boardroom? Or how about that entire week at his Mother's house when he thought that he had opened up to her more than he had ever opened up to any woman in his life. Shit, Bailey knew him a million times more than either of his sisters and his Mother. Eventually though he had realised that why should she have told him? Yes, the conversation would have come up in a conversation one day and yes, he probably would have been a little bit miffed, but it happens. Girls have past lovers. Sure, it was her boss but what the hell did that have to do with anything? Anyone that was anyone knew that Jerry Smith was the dirtiest snake of them all and a sweet innocent girl like Bailey was just up his alley.
"Mine," she snapped as she yanked her wrist free from his grasp before quickly stepping out of her chair and moving into the aisle. Whipping round, she glared at him. "My God, Wolf. Why don't you just hire a sky writer and put it up in the clouds for everyone to see. Everything wrong in the world is my fault. This relationship ending? My fault. The war in iraq? My fault. Global warming? My fault. You happy now? You've got the big damned confession that you've always wanted. You can go home now and sleep easy that I don't want anything off you ever again." She actually heard her own voice waver once her anger had diminished and she found herself lying to him. She would hate it for Wolf to walk out of the door now and leave her behind but at the same time she knew that she could not look back if he could not look forward.
"Well, I think that's a pretty harsh statement to make. Everyone is to blame for global warming. The war in Iraq is definitely not your fault but the idiots in charge of certain countries, including ours. But more importantly, the fault of this relationship crumbling doesn't completely land on you. I was unforgivable for those things I said to you that day but I hope you can see pass that because I love you so god damned much, Bailey Addams, and I can't stand living without you any longer. I have gone mad these last few months not knowing where you were because everyone was keeping mum about it."
Standing up, he took a step towards her and gently took hold of her wrist as he pulled her close to him. His other hand reached up to caress her cheek that was stained with tears that he wondered if she even knew she had shed. He leant in and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips.
Tilting her head to the side, she pulled back slightly so that she could look at him but he knew that she was savouring the feel of his lips against hers. "So I'm supposed to just forgive and forget?" She whispered as she felt her lips gravitating towards his. She knew that she should try and be strong; hold off for a little bit longer; but she had missed this infuriating man more than she would ever admit. She missed being his personal assistant, she missed being his lover but honestly she mostly missed being his friend.
"Yes," he whispered back as he ran the tip of his nose along the length of hers before pressing a kiss to the tip of it, "I know it will be hard and we'll have so much to work on but I just want you to know that I'll sacrifice everything if it means that you know I am willing to prove to you how sorry I am and how madly in love I am with you. You might not love me any more and I wouldn't blame you. I was a monster. Disgusting. A disgrace to my own mother for the way I spoke to you but I think you could learn to love me again, Bailey. I don't care how long it takes. Tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. Just know that I'm not going anywhere until the day you can look me in the eye and tell me you love me and that you want to spend the rest of your life with me."
Relenting, she threw her arms around his neck and found his lips with hers. The kiss was full of all the hurt and desperation that she had felt in the last three months but also the passion she felt for the man standing chest to chest with her. Breaking it off, she cupped his face in her hands and shook her head. "I've always loved you and I know that I always will. Marry me?" He stared at her stunned for a couple of minutes before a deep laugh rumbled through his chest. She had pretty much just stolen his line there with that one but he found that he liked it. It was the Bailey he had learnt to love; the one that kept you on your toes.
Smiling, he pursed his lips as if he was considering her question. "Only if we do it in one day and not a week like Stacey. I can't be dealing with interfering family for that long.
For the second time in their relationship, she found herself considering the millionaire's proposition before smiling up at him. "Done," she promised before they sealed the deal their way - with a kiss.
AUTHORS NOTE:
So once again, it's been too long since I graced your screens with this pairing! In the time I have been away I won Starcrossed over at A Drop of Romeo with "Stockholm" and then it also won me a SkoW so I thank all of my readers that nominated me and voted. You are amazing. However, more importantly, this story was added to the A Drop of Romeo archives where it received the loveliest review from Marta in the world so I thank her for that.
Do you want to know what the saddest thing is? This story has been in my life for the longest time and now it has come to an end. I actually started it when my Grannie was dying in hospital and I needed something to distract me from all the emotions while I was keeping her company. Never in a million years did I think that my devastation would stem into this story, nor did I ever expect that it would get the love and attention that you guys have graced me with. I thank you, faithful readers, for sticking by me even though I am the worst updater in the world. You are an amazing bunch and I hope that you stay with me on my new stories that will be coming in the near future – including my very own family series! I'll miss Bailey and Wolf but I hope you have enjoyed their story as much as I've enjoyed writing it.