One Night Stand with a Billionaire

by Ayla D. Viktoreva

  Once we finished our meals, Ade and I bid our farewells as we headed home. From the conversation I had with Bridget about my stay, I found out that Blake was actually telling the truth about the state of the other rooms. As she explained, he had moved in just a bit more than two months ago and was carefully dealing with the interior himself, so he left unused rooms for later.

  As we were walking down the street together, he kept telling me about taking a bath in the huge bathroom with Blake yesterday as I listened to his every sound, trying to see if Blake somehow harmed my brother, but I heard nothing of sorts.

  I bit my lip. Ever since I met him the previous day, I had gotten a completely different picture of him than that of a few weeks ago. How long has it been? Around one or two months? I wasn’t sure. It was almost the end of two thousand twelve, and I met him around the beginning of November. So a month and a half? It certainly didn’t feel like that at all. It was like Ayden never got leukemia, and I never had that one night stand with Blake and wasn’t even pregnant for that matter. Only a weak reminder of what happened that day was there to tell me that it all indeed was true.

  By the time we came home, I, for the first time in my life, had no idea what to do. I always hoped to have some time with Ade instead of working, but now that it actually did happen, I had no idea what to do next. I worked almost all the time every day, so I wasn’t used to this much freedom. Two years ago when I was still sixteen, and our parents died, I found a job while taking care of Ayden and trying to graduate a year earlier.

  I lost my friends since I had no time for them, but as soon as I turned eighteen, I took Ayden under my wing, and everything was simpler without me having to worry about them taking him away.

  “Say, Ade, what do you want to do?” I asked him upon realizing that thinking was leading me nowhere.

  “Ice cream!” he started chanting and running around, and I sighed. What a lovely idea. If I recalled correctly, ice creams during the winter should be good for the immune system.

  It wasn’t really cold outside, but there was a shop that still sold ice creams at that time of year, but not as cold as it usually was. They would somehow make it more creamy, not frozen like your usual type, and a bit less cool. I used to love it so much when I was still a kid.

  “In that case, let’s go,” I told him, grabbing his tiny hand in mine before checking if he was warm enough. I put scarves on both of us. You never know when it could get colder.

  The clouds were a bit grayish outside, but much paler than usual. I remembered learning at school that if the clouds were dark and gray, then they were bringing the rain, but if they were lighter and paler, then it meant that we’ll be seeing some snow soon. I’d like to see that. Seattle hadn’t been much of a snowy place in the few previous years, not enough to build a snowman at least.

  It would be Christmas in a week, but I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to celebrate it properly, especially if we were to move out. I was sorry for not being able to stay with Ade and have a proper Christmas, but I’d always send him over at Mel’s. He deserved much better than this. Usually, my workplace helped the poor and homeless people on Christmas, so we were open the entire night for anyone that wanted a hot meal for free.

  I sighed wondering as to how I agreed to buy him an ice cream in the weather like that.

  Oh, you and your puppy eyes!

  When we came to the place I had in mind, I ordered two chocolate ones, our most favorite, and just as I was about to take out the money for them, a hand brushed past my shoulder, paying instead of me.

  I didn’t even need to turn around to know who it was. The strong scent from his hand that invaded my sense told me the name of the one behind me. He wore that cologne the previous day, and when we met, I wasn’t sure which it was, but I liked it—for some odd reason.

  Blake.

  He said nothing as I turned around to face him who wore a suit like the one when we first met. The only difference was that black scarf, which by no means made him look less serious, he wore around his neck, and that black winter coat.

  “So, where to?” It was just a single question he asked me, but more than enough for me to remember that I’ve been trying to escape away from him as far as possible.

  “Me and Ade—home, you—where the heck you want,” I told him, taking Ade’s hand and turning away.

  Run.

  Get away from him.

  “Now, that’s no way to talk to someone whose inventory worth thousands of dollars your brother destroyed,” he said and chuckled. I gulped. I wasn’t sure if he was just being sarcastic or plain serious.

  “What do you want?” I asked him and sighed. The sooner we got over it, the better.

  Sighing, he pointed toward the playground next to us before he headed there with us following. Forgetting about him, I enjoyed my ice cream while I still could.

  Getting to the swings, Ayden went ahead and started playing with some other children while I contemplated of going with Blake.

  “So…”

  “Would you move in instead? You know, there’s no need to deal with the entire separation deal. Just move in.” His voice interrupted me as I stared at Ayden.

  “You mean, I move in and forget everything? That cannot be that simple,” I replied, gulping once again before I heard him sigh.

  “Figures, but it’s the only option I can think of. I apologize if I sometimes sound possessive and demanding. It’s just that I never really had someone I’d have to…you know, take care of. It’s as if you’re a fleeting snowflake on my palm. The moment I take my eyes away from you, you disappear.” That was…deep, coming from him.

  It was just then I noticed him staring at the sky.

  Snowflakes.

  “This is crazy and all, but…” he said as I turned my head back to him. “Would you marry me?”

  “What?” I screamed at him. “You’re saying that I should just forget everything that ever happened and be what? Your ideal wife who’d stay home and raise our child?” I asked, not believing my ears. This man was impossible.

  Insane.

  “I never said anything like that.” This time, it was him who turned his head to me. “I won’t force on you anything you don’t want, but think about the future for a second. How do you think our child will feel when he or she realizes that their parents live separated unlike any of their friends? When they grow up even more and start questioning why we are not married and how were they brought to this world, how could you explain it to them?”

  Damn it, his words stung.

  “It was all my mistake when I reflect on it. I was the older one here, and I didn’t think of protection. However, I do not want my child to think that they were a mistake. Could you even…” He took a deep breath. “Imagine the pain they would feel?” he asked, and I shut my mouth.

  I hated to admit it, but he was right.

  “I’m not sure I can forgive you.” It’s what I had been telling myself.

  “You don’t have to. You don’t even have to try nor fall for me, but if you could somehow, anyhow, try to get over it or, I don’t know, try to just be friends with me…I think that we could manage,” he explained, and my lips felt dry.

  Why? Why was he so certain that it will end well? Why did he decide to stick close? Why was he so persistent?

  “I…” Why was it that his words were so painfully honest?

  Understanding.

  “I know it came out of blue, but I want my kid to have what I never had,” he said it so quietly that I almost didn’t catch it, and my eyes widened. Right then, I didn’t know if I was possessed by a devil or something, but I said it without really thinking about it.

  “Okay.”

  “What?” he asked and looked my way. I bit my lip and sighed.

  “I will marry you.”

  Whether I regret that answer or not, I’d let the time decide. But at that moment, I chose to give it a go.

  My excuse was that I got tired of being dragged down by my
past while deep down it was because I knew why his words were so understandable.

  He was that “mistake” he so didn’t want his child to know about.

  Chapter 11

  Beautiful

  Why is it that just because of one mistake or good thing people forget about all good or bad things others did to us? What is it in our nature that makes us either forgive or loathe?

  I couldn’t believe that I, Kaley Evansville, agreed to live with and marry Blake. It’s like throwing yourself into a lion’s den. Maybe I had some fever because, in all honesty, something was wrong with me. Do you know what the worst part was?

  I didn’t even mind it.

  Who knows, maybe this would turn out to be good or something? But then again, I had that nagging feeling that it would all turn out to be hell.

  I decided to leave Ayden once again at Blake’s before coming home to pack our belongings because the man was pestering me to move in as soon as possible, and my brother was rubbing salt to my wounds, saying he wanted to meet Amy.

  “This?” Blake called from the living room, holding an old, rusty doll. Yup, I forgot to mention that he was helping me, but I let that thought slip from my mind.

  He found her!

  I immediately put the photo frame with the photo me and Ayden grinning during Christmas from three years ago and headed toward Blake to take Gretchen. It was an old doll I apparently had since I was a baby, and I thought I had lost it.

  “Oh my God, you found her!” I exclaimed before taking it. “She needs a few stitches here and there, but she’s alive!” I hugged her as he warmly smiled at me.

  “What?” I asked with a glare, and he lifted his arms in surrender.

  “Nothing, just…I had one too, a sailor boy, but it got burnt,” he said, and I felt sorry for him. No one deserved to see their childhood toys get destroyed. Moreover, how did it get burnt?

  “Oh, well…” I started. “We can always make you one,” I suggested, making him chuckle.

  “I have a new hobby now. I’m making boats and ships, so I don’t really need one. Besides, I’m a grown up now,” he said, and I rolled my eyes before going back to my room to finish packing.

  “Just wanted to help,” was all I said before resuming with what I had been doing for the last two hours.

  Few more minutes later, everything necessary and what held some sentimental memory for me was packed inside of six boxes. Blake cracked his knuckles before pulling the keys from his pocket and handing them to me.

  “Press this button toward my SUV.” He showed me which one. “Then open the back doors for me. I’ll get them inside.” He pointed to the boxes.

  I remembered that Mel didn’t know about me moving in her brother’s house. Seeing as she knew that I was pregnant, I needed to tell her how and inform her of baby’s father.

  Scared.

  Yes, I was, however, very scared to do that.

  When he had finished moving boxes to the car, he got in the driver’s seat, put on his safety belt, and told me to do the same.

  “And house locked, boxes packed, you packed. Did we forget something?” he asked, and I shook my head.

  “Nope, all that is left now is to move in. Someone else will take the house,” I mumbled, though I doubted that someone actually would.

  “I’ll take it,” he said, starting the car. “With nice investment, it will be a great safe house.”

  “Safe house?” I asked with confusion, and he grinned, not taking his eyes off the road.

  “My company has this branch that is focused on building safe houses all over the world. So far, we built one hundred and forty-five just in America and Europe. Great accomplishment if you ask me. This place can be taken down and used to build another safe house for those abused in families or for those without a home. You know how it works,” he said, and I stared at him with my lips slightly parted. “Its location couldn’t be any better. It’s an extremely safe environment, and the police station is not too far from here. Since you’ve been renting it, I’ll have to talk with the owner, but I doubt that they’ll complain.”

  I was in awe from his explanation. Safe houses aren’t the type of project one could earn a lot from or anything, yet they managed to build so many of them. It takes a lot of money and effort to start up something as building a single house, and it’s rare for anyone to invest that much money into something that won’t really bring them anything in return.

  “Oh, what is that your company about?” I asked, interested in it.

  “You know, buying buildings, selling them to people who’ll further sell them to other people who’ll further sell them to other people—be it to live in them or rent them…Something like that, but we have more branches that are about other things as well. Main is here in Seattle,” he explained as I nodded, taking in the newfound information.

  I was right about him being a businessman.

  “Oh…And what is your job?” What is his position in a company like that?

  “Who, me?” He grinned, “Well, I’m a—” And just as he was about to continue, he suddenly hit the brake, stopping the SUV.

  “Fucking idiot!” he screamed before heading outside and slamming the doors shut. The guy in front of us had almost slammed his car with ours, and all I heard was Blake shouting at the guy who had the audacity to fight back. I only stared at them from inside, wondering as to what the hell happened. It lasted for few minutes before eventually the police came and settled down the matter.

  “Put all that in the third room on the right, first floor,” Blake’s voice echoed through the halls as I stayed silent, still trying to recover from the accident from earlier. The police came, and they talked and talked and talked. I almost fell asleep before Blake came back inside with satisfaction written all over his face.

  He had probably won the argument since the police stayed to talk more to that guy as we drove off, and when I asked what happened, Blake only said, “Invalid license, not to mention driving mistakes he made. He’s probably going to jail.”

  After listening for next half an hour about how really important is to be careful when driving, I learned one really important thing: for some reason, he was really serious about driving safely. At the time, I didn’t understand why, but I was about to find out about it much later.

  “And those.” He indicated to the three boxes that contained Ade’s things. “First room to the left down the same hall.” Three guys that were doing it—I was yet to find out their names—got on the job and started carrying those boxes.

  Well, at least, I was close to Ade’s room. I’m not sure how it came to this situation, but after Blake had asked me to move in, I ended up saying yes. I was taken by surprise with our electricity being cut off since I spent the entire previous day at his house and remembered that I hadn’t paid yet for it. I did have money to pay, but I wasn’t really able to think clearly after all that happened. The rent got higher and higher, as I was behind on more than a couple of months on rent, so this was the best option as of right now. Blake, of course, paid everything when he saw the state of my problem as I wanted to strangle him but gave up. Second thing I learned about him: he was so adamant that it was becoming a pain in the posterior. Especially when it came to money.

  The more and more I thought about living with him, I began to have fewer doubts. Somehow, Blake had offered us a roof over our heads, so I guessed that he was not as bad as I thought him to be. And he wanted to take care of our baby, which was a big plus for him.

  I sighed. I just hoped that I wouldn’t regret my decision.

  “Hey, are you even listening to me?” Blake snapped his fingers in front of my face, making me realize that I had zoned out.

  “Umm, sorry, I was just thinking…” About something you don’t really need to know.

  “Anyway.” He frowned. “As I was saying, tomorrow we will go to the doctor to check on the baby and you. Your health is the most important thing at this moment.”

  “If you continue
talking like that, I’ll actually start thinking that you care for me more than you do for the baby,” I replied jokingly, making his lips twitch into something that resembled a smile. Since when did we become so close? Nah, I was probably just seeing things. He was always going around like some serious Dracula, frowning and scaring the light away.

  “Who said I don’t already?” He shrugged and went to the kitchen.

  Touché.

  Dumbfounded by his words, I glanced around and saw that the living room was in much better state than the last time I saw it. How the hell had he managed to fix it all in just a few hours?

  Magic. I was getting keener on the possibility of him being a vampire with every passing second.

  “Come to the kitchen. You should be eating!” I heard his voice shout from there.

  Where did all chivalry go?

  “I’m coming,” I shouted back. How he annoyed me…Oh, how I would like to throw him on a stake, but then again I would end up in prison. And I’d feel sorry for the stake for being forced into him.

  So no killing Blake for now. I didn’t know when my thoughts became so violent. Was it because of pregnancy?

  “This is the second time today!” His voice, though not high at all, pierced my eardrums, and I glared at his way. “Why do you keep zoning out when I’m talking to you?” he asked in disbelief. Thanks for making me feel like sunshine.

  “Sorry, what were you saying?” I asked once again as I watched him take out a bowl with macaroni inside. I so wanted to eat it.

  “Heated or cold?” he asked, going to the microwave, and I grinned.

  “Heated please,” I said as he proceeded to do it. Who’d ever eat them cold?

  “As I was saying before you zoned off”—he glared at me again—“you should eat properly. Don’t forget that there are two or maybe three of you now,” he said after sighing loudly. And this time I glared at him again. “And you should start taking proper medicines now because of the baby.”