Evelyn

The bimbos face scrunched up as her frozen eyes contiued to stare at me. I glanced at her hand to her freshly manicured death weapons which gleamed mockingly. She had still not broken the eye contact and I was beginning to get extremely worried.

When her body finally relaxed I shut my eyes and internally prepared myself to be lunged at and my face to be scratched at, but when neither of that happened I flipped my eyes open to see somone else getting the exact treatment that i was lucky enough to have missed. That someone being Adrian Gallagher.

"Fiancée?" She screeched trying to get her hands towards Adrian's face while he tried to block it, "And to think I was waiting for a proposal! You shit faced asshole!"

A laugh sputtered out of my lips and since the bimbo was too focused on murder Adrian glanced at me with pleading eyes mouthing what seemed to be the word 'help'.

However another screech followed by loud nasally wailing left the both of us staring at the bimbo who began to sob, the amount of sobs increased by the second and as did their volume, when all of a sudden she jumped off Adrian, clambered to the side, grabbed her heels which I presumed she'd wear and walk out like a regular human being but instead she barreled towards Adrian again and began hitting him over and over again all the while yelling obscene words.

"Take this cheater!"

"Ow! Shit st-"

"Dickwad!"

"Ouch, Jesus!"

"Stupid asshole!"

I was holding my hands up to my mouth trying not to laugh at Adrian's face, he sure was a chauvinist, but he chose to do nothing when he could've easily taken the frail girl in front of him.

And all of a sudden she stopped. She glared at him for two whole minutes, inhaled a deep breath, strapped her heels back, wiped off her tears, and stared at me, I cowered back, not laughing anymore, but while doing so my legs hit something. I turned sideways to realize it was her handbag. Picking it up gently I walked towards her and extended my hand to her, she continued staring at me before grabbing it.

"Good luck marrying the asshole."

"Thanks." I nodded.

"Hey!" Adrian complained from the background but she ignored him and returning my nod, walked out of the room.

I began voicing my questions the minute the clattering of her heels stopped and the elevator doors shut. "Not even five minutes after proposing to one woman you were sucking the face of another, and you ask me why I doubt your reputation Gallagher?"

For a second he looked confused and like he was about to say something but his eyes changed quickly and his usual scowl came back, "How was I supposed to know you'd return."

I rolled my eyes, not really surprised, "So was she the ex or one of your exes...or maybe your latest toy-"

"Shut up."Adrian held his face and came closer to the sofas where he sat down, not before grabbing a nearby mirror, "She was the ex, don't know why I deserved the nail scratches."

Restraining an eye roll I said, "You called her for a hook up and she finds out you have a fiancee, I actually believe you deserved more than the nail scratches, She actually seemed calm enough while leaving, was that weird?"

He shrugged and kept aside the mirror, "Women are weird, I thought you out of everyone would know that."

I narrowed my eyes, "Do I want to know what you are implying?"

He leaned back and folded his arms behind his head,"You walked out of here saying you would never marry me then come back 5 minutes later saying you're my fiancée?"

"Do you want me to marry you or not?" I snapped.

"You definitely wont be doing me a favor." He muttered low enough for me to hear.

"What?"

"Yes, your highness I'd love to marry you," the sarcasm rolled off his tongue, "so why the change in decision?"

I crossed my knees and looked at him, "That's for me to know, so what now?"

"We get married." He answered lazily.

Crossing my legs again I began voicing my mind, "Well I thought about what you said, we could sign contracts respecting our privacies, and then plan about how to perfectly implement the act, we wont be directly jumping to the wedding of course We’ll need some preliminry factors to make the idea convincing, well have to date and oh the proposal and then engageme-"

"Woah, woah calm down madame executioner, how about we meet tomorrow and talk, I'm too tired now however I still have my energy for something else." He added suggestively with a wink.

I pretended to gag and got up from my seat, "Well, alright we can use today to prepare the documents and I'll try to arrange my ideas for the pla-"

"Blah blah...but Is it just me or are you enjoying the planning more than the idea of marrying me?" He raised a brow.

"Obviously the former," I rolled my eyes, "see you tomorrow here again Gallagher, don't make me regret this."

He remained seated and smiled slowly, "Here? No need to worry yourself coming here sweetheart, I'll be there at your place tomorrow at 5."

"I don't remember inviting you? Sweetheart? What happened to darling?" I emphasised sarcastically.

"I knew it was growing onto you, I think formalities like that should be forgotten.We're engaged...darling," He smirked adding a wink at the end of his sentence.

"Goodbye Gallagher." I nodded tersely and turned around, trying not to notice the corners of my lips twitching.

"See you tomorrow darling." I didn't need to turn around to know the smirk hadn't left his face.

"Don't call me that." I shook my head and without waiting for a reply made my way towards the elevators.

***

I was driving back home after a long day at work with plopping down on my bed being the only thing on my mind until i glanced beside me to see the papers i had worked on for more than an hour and groaned.

I had nearly forgotten i had to deal with more headache. The sleeping plans had to be postponed.

Slamming on the brakes with more aggression than required i grabbed the bag containing the papers stepped out of the car and tossed the keys to the guard standing nearest to the car.

I rolled my eyes noticing a black matte BMW i definitely didnt own already parked in the driveway.

I forced myself to take a deep breath and prepare myself for a long evening and pushed the door open. Distinct chatter reached my ears immediately coming from the lounge room and i made my way towards the room only to stop dead in my tracks.

For a moment i thought i was hallucinating and then my mind went back to years ago when i had laughed at the realtor talking about rumors of the house being haunted. I was ready to turn around and run as fast as possible to the exit when the thing surprised me by doing the most unsusal thing.

"Hi." It spoke softly but slowly.

My eyes widened and I slowly turned around to look at the child of about six years of age, clothed in dress pants and a dark tuxedo that seemed to be expensive to be worn by someones so young. He was also wearing an all too familiar smirk on his face.

"Gosh, I knew I could leave girls speechless but didnt know it would even work on women."

I continued watching in shock as the child strode forwards confidently. I nearly backed away again when he bent forwards slightly and lightly grabbed my hand before I could do anything and lifted it up to his lips, "Ashton Garibaldi. Pleased to meet you Miss Rhodes."

Garibaldi. Of course he was a Garibaldi.

I forced myself to recompose and smiled awkwardly, "Hi Ashton, I assume you're Adrian's brother."

"You assume correct malady, and do allow me to assume you aren't his girlfriend?" A slow smile began rising on his lips while his childish face stared hopefully, making me frown uncomfortably.

"Well...um..no-"

"In that case I'll also let myself tell you that I too am an incomplete soul presently in my search for someone to complete my other half and that maybe us meeting here surely wasnt a mere coincidence."

I had no reply to that and I was sure I'd  just be standing with my mouth open the whole time had we not been interrupted.

"Ash? Are you freaking people out again?"

I never thought I'd be happy to see Adrian Gallagher until now.

Ashton and me turned around to see Adrian round the corner of the hallway and make his way towards us. I refrained a scowl when my eyes scanned him from head to toe and the first message they sent to my brain was, damn, he looks good.

However I was snapped out of my thoughts immediately when a strong smell of cologne clouded the air and I felt someones hand snake up behind my back and pull me close towards them, a whisper teased my ears, "You can stop checking me out now."

"I was not checking you out," I growled lowly and struggled to get out of his hold.

"Whatever you say darling," he said as I freed myself and pushed him away.

"Wait I thought you guys werent dating?"

Oh right, I had nearly forgotten about the kid.

"Well you thought wrong, Ash, meet my girlfried Evelyn, Evelyn, this Is Ash, my annoying brother."

I thought about correcting him but then thought if we were going to get 'married' anyways there was no point in saying so.

So I simply smile and waved, "Hi Ashton."

Adrian semmed surprised I wasn't arguing but decided to not say anything.

"You can call me Ash, and Evelyn are you sure you've made the right decision? My brother isnt exactly..."

"You want to continue that little brother?" Adrian asked with a smirk but an underlying threat could be clearly sensed behind the question.

Ashton rolled his eyes and grunted, "Well I guess I should be leaving."

"Oh no, you should stay for dinner!" I requested politely, I hadnt spoken to a child for years and found it rather wierd.

But despite my awkwardness, the little boy smiled kindly at me, "I'd be pleased to unfortunately my curfew ends in half an hour."

"Oh. Good night then Ashton." I now had to spend all my time alone with the devil. Great.

"Drivers out front, and this time don't try to be a smartass, I want you to head straight home, lest I should be lucky enough to get another call from your mother dearest."

Ashtons face immediately fell, his eyes now looking down, "You know she didnt mean that."

"Whatever, sleep early you have school tomorrow."

"Will you visit tomorrow?" Ahston asked in a hopeful voice.

Adrian left my side and went closer to his brother, I felt like an intruder interrupting something that was none of my business especially since it seemed like they had their own share of family problems. I was just about to move when Adrian said, "Come on Ash, you know the rules."

"But mum and dad aren't even in the country. You didn't even give me my promised burger." He was now something more than just hopeful and I was even more confused.

"Seriously? They left again?" Adrian looked almost furious for a second but I saw him bury his emotions as he dug into his suits pocket and took out a few notes from his wallet before slipping them into Ashtons tux with a soft smile that seemed foreign on his face, "Well doesnt matter, you'll have an empty mansion to yourself for a day and you were going to waste it on me, are you even a Garibaldi ? Call some friends and party! You can get into trouble but not too much, yeah?"

A wide grin broke out on Ashtons face and i had to rub my eyes to check if I had gone blind, Adrian embraced his brother in a hug. Gone were the smug smirk and arrogant eyes, replaced by something so close to love and affection I wasnt sure if this was Adrian Gallagher anymore.

"Can I invite girls?" Ashton asked in a near whisper.

"Hmm...If you do or don't, it's not like anyone will know." He shrugged with a wink.
And the Adrian Gallagher I knew was back.

"As long as the cameras have a 'technical glitch' like last time, Thanks Adrian, goodnight Evelyn!" And with his small form had darted out of the main door in seconds.

After he was gone, a momentary lapse filled with silence made me open my mouth.

"Well who knew you were actually a caring brother beneath that playboy surface."

He seemed to come out of the trance he was in before looking at me, but the glints of emotions in his eyes minutes ago were now completely gone. He simply shrugged.

I gulped uncomfortably, my lips opened and closed unsure of my decision but in the end I  decided to apprach him tentatively, "I know its none of my business but you seem upset, if-"

"You were right, its none of your business," he looked me straight in the eyes as his jaw twitched, "So what are we supposed to do now?"

He didnt have to wait for my answer, my mothers yell reached our ears not a minute later, "Dinners ready, kids!"

I looked at Adrian and raised a brow, "I hope you're hungry."

His face didnt show any emotion as he replied, "Starving."

***