by J. J. Bella
She shook her head. “I’m so worn out from all this. I think I just need to get some sleep.”
“Let me show you to the guest room.”
“Right here is fine.” She lay down on the couch on her side, curled into a ball.
“Leah, I have several guest rooms. You’re not sleeping on the couch.”
He bent down and picked her up. She squealed in surprise, but didn’t protest. She was too tired to fight him. He carried her upstairs to a room with a huge bed covered in thick blankets. When he set her down, it was like lying on a fluffy cloud.
He leaned over her, stroking her hair back from her face again. “I’m so sorry for what he did to you.”
“Thank you for everything. Despite all this, I’m glad to know. I wouldn’t have wanted to find out years from now when we had a family.”
“Right. Doesn’t make it any easier now, though.”
“No.” She let out a jagged sigh.
“Do you need anything else?”
“You’ve already done so much for me. And that bracelet…” She teared up again thinking about it. When had anyone ever given her something so extravagant?
“It’s the least I could do.”
He held her gaze for a long moment. She felt her heart speed. She wanted him to kiss her. She swallowed hard and he leaned closer. But just before their lips could touch, she turned her head.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It’s just too soon. I don’t want to feel like I’m doing the same thing to him that he did to me.”
“I understand.” Julian kissed her forehead, then walked to the door. “Anything you need, just ask.”
Julian
It didn’t matter that she hadn’t wanted to kiss him, Julian thought as he walked to his room. No, that’s not right. She had wanted to kiss him, but there was Caleb. It was too soon. Everything was coming together as he wanted. She’d confronted Caleb and ended things, and most importantly, she’d called him when she was upset and had no place to go.
Now, he had work to do. He had done some preliminary research when he found out about the cheating, but now he put things into place, calling on his various friends and business partners throughout the city to get done what he needed. He could have called Aiden and gotten him to do these things, but he enjoyed doing them, knowing it was all for Leah.
First, was the apartment. She needed a place to stay. As much as he’d love to just have her move in, she’d never go for that, and he couldn’t push something that fast. But he could get her a new place. So he did. One of the nicest apartments in the city. Fully furnished, of course. He didn’t know what all she’d brought with her to Caleb’s, but this way, she wouldn’t have to worry about getting it back.
He bought her a new car. Not that anything was wrong with her current one. Except that it was old, had some rust spots, and wasn’t very safe. A nice new car, nothing too extravagant because she wouldn’t want that. A Lexus sedan for now, and he would buy her whatever she wanted in the future.
The easiest thing to set up was a new expense account. He moved over a huge sum of money and had a new card rush ordered so that Aiden could pick it up first thing in the morning and bring it over. She would need some cash, too, and he had plenty of that in his safe. This way, she could quit that crappy job at the coffee place and not worry about a thing. She could go shopping, get new clothes, a new phone, whatever she needed to start a new life away from Caleb.
He emailed his friend, Billy. They’d been in contact about Leah earlier that week, but now he pulled the trigger. “Let’s set up an interview this week,” he wrote.
He was excited about that one. Billy Mason was one of the top fashion designers in the country, let alone the city. Having an interview with him would be huge for anyone, but especially for Leah, who adored his designs, according to her browsing history, and who had gone to school to do the position she would now be interviewing for.
He could barely sleep that night, but when he woke, he had everything set up and waiting for her, including a hot breakfast and coffee. When she came downstairs, he got up to greet her.
“Hungry?” he asked.
She looked at the table, which was covered in plates of eggs, bacon, pancakes, French toast. “I am now.” She filled a plate and sat down.
He was bubbling over with excitement at all the things he wanted to tell her. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so good about doing something for someone. She made him feel alive again, and feel good about doing good.
“I have things to tell you,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee.
She looked wary. “What?”
“These are all good things.”
She swallowed and set down her fork to listen.
“No, keep eating, please.” He took another bite himself. “I know you need a place to stay, and I figured you wouldn’t want to stay here forever. So, I got you a place.”
“Umm. Okay? What do you mean?”
“I rented an apartment for you to stay in as long as you need it.”
“Julian, I—”
“No.” He held up his hand. “I was the one partially responsible for bringing this all about. I need to do this to not feel guilty for ruining your relationship.”
“You didn’t.”
“But I was the one to point it out. So, I’m going to do this for you. I also have a new car here for you to drive so you don’t have to worry about that old thing breaking down.”
“No way.” She put her fork down again. “I’m not driving one of your cars.”
“No, you’re not. It’s in your name. It’s your car.”
“Julian!”
“And while we’re at it. Here.” He handed her an envelope with a few thousand in cash and her new debit card, tied to the expense account he had set up last night.
She took the envelope hesitantly. When she opened it, she threw it back down. “Please don’t do all this. I don’t want this from you. I have a job, I can survive just fine. I’ll call one of my friends and sleep on their couch. And my car is fine. I—”
“Oh, your job. That’s right. That reminds me.”
She shut her mouth and gave him a suspicious look.
“You have a degree in fashion design, right?”
“Yes.”
“So, tell me why you were using that degree in a coffee shop.”
“I wasn’t using it. Obviously.”
“Then why work there?”
She shrugged. “Caleb worked there. It was easy. I could spend more time with him.”
“So instead of pursuing your dream career, you worked at a coffee shop to be close to him.”
“At first, it was temporary. They really needed help, so I helped out, but then…” She pushed around some eggs on her plate and didn’t meet his eyes.
“You just stayed?”
“Caleb wanted me to stay. He said if I got a fancy job in the city, I’ve leave him behind. I’d become someone else.”
“Someone else? The person you are went to school for four years, earned a 4.0 GPA, and spent countless hours designing clothing lines. That’s who you are. You became someone else for Caleb.”
He saw her throat move and thought she might be crying.
“I have a friend in the fashion design world. His name is Billy, and he said he’d be willing to give you an interview at his company.”
She looked up and blinked, sending a tear down her cheek. “Billy?”
“Billy Mason. Have you heard of him?”
Her mouth popped open and she gaped at him. “Billy Mason?! You’re friends with Billy Mason!”
“I am.”
“Wait, wait.” She put her palms flat on the table and breathed hard. “Are you telling me you got me an interview to work at Billy Mason Designs?”
“No.”
Her face fell.
“I got you an interview with Billy himself.”
She breathed hard again, shaking her head. “No, no, no,” she repeated over and ove
r. “Julian, this…”
“Is exactly what you always wanted?”
“No. Yes, I mean. I don’t know.” She shook her head and let out a growl of frustration. “That is my dream job. But all this… An apartment, a car, money, and this interview? It’s too much.”
“It’s simple. Here’s how it works. I have tons of money. More money than I know what to do with. I care you about you. You need help. You just had a horrible break up with your boyfriend, so you need a place to live, you need a car that you can rely on, you need money to buy a new outfit for this interview. And if you get the job, you’ll need a lot more money to buy a wardrobe worthy of a fashion designer, you’ll need an apartment big enough to sketch and work in, and you can’t drive up on the Billy Mason lot in that old junker. Unless you’re going for that whole poor Bohemian look, which I don’t really think fits with the Billy Mason brand, but I don’t know that much about fashion. Maybe I’m wrong. The point is. Friends do whatever they can to help out their friends when they’re in need. It just so happens you’re in a lot of need, and I have the means to give you a lot of help.”
She stared at him for a long time. Then she stood.
Leah
Leah walked over to Julian and threw her arms around him. “Thank you.”
He held her back tightly, and it felt so good to have strong arms around her. Arms that belonged to someone who was trying to do the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. She could never dream of having something like this happen to her.
“But.” She stood up and wiped her tears. “I can’t take all this from you. I know you want to help, and I’m so appreciative of it, really. But the thing is, I don’t know you. You seem to know a lot about me, and that scares me a little. I know you have people, but I don’t like your people looking into my life. If I live in your apartment, drive your car, spend your money, then you have even more control over me, and even more access. I’m not comfortable with that.”
“It’s not about control. I’m not trying to control you, I’m trying to help you.”
“I just ended a relationship in which I’m starting to see I gave up a lot of myself and what I wanted. I need space to reclaim that. To become who I am and who I want to be. I can’t do that if I’m stepping into your world. Then I’d just the Julian version of me. I need to be the Leah version.”
“Having money doesn’t have to change who you are.”
“And I hope it wouldn’t. But having a whole life set up by you would change me.”
“I notice you didn’t say anything about not wanting the interview.”
She pressed her lips together. As much as she wanted to not accept it, she couldn’t bring herself to turn it down. “It’s my dream job. And it’s something I’ll either get or not get based on my own talent. It’s a job I’ll do all myself, so that one is part of me becoming who I am.”
He gave her a crooked smile. “Right.”
“I really do appreciate all you’re doing.”
“Okay then.” He stood up and took his plate to the sink, then refilled his coffee. “The apartment is there. You have the key. The car is in your name, so do whatever you want with it. You’ll need money no matter what you do. Please keep it and spend it as you see fit. I’ll give you time. Unlike Caleb, I don’t want to hold you back or mold you into some other person. I quite like the person you are. I want to know you more. I want you to be mine. But I’m not going to force it.”
She blinked at him. Maybe she’d pegged him all wrong. She never thought he’d be okay with giving her space. She expected him to be a full-on control freak that she could never escape.
“I have to get into the office.” He gave her a quick peek on the forehead. “Take your time here. Eat whatever you want, stay as long as you want. Your interview is tomorrow at 1.” He gestured his arm around the table, then the rest of his kitchen. “Take it all or leave it all. Just call me once in a while, okay?”
She gave him a thin smile. “Okay.”
After he left, she sat alone in his living room for a while, using her phone. Her mind was spinning. She didn’t have all her designs in her portfolio, but she could print them digitally. What in the world would she wear? And her hair?
She counted the money in the envelope. A receipt with the bank card told her she now had access to tens of thousands of dollars. It wouldn’t hurt to use some. Get an outfit for the interview, print out her portfolio pieces, get her hair done.
She picked up her keys, realizing then all she had was the new car—hers was still parked alongside the road near Caleb’s. She headed out with the envelope tucked in her purse.
Julian
Julian stopped home to pick Leah up. He wasn’t sure if she didn’t want to drive downtown when she was already nervous, or if having Julian talk to Billy first would increase her chances, but whatever the reason, she agreed to let him take her to the interview.
He walked her in and shook Billy’s hand. “Thanks for this,” he said.
“If she continues to produce pieces like the portfolio you showed me, I’ll be thanking you. You may have just delivered me the next star.”
“Let’s hope so. Text me after.”
Julian left Billy’s office, stopped to hug Leah, who was waiting nervously in the lobby, then headed out.
He knew she’d get the job, and he wanted to buy her a gift to congratulate her. Something fit for a true artist. He went to the specialty art shop and purchased an easel of sterling silver, the finest pens and pencils they had, and several notepads of fine paper. His bill went into the thousands, but it didn’t feel like enough.
He walked out to his car, thinking of what else he could buy her, then froze. The tires on his car were slashed. The roof and hood dented. His first thought was Caleb, but he’d need to make sure. He turned around and went back inside to talk to the manager.
They sat in the office and reviewed the footage from the security camera they had pointed outside of their shop. It showed Caleb running along, making a quick job of denting and slashing with what looked like a crow bar and hunting knife.
“Aiden,” he said, pacing in the office, “I need you to call the police.” He gave the address of where he was. “Send a car for me. My car has been damaged, and I have video footage proving it was Caleb Watson.”
“Yes sir, right away.”
Leah
Leah walked out of Billy’s office ecstatic. She was grinning so hard, she thought her face might stay that way. She almost dropped her portfolio twice, she was so full of excitement and nervous energy. She hurried out to the parking lot, nearly jumping in her joy.
She couldn’t wait to tell Julian the good news and thank him. But he wasn’t there. He was going to make a quick stop, he’d said, then come right back. She had been in with Billy for over an hour. So long, she’d started to feel bad that she had made Julian wait.
As she took out her phone to text him, she realized that the new feeling creeping into her chest was disappointment.
“Heya,” she texted. “Interview is over. Can’t wait to tell you how it went!”
She watched her phone, waiting for a call or to see him typing. She watched the parking lot to see if he was pulling in. Nothing.
While she waited, she called her mother to tell her. But it felt wrong to tell anyone else besides Julian first. He was the one who’d gotten her the interview, after all.
After another few minutes, she called him. His voicemail came on and she left a message.
Where could he be? Had he gotten sucked into some business call or something? She didn’t know enough of his schedule to know if he would normally be doing right now that wasn’t coming to pick up his “friend” from her job interview.
Maybe she should have just driven herself.
She texted him, “Are you close?”
She called one more time, then took to pacing while she waited.
Julian
After he hung up with Aiden, he checked the calls and texts he’d hear
d come through. Leah was waiting for him. The car still wasn’t there, though. Of course, he had just hung up with Aiden, who was likely calling for the car right that moment.
He tapped her number to call her back. But she didn’t answer. Strange. She’d called twice and texted a few times.
He texted, “Have to wait for a car. I’ll explain when I get there. Won’t be long.”
She didn’t respond to the text, either. When a few minutes had gone by of his nervous pacing waiting for the car and for her to call or text back, he called her again. Still no answer.
He looked at his damaged car, and his heart jumped to his throat.
He grabbed his phone again. “Billy? I need you to send your security team to the parking lot. Leah is there waiting for me, and I think she’s in danger.”
“Oh no. Hold on.”
The Billy Mason hold message played, and he counted the minutes from the time he’d called Aiden. If that car didn’t show up in less than five, he’d put the company out of business.
The police showed up while he was waiting. He stepped off the curb and walked a few hundred feet. He could not get sucked into talking to them now. The car pulled up, and he jumped inside.
“Billy Mason Designs,” he told the driver. “Fast.”
“Julian?” Billy had finally come back on the line. “Umm, she’s not out there. I just had my people go check.”
Leah
Leah tapped her phone, her impatience growing. Where was he? Maybe he was the asshole she’d assumed he was all along. Was he always so unreliable? She’d started to think that maybe something could happen with them. Maybe, once she healed from Caleb and got to know him better. But if this was how things were going to be, then she couldn’t do it. No amount of money or connections could make up for leaving someone standing around waiting for you and not at least texting them back.
She blew out a breath and turned, ready to pace back again. When she spun on her heel, she came face to face with Caleb. She opened her mouth to scream in shock, but he forced his hand over her.
