019

You know the thing about your past is that even when you decide that something that happened before doesn't affect you anymore and that thing suddenly jumps at you, glaringly obvious in a way you cannot ignore it, it affects us, it may not necessarily have the same effect or the effect might not be as intense as it was initially but it will be there, this was how I was feeling right now. It was easier to ignore this feeling in my chest when I saw him in the club the previous night but now sitting across the table from him the hatred I felt all those years ago was difficult to suppress. I was quiet for most of the meeting letting Paxton do most of the talking but then he noticed and tried to draw me into the negotiation

"12.5 is a good starting price for the equipment, if you agree on that we work our way up from there" Paxton said while all the assistants in the room scribbled furiously on their notepads "Alexandria what do you think?"

"It's more than enough if you ask me" I mumbled under my breath rolling my eyes

"Sorry what was that Alexandria" the bastard asked with a smirk on his face

"It's Miss Donovan, Mr Grant and I said the 12.5 is a higher starting point than I would have suggested"

"Then what would you suggest Miss Donovan" he asked mockingly

"How about moving the decimal point one number back?"

"So 125?"

"I thought you were smart, 1.25 Mr Grant"

"That's outrageous" he said losing his cool "Paxton, let's talk business, I always knew it was a mistake for Mr Donovan to hand over the company to you instead of your brother" he sneered at me

"Listen here Mr Grant '' I said before Paxton could reply "The fact remains that there are tons of companies that we could get the equipment from so we are not losing anything if we don't make a deal with you. Also I'm gonna send a message to my fellow female CEO's telling them your views on our positions in our companies. You can see yourself out" I stood leaving the meeting setting a reminder to actually send the message. I sent a message to Paxton telling him I was leaving and would meet him at home then one to Tristan so he won't bother picking Ava up.

When I got to the school it was a few minutes to closing but the kids were already out. I stayed in the parking lot waiting for the bell but then something caught my eye, Ava was pushed off the swing by a girl about her height. Forgetting to kill the engine I rushed out of the car and ran to where she was on the floor clutching her knee while the girl laughed.

"What the hell happened there" I asked, bending down to pick Ava up, the girl looked down suddenly finding her shoes interesting "Umm.. She mistakenly fell of the swing when she was going to high" she lied kicking the sand around

"I saw you push her, we are gonna wait for your parents and they are gonna hear about this" I answered but Ava shook her head telling me it was a mistake but I know what I saw. I decided that taking care of it later would be a better option when I saw the scraped knee starting to bleed. When we got into the car it was awfully quiet, I was willing to bet this wasn't the first time it had happened.

"Are you gonna tell me why you lied or am I gonna have to deprive you of Uncle Tristan's ice-cream for 2 weeks?" I asked sharing at her through the mirror

"There was no point in staying, Ashley wont get in trouble, her aunt is the proprietress" Ava replied holding the cotton wool to her knee

"And your mum is the Ceo of an international company and Paxton is the CEO of another international company and even if we weren't, I'm your mum and I won't sit around and let that fire ant get away with that" I pointed out "Ava, please can you not keep anything from me, getting bullied is not alright okay?"she nodded

"Now that that's settled do you wanna get some Ice-cream" I asked, making her nod again.

After getting ice-cream we went home and she did her homework while I made lunch. We were both eating when Paxton walked in with Brendan behind him.

"How's my favorite munchkin" Brendan asked, ruffling her hair as he passed, she tried to squat his hand away making her laugh.

Paxton was looking at me like he wanted to say something but luckily I had my favourite adult-conversation blocker here - Ava. "Ava, me and your mummy need to go and see grandpa for some work, is it okay if Uncle Brendan stays at home with you" shit, there goes my block. She nods her head before taking Brendan's hand and dragging him to see the toys she got for her birthday.

-Cue awkward car ride-

Apparently Paxton was serious about this being a work thing because he didn't bring up what had happened during the meeting instead the car was filled with an awkward silence. We pulled up in front of the two-story house I had grown up in and I noticed Paxton's dad's car in the driveway and so did he, judging by the puzzlement on his face I'm guessing he didn't know he was gonna be here either.

A maid showed us to the office where our two fathers were seated behind the big mahogany desk.

"Marshmallow, Paxton please take a seat" my dad said. I couldn't remember the last time I saw my dad this serious

"There is something we need to tell both of you, something you should have known for some time now"

"Please let us finish what you want to say before you interrupt "

"When Luke left you were heartbroken, you started serial dating to convince us that you were okay but you weren't, both your mother and I saw it, so did your brothers. You became withdrawn and you didn't want to get too attached to anyone because you were scared of getting hurt again and when you were finally getting better your mother died and you retreated inside your shell again"

"When Kimberly cheated on you with that bastard you went cold and the spark in your eyes left, you didn't do anything except work, although my bank account isn't complaining but I am. You were just a shadow of your past self and it hurt me to see you like that, you grew up without a mother and the woman you loved ripped your heart out of your chest, it would have taken a miracle for you to believe in love again. Steven and I shared our problems with each other and thought of a solution for both of us"

"Which is when we decided to come up with a fake contract to force the both of you to try again"

"We were never gonna make you get married but the merging of the companies was real "

"We never meant to keep this from both of you for so long but we thought it was our only choice and both of you already looked so happy"

"The spark in your eyes was back"

"And you were happier"

"We're sorry for doing this behind your backs but we don't regret the fact that both of you are happy"

They were both looking at us with solemn eyes when we both looked at each other and started laughing. Like full blown don't-do-outside-your-house laughing. They were both shocked by our reaction.

"We kinda already knew the contract was fake" Paxton said recovering from the laughter first

"Yeah we found out a few weeks ago and you just won me a thousand dollars" I bragged. Paxton had actually been the one to find out, two days after our first real date, at first we were furious but then we weren't so we made a bet on when our fathers would tell us and I won

"How did you find out" they both asked, the shock on their faces doubled

"Really dad? At the end of the contract you guys typed 'This contract has been registered and validated by the Federal institution for validation of contracts. It must not be tampered in any way'. You couldn't come up with something worse if you tried"he said

"We're actually disappointed in ourselves for not finding out sooner" I continued

"Then why are you still living together" my dad asked

"Haven't you heard, Paxton is like madly in love with me" I replied dramatically flipping my hair over my shoulder

"I am not madly in love with anyone"

"Oh babe, you don't have to be shy☺️. Nobody is gonna judge"

"So we wrote this whole speech for nothing?"my dad asked

I stood up and went to hug him "I'm sorry I made you worry about me so much that you had to go and draw up a fake contract" I placed a kiss on his cheek "Love you dad"

Paxton and I left about 45 minutes later. "So you wanna tell me why you blew up at Mr Grant during the meeting today?" Paxton asked as he was driving, I cursed under my breath

"It's not really important"

"It seemed important to me, do you guys know each other"

"That would be putting it lightly" I sighed "remember what my dad said? He was the Luke my dad was talking about. We dated for a few years and one day he just left, he left college early...."

"A dropout?"

"No, he finished his degree earlier and went to take over his grandfather's company. He was just there one day then he wasn't, he ignored my calls, it was like he didn't exist then a few months later I saw him again, it was during an interview, he kept saying that leaving college early was one of the best decisions he ever made, that's when I started 'serial dating' as my dad put it" I bared my soul to him

"Well, his loss. Him leaving early was the best thing that ever happened to me because if he didn't we never would have met" he said and I could feel the blush rising on my face.

We got home in time for me to tuck Ava in and Paxton read her a story. Later in the night we were both in bed when Paxton said "You weren't far off"

"What?"

"When you said I was madly in love with you... you weren't far off."

READ TILL THE END

Hey guys. I'm flooding you with minion memes so you dont track me down and murder me for not updating sooner. I just came out of a writing comma and I had tests so I couldn't control it. But I feel so much better and made a full recovery. Yay. I will do everything in my power to update again Tomorrow. Any way I can't believe they kissed. SOOOOOOO unexpected can't wait to find out what happens next.

MAY THE SPIRIT OF AWESOMENESS BE WITH YOU ALL