Best Friend Billionaire

by Lexi Banks

  “What are you thinking?” I pleaded with her as we made our way out from the break room, into the ward. “You have an idea, don’t you? I could do with you spilling it because I’ll be honest, I’m not showing you the notebook because it’s nothing. I have nothing. I need some inspiration.”

  Those were the keywords; they grabbed her attention just like I hoped they would. She turned to face me and gave me a wide grin. “Then why not have an eligible bachelor auction? That is something different.”

  I remained frozen where I was, stunned by her suggestion. I wasn’t expecting that to come out of her mouth at all. “What the hell is that?”

  “You know.” She shrugged her shoulders in a blasé manner. “Get some hot guys to auction themselves out for a date, all the money to go to charity, that sort of thing. It could be fun, right?”

  I screwed up my nose, a little bummed out by the idea. “Like a prostitution thing? An escort thing?”

  “They won’t be having sex with anyone; it isn’t like that at all. It’s just for fun.”

  I drank that idea in, knowing that it probably could be a lot of fun. It would certainly attract the attention of wealthy women looking for a good time. It could make a lot of money. It would be different, and I could imagine that the other staff here would totally love it. “Hmm, I suppose it could be okay. But who would we get?”

  Tina chuckled. “You think it’ll be hard to get guys? They’ll be clawing at the door. You can even get Parker to come along and join in... you know, if it won’t kill you to see him up there, dating other people.”

  Instantly, I got that twist in my gut: the one I wanted to act like wasn’t there. But it had only come along because Tina had put it there by talking about it a lot. It wasn’t real, and I needed to prove that to her.

  “Sure.” I smiled inanely. “I’ll get Parker involved. I’ll see if he has some friends too.”

  “Ooh, yeah, that’s a good plan. And obviously, I’ll find some people too.”

  I let out a breath that I didn’t even realize I was holding as she changed the subject away from Parker at last. I couldn’t stand to have that chat any longer; it was driving me around the bend. The less I thought about Parker, the better. Especially when my head was all twisted up in knots for no reason.

  “Yeah well, maybe we should... I’ll have a think about it.”

  Right at that moment, I spotted a young girl crying in the hallway as she stood behind a gentleman who looked completely and utterly shell-shocked. I recognized the situation well. Maybe I didn’t have my father around when I learned of my mother’s sickness, but I’d now seen enough to know that it turned adults into statues, unable to even speak through shock, and it turned kids into sobbing messes. Not that everyone ever reacted the same, but that was the general rule of thumb. The word ‘cancer’ just had this effect.

  “Hold on a moment,” I said quietly to Tina as I walked over to the girl. I understood her; I had been through it myself. I bent down to my knees and rested one hand gently on her back. She appeared to be about eight, old enough to understand the situation, but not at an age where she could fully grasp things. It was an overwhelming thing to deal with, and I could see that in her sky blue eyes. “Are you okay, sweetie?”

  “No,” she replied thickly while shaking her head. “I’m not. My mom is sick.”

  She fell against me, leaning her body weight against me. At that moment, I wished that I could take away her pain. I could almost feel it rushing hotly through her body at a million miles an hour.

  “You are in a very good hospital,” I reassured her in the best way that I could. “The doctors here will look after her.” I pulled back to stare at the young girl in the eyes. I wanted her to really hear me. “And there are always people here to talk to here. You must know that. We understand that it’s hard.”

  I wanted to tell her that I had been through something similar myself, but I had made that mistake before, and it never turned out well. Since my mother didn’t survive when she had the disease, it wasn’t a good, reassuring story. Instead, the best thing that I could do was simply be a listening ear and maybe use my experience for knowledge rather than actually stating that I had been through it myself.

  “We are all here for you; you are never alone. There will always be someone.”

  At that moment, her father seemed to snap out of his daze for long enough to take his daughter’s hand, which effectively moved her away from me. I rose up into a standing position, and I sent Tina a helpless look. She knew more about how to treat the illness due to her medical education, but she wasn’t the best at talking to people, so there wasn’t any point in calling her over. There wasn’t anything else I could say anyway. Unfortunately, that was it.

  We needed this fundraiser. We needed money to keep our research going. I didn’t want anyone else to die from this horrible illness. I hated seeing more families torn apart by the ‘c’ word.

  Chapter 3 – Parker

  Saturday

  Standing outside the cancer ward of the hospital building always filled me with an odd sense of dread. I suppose I should have been desensitized to it by now. I’d been coming to visit Madison on her volunteering days when she wasn’t busy working with the research team for as long as I could remember, but it still left me cold and anxious. It was the unknown, I suppose. I didn’t even know what I would face once inside.

  It wasn’t always bad news. Sometimes people were in there getting the long-awaited news of remission, but even then, they never seemed fully ecstatic. I guess there would always be a little bit of a shadow hanging over their heads. The atmosphere was challenging for me. I wasn’t the best at reading situations anyway, I couldn’t seem to read cues and deal with them like other people, so when it was something like this, that intensified tenfold.

  Still, Maddie was amazing at it, so I took her lead. She was perfect with other people, Of course, she did have some experience to a point, but it was just her as well. She had a way of making people happy and relaxed. Even me. Even during my most socially awkward times, she managed to make me feel calmer than I would usually.

  With a deep sigh, I forced myself to take that step forward, and I walked into the ward. The disinfected, extremely clean scent hit me first. It bristled my nostril hair and stung a little. I wondered if this was a smell that would put anyone at ease. It was necessary; of course, these buildings needed to be extremely clean, but still, I didn’t find it the most pleasant smell ever. Freshly cut grass would be a much better option, in my opinion.

  Then, the whiteness of the walls blasted violently against my irises. It was such a light color, and I couldn’t help but wonder why that particular choice. It must have been really painful for those waking up after a long time of being out, in a coma or in surgery or something; it was just too bright. Maybe it just looked clean, continuing on with the theme of stark, clinical cleanliness. Not a scrap of dirt could ever be seen.

  Each step that I took felt heavy and noisy. I almost winced as my feet crashed against the ground. When I was alone, I felt like it was obvious how little I belonged, and I couldn’t help feeling like an intruder. Most of the staff knew me by now; it wasn’t like I would be stopped and asked what I was doing, but that didn’t make it any easier to digest. I couldn’t stop feeling like I was in the middle of doing something very naughty. If I stumbled across anyone in a position of authority, I would undoubtedly get that sensation of being a troublesome high school student... not that I ever did anything particularly wrong in high school. I was too busy getting good grades.

  “Hey there, Parker!” Almost immediately, the tight knot of anxiety loosened. It was her, my sanctuary. Finally, I could be okay again because Maddie would be by my side. “Thank you for coming in today.”

  I spun around and felt my heart skip a beat as I glimpsed the all too familiar shade of red hair piled on top of her head. In her causal striped shirt and cropped jeggings, she had a cutesy casual look going on, which suited her well. Actuall
y, she spent most of her time in casual clothing. I guess she didn’t have time to bother getting all fancy and dressed up because she got male attention without it. I couldn’t imagine her acting the way like some of the girls I had dated, spending a least three hours doing God knows what to get dressed before even leaving the house. And not even for an event, just for a day doing not much.

  “Hi, Maddie.” The relief was evident in my voice. “How are you? What do you need help with?”

  Immediately she showed me the mountain of paperwork that she had behind her, left on a desk. “That, at some point, I could use a hand getting it all filed away, but before that let’s take a walk around.”

  Personally, I would have preferred to focus on the paperwork because I understood that. I missed it in a way, now that I no longer had a particular job that needed my day to day attention. But part of the charitable work that Maddie did was helping out the families and also conducting research interviews and things. She loved it, anything to keep her busy and helping. I felt like she wouldn’t stop until cancer was gone from the world.

  “Sure.” I offered her a one-shouldered shrug. “Whatever you need me to do. I’m here for you.”

  “Speaking of which...” Tina, Maddie’s friend’s, voice burst out from behind me. “Don’t you have something that you want to speak to Parker about?” She wiggled her eyebrows and flicked her blonde hair. “Right?”

  Curiosity prickled all over me. Much as I had a funny feeling that it would involve a favor which I might not necessarily want to do, I couldn’t stop myself from feeling intrigued. I turned to give Maddie a curious look, noting the redness tinging in her cheeks as she glared at her friend. Okay, now I had to know.

  “What is it?” I almost demanded, needing an answer. “What did you want to ask me?”

  Maddie grabbed onto my arm a little too hard, possibly even leaving little finger bruises on the top of my arm as she pulled me away from Tina. I attempted to let my imagination to run away with me, to work out what she might have been talking about, but unfortunately, my mind remained frustratingly blank. I couldn’t come up with anything. It was like a big black hole where my creative side should be.

  “Okay, so we’ll just do the usual tour,” Maddie babbled, clearly trying to cover that little escapade up. “Check in on everyone, see if there’s anything that we can do, then we’ll go back to filing if that’s okay with you?” She glanced up at me through her eyelashes, the green of her eyes sparkling. “I don’t want to take you away from anything if you have other plans. I know that you can get busy sometimes...”

  Her words, although not intended that way, made me feel bad. There had been times in the past where I had neglected our friendship in the early days of relationships, especially when I was younger and it was only just happening for me. Maddie hadn’t ever said anything to make me feel guilty for that time, but I still did. Even when she was first with Lawrence, she still always found time for me, but I suppose she was a much better, more well-rounded person that I was. She didn’t get that pinhole vision where she couldn’t see anything else.

  “Nope,” I popped the P as I spoke. “I’m all yours today.” She continued to walk, just a little bit in front of me with her head hung low. I couldn’t resist, I needed to probe her further otherwise too much time would pass and I wouldn’t ever get to find out what on Earth was going on. “So, are you going to talk to me, or what?”

  “About what?” She mumbled those words, but I felt pretty certain that was what she was talking about.

  “About whatever Tina was discussing then. Something you want to ask me?”

  Since Maddie couldn’t seem to meet my eye, my heart started to thump against my rib cage, and I wasn’t sure why. Little bolts of lightning darted around my chest while I waited for her to speak once more.

  “It’s just some dumb fundraiser thing.” She waved her hand dismissively. I tensed up, unsure why this was creating such an issue. “Tina had an idea, that’s all.”

  “Does it involve money? Because you know I’m more than happy to help...”

  Maddie’s eyes snapped up towards me, and I could see them flashing with anger. She was always very cautious never to ask me about or for money, no matter how wealthy I became, which was awesome since that was the one subject in which most people seemed to be interested in, but if I wanted to help, I didn’t see why not. I had done before but I’d always done it without making a fuss... not that I did it for the attention, of course.

  “No, it isn’t that at all,” she barked back. “It’s just an idea, and she needs men for it, but not you.”

  “Not me?” I caught up with her, refusing to let this drop. I wasn’t sure why but it had seemingly upset or angered Maddie, and I needed to dig further into that. “Why not me? Why can’t I do it?”

  “Trust me; you don’t want to. Now can we let this drop already?”

  I tried, I really did, but curiosity got the better of me, and I couldn’t resist. “I might want to help.”

  Maddie turned to face me head on, and she let out a little huff of irritation. “Tina wants to set up a bachelor auction as a way to raise some money. She asked me if you would want to be one of the bachelors.”

  “Oh.” Immediately, I could feel my insides recoiling in horror. Why didn’t I listen to Maddie? She was right; I definitely didn’t want to do it. I couldn’t think of anything worse. “Right,” I gulped. “I see.”

  “See?” Maddie threw her hands in the air, showing off her annoyance. “I told you that you wouldn’t want to do it. That’s why Tina is acting crazy. She seems to think...” Her words trailed off for a moment before she regained herself once more. Her expression steeled, and she began to speak. “She seems to think that you would actually like the idea of that. I told her that you wouldn’t, and that’s the end of it, okay?”

  “Oh... right, okay,” I answered lamely, wishing I had something better to say. “I see.”

  She walked off once more, leaving me pretty much dumbfounded. Okay, I had learned a lesson from that. If Maddie told me that I didn’t want to know again, then I would listen to her. She was right; I should have known that. She knew me so much better than anyone else, so why wouldn’t she have my best interests at heart?

  I was going to have to be better, to make up for that. I would have to do everything that I could to push myself out of my comfort zone and be good with the patients and their families today. If I did, then maybe Madison would forget about me not trusting her, and all would be alright again. She did seem a little too excessively annoyed by the whole thing, but maybe her reasoning would come to light later on. Perhaps there was something else going on in her life that I didn’t yet know about, and she would tell me at some point. It was possible. She didn’t often keep things locked away inside for too long.

  Much as she knew me well, I did her too, and I knew it wouldn’t take her too long to come back around again. She couldn’t ever stay mad for too long, especially not when she was working. I guess being here was a constant stark reminder that things could always be worse. No matter what was happening, someone always had it worse off. It was a good lesson really, it did stop me from getting into my own head sometimes.

  Chapter 4 – Madison

  Sunday

  I lay across my couch, trying my hardest to summon up some energy to move. I would have to get off it at some point to make some lunch having missed breakfast because I simply couldn’t be bothered, but I wasn’t quite there yet. After keeping myself extremely busy all week long, I knew it would be dangerous to do some serious relaxing, but that was a mistake that I seemed to make any Sunday I had to myself. I wasted it doing nothing.

  “What am I even watching?” I muttered to myself while reaching across to the remote control. It was some sort of reality television show about very rich women who didn’t seem to do much but argue, and if I wasn’t careful I would end up getting sucked in and watching every single season. “Urgh, get it off.”

  I finally jus
t about managed to get myself into a standing position before taking a moment to stretch out my aching limbs. I couldn’t get back on the couch once I was done or I wouldn’t get anything done. I needed to make this move a positive one and at the very least get my laptop out so I could answer some emails. Surely, that counted as productivity? At least I wouldn’t end up feeling guilty later on that way.

  Knock, knock. I turned with confusion towards the door to my apartment. I wasn’t expecting anyone, and I wasn’t really dressed for company. Knock, knock.

  I rolled my eyes, cursing my bad luck and I made my way towards the front door with my brain spinning as I tried to work out who might be coming to see me. I didn’t very often get cold callers on a Sunday, but it was possible. If so, they were about to get a piece of my mind. It couldn’t be Tina; she was working...

  “Oh...” My words fell apart as I saw Parker on the other side of that door. “You okay?”

  I wasn’t expecting to see him today; we didn’t have any plans, so instinctively I tried to smarten myself. I wasn’t ever the girl who spent hours on my appearance, but I didn’t want anyone to see me as a slob. I smoothed my hair and checked my face to see if there were prints on there from the couch.

  “Yeah, I’m good.” He pulled out two bags of takeout food. “I was just in the neighborhood, and I had a funny feeling that you might be hungry.” He chuckled as I grabbed my belly. “I could hear it growling.”

  I grabbed the bag from him hungrily, my whole body reacting to the wonderful scent of food. This was awesome, it smelled delicious and stopped me having to cook for myself when I wasn’t in the mood.

  “You encourage my laziness,” I groaned. “It’s not good for me; you know that.”