Deacon: A BWWM Billionaire Romance

by Notaro, Paige

  “Just focus on your night.”

  I went and sat where Mira had been.

  She sulked and put on her shoes. “I'll be asking again after I come back.”

  The door slammed extra hard behind her, then it was just us two, before a mute TV and under the pale yellow glow of our living room light. This place felt shabby now. Deacon had gotten me used to heaven and now even purgatory felt like a hell.

  “So,” Deacon said. “Let's talk about where we are.”

  I gathered my breath and nodded. A well of feeling frothed in my throat - noises and words that could wash me clean of him. I deserved to voice them.

  But I was too scared.

  “You're the one that had a choice to make,” was all I said. “You tell me what you're thinking first.”

  “Why? What are you thinking?”

  “What should I be thinking? You said that keeping me at arm's length was the way to get the company you've always wanted, and I said fine. But then you leave me and go way further than that.”

  “I had business.”

  “Deacon, I know your business. Your trips were optional. If you wanted to lie, you should have dated one of those ditzes you keep complaining about.” My heart beat faster, and I couldn't help myself. “Is that what you're thinking about?”

  He shook his head. “Were it that easy, I'd have done it years ago. No, you're right. I've been away to think.”

  “And?”

  My stomach rose to my throat. Just cause he didn’t want someone else didn’t mean he wanted me.

  He sighed, and clasped his hands. “I'm thinking it's not fair to ask you to be my mistress. My mother's going to be around a long while, and she's not gonna come around on this like she did with the business stuff. If she gives me the company, she’ll never let me be as close to you as I want.”

  I knew it. I took a deep breath. Well, no reason to hold back now, but there was no anger, just this weird silliness. Maybe it was an improv technique kicking in to defend me.

  “Ever thought about hiring a hitman?” I said.

  He chuckled. “You're the only girl I’d let say that, you know. And you're the only girl I'll ever tell that yes, kinda, once. Well, I was on peyote at Joshua Tree, but it still counts.”

  I smiled sadly. Everything felt strangely normal, but it just made what was coming all the harder.

  “I told you her deal was fine,” I said. “A piece of paper doesn't mean so much to me.”

  I didn't dare check my heart to see if it was true. All I wanted was to cling on.

  “You deserve more than being the forbidden love of a rich man,” he said with hard certainty.

  “It wouldn't have to be weird,” I said. “A lot of people don't get married. It doesn't mean so much these days.”

  His expression stayed pained. This train was not slowing down. Why was I trying to make him come back now? I should be the one pulling the trigger, not the one being shattered. But I still couldn't.

  “That's ok for some,” he said. “But it's not ok for me. It's not ok for us.”

  An icy finality rung with those words. His eyes were sad and cold, like a melting glacier. My chest did not work. My heart couldn't beat. I couldn't say a thing.

  “So...” he said.

  He rose from his seat and made for the door. I could barely lift my head and watch, could barely stand the silence that was ending all this.

  But as he moved past the couch, he turned.

  He grabbed something from his pocket.

  And he kneeled in front of me.

  My heart went from zero to a million so fast, it nearly blew out my ribs. My chest moved like molasses. Only a whisper of air reached my lungs.

  “What?” was all I could get out.

  “Am I doing? I'm falling deeper into you. I deserve better than a company that keeps trying to buck me off. I deserve better than a family that doesn't care a damn about my happiness. Screw it, sweetheart. I can build my own family, just like I built my own company. And I want to do both with the only girl I've ever truly loved - heart, body and mind.”

  He held out his hand. It held a small case. He popped it open.

  A diamond the size of a fist sat on a shimmering gold ring.

  Ok, a diamond the size of a newborn's fist. Maybe one a month early, but still.

  “Kiara.”

  I snapped back to him.

  “This is what I went to the Middle East to get. Will you tie yourself down to this dumb, vain, callous idiot?”

  His face was glowing with light, with warmth, with love. But his mouth stayed grim.

  He was nervous. God, he was nervous.

  “Because you called yourself dumb twice,” I said, before words failed me. “I will.”

  His lips were on me, even as he pressed the ring onto my finger. My wrist collapsed at the weight, but he found my hand and clasped. He rose me from my seat.

  I wrapped around him. Around my fiancé. The man who was now going to be truly mine.

  And who could now claim me as his.

  He picked me up and he twirled me around. The place seemed to glow all the brighter. My meager den could have been a ballroom in Versailles, or the shimmering peak of a penthouse high atop some distant city skyline. It could even be a desert field, with the sands twinkling under a high midday sun.

  When we were together, the light would always find us.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Deacon

  The restaurant Jesse sent us to for the board meeting was a modern glass and metal front place called 'Stone Pot.' The name gave me not a bad idea for a new company division. I chuckled just imagining my mother's reaction. Might just look into it.

  The place had chic white tables cluttered with utensils and – true to the name – giant stone bowls over heaters. It was Korean-Mexican fusion, whatever that was. He'd bought it for a chef he was dating. Maybe, I'd inspired him with Stone Solar. Not that he was likely to admit that.

  Somehow he got away with this while I did not. It was ironic, in a way, given what was going to happen here today. Our mother would hate this venue. It'd be the first of many nasty surprises today held for her. Things weren't going to end perfectly for me either, but I'd made my peace.

  Plus I also had her at my side, if I needed a reminder.

  “You ready?” I clutched Kiara's arm.

  She looked up to me, dressed in a pristine white and bead dress that looked gorgeous against her brown skin and made her hair look almost black by comparison.

  “Do I really need to be a part of this?” she said, eyes trembling with worry.

  My mother really had done a number of her. Guess that really was the most common welcome into the Stone family.

  “Darlin', you're the centerpiece,” I said. “Don't worry. I'll keep you safe.”

  I'd even opted for a cowboy look: jeans, checkered shirt and a sports jacket for the veneer. Today was a day for action not formalities.

  “Alright.” She squared her shoulders. “Let's do it.”

  An elegantly dressed Latina hostess led us to the back room. It wasn't designed for meetings, but they'd erected a plastic door to seal off the about fifteen tables or so.

  Mother and Jesse sat at a round one in the middle, sipping at little porcelain tea cups. Jesse smiled curiously as Kiara and I came over, but my mother was locked in a face of disgust as she sipped at her tea.

  “I'm guessing they serve green here, not Earl Grey,” I said.

  “It tastes like pond scum.”

  “How on earth would you know that?” I asked.

  She sputtered, glanced at me casually, then did a double take.

  “What is she doing here?” she asked, as I sat Kiara down between my seat and Jesse's.

  My brother spotted it first. “It appears she's a Stone. Sorry, it appears she has a stone.”

  “What on Earth are you talking about?”

  Kiara tried to fight it, but I brought her hand out on the table. In a room full of chandeliers and c
rystal glasses, her diamond engagement ring twinkled the brightest.

  My mother's face contorted through the first four stages of grief, and then four extra ones of anger. The furrows looked inscribed into her face by the end.

  “How dare you bring her here like this. Deacon, even for you, this is beyond the pale.”

  “Falling in love?” I clasped Kiara's hand with mine, rubbing it warm. “Yeah, I never quite planned it out, but here we are.”

  “And you have to flaunt this...crassness before me in this-” she glanced around, confused. “This carnival house of mirrors.”

  “You're blaming me for Jesse's choice of venue, now?” I turned to Jesse. “Everything just slides right off you, doesn't it?”

  “The funhouse mirrors bit certainly hit home,” Jesse sulked. “I helped Lilliana with that bit of the décor.”

  “There's nothing crass about what Kiara and I have,” I said. “She’s my missing half, kind and careful while I demand and execute. Plus, she’s smarter than me, of course. We could rule this world, if she so as much as gave me the permission.”

  My mother sniffed at her. “She's fit to rule the desert with you perhaps.”

  Kiara's hand tensed under mine. I tried to settle her, but she yanked it away.

  “Ever since I met you,” she rumbled next to me. “You treat me like I'm some strange smell on the street. Just cause I don't know your world, you think I don't matter? Your world can’t see reality straight. I've lived in one like that, and I don't ever want it again.”

  My mother huffed, but Kiara was fuming like a dragon. She roared again. “I don’t need you to like me. Just leave me alone, or so help me god, I will come over there and smack some truth into you. And I really don’t want to put the poor waitress through cleaning up that mess.”

  The room was so still, even the sizzle from a table on the other side of the wall buzzed the air. My mother was utterly speechless.

  “Feel good?” I asked finally.

  “Much better.” Kiara took a sip of water. “You're right. I'm glad I came.”

  “What was that you were saying about her being kind and careful?” Jesse asked.

  “That was a careful outburst,” Kiara said, leaning back. “There's a lot more I could have said.”

  I smiled. How couldn't I? Even now, with my mother about to take it all away from me, Kiara was free in a way I'd never been

  “You two had your fun?” my mother asked, clasping her hands on the table. “Let me tell you what gives me the right to judge, missy: my one third stake in Stone Holdings, granted to me by my late husband, and worth billions of dollars. How much are you worth exactly?”

  “The same, soon enough,” Kiara said.

  “Ah, yes. I'm sure Deacon will be blind enough to forget a prenup. But, let me tell you this, even if you rob him of everything, as I'm sure you intend to, you will still never hold any power in this company. When I am dead and dust, my shares will go to the only member of my family that does not spit in my face by proxy.”

  A dangerous purr filled her voice. I sat up straight.

  “In fact,” she said. “I see no reason to wait until I'm dead. Let me enjoy the fruits that I will seed.”

  She turned to Jesse. “Summon the lawyer. I wish to grant you my shares effective immediately. You will be the new CEO of Stone Holdings.”

  Jesse's phone already lay in his palm, but he just gaped back at our mother. He must have known this was coming, same as me. It was just far swifter than imagined.

  In fact, why hadn’t my heart seized? I hadn't walked in here expecting to lose my title today.

  Kiara's soft hand wound around my fingers.

  Oh right, that was why.

  The seconds ticked on. My brother and my mother just stared at each other.

  “Jesse?” she said. “Do you not have his number?”

  He chewed thoughtfully on what must be nothing. The worry looked wrong on that long, aristocratic face of his. He was always the golden child, never unhappy, never not getting his way. So what was the problem?

  “I don't want it,” Jesse said, softly.

  “What?” The word erupted from my mouth.

  He tossed me a shrug. “The company, the top spot. I don't want it.”

  My mother jerked back. “I don't understand. I'm giving it to you.”

  “And I don't accept.”

  “You don't want the company?” I said.

  “Listen,” he said. “Father had you and I compete from the beginning. We both knew that. You would scrape and brawl your way to the top, and I would give him what he was actually looking for. That's what I excel at. Convincing people I’m giving them what they want. I could sell a toaster to a volcano if it would speak. It’s almost a shame that my looks keep me from needing that talent in my personal life.”

  He took a short sip of tea.

  “So I'd rather stay in sales. I can sell our product to everyone and anyone - that's how I can help Stone Holdings best, anyway.”

  My mother's mouth fluttered for words. “You are throwing away everything your father and I have worked for.”

  “Nonsense. I'm handing it to the brother who actually enjoys dealing with all that dreadful high-minded stuff.”

  My mother glanced at me as if I were a monster in a horror flick.

  “Then make him CEO,” she said, frantically. “You don't have to make the decisions, you simply control the company.”

  Jesse cast a furtive glance at me. “I don't suppose having even the possibility of me second-guessing your decisions is something you'd go for? I should point out how well that worked out for you last time.”

  He ticked his head at Kiara.

  “Actually,” she said. “We met before the project. In fact, it almost ruined everything.”

  “Oh,” Jesse said, popping his mouth. “In that case, I can see how you would have zero confidence in my override.”

  “It’s nothing personal,” I said.

  He shrugged. “No offense taken. Like I said, decision-making's more your thing.”

  A smile had erupted on my mouth and set root there. There was nothing about this not to like. Kiara’s grip was positively giddy in mine.

  “And there it is,” Jesse said. “I'm a rainmaker, mother. You find me a cloud and I will make it pour wealth. But I can't steer us towards the clouds. That's Deacon. It's always been Deacon.”

  He reached out an arm to the flustered woman who had been so much in charge my whole life. “So if you give me your share, I'll pass it right along to him. I'm no mathematician like these two, but a third of billions sounds quite larger than two thirds of nothing - which is what we’ll soon be worth if I’m in charge.”

  “I don't need two thirds control,” I said. “You pull your weight in ways I can’t. You deserve a solid 49%.”

  “Really?” Jesse's brow wrinkled. “49.9% wouldn't be acceptable to you?”

  I shrugged. “Guess I don't see a problem with that.”

  Jesse clapped his hands and sank into his seat. “See? And he just gave that to me. I excel at making people do that.”

  Kiara laughed. He beamed at her.

  I wanted to slap the smile of his face and crush him with a hug, both. Leave it to Jesse to understand himself just as well as he understood others.

  My mother looked very alone on her end of the table. She cast a look from face to face, eyes tightening.

  “Don't worry,” I said. “Believe it or not, I'll take good care of the Stone family name. People might worry about it here in Texas, but the world is just waking up to its potential.”

  A thousand panels spun toward the sun in my mind, drawing on power that could not be taken away or depleted. Power that was vital to life itself. That was what the Stone name would come to mean.

  “You trample over your father's visions,” she said softly.

  My father's visions? His vision had been a world where he could hold onto the Stone legacy without changing or adapting. He had believed in a righ
t and wrong way to do things based on his own will, rather than reality. In some ways, he was just as warped as Kiara's father had been.

  My mother could reside in the clouds if she wanted. But I could only face the real world. I would continue the work where my grandfather had left off.

  “Well, what can you do?” I said. “You're out of Stones to hold onto. I suppose you could adopt a little son from somewhere like Korea and raise him to do your bidding, but it might not work.”

  “Oh, he would love this restaurant,” Jesse said, glancing around warmly. “I don't think he'd turn on us.”

  “Our hypothetical adopted Korean brother?” I asked. “Don't restaurants this fashionable have planned expiry dates? Two more would rise and fall by the time he grew up.”

  “I suppose it depends on how old he is.”

  He turned to my mother, but she had gathered her purse and was getting up to go.

  “We'll see how this winds up,” she said, and then she scuttled off through the chairs.

  “Can she do anything?” Kiara asked.

  “Even if she did,” Jesse said. “We control a majority between the two of us. It would make no difference.”

  I heaved a long breath. Damn, was I hungry. Being blindsided by utter victory could have that effect.

  “This place does more than just decorate tables, right?” I said.

  “I think so.” Jesse hit a little button at the center of the table. “I didn't actually try any of the food yet.”

  “I don't care. I'm starving?” I glanced at Kiara. “You?”

  “I could eat.”

  “Were you really going to go beat her up?” Jesse asked.

  “Oh god, no,” Kiara smiled wickedly. “But I thought I'd threaten it first before she came over here and whacked me with her purse.”

  “Oh mother would never do that.”

  “No, she'd hire someone else,” I said.

  The three of laughed.

  The waiter came and helped us place orders for food that made no human sense. It actually turned out to be good though. Bulgogi beef and guacamole made a fine mix in a corn tortilla shell.

  The three of us got along quite alright, as well. It was terrifying how suddenly that undercurrent of tension between me and Jesse vanished. Hell, it had been a mirage in the desert of my mind. I was never so grateful to be wrong.