Bright Lights Billionaire

by Parker, Ali

  She let out a long sigh. "I can't fight with you right now. I have enough to deal with."

  "Same." I picked up my menu and tried to breathe the tension out through my nose as quietly as possible. Deza and I had to clear the air between us, but it wasn't going to be easy, namely because there wasn't that one thing we could look toward to resolve. It was a lot of small cuts that had us bleeding to death.

  "Ethan," she spoke at the same time I looked up and said her name.

  "Me first." I lifted my hand and sighed. No sense in holding back. "You know you mean the world to me, right?"

  "Yes." She leaned back and clasped her hands in her lap.

  "So let's figure out how to stop back-biting each other and get back to being us. I miss you. Like really fucking bad." I pushed at my plate softly, needing something to fidget with. "I know you're going through some shit, and I'm sorry for my part of it, okay?"

  "Yeah. I wanted to say the same. I'm sorry too." She reached across the table and brushed her fingers over my hand. "I love you too. We need to pull together and figure all of this stuff out."

  "Well, I'm probably going to piss you off, unless my dip-shit lawyer finally called in the test and scheduled the date with you, but I'm not settling with this Amber girl out of court. I don't even fucking remember her face. I might be bad, but I'm not that bad. Come on, D."

  "I agree." She shocked the hell out of me.

  "Come again?"

  "I have to come the first time to come again. Silly boy." She winked and picked up her menu.

  "What?" I snorted. "That's my line, you old beautiful bat."

  And there it was. Resolution between us. She bent a little and I did the same, and life was beautiful. No matter what went wrong in either of our private lives, we still had a business to run together and a friendship that would sustain us through tough times.

  "Hey. Weird questions." I leaned in a little. "Riley asked me if you and I had ever been a thing."

  "Really?" Deza shook her head. "She sort of asked me the same thing. You think she's jealous?"

  "No. Why would she be? You're like a sister to me."

  "Are you guys getting closer? Like starting to talk about dating?"

  "I don't know." I picked up my menu, needing an out. I had no clue what the fuck we were doing. Pretending to play house? I had the good sense to make her sit down and define it with me, but every time I got around her, I softened and just wanted to enjoy our time, no matter what it looked like or where the hell we were.

  "What do you mean, you don't know." She reached across the table and pushed my menu down.

  I brought it back up. "Like, I don't know. We're sleeping together, but she seems to want a friends-with-benefits relationship. I'm in love with her. It doesn't exactly bode well for me."

  "And what if she's in love with you?"

  That got my attention. I dropped the menu on the table and lifted my eyebrow at my oldest friend.

  "Are you trying to say she told you that she was?"

  "I don't kiss and tell, but what if she was?"

  "Then a certain someone, like you, would need to tell me that."

  "Not happening." She pulled her menu up in front of her face.

  "D. I need to know. I'm getting closer and closer to telling the woman that I love her. I don't want my heart handed back to me in pieces."

  "So start with friends with benefits and move into it."

  "So she doesn't love me?"

  "Did you know that Trish and her husband filed for divorce? She's so broken up over it that her newest project has been put on a one-month hold." She narrowed her eyes. "A one-month hold. Do you know how much money and time they are losing? This isn't just about her, but everyone that works on her crew at Eon. Some of those people get paid hourly. It's a fucking mess."

  She didn't shift the subject like I thought she was. She threw a lesson in my face. If Trish, the sweetest, most loyal of women couldn't make a relationship work because of our profession, I sure as fuck wasn't going to be able to do it.

  But funny enough, love didn't give a shit if you were capable of maintaining. It wanted what the fuck it wanted, when it wanted it. Choice was an irrelevant term in the face of falling in love. Period.

  "Deza."

  "No. Riley has talked to me a little about you, but the woman just lost her mother, scored the job of her dreams and is graduating college in a few weeks. There's a lot going on with her, Ethan. Tread carefully."

  "I know that, and I want to be there for her, but I need something, shit. A guarantee that I'm not just pulling out my dick to have someone stomp on it."

  "Always goes back to your dick."

  "No, it doesn't." I smirked. It totally did.

  "Start out slow with her. You guys have a lot of years together of making movies in this series if you play your cards right. She's going to be as big as you are before too long. You need to focus on that. Not whether you guys can go to the chapel in Vegas and exchange rings."

  "Ouch." I huffed and turned my attention to the waitress who approached.

  "You guys ready?" She smiled and looked between me and Deza.

  "I'll take three eggs, bacon, toast and a beer. Budweiser, please." I handed her the menu as Deza ordered the same thing.

  "I'm sorry." Deza ran her hand down her face before her expression shifted. Her tanned skin shifted to red and her eyes grew wide. "No the fuck he didn't."

  "What?" I glanced over my shoulder to see Darren at a table with a pretty white woman with huge tits. He was leaning toward her, smiling and laughing. I turned back to Deza as she got up. "D. Now wait a minute. You don't wanna-"

  "Stay out of it," she mumbled as she stormed past me.

  "Oh fuck." I got up and followed behind her, but got stuck in the middle of the restaurant as the waitress stepped in front of me and questioned the order.

  "Two eggs or three?" She gave me a sweet smile as I stared at the drama just behind her. It was going to get ugly.

  "Three would be good." I moved around her as Deza's voice filled up the small cafe.

  "How dare you tell me you were busy this morning? I see what you're busy doing. You know what? Take your fucking promises and stick them in your ass. Deep in your ass where you used to love for me to play with you." Deza glanced down at the girl. "Did you know that? The man is dirty. I mean like, fucking nasty dirty."

  I pressed my fist to my mouth as Darren went from black to white. I almost felt sorry for the guy, and yet it was a bit of a turn on to know that Deza would do anything her man wanted. Was Riley like that? Not that I wanted someone's fingers in my-

  "Unbelievable." Darren seemed to come alive. "You come over here, talking shit to me while I'm working with a client. What the hell is the matter with you, and not only that, you bring your fucking shrimp-dick boyfriend."

  "Now hold up." I lifted my hand. "I might be a lot of things, but it isn't a-"

  "Hush." Deza glanced back at me before whipping back around to Darren. "This is it. I'm done with you. Don't you call my damn number ever again. I hate you."

  "Good. Now you and Ethan can come out of the closet. Everyone fucking knows you're in love with each other anyway."

  She turned her back to him and glanced up at me. So much anger.

  "Are we in love?" I whispered, trying to make her smile.

  "Just kiss me."

  "What?" I didn't have time to react. She pulled me down and laid a hard kiss on my lips.

  I wrapped my arms around her and let her have it. There was no passion between us, but if it fucked with Darren on her behalf and supported her... I was in. And as long as it was just a kiss.

  She moved back and I smiled like the happiest man in the world. "About time," I mumbled.

  "Exactly." She wrapped her arm around my waist and walked back to the table with her middle finger in the air. "I hate that fucker so much."

  I sat down, my heart racing from the drama far more than the kiss. "So you are in love with me?"

  "W
hat?" She kept a flirty grin on her face, but her voice did not at all, in any way whatsoever, match her expression. It threw me off. Like drinking a Jones' soda that was turkey and dressing flavor. That shit messed me up so bad. Deza was doing it now too.

  "I'm lost." I threw my napkin on the table as her eyes filled with tears.

  "No. I'm not in love with you. I'm in love with him. I hate him so much right now."

  "Let's get outta here then. We can have breakfast at your place. You love cooking for me, remember?"

  She laughed as a few tears rolled down her pretty cheeks. "Shut up already."

  "The kiss was good, no?"

  "Yeah. Like kissing my mother on the mouth." She smirked.

  "What? No fucking way." I leaned in and wiped away one of her tears. "Did you really finger fuck him in the ass?"

  She laughed and let her head drop. "No, but I would have. I'd do anything for him."

  "Hot. So damn hot." I leaned back and cupped my hands over my stomach. That's the devotion I wanted from Riley. If I could have that... I'd do anything to get her beside me, living as the queen of my castle.

  Chapter 76

  Riley

  Done. I was finally done with school. No more tests or quizzes. No more getting up at the ass-crack of dawn to rehearse for a play that no one attended. Well, not unless it was the last one when Ethan showed up and packed the house. He still harped on the fact that it was packed because of me, but we all knew the truth. He was the biggest playboy in Hollywood. It was definitely him.

  "So? You glad to be done?" Charlotte looped her arm into mine as we walked down the mall.

  "Yes. I'm looking forward to watching Liam and Ethan squirm tonight at their mom's house too. Is that horrible?" I smiled.

  "Not at all." She pointed to a dress store. "Let's go look in there to see if anything good is on sale. I want something cute to wear tonight."

  "You trying to impress someone?" I walked with her to the store and pulled my arm out of her hold so I could check out a few of the dresses myself.

  "Liam is insanely hot." She fanned herself.

  "And a complete player, Charlotte. It would be sex for a night and that's it. Then you would be weirded out around him every time we all got together."

  "So he's for sure part of our future?" She frowned a little.

  "I hope so. I'm praying that this thing between me and Ethan actually turns into something." I picked up a black dress that felt good to the touch. Slinky. "What do you think of this?" I held it up to my chest and tugged at the material.

  "Love it. Go try it on and make sure it's not too fitted. You know that never looks good when you're first meeting your future in-laws." She wagged her eyebrows.

  "Don't make those comments tonight. Ethan and I are just friends. All right?"

  "I thought you guys were playing like you're engaged." She tilted her head to the side, giving me a knowing look.

  "Shit. You're right. Forget that I said anything. Bring up babies too, okay?" I chuckled as I walked to the dressing room. It might be more fun than I thought pretending to be Ethan's fiancé. I could ask him a million questions about what he wanted in the future under the guise of the part I'd been selected to play. He'd never guess in a million years that I actually wanted to know what he hoped for past stardom and being a bachelor. Surely he wasn't after just that for the rest of his life.

  I tried on the dress and opened the door. "Charlotte. Come tell me what you think."

  "Yeah, sure." She walked toward me with a royal blue dress in her hands. "Ohhh... I love it. You look so good. Like businessy, but totally smoking hot. Makes your boobs look big!"

  "They are big." I glanced down and bounced for good measure.

  "What do you think of this? Too much? Too casual or boring?"

  "Try it on. You just told me to try it on. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Jeez." I closed the door.

  "You talk like an old woman. You know that." She got into the dressing room next to mine.

  "I like those old sayings. My mom used to say them when I was little and family still meant something to me."

  "Speaking of family," she paused to grunt, "what’s the story with Ethan and Liam's family? They're not close?"

  "I don't think so, but why do you ask?"

  "Seems kind of weird that we're going as their girlfriends, or really you as Ethan's fiancé. His mom and dad don't know who he's dating? They haven't met the woman before Ethan proposed? That's just jacked up."

  "True." I finished getting dressed and dropped down to tie my tennis shoes.

  "Did you guys get it on in San Diego?"

  "Yeah. A few times."

  "I want deets."

  "All right. I'll tell you on the way home." I stood up and fixed my hair before reaching for the handle.

  "All missionary or did you guys try anal or oral or…?"

  I opened the door to find two older women standing there, mouths agape. "Um. Sorry?"

  "Sorry for what?" Charlotte called over the top of the dressing room.

  "Dude, get dressed and let’s go. There are tons of people out here." I couldn't remember the last time I felt so freaking embarrassed. I walked to the counter and paid for my dress before hauling ass out of the store to wait for Charlotte.

  She walked out a few minutes later, her face contorted in angst. "Some people are so damn rude."

  "What do you mean?" I let out a long sigh, still trying to discard the feeling I had when I opened the door to see the two women shocked by my candor.

  "There were several older women in there and they kept giving me the evil eye."

  "Right. I think they overheard our conversation on anal sex." I blushed again and nodded for her to walk with me down the mall.

  "Oh shit. Really?"

  "Yeah. Why?"

  "I thought maybe I'd dated one of their sons in the past. I might have made that comment."

  I laughed loud and clamped my hand over my mouth. "Oh my God. That's so good. Tell me what you said exactly."

  "I just asked the witch if she had a son who might be free for the night, and I might have mentioned that I was sure we'd met before because of him."

  "Oh man. You're going to hell."

  "Yep. I'll hold the door for you." She gave me a sweet smile and moved toward the candy store. "Let's get some sugar."

  "You can. I've gotta watch what I eat. This new part is supposed to be played by a 'very fit' woman."

  "Nice." She stopped at the opening to the candy store and I ran into the back of her.

  "What the hell."

  She turned, her eyes wide. "You know what, on second thought, I'm good. I don't need no stinkin' sugar. Come on. We can grab something at the gas station on the way home."

  "Charlotte. What's going on?" And then I heard it. Jace. I moved around my best friend to see Jace over in the corner with a sexy little brunette, both of them laughing and feeding gummy worms to each other.

  Although it wasn't at all fair, I felt cheated.

  He glanced toward us and the look on his face changed from happy to surprise. "Ri. Char. Hey... I haven't seen you girls in at least a week. Come over here and meet Gina."

  "Quick hello and we're out," Charlotte mumbled under her breath.

  "Why do I want to throw a box of chocolate at her and run from the store screaming?" I mumbled back and took several very stiff steps toward them.

  The look on the girl's face said she was less than thrilled to be talking with us as well. Good. Nice to know it was mutual.

  "So you're Riley." She extended her hand. "Jace talks about you all the time."

  "I do not." He put his arm around Gina - the midget. The perfectly sexy, big-boobed midget.

  Charlotte reached around me and extended her hand. "Well, I'm just an innocent bystander, so... nice to meet you?"

  "Riley and I are just old friends, baby. We've been friends since high school." He smiled at me, but the sadness that crept into his gaze wasn't lost on me.

&nb
sp; "Yeah. How are you?" I ignored Charlotte and the girl and focused on Jace.

  "I'm doing all right." He moved to the side and I turned to face him. "How about you? You look good. Really good."

  The girl snorted behind us, but we both ignored her. I was in love with Ethan. Everything was great. Even if I wasn't sure if he could love me back. It was still good.

  "I'm great." I forced a facade on my face and smiled. "Couldn't be better."

  "Yeah. Awesome." He glanced around as my heart broke in my chest. He was such a part of my past. Why wasn't there something more between us? Why didn't I love him the way he loved me? Or used to.

  "Well, good to see you, Jace. Don't be a stranger." I turned to go and paused as he reached out and grabbed my wrist.

  "Ri."

  So much familiarity. So much protection and strength between us.

  "Yeah?" I glanced back as tears swam in my eyes.

  "I'm right here, baby. I'm..." He glanced down and took a shallow breath before closing his eyes and lifting his chin. He was beautiful in his own way too. "I'm right here."

  "I know, Jace. I'm sorry that I can't be right there with you." I squeezed his hand and turned, walking out of the shop before I lost my shit.

  "Well... that was fucking awkward. I thought the situation with the old ladies was bad."

  "That was way worse." I pressed my fingers to my eyes as tears dripped down my hands. "I'm ready to go."

  Charlotte wrapped her arm around me and kissed my shoulder. "No problem at all. It's going to be okay. Jace will move on, Riley. He's not going to stay upset and broken forever. You know him. He's resilient among other things, right?"

  How many times had Jace Dillon taken care of me? Picked me up out of the dirt, dusted me off and set me back on my feet? Too many to count.

  And how did I repay him?

  By kicking him in the balls with all my might and the minute he hit the dirt? Spitting on him and walking away because of lust.

  Lust, right? Or love?

  I wasn't so sure after seeing my high school sweetheart in pain.

  And it was all my fault.