Earn My Trust

Chapter 7 - Second Thoughts

Hannah had been dating Robin for over two months now. They had taken to meeting during their lunch breaks instead of evenings after she had explained her mums arthritis and feeling guilty for asking her to babysit all the time so she could see him.
She thought she had really blown everything when she broke down, especially as it had only been the second date, but Robin had been ever so sweet and supportive.
Yes, he met her with her favourite salmon and cream cheese sandwich, but he always asked to be paid back. She knew he did it to make a point to her that he respected her decision that she wanted to continue to pay for herself, but she also knew he wouldn't hold it against her if she didn't pay him back.
Greg and Mel were overjoyed that she had found herself a good man. They didn't know the full story, just enough to know that Robin was a vast improvement from Jake. All they cared about was her coming into the office full of life instead of half asleep like she used to do. She had even taken to humming and singing while she worked, a habit Greg happily got behind. He would burst into song alongside her, and before they all knew it, all three of them were singing along to whatever was playing on the radio at the time.
Even Steve, the security guard, had made friends with Robin while he waited patiently for her to come down from the office and join him.
He hadn't met Bea yet, but he had been invited to hers for dinner this Friday evening to finally meet her.
The reason behind the delay, as Hannah liked to joke about, was so that he had plenty of time to bail out of this relationship if he had second thoughts.
Hannah had finally told Bea of her new boyfriend, and her daughter was itching to meet the new man in her mums life.
Robin had kindly bought Bea a beautiful canvas sketch of a unicorn that she had completely fallen in love with. It now hung in pride of place above her headrest in her bedroom. He had done it to give a soft introduction to him, and Hannah really appreciated his sweet gesture towards her daughter.
As Bea reminded her mum quite often, nearly breaking Hannah's heart every time, she never had a daddy, so now she could see if she liked having one and so far, she liked him. Even if they hadn't met yet.
Hannah had also begun to take advantage of the after-school clubs on offer for Bea, and now, every Thursday, Bea was attending a colouring and yoga club for an extra hour.
While it didn't stop her daily rush for the train every evening, it did allow her to get more work done and get an extra hours pay a week.
It was Thursday today, and she frantically grabbed her possessions before bolting out of the office.
"Go go go, Hannah!" Steve cheered encouragingly, holding open the door ready for her quick exit.
"Thanks, Ste - OOF!"
Hannah collided heavily with a passer by, but the stranger caught her in enough time to save the both of them from toppling over.
"What are you doing here?!" She heard Robin's voice.
She pulled back slightly, her eyes sparkling as she expected her boyfriend to be her saviour, but that sparkle quickly dimmed and was replaced with pure and utter horror.
Of all the people she could have crashed into, it had to be Ethan Sanders! The wealthiest man in the world!
"Oh, fuck!" She cried, jumping back away from him and quickly back tracking. "I mean, I'm sorry! I'm so terribly sorry, sir."
"Sir?" He repeated in bewilderment before it hit him.
He was Ethan Sanders right now, not her lover, Robin!
Fuck!
Hannah was stumbling over her words as she tried to profusely apologise, Steve cutting in too and defending her by blaming himself.
"It's my fault, sir. You see, I hold the door open for her so she can make a quick escape, but I didn't forewarn you..."
"I'm so terribly sorry! What can I do to repay you?"
"Stop!" He held up a hand to silence Hannah and Steve together, their overlapping voices confusing and overwhelming him. They both shut up at once.
He glanced at Hannah but quickly had to look away before his face betrayed him. She looked afraid of him, worried that he was going to sue her or something ridiculous because neither of them had been paying attention.
It hurt! It hurt to see her looking at him like he was a complete stranger, a possible threat due to the way they had 'bumped' into each other.
He closed his eyes to calm his aching heart and took a deep breath.
"No harm done." He breathed heavily, still avoiding her eye contact.
"I didn't hurt you, did I?" She asked him frantically.
He smiled and shook his head. "No, you didn't." He braced himself and looked her in the eye. "I'm a lot tougher than I look."
She opened her mouth to say something else when Martin came rushing over from where he had originally separated from Ethan just moments before. He must have seen what happened.
"Jesus, Hannah! Are you OK?!" He asked, looking between the two of them.
"I'm fine. I'm more worried about Mr Sand -"
"Ethan, please." He cut across her firmly. "You aren't my client, so you don't have to call me Mr Sanders." He explained when she gave him a confused look.
"Ethan." She repeated with an unsure tone. "It's all my fault, Martin... what are you doing here anyway?"
Martin winced a little before pointing at Ethan and smirking. "He's my boss."
She gaped at the both of them, her face turning even more redder than before.
"I don't know him." She quickly jumped to Martins defence. "We don't know each other at all. I just... I... read his name... somewhere..." she cringed at her awful lie before collecting herself. "Don't punish him for my mistake."
Ethan burst out laughing at that. "You think I'd punish him because he knows the beautiful woman who crashed into me?"
Martin chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck and avoiding everyone's gaze. "Yeah! Ha ha... small world, isn't it?"
Ethan grinned at him before stretching out his hand towards Hannah. "Like I said, no harm done, no punishment is needed."
She blinked at him, trying to decipher him for herself, and slowly took his hand curiously.
"Have I-"
"Shit! Hannah. You've missed the train!" Steve cried out, breaking Hannah's intense studying of Ethans face.
"Oh fucking bollocks!" She shouted, kicking the bollard next to her before screaming in pain and hopping on the spot holding her foot.
She had already taken her shoes off and two pairs of socks wasn't going to protect her toes from the full force she put behind her kick.
Ethan wrapped his arms around her, helping stay standing before looking at Martin with urgency.
"Get the car! We need to get her to hospital!"
Martin stared at him like all his christmas's had come at once. "Whoa, you're actually letting me drive -"
"NOW YOU DIPSHIT!" Ethan roared impatiently, making Martin turn tail and bolt across the road to get the lambourgini.
"I'll take you to the hospital." He assured her. "We need to get your foot looked at."
But she shook her head, gulping down her cries of pain. "No..." she wheezed. "I need to collect my daughter from school."
Ethan paused for a moment, thinking he'd be able to drop her at the hospital, and he'd go and collect Bea for her, then realised that was a stupid idea!
There was no way the school would allow a billionaire to rock up to the school, saying he was taking Bea to see her mum in hospital. That was dodgy as fuck and would likely end up with him being arrested for being a pedophile!
"Alright, we will get her first and make sure she's looked after." He whispered as he heard the car pull up beside them. He opened the door and saw the shit eating grin on Martins face.
"Get out!" He snarled.
"Awww, what?!" Martin complained, his face dropping to one of such disappointment.
"There's only two seats, you idiot! It's my car!"
Martin sighed heavily, while Ethan gently put Hannah in the passenger seat, and affectionately stroked the steering wheel, purposely trying to piss Ethan off further.
"I'll never forget you, baby girl."
"Get out!" Ethan shouted as he put her seatbelt on.
Martin leaned forward and planted a kiss on the steering wheel.
"NOW!" Both Ethan and Hannah yelled at him, making him jump and scramble to get out before Ethan could grab him and throw him out.
"I'LL CALL YOU!" He shouted after Ethan had replaced him and began to speed off.
"Where is it I'm going?" He asked her as he stretched the seat belt across himself.
Hannah was taking deep breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth to try and get through the pain in her toes. "Teddington..." she breathed, closing her eyes and resting her head back against the headrest. "Saint Mary's... Primary..."
"Alright. It'll be OK, alright? We will get there as quickly as we can." He reached over and gripped her hand to try and help her. "Squeeze my hand through the pain if you have to."
"I've only... broken my... toes! I'm not... in labour!" She joked, grimacing a smile at him through her pain.
"The way you're breathing there, anyone looking in here would think otherwise." He gave her the smile he knew helped her relax.
"I'm... spoken for!" She said firmly. "Don't try... flirting... with me... sonny!"
He burst out laughing as he sped further and further out of London.
"Hey, Google! Directions to Saint Mary's Primary School in Teddington." He said clearly.
"Calculating. Route for. Saint Mary's. Primary School. In. Teddington." His car responded back like a train announcement.
Hannah gave him an incredulous look, and he smirked back.
"What? Being rich has its perks. It also means I don't have to rely on you giving me directions. Forgive me for saying this, but I don't think you're in any fit state to do so at the moment."
"You will arrive. At your destination. In. Twenty. Two. Minutes." The car confirmed before a screen slotted out of the middle of the dashboard and flipped up to show the map on a screen.
Hannah stared in awe. She couldn't help herself.
"It plays movies too." Ethan added smugly.
That snapped her out of her astonishment. She scoffed back at him sourly.
"Hey, what did I do?" He chuckled.
"You made me miss my train, and now I have a broken foot, as well as I'm late to collect my daughter." She snapped. "You're bad luck, Mr Sanders!"
And there was me thinking I was the luckiest man in the world merely four hours ago, he mused to himself as he followed the satnav.
Hannah called ahead to the school to let them know she might be late.
"Hello. This is Hannah Taylor, Bea Taylors mummy. Unfortunately, I've had... a little accident, and I'm running behind slightly. I'll be there as quickly as I can."
"Not a problem, Mrs Taylor. We will see you when you get here." The school's receptionist replied kindly.
She put the phone down and readjusted herself after sliding down in the slippery bright orange leather seats.
"Shitty fuck!" She hissed and gripped her foot again.
"Why weren't you wearing shoes?" Ethan asked in bemusement.
"Can't run in heels. I usually run into things... don't you fucking dare!" She snarled as she saw his eyebrows rise along with the corners of his mouth twitching.
"I ain't gonna say nuttin!" He squeaked, trying to hold back his laugh.
"You know, you could show me a little sympathy here." She grimaced as he rounded a corner sharply and nearly threw her into the door.
"I did, but I got told you were spoken for, so I thought I better stop."
She gaped at him while he kept his eyes on the road, unable to hide he was enjoying teasing her.
"You're nothing like what they say in the magazines, are you?" She said rhetorically.
"What do they say?" He asked, his amusement quickly dwindling.
"That you're a hot head. You are grumpy and cruel." She winced as he went down a road with speed bumps and gripped onto her foot again to protect it.
"Is that so?" His face was now emotionless, but inside it hurt that she would believe such bullshit about him.
"Mmmhmm." She hummed, nodding to confirm it.
"And what are your first impressions of me?"
He had to ask. He was now so curious about how her impression of him as Ethan differed from Robins.
She hummed again, narrowing her eyes and cocking her head to the side.
"That you're human." She said after a while. "Of course they see you all pissed off and raging. They're intruding on your private life, and, to be honest, they deserve to be run over sometimes. The way they broadcast people's private lives is disgusting!"
The corners of his lips twitched at that. He appreciated that she could see through the lies they spun.
"Although..."
He cast her a quick glance when she went to continue, scrunching up her face to show her awkwardness.
"What?" He pushed.
"Please dont go back to Bianca McMillan." She twisted in her seat to face him properly. "I know it's not my place to say, but when I was out with my boyfriend, we saw her, and apparently, she had been trying to speak to you."
He sighed and nodded. He had managed to avoid Bianca by temporarily moving to another of his properties in the Knightsbridge area. It wasn't as glamorous as his preferred one, but it was a place she didn't know about. As far as he was concerned, the only person he cared about was the woman who was nursing her foot in his car.
"I can promise you, that won't happen." He whispered, pulling up beside the school and stopping. "Do you want me to get her or..."
"Oh, yeah." She realised where they were, unbuckled her seatbelt, and awkwardly hopped out of the car.
Ethan sighed and followed her lead, meeting her at the bonnet of the car and allowing her to use him as a crutch.
"Oh, Miss Taylor!" The teacher gasped when she saw them approach the entrance hallway, then she saw who was with her. "Oh my -"
"Mummy!" Bea cried, dashing past the teacher when she saw her mum was hurt.
"I'm OK, buzzy Bea." Hannah assured her with a brave face. "I just missed my train and stupidly kicked a pole with no shoes on."
Ethan pulled away slightly to take Bea's bag and water bottle so she could hug her mum and then helped Hannah back to the car.
"Right, Bea?" He said as they got to his car. "You're going to have to sit on your -"
"ITS A SUPER CAR!!" Bea blurted out in excitement and ran ahead, trying to peer in through the tinted windows.
He laughed affectionately at her excitement. "Yes, but it only has two seats. Can you be an extra good girl and sit carefully on your mums lap so you don't hurt her foot?"
The girl nodded as she watched the unknown man help her mum back into the car before coming back to get her. He lifted her into Hannah's lap with ease and went round to get in the drivers seat.
"VROOOM VROOOOOM" Bea squealed, kicking her legs in excitement.
"Careful, Bea!" Hannah urged worriedly, hastily moving her damaged foot out of harms way.
Ethan started the engine. Bea whined at the lack of vroom vroom she had been expecting and gave him a broken look.
"I know the feeling, kid." He said soberly. "But this is an electric car. I wasn't allowed to keep my ferrari."
"Can we get going, please?" Hannah pleaded desperately as she held her daughters legs still. "My foot isn't going to heal itself!"
Ethan winked at Bea and sped off for the closest hospital.
Two hours later, they were still sitting in the Accident and Emergency waiting room. Ethan was pacing impatiently while Hannah was trying to smile through the pain for her daughter. Every now and then, she cast Ethan an annoyed look for buzzing around them.
"Why are they taking so long?!" He snapped, narrowing his eyes at the receptionist.
"There are people here who have far worse injuries than me, Mr Sanders." She replied voidly. "They require treatment quicker than I do."
"But they could at least give you something for the pain!" He snapped back, his eyes looking tormented for someone he hardly knew.
"Why are you so worried about me?" She asked him, confused.
She caught him there.
"Ugh..." he scratched the back of his neck as he thought of an excuse. "You mean a lot to Martin. I just want to make sure you're OK."
"I better call my boyfriend, Robin." She said pointedly, pulling out her phone. "I doubt I'll be able to go into work tomorrow if I have broken my foot."
"Right!" He said, glancing around for a quick escape. "I'll... er... I'll leave you to it."
He made his way out of the waiting room exit into the fresh air and turned left to get off hospital property.
He barely made it before his phone rang. He scrunched up his face in guilt and pulled out his phone to answer.
"Heya baby!" He forced himself to say, trying to sound as carefree as possible even though he was being torn apart with worry for her.
"Hey." She sighed. "You won't believe whats happened."
"Ummm, you wiped your arse yourself?" He joked, hating himself with every sound that came out of his mouth.
She chuckled half heartedly. "No. Well, yes, I did, but... I may have broken my foot."
"What?! How?!"
"I was rushing for my train home and crashed into, get this, Ethan Sanders!"
"That prick broke your foot?!" He threw his head back in disgust with himself.
"No! I bumped into... well, more collided with him, and then Martin showed up, and I missed my train." She explained exhaustedly. "I kicked a bollard in anger, and I wasn't wearing shoes."
He hissed down the phone. "Fuck! Ouch! Where's Bea? Is she still at school? Did you want me to -"
"No, it's OK. She's here with me now. Ethan Sanders took me in his fancy lambourgini..."
"Fucking right too!" He slumped forward as he sat on the low wall surrounding the carpark, leaning his elbow on his knees.
"Right? It is the most overpriced, shittiest car I've ever been in!"
Ouch. That was a low blow there. He did like that car.
"He took you to hospital then? Where are you? I'll come and see you."
"Yes. He took me to get Bea then to the hospital. I'm at Kingston Hospital, but I'm OK. He's stayed with us, although he is annoying the fuck out of me. Keeps buzzing around and complaining. It's not really helping the time go quicker."
He felt like the worst fake in the entire world.
"He's probably just worried about you. Anyone would be if they saw someone kick a pole without wearing shoes."
He couldn't even bring himself to chuckle with his half arsed joke. Her answering laugh didn't make him feel any better either. He felt worse.
"I've texted Lisa..."
Had she?! When had she managed that? He hadn't seen her texting anyone.
"... she is coming round with Martin to come and look after Bea for me while I go in. I don't want to take up any more of Mr Sanders' time. He obviously doesn't want to be here."
He couldn't stop the groan as the guilt increased tenfold at her words.
She thought he didn't want to be there?! Was that how she was reading his actions?
"Are you OK?"
He closed his eyes and held his breath. "Yeah. I'm OK. I yawned, sorry."
"Oh, I'm sorry for boring you." She chuckled, thankfully laughing it off.
"No, baby. It's just been a long day. Are you sure you don't want me to replace him? I'll come stay with you and take you back to yours afterwards."
"No, it's OK. Although..." she hesitated slightly. "I'm likely not going into work tomorrow, so... would you be able to get the day off?"
His heart leapt but plummeted back down when he realised she wanted Robin, not Ethan, with her tomorrow.
"I can work something out. There's no way I'm going to miss out on being with you for a whole day!"
"And night, maybe?"
He dropped his phone, almost losing it down the drain from how stunned he was. He quickly picked it back up, but his fingers were like butter, and he fumbled to keep hold of it.
"Fucking hell, baby." He breathed once he had the phone back to his ear. "You sure know how to startle a man!"
Her answering laugh made him grin widely.
"I'll see you tomorrow then. I'll message you the address tonight once I'm home."
"Did you want me to drop Bea off tomorrow and pick her up too?" He offered.
She was silent for a moment, and when she next spoke, she sounded quite emotional. "That would be great if you could." She replied in a small voice.
"I'd do anything for you, you know that."
He put the phone down but didn't rush to get back to her yet. He stayed sitting on the wall, staring unseeingly at the passing traffic and pedestrians as he thought through their conversations in the car and just now on the phone.
He couldn't carry on like this!
He wanted Hannah more than anything, and now he had met Bea, although she didn't know who he really was to her mum as such, he adored the precious girl.
But he didn't want to be known as Robin anymore. He had started to hate wearing the prosthetics and wig just so he could spend time with Hannah. He was open and honest with her in everything else, apart from his appearance and who he actually was.
He was going to have to come clean someday.
He sat there for a while until a familiar voice broke him out of his melancholy thoughts.
"Hey, why are you out here?" Martin asked him, sitting beside him on the wall.
Ethan gave him the most heartbroken look, suddenly breaking down.
"I can't do this anymore!" He blubbered before collapsing in on himself and sobbing into his hands.
Martin was taken aback by his sudden show of raw emotion and putting a consoling arm across his shoulders, unsure of what to say.