Billionaire's Playmate

by Chance Carter

  “Oh, dad,” I sighed. “You didn’t.”

  “I needed to.” His eyes turned frantic. “I had nowhere else to turn.”

  “So you turned to a loan shark? You know why they call them that, right?”

  “I already feel guilty enough,” he snapped. “I don’t need you to lay it on any thicker.”

  I sat back, surprised at his sudden coldness. His expression collapsed into distress, and the tears flowed freer, his shoulder shaking with sobs. I couldn’t take it anymore and dove across the couch, wrapping my arms around him and shushing him.

  “It’s okay,” I cooed. “We can deal with this. I’ll get a job, and we’ll start chipping off at what you owe. How much did you borrow?”

  Dad sniffed and met my eyes. He gave a short shake of his head that made my stomach drop.

  “It’s not that simple. I didn’t want to be indebted to Gromley, and when he came to me with investment opportunities that, if they paid off, would get me out from under his duress almost immediately, I jumped for them. By all accounts, they should have paid off. That was what he said. I don’t know if he was dishonest or if I just have the worst luck, but I’m in deep now, Dallas. This month he raised my minimum payment, said the interest rate has changed. I couldn’t pay it.”

  “So you tried to leave,” I filled in. “What happens if you don’t pay it?”

  I didn’t want to know, but I had to. All manner of horrors filled my head, and my brain went into overdrive trying to figure out how we could get out of this. We needed money, first of all. And time. I wondered if I could talk to Wes somehow, get him on my side against his father.

  Dad sniffed and hugged me tightly, pressing his face into my hair. “He didn’t give me a choice,” he said. “I swear he didn’t give me a choice.”

  I pulled away from his embrace and caught his eye. “What does that mean?”

  “He...Gromley told me he’d forgive this month’s payment, but he wanted something else instead.”

  My blood turned to ice in my veins, jagged and cold. I struggled to suck in some air in a room that felt more like a vacuum than anything else.

  “What did he ask for, Dad?”

  “You.” He said it so quietly I hardly heard it, but the word vibrated through me like a gong. “You have to go to a party at Gromley’s house instead of prom. If you don’t...” He gritted his teeth, suppressing another sob. When he spoke, his voice cracked miserably. “If you don’t go, he’s going to kill you.”

  My first thought was one word. A name.

  Wes.

  Wes had done this. He must’ve. He told his father that I turned him down, and now he wanted to play the ultimate power game with me. Fear and rage battled for dominance inside of me, making my hands shake but my teeth grit together resolutely. I wanted to throttle that piece of shit. But I couldn’t. Not if I wanted my dad unharmed. Hell, not if I wanted to stay safe myself. He had me exactly where he wanted me, and I was powerless to do anything about it.

  My dad was crying, hugging me in a python’s grip and apologizing over and over again. It reminded me of when my mom died, except then there were no words. Was he mourning for me already? What did he expect was going to happen at this party? I figured it was safe to assume the worst but hope for the best, though in this case, I didn’t even know how bad the worst could be.

  “It’s going to be okay.” I stroked his head the way I’d often seen Mom do to calm him down when the seriousness of her condition threatened to break him.

  “We can get through this together.”

  And then, because I couldn’t be strong for my dad when I was already breaking inside, I quietly pulled him off the couch and urged him off to bed. There was nothing left for us to do now, nothing left to say.

  I made it under my covers before the tears came. They were bitter, frightened tears, ones that threatened to drag me somewhere dark and cold. I sobbed into the pillow and hoped that my dad wouldn’t hear me. I wanted to hate him for what he’d done, but he was all I had now. I could never hate him.

  Sometime later I fell asleep, exhausted. I dreamed of Wes’s taunting face hovering over me, laughing. Always laughing.

  Chapter 11

  Shane

  Back to school.

  I was a new man, and nothing could stop me from achieving my goal. Keep me from my destiny. Destiny was probably putting it a bit dramatically, but something told me today was going to be important. Dallas wasn’t just some girl I wanted to see naked and fool around with. She was the kind of girl a man could spend his life with, and today was the first step in seeing if that could be the case for us.

  I came in through the back door and found Jake standing by the art room. It was where he always waited for me in the mornings, even though half the time I showed up right before the bell rang. He didn’t have many other friends so if I wasn’t around he just sat and listened to music by himself. I would have felt bad for him if he didn’t enjoy it so much. It was what he spent half of his free time doing anyway.

  “And on the third day, he rose again,” Jake greeted, pulling his earbuds from his ears.

  I rolled my eyes and clapped him on the back. “Good to see you too.”

  “Good? Just good? You wound me.”

  I laughed. “Gotta keep you on your toes, or you might leave me for another.”

  “Fat chance.” Jake snorted. “You’re the only person in this whole school who’s tolerable to be around.”

  “Not the only one. In fact, there’s a pretty little girl in particular that I’ve got some business with.”

  We started walking toward the cafeteria, where most of the students gathered in the mornings to work on homework, chat, and fool around in general. Jake and I didn’t usually go there, but it was my best bet for finding Dallas.

  “I assume you’re talking about that Dallas girl?” Jake asked as we stepped into the crowded cafeteria.

  I started scanning the room for a flash of her auburn hair.

  “You would assume correctly.”

  “I think you’re going to have a problem conducting your business then.”

  I understood his meaning when my eyes landed on the back of Dallas’s head a moment later. She was seated at a table in the middle of the room with half of the football team and a couple of her friends. She wasn’t looking in my direction, but Wes was. The expression on his face was pure malice, and he slung an arm territorially around the back of Dallas’s chair. I watched her stiffen and my hands tensed at my sides. The douchebag may as well have started pounding on his chest like the ape he was.

  “Hold your horses, John Wayne,” Jake said. “Why don’t you just wait to talk to her in math class?”

  Much as I didn’t want to admit defeat, Jake was right. The other guys had noticed by now that I was standing there, and they all glared. Rob looked particularly deadly, silver glinting on his bared teeth. He would use the wire to carve out my eyeballs if I gave him a chance.

  “Okay,” I admitted. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Jake relaxed at my side, and we turned to leave. Their glares seared my back like thousands of red-hot needles, and I couldn’t help but feel like a loser as I made my retreat.

  Why did Dallas hang out with those guys? There was nothing redeeming about them. I would know since I’d been playing football with most of them for the past three years. Nelson was a loud, obnoxious asshole who hadn’t respected a woman a day in his life. Rob was a brute with nothing but shit for brains, and though Paul was the nicest of the bunch, it was only because he was the quietest. He still went along with everything the others said. Then there was Wes, who seemed to take on the worst characteristics of all of them. Dallas was too good for them, and I doubted she had any real interest in being there. I only hoped when I asked her to prom, she would accept, and I could help her escape them for good.

  Jake and I caught up for a little bit by our lockers, but I practically sprinted to class once the bell rang. I wanted to have as much time to talk to
Dallas as possible, and she usually showed up early.

  I leaned against my desk and waited for her. And waited. The classroom filled with people, but Dallas and Sasha were still missing from class. Then, just as the second bell rang, they came in and sat down at their desks.

  It was too late. Mrs. Fairfax was already telling everyone to settle down, and I took a frustrated seat as I realized I would have to wait until the end of class to ask Dallas. Things weren’t going well for me this morning, but that didn’t mean anything. Dallas liked me. We’d shared an amazing kiss, and I knew that she wanted to go to prom with me just as much as I wanted to go with her. She was going to say yes.

  I watched her during class, but something was different. Ordinarily, Dallas was loose, relaxed. She nodded along to points she found interesting and doodled in her notebook when she was bored.

  She volunteered to answer questions, unlike Sasha, who was much too cool. Today she did none of those things. She sat still in her chair and stared straight ahead. I had a feeling if I could see her eyes, I would find them blank. Something was on her mind.

  The second the bell rang, Dallas shot up from her chair and headed for the door. I barely had time to gather my stuff up and follow after her. Jake tagged along behind me since our next class was together. He had the good sense to keep his distance.

  I caught up with Dallas at her locker and tapped her on the arm.

  “You practicing for a marathon or something?” I asked, exaggerating my breathing.

  Dallas smiled, but her expression was guarded. “Practicing for a marathon?”

  “I’ve never seen someone leave a class so quickly. I figured either training for a marathon, or you found something aggressively disgusting about tonight’s homework.”

  She chuckled. “As much as I despise homework, all I was trying to do was get from A to B in the least amount of time. You know me, always like to be on time.”

  “I won’t keep you long then. I’ve been trying to find a time to talk to you all day.”

  “Oh? About what?” Dallas clutched her books tight to her chest, eyes flickering with curiosity. She kept looking over my shoulder, sneaking a glance off to the side, like she was keeping an eye out for someone. I found it strange but continued anyway.

  The words tumbled out of my mouth smoother than anticipated. “Will you go to prom with me?”

  Dallas’s mouth split into a wide grin, but a half-second later the smile dried up into a frown. In my head, I heard a record scratch, and trepidation darkened my mood.

  “I’m sorry, Shane. I would love to go to prom with you,” she said, forehead creased as if she were in pain. “Only I’m not going to prom.”

  “You’re not?” I frowned.

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  Dallas looked down the hallway again, and when she hadn’t answered after another couple of seconds, I gently guided her chin back to front and stared down into her eyes.

  “Dallas, what’s wrong?”

  Her eyes, endless pits of blue, widened. She stepped back, and my hand fell to my side.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” she said. “I just don’t want to go to prom.”

  “Then let’s not go to prom,” I suggested. “We can go for a ride down to the beach and make a big bonfire or something. I just want to spend my night with you.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Dallas—“

  “I just can’t, okay?” she snapped suddenly. People around us turned to look, alarmed by the sudden noise.

  I took a step away from her, palms up. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry.”

  She sighed, grinding her teeth, and walked away. I could’ve sworn I heard her mutter, “Me too.”

  Someone clapped me on the back, and I looked to my left to see Jake standing beside me, watching Dallas go.

  “That was cold of her,” he said. “I wonder who pissed in her cornflakes.”

  “I don’t think it’s as simple as that,” I replied.

  Jake shrugged. “It happens, dude. Girls can be hot and cold at a moment’s notice. I don’t want to shit on your dreams or anything, but maybe she’s just the kind of girl who can be nice to a guy when they’re alone but embarrassed of them when there are people around.”

  I snorted. “Gee, thanks, Jake. You think I’m embarrassing?”

  “To a girl who hangs out with the football team?” Jake raised a ginger brow.

  I scowled and started walking to our next class. Jake kept pace beside me, chatting away in a way that I’m sure he thought would make me feel better.

  “...a ton of girls at this school who would kill to go to prom with you. They think you’re a babe. I know you’ve got this thing for Dallas, but it’s probably a good thing that she showed her true colors now. At least this way—“

  “She’s not like that!” I rounded on him, catching his eye, so he knew just how serious I was about it. “There’s something wrong with her today. Something on her mind. You may not believe I know her well enough, but something I do know is that she isn’t the type of girl to act a different way in public. She’s completely genuine, always has been. She doesn’t put up a facade or walls, and she doesn’t lead people on. You can think that I’m being delusional and believing what I want to believe if you want to, but that’s the truth. Something’s the matter with Dallas, and as soon as I know what it is, I’m going to try my damnedest to help her.”

  Jake blinked up at me in surprise. “Well, shit, dude. Why didn’t you just say so?”

  I gave him a small shove, and he laughed. I didn’t understand my best friend at times, and I doubted I ever would, but I was glad I had him. Before Dallas, I never thought I’d find someone I liked quite as much.

  Chapter 12

  Dallas

  I wanted to die. I wanted the crappy laminate hallway flooring to swallow me up like quicksand, but as fast as humanly possible. I was in shock. How could I turn down the one guy I wanted to go to prom with? I had to, but that didn’t make it hurt any less, especially when he was so sweet about it. I wished I could have told him what was on my mind. Shane would have been the perfect person to confide in.

  “Nicely done, stud,” Sasha said, sidling up to me the second I turned the corner.

  Sasha was the second to last person I wanted to see right now. The last, of course, being Wes. The worst part was I needed to play nice with her, and not for the same reason I needed to play nice with Wes. Sasha was going to be my only friend at Gromley’s party. However, being there with Sasha was probably the same as being there alone.

  When I didn’t reply to Sasha’s comment, she flicked a curtain of long inky hair over her shoulder and continued as if she didn’t notice.

  “We’re going to have way more fun at Gromley’s party than that stupid prom. I’m so excited that you finally stopped being such a wet towel and decided to come.” She linked her arm through mine and started dragging me toward our next class. I stumbled along, hardly registering the words that she tossed back at me.

  “Wes’s dad is such a babe. It’s so stupid that I can’t get into his club yet, so he hasn’t seen me. This party’s going to be the ultimate opportunity for me to strut my stuff in front of him.”

  I frowned and stopped, pulling Sasha to a halt. “Wes’s dad is going to be there?” I asked.

  “Of course.”

  “But...isn’t Wes a little too cool to have his parent chaperone his party?”

  Sasha gave me a blank look as if she were wondering if I was messing with her. When she realized I was completely serious, she threw her head back and laughed.

  “Oh my god, Dallas. Could you be any more of a virgin?” She started yanking me forward again, and I stumbled to keep up. “It’s not going to be some stupid high school party where the most action is going to be some wasted jock trying to cop a feel while we play spin the bottle. Preston Gromley and a bunch of his business associates will be there—and I do mean the ones from the shadier side of the business. It’s going to be
epic.”

  A bolt of panic flashed through me, white hot and insistent. I gulped and tried to slow my runaway heart.

  “Sasha, don’t you think that sounds a little dangerous?”

  “Dangerous?” She shot me a contemptuous look. “More like delightful. They’re all rich, cupcake. And I’ll be the hottest girl there, so I’ll have my pick of them.”

  I hadn’t seen Sasha this excited for anything since her boobs first came in. Despite the fact that I’d been feeling distant from her recently, I was still protective of her. I didn’t want anything unsavory to happen to her, and this party screamed trouble in the worst kind of way.

  “I really don’t think you should go,” I said. “Preston’s the real deal, and I doubt his business associates are the kind of glamorous you think they’re going to be.”

  We arrived at the classroom doors, and Sasha spun on me, staring down with contempt in her heavily lined blue eyes.

  “Oh, so just I shouldn’t go? You want them all to yourself, don’t you?” she said snottily. “You should be careful, Dallas, because your good girl act is fraying at the edges and soon everyone is going to see right through you. If I were you, I’d embrace the bitch inside sooner rather than later.” She huffed a breath. “Honestly, I don’t know why Wes prefers you.”

  Tears threatened to burst from my eyes, but I held them in. I shouldn’t have said anything. Sasha didn’t know that I was going to this party against my will, and she couldn’t if I wanted to keep her safe. Besides, she probably wouldn’t believe me if I told her. She was set against me. It had never been so obvious.

  “I’m sorry,” I squeaked out. “I just know that I’m going to be spending a lot of time with Wes at the party and I’m worried about something happening to you.”

  It was the closest I could get to the truth, but it seemed to do the trick. Sasha’s expression softened, and she stepped back a little bit to give me some room. I pretended that my former best friend hadn’t just glared at me with eyes like diamond-tipped blades and passed on a smile.