As he slipped out of his suit jacket, I watched him. Despite the fact he had his back to me, I could tell he looked utterly defeated and drained.
I crossed over to him soundlessly.
He moved, striding to his room and closing the door a little more forcefully than he really needed to.
Everything had actually gone pretty well for the first day. Except Josh, but Josh had a habit of screwing things up without realizing it. If I never have to see Kurt again … it wasn’t that we hadn’t been good friends at one point, and I knew that no one really understood why I never wanted to see him. I hadn’t even thought about explaining it to anyone. Really, what would they say? They’d just tell me to get over it. It was a long time ago.
But the idea of letting Fiona anywhere near him had made me … I thought about what she’d said in the car. “I thought you were going to break my fingers you were squeezing me so tight.” Had my hold on her really been that tight? I hadn’t meant it to be.
I just … didn’t want to go out, that’s all, I thought. That was it, I had been trying to let her know she had to come up with an excuse. It wasn’t my fault if she was weak. I had probably hardly even squeezed her hand.
I pulled my shirt off and dropped down onto the bed, staring at the floor. A soft knock.
I looked up. She was still wearing her dress.
“Hey,” she looked worried. “I just …. thought you might want water.” She held a glass as she came into the room.
“I’m fine, thanks.”
I didn’t want her to see me like that. I … I was so confused, honestly. Anger, hurt, something else I couldn’t place. I stared at her as she made her way into the room and stood in front of me.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I snapped.
“Really because you don’t seem ...”
“I’m fine,” I repeated.
“I just …”
“Look, it’s nice you’re pretending to worry about me and all, but there’s no one around. You don’t have to pretend that you like me or that you care about me. You can just leave.”
“Is that what you want? Me to leave?”
No, but I wasn’t going to say it.
“Unless you’re going to suck me off, or something.” It came out before I thought about it. I was just trying to get her to leave me alone. That was it. I didn’t want to hurt her.
The look in her eyes told me I’d already done it.
My stomach turned. Last time I try to do something nice for him. And here I was thinking we were actually becoming friends.
I stared at him in complete shock. What happened to being gentlemanly? Oh right, there was no one around so he didn’t have to pretend to be.
I turned on my heel and walked out of the room, tears pressing against the corner of my eye. I didn’t dare admit that he’d made me want to cry, even slightly.
I padded to my bedroom and closed the door— much more forceful than need be. I wanted him to know just how pissed I was.
Stupid man.
What the fuck made him think he had a right to talk to me that way? Whatever, I’ll just spend one more day with him and then I don’t ever have to see him again.
If he needed his office cleaned, he could have someone else do it. I inhaled deeply. He’d looked so defeated that I wanted to make sure he was okay, and this was what I got in return.
His words played through my head over and over again. I had actually thought that he was a nice guy.
54. Chapter Seven
I rolled out of bed, unsure of how I was going to face him. If he doesn’t say he’s sorry for the way he treated me, he better goddamn pray I don’t blow this whole thing for him, I thought, padding to the door and opening it.
I could hear the shower going. Thankfully that meant I might not have to see him, but I did really have to pee.
I hurried over to the sink and grabbed myself a glass of water, not caring if it affected his shower.
I heard the water shut off in the bathroom, and seconds later, the door opened. I didn’t dare look at him. One, because he was a jerk, and two, because I was pretty sure I might not be able to look away if I saw him wrapped in only a towel.
“Don’t forget, I’m going out,” he said.
“Mhm.” I took a sip of my water.
It was hard, but I waited until he was in his bedroom before I turned away from the sink and rushed for the bathroom. Locking the door behind me, I peed and hopped in the shower real quickly. I didn’t risk getting my hair wet after just having it colored, which meant the shower was pretty quick.
When I stepped out of the bathroom, I couldn’t hear him, and his shoes were gone. I padded to my room and changed.
Today, I went with a pair of slacks and a red blouse.
It was a simple outfit, but it hugged my curves like it was made for me.
Once dressed, I headed for the main house. My stomach grumbling as I stepped inside.
“Morning!” Gabby greeted me with a smile.
“Did Adam tell you he and his father were going golfing?” Kathrin asked.
“No.” I tried not to sound angry. I smiled. “Just that he was going to be out.”
“Come have bagels with us.” Gabby motioned for me to join her and her mother, and I sat down at the only empty seat, beside Adam’s stepmother. She looked me up and down, and I was utterly away from her judgmental eye.
I took a deep breath, trying to relax myself, but my muscles were so tense as I thought of the way Adam had held my hand the night before. Don’t think about him. He’s an ass, I reminded myself.
“His dad is bad for that too.” Kathrin actually smiled.
“That’s okay! We can have a girl’s day.” Gabby smiled widely.
“Um, that would be nice.” I smiled.
I’d never had a girl’s day before. But it wasn’t that complicated, right? You just … hung out with girls.
“And we can go swimming! I’ll finish my bagel and then go put my bathing suit on.” Gabby brought three plates over to the island where they sat and gave one to her mother and one to me.
“Thank you.”
The 12-year-old girl ate fast and rushed upstairs. I smiled watching her.
“I haven’t seen Gabby that excited for something since she quit dance.”
My stomach turned. I remembered what Adam had told me. “Adam mentioned that …” I said after swallowing a bite of my bagel. “She’s a very beautiful girl.”
“Sadly, dance is about more than beauty. It’s about starvation. When I heard that they’d told her… I just … I pulled her out. She was so mad at me for a week. She wouldn’t even talk to me. But when she finally did … she thanked me for it.”
I watched the woman beside me. I wasn’t sure what it was about her. Adam had scared me when he talked about her, but it was clear she loved her kids more than anything.
“That must have been really hard on you.”
“It was. But it was harder on Gabby. She’d always wanted to be a dancer. When I pulled her out, instead of letting her starve herself, she thought I was taking that away from her. She hated me; she told me all the time how much she hated me.”
“It was amazing of you to do that.”
“That’s what mothers are supposed to do.” She turned to me and gave a soft smile.
Whatever Adam had against his family, they seemed to care a lot about each other, and I had to respect that.
Growing up, it had pretty much been me and Josh. My parents kinda did their own thing once we were old enough to take care of ourselves, and they didn’t care much about what we did. We never had sports or dance, or any other class paid for. We just … sort of did our own thing and hoped it worked out. I think that was one of the reasons my brother and I got a place together—because that was what we’d known all our life. I finished my bagel and stood.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to find something to go swimming in. I would hate to have Gabby waiting on me.”
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Kathrin smiled. “Before you go … I understand Adam bought you some clothes.”
My cheeks flushed. “Yes, he did,” I admitted.
Kathrine raised an eyebrow.
“I think he wanted to make sure I didn’t feel … out of place. The truth is, I’ve been working to pay for most of my school, and that comes first and foremost for me. When he asked me to come this weekend … I have to admit I was a little embarrassed by my clothing. So, with my birthday coming up, he took me out shopping and bought me a few things.” I made a mental note to let him know that I’d told Kathrin this so that we wouldn’t get caught in a lie.
“Hmm.” Kathrin nodded.
“Just um, for the record …” I didn’t want her to think fake-girlfriend me was taking advantage of her son. “I don’t normally … I mean, I make sure things are fair when it comes to money. I don’t want you to think ...”
“I have to admit the touch already occurred to me. Needless to say, a lot of people try to be friends with my children because of the money their father has, and in Adam’s case, the money he makes. Although, I don’t think you would go out of your way to make my daughters feel comfortable and like you if your only intention was to take advantage of Adam.”
“Actually, all of your children are really amazing in their own way. I like them all, and the truth is I do want them to like me. Because I like them.”
My own words kind of shocked me. I had meant to say them … but I didn’t realize that I actually meant it until I said them.
I felt my cheeks burn as I turned on my heel and headed out of the house, into the guest house, and into the bedroom I was using.
As I changed into a black bra and the yoga shorts I’d used for sleeping in, my mind raced. I had meant what I said. I really liked his siblings. I wanted them to like me, and honestly, I kind of wanted Kathrin to like me too.
“That girl seems to make you happy.”
My cheeks flushed as I thought about Fiona. “She does.” My muscles tensed as I thought about what I had said to her last night.
“And you think it will last long? I mean, you did bring her home.”
I snorted. “I doubt it.” Even if we were actually dating, after what I said last night, I couldn’t expect her to want to stay with me.
My dad took a swing. He turned to me, not bothering to see where his golf ball landed. “What did you do?”
“I said some crappy things last night when we got back from dinner.”
“Did you mean them?”
“No. Of course not! I just … I was stressed, and I just said it.”
“When Kathrine and I got together, our first big fight was over you. When you wanted to go to a sleepover, and I thought it was a bad idea, Kathrin stepped in and said I should let you. She laid the case out, and I have to admit, she made a good argument. But I was mad at her for thinking that she had a say.”
“What happened?”
“She told me I was a moron if I thought she didn’t. And that if we were going to date, I needed to understand that she was going to treat you like you were one of her kids. I realized that in a way I was really lucky to have a woman like that in my life.”
“What did you do?”
“I bought her flowers and told her I was sorry. And yes, it worked.” My father gave me a soft smile.
“I’m not sure it will work with Fiona.”
“Trust me, if you’re sorry, and you didn’t actually mean what you said, it can work.”
It didn’t take long for Merissa and Becky to join us out in the pool. Even Kathrin changed into a bathing suit and joined us for a little while.
Mostly, we played Marco Polo, which neither Becky nor I had played in ages, but honestly, I think we were the ones who had the most fun with it.
I lost track of time, and I forgot about how mad I was with Adam for what he had said to me last night. Most of all, I was glad he wasn’t even here.
He and his dad were out for most of the day, which suited me just fine.
The girls and I got out of the pool around dinner time, and we helped Kathrin with the meal.
“Kathrin, can you tell me about Adam when he was a kid?” I wanted to know more about him, and he wasn’t telling me anything, but most of all, I was hoping I could somehow find out about Kurt. “Did he have many friends? It seems like him and Josh were close.”
“They were, and their other cousin, Kurt.” Score. It had been easier than I thought. “The boys grew up having a hard time in school, so they kind of flocked together. I’m not sure what happened, but one day when the boys were about Gabby’s age … that just stopped. He wanted nothing to do with his friends anymore, and when I asked him about it, he told me he hated Kurt.”
“Why?”
“He wouldn’t tell me; all he would tell me was that he hated him. But Adam’s birthday was coming up, and no matter how many times I tried asking, and no matter how many ways I asked, he wouldn’t tell me anything more. When his birthday party came around, of course, he had to invite him. He was family, but Adam went …” Kathrin shook her head. I waited. “I’d never seen him like it. He went crazy. Kurt left the party with a broken jaw. Of course, I grounded him and made him tell Kurt he was sorry. After that … I don’t think he ever forgave me.”
“What happened after that?”
“Not much. Adam stopped trying. I would ask him what he wanted to do when he grew up, and he wouldn’t have an answer. I’d ask what his goals were, and he would shrug. I asked him if he wanted a house, or if he wanted to travel … finally, I made his father hire him at the company. He moved out pretty quickly after that.”
My head tilted to the left. I took everything in. I wonder if she’s lying to me. “Thanks. For telling me all that, I mean. He’s pretty closed off.”
“His father is like that, too.” Kathrin smiled.
She looked up as we heard doors close out front. “Speak of the Devil.” I gave her a smile.
The truth is, I wanted nothing more than to run and hide from him so that I wouldn’t have to pretend to be in love with him, but I had agreed to do this, and I was going to go through with it.
It’s for seven grand. It will be worth a couple hours of suffering, I told myself.
“Looks like we’re just in time for dinner!” Matt grinned widely as he and his son came into the back.
Adam headed towards me and pulled me into a hug. All part of the act, right? I was sure of it. I hugged back, pretending I’d missed him.
“How was your day?” I didn’t care.
“It was good!” His eyes sparkled as he told me about his day. I tuned him out. I didn’t fucking care.
Still, I nodded, pretending to listen to everything that he told me.
55. Chapter Eight
We finished dinner and said our goodbyes before getting in the car and heading home.
The entire drive was silent. I didn’t have anything to say, and clearly he was done pretending that we were even friendly, let alone friends.
“By the way,” I said as we came to a stop in front of my apartment. I reached into the glove box, pulling out the rest of the cash. “I thought you should know that your mother asked about my clothing. She already seemed to know that you bought it for me, but I said it was a birthday present.”
“What?” he snapped. His eyes blazed. “That bitch.”
“Excuse me?” Was he calling me a bitch?
“I told her that you saved and bought it yourself. That backhanded, sneaky …”
I didn’t stick around for the rest of the dialogue. I didn’t have a reason to. I slipped out of the car; it was clear that he still had issues with her. I wonder what the real story behind it is. Did it even have anything to do with why he didn’t like her?
I guess it doesn’t really matter. I bit my lip as I headed for my apartment, praying that Josh wouldn’t be there. Although I was wearing one of the less expensive outfits and had managed to stuff everything into my backpack, I didn’t want to ex
plain why I had new clothes.
I unlocked my door and stepped inside. “Are those new?” Josh asked, looking at me over a book.
“No. I’ve had them for ages,” I retorted before even thinking about it. I padded into my bedroom and flopped down on the bed with a sigh. Wow. My mind went over the events of the weekend; I couldn’t believe any of it had happened. I’d been shopping, I’d met some really cool people … my heart sank. I couldn’t believe I was going to miss them so much. Part of me wished I was actually his girlfriend so I could see his sisters again. Not that I would admit the thought to anyone but myself. It was a crazy weekend.
And I was seven grand richer. That would make our life so much easier for the next few months. Josh wouldn’t have to take so many shifts. I just needed to find a good excuse for having more money. I could tell him I’m working from home during my nights. There were jobs you could do from computers, right? Other than being a camgirl. That was not how I was going to explain the money to my brother.
“I’m sorry, there was a miscommunication. I can’t change your cleaning route.”
“Oh.” I felt my heart sink as I stared at the woman I thought was going to save me from ever having to see Adam again. I could quit, I thought.
But that wouldn’t work. I needed money, and Josh had pulled a favor to get me this job, which meant I had to stay here if I could. It was a good job that paid better than most in the area, and nowhere else was hiring. I needed to stick it out.
I’d managed to go the whole morning without going into his office, but now there was no avoiding it. I’d tried to get moved, but he’d complained already about me not being in yet to take the trash out.
I made my way down the hall, defeated, and stepped into his office. He stood by the window, and like always, his office was a mess. I blew out a deep breath. It’s like he enjoys seeing me have to clean up his messes, I thought.
Normally, he left while I was cleaning. This time, he just stared out the window. I could feel his eyes on me as I took the trash out, not saying a single word to him.
Interview with a Billionaire: Billionaire Romance Box Set Page 36
