Pretend I'm Yours

by Ella Miles

  I storm into his apartment and make myself comfortable on his couch. I need to calm the hell down if I’m going to survive this without killing him.

  Sebastian takes his time walking over to a chair opposite me, stumbling into a seat before he picks up a beer and starts drinking from it.

  I sigh. I see the pain in his eyes. Our father fucked him up. He emotionally and physically abused us both, then left us with no one to love. I was able to use that anger and funnel it into my businesses. But Sebastian, he’s sensitive. He turned to drugs and alcohol, and now, there is nothing left of him.

  “Let me help you,” I say, keeping my voice calm.

  Sebastian chuckles. “You can’t help me. I ran a woman off the road. I almost killed her. And now the two of you are married or fucking or whatever the hell you are doing.”

  I take a deep breath, trying not to judge him. He’s a good person. He just needs help. And I have no idea how to help him.

  I rub the back of my head and look around his apartment, which is in desperate need of cleaning. Empty beer and whiskey bottles scatter the floor and tables. I can smell the rotting pizza in the kitchen from here. And I’m sure if I look closely, I’ll notice ants, or possibly even mice, at home in his disaster of an apartment. Usually, I would call a cleaning service to help him. But I’m not going to this time. This time, he has to want to get better. I can’t stay here and watch him slowly kill himself, but I can’t keep fixing all of his problems, or he’ll never get better.

  “You need to go to rehab. Stop using alcohol and drugs as a way to crush your feelings; then you can figure out what you are doing.”

  He laughs. “Yea, because you are the model of healthy relationships.”

  I narrow my eyes, not understanding. “I have a great life. I work hard. I have great friends. I have an awesome brother when he’s sober. I’m married to a beautiful woman. What more could I need?”

  He shakes his head as he drinks the rest of the beer in the bottle that I want to rip from his hands.

  “You are fake married. You may have friends, but you’ve never let a woman in. You won’t because you’re afraid if you really love someone, you might eventually turn into dad and treat her like crap. You’re afraid you will drive away or hurt a woman, just like our father did to our mother.

  “Just because you don’t use drugs and alcohol doesn’t mean that you are any better than me. You may seem to have your life together from the outside, but you still have no idea how to have a healthy relationship.”

  Every word he speaks is true. I don’t know how to have a healthy relationship, especially with a woman. And I don’t want one. I’m perfectly happy on my own.

  I get up from the couch. I can’t keep having this conversation with him.

  “I want my business, Kade.”

  I glare at him. Hating that that’s all I am to him.

  “No.”

  He returns my glare as he stands up. Although, he’s not that intimidating when he can barely stand upright.

  “You don’t have a choice. Father’s will says that when I graduate from college, I am to be allowed to have one of the businesses.”

  My hands ball into fists next to my side, but I keep my composure and don’t hit him again. If I do, I’m afraid it would do some serious damage. It might make me feel better, but it won’t do anything to make Sebastian change his life.

  “When you get sober, I’ll give you one of the businesses.”

  I walk past him, ignoring him.

  “That’s not fair. Maybe having a responsibility, like having a company to run, would make me sober.”

  He looks at me, and my heart cools a little. He’s just a lost boy that wants better, but isn’t willing to do the work to help himself.

  “You can’t use a company as a reason to get sober. People rely on you to keep the company running. If you fuck it up, you’ll be hurting other people. Whereas if you drink alone here, you’ll just be hurting yourself.”

  “Why not? You do.”

  I stop in my tracks. Anger floods through my body until I’m trembling.

  “I didn’t come here to talk about me. I’m not the one with the problem. I came here to talk about you. Get your shit together.”

  A corner of his lip turns up.

  “I’ll have my lawyer talk to your lawyer about which company you will be passing onto me.”

  I grunt as I storm out of his apartment. He’s not getting any of the businesses I’ve worked hard to grow until he proves to me that he takes his responsibilities seriously and is sober. I don’t care if I have to spend all my time and energy fighting him in court, proving he isn’t well enough to take over any of my businesses.

  He’s not tearing apart anything I’ve built. I came here wanting to get close to my brother again so that we could run the King empire together, but now I want nothing more than to go back LA and forget this town.

  I open the door to my bedroom, but Larkyn isn’t there. It’s after eight in the morning. What did I expect?

  I walk down to her bedroom and knock on her door, but hear nothing.

  I sigh. I’m going to need a drink soon to get through the day. I should make a couple calls to my lawyer first and maybe go for a run or something to get rid of my frustration. I head to my office. I open the double doors and slam them shut behind me.

  Larkyn jumps as she sits on the couch in the corner of my office.

  I cock my head to the side, as I slip my hand into my pockets, looking at her.

  Her big eyes look surprised to see me home.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude. Your office has the best light in the morning.”

  I walk over and sit down on the edge of the couch while she stays curled up in the corner with a book in her lap.

  “It’s okay. I’m glad you’re here.”

  She smiles at me with sadness in her eyes.

  “You went to see Sebastian.”

  I nod.

  “It didn’t go well, did it?”

  “No, it didn’t. I don’t know how to get him help. He won’t listen to me about going to rehab, and now he’s demanding he gets one of the businesses that are owed to him.”

  She bites her lip as she puts down her book and scoots closer to me in her short skirt and tank top. She almost never wears skirts, so I don’t know why she’s wearing one today, but all I want to do is lift the skirt up and fuck away my feelings.

  She places her hand on top of my hand.

  “You were planning on giving him part of the bar business?”

  “Yes. It’s my favorite business, and I thought he would enjoy running it with me. We could split the bars in half or run them jointly. Or I’d be willing to give up that part, if it made him happy.”

  “And now?”

  “Now, I don’t want to give him any part of any of the businesses until he shows me he’s responsible enough to take them over.”

  She strokes my hand with her thumb. And I feel it all the way to my groin. Damn, I want her.

  My phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out, glancing at the name across the screen.

  “My lawyer. I need to take this,” I say.

  “I’ll go,” she says, reaching for her book.

  “Stay, you being close may help me keep my temper.”

  She licks her lip, and I almost consider not answering and fucking her. But if my lawyer is calling this early, it means Sebastian already contacted his lawyer.

  “Yes,” I answer.

  “Sebastian’s lawyer called.”

  “I was expecting that.”

  “Good, then you know that you have to give him one of the businesses. You don’t have a choice. It doesn’t matter if he is sober or not. Especially since you helped bury his most recent transgressions. You have no proof that he is sober or not. And if you do have proof, he’ll end up in jail.”

  I run my hands through my hair. “Then what do you suggest.”

  “Give him the bars. They are the riskiest and least luc
rative part of the business. And he won’t have to do much, the managers at each bar basically run it themselves.”

  “Fuck, I can’t give him the bars.” I just fucking can’t. They are my heart and soul. I could give the bars to him if he were sober. If he took this seriously, but not in his current state. I can’t watch him destroy something I love.

  I glance over at Larkyn who gets off the couch and wraps her arms around me as I stand in front of my desk. I start thinking through the financials of the other businesses, trying to figure out one that would hurt the King empire less or that he could run without even showing up, but I can’t come up with any solution. The bars are the best solution.

  “Give him the bars,” I say, begrudgingly. Feeling my heart shatter, as I force each word out.

  “Wait,” Larkyn says suddenly.

  I frown.

  “Tell him you’ll call him back in five,” Larkyn says, looking at me with a big smile.

  “Let me think about it for a few minutes, and I’ll call you back.”

  I hang up and look at Larkyn as I cock my head to the side. “What?”

  She sits down at my desk, flipping through my papers, like she knows exactly what she’s doing.

  “How often do you come into my office?” I ask.

  She blushes. “Most mornings when I’m not teaching a class.”

  “And how often do you snoop?” I ask, as I sit on the edge of the desk with my arms folded and a scowl on my face.

  She winces. “Just a couple of times. I find your business models and financials interesting.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “No one, but my accountant, finds this kind of stuff interesting.”

  She shrugs and grins when she holds up the paper she was looking for. She starts skimming the paper with her eyes.

  “Here,” she holds the paper up to me, which I realize is my father’s will.

  “I’ve read my father’s will before.”

  She nods. “Of course, but did you read the part about the business that is to be given to Sebastian when he graduates from college? You are required to give him a main part of the business or any part that Sebastian chooses.”

  “Uh-huh, got that part.”

  She shakes her head. “You need to find something that Sebastian loves. Buy the business no matter how small, and then give him that.”

  I smile weakly, if Sebastian wasn’t so far gone, her plan might work. But I don’t think Sebastian cares about anything other than where his next drink is coming from and hurting me.

  “The whiskey line makes you a lot of money. Your hotel line makes you more. And your bars, although they don’t make you a lot of money, you are in love with them. If you give him any one of the businesses, he’ll be filing for bankruptcy in a year. But maybe, if you give him something he’s passionate about, he’ll be more serious about it. Or at least if he fails, it will be on his own and not destroy you or your father’s legacy.”

  I lean down and kiss her on the lips. “Thank you.”

  She rakes her teeth over her bottom lip as she leans back in the chair. “I’m more than a pretty face, you know.”

  I nod. “You definitely are. So why don’t you have a real job?”

  She shakes her head, her smile immediately dropping off her face like it never existed at all. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “You bad at interviews or something? Because I can tell you if you are, I’d hire you in a second. I have trouble getting my own people to read shit like this. And you did it for fun, and actually understood everything.”

  She rolls her eyes. “I don’t want a job.”

  “Why not? You need a job to make money. Work for me.”

  She gets up, storming across the room to distance herself from me.

  “I had plenty of job offers when I graduated. I had one offer from Apple to run an entire project that would’ve paid me six figures.”

  My eyes pop open.

  “I turned them down.”

  “Why?”

  She fidgets with the hem of her skirt, pulling it up too high on her thigh.

  “Because I didn’t want to work for a corporation.”

  I smirk. “Because you want to freeload off a man like me and live in a fantasy world where you can run and teach a few yoga classes and yet still live in a fancy house.”

  Her eyes bulge, her cheeks redden, and her lips tense along with her entire body. She looks like I just slapped her. I wouldn’t be surprised if her face swells and forms a bruise even though I didn’t physically touch her. She is beyond pissed. This is her kryptonite. She doesn’t like it when I talk about needing a man to pay her bills.

  “I can’t believe I never saw how big of an ass you were before. I’m done running, at least in any professional sort of sense. And I teach yoga because I love it. And no, I don’t plan on living off a man. Ever. I want more than just to teach yoga classes, but I want more than just sitting behind a desk making someone else’s dream a reality.”

  I shake my head. “Yea, so that’s why you agreed to our little arrangement. You get to live in the fancy house, while barely working. And you get a million dollars. What’d you do with the money, Larkyn?”

  I pushed too far. I can see it in her eyes. Her ankle is still swollen, but she storms out so fast, you’d never know she was injured.

  “I need you to go with me to a cocktail hour this weekend,” I holler after her, hoping she will stop being pissed at me by this weekend.

  “Go to hell!”

  Yep, I pushed way too far this time. But it’s for the best. Larkyn is better off without me.

  15

  Larkyn

  Kade is an ass.

  He’s worse than an ass. He’s a cocky, arrogant, son of a bitch. He has no right to tell me I’m just living off him, when the only reason he is as rich as he is, is because of his father. Kade may have taken the businesses to the next level, but he got a whole lot of a head start from his father.

  Just because I don’t want to follow the same path and take money from my own father, doesn’t mean I’m a spoiled princess. I thought he knew that about me, but apparently not.

  I slip the diamond bracelet onto my wrist. I should tell Kade what I did with the money. It was his money first. He should know how I spent it. But not tonight. Tonight, I’m going to be the perfect date and act as if he doesn’t affect me. Tonight, I’m going to show him just how committed I am to pulling my weight in this deal. That I’m my own person, and my life doesn’t fall to pieces when he yells at me.

  I step out into the hallway on my much too high heels and storm down the five feet to his bedroom. I should consider moving my stuff to the bedroom on the other side of the house. It’s much bigger than my current room and gets more morning sun, which I love. I know the only reason he put me in this room was so I could be feet away from him.

  I knock loudly on his bedroom door and wait. I push my hip to the side, posing as best as I know how. I don’t smile, I don’t want to appear fake, but I do moisten my lips and give little pout.

  The door creeps open slowly until I see Kade standing in the doorway, looking as gorgeous as I’ve ever seen him. Dark grey pants with a white buttoned shirt, open at the top, with a dark grey jacket over it. He’s shaved, but left just the right amount of stubble on his cheeks. And he’s grinning like he knows just how much effort it took me to be standing in his doorway right now.

  “I thought you weren’t coming,” he says, rolling his eyes up and down my body.

  I can’t focus when his eyes do that. So I wait until he’s thoroughly checked out the slip on my dress that skirts the line between being slutty and sexy. Until his eyes finish their trail up the pink and grey dress.

  “Finished?” I ask, swaying my hip out even more.

  “Never.”

  I sigh. “I never said I wasn’t coming. Just that you were an ass.”

  “That implied you weren’t coming.”

  I roll my eyes and can’t help but let my eyes ling
er behind him to his unmade bed. His bed is a million times better than my bed, maybe because Kade is always in it. I can’t help that no matter how angry I am with Kade, I still want to end up in his bed tonight. How pathetic does that make me?

  “I’m here. Are we going to this thing or not?”

  “Absolutely.”

  He holds out his hand to me, but I turn and storm down the stairs to wait in the garage. We hop into his McLaren and take off to his event. And some-fucking-how, my hand finds its way into his. Honestly, I’m fucking screwed, because even when I hate him, I want him.

  “What is this event?” I ask, as we step into his bar. I never even asked where the event was, but I’m glad it’s here. We both feel comfortable in his bar.

  “Don’t be mad.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “What the hell did you bring me to?”

  He looks straight ahead, with a panicked look on his face. Our fingers are still interconnected, and I can feel a coldness shoot through his body.

  I turn to see what he’s looking at. Anastasia. Her fiancé. And my fucking family.

  “Care to explain?”

  He swallows and takes a deep breath, like that’s going to save him.

  “Anastasia booked her engagement party here.”

  “That doesn’t mean that we have to be here!”

  “She invited me as well. And unfortunately, I can’t turn down an invitation to go to my wife’s sister’s engagement party. It wouldn’t represent my kind-hearted appearance I’ve worked so hard to build.”

  “You mean your jerk, bastard, slutty reputation. The one that I married you to try to fix?”

  He smirks. “Behave or don’t. I don’t care. I just got an excuse to have my wife get all dressed up and go to an event with me. No matter how boring.”

  “You so owe me for this.”

  He wiggles his eyebrows. “And how will I ever repay you?”