One
Hazel
* * *
The wind blows strands of my wet hair back and I tip my face up, closing my eyes and enjoying the breeze. The sun is just barely rising but I’m already out on my board. The ocean is calm this morning but I’d never miss a chance to be out here on the water.
I’m an east coast girl, but I’ve always loved California. I came out here for college and fell in love with the culture and the views, especially the view of the ocean first thing in the morning. I had planned on staying on the west coast after I graduated but those plans were dashed when I went home for my Grandma’s birthday. That was the night that my life changed.
I flew back to New York for what was supposed to be a quick visit, just a long weekend trip. On the second night that I was back, we had gone out to dinner to celebrate grandma’s eighty-fifth birthday. It was at this upscale restaurant on the Upper East Side and my dad ran into a colleague, Mr. York.
I remember being introduced to him and not thinking much of it. My dad knows a lot of people in New York and I’m always being introduced to someone or another. The only thing that stood out this time was how handsome Mr. Archer York was. I had said hello to him and then excused myself before I could do anything to embarrass myself. We had ordered dinner and toasted my grandma and then I went back to my parents’ house and tried to forget about the man with the dark blue eyes that seemed like they could see straight into my soul.
The next day, an hour before I was to leave for the airport, my dad came to me and told me to start planning my wedding. He had made a deal with Archer and his end of the deal was me. In exchange for me, Archer would invest in my dad’s failing hotel and help to restore it back to greatness.
I became Mrs. York three weeks later. I don’t remember much from my wedding day, or the weeks leading up to it for that matter, but the pictures that Archer hung up in our room as soon as we moved in look beautiful.
I suppose most people would be happy to be married off to some bigshot billionaire investor but not me. I wanted to marry for love, not money. Unfortunately, my father offered me something that I couldn’t refuse. He promised to put my grandma up in the nicest retirement community if I went through with the marriage. That’s what had me walking down the aisle and staying with Archer every day since. My family has never been rich. We were strictly middle class and with the business that my father got from his deal with Archer, he would be able to take care of grandma for years.
It still stings though. My father knew how I felt about marriage and he still made the deal. To this day, I can’t believe he just married me off like that. Like this is the 1500’s and I’m some princess being sold off for her dowry. Well, I don’t want to be a Queen. I just want to be me.
I have no interest in eating at five-star restaurants every day of the week. I prefer the little taco truck down by the beach. I don’t want to go clubbing or shopping. I’d rather wake with the sun and go surfing.
That actually used to be one of my favorite things. I’d wake up and meet my two bodyguards outside. We live right on the beach so I’d run down the sand with my board and crash into the waves. The water is cold first thing in the morning but it feels nice. Invigorating. My bodyguards had two jet skis that they would ride out. That way if anything happened, they could get to me right away.
They used to race around after I was done and we would all laugh, getting sprayed with the surf or the waves from the jet skis as the sun rose higher in the sky. We haven’t done that in a while. Not since my husband came out and saw them riding around and laughing while I was standing chest-deep in the water, watching them. I had ducked under an approaching wave, trying to cool off and when I came up, he was yelling at them. He threatened to fire them and I begged him not to. Since then, it’s been more of a stoic outing every morning.
That’s what my husband does though. He stops people from having fun. I don’t even know why he wanted to marry me. We rarely go out. Even if he has a social event to go to, he usually goes alone. Not that I mind. Eating dinner with a bunch of hedge fund investor guys and their wives sounds boring as hell.
To my husband’s credit, he does seem to be a good man. He hasn’t touched me. Probably because he walked in on my father and me the night before the wedding. I had told my dad that if he made me marry some man that I didn’t know and love, that I would never talk to him again. The wedding went on as scheduled the following day and I haven’t talked to my dad since.
Archer makes for a good husband and any girl would be lucky to be his wife. I only wish that it was real. That we had married for love instead of as some weird kind of barter. He’s never tried to force himself on me and he seems to take an interest in my life. He’s just very…protective.
My husband hates California. He hasn’t told me as such, but I’ve heard him mumble under his breath about the traffic and every time he passes one of those little green smoothie shops, he practically bares his teeth. As if New York doesn’t have both of those things. I was surprised when he told me we were moving to California. He let me pick out where we lived and our house. When we first got here, it was great. I kept busy decorating our place and learning my way around, but it’s been eighteen months now and I’m dying for something else to do.
I wish that he would let me have more of a life but it seems that he wants to keep me locked down at home. I found this Aerial Yoga class downtown and I mentioned it to Archer. A personal instructor showed up the next day and walked me through a class. Now she comes twice a week and we work on it together but it’s not the same as going out and doing it with other people.
I feel like I’m stuck. All I want in life is to be happy and to be a mom, but I don’t want to raise kids in this type of relationship. What kind of family would we be? What if we had a girl? Would Archer sell her off too? My heart says no, but what proof do I have?
With a heavy heart, I take one last look at the sunrise before I turn my surfboard around and head back toward the beach where my two bodyguards are standing, waiting for me. I know that it’s almost time for me to head inside to meet my husband for breakfast. My heart thumps harder in my chest and I have a feeling that it has nothing to do with my paddling.
Two
Archer
* * *
She’s the most beautiful woman that I’ve ever seen. I watch as the sun shines in through the kitchen windows and sparkles like a halo around her head. She looks like an angel, and me with my black hair and dark blue eyes, I look like the devil, the shadow stalking her.
It’s been like that since I first met her. As soon as I saw her in that restaurant, I knew that I had to have her. She looked up at me with those intelligent greens eyes and I was a goner. She’s owned me from that moment onward.
Too bad she doesn’t feel the same way about me.
While I was dying to know everything that I could about her, she couldn’t seem to get away from me fast enough. Luckily for me, her father had seen that I was interested in her and had offered me her hand in marriage. I had felt a little dirty going behind her back like that but then I had looked up and seen the way some of the other guys at the restaurant were staring at her. I couldn’t let some other guy step in and steal her before I could get her to fall in love with me.