UNBREAKABLE BOND novel Chapter 10

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Shane stood at his bedroom window and watched Chris. He really didn’t understand the man. For two weeks, Shane would always come home to find Chris sitting on the ledge outside his gate. The man must be feeling very guilty for what he’d done to him if he would waste his time sitting outside his house, doing nothing for three straight hours every day. For a banker, that was something. Shane knew Chris was a banker. And from the look of how important Chris was in Damon Thomas-Reid’s operations, Chris was obviously not just an ordinary banker.

That didn’t surprise Shane as Chris came from a wealthy home. It didn’t take much to make it in life if a person was born with a silver spoon in their mouth, right? Well, important person or not, Chris’ quest to stalk him was rather odd, Shane thought. But much as Shane felt Chris was stalking him, he appreciated the fact that Chris wasn’t showing up at his workplace or inside his home as he’d done the last time.

Shane could still not believe how he’d broken down in Chris’ arms. That had been bad. The only good thing that had come out of it was that he’d slept like a baby that night. Shane couldn’t remember ever having such a good night’s sleep. Had it not been for the insistent knocking on his bedroom door by his housekeeper, which had woken Shane up at noon the following day which was a Sunday, Shane would have probably slept till evening. Not only had his elderly housekeeper been worried that he was still sleeping at that time, but according to her, the security guard wanted to know what Shane wanted done to the respectable-looking man sitting at his gate.

Shane had gone to his window and to his shock, seen Chris sitting on the ledge in front of his house. What the fuck was Chris doing, Shane thought incredulously. His initial thought had been to tell the security guard to drive Chris away from where he sat. But on second thought, Shane had told him to let Chris be. He’d noticed that the security guard had still gone outside to talk to Chris but Shane hadn’t asked the guy what was said. And for two weeks, Chris’ silly visits had continued. Shane had become so used to seeing Chris there that when he’d gotten to his gate three days earlier and Chris hadn’t been there, he’d been worried and surprisingly disappointed.

He’d stood at his window and looked out till he saw the familiar Jaguar park and Chris get out. Shane had released a sigh of relief and then watched as Chris got on his usual perch. And when Shane felt the smile on his own face, he’d groaned and left the window, angry at himself. Shane hadn’t gone back to watch Chris again that day. Chris was getting to him and Shane didn’t like it one bit.

As Shane watched Chris this time, sitting at his usual spot, he couldn’t help but admire the man’s spirit. But hey…that was Chris, Shane chuckled as he turned away from the window. Chris had always been a go-getter, had always done exactly what he believed in. Some things obviously never changed, Shane laughed softly to himself. Just as he was about to enter his study, Shane heard the unmistakable sound of rain. His eyes widened in surprise at the sound because he definitely wasn’t expecting any heavy rains.

“What the fu…” Shane rushed to the window and lo and behold, it was pouring outside. The forecast had said there was going to be showers and not a heavy downpour. “Chris… Shit!”

Shane flew out of his study and out the door without thinking. All he had in mind was getting Chris out of that rain. He opened the gate and dashed out, getting drenched within seconds. When he saw an equally drenched Chris sitting with his face on his knees, probably hiding his face from the onslaught of the rains, Shane shook his head in disbelief. The guy could have simply rushed to his car instead of waiting to get drenched, Shane thought exasperatedly.

Chris heard the gate open and looked up to see an equally drenched Shane gesturing with his head for him to come in. He got off the ledge and followed Shane inside to a very beautifully decorated cozy den.

“Go in there,” Shane said pointing to a room beside the den. “There are towels in the bathroom and clothes in the closet.” Then Shane turned around and left.

By the time Chris came back into the den, a changed Shane was standing in front of the fireplace, staring into the fire. The huge projected screen was on the news channel.

“Thanks,” Chris said quietly.

Shane nodded and gestured to the bar. “Get yourself a drink,” Shane said, not taking his eyes off the fire.

Chris placed his iPad, which had remained dry in its plastic pouch, on one of the side tables. Then he went to the bar and poured a glass each of cognac for himself and for Shane. He went to give the drink to Shane and gave a slight nod when Shane murmured his thanks. Both sat down and drank in silence whilst watching the news. Very soon both glasses got empty. This time, Shane went to bring the bottle of cognac to the glass table between them and filled their glasses.

The rains continued to pour outside. Though each man stared at the screen, they couldn’t hear a word the newscaster was saying as their minds were filled with thoughts about each other. When the bottle got empty, Shane went to bring another bottle but didn’t sit back down because his cell phone started to buzz. He went to stand by the window and spoke quietly to whoever was on the other end.

When Shane was done talking, he remained by the window with his back to Chris, lost in thought. There were two people he wanted to strangle that very moment…the silly weatherman for giving a wrong report and himself for not exercising restraint. He wanted to punish himself because he should have known better than to go charging to the rescue of Chris Donovan.

But then if Shane had known it was going to rain, he would have been prepared for what had happened and wouldn’t have spontaneously dashed out like a fucking good Samaritan. Shane congratulated himself on his outward calm because inside, he was totally confused and shaken.