Billionaire Season 2

by Kimball Lee

  Billionaire Season 2

  Hot Summer Nights

  By Kimball Lee

  Copyright 2014 Kimball Lee

  Kindle Edition

  All Rights Reserved

  Chapter One

  The morning that Allie disappeared inside The Cathedral, she and William and Walden all had one thing in common— none of them realized she was missing. Not until later. Not until Brodie Maguire walked into the offices of the Literary Society late that afternoon. His mother huffed and turned her nose up and said Alaina had gone out for coffee and never returned.

  William had dropped Allie off at the Literary Society that morning and he’d gone to his office with her smell still clinging to him. They showered together and had a quick breakfast of croissants and juice which quickly turned into a highly satisfying romp just before they left the house. God, William mused off and on throughout the day— he’d fallen hard for this amazing luminous girl with her captivating innocence mixed with the glittering spirit of an adventurer. He could tell when a sexual act was utterly new to her by the way her pupils dilated and contracted as she summoned her courage and let him lead her down unknown erotic avenues. What was the Bryan Adams song she brought to mind? He knew it had a verse about truly loving a woman when you could see your unborn children in her eyes. He couldn’t imagine ever growing tired of Allie Darling or of allowing another man to touch her as he had over the last whirlwind days. She was his in the most elemental way and he was aware that his heart and his world would never be quite the same without her.

  William spent his day buried under the weight of dread concerning his missing brother and his father’s precarious health. Eventually those concerns pushed Allie just far enough back in his mind that he was able to function and attend to business. He’d tried to call her a dozen times to no avail, so when he looked at his phone and realized it was five o’clock he was mightily irritated.

  And so it was that Brodie Maguire stood with his hands in the pockets of his pants questioning his mother. “How long has she been gone, Mother? When did Allie go for coffee? Her purse is on her desk, did she leave with someone? With William Warfield or….” Brodie said and just as he did William’s Maserati roared to a stop in front of the building.

  William was out of his car in an instant, his huge hands curled into fists and his eyes blazing. He burst through the door casting a bloodcurdling glance at Mrs. Maguire and her son then made his way down the hallway to Allie’s office. “Where is she? I’ve been calling for hours and she hasn’t answered her cell phone and don’t you ever answer the phone in this Godforsaken office, Thelma?” He asked as he stormed back to where Brodie and Thelma waited. “Where’s Alaina? I have issues today, Brodie, family issues, so don’t just stand there giving me a go-to-hell look. Where is Allie?”

  “She’s not here, William. I was just asking my mother how long she’s been gone, it seems she went out for coffee and hasn’t come back yet. How long ago did she leave, Mother?” Brodie asked without taking his eyes off William who looked even less friendly than usual, if that was possible.

  “She came in this morning at nine, dropped her purse on her desk and said she was going to get a cup of coffee. My, my, that was a while ago, wasn’t it? Well, I just imagined she had run off with you again William, so I haven’t given it a second thought all day. Oh dear, I must have forgotten to change the setting on the office phone. I wondered why it hadn’t rung all day, it was going straight to voice mail. You’re welcome to wait while I check messages.” Thelma said, looking at her watch. “Is it after five o’clock already? Things do get away from me when I’m left to hold down the fort on my own.”

  “She’s been gone all day without her purse or phone and you weren’t concerned?” William was almost shouting as he disappeared back down the hall to Allie’s office and returned holding up the things she had carelessly tossed on her desk. “She’s been gone for eight hours and no one was the least bit worried? This isn’t the best neighborhood you know, what the f… what were you thinking, Thelma? And what about you Brodie, are you that vindictive? She chose me over you so you just let her wander into the streets of the warehouse district and didn’t bother to tell anyone when she didn’t come back?”

  William was fed up by then, his father was still in critical condition in the hospital, his crazy brother was missing and now the girl he had just opened his heart to was out there somewhere in one of the most dangerous areas of New Orleans. He grabbed Brodie by the front of his shirt and pushed him against the rough exposed-brick wall of the building as Thelma began to yelp and call out for help.

  “If anything happens to Allie Darling, I swear to God you’ll wish you were dead,” he said, lifting Brodie with one powerful arm as he drew back his fist.

  “Fuck, do you really think I’d let something happen to Allie? I haven’t been here all day, I went to an interview and accepted a job at a law firm across town. Let me go you self-righteous dick and stop screaming, Mother. We need to call the police now and report that Allie’s missing. I know exactly where she goes to drink coffee, we can retrace her steps if you’ll just calm down, William. By the way, check her cell phone and see who’s called her and if she’s called anyone recently. Maybe she decided to leave to get away from your domineering bullshit, William, who the hell could blame her?” Brodie said, straightening his shirt and gathering what was left of his dignity when William let him go.

  Arrogant cocksucker, Brodie thought. William Warfield was so used to having whatever he wanted, and he usually got it with nothing more than a smile and wave of his titanium American Express card. It would serve him right to have this girl slip through his fingers but Brodie didn’t want anything to happen to Allie. The truth was that he had wanted Allie from the first minute she glided gracefully into the Southern Gothic Literary Society. She was so fresh and lovely, like a sunflower with its face perpetually turned toward the sunlight. He needed that kind of untainted beauty and integrity in his life but William had swooped in and snatched her out of his grasp just like that. And to what end, Brodie wondered? Where women were concerned William had the attention span of a gnat and a heart of stone. Allie’s wholesome goodness was surely just an interesting diversion for William, he would use her and tire of her and toss her aside. It made him sick to think of it so he came by the office to tell her what a mistake she was making. Now she was missing and something inside him was certain that her disappearance had everything to do with William Warfield.

  *

  For Allie the time had gone by so quickly she hardly noticed. There were no open windows in The Cathedral, all were shuttered from the outside blocking out both day and night so time ceased to exist. The only light in the interior of the warehouse was from the glittering chandeliers that washed all the beautiful rooms and nooks and crannies with a perpetual rosy dusk-like glow. Soft music floated in the air and added to the other-worldly quality of the space. Not only that, Allie had gotten lost in Walden’s voice and his stories and the glow of his eyes and his mesmerizing presence. William frequently referred to his younger brother as “crazy” but if he was, Allie decided he was crazy charismatic.

  “How did you do this? It’s like a scene from Anna Karenina, so… old world Russian and romantic.” Allie exclaimed when he led her through the tall carved entry doors and immense foyer. “From the outside it’s just a crumbling warehouse, but inside, seriously, it’s like a dream come to life.”

  “I knew what I wanted,” Walden said as they wandered among the myriad rooms, some were sumptuously grand and others were erotically intimate. “And I had help from a couple of talented designers. We bought entire rooms at auction in Belgium and Paris from Russian country houses that had been dismantled and offered for sale. Th
ey were grand old houses that were scheduled for demolition to make room for office buildings or whatever. We salvaged everything we could, the carved wood paneling, hand-hewn plank floors and ceiling beams, stone and marble mantles, Venetian mirrors and Murano glass chandeliers. I like to think that we saved a small piece of history and achieved the look I wanted at the same time. This place is my sole contribution to recycling and the green living movement I suppose you could say.”

  Allie was in awe not only of the beauty Walden created inside the old warehouse but that he had the vision to imagine such a wondrous place. Aside from that she felt inexplicably drawn to him. Almost certainly it was his connection to the man she had so recently fallen head over heels in love with, but there was definitely something about Walden. Something so unabashedly charming and mysterious that standing so close to him threw her off balance and left her feeling as if she wasn’t completely herself. It was almost impossible for her to look away from his eyes, they were large and bright as if they glowed with a smoldering fever. And his mouth captured her attention as well, it was wide and full and… entrancing.

  “So you live here?” she asked, dragging her mind away from the shock of those untoward thoughts. “I heard William mention that you have a private club of some sort, so I’m assuming this is it? What kind of club Walden, what goes on here?” Allie asked as they settled into a deep velvet sofa in a cozy sitting room decorated from floor to ceiling in subtle hues of deep moss green. The antique carpets, the inviting sofas and chairs, the fabric upholstered walls, even the artwork— all were done in variations of green.

  “It’s not a club you’d want to belong to Alaina,” he said, retreating further toward the far end of the sofa as he fought the urge to reach out and touch her. She was so enchanting as she stared up into his eyes, so unreal and yet here she was in the flesh speaking to him and admiring his home, his private paradise.

  It took every ounce of determination he could muster to keep his feelings in check. In the rational part of his brain he knew he’d been his own worst enemy. Mixing prescription meds with whiskey and an intoxicating array of barely legal drugs the society girls brought to the club. Dr. Selig had prescribed an array of mind-numbing medications but he’d stopped taking them the minute he realized she was not the great healer that William and his father believed her to be. She was simply a woman and just as fucked up in her own way as he or anyone else was. He’d seduced her in the limo on the way to the airport and it was all too easy, she hadn’t resisted a bit. In fact she was as wild and willing as any woman he’d ever known. She’d settled onto his lap moaning and riding his cock first in the limo and then she let him take her in every imaginable position once they were on the jet. And he had enjoyed it, seeing her prissy uptight in-control-attitude slip away as she opened up to him and gave herself over to pure pleasure. Eleanor Selig was probably thirty-eight or thirty-nine and in great shape, every part of her body was toned and tight as a drum. She was originally from Austria and she had that staunch, rigorous attitude toward good health and excelling in all things physical and intellectual. Walden had to admit she was definitely intellectual, she’d shouted some astonishingly big words as he fucked her that were well beyond his knowledge and vocabulary.

  Walden was no fool and he wasn’t as crazy as he let others believe. He was aware that he had Bipolar Disorder but it was manageable as long as he took his Lithium and the occasional Xanax or Klonopin for anxiety. He wasn’t a psychotic sadist like his mother had been. It was the cold cruel memory of his traitorous mother along with her ex-con boyfriend and their botched scheme to extort money from his father that sent him careening into a manic state all too often. Part of the time he could shut those bad thoughts away and close off the part of his brain where the shadowy memories lurked. Other times he used sex to forget and so he built The Cathedral to cater to the fantasies and depravity in ordinary folks who each had demons of their own to deal with. Funny, he’d never met a truly sane person and yet those people who he passed on the streets in the course of the day or stood next to in line at the grocery store didn’t see themselves as crazy. But they came to his club and left all their inhibitions behind and he had to admit that even he was surprised at the scope of bizarre sexual acts that were so readily displayed and indulged in.

  “Why do you say that I wouldn’t like your club? You don’t know me.” Allie said, peering discreetly from beneath a thick fringe of lowered lashes as she studied his face. She had the distinct feeling that William was wrong about his brother, Walden didn’t appear to be unwell as far as she could tell, just a little odd, perhaps, and not in a bad way.

  The two men were very much alike, similar in size and the unadulterated perfection of their facial features, the biggest difference was their eyes. William’s eyes were dark and fierce and at first glance Walden’s seemed to be as well. But now that Allie had the chance to study them she realized the color was not the same at all. Walden’s eyes were hazel with flecks of bright green and gold whereas William’s were an intense shade of rich dark chocolate. Determination— that was what the Warfield brothers shared, a look of absolute concrete resolve to make the world spin in the direction they determined. Allie knew suddenly that what Walden wanted most in the world was her, and there wasn’t a hint of insanity or madness in the way he looked at her. Just an all-consuming passion and desire that matched his brother’s in intensity. And this she was sure of— these two men would stop at nothing to possess whatever they truly desired.

  “Because you’re so perfect Alaina, so beautiful and graceful,” Walden said, resisting the urge to brush a lock of sun-streaked hair away from her smooth pale cheek. “I’ve been severely fucked up for most of my life… sorry to use that word but it’s the simple truth. Drugs and sex and therapy haven’t helped although God knows I’ve abused them all. I’ve done questionable things, Alaina, but I can say that I haven’t caused pain to anyone but myself. No, that’s not completely true, I have a brother, an older brother who cares about me very much and I suppose it’s been hurtful to him to watch me suffer. Anyway, this club isn’t for you, it’s for people who are too fucked up in the head to enjoy plain vanilla unadorned sex. They come here to push the boundaries, to go beyond what’s acceptable in polite society, they’re pleasure addicts and pleasure has many, many facets.”

  “Is your brother a member of this club, does he come here for sex?” Allie asked and she watched as a hint of a smile played across his lips.

  “I might be crazy, Alaina, but not crazy enough to give away the names of the club’s members. Why would you ask about my brother’s sex life, have you met William? I guess you must have, you were at my father’s estate when I first saw you and William was there that day….”

  “Yes, I know him… William and I are…. Well, I’m not sure what we are, to be honest. We met and… we like each other very much. Your father arranged for me to do an internship here in New Orleans for the summer and William gave me a ride from the airport when I flew in on your dad’s jet. I’m… I’m staying with him in his townhouse….” Allie stumbled over the words, how could she explain what was between her and William? They barely knew each other really, but the flame between them was so hot that it was not to be ignored and they had both surrendered to it. The rest of the world had ceased to matter and she felt as if she were walking around in a delicious dream which was why she was sitting in his brother’s house at that moment without regard for her own safety. “What time is it? I really should go, no one knows where I am, I left my office just to grab a cup of coffee….”

  “My brother is exceptional and he’s the lucky one, it’s been that way for as long as I can remember. He escaped… but that was lucky for me as well, I wouldn’t be alive if William hadn’t gotten away….” Walden said and as he turned to face Allie full-on his sparkling eyes clouded over for and instant and he smiled a brave yet haunted smile.

  Allie felt as if she’d been allowed a glimpse into the dark recesses of Walden’s soul and i
t wasn’t a frightening place, it was just heartbreakingly sad.

  “I’m a good listener if you want to talk about it, Walden,” Allie said, slipping off her shoes and curling her feet under her body as she sat on the plush sofa. She felt comfortable in that room with the brother of her lover and she wanted very much to hear his story, she needed to know what had happened so long ago.

  “Yeah, it’s not a pretty story by any means,” he said, running his fingers through his tosseled hair, a deep frown furrowing his brow. He leaned forward with his tanned forearms resting on muscled thighs and his biceps strained the sleeves of his black T-shirt. “But here goes— I don’t think my mother was ever a good person, she sure wasn’t a good parent and she didn’t have ties to any family or friends of her own. She could be vicious and she had a mean streak a mile wide, everyone knew that about her. I guess my father married her because she got pregnant, the age old story, you know. It’s anyone’s guess as to why she decided to extort money from her own husband, she probably grew up dirt-poor under who knows what kind of circumstances. Maybe it was because my father couldn’t get over losing Liza, but I think my mother’s brain was just wired wrong. So, it turned out she had this lowlife boyfriend who lived down on the Bayou Lafourche and together they came up with a scheme to take me and William and demand a huge amount of money for our return. They made it look like my mother was kidnapped too and they took us by boat to this broken down shack deep in the backwoods on the bayou… And while the boyfriend was busy duct-taping me and my mother so he could take pictures to send with the ransom note, William ran away. My brother was seven and I was six and my mother and her boyfriend… they tortured me with a… a razor… to make me scream so that William would hear and come back. Anyway, I don’t remember how long I was there tied to this filthy metal cot…. William made it through the swamps and the cypress groves and man, there were ‘gators in that green water and snakes and he was just a kid. He made it though, he found his way to a cabin and this ninety year old Cajun took him into town in a homemade pirogue. Twenty years ago folks down there on the Bayou Lafourche didn’t have telephones or much of anything except for a pirogue, a pot to boil brackish water and a crawfish trap. Well, I recall hearing the police sirens wailing from faraway and dogs barking, that shack was so deep in the woods there wasn’t even a road to get to it. My mother’s boyfriend knew it was all over then so he gave my mother a ‘hot dose’ and she was screaming for him to kill me too. It killed her and he just swiped that razor across my chest one more time and then he ran off into the swamps. They found pieces of him later, the gators got him, most likely, or maybe he ran into some real hard-ass Cajuns and they cut him up for fish bait, it doesn’t matter. He got what was coming to him and William led the police and my father right to the cabin… that’s it, that’s our story and together we survived it. So, my brother is my hero, he’s never let me down.”