“Oh well, Regina was my…often fling. How should I say it? I slept with many, but she was the one that didn’t mind other girls and would always come back…Of course, it was because of my money, I think.” He chuckled. Hollow action it was. I felt a weird pang in my chest. He had everything, but he truly had nothing. Everything he had was leading to false satisfaction, his family excluded—no, his bond with his family was edgy.
I recalled what they told me. They hadn’t seen him laugh in a while.
He didn’t even have a proper bond with his own flesh and blood.
“Oh…She said that you two got engaged yesterday, though. Very vivid imagination, I’d say?” I tried to make him smile if nothing else. Engaged to two different women on the same night—that was sure to take out a playful Blake.
“That’s because, apparently, our fathers made a deal with our companies, and that bastard wanted to announce our ‘engagement’ yesterday at the party in the name of our ‘new’ partnership. How dare he? He doesn’t even have right to make decisions in my company’s doings!” My eyes widened. Not only did his father make a move in the business field that belonged to Blake completely, but he also engaged him to someone behind his own son’s back?
“I…” I didn’t know what to say. I could never imagine Ryan as a father figure doing that to me. I couldn’t believe that parents were able to do something so…gruesome.
“She was more than willing to accept that offer, and they thought that I’ll agree with it as well. I’m just interested who the fuck allowed that partnership when Lucas was not, under no circumstances, allowed to step inside! I’m going to murder him once I get my hands on him.” He gripped his knuckle. I immediately reacted as I put my arms around him to calm him down.
“It’s alright. Nothing’s going to happen now. They will stop with that plan.”
He scoffed. I gave a poor excuse of a raised eyebrow, making him roll his eyes and smile.
“Thanks, Kay.” I think that I finally got to understand Blake’s resentment for his father, even for a bit. That man seemed like he was doing things that would benefit only him without even thinking about other people’s feelings. Thinking back again, I remembered Blake had said something about his sister and not being able to talk about her with Lucas around. Could it be that his father had something to do with his sister’s death?
I didn’t even want to think about that.
“Alright, food. I’m hungry! We’re going to cook. Or I am, and I’m going to teach you in the meantime,” he said before getting up and giving me a hand to take as he pulled me to my feet.
“I’m not responsible for burning down the house then.”
“Sure, munchkin.” I was going to kill him. The nickname was sweet and all, but too much. It’s like I was just a kid!
“Die!” was the only thing I could say, and he just laughed.
“Who’ll you cuddle with then?” he asked mockingly. I pouted.
“Ayden.” Ha, playful Blake made his appearance.
“Oh, you brat, come here.” And with that, he threw me across his shoulders. I only sighed. “I’m not letting you cuddle with someone else.”
“What am I, five?” I yelled, hitting his back, his butt, as I willingly admit, looked great from there. Had he always worn tight pants?
“Something like that, munchkin.” He chuckled. Now that I thought, he actually had.
“Put me down!”
“Only if you say that you won’t cuddle with anyone besides me and that I’m the sexiest and the best fiancé in the world whose bones you’d like to jump on.”
What? No! There was absolutely no way in hell I’d ever do that.
“It’s more like I’d like to dump your bones in some junkyard or feed the dogs with.” I’d rather die than say that.
“Then stop complaining and let me take you to the kitchen. Ever had a midnight snack night?” What? No? Did that even exist? Has Blake done something un-businessman-like in the past I was not aware of? I just couldn’t imagine him eating in the midnight with joy. He’s more of a serious type.
“I’m usually dead asleep at midnight.” I had a lot of jobs in the past, so I’d always go to sleep earlier.
“In that case, it’s a deal. We’re going to make food to eat at midnight.”
“You ate like three hours ago. It’s only ten o’clock now.” Where did all that food go to? I loved conversations like this with Blake. They truly made me alive and happy.
“So what? I’m still hungry. Let’s give you your medicines and go to the kitchen to prepare some food.” This was why I hated him. He would suddenly make a decision; then, make me join his silly train of “one leads, the rest follows” like I won’t even complain.
“Why are you so possessive? Are you into BDSM or what?” Seriously, I don’t know if I was more surprised at myself for asking that question or because he actually might’ve been. Blake is Blake. You could never know.
“I’m surprised you know about that. Are you interested in it so you chose to find out about it?”
“Why, you do know that the same goes for you?”
“True, but to answer your previous question, I’m not,” he said. I sighed in relief. “Why are you asking? Are you into it?”
How the hell did we get to this, anyway?
“What? No! Not my innocent self.” This conversation and its outcome were definitely not what I had in mind when I saw Regina.
“Ha, you’re the devil’s spawn.” He put me back on my feet. I was grateful that I could use them again. Not really an interesting thing to be carried like a sack of potatoes.
“I am not!”
“Yeah, yeah. Keep saying that to yourself, maybe you’ll get convinced in that lie.” Why was he so difficult? I loved playful Blake, but not when he turned against me.
“If I’m the devil’s spawn, then you are the devil yourself.”
“That means that I’m your master, so you have to listen to me.” He grinned. I let out a tired groan before I entered the kitchen and sat on the first chair I saw.
“You do know that most of the slaves in the past used to kill their masters?”
“That was the past. They aren’t doing it now anymore.”
“The only relationship between slaves and masters now is BDSM.”
“How did we get back to that point?” he asked, and I shrugged, defeated. He took my words from my mouth.
“Beats me if I know.”
“That sounds so wrong…considering what we’re talking about.” He sighed an I-was-so-stopping-here-before-we-dug-ourselves-an-even-deeper-grave type of sigh. He took the bags of food and gave me my new razor. Pure disbelief crossed my face. Blake was really something else. Only he could be so relaxed with women’s stuff.
I, however, smiled when he turned his back on me. Now I knew why I felt so bad when I saw his face. Now I knew why he was so hurt when I said I was leaving.
People betrayed him all the time, the closest coming from his father and the worst from women he once hoped loved him for being himself alone. I could reject it all the time, but I knew it was precisely because I was so sure about that one thing. Blake cared for me.
Because I was one of those who didn’t stab him in his back, betray, or use him.
And then my thoughts drifted to another matter as I shook my head immediately, rejecting the idea.
It was impossible that the same applied to my whole “I don’t love him” thing as well, right?
Right?
Chapter 21
Dared to Date
It’s interesting how people that know the least about us usually have the most to say.
“Kaley, truth or dare?”
“Dare!”
“I dare you to go on a date with me.”
If I were to try to explain how it came to that event when Blake asked me out, I was not sure that I would do a proper job. We were just lying on the ground in the living room, four hours of shopping for baby stuff later, bored out of life when h
e asked me the question. It didn’t take me even one second to choose dare because I was in incredible need to do anything that I could’ve killed someone if he ordered me so. If I chose truth? I don’t know. What if he asked me if I liked him? Two versus one. It was obvious which to choose.
But him making me go out on a date with him was something I never imagined. Let’s not even start on the part where he didn’t ask me if I wanted it or not, just went whole command on me.
Blake. So Blake.
Which is why I was there, in Blake’s car, looking through the window, replaying those three sentences in my head over and over again, trying to find the reason why I freaking agreed to it. “Do you seriously want to tell our kid that we didn’t date before marriage?” he said. “Don’t make our already poor relationship even worse by robbing us of a date,” he added. “I’ll tie you up and take you to a haunted house,” was the last straw that made me move. I didn’t know if Blake knew what the hell were dates about, but this was so not one. Let’s face it. First, you dare someone to go with you on a date—and dares in Truth or Dare are not up for rejection—and then you threaten them until they accept. That is not something you do on a date.
Date—Desperate Adults Try Evolving into something better aka normal adults in a relationship. That means that two adults are trying. Not one is being forced to go along with the other. A date is all about two people agreeing to meet each other, isn’t it? Wait! I was not an adult! Why was I complaining?
No, I actually was a legal adult. I was eighteen.
“We’re going to the fair and the haunted house,” he spoke after a long pause that started the moment we got into the car. I shifted my gaze toward him before giving him my biggest smile.
“Go yourself and make sure some ghost or zombie ends up killing you so that I can finally be rid of you forever.” I was sure that my smile and my words told of two completely different stories, but it couldn’t be helped. I came to think that he only wanted to go to that stupid fair for that haunted house instead of an actual date.
“It is actually not a bad idea at all. I could use the rest of eternity to haunt you as a ghost, but please do me a favor and die yourself. It would be a bother to stalk the same person for so long. I’d be lonely,” he threw back at me, his eyes and his huge smile imitating my previous reaction. I came to realize that he was going to be an incredibly huge pain in the posterior.
In what way exactly was what we were doing called a date?
“Are you sure that we are doing this properly?” I asked and sighed, giving up on the argument. Since I never went out on a date—yes, I was nerdy—I never had a boyfriend, mostly because I thought that boys of my age were dumb and those older than me evil. What a kid was I back then.
“We dressed up nicely,” he started. We were wearing casual clothes. I shrugged.
“We’re going to the fair where most dates happen.” Just so that you could see the haunted house, but yes. “And just the two of us.” Of course, it’s only the two of us, and you forced me to do it.
“But weren’t you, like, supposed to call me out on a date or something? Flowers packed,” I asked, and he frowned.
“I did ask you…and I’ll buy you flowers on the way,” he added, never taking his eyes off the road as I slammed my head into the seat.
“You didn’t ask. You ordered me to. And flowers should be bought beforehand, no?” I asked and sighed. We were definitely doing something wrong here.
“You know, you’re,” he started, and I looked at his way waiting for him to continue. “Extremely annoying. Be happy that I even chose to go on a date with you. Even the devil wouldn’t choose you as his girlfriend!”
I was going to kill him. Someday. I made this mistake, believing that he was going to take a proper care of me, but that pain in the posterior—yeah, that was not a bad nickname for him—was someone fated to burn in hell.
“Really now? For your information, I agreed to come out with you simply out of pity because no girl would even say yes to you,” I threw back at him. His lips curled in what resembled a smile, making me suppress one on my own.
“Is that so? In case you weren’t informed, I have quite a number of women willing to go out with me, unlike you who doesn’t even know what a date is,” he spoke. I gasped. Women were one, but using my inexperience against me was a completely different story.
“You have some nerve to say that, you little…” I was about to give him a speech but was suddenly interrupted when the car came to a sudden halt and noticed that we had arrived at our destination. Date or not, I was going to enter that place and have the time of my life, no matter what.
“We’re here. If you have anything against it, speak now or keep silent forever,” he spoke, and I frowned. What were we doing? Going to a wedding or something?
“Hmph. We will see how this is going to turn out. Just so you know, one word on social media and you’ll forever be remembered as the guy that can’t date to save his head,” I added triumphantly as he stared at me like I grew another head.
“Since when were you into social media?” he asked, and I grinned.
“Since you gave me your laptop to use.” And with that, he burst out laughing, making that smile I had been suppressing for a while finally come out to the surface. Not being able to fight it, I joined his infectious laughter. It was odd how I went from wanting to kill him to laughing my heart out with him in mere few seconds, really.
“You are a newbie to social media, munchkin, while I’m the pro,” he suddenly said. “I’m pro at Twitter and Facebook. You’d be down in a minute when standing up against me.” That took me by surprise. Blake, who was always all business and work and seriousness, was actually a fan of social media.
“You’re kidding me, right?” I asked in bewilderment. My smile didn’t falter even for a second. I was in awe of this rare specimen.
“Nope, not at all,” he spoke before going out of the car. I followed. “One thing I realized about business is that you have to have a good relationship with your supporters and newspapers. For example, the more you respond to them and give them proper answers, the lesser the chances of them creating a fake gossip that will only bring you down. Newspapers, especially. I always make sure to have proper conversations with them and give them the most satisfying answer I can, being careful of things that shouldn’t be said. With that, I avoid commotion and remain on good terms with them. Plus, they don’t have a problem with their work because they do their tasks. And I rarely end up in highlights with bad news. They all contact me before publishing something about me. It’s a win-win situation, really.” I could only nod in response, amazed by his speech. It wasn’t unusual for famous people to avoid newspapers and their fans to avoid drama as well, but I never thought that solution could be going that way either. Whenever I looked news about Blake, I never saw anything bad about him, which left me speechless, but this explained everything.
“So…what about us?” It suddenly hit me as we walked toward the entrance where Blake bought us tickets.
“What about us?” he asked with a look that seemed like he was feigning innocence, no matter how I looked at it.
“You know what, I meant their questions about us,” I replied. He only licked his lip and grinned. And that called forth trouble.
“Well, now I wonder,” he mumbled while rubbing his chin as I glared at him. What was there to wonder about? Speak before I beat it out of you, I wanted to tell him, but couldn’t bring myself. Blake wasn’t the only one who could use smart tactics, and it was the time to prove him that.
“Alright then. Let’s go on that date, shall we?” When people want to tease you about something you want to know about, they usually want to see you asking for it—or begging. But if you throw them off guard by pretending to not be interested, they will lose their cool and will try to check on you, to make sure that you surely don’t want to listen to them. Funny but effective.
“Alright,” he dragged that one word, and I inward
ly smirked. “Are you sure you don’t want to know what I told them?” he asked again, and I, oh so innocently, shook my head.
“Why would I? I could always Google it up later, you know?” There it was, the answer that would make him lose interest in hiding it and give into telling me.
Of course, normally, one can’t Google about anyone hiding something from them, which is why you let them know that you have zero interest in finding out the answer. Don’t be too blunt, though. That one is way too easy to see through. And as time passes, they’ll eventually blurt it out, and you’ll get to know what you want.
Manipulation isn’t my favorite thing, but if someone were to try to manipulate me, I’d turn it against them.
Especially Blake. He was an enemy of worth.
“I see. Let’s go then and—” he started but was interrupted by the sound of girls screaming. When we turned toward the source of that noise, we saw them running toward us, and at that moment, just like it in some chick flick, Blake grabbed my hand and started running away, pulling me along. When I was finally able to think properly and run on my own, I turned to him and started yelling at the heat of the moment.
“What happened to the good relationship with your followers, now?” We ran without stopping for a single second, with hordes of girls who recognized Blake running on our trail.
“Those are too complicated relationships to uphold, woman! Too much!” he yelled back as I found time to sigh among all that heavy breathing.
“Isn’t a date supposed to be something for only two people? What the hell is wrong with your popularity?”
People who failed to recognize Blake running at an incredible speed only threw us confused and annoyed looks while some girls joined the already existent horde of them throwing words of adoration at him. I wanted to turn around and tell them to leave him alone, that he was engaged now, but what right did I have to say no when he wasn’t even mine? Moreover, I was sure that they wouldn’t even pause, but would simply stomp on me and move on. Therefore, I didn’t want to take the risk. Who would?
“I told you that women want to date me, didn’t I?”
One Night Stand with a Billionaire Page 19
