(Look at the beautiful man above- can you not just imagine Trent sending this) After the response to the last chapter I just had to upload another one straight away!!! You guys are incredible, over 100 votes in 12 hours. I genuinely could not have better readers.
I fricken love this chapter and there's a couple of moments when you will SCREAM!!!!!
Hope you guys love it and leave me loads of comments and we can all freak out and discuss together.
I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH

CHAPTER 22

"It's in here," I grumble, thinking of ways in which I can tell off Mrs Grenway without offending her. I'd never want to genuinely insult her.

Trent chuckles and I don't have to turn around to know he is only a step behind me, it's like my body has a radar for him.

"She seems funny," he laughs and my back tingles at the sound of it, "How long have you known her?"

I smile fondly and enter the room, resuming my seat on the couch and I motion for him to take the one across from it.

"My whole life," I answer, "She and her husband Ernie were friends with my grandmother."

The smile on Trent's lips falters a little and I curse at saying that, I had told him about my grandmother last night but I'd only just remembered now. It wasn't something I usually shared with people because I hated the pitying stares that they gave after finding out, much like Trent was now.

By the look on his face, I can tell that he is about to ask me something and I almost cry in relief when Obi comes bounding into the living room, his legs running straight at me as he crashes into the side of me and perches himself on my lap, his usual greeting being repeated.

"This is Obi," I introduce to Trent, attempting to move my head out of the way of his tongue but it just makes him snuggle into the side of my neck instead, "He thinks he's still a puppy even though he weighs about fifty kilos and is an old man."

"He likes you," Trent comments and as he does Obi stops his movements and gets down from me, his body shaking with growls as he turns to look at Trent, backing up defensively in front of me. Trent looks at him with a bored expression, rolling his eyes, "Me, not so much apparently."

I sit gobsmacked at Obi as I prod his side with a finger, "Obi!" I scold, trying to grab his attention through his growls, "Obi, no! Trent is a friend, be nice." I stroke his head, trying to calm him down but all it makes him do is press himself into me more. "I'm really sorry Trent, he isn't usually like this."

What was wrong with him? He never growled.

Trent shrugs and slides off the sofa, getting down to his knees in front of the growling dog and my heart thumps a little in fear.

I trusted Obi, he was the sweetest dog I'd ever known but he'd never acted like this before and I'm terrified that he is going to hurt Trent.

"I'm a big guy and I'm a stranger in his house, he just needs to trust me," Trent explains as if he knows dogs inside and out and I hesitate to let go of Obi who is tugging against me in an attempt to get closer to Trent, "Let him go, trust me I'll be okay."

Cautiously, I let go of the material around his neck, my breath stopping as I wait for the dog to attack him, images of blood and terror circling my mind.

But that doesn't happen.

Instead, I watch as the old dog shuffles towards Trent, who is kneeling with his head down slightly, the growls still echoing around us until he reaches his face and stops, silence filling the room.

Trent lifts his head carefully and stares at Obi as if the two of them are having a competition and my palms begin to sweat at the tension filling the room.

What is going on?

After a moments hesitation, Trent leans back right as Obi launches forward, throwing himself onto Trent's body and I gasp, rising out of my seat.

"Oh my god!" I half scream and my mind begins to panic, my hands fumbling for something to use to pry the dog off of him.

Trent was going to die, what was I going to do.

I feel like I can't breathe as I begin to panic but it's only when I hear the laughter that I freeze and actually look at what's happening below me.

Unlike what I thought, Obi isn't mauling Trent. Instead, he is smothering him in kisses just like he does to me, his tail rapidly wagging side to side as he jumps around.

"Okay Obi, enough, enough!" Trent laughs, pushing the dog away a little and Obi for once actually listens to someone other than his owner and settles down beside Trent, his eyes still adoringly watching him and I blush when I realise that I probably look the same half the time.

It was hard not to be in awe of the beautiful boy.

"I told you, he just needed to trust me," Trent grins up at me and I sit back down on the sofa, embarrassed at how worried I had gotten, "Thanks for the concern though," he teases and I throw a pillow from beside me at him, my flaming cheeks making the room warm.

Trent knocks it away with one hand, smirking cheekily at me as he continues to rub the puppy's belly beside him.

It was such a cute image.

"Annabelle, please tell me that you did not just throw one of my plush pillows," a stern voice asks from the doorway and I guiltily look at Mrs Grenway, feeling like a child who just got caught stealing from the cookie jar, "I am so glad a polite gentleman like Trent is here with manners to keep you right."

I pout but accept the cup of tea she passes to me, not missing the wink she throws with it and I stick my tongue out in reply to her, knowing exactly what she is trying to do.

"It's alright Mrs Grenway, we can attempt to make a lady out of her yet," Trent replies and I glare at him, wishing I could duct tape peoples mouth shut with my mind.

Stupid smug boy.

Mrs Grenway laughs at his words and places another cup of coffee beside me on the table, her wicked grin flitting onto her face again.

"Oh Trent, call me Margaret. And why don't you come and sit over her, I prefer the seat you're in."

That damn old woman.

I know for a fact that the couch I am on is her favourite place to sit and I know this because I had tried to sit in the seat beside me for years and she always moved me over to the other cushion, stating that the spot she was in was the best one in the house.

She just wanted Trent to sit next to me.

Plus, she hated being called her first name, where had all this special treatment come from?

Trent obliges, standing up while giving Obi one last pet, who watches him walk towards me with unblinking eyes, his attention only being drawn away when Mrs Grenway takes the seat instead and begins to stroke his belly.

Trent sits down beside me softly, removing his jacket and I almost want to laugh at how funny he looks sitting there, his tattoos on a background of antiques and paisley patterns, his height dwarfing the tiny lamp resting next to him.

I pass him the other cup of tea, trying not to spill any and he takes it carefully, his finger lightly ghosting across mine as he does, making my eyes look up at him.

It's so brief but for a moment I swear I can see something sparkling in his eyes but it's gone before I can reassess it and he turns away from me to look over my shoulder at Mrs Grenway.

The old woman sits on her own, watching us with a gleeful smile and I roll my eyes, blushing at her obvious stare.

"So Trent, tell me about yourself? Any siblings? What do your parents do? Do you have a girlfriend?"

I choke on my tea at her last question and splutter into coughs, my body hunching over as I try not to drown in my mug.

Trent glances at me in panic while he laughs and taps my back slowly, helping the cough to ease up.

Was she trying to kill me?

"My mother works for the town, my dad has his own contracting business," he answers, his eyes glancing between the two of us and he doesn't remove his hand from my back, even after I stop spluttering, "I don't have any siblings and I don't have a girlfriend either."

He chuckles at the last part and I roll my eyes but then pause and look at him questioningly, ignoring the fire dancing across my back where his hand is slowly rubbing up and down.

"I thought you had a brother?" I ask, wondering if I had just imagined him telling me the story about him the other night, but when a look of pain flitters across his face and his hand stills, I know that it's so much more than that.

Something had happened.

Oh god he'd told me that he'd died, didn't he? That wasn't a made up stoned memory of mine.

I'm such an idiot.

As he sits in silence, his hesitation an answer, I quickly think of something else, "Oh I'm thinking of the wrong person!" I answer myself and Trent looks at me with wide eyes, gratefulness soon replacing the shocked look in them.

"I can't believe that you're single," Mrs Grenway interrupts dreamily, making us break eye contact, "In my day, a handsome young man like yourself would have been snatched up before you could blink, heck if I was sixty years younger then you currently would be!"

"Mrs Grenway!" I gasp, giggling at her words and Trent bursts out laughing beside me too, his hand leaving my back and I can't help but feel disappointed at the loss of contact.

"What?" she asks, "I was just complimenting the boy!"

"Thank you, Ma'am," Trent responds, laughter still in his voice and I'm glad I'm sitting down because that word leaving his lips makes my knees feel like they're about to crumble.

"So no girl has caught your eye?" she persists, not so subtly glancing at me and I internally beg the ground to swallow me up whole, "No one good enough?"

Trent smiles, his head turning to look at me and I quickly avert my gaze from where it had been resting on his toned arm and stare at the teacup in my hands.

Maybe I wasn't good enough?

"I've just never found the one before," he explains, his voice soft and my heartbeat quickens in my chest, was he a complete hopeless romantic? "Although I'm starting to think that maybe that's changed, I just need to know how she feels."

If my entire body could blush it would probably have done so and then melted into a puddle because I cannot suppress the feelings that overtake me as I look at him, his words repeating over and over again in my head like they're on a loop.

Was he talking about me?

Was I crazy to hope that he was?

I feel a small smile curve my lips upwards and his shining eyes flick down to my lips, his own mirroring the expression as he looks back into my eyes, our gazes not leaving each other.

I could sit and stare at him for hours, even just into his eyes if I had to. Although, the full body would be a much better deal.

His gaze is vulnerable again and I realise that maybe he is actually talking about me, could it be that he had those feelings for me?

He rejected your kiss.

The voice in my head stops the excited thoughts that are dancing around like a merry-go-round and brings them to a screeching halt, the memory of last night still fresh and painful to recall.

He seems to notice my change in response because his lips dip down too and I quickly break eye contact, turning back to Mrs Grenway and my cup of tea.

She watches the two of us, a calculating look across her features, as though she was putting together pieces of a puzzle and when her brows finally shoot up and she looks as though she's figured something out I quickly butt in, not wanting her to ask him anything more about having a girlfriend or what exactly those words just meant.

"Tell us one of your stories!" I half shout, wanting her to get distracted, "You've never told me much about the ornament above the fireplace or your trip to Cairo," I state and I calm down when I see her immediately begin to think about old memories, her questions for Trent long forgotten.

"Ah, yes," she sighs, going to collect it from the countertop and placing it down in front of us, it's elegant painting and carving adding to the beautiful detail of it.

"Mrs Grenway used to travel a lot," I explain to Trent who lifts the piece carefully, studying it closely as if he was genuinely interested.

"A story for every place," Mrs Grenway laughs, motioning to all the decorations around her.

"It's gorgeous," Trent murmurs, his fingers gliding over the inscriptions, "I'd love to hear about it."

Mrs Grenway looks over the moon at his words and wiggles into her seat more so she is further down and much more comfortable.

"Well then, it begins with Ernie and I accidentally getting the wrong plane and ending up in a place we hadn't even planned to visit..."

She begins to tell the story and I smile, completely content to sit and listen to her rabble on about different countries and cultures until the day I die, it was all so fascinating.

I also didn't mind the fact that Trent was sitting beside me the entire time.

Not at all.

It's one of her most amazing stories yet and I almost forget that I'm sitting with a boy who isn't mine because I'm so wrapped up in her tale of romance and adventure that I don't feel like I'm even living my own life.

At one of the tensest parts of her story, where she's telling us about how Ernie fought off a mugger, I reach out and grab Trent's hand automatically, not knowing what possesses me to, but in the moment it just felt right.

He doesn't say anything about it and just flips his hand over and intertwines our fingers, reassuringly squeezing it.

I notice how, although she is as caught up in the story as we are, Mrs Grenway still glances down at our hands and a smile makes it's way onto her lips as she continues recalling the events.

I had always wanted to travel the world – to see places that I had never been and experience a life that wasn't mine. But so far I hadn't been able to do any of that, and if it was up to Matt and my father then I never would; so Mrs Grenway's stories were almost like an escape for me, where I could imagine that I was free.

By the end of her tale, I have sweat prickling the back of my neck and I feel as though I've just fought my way out of a campsite, my heartbeat still erratic from listening to her recount it.

"That's incredible," Trent murmurs, his eyes still wide and I nod in agreement, "Ernie sounds like an incredible man. He must have been strong to go through all that."

Mrs Grenway looks at Trent in a way I don't recognise but smiles.

"Yes, he was. When I met him he was already married to someone else to benefit his family and hers. He couldn't end it and so we ran away together. The reason we went to so many places was so that they never caught up to us. Eventually, it wasn't them that caught up with him but his own bad health."

I'd heard her say this before, she'd told me many times about how in love they were and how it was basically a Romeo and Juliet type story, but I'd never heard her say it with such an edge to her voice.

She always said that Ernie had died from his health, but from what I remember he was always in perfect health... although I suppose I maybe wasn't as observational at seven as I am now.

"Annabelle, would you help me clear up," Mrs Grenway asks, although it's not really asking because she says it as a statement, however, I nod anyway and stand up, dropping Trent's hand in the process and I quickly replace it with a cup so I don't feel the need to reach back out and grab it again.

Trent looks as though he is deep in thought and so I collect with things quickly and follow the older woman out of the room and into the kitchen, where I begin to start stacking dishes in the dishwasher.

"I saw that hand-holding," Mrs Grenway says, her voice hushed so that Trent can't hear us, "Why are you fighting it."

I sigh and straighten up, turning to face her as I lean on the counter, a dishtowel between my hands.

"Because I can't be with him."

"Why not?" She looks actually shocked at my words and I groan, hiding my hands in the towel. "He is charming and very intelligent, you said so yourself. And it's obvious that he cares about you. I've never seen someone look at a person the way he looks at you, he looks more in love than Ernie did."

I still at her words, not knowing how to respond to that.

Maybe she just needed to wear her glasses.

"Trent... Trent isn't in love with me," I whisper, shaking my head and the soft patter of her feet tells me that she's coming closer to me, "We barely know each other, he just wants something he can't have."

The words I speak leave a bitter taste in my mouth and I immediately regret saying them and it must show on my face because Mrs Grenway raises an eyebrow, knowing full well I'm in denial.

"I love Matt," I correct, knowing that it was the sole basis of me not being able to be with Trent, "I don't know who I would be without him."

Her kind eyes look at me with sympathy and she reaches out, taking my hands in her frail ones.

"Take it from an old woman who has experienced the best parts of love; love is not about who you are without that person, it's about who you are with them. And if you think you'd be someone else without them, then you weren't yourself with them in the first place."

I feel the tears spring into my eyes as I listen to her and I can see how much love she has for Ernie shining through, even after all these years she still seemed like she was as in love with him as she was on day one. How did she have so much knowledge, how did she find such a true love?

"My sweet girl," she whispers, stroking the side of my face with one hand, "Loving because of happiness is one thing, but loving because you fear losing it is another."

Tears slip down my cheeks at her words, the wisdom of them astounding me and she smiles at me warmly, letting my face go as she steps back, but not before wiping the moisture away from my eyes.

"I love you so much," I tell her and her cheeks puff up in happiness as she pulls me into a hug.

"Oh Annabelle, you have no idea how much you are loved."

Sometimes I wished that my grandmother had still been here, I would have loved to have grown up with her and not lost her, but I could never say that I'd prefer to have her over Mrs Grenway, she had done too much for me and had half raised me to be the person I am today.

Our warm embrace is interrupted by a hesitant knock on the wooden door and I look up to see Trent standing there, a worried and anxious expression on his face.

"Sorry," he begins and I quickly look away, not wanting him to see the tears while Mrs Grenway turns to face him, "I was just going to ask if you needed a hand with anything."

He was so sweet.

"Actually Trent I do," Mrs Grenway replies and I glance at her in suspicion, my tears long gone, "Obi needs a walk, so you can accompany Annabelle if you'd like, make sure she doesn't get into any bother."

I'd walked Obi a thousand times, there was no bother around here. The old lady was still up to no good.

But I kind of loved it.

"I'd love to Margaret," Trent responds, an amused smile on his face as I turn and look at him, watching as his gaze sweeps down me quickly, as if checking to see if I was hurt.

"Perfect!" she shouts and disappears out of the room to get his lead and I walk towards Trent, aiming to leave the room but for some reason I stop at him and look up, watching the way his eyes never leave mine.

"Are you alright?' he asks hesitantly as if he was scared to ask and I suddenly realise how much he actually seems to care about me, the question was so genuine.

I nod silently and he seems to almost sag in relief, the tension in his shoulders releasing and it makes me giggle.

"Good, because if you don't want me here I can leave, I don't want to push you or anything."

I think that even without experiencing how Matt was, I'd still be shocked at how polite and patient Trent is, but because I've spent the last four years with someone who only seemed to ever push me, it was almost overwhelming to have someone take a step back and offer me space.

Even if they were just a friend.

I carefully place my hands on his chest and his whole body freezes in shock as his eyes widen, watching me slowly rise up on my tiptoes in order to reach his face.

I lean forward, resting our bodies together and underneath the palm of my hand I can feel his heartbeat jump and begin again at a pace so rapid I almost want to check to see if he's okay.

But instead, I lean into his cheek and press a kiss on it gently, my breath fanning over his ear as I do, ignoring the way that his hand has closed around my hip, balancing me against him and the tingles that shoot all over my body because of it.

"Thank you," I whisper before pulling back a little but his arms stop me from retreating entirely and I'm left hanging only an inch or two away from his mouth.

His eyes are so so bright that their golden colour reminds me of the artefact hanging from the wall in the living room, the royal crest of an ancient Egyptian family embedded into it.

"For what?" he asks breathlessly, his gaze drifting to my lips and my fingers curl into the material of his shirt.

"For caring about me."

One side of his mouth tilts up in response to my words and my breath catches in my throat at how perfect he looks, his fingers squeezing me a little tighter.

"You never have to thank me for that."

I smile back at him, looking at the way the light freckles across his nose dot all the way up to his hairline and how one of his brows are slightly bushier than the other. He wasn't perfect, but he was pretty much the closest thing you could get to it.

And having him looking down at me, smiling in the way he was seemed to almost be a dream.

"Found it!" Mrs Grenway announces down the hall and I quickly step out of Trent's touch, missing his arm around me as soon as I do and he seems to feel the same because a flicker of disappointment coats his features before it disappears again and an easy going smile replaces it, much like my own.

"Now, you guys take your time and don't worry about rushing back," she lectures, pointedly looking at me and I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes as she turns to look at Trent, "And I would say be careful but I think someone would be crazy to try anything with you around," her gaze travels up his arm which is crossed over his body and flexed, "Very crazy."

"We're going!" I shout with laughter, nudging her a little and knocking her out of her daze as she turns and winks at me, a playful smile on her lips and Trent chuckles, wrapping an arm around the small woman.

"I'll look after her I promise."

"Oh, I don't doubt that."

I shake my head at the two of them and head for the door, putting on my shoes as I do and I watch them chat in a hushed tone and I pray that Mrs Grenway isn't trying to get him to do something for her, that would be mortifying.

I whistle for Obi who comes trotting through in response, his eyes eagerly looking at the lead in my hand and I clip him on, grabbing my jacket as well as Trent's.

"Trent?" I call, waiting for him to come to the door and he appears a second later, a smirk on his lips as he heads towards me. "Finished your little chit-chat?" I tease and he rolls his eyes, bumping my arm with his.

"Don't be jealous, you're still my favourite girl."

His words catch me by surprise and I stand stunned for a moment as he walks past me and opens the front door.

Where had that come from?

"Goodbye, Maggie!" he shouts and I, along with the voice in the other room gasp at his words and he shoots me a cheeky smirk, grabbing my arm and pulling me out the house quickly.

"You better not call me that!" Mrs Grenway shouts as we make our way onto the porch but I can see the smile basically blinding me from outside and I know she would let him most likely call her anything at this point.

He did have that effect on people.

"We'll be back soon!" I shout back before shutting the door and I follow Trent down the steps, the two of us laughing at her.

How adorable and wise is Mrs Grenway  😭 honestly I adore her so much!!!
Did you spot the hints that keep getting dropped???
I love it.
I LOVE YOU